10 Secrets of a Successful Homeschool
1. Have fun. Attitude is everything with home learning. Enjoy learning and your kids will enjoy it. Make it drudgery and they will respond as well. Try to make even boring tasks, pleasant at least. This is not to say that everything must be a 3-ring circus, but if you have a fresh, upbeat attitude even with times tables and spelling tests, this will reflect well on your children’s enjoyment and learning potential.
2. Limit interruptions. My biggest interruption is the phone. Get a good answering machine and use it during regularly scheduled learning time. Or use voice mail. Record a message that states from this time to that time we are home educating and will get back to you after we are finished. Tell friends and relatives that this is the case, and eventually they will learn to respect this. This also means well meaning drop in visits and babysitting for friends, etc. Keep your children’s learning time sacred and your family will benefit from this.
3. Dedicate your time to their learning. If you are doing 101 things while your children are trying to do bookwork, how can you expect them to concentrate and finish tasks at hand? Keep your focus on them, it is a priority that rewards!
4. Keep it simple. Be careful not to fall into the “Curriculum of the Month” club. Trying and swapping and changing your education plans with every new program that breezes by will kill your children’s spirit. This is not to say that you should stay with something that is not working, just be careful not to flit about like a butterfly in a field of flowers. Your children will quickly learn that all it takes in a bit of whining and they’ll have a new book, workbook or system in no time. Also, simplify your life. Too many commitments and outside activities and responsibilities can really wreck havoc with your schedule. Try to keep your life simple and you will be rewarded.
5. Have FAITH! In yourself, your kids and in God. If you are doing the best you can, you will be rewarded. How can you do any worse than an overworked, underpaid public school teacher with only 6 hours and 24 – 30 children to teach? Overcome your own shortcomings with help, tutoring assistance and your own re-education. Don’t count yourself short. Children learn in any environment even the slums of Calcutta! Provide them with your time and enthusiasm, good basic materials and faith and you will do as well if not better than that poor teacher can. You have the best interest of your children in your heart. Let it work for them.
6. When in doubt READ! If the washing machine is flooding, the baby is sick, your toddler is fussy and lunch is burning don’t just give up, get reading. Reading is the best way for your kids to learn and retain. Gather up the brood and snuggle on the couch with a good classic. Reading aloud is a wonderful activity for your family. Even experienced readers will love to hear a story aloud, especially when they don’t have to sound out each word and get through those they may not know. There is a rhyme and rhythm to books read aloud that delights even little ones. Make it a drama performance, use voices change the sound levels of your voice, and discuss the plot. You can even tape record your story time so that pre-readers can listen again and again and enjoy the story while you worry about that washing machine!
7. Surround yourself with home school mentors. Whether it’s an online group, or a support group, or just a great mom you met at church or at the library, keep in touch with these people! Ask questions; ask for helpful advice, most likely, they will be happy to help, because someone in their life helped them. Don’t do this alone. Even a good home education magazine will help you in your quest. Read home education books when you are in need of a little boost.
8. Use the Library! What a wonderful resource most public libraries are. Not only books of any and every subject but reference books, video tapes, audio tapes, learning materials, computer accesses, computer software and so much more. With just a notebook and some pencils, I truly believe you could educate your children with just a library at hand! Don’t spend a fortune on all these reference books for home. Use the libraries! And the librarians love homeschoolers
9. Take frequent break days. If you are sick, or some family obligations make a day difficult, take a day off. Instead of great big weeks off or even the whole summer, take frequent days off through the year to refresh and empower you. The children will be pleased and you will get a chance to regroup. Just make sure they aren’t every other day!
10. Watch for outside time stealers! Field trips and social outings and classes for this and that are important, just make sure you are not overdoing it. Too many errands and outings can kill a day’s learning and overwhelm your schedule. Remember that you are home schooling not car schooling! Try and schedule a day that is busy and three or four days that are not. Your family will appreciate this!
Should You Homeschool Your Children?
Home schooling is a very important option to consider for schooling your child. The bottom line for any school choice should be how well it serves the needs of the child. There are many cases in which home schooling is the right choice to make, but only you, as a parent can decide.
Beyond the aspect of the child’s needs, there are other things that you’ll need to consider as well. The decision is completely up to you, but having all the facts can help you to make the right one overall.
One thing that you will need to decide if you can or cannot provide is teaching. Not everyone is a teacher. While you will have a wide range of resources to help you, you will need to provide your child with the ability to learn through your words, actions and the products you provide for them. You’ll need to establish a routine, stick with it and then you’ll need to go back and make sure the learning objectives are covered.
There are many resources that you can tap into to help you to provide a home schooling environment for your child. There are resources online including curriculums, guide books, lesson plans, websites for learning, CD ROMs and a wide range of home schooling websites that will provide you with the foundation that you need. Of course, much of these will be costly. So, you’ll need to carefully consider if you can afford to home school a child.
Lastly, the hardest part of home schooling is the work involved. Yes, you will need to make a commitment to do it. While the many rewards of schooling your child out of your home are well worth it, the fact is that there is a lot of work to be done. The good news is that you’ll have the back up and support of others in your area that home school as well as the many friends online that you are likely to meet.
The decision to do home schooling is one to make carefully. If you can not find it in yourself to do all the hard work and teaching or you can not afford it, you can still incorporate many aspects of it throughout their day. The goal is to provide your child with the atmosphere and learning objectives that they need to succeed.
Beware of the Five-Minute Break! (From A Slice of A Homeschool Life)
Do your children ask during school hours if they can take just a little, teeny five-minute break? Mine do. I’m not sure how they came up with the idea that they are entitled to do this (probably the first time they tried it, and it worked!), but they insist that five-minute breaks should be a part of every home-schooling day. Lunch and recess? No problem. Five-minute breaks? Beware!
So,what’s terrible about a little five-minute break? The problem is, they somehow turn into fifteen-minutes or more, and then you find out that in addition to growing longer (all by themselves), they are also addictive! Yes, first it was just one five-minute break a day. But soon the requests changed to “When I finish my math can I take a five-minute break?” “When I’m done with spelling, can I?” And then reading, and on and on. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if I opened a teacher’s manual and saw the instruction: “STOP NOW FOR A FIVE-MINUTE BREAK.” Why not? They seem to be everywhere.
Okay, five minutes is not a lot of time. I realize that. The problem is that kids do not. Really. To them, being granted permission for a break is like getting a key to a magical door to another world: they step into it hoping they will never have to come back. Take my oldest son, for instance.
Hungry for his next five-minute “fix,” Brian’s eyes, which are large anyway, suddenly take on beagle proportion, and he puts on all the puppy-dog pathos he can muster. (Please, Mom, p-l-eeease, can I take a 5-minute break?) And despite the five minutes stretching into ten or more, I am then subjected to a barrage of complaints such as, “Oh, already! I just started playing with Matt! It can’t be five minutes already!”
ME: Well, actually, it’s FIFTEEN minutes!
BRIAN: (laughingly) Fifteen minutes? No way! No way!
Despite his blossoming skills at telling time, he just cannot fathom the realities of a sixty-second minute. Somewhere in the mysterious regions of his just turned seven-year-old brain, he thinks of five minutes in terms of seconds (300 of them) and then expects to live them out in years; What else can account for his daily baffled expression when I inform him that his time is up?
Once, losing all patience, I made the radical move of threatening to abolish five-minute breaks from our school. My children were in arms instantly:
ME: Where is it written that you must have five-minute breaks?!
THEM: Mom! EVERYONE has five-minute breaks!!
ME: I don’t! I never get a break! What about that?
(For some reason, this morsel of truth never evokes anything other than sheepish smiles: It’s true, but they don’t care!)
Of course, I do take breaks. I nurse the baby when she’s ready for it, but I keep within ear shot of the “classroom”–just close enough to keep up my stream of “Okay, no more talking! That’s enough! Be quiet, you two! Brian, did you finish ALL those spelling words? Kaitlin, I thought you were reading!!”
(It seems the closer we get to the end of the school year, the more my children suddenly have to say to each other across the table during school. It’s actually a law of the universe, like gravity: The closer kids are to being DONE with something, the more they drag it out.)
Are you thinking that our methods are not enough fun, that school shouldn’t be such a drag that kids can’t wait to get away from it? I agree. I just haven’t figured out, yet, how to complete all the requirements of the school year in a way that is always fun.
Learning, let’s face it, is sometimes hard work. Perhaps in some ideal world (and maybe in some ideal homes), it’s always fun, but that isn’t the case in my experience or our school. My kids show me they enjoy learning by all the spontaneous inquiries they make, reading they do, and so on. The trick, I suppose, is to encourage their natural curiosity with the right amount of work, while trying not to overwhelm them in the areas in which they are not naturally inclined.
Until I get that right, however, I’ll just have to live with the five-minute break. Only for now on, I’m setting a timer!
Three Effective Tips for Planning and Managing Homeschool Lessons
Tip #1
Basic Lesson Planning
If you use different books from different publishers, it can get a little confusing trying to figure out and remember how many lessons (or pages) per day (or week) you need to complete to finish each book by the end of the year.
First, take your teacher’s manual and see how many lessons there are. Then, divide this by the total number of school days you have in the year. Let’s say, for example, that your literature book has 122 lessons. If there are 180 days in the school year, you need to do three lessons per week to finish the book, with a few weeks needing four lessons. If your history book has 112 lessons, you will do three per week and will able to finish a little earlier than the end of the year.
Once you established this, write it down in your lesson plan book in a prominent place to serve as a reminder.
Tip #2
Calculate Percentage of Book Finished
To determine if you are “on track” to finish a book by the end of the school year, first find out how far along you are in the school calendar. For example, if you have just finished school day number 36 and you have 180 school days in the year, you have completed 20% of the school year (36 divided by 180 = 20%).
Next, determine how far you have come in each subject. To do this, take the lessons completed and divide them by the total lessons. For example, if you just finished lesson 35 in your English textbook and there are 160 lessons, you are 22% finished. If you just finished lesson six in science and there are 64 lessons, you are about 9% finished. If you’ve completed 20% of your school year, you are slightly ahead in English, but significantly behind in science.
Tip #3
Avoid Burnout
Tip #1 and Tip #2 are only guides. Becoming a slave to them will lead to homeschool burnout. Life will interfere with homeschool plans. This is part of what makes homeschooling so great–you will have many opportunities to turn real life into real lessons. Get creative: taking your neighbor to the hospital become a social studies lesson for your forth grader. Getting the oil changed in your car becomes a auto shop lesson for your teenage son. Grocery shopping becomes a math and home economics lesson for your junior high student. Setting the table is a sorting activity for your pre-schooler.
Think on your feet, and remember that learning occurs in many forms, a few of which are from textbooks.
Top Four Reasons to Teach Grammar in Your Homeschool
Are you a “relaxed homeschooler”? Have you ever wondered if spending one, two, or even more years on grammar is a meaningful use of your precious time? Have you heard that extensive grammar studies are not important, as long as the student reads well and reads a lot? Here are four reasons you should not skimp on the study of this important subject:
1. Helps with foreign language. English grammar provides an effective basis for the study of upper level foreign language. If one first understands grammar in English, it’s much easier to understand it in the foreign language, because it provides a strong basis for comparison. Since high schools now require foreign language for graduation, and colleges look for it on high school transcripts, why not ensure that your child will be thoroughly prepared for it?
2. Helps with English composition. It is helpful to know English grammar when studying higher levels of composition. The language of grammar enables us to talk to our kids accurately about what they have written: “You ended your sentence with a preposition,” or “You used an adjective instead of an adverb,” or “In a prepositional phrase, the pronoun must use the objective case.” All of these ideas can be conveyed without the language of grammar, but it is more accurate to teach this way.
3. Teaches thinking skills. Since grammar has clearly defined rules, studying grammar encourages logical thinking. Kids must follow a logical progression in order to label and understand parts of speech.
4. Increases vocabulary. Learning new words is great; learning them in context is better. The study of grammar is not only the study of the parts of speech and how they fit together; it is also the study of a new set of vocabulary words in context.
If you are struggling with reasons to teach grammar, perhaps these four will give you the boost you need to teach this subject confidently, knowing your time is well spent.
How to Incorporate Kwanzaa into Your Homeschool Curriculum
With the wellspring of cultural knowledge available to educate African American children about our rich heritage a solid anchor for all of this information is Kwanzaa. Unless you know where you come from, you can never arrive at where you should be going (huge paraphrase). Let’s look at this quote…
Kwanzaa was created to introduce and reinforce seven basic values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing family, community and culture among African American people as well as Africans throughout the world African community. These values are called the Nguzo Saba which in Swahili means the Seven Principles. Developed by Dr. Karenga, the Nguzo Saba stand at the heart of the origin and meaning of Kwanzaa, for it is these values which are not only the building blocks for community but also serve to reinforce and enhance them.
…from the Official Kwanzaa Web Site – http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/7principles.html
After learning American history, World history, the history of art, music, writing and the like – African American history is a must and I will touch on a way to add Kwanzaa to your curriculum.
First let’s start with the little ones – the simplest way that we use is with coloring pictures. Give them examples of of the seven symbols of Kwanzaa which you can find online and let them color them as they desire. Remember to write the names of each symbol and tell them the meaning of each one. As they get older they will begin to recall the meaning of the symbols and ask questions about each one. Parents prepare ahead of time to answer their questions about Kwanzaa as they will ask about each one and it will probably be at a time when you are not at your computer or near a Kwanzaa calendar to remember. Our children need good principles to guide them thru life and this is an invaluable way to instill them.
For those a little more mature in age get them to make a Kwanzaa calendar to place in their room, with the symbols, their names and meaning. As an added way to remember Kwanzaa we discuss each separate symbol, name and meaning each month leading up to Kwanzaa – giving you extra material to which subjects like history, culture, languages, writing and composition can be budded from throughout the year.
Starting at those at the ages of 16 and up we let them choose a principle and go online to research examples of each Kwanzaa symbol being applied in the past, present and produce an example that can be used in the future. The future application of their respective Kwanzaa symbol can be next year or five years from now and triggers their use of critical thinking – something that young leaders need to practice in order to be part of building family, community and culture.
A more in-depth lesson plan that can be used as a homeschooling guide to Kwanzaa can be found at the Learning to Give website: http://www.learningtogive.org/lessons/unit158/overview.html. Each age group has a different activity planned for celebrating Kwanzaa in a more structured format.
Because of the richness of Kwanzaa and the principles that it points to as a reinforcement for community, family and culture it’s values should be rehearsed year-round just as Christmas in July and other holidays are touched upon out of season. We have the future of our nation’s principles in our hands let’s not forget to remind each other to keep those principles.
Homeschool Your Child Using Themed Based Curriculum
Themes are a fun way to homeschool your child. A theme can be created from any topic that your child is interested in. A theme is simply a base topic from which you can teach from in your lesson plans. A few examples of themes are apples, bats, zoo, space, fun in the sun, or even Dr. Seuss. You can choose just about any topic that you would like for your theme. Using themes will make your lesson plans more creative, fun and interesting.
Themes usually have a time frame from which they are based around. Themes can last from one week all the way to one month depending on how in depth you want to approach your theme. I would suggest using a theme no longer than two weeks with your homeschool child. Incorporating themes into your homeschool lesson plans is really quite simple and you and your child will both enjoy the fun that comes with creating a theme based lesson plan.
Themes do not have to be incorporated into every teaching objective for the week. You can be selective and use themed based curriculum once or twice a day, throughout your homeschool lesson plans. Get your child involved into your lesson planning process. Have your child help choose themes that are interesting to him. When children are actively involved in the lesson planning process and given choices they are more eager to learn. I suggest getting your child involved in all aspects of lesson plan preparation to keep their interests.
Let’s take the theme apples as an example of using themes in your lesson plans. In science, you can dissect an apple and look at the apple seeds or you could discuss how apples grow. In math, you could dissect an apple into halves and fourths. In social studies, you could learn about Johnny Appleseed. In language arts, you can read many books related to apples and even write your own apple related paragraph. During art, you can make apple prints using cut up apples with paints. In P.E., you can have an apple toss, jump over apples, or even bobbing with apples. For music time, you can find many songs related to apples to sing with your child. Make homemade applesauce, apple muffins, or apple butter for your cooking class. You can make interactive bulletin boards using apple projects that your child creates.
The most important factor in using a themed based curriculum with your child is to integrate the themes into your child’s objectives that need to met for the school year. A nice blend of themes into your curriculum base objectives can be both fun and rewarding for your child. Make learning fun and interesting by incorporating theme based curriculum into your lesson plans.
Homeschool Spanish – 3 Ways To Liven Up Your Lessons
Homeschool Spanish! 3 simple keys to liven up the lessons
Are you interested in making the Spanish learning in your home more exciting?
If your kids are studying outside the home, do you feel they need a more lively approach to keep them interested?
Homeschool Spanish can be tough. Many levels to teach, boring and repetitive materials and no connection to the language all make for a tough going.
The thing is, as a Homeschooling parent, you’re used to making things come alive.
You bake a cake and make a math lesson out of it. You walk in the park,
discover plants and learn about science.
But fear not. I’m about to show you how you can add three tricks to your homeschool Spanish atmosphere that will get your creative juices flowing and help you liven up your lessons.
Key #1 – Bring Spanish to life in your home
Any child wants (and needs) to feel connected to what they’re learning. That’s why homeschooling is such a blessing. Those connections are real easy when you’re the one in charge.
Well, why not start to incorporate some common expressions into your daily routine and see how things go. Here a starter list of phrases you can use with your child.
- No me digas! – You’re kidding!
– Qué va! – No way!
– No quiero – I don’t want to (a biggie with the younger ones)
– Qué pasa aquí? – What’s going on here?
Naturally there are more but, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. One expression every couple of days will be enough to get them involved…and you too.
In fact, the whole family can start creating typical phrases that can be used day in and day and allow your homeschool Spanish experience to grow like a freshly watered plant.
Key #2 – Serve it up in ways your kids like it.
Most kids love music, TV or reading. So why not try to include a little
of each into your Spanish lessons.
For example, for the little ones, there are educational programs (ex. Dora The Explorer)
on TV that attempt to use Spanish in a fun and informative way.
If your children are in their teens, you can find Spanish music that’s similar to their
tastes. You can find any type of music online or ask in your local music store. Then,
once you have the music, you can use the lyrics to study the words,
the expressions or the tenses.
Reading is no different. You can find bilingual texts of Dr. Seuss’ series or
Clifford the Big Red Dog for the little ones and similar titles for the older kids.
Just go online at Google or check your local library.
Key #3 – Find a great idea and copy it
This is important because it saves you the most time and money.
If you’re the teacher and the material is a little…dry,
go out and look for resources that have innovative, “outside-the-box” approaches to learning. They don’t have to be language texts. The idea is to find an approach you like and copy it.
Go browse some local bookstores or libraries. Go surfing on the internet. If you like what you see, study it a bit and think of ways to use the same technique in your Spanish lessons.
Here’s an example: Vocabulary Cartoons is a wonderful book that uses mnemonics and visuals to memorize SAT words. Well, why not use the same technique to memorize Spanish words?
If you think you like the resource, make sure it has a guarantee (the longer the better) so you can try it at home.
This whole process doesn’t have to cost any money and will certainly save you time thinking up new ways to inject excitement into your homeschool Spanish lessons.
As a Homeschooling parent, you have options a public school teacher doesn’t have. Why not take advantage of them?
And remember, if your kids are learning outside the home, you can find something fun to use with them so that they maintain their interest through the year.
The Value of A Mom: From, The HomeSchool Chronicles
One day Matthew, my four-year-old, demonstrated just how much mothers are often under-appreciated nowadays. He came into the kitchen and informed me in a matter-of-fact tone, that he wished I would die–but he liked me a little because I gave him food and drinks. Feeling a bit daunted by four-year-old honesty (or should I say brutality?) I replied, “Well, I’m glad you like me a little, because I love you A LOT!”
By bedtime, he had softened towards me. As I tucked him in, he held up his two hands with fingers outstretched and said “Mom, I’m going to love you for this many days.” I smiled (he didn’t notice the tongue-in-cheek) and said “Wow! You’re gonna love me for ten whole days?!” He nodded, smiling happily and was soon off to dreamland.
I tend to take statements like these from my young children with nary a blink–but honestly, aren’t we mothers often given a bad rap? For this reason, I’ve decided to give moms everywhere a Mother’s Day present: two stories which pay tribute to good old Mom.
First is one about Ben Johnson, the famed black physician. Dr. Johnson is noted for making brilliant ground-breaking advances in his field of pediatric surgery, but interestingly, early in his academic career he was perceived as a failure.
As a youngster in public school, he was not considered bright, and his grades were low. He attributes his eventual success to one thing: his mother. (Don’t you just love this kind of story?) His mother, surprisingly, was illiterate, but she possessed an abundance of two important ingredients: faith and love. She had the love to consistently place her boys before the throne of grace by prayer, and the faith to believe in them, despite daunting report cards.
Although she herself could not read, she required both her sons to write two book reports a week. It was this sole requirement, coupled with prayer and the firm conviction that her boys could succeed, that turned things around for Johnson. Soon he was at the top of his class–and now he is at the top of his field!
Benjamin West, the famous American painter, also attributed a great deal to his mother. This is how he described what made him a painter: “One day his mother left him with his sister Sally. He found some bottles of colored ink and decided to paint Sally’s portrait. In the process he messed up the kitchen. When his mother returned, she said nothing about the kitchen. Picking up the paper he was working on, she exclaimed, ‘Why, it’s Sally!’ And she rewarded his effort with a kiss. West said, ‘My mother’s kiss that day made me a painter.’”*
Inspiring stories, no? As mothers, we share the same ability to influence our children to be their best. It’s really no less than astonishing, the degree to which we can make a difference in young lives!
Are your children disappointing you in an academic area? Pray for them. Believe in them. Are they troublesome in any way at all? Love them. As someone has said, “Love them most when they least deserve it.” And, if that fails to improve things, (but it won’t), you can always begin requiring two book reports a week!
Happy Mother’s Day, moms. You deserve it.
Thinking Outside the Books – Homeschool Math Lab Days
At a recent homeschool convention, I had the opportunity to speak to many moms about ways to think “Outside the Books”, when it comes to our homeschooling. I wasn’t advocating never using textbooks or changing programs, but rather, helping them see that there are many ways to “show what you know”. It is also important for us to help our children see that real learning happens all the time, not just when they are filling out worksheets or sitting at our school table.
One way we have added a bit of spice to our homeschooling over the years is with a weekly Math Lab day. On one day a week I plan for us to leave the math curriculum on the shelf and do some hands-on learning with games, crafts, etc. Math Lab days are also great for using math software you have sitting around, but may never get around to using. Or how about those math games you have purchased, but usually remain on the shelf collecting dust?
Just what kinds of things can you do on Math Lab Day? I’m glad you asked!
Young children
* Counting games with candy, Legos, or anything else you might have lying around.
* “War” with a regular deck of cards or make your own deck with numbers to 100 and maybe a “wild card” or two to make things more exciting.
* If you have them, Snap Cubes (a popular manipulative) are great to play with, making “trains” of different color patterns. You start the pattern, and your child adds on to the train following the pattern. Then let them start a pattern and you finish it.
* Any board game that requires dice and counting.
* Use standard and non-standard items to measure things around the house. “Hey, Mom, did you know the cat is 50 paper clips long?”
* Kitchen – baking involves using lots of real life fractions – while you’re at it,how about sharing the “fruits” of your math lesson with a neighbor!
* Play store
Elementary thru Middle School
* Math with Literature! We love Sir Cumference, A Place for Zero, Equal Schmequal, and other titles in the math adventure series.
* Our favorite math games are S’math and Knock Out! from Muggin’s Math – we just purchased their new fraction games, too.
* Board games, including Monopoly, PayDay!, Sequence and more.
* Card games like UNO and War. A favorite is to use flashcards with math facts as our “war” deck.
* Videos: Multiplication Rock, Money Rock
* Play store and many of the other activities from the above list
* If you have any of the handheld, electronic math toys, Lab Day is a good time to make sure they are put to use
* Computer games – Money Town, Math Blaster, etc.
* Use activities from “Family Math”, “Math for Smarty Pants” or “Games for Learning Math.”
* Plan an imaginary trip and use a map to figure how many miles you will travel.
* For kids interested in the Stock Market, you can use Lab Day each week to track and check on a couple of stocks, plotting their progress on a graph.
* Visit one of the fun, free math game sites online like the Math Arcade at funbrain.com. There are lots more free websites for online learning in my book, Using the Internet In Your Homeschool.
One other idea that we’ve implemented, not just for Lab Day, but as a way to add some more real life application to our math lessons is the “Mommy Bank”. I gave each of my kids a blank check or savings registry book. Their allowance is “direct deposited” into their Mommy Bank account. They must add the amount each week. They also deposit money received for their birthday, odd jobs, etc. When they purchase something, I pay for it and we deduct it from their account in the Mommy Bank. Of course, older children often prefer to keep their money with them, but this works well when they are younger or for those kids who are not yet ready to carry around cash.
The above lists are just a few of the things we have done on Math Lab Day over the years. Writing this article has reminded me that my own homeschooling has fallen into a bit of a rut. Sounds like tomorrow needs to be an “Outside the Book” kind of day!
Starting Your Homeschool
For some reason you’ve decided to homeschool.
Is it because you don’t like or agree with the curriculum of the public schools? Or maybe you don’t want your child to be exposed to peer pressure before you’ve taught your child right and wrong?
Possibly it’s because you’d like for your child to attend private school but you just don’t have the finances to afford it.
Another possibility is that your child is a special needs child, maybe slower than normal, and you don’t trust the public schools to give him/her the special attention that you know they will need.
Whatever the reason, you’ve decided that you, as a parent, can do a better job of attending to and nurturing your child’s educational growth and learning than other alternatives available to you.
If you’re new to this, you’ll find that the biggest problem that you’ll encounter is that there’s almost no way to generalize the home school concept, because each case is different. There is no right and wrong. In fact – probably one of the unstated reasons you’ve chosen to do home schooling and one of the main benefits is that you get to pretty much create your own set of right and wrong rules.
You set the curriculum. And depending on what state you live in, you choose the instructional materials, the books, the hours, and so on.
And on the negative side, when you run into difficulties with your students (i.e., your kids) you and your family will have to resolve them yourself, with little or no help from the state.
No matter what your approach there are two things you are going to have to do:
1. You’re going to have to educate yourself about home schooling. This means renting or buying home school educational dvds. You should also make it a point to read books written by ordinary people who have gone through the very things you’re about to so you can avoid making their mistakes with your kids.
2. There is no nationwide agreement on what a home school accreditation program should look like or include. Each state, municipality, and school district is different. Unavoidably, you’re going to have to become familiar with and abide by the statues governing homeschooling in your particular state.
Aside from those two things, I think the basic thing you can give your home school child is a loving and supporting “classroom” environment .
Creating, Maintaining and Presenting a Homeschool Portfolio
Many school districts now require homeschoolers to present portfolios showing their student’s progress in an organized fashion. This is actually a very convenient method of recording whenever it is done properly. Here are some ideas on how to create, maintain, and present your homeschool portfolio for a successful assessment, evaluation and review.
First of all, it is important to have a firm grasp on precisely what a homeschool portfolio is. Basically, a homeschool portfolio is a collection of materials that are used in order to showcase what your child has learned over the course of the “school year.” This is important because numerous states require an annual assessment of homeschooled students either via testing or the presentation of a portfolio. While it may seem that keeping a portfolio is only good in so far as you need to comply with the law. This is not the case however. Portfolios can also help parents and their children to record their progress and achievements. This becomes even more important once a child has reached high school and needs a diploma.
Now that we understand the importance of a portfolio, it is also important to understand that there is no right or wrong way in which to create a portfolio. It is up to the parent and/or child what materials the portfolio will contain. However, it is a good idea to choose a variety of material in order to reflect what the child has learned, experienced and accomplished throughout the year. Some items that should be included in your portfolio are: Suggested items to include are:
(1.) A journal which contains notes about activities and the progress that has been made.
(2.) A list of resources (ie books, computer software, games, toys and outside classes).
(3.) Samples of the child’s work (ie samples of creative writing and drawings, text book or workbook pages, and if possible you may include audio or video tapes of your child singing, playing a musical instrument, reading aloud, or taking part in a a dramatic performance – pictures will also sometimes work well in place of audio or video tapes).
(4.) Photos of field trips, artwork, projects and family life.
(5.) Brochures and booklets from field trips and other activities.
(6.) A list of books that the child has read including both the title and the author.
(7.) A list of your goals for the year.
While this may seem quite overwhelming, you’d honestly be surprised at how easily you can accomplish this when you start preparing your portfolio at the beginning of the year. Simply use a three ring binder and add paper for your journaling. Start off by listing a few of your goals for the year and what resources you’ll be using to achieve those goals (these can be modified throughout the year as needed). Then begin collecting samples of work, organizing them by subject, and punching holes in them to place them in your binder. Always have at least a throw away camera at hand so that you can take pictures of anything that you’d like that your child does (ie reading, playing, dancing). You’ll also want to take pictures at field trips as well as pictures of your child’s projects and creations. These pictures can either be placed in a photo album or if you’re feeling really craftsy you could organize them into a scrapbook. You’ll also want to make sure to hold onto any brochures or other paper items that you collect while on an educational outing. These can be easily placed in clear see-through sheet protectors. This is also a good time to begin accumulating a list of books that are being read.
Once you have put together the beginnings of your portfolio, don’t stop there. Regular maintenance (I suggest weekly as it will help you to write your lesson plans for the following week) should include regular journal entries and an ongoing collection of work samples, photos and whatever else you wish to include. Some school districts will require a quarterly assessment throughout your homeschool year. This is a time for parents and children to reflect upon their progress and accomplishments from the previous months. Yet, even if your school district doesn’t require a quarterly review, you won’t want to wait until the end of the year to scramble and race to put together a portfolio that your school district will approve of. Neither you nor your child deserve having to go through the unneeded stress of having to sort through all of the material that has been collected throughout the year.
When it is time for review you may choose to remove some of the materials from your portfolio. You will find that some of these things simply do not properly reflect what you’ve accomplished throughout the year. If/when you decide to weed through your portfolio, you need to remember that the purpose of the review is to provide a general overview of the homeschool year, demonstrate that the child is engaged in homeschooling and that progress is being made.
The portfolio review can be exciting since it provides both parents and children with a time to talk about what they’ve been doing at home. When discussing this with your child, you may find it helpful to write down a summary of the items that you wish to highlight during your year before the review. For instance, if your child learned to read or master a skill you may wish to point this out to the reviewer. Of course, you should never view your portfolio review as a time for you to be judged or ridiculed. It is a time to listen, learn and support from your reviewer. Your child does not need to be present during this time. However, if your child wants a chance to “brag” about their accomplishments and progress to other homeschoolers, then this review is a perfect opportunity for them to do so.
Homeschool is a Superb Child Education Solution
How To Write A Homeschool Unit Study
Regardless of what methodology you normally use for your homeschool, unit studies can provide you with a nice break from the norm sometimes. They are especially nice whenever you’re trying to teach your child(ren) to think a little more about how the different parts of life actually fit together, and they can also give you a break whenever you’re faced with the doldrums.
So, how do you decide what subjects to persue whenever you’re ready to do a unit study? Well, take a look at your child and see what he/she is deeply interested in. Those are the subjects to pursue with your unit studies. Another way to decide what would make a great unit study is to look through your year’s studies and notice if there are any “holes” in subject matter that you think should be filled. Once you find that “hole,” you can find a unit study on that topic, and take a week or two to teach it. For instance, if your child finds black holes fascinating, but your science text book covers them in just a paragraph or two, then there is the perfect opportunity to do a unit study on astronomy.
Once you’ve figured out what you’d like to do a unit study on, all you need is a little time and creativity, and you can create your own unit studies. Assembling your own curriculum around one topic sounds difficult, but if this wasn’t the case, then educational companies such as “Teacher Created Materials” wouldn’t publish and sell as many great unit studies as they do.
There are 2 main drawbacks to designing your own unit studies. First of all, it takes time. If you’re a busy parent, this could be enough of a reason to take a trip to your nearest teachers’ supply store with your credit card in hand. Secondly, it may require access to a couple of grade-level subject books (ie science, language arts, or math) so that you know which skills are typically covered at a particular grade level. If you have a good library with an educational books department, then you may also have the perfect excuse to spend a long Saturday with a pocket full of change at the library with a stack of books. Another idea is that if you have a good set of Internet research skills, you can spend your Saturday tucked away at home.
Now that we see the drawbacks, what are the benefits of a unit study? You can teach whatever your heart desires. Plus, if you decide to create your own unit study, you’ll find that it is cheaper and more economical than tracking down a pre-made unit study. Furthermore, nobody knows your child as well as you do, and therefore nobody can prepare a unit study for your child as well as you can.
Whenever you’re creating your own unit study, you need to keep in mind that your unit study needs to cover all of the subjects that you’d normally teach, unless you plan to skip a specific subject and keep working through your regular curriculum for that subject. However, to create a complete unit study, you need to include the first 2 subjects from the following list and as many of the other subjectss as you can logically fit in there too. Now for the list:
(1.) Math – You need to create math problems at your child’s level. For instance, if you’re working with a young child on a unit study about baseball, then you can practice addition with bats and balls, write a story problem that talks about number of pitches thrown until the team reached the final out, etc. However, older children would need something that is more on their level. For instance, you may discuss the speed of the bat, distance the ball travels, or the number of hot dogs that individual team fans eat.
(2.) Language Arts – This area includes reading, comprehension, grammar and writing skills. While you don’t need to include every one of these items in every unit study that you write, you should have your child write something about the topic. A great suggestion here would be to have your child read a book about the topic then write a narrative telling you about what he/she read in the book.
(3.) Science – Sometimes a unit study lends itself quite easily to science, but other times you’ll find yourself having to work a little bit harder. For instance, a unit study on bugs will let you off the hook since the entire unit study is about science. However, if you are doing a unit study about ancient Egypt then you may need to take some time to look at the creations of the Egyptian engineers, study mummification, think about ancient medicine, or consider the tools that the Egyptians used to do their work.
(4.) Social Studies or Geography – This may be your main topic, but if it isn’t, then you’ll need to work some information into your topic. Some questions that can help you here include: Where was your topic first seen or invented? What culture surrounded the time or event? Where did this take place? You may also want to learn more about the people of that time period and place.
(5.) Art – Take time to draw, build, act, design or create. You could design a Roman mosaic, sketch an insect’s genetic makeup, build a temple from clay or LEGOs, create a tapestry to illustrate the unit that you’re studying (felt shapes work for quick tapestries when needlepoint takes way too long), or paint the flowers that you’re learning about.
(6.) Music – Sometimes music fits into a unit study nicely. For instance, you could always listen to some folk music while you explore the civil unrest of the 1960s. However, if you’re studying something more scientific, then you may need to work a little harder to fit music into that unit study.
(7.) History – Adding history to a unit study should be relatively easy, regardless of the topic. You could simply research when an event began or an item was invented or you could talk about the events and times that affected an item’s inventor.
(8.) Physical Education – Here again, you may need to be a bit creative. However, when you discover that physical education fits into your unit study, then you should definitely use it! For instance, if you’re studying the ancient Greeks, then you could run footraces like they did.
If you’re still not certain what to do for your very first unit study, try “following” your child(ren) around for a couple days and watch what they do. For instance, if your child spends all of his/her time engrossed in books, then think about a literature-based unit study (ie how books are made). On the other hand, your child may spend his/her time outside digging for rocks. Then why not do an archeology or rocks and minerals unit study?
Of course, there are some topics that you can use numerous times as your child(ren) grows older. These include:
(1.) Animals, horses, or mammals
(2.) Baseball, basketball, fencing, or sports in general
(3.) Cooking or catering (which may include business and economics information)
(4.) Kites
(5.) Flight
(6.) Transportation
(7.) Weather
(8.) Historical cultures (ie medieval history, ancient Egypt, etc.)
The spark of a unit study is lit whenever your child(ren) mentions an interest. Whenever they do, you need to write it down somewhere. Keep a running list of interests and you’ll soon have more than you’ll know what to do with. However, even if your child only shows a deep interest in one or two topics, you should take time to explore those. You may discover that you’re able to create several unit studies based on the first one as new interests are developed.
Seventeen Reasons To Homeschool Your Kids
Homeschooling was once a rare educational method. Today it is well known and an accepted way to education your kids.
Most parents thinking of homeschooling have a difficult time deciding whether to do it or not. The following is a list 17 reasons why other parents are homeschooling their kids. And, there is one important question you must answer correctly if you expect to succeed in homeschooling. This will be given to you at the end of this article.
- Private school is to expensive
- Their children have problems learning in school or have a hard time getting along with other kids
- They have special health needs
- They are unhappy with the public school curriculum
- They want their kids to have a better education
- They enjoy homeschooling and being with their children
- They don’t want their kids to be badly influenced by other kid and learn their bad behaviors
- They want their kids to learn the skills they need to succeed in life
- They want their kids to receive an education that caters to their interests, ability level and aspirations
- They move around, following husbands work, and this is a way to keep the family together
- Their kids would get the individual attention they really needed
- It gives the kids a chance to become who they really are by giving them more freedom to express themselves than public schools would allow.
- The want to see their kid grow and turn into wonderful, capable, loving person.
- They want a way of life that allows the whole family to be together
- They feel they are releasing their kids to strangers to raise them and this is not what they want to do
- Their own educational philosophy greatly differs with the public school education.
So how do you decide whether to homeschool or not. Well, you’re going to need a lot of information. You need to learn about,
- academic research
- legal homeschool rulings
- homeschooling practicals
- schooling materials
- how much it will cost
- how to evaluate what you are doing
One more important thing you will need to find out. You need to know what it feels like to homeschool your kids day in and day out.
Finally, the most important question you have to answer if you are planning to homeschool your kids is:
Do you really enjoy being and spending time with your kids? The question is, if you enjoy spending a lot of time with your kids every day. You must like being with your kids most of the time and if you don’t then most likely, homeschooling is not for you.
1. Have fun. Attitude is everything with home learning. Enjoy learning and your kids will enjoy it. Make it drudgery and they will respond as well. Try to make even boring tasks, pleasant at least. This is not to say that everything must be a 3-ring circus, but if you have a fresh, upbeat attitude even with times tables and spelling tests, this will reflect well on your children’s enjoyment and learning potential.
2. Limit interruptions. My biggest interruption is the phone. Get a good answering machine and use it during regularly scheduled learning time. Or use voice mail. Record a message that states from this time to that time we are home educating and will get back to you after we are finished. Tell friends and relatives that this is the case, and eventually they will learn to respect this. This also means well meaning drop in visits and babysitting for friends, etc. Keep your children’s learning time sacred and your family will benefit from this.
3. Dedicate your time to their learning. If you are doing 101 things while your children are trying to do bookwork, how can you expect them to concentrate and finish tasks at hand? Keep your focus on them, it is a priority that rewards!
4. Keep it simple. Be careful not to fall into the “Curriculum of the Month” club. Trying and swapping and changing your education plans with every new program that breezes by will kill your children’s spirit. This is not to say that you should stay with something that is not working, just be careful not to flit about like a butterfly in a field of flowers. Your children will quickly learn that all it takes in a bit of whining and they’ll have a new book, workbook or system in no time. Also, simplify your life. Too many commitments and outside activities and responsibilities can really wreck havoc with your schedule. Try to keep your life simple and you will be rewarded.
5. Have FAITH! In yourself, your kids and in God. If you are doing the best you can, you will be rewarded. How can you do any worse than an overworked, underpaid public school teacher with only 6 hours and 24 – 30 children to teach? Overcome your own shortcomings with help, tutoring assistance and your own re-education. Don’t count yourself short. Children learn in any environment even the slums of Calcutta! Provide them with your time and enthusiasm, good basic materials and faith and you will do as well if not better than that poor teacher can. You have the best interest of your children in your heart. Let it work for them.
6. When in doubt READ! If the washing machine is flooding, the baby is sick, your toddler is fussy and lunch is burning don’t just give up, get reading. Reading is the best way for your kids to learn and retain. Gather up the brood and snuggle on the couch with a good classic. Reading aloud is a wonderful activity for your family. Even experienced readers will love to hear a story aloud, especially when they don’t have to sound out each word and get through those they may not know. There is a rhyme and rhythm to books read aloud that delights even little ones. Make it a drama performance, use voices change the sound levels of your voice, and discuss the plot. You can even tape record your story time so that pre-readers can listen again and again and enjoy the story while you worry about that washing machine!
7. Surround yourself with home school mentors. Whether it’s an online group, or a support group, or just a great mom you met at church or at the library, keep in touch with these people! Ask questions; ask for helpful advice, most likely, they will be happy to help, because someone in their life helped them. Don’t do this alone. Even a good home education magazine will help you in your quest. Read home education books when you are in need of a little boost.
8. Use the Library! What a wonderful resource most public libraries are. Not only books of any and every subject but reference books, video tapes, audio tapes, learning materials, computer accesses, computer software and so much more. With just a notebook and some pencils, I truly believe you could educate your children with just a library at hand! Don’t spend a fortune on all these reference books for home. Use the libraries! And the librarians love homeschoolers
9. Take frequent break days. If you are sick, or some family obligations make a day difficult, take a day off. Instead of great big weeks off or even the whole summer, take frequent days off through the year to refresh and empower you. The children will be pleased and you will get a chance to regroup. Just make sure they aren’t every other day!
10. Watch for outside time stealers! Field trips and social outings and classes for this and that are important, just make sure you are not overdoing it. Too many errands and outings can kill a day’s learning and overwhelm your schedule. Remember that you are home schooling not car schooling! Try and schedule a day that is busy and three or four days that are not. Your family will appreciate this!
Should You Homeschool Your Children?
Home schooling is a very important option to consider for schooling your child. The bottom line for any school choice should be how well it serves the needs of the child. There are many cases in which home schooling is the right choice to make, but only you, as a parent can decide.
Beyond the aspect of the child’s needs, there are other things that you’ll need to consider as well. The decision is completely up to you, but having all the facts can help you to make the right one overall.
One thing that you will need to decide if you can or cannot provide is teaching. Not everyone is a teacher. While you will have a wide range of resources to help you, you will need to provide your child with the ability to learn through your words, actions and the products you provide for them. You’ll need to establish a routine, stick with it and then you’ll need to go back and make sure the learning objectives are covered.
There are many resources that you can tap into to help you to provide a home schooling environment for your child. There are resources online including curriculums, guide books, lesson plans, websites for learning, CD ROMs and a wide range of home schooling websites that will provide you with the foundation that you need. Of course, much of these will be costly. So, you’ll need to carefully consider if you can afford to home school a child.
Lastly, the hardest part of home schooling is the work involved. Yes, you will need to make a commitment to do it. While the many rewards of schooling your child out of your home are well worth it, the fact is that there is a lot of work to be done. The good news is that you’ll have the back up and support of others in your area that home school as well as the many friends online that you are likely to meet.
The decision to do home schooling is one to make carefully. If you can not find it in yourself to do all the hard work and teaching or you can not afford it, you can still incorporate many aspects of it throughout their day. The goal is to provide your child with the atmosphere and learning objectives that they need to succeed.
Beware of the Five-Minute Break! (From A Slice of A Homeschool Life)
Do your children ask during school hours if they can take just a little, teeny five-minute break? Mine do. I’m not sure how they came up with the idea that they are entitled to do this (probably the first time they tried it, and it worked!), but they insist that five-minute breaks should be a part of every home-schooling day. Lunch and recess? No problem. Five-minute breaks? Beware!
So,what’s terrible about a little five-minute break? The problem is, they somehow turn into fifteen-minutes or more, and then you find out that in addition to growing longer (all by themselves), they are also addictive! Yes, first it was just one five-minute break a day. But soon the requests changed to “When I finish my math can I take a five-minute break?” “When I’m done with spelling, can I?” And then reading, and on and on. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if I opened a teacher’s manual and saw the instruction: “STOP NOW FOR A FIVE-MINUTE BREAK.” Why not? They seem to be everywhere.
Okay, five minutes is not a lot of time. I realize that. The problem is that kids do not. Really. To them, being granted permission for a break is like getting a key to a magical door to another world: they step into it hoping they will never have to come back. Take my oldest son, for instance.
Hungry for his next five-minute “fix,” Brian’s eyes, which are large anyway, suddenly take on beagle proportion, and he puts on all the puppy-dog pathos he can muster. (Please, Mom, p-l-eeease, can I take a 5-minute break?) And despite the five minutes stretching into ten or more, I am then subjected to a barrage of complaints such as, “Oh, already! I just started playing with Matt! It can’t be five minutes already!”
ME: Well, actually, it’s FIFTEEN minutes!
BRIAN: (laughingly) Fifteen minutes? No way! No way!
Despite his blossoming skills at telling time, he just cannot fathom the realities of a sixty-second minute. Somewhere in the mysterious regions of his just turned seven-year-old brain, he thinks of five minutes in terms of seconds (300 of them) and then expects to live them out in years; What else can account for his daily baffled expression when I inform him that his time is up?
Once, losing all patience, I made the radical move of threatening to abolish five-minute breaks from our school. My children were in arms instantly:
ME: Where is it written that you must have five-minute breaks?!
THEM: Mom! EVERYONE has five-minute breaks!!
ME: I don’t! I never get a break! What about that?
(For some reason, this morsel of truth never evokes anything other than sheepish smiles: It’s true, but they don’t care!)
Of course, I do take breaks. I nurse the baby when she’s ready for it, but I keep within ear shot of the “classroom”–just close enough to keep up my stream of “Okay, no more talking! That’s enough! Be quiet, you two! Brian, did you finish ALL those spelling words? Kaitlin, I thought you were reading!!”
(It seems the closer we get to the end of the school year, the more my children suddenly have to say to each other across the table during school. It’s actually a law of the universe, like gravity: The closer kids are to being DONE with something, the more they drag it out.)
Are you thinking that our methods are not enough fun, that school shouldn’t be such a drag that kids can’t wait to get away from it? I agree. I just haven’t figured out, yet, how to complete all the requirements of the school year in a way that is always fun.
Learning, let’s face it, is sometimes hard work. Perhaps in some ideal world (and maybe in some ideal homes), it’s always fun, but that isn’t the case in my experience or our school. My kids show me they enjoy learning by all the spontaneous inquiries they make, reading they do, and so on. The trick, I suppose, is to encourage their natural curiosity with the right amount of work, while trying not to overwhelm them in the areas in which they are not naturally inclined.
Until I get that right, however, I’ll just have to live with the five-minute break. Only for now on, I’m setting a timer!
Three Effective Tips for Planning and Managing Homeschool Lessons
Tip #1
Basic Lesson Planning
If you use different books from different publishers, it can get a little confusing trying to figure out and remember how many lessons (or pages) per day (or week) you need to complete to finish each book by the end of the year.
First, take your teacher’s manual and see how many lessons there are. Then, divide this by the total number of school days you have in the year. Let’s say, for example, that your literature book has 122 lessons. If there are 180 days in the school year, you need to do three lessons per week to finish the book, with a few weeks needing four lessons. If your history book has 112 lessons, you will do three per week and will able to finish a little earlier than the end of the year.
Once you established this, write it down in your lesson plan book in a prominent place to serve as a reminder.
Tip #2
Calculate Percentage of Book Finished
To determine if you are “on track” to finish a book by the end of the school year, first find out how far along you are in the school calendar. For example, if you have just finished school day number 36 and you have 180 school days in the year, you have completed 20% of the school year (36 divided by 180 = 20%).
Next, determine how far you have come in each subject. To do this, take the lessons completed and divide them by the total lessons. For example, if you just finished lesson 35 in your English textbook and there are 160 lessons, you are 22% finished. If you just finished lesson six in science and there are 64 lessons, you are about 9% finished. If you’ve completed 20% of your school year, you are slightly ahead in English, but significantly behind in science.
Tip #3
Avoid Burnout
Tip #1 and Tip #2 are only guides. Becoming a slave to them will lead to homeschool burnout. Life will interfere with homeschool plans. This is part of what makes homeschooling so great–you will have many opportunities to turn real life into real lessons. Get creative: taking your neighbor to the hospital become a social studies lesson for your forth grader. Getting the oil changed in your car becomes a auto shop lesson for your teenage son. Grocery shopping becomes a math and home economics lesson for your junior high student. Setting the table is a sorting activity for your pre-schooler.
Think on your feet, and remember that learning occurs in many forms, a few of which are from textbooks.
Top Four Reasons to Teach Grammar in Your Homeschool
Are you a “relaxed homeschooler”? Have you ever wondered if spending one, two, or even more years on grammar is a meaningful use of your precious time? Have you heard that extensive grammar studies are not important, as long as the student reads well and reads a lot? Here are four reasons you should not skimp on the study of this important subject:
1. Helps with foreign language. English grammar provides an effective basis for the study of upper level foreign language. If one first understands grammar in English, it’s much easier to understand it in the foreign language, because it provides a strong basis for comparison. Since high schools now require foreign language for graduation, and colleges look for it on high school transcripts, why not ensure that your child will be thoroughly prepared for it?
2. Helps with English composition. It is helpful to know English grammar when studying higher levels of composition. The language of grammar enables us to talk to our kids accurately about what they have written: “You ended your sentence with a preposition,” or “You used an adjective instead of an adverb,” or “In a prepositional phrase, the pronoun must use the objective case.” All of these ideas can be conveyed without the language of grammar, but it is more accurate to teach this way.
3. Teaches thinking skills. Since grammar has clearly defined rules, studying grammar encourages logical thinking. Kids must follow a logical progression in order to label and understand parts of speech.
4. Increases vocabulary. Learning new words is great; learning them in context is better. The study of grammar is not only the study of the parts of speech and how they fit together; it is also the study of a new set of vocabulary words in context.
If you are struggling with reasons to teach grammar, perhaps these four will give you the boost you need to teach this subject confidently, knowing your time is well spent.
How to Incorporate Kwanzaa into Your Homeschool Curriculum
With the wellspring of cultural knowledge available to educate African American children about our rich heritage a solid anchor for all of this information is Kwanzaa. Unless you know where you come from, you can never arrive at where you should be going (huge paraphrase). Let’s look at this quote…
Kwanzaa was created to introduce and reinforce seven basic values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing family, community and culture among African American people as well as Africans throughout the world African community. These values are called the Nguzo Saba which in Swahili means the Seven Principles. Developed by Dr. Karenga, the Nguzo Saba stand at the heart of the origin and meaning of Kwanzaa, for it is these values which are not only the building blocks for community but also serve to reinforce and enhance them.
…from the Official Kwanzaa Web Site – http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/7principles.html
After learning American history, World history, the history of art, music, writing and the like – African American history is a must and I will touch on a way to add Kwanzaa to your curriculum.
First let’s start with the little ones – the simplest way that we use is with coloring pictures. Give them examples of of the seven symbols of Kwanzaa which you can find online and let them color them as they desire. Remember to write the names of each symbol and tell them the meaning of each one. As they get older they will begin to recall the meaning of the symbols and ask questions about each one. Parents prepare ahead of time to answer their questions about Kwanzaa as they will ask about each one and it will probably be at a time when you are not at your computer or near a Kwanzaa calendar to remember. Our children need good principles to guide them thru life and this is an invaluable way to instill them.
For those a little more mature in age get them to make a Kwanzaa calendar to place in their room, with the symbols, their names and meaning. As an added way to remember Kwanzaa we discuss each separate symbol, name and meaning each month leading up to Kwanzaa – giving you extra material to which subjects like history, culture, languages, writing and composition can be budded from throughout the year.
Starting at those at the ages of 16 and up we let them choose a principle and go online to research examples of each Kwanzaa symbol being applied in the past, present and produce an example that can be used in the future. The future application of their respective Kwanzaa symbol can be next year or five years from now and triggers their use of critical thinking – something that young leaders need to practice in order to be part of building family, community and culture.
A more in-depth lesson plan that can be used as a homeschooling guide to Kwanzaa can be found at the Learning to Give website: http://www.learningtogive.org/lessons/unit158/overview.html. Each age group has a different activity planned for celebrating Kwanzaa in a more structured format.
Because of the richness of Kwanzaa and the principles that it points to as a reinforcement for community, family and culture it’s values should be rehearsed year-round just as Christmas in July and other holidays are touched upon out of season. We have the future of our nation’s principles in our hands let’s not forget to remind each other to keep those principles.
Homeschool Your Child Using Themed Based Curriculum
Themes are a fun way to homeschool your child. A theme can be created from any topic that your child is interested in. A theme is simply a base topic from which you can teach from in your lesson plans. A few examples of themes are apples, bats, zoo, space, fun in the sun, or even Dr. Seuss. You can choose just about any topic that you would like for your theme. Using themes will make your lesson plans more creative, fun and interesting.
Themes usually have a time frame from which they are based around. Themes can last from one week all the way to one month depending on how in depth you want to approach your theme. I would suggest using a theme no longer than two weeks with your homeschool child. Incorporating themes into your homeschool lesson plans is really quite simple and you and your child will both enjoy the fun that comes with creating a theme based lesson plan.
Themes do not have to be incorporated into every teaching objective for the week. You can be selective and use themed based curriculum once or twice a day, throughout your homeschool lesson plans. Get your child involved into your lesson planning process. Have your child help choose themes that are interesting to him. When children are actively involved in the lesson planning process and given choices they are more eager to learn. I suggest getting your child involved in all aspects of lesson plan preparation to keep their interests.
Let’s take the theme apples as an example of using themes in your lesson plans. In science, you can dissect an apple and look at the apple seeds or you could discuss how apples grow. In math, you could dissect an apple into halves and fourths. In social studies, you could learn about Johnny Appleseed. In language arts, you can read many books related to apples and even write your own apple related paragraph. During art, you can make apple prints using cut up apples with paints. In P.E., you can have an apple toss, jump over apples, or even bobbing with apples. For music time, you can find many songs related to apples to sing with your child. Make homemade applesauce, apple muffins, or apple butter for your cooking class. You can make interactive bulletin boards using apple projects that your child creates.
The most important factor in using a themed based curriculum with your child is to integrate the themes into your child’s objectives that need to met for the school year. A nice blend of themes into your curriculum base objectives can be both fun and rewarding for your child. Make learning fun and interesting by incorporating theme based curriculum into your lesson plans.
Homeschool Spanish – 3 Ways To Liven Up Your Lessons
Homeschool Spanish! 3 simple keys to liven up the lessons
Are you interested in making the Spanish learning in your home more exciting?
If your kids are studying outside the home, do you feel they need a more lively approach to keep them interested?
Homeschool Spanish can be tough. Many levels to teach, boring and repetitive materials and no connection to the language all make for a tough going.
The thing is, as a Homeschooling parent, you’re used to making things come alive.
You bake a cake and make a math lesson out of it. You walk in the park,
discover plants and learn about science.
But fear not. I’m about to show you how you can add three tricks to your homeschool Spanish atmosphere that will get your creative juices flowing and help you liven up your lessons.
Key #1 – Bring Spanish to life in your home
Any child wants (and needs) to feel connected to what they’re learning. That’s why homeschooling is such a blessing. Those connections are real easy when you’re the one in charge.
Well, why not start to incorporate some common expressions into your daily routine and see how things go. Here a starter list of phrases you can use with your child.
- No me digas! – You’re kidding!
– Qué va! – No way!
– No quiero – I don’t want to (a biggie with the younger ones)
– Qué pasa aquí? – What’s going on here?
Naturally there are more but, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. One expression every couple of days will be enough to get them involved…and you too.
In fact, the whole family can start creating typical phrases that can be used day in and day and allow your homeschool Spanish experience to grow like a freshly watered plant.
Key #2 – Serve it up in ways your kids like it.
Most kids love music, TV or reading. So why not try to include a little
of each into your Spanish lessons.
For example, for the little ones, there are educational programs (ex. Dora The Explorer)
on TV that attempt to use Spanish in a fun and informative way.
If your children are in their teens, you can find Spanish music that’s similar to their
tastes. You can find any type of music online or ask in your local music store. Then,
once you have the music, you can use the lyrics to study the words,
the expressions or the tenses.
Reading is no different. You can find bilingual texts of Dr. Seuss’ series or
Clifford the Big Red Dog for the little ones and similar titles for the older kids.
Just go online at Google or check your local library.
Key #3 – Find a great idea and copy it
This is important because it saves you the most time and money.
If you’re the teacher and the material is a little…dry,
go out and look for resources that have innovative, “outside-the-box” approaches to learning. They don’t have to be language texts. The idea is to find an approach you like and copy it.
Go browse some local bookstores or libraries. Go surfing on the internet. If you like what you see, study it a bit and think of ways to use the same technique in your Spanish lessons.
Here’s an example: Vocabulary Cartoons is a wonderful book that uses mnemonics and visuals to memorize SAT words. Well, why not use the same technique to memorize Spanish words?
If you think you like the resource, make sure it has a guarantee (the longer the better) so you can try it at home.
This whole process doesn’t have to cost any money and will certainly save you time thinking up new ways to inject excitement into your homeschool Spanish lessons.
As a Homeschooling parent, you have options a public school teacher doesn’t have. Why not take advantage of them?
And remember, if your kids are learning outside the home, you can find something fun to use with them so that they maintain their interest through the year.
The Value of A Mom: From, The HomeSchool Chronicles
One day Matthew, my four-year-old, demonstrated just how much mothers are often under-appreciated nowadays. He came into the kitchen and informed me in a matter-of-fact tone, that he wished I would die–but he liked me a little because I gave him food and drinks. Feeling a bit daunted by four-year-old honesty (or should I say brutality?) I replied, “Well, I’m glad you like me a little, because I love you A LOT!”
By bedtime, he had softened towards me. As I tucked him in, he held up his two hands with fingers outstretched and said “Mom, I’m going to love you for this many days.” I smiled (he didn’t notice the tongue-in-cheek) and said “Wow! You’re gonna love me for ten whole days?!” He nodded, smiling happily and was soon off to dreamland.
I tend to take statements like these from my young children with nary a blink–but honestly, aren’t we mothers often given a bad rap? For this reason, I’ve decided to give moms everywhere a Mother’s Day present: two stories which pay tribute to good old Mom.
First is one about Ben Johnson, the famed black physician. Dr. Johnson is noted for making brilliant ground-breaking advances in his field of pediatric surgery, but interestingly, early in his academic career he was perceived as a failure.
As a youngster in public school, he was not considered bright, and his grades were low. He attributes his eventual success to one thing: his mother. (Don’t you just love this kind of story?) His mother, surprisingly, was illiterate, but she possessed an abundance of two important ingredients: faith and love. She had the love to consistently place her boys before the throne of grace by prayer, and the faith to believe in them, despite daunting report cards.
Although she herself could not read, she required both her sons to write two book reports a week. It was this sole requirement, coupled with prayer and the firm conviction that her boys could succeed, that turned things around for Johnson. Soon he was at the top of his class–and now he is at the top of his field!
Benjamin West, the famous American painter, also attributed a great deal to his mother. This is how he described what made him a painter: “One day his mother left him with his sister Sally. He found some bottles of colored ink and decided to paint Sally’s portrait. In the process he messed up the kitchen. When his mother returned, she said nothing about the kitchen. Picking up the paper he was working on, she exclaimed, ‘Why, it’s Sally!’ And she rewarded his effort with a kiss. West said, ‘My mother’s kiss that day made me a painter.’”*
Inspiring stories, no? As mothers, we share the same ability to influence our children to be their best. It’s really no less than astonishing, the degree to which we can make a difference in young lives!
Are your children disappointing you in an academic area? Pray for them. Believe in them. Are they troublesome in any way at all? Love them. As someone has said, “Love them most when they least deserve it.” And, if that fails to improve things, (but it won’t), you can always begin requiring two book reports a week!
Happy Mother’s Day, moms. You deserve it.
Thinking Outside the Books – Homeschool Math Lab Days
At a recent homeschool convention, I had the opportunity to speak to many moms about ways to think “Outside the Books”, when it comes to our homeschooling. I wasn’t advocating never using textbooks or changing programs, but rather, helping them see that there are many ways to “show what you know”. It is also important for us to help our children see that real learning happens all the time, not just when they are filling out worksheets or sitting at our school table.
One way we have added a bit of spice to our homeschooling over the years is with a weekly Math Lab day. On one day a week I plan for us to leave the math curriculum on the shelf and do some hands-on learning with games, crafts, etc. Math Lab days are also great for using math software you have sitting around, but may never get around to using. Or how about those math games you have purchased, but usually remain on the shelf collecting dust?
Just what kinds of things can you do on Math Lab Day? I’m glad you asked!
Young children
* Counting games with candy, Legos, or anything else you might have lying around.
* “War” with a regular deck of cards or make your own deck with numbers to 100 and maybe a “wild card” or two to make things more exciting.
* If you have them, Snap Cubes (a popular manipulative) are great to play with, making “trains” of different color patterns. You start the pattern, and your child adds on to the train following the pattern. Then let them start a pattern and you finish it.
* Any board game that requires dice and counting.
* Use standard and non-standard items to measure things around the house. “Hey, Mom, did you know the cat is 50 paper clips long?”
* Kitchen – baking involves using lots of real life fractions – while you’re at it,how about sharing the “fruits” of your math lesson with a neighbor!
* Play store
Elementary thru Middle School
* Math with Literature! We love Sir Cumference, A Place for Zero, Equal Schmequal, and other titles in the math adventure series.
* Our favorite math games are S’math and Knock Out! from Muggin’s Math – we just purchased their new fraction games, too.
* Board games, including Monopoly, PayDay!, Sequence and more.
* Card games like UNO and War. A favorite is to use flashcards with math facts as our “war” deck.
* Videos: Multiplication Rock, Money Rock
* Play store and many of the other activities from the above list
* If you have any of the handheld, electronic math toys, Lab Day is a good time to make sure they are put to use
* Computer games – Money Town, Math Blaster, etc.
* Use activities from “Family Math”, “Math for Smarty Pants” or “Games for Learning Math.”
* Plan an imaginary trip and use a map to figure how many miles you will travel.
* For kids interested in the Stock Market, you can use Lab Day each week to track and check on a couple of stocks, plotting their progress on a graph.
* Visit one of the fun, free math game sites online like the Math Arcade at funbrain.com. There are lots more free websites for online learning in my book, Using the Internet In Your Homeschool.
One other idea that we’ve implemented, not just for Lab Day, but as a way to add some more real life application to our math lessons is the “Mommy Bank”. I gave each of my kids a blank check or savings registry book. Their allowance is “direct deposited” into their Mommy Bank account. They must add the amount each week. They also deposit money received for their birthday, odd jobs, etc. When they purchase something, I pay for it and we deduct it from their account in the Mommy Bank. Of course, older children often prefer to keep their money with them, but this works well when they are younger or for those kids who are not yet ready to carry around cash.
The above lists are just a few of the things we have done on Math Lab Day over the years. Writing this article has reminded me that my own homeschooling has fallen into a bit of a rut. Sounds like tomorrow needs to be an “Outside the Book” kind of day!
Starting Your Homeschool
For some reason you’ve decided to homeschool.
Is it because you don’t like or agree with the curriculum of the public schools? Or maybe you don’t want your child to be exposed to peer pressure before you’ve taught your child right and wrong?
Possibly it’s because you’d like for your child to attend private school but you just don’t have the finances to afford it.
Another possibility is that your child is a special needs child, maybe slower than normal, and you don’t trust the public schools to give him/her the special attention that you know they will need.
Whatever the reason, you’ve decided that you, as a parent, can do a better job of attending to and nurturing your child’s educational growth and learning than other alternatives available to you.
If you’re new to this, you’ll find that the biggest problem that you’ll encounter is that there’s almost no way to generalize the home school concept, because each case is different. There is no right and wrong. In fact – probably one of the unstated reasons you’ve chosen to do home schooling and one of the main benefits is that you get to pretty much create your own set of right and wrong rules.
You set the curriculum. And depending on what state you live in, you choose the instructional materials, the books, the hours, and so on.
And on the negative side, when you run into difficulties with your students (i.e., your kids) you and your family will have to resolve them yourself, with little or no help from the state.
No matter what your approach there are two things you are going to have to do:
1. You’re going to have to educate yourself about home schooling. This means renting or buying home school educational dvds. You should also make it a point to read books written by ordinary people who have gone through the very things you’re about to so you can avoid making their mistakes with your kids.
2. There is no nationwide agreement on what a home school accreditation program should look like or include. Each state, municipality, and school district is different. Unavoidably, you’re going to have to become familiar with and abide by the statues governing homeschooling in your particular state.
Aside from those two things, I think the basic thing you can give your home school child is a loving and supporting “classroom” environment .
Creating, Maintaining and Presenting a Homeschool Portfolio
Many school districts now require homeschoolers to present portfolios showing their student’s progress in an organized fashion. This is actually a very convenient method of recording whenever it is done properly. Here are some ideas on how to create, maintain, and present your homeschool portfolio for a successful assessment, evaluation and review.
First of all, it is important to have a firm grasp on precisely what a homeschool portfolio is. Basically, a homeschool portfolio is a collection of materials that are used in order to showcase what your child has learned over the course of the “school year.” This is important because numerous states require an annual assessment of homeschooled students either via testing or the presentation of a portfolio. While it may seem that keeping a portfolio is only good in so far as you need to comply with the law. This is not the case however. Portfolios can also help parents and their children to record their progress and achievements. This becomes even more important once a child has reached high school and needs a diploma.
Now that we understand the importance of a portfolio, it is also important to understand that there is no right or wrong way in which to create a portfolio. It is up to the parent and/or child what materials the portfolio will contain. However, it is a good idea to choose a variety of material in order to reflect what the child has learned, experienced and accomplished throughout the year. Some items that should be included in your portfolio are: Suggested items to include are:
(1.) A journal which contains notes about activities and the progress that has been made.
(2.) A list of resources (ie books, computer software, games, toys and outside classes).
(3.) Samples of the child’s work (ie samples of creative writing and drawings, text book or workbook pages, and if possible you may include audio or video tapes of your child singing, playing a musical instrument, reading aloud, or taking part in a a dramatic performance – pictures will also sometimes work well in place of audio or video tapes).
(4.) Photos of field trips, artwork, projects and family life.
(5.) Brochures and booklets from field trips and other activities.
(6.) A list of books that the child has read including both the title and the author.
(7.) A list of your goals for the year.
While this may seem quite overwhelming, you’d honestly be surprised at how easily you can accomplish this when you start preparing your portfolio at the beginning of the year. Simply use a three ring binder and add paper for your journaling. Start off by listing a few of your goals for the year and what resources you’ll be using to achieve those goals (these can be modified throughout the year as needed). Then begin collecting samples of work, organizing them by subject, and punching holes in them to place them in your binder. Always have at least a throw away camera at hand so that you can take pictures of anything that you’d like that your child does (ie reading, playing, dancing). You’ll also want to take pictures at field trips as well as pictures of your child’s projects and creations. These pictures can either be placed in a photo album or if you’re feeling really craftsy you could organize them into a scrapbook. You’ll also want to make sure to hold onto any brochures or other paper items that you collect while on an educational outing. These can be easily placed in clear see-through sheet protectors. This is also a good time to begin accumulating a list of books that are being read.
Once you have put together the beginnings of your portfolio, don’t stop there. Regular maintenance (I suggest weekly as it will help you to write your lesson plans for the following week) should include regular journal entries and an ongoing collection of work samples, photos and whatever else you wish to include. Some school districts will require a quarterly assessment throughout your homeschool year. This is a time for parents and children to reflect upon their progress and accomplishments from the previous months. Yet, even if your school district doesn’t require a quarterly review, you won’t want to wait until the end of the year to scramble and race to put together a portfolio that your school district will approve of. Neither you nor your child deserve having to go through the unneeded stress of having to sort through all of the material that has been collected throughout the year.
When it is time for review you may choose to remove some of the materials from your portfolio. You will find that some of these things simply do not properly reflect what you’ve accomplished throughout the year. If/when you decide to weed through your portfolio, you need to remember that the purpose of the review is to provide a general overview of the homeschool year, demonstrate that the child is engaged in homeschooling and that progress is being made.
The portfolio review can be exciting since it provides both parents and children with a time to talk about what they’ve been doing at home. When discussing this with your child, you may find it helpful to write down a summary of the items that you wish to highlight during your year before the review. For instance, if your child learned to read or master a skill you may wish to point this out to the reviewer. Of course, you should never view your portfolio review as a time for you to be judged or ridiculed. It is a time to listen, learn and support from your reviewer. Your child does not need to be present during this time. However, if your child wants a chance to “brag” about their accomplishments and progress to other homeschoolers, then this review is a perfect opportunity for them to do so.
Homeschool is a Superb Child Education Solution
A number of parents and youngsters are unhappy about the state of today’s modern schooling institutions. Disciplinary problems, Drugs and gangs are just a sample of the issues that today’s parents and teens are concerned with. If you are thinking about an education alternative, give some consideration to homeschool educating by considering the following information.
Home Schooled adolescents are mainly tutored by one or both parents. The modern school day of eight to three or something in the region can go out the window in some situations. As an alternative, parents may choose to oversee their Childs education every evening after work with the chances of including sections of the weekends. Also, parents can pay for a teacher or make it so that one parent is able to oversee the kids education while the other takes care of earning a wage.
Another point is the curriculum. Home schooling parents must select a program of study that works with, not against, their children’s learning capabilities and styles. You see some kids are visual learners while others need more hands-on assistance by assembling things or taking them to bits. And, the curriculum of your choosing will have to be okayed by the local education board. Check out the different variations that can be located online or that circulate among home schooling groups or appear in your local library. The school superintendent or local press may also be able to help in this area.
It is vitally important to ensure that your children are meeting educational goals and are keeping with their age and grade capabilities. A majority of homeschooled learners actually perform better than their counterparts in conventional schooling, Others can fall behind and may not do well in a one on one setting with the parent. It may well be up to the parents, who may have little or no formal education, to ensure the quality and standard of their kids education.
Last but not least, be sure to supplement at-home education with field trips, community group activities, and perhaps extracurricular participation in sports, music, or art classes. You can get more info about these from the local community institutions, library , or certain county high schools that provide such services. Home-schooled students are among the brightest and best prepared fro college. But take care to make sure that your child receives a quality, top notch education if you decide to choose this option. For further information and advice, contact one of the broad-based home schooling programs or check with the local school board to source other parents in your area who are themselves in the process of homeschool education. If however this turns out to be tough you could easily put an ad in the local press. This way you should be able to find some other homeschooling parents and together the task of homeschool education would hopefully be easier and the end result will be a quality education for your kids.
Regardless of what methodology you normally use for your homeschool, unit studies can provide you with a nice break from the norm sometimes. They are especially nice whenever you’re trying to teach your child(ren) to think a little more about how the different parts of life actually fit together, and they can also give you a break whenever you’re faced with the doldrums.
So, how do you decide what subjects to persue whenever you’re ready to do a unit study? Well, take a look at your child and see what he/she is deeply interested in. Those are the subjects to pursue with your unit studies. Another way to decide what would make a great unit study is to look through your year’s studies and notice if there are any “holes” in subject matter that you think should be filled. Once you find that “hole,” you can find a unit study on that topic, and take a week or two to teach it. For instance, if your child finds black holes fascinating, but your science text book covers them in just a paragraph or two, then there is the perfect opportunity to do a unit study on astronomy.
Once you’ve figured out what you’d like to do a unit study on, all you need is a little time and creativity, and you can create your own unit studies. Assembling your own curriculum around one topic sounds difficult, but if this wasn’t the case, then educational companies such as “Teacher Created Materials” wouldn’t publish and sell as many great unit studies as they do.
There are 2 main drawbacks to designing your own unit studies. First of all, it takes time. If you’re a busy parent, this could be enough of a reason to take a trip to your nearest teachers’ supply store with your credit card in hand. Secondly, it may require access to a couple of grade-level subject books (ie science, language arts, or math) so that you know which skills are typically covered at a particular grade level. If you have a good library with an educational books department, then you may also have the perfect excuse to spend a long Saturday with a pocket full of change at the library with a stack of books. Another idea is that if you have a good set of Internet research skills, you can spend your Saturday tucked away at home.
Now that we see the drawbacks, what are the benefits of a unit study? You can teach whatever your heart desires. Plus, if you decide to create your own unit study, you’ll find that it is cheaper and more economical than tracking down a pre-made unit study. Furthermore, nobody knows your child as well as you do, and therefore nobody can prepare a unit study for your child as well as you can.
Whenever you’re creating your own unit study, you need to keep in mind that your unit study needs to cover all of the subjects that you’d normally teach, unless you plan to skip a specific subject and keep working through your regular curriculum for that subject. However, to create a complete unit study, you need to include the first 2 subjects from the following list and as many of the other subjectss as you can logically fit in there too. Now for the list:
(1.) Math – You need to create math problems at your child’s level. For instance, if you’re working with a young child on a unit study about baseball, then you can practice addition with bats and balls, write a story problem that talks about number of pitches thrown until the team reached the final out, etc. However, older children would need something that is more on their level. For instance, you may discuss the speed of the bat, distance the ball travels, or the number of hot dogs that individual team fans eat.
(2.) Language Arts – This area includes reading, comprehension, grammar and writing skills. While you don’t need to include every one of these items in every unit study that you write, you should have your child write something about the topic. A great suggestion here would be to have your child read a book about the topic then write a narrative telling you about what he/she read in the book.
(3.) Science – Sometimes a unit study lends itself quite easily to science, but other times you’ll find yourself having to work a little bit harder. For instance, a unit study on bugs will let you off the hook since the entire unit study is about science. However, if you are doing a unit study about ancient Egypt then you may need to take some time to look at the creations of the Egyptian engineers, study mummification, think about ancient medicine, or consider the tools that the Egyptians used to do their work.
(4.) Social Studies or Geography – This may be your main topic, but if it isn’t, then you’ll need to work some information into your topic. Some questions that can help you here include: Where was your topic first seen or invented? What culture surrounded the time or event? Where did this take place? You may also want to learn more about the people of that time period and place.
(5.) Art – Take time to draw, build, act, design or create. You could design a Roman mosaic, sketch an insect’s genetic makeup, build a temple from clay or LEGOs, create a tapestry to illustrate the unit that you’re studying (felt shapes work for quick tapestries when needlepoint takes way too long), or paint the flowers that you’re learning about.
(6.) Music – Sometimes music fits into a unit study nicely. For instance, you could always listen to some folk music while you explore the civil unrest of the 1960s. However, if you’re studying something more scientific, then you may need to work a little harder to fit music into that unit study.
(7.) History – Adding history to a unit study should be relatively easy, regardless of the topic. You could simply research when an event began or an item was invented or you could talk about the events and times that affected an item’s inventor.
(8.) Physical Education – Here again, you may need to be a bit creative. However, when you discover that physical education fits into your unit study, then you should definitely use it! For instance, if you’re studying the ancient Greeks, then you could run footraces like they did.
If you’re still not certain what to do for your very first unit study, try “following” your child(ren) around for a couple days and watch what they do. For instance, if your child spends all of his/her time engrossed in books, then think about a literature-based unit study (ie how books are made). On the other hand, your child may spend his/her time outside digging for rocks. Then why not do an archeology or rocks and minerals unit study?
Of course, there are some topics that you can use numerous times as your child(ren) grows older. These include:
(1.) Animals, horses, or mammals
(2.) Baseball, basketball, fencing, or sports in general
(3.) Cooking or catering (which may include business and economics information)
(4.) Kites
(5.) Flight
(6.) Transportation
(7.) Weather
(8.) Historical cultures (ie medieval history, ancient Egypt, etc.)
The spark of a unit study is lit whenever your child(ren) mentions an interest. Whenever they do, you need to write it down somewhere. Keep a running list of interests and you’ll soon have more than you’ll know what to do with. However, even if your child only shows a deep interest in one or two topics, you should take time to explore those. You may discover that you’re able to create several unit studies based on the first one as new interests are developed.
Seventeen Reasons To Homeschool Your Kids
Homeschooling was once a rare educational method. Today it is well known and an accepted way to education your kids.
Most parents thinking of homeschooling have a difficult time deciding whether to do it or not. The following is a list 17 reasons why other parents are homeschooling their kids. And, there is one important question you must answer correctly if you expect to succeed in homeschooling. This will be given to you at the end of this article.
- Private school is to expensive
- Their children have problems learning in school or have a hard time getting along with other kids
- They have special health needs
- They are unhappy with the public school curriculum
- They want their kids to have a better education
- They enjoy homeschooling and being with their children
- They don’t want their kids to be badly influenced by other kid and learn their bad behaviors
- They want their kids to learn the skills they need to succeed in life
- They want their kids to receive an education that caters to their interests, ability level and aspirations
- They move around, following husbands work, and this is a way to keep the family together
- Their kids would get the individual attention they really needed
- It gives the kids a chance to become who they really are by giving them more freedom to express themselves than public schools would allow.
- The want to see their kid grow and turn into wonderful, capable, loving person.
- They want a way of life that allows the whole family to be together
- They feel they are releasing their kids to strangers to raise them and this is not what they want to do
- Their own educational philosophy greatly differs with the public school education.
So how do you decide whether to homeschool or not. Well, you’re going to need a lot of information. You need to learn about,
- academic research
- legal homeschool rulings
- homeschooling practicals
- schooling materials
- how much it will cost
- how to evaluate what you are doing
One more important thing you will need to find out. You need to know what it feels like to homeschool your kids day in and day out.
Finally, the most important question you have to answer if you are planning to homeschool your kids is:
Do you really enjoy being and spending time with your kids? The question is, if you enjoy spending a lot of time with your kids every day. You must like being with your kids most of the time and if you don’t then most likely, homeschooling is not for you.