We pulled our children from their school after spring break when the boys were in second grade and kindergarten. We wanted the nine remaining weeks of the school year to "try it out" in case homeschooling wasn't for us. We had no curriculum, no experience, and no idea how things would turn out.
We did, however, have internet access.
And library cards.
And lots of people who found out we were homeschooling.
This became our trifecta of curriculum through which our early experiences of homeschool flowed. If you are interested in designing any or all of your own homeschool studies, these can be your greatest aids.
The Internet
I can't imagine how much effort homeschooling was before the internet. I could type in 'kindergarten science' or 'second grade math' and seven billion sites would pop up with unit study materials, other moms blogging about their great ideas, free printable worksheets or coloring pages, and lists of scope and sequence (which I would then google because I had no idea what scope and sequence even meant - it's okay if you don't know what that means either).
I ordered gently used copies of the "Core Knowledge" series of books and based most of what we did for an entire year off of those books; they were an essential resource for guiding our learning by grade level. Their website states:
"In one convenient volume per grade — from What Your Preschooler Needs to Know through What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know — the eight-volume Core Knowledge Series provides parents, teachers, and children with an engaging, illustrated introduction to the important knowledge outlined in the Core Knowledge Sequence. Each book suggests related readings and resources. The kindergarten and first grade books also include sections on how children learn to read."
I also searched several variations of "homeschool for free" or "homeschool resources" and listed the books and read the blogs and fell into internet rabbit holes full of magical ideas and tips. I wrote lists of books that looked helpful.
I knew what my children had been doing in school up to this point, so we tried to pick up from there. We finished the math workbooks the school sent home with them. My kindergartener had only the letter "Q" left in his phonics studies, so I printed off worksheets and coloring pages.
I asked my children what they wanted to learn about. I wrote down those topics under the list of books I had made for myself and off we went to the next critical stop on our journey:
The Library
Our library contained a small but rich homeschooling section. Among the books I read were "Homeschooling on a Shoestring" by Melissa Morgan and Judith Allee, "The Ultimate Book Of Homeschooling Ideas" and "Homeschoolers Success Stories" both by Linda Dobson, "How to Write a No-Cost/Low Cost Curriculum for Your Homeschool Child" by Borg Hendrickson, and racks of homeschool magazines - full to the brim with lessons, activities and tips.
We spent a great deal of time in the non-fiction sections of our library. We found books covering the topics the children were most interested in, as well as resources recommended by the Core Knowledge books and suggested by internet sources. We discovered DK Eyewitness books; three years later they are still our favorites. We chose fictional books to read out loud together, including the first Harry Potter book and several Newbery Medal winners.
We branched out into the Audio-Visual section of the library. We checked out classical music CDs, books on tape or playaways, and instructional DVDs. Our favorites were the "Signing Time" series, "Families of the World" series, and (surprise!) DK Eyewitness.
Then, I discovered an entire "Teacher's Resource" section. Just a few steps away from the homeschooling area! There were reams of pages for copying to create classroom-type crafts (we did a Halloween skeleton from one of these books the next October) as well as themed books for different subjects, different times of year, month-by-month, and even fully written curriculum for certain subjects. It was a goldmine for free curriculum planning. As far as directly impacting the work my children did each day, though, the teachers resource area remained a distant second to...
People Who Heard We Were Homeschooling
We tried to quietly fade into the nine weeks away from school, to privately decide whether or not we were going to continue with this crazy idea. It didn't work out that way. First of all, people want to know where on Earth you have gone. Secondly, people care about you and your kid(s) and want to show it. Third, everyone has tons of stuff sitting around their house taking up space and are all in a constant state of decluttering.
Paper bags started appearing on my doorstep pretty quickly. A cousin's unfinished math book from the previous school year, a barely used stamping set, puzzles, educational games, an expensive math manipulative set, and flashcards became part of our curriculum. My sweet mother unearthed a box of worksheets with wipe-off plastic covers and black, oily pencils that we used during the preschool years at my own childhood home. We were given old textbooks, garage sale books, early reader books, coloring and activity books, matching sets, art kits, craft boxes, jewelry making packs, clay, sorting kits, beads, prizes, and more stickers than you can imagine.
And we used them. We used them all.
I started meeting and talking to other homeschooling families. I was also fortunate to already be friends with three homeschooling families and related to a fourth. They showered me with curriculum samples, borrowed books, group introductions, and reassurances. They let me use their curriculum books, look over their children's work, ask questions about what they used and other families used. The best things that came from these friendships included the book "Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum: A Guide to Catholic Home Education" by Laura M. Berquist and invitations to used curriculum sales, where I continue to gather information and materials - even as we enter our fourth year at home.
Was designing curriculum for my children easy? Actually, yes. It was pretty simple. I'm not going to say it wasn't a lot of work or a great deal of time, but the information and resources are abundantly available. What required the most work was the sorting, organizing, storing, copying and printing of the materials. The researching and teaching parts were fun! Do we still school in this way? No, we purchase a planned curriculum now. But if I weren't also contributing to running our family farm or we were in a tighter financial situation I would want to go back to this method of curriculum design. I still exert a similar technique and level of control over some portions of our children's education. And it was a great way for me to learn what sort of style and rhythm where best going to fit my family.
There is something else I took from my experience of homeschooling without a curriculum: I loan my curriculum out. I give away the manipulative sets, puzzles, craft kits and unfinished workbooks we don't need anymore. I try not to bombard them, but I give entire boxes of borrow or keep items to new homeschooling families when they tell me they are going to give it a try. I loan out science, language arts or reading packages and sets to anyone who is interested in what we have used.
And then I tell them all to get out their library card and start making friends with the most knowledgable librarian working in that wonderful place.
Showing posts with label Lesson Plans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lesson Plans. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Amidst Chaos...
"Amidst chaos lies opportunity."
-Albert Einstein
I admire mothers who have it all together. Or who have it together enough to appear, you know, to have it together.
And while there are limited areas of my life where I do have things pretty well together, I will admit that homeschooling isn't one of them. It gets crazy around here.
I was more organized with 2 children and only 1 of school age, but adding children seems to make it harder. I certainly don't feel that God has called me to homeschool and limit my family size to make it happen in an, um, orderly fashion...
ON THE CONTRARY! It began to occur to me that the 'chaos' of a large household is actually a true benefit to a homeschooling family, depending on how it is received.
Whaaat?
Well, look with me. With a smaller family, I as a mother, have more time and energy to make plans and execute them smoothly. As more children, and more pregnancies, come along, I am stretched thinner and- let's be real here- formal lessons don't happen with the regularity they would without those pesky morning of puking, or those insane growth spurt days where I nurse a baby so much I hardly have time to go pee.
And did I mention those mornings when the 2 year old wakes up screaming because he's not in his shark pajamas... and he won't calm down... till 10 am???
So what's a responsible homeschooling mama to do?
I'm not sure- hehe- as sometimes I'm definitely not that picture-perfect matron, but I can tell you what I, an average, sometimes wiped out, sometimes cranky pregnant lady with three wild and wooly kids, do on any given day that is so nuts-o I can't even remember what's for lunch, or if there is even anything to fix for lunch.
I sit back, smile really big, and open my eyes to the grace.
While I was calming the 2 year old down, or laying in bad trying not to throw up from ravaging morning sickness, my 8 year-old snuck off to write in his secret journal... or to copy Chinese characters from some packaging material (he's currently obsessed with all things Chinese)... or to build a block tower using every block in the house. And my 5 year old choreographed a dance to the Blue Danube which she can play over and over and over and over on the keyboard... or joined in the block building... or made her own slingshot.
Are these things somehow less educational, less important to their development both academic and human than math pages and grammar excercises? Not to me.
Is a day spent playing with siblings (and yes, fighting and making up with siblings) less worthy than a day spent memorizing verb charts or slaving over math facts? And if I think it is less worthy, why?
I remember very clearly the day I took the school books off the high shelf and put them down on the shelf with all the, well, normal books. And something happened. Learning became somehow more normal... more real to us. Interestingly, my kids choose their 'school' books as often as they choose their other books, but it ceases to be a point of contention if today that poetry anthology doesn't get opened. Am I worried that my children won't learn 'what they need to know' because I don't direct their choices like I did in the days of yore: those everyone-has-quiet-time, snacks-at-3 (and ONLY at 3!), march-to-my-drummer days?
No. I see to much evidence that, for me at least, for my children at least, learning happens ALL the time. I can't stop it, hold it back, even if I want to. And as sick as I get of homemade catapults crowding my yard, endless keyboard jam sessions (WHERE ARE THE HEADPHONES YOU GUYS?!!!), art projects that overflow from the 'art table', and requests for math worksheets to be printed at 10 pm (yes, this happens... it seems to be the time of night when the math angel whispers into my children's ears "don't go to sleep... go wake up your mother and ask for math to do for fun...") I wouldn't trade the exuberance, the shouts, the wild adventure, for anything.
My other realization was that I can't schedule every minute of my children's learning and expect to grow self-motivated learners. I need to trust more that their interests will blossom if they have the time to pursue them... and not just on the 2 hour lesson-break planned every Wednesday afternoon!
Some mamas need to be in control. They want to lead. Some mamas let go of all control and give it over to the children. They let the children lead.
But for me, there's Someone else who leads.
And when life hapens- and OH! does it happen- I remind myself Who is in control. Who is the real Educator. Who gives the Light. Who more than me communicates the important stuff directly to these precious souls in my care.
And He will never let me down.
-Albert Einstein
I admire mothers who have it all together. Or who have it together enough to appear, you know, to have it together.
And while there are limited areas of my life where I do have things pretty well together, I will admit that homeschooling isn't one of them. It gets crazy around here.
I was more organized with 2 children and only 1 of school age, but adding children seems to make it harder. I certainly don't feel that God has called me to homeschool and limit my family size to make it happen in an, um, orderly fashion...
ON THE CONTRARY! It began to occur to me that the 'chaos' of a large household is actually a true benefit to a homeschooling family, depending on how it is received.
Whaaat?
Well, look with me. With a smaller family, I as a mother, have more time and energy to make plans and execute them smoothly. As more children, and more pregnancies, come along, I am stretched thinner and- let's be real here- formal lessons don't happen with the regularity they would without those pesky morning of puking, or those insane growth spurt days where I nurse a baby so much I hardly have time to go pee.
And did I mention those mornings when the 2 year old wakes up screaming because he's not in his shark pajamas... and he won't calm down... till 10 am???
So what's a responsible homeschooling mama to do?
I'm not sure- hehe- as sometimes I'm definitely not that picture-perfect matron, but I can tell you what I, an average, sometimes wiped out, sometimes cranky pregnant lady with three wild and wooly kids, do on any given day that is so nuts-o I can't even remember what's for lunch, or if there is even anything to fix for lunch.
I sit back, smile really big, and open my eyes to the grace.
While I was calming the 2 year old down, or laying in bad trying not to throw up from ravaging morning sickness, my 8 year-old snuck off to write in his secret journal... or to copy Chinese characters from some packaging material (he's currently obsessed with all things Chinese)... or to build a block tower using every block in the house. And my 5 year old choreographed a dance to the Blue Danube which she can play over and over and over and over on the keyboard... or joined in the block building... or made her own slingshot.
Are these things somehow less educational, less important to their development both academic and human than math pages and grammar excercises? Not to me.
Is a day spent playing with siblings (and yes, fighting and making up with siblings) less worthy than a day spent memorizing verb charts or slaving over math facts? And if I think it is less worthy, why?
I remember very clearly the day I took the school books off the high shelf and put them down on the shelf with all the, well, normal books. And something happened. Learning became somehow more normal... more real to us. Interestingly, my kids choose their 'school' books as often as they choose their other books, but it ceases to be a point of contention if today that poetry anthology doesn't get opened. Am I worried that my children won't learn 'what they need to know' because I don't direct their choices like I did in the days of yore: those everyone-has-quiet-time, snacks-at-3 (and ONLY at 3!), march-to-my-drummer days?
No. I see to much evidence that, for me at least, for my children at least, learning happens ALL the time. I can't stop it, hold it back, even if I want to. And as sick as I get of homemade catapults crowding my yard, endless keyboard jam sessions (WHERE ARE THE HEADPHONES YOU GUYS?!!!), art projects that overflow from the 'art table', and requests for math worksheets to be printed at 10 pm (yes, this happens... it seems to be the time of night when the math angel whispers into my children's ears "don't go to sleep... go wake up your mother and ask for math to do for fun...") I wouldn't trade the exuberance, the shouts, the wild adventure, for anything.
My other realization was that I can't schedule every minute of my children's learning and expect to grow self-motivated learners. I need to trust more that their interests will blossom if they have the time to pursue them... and not just on the 2 hour lesson-break planned every Wednesday afternoon!
Some mamas need to be in control. They want to lead. Some mamas let go of all control and give it over to the children. They let the children lead.
But for me, there's Someone else who leads.
And when life hapens- and OH! does it happen- I remind myself Who is in control. Who is the real Educator. Who gives the Light. Who more than me communicates the important stuff directly to these precious souls in my care.
And He will never let me down.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Our Favorite Homeschool Tools 2012
Happy New Year! For my first post of 2012, I want to share with you the items we have discovered (or rediscovered) as homeschool essentials for our family this year.
1. Apps
My oldest son and I both moved into the world of smarter MP3s or cell phones this holiday season. We are already making use of them to look up unknown words with dictionary apps, find places with map apps, and make lists with note apps.
I do lots of different things to encourage writing in my dysgraphic son. Special writing items really help him to feel excited about writing. We discovered this product (thank you, Santa) is perfect as it allows him to erase as he is working, never breaks (he presses hard) and becomes permanent the next day.
My daughter is on the invisible thresh hold of truly "getting" reading and writing. She enjoys all work encompassing those subjects, but for some reason this tool has been like magic to her. She loves to write and erase, write and erase, write and erase. If I lived in a state with more stringent record keeping requirements, I would take pictures of her work before she erased it. As it is, I just mark her work as done in my lesson plans, and write on her work book "completed on dry erase slate."
4. Dedicated School Storage
You have heard me talk about this before, and I'm sure I will talk about it again - but it still bears repeating. Organize your materials ahead of time. Have a space devoted only to storing school items. In our case, it is an ugly old set of particle-board shelves I bought at a school garage sale. It's indispensable! I have a section for each child to keep their 'everyday' items like pencils, math books and journals. I have a section where I keep items I use every day like my lesson plans, the books we are reading that week, paper and flashcards. I have a section for books we have finished and books we have yet to come to. It saves me so much time and heartache!
5. Binders
How did I ever homeschool without binders?! I don't know either. I have a binder that contains the entire year's lesson plans, a binder containing enrichment materials, a binder for the appendix that came with my curriculum, and my own week-long binder. Each week, I move what I need for the five school days into it. This includes lesson plans for our core (shared) work, lesson plans for each child's language arts and reading, phonics materials for my first grader, and any seasonal coloring pages or enrichment activities. I separate each of these areas with tabbed, pocketed 3-ring dividers. I place uncompleted work (like spelling lists or coloring pages) on one side of the pocket, and completed work in the other. I also keep stickers for the kids' papers, a zippered pencil case for myself, and inspirational items there (this prayer card is my favorite).
What wonderful items have been a boon to your family in homeschooling this year?
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Altering Lesson Plans
During the second time I made apple bread this autumn season, I altered the recipe. I was confident in the recipe and my ability to follow it successfully. I was also equipped with the knowledge that I could alter the recipe by decreasing the amount of sugar. With the sweetness of the apples and the other ingredients, I knew a little sugar would never be missed. So, I altered the amount and made the bread. NO ONE noticed. It still tasted great.
Lesson plans are a lot like recipes. They tell you what you need (ingredients) and how to put them all together (method). But just like the apple bread recipe, you can alter lesson plans to suit your family.
I confess, initially, I would never alter a lesson plan, ever. Even if it was not working, we still trudged through it. However, once I gave myself permission to change the lesson plans, I felt a little more free to try changing some of the elements to suit our needs.
After tweaking a few lesson plans, I still felt shy about making large changes.
Until I was reminded by others that:
"Lesson plans are a fabulous tool, but not a wise master."
For you see, I was using the lesson plans incorrectly. They were dictating our lessons, not serving as guides. Today, after years of tweaking, changing, and adding to lesson plans, it has become second nature. I am no longer afraid to not do every single step outlined in the lesson plan.
Lesson plans sometimes call for too much of one thing and not enough of another for your child or your family. Don't be afraid, like I was, to alter them here and there to make them better for your situation.
Lesson plans are a lot like recipes. They tell you what you need (ingredients) and how to put them all together (method). But just like the apple bread recipe, you can alter lesson plans to suit your family.
I confess, initially, I would never alter a lesson plan, ever. Even if it was not working, we still trudged through it. However, once I gave myself permission to change the lesson plans, I felt a little more free to try changing some of the elements to suit our needs.
After tweaking a few lesson plans, I still felt shy about making large changes.
Until I was reminded by others that:
"Lesson plans are a fabulous tool, but not a wise master."
For you see, I was using the lesson plans incorrectly. They were dictating our lessons, not serving as guides. Today, after years of tweaking, changing, and adding to lesson plans, it has become second nature. I am no longer afraid to not do every single step outlined in the lesson plan.
Lesson plans sometimes call for too much of one thing and not enough of another for your child or your family. Don't be afraid, like I was, to alter them here and there to make them better for your situation.
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