Wrapping Up Your Year

Wrapping up your homeschool year for the first time can be a bit confusing. When do I finish? What do I keep? What's next?

When do I finish?
In Kentucky, I am required to educate 180 days. We are doing school year-round, and will surpass that by a lot. I don't judge school to be over by days, as much as getting our main curriculum finished. I don't feel the same way about math however.

I sometimes start a new book for math in the middle of the year. Sometimes we aren't finished with our math and use the same book going into the new school year. Since our break isn't that long, if we have switched mid-year it is better to stay on track anyway.

What do I keep?
Go through your child's work, pick some of their best work to keep in a portfolio, and keep some work that shows their growth for the year, like handwriting comparisons. Not only will that show you are teaching, but will serve as a way for your child to see just how much they have grown over the year.

What's next?
This would also be a great time to really sit back and assess the year before moving forward with next year. Don't wait to do this after your break, if you take one. Your mind won't be as fresh with things you want to remember or do differently next year.

Some things to consider:

• Was the curriculum a good fit?
• Was the grade level appropriate?
• Did your schedule work well for your family?
• Discuss with your child what things he may want to learn more about next year.
• Are you happy with your planning/grading system?
• What electives would you like to include?
• Where are your weaknesses?
• What are your strengths?

Write your thoughts down! Have them ready when you go to order curriculum for the next school year.

Perhaps you need to sell all of your curriculum and start from scratch-write down why you felt the curriculum didn't work for your family. That will help you find a better fit next time.

If you can, find a local homeschool convention to refresh your homeschool batteries and look through curriculum. Having a book in your hand will be much more helpful than looking at a small preview online.

Our break is very short, less than a month, and I spend a lot of time planning our year, clearing out shelves, filing school work and getting acquainted with our new curriculum. Nothing feels worse than being unprepared!

Pat yourself on the back, you just gave your children one of the best gifts you can give them-time. Time with family, time with you, time to be a kid. You deserve some chocolate!!

Sam is a Christian homeschooling mom of six, married to Rick, her high school sweetheart. Rick was called to be a preacher, Samantha was called to homeschool, and loves blogging about their journey. She is interested in Bible study, photography, exercise, organizing, and sweet tea. You can find Samantha blogging at Sam’s Noggin. She also writes for The Curriculum Choice.

Curriculum Shopping!

It's that time of year again. Time to start making decisions about what worked this year in your homeschool and what didn't.

Did you find some keepers for next year, or was it all a bust?

{Sam's Noggin}

In our homeschool we have had plenty of busts, not as many keepers. It has been hard to find something that works well with the majority of my children, as we try to use our curriculum in a group.

If you are keeping what you used this year, because it works well, good for you! Just bump up the levels and you are set. If you are starting from scratch, please take some time to figure out what didn't work with your current curriculum before throwing books in your cart.

Do you need to change learning styles?

We have found our fit in curriculum with Trail Guide To Learning from Geography Matters. This curriculum is great to use with the family, and is a literature based unit study kind of curriculum that is Charlotte Mason and Ruth Beechick friendly. We will be using it again next year for everyone but our high school student. It will be the easiest purchase year ever, as I already know several things we are going to use for him as well.

Was the curriculum too easy?

Sometimes you just don't have your child in the right fit for difficulty, and they get bored. Ask your child how the school year has gone so far in their opinion, and if they have ideas about what changes they would like moving forward.

Does the curriculum fit your lifestyle?

Perhaps you find yourself in the car often, and love to stop at the park to do your studying. Choose easily portable curriculum, you won't want to pack the car full of books and lug them around with you.

Is it in your budget?

Sometimes we droll over a particular curriculum, but the price is beyond our reach. Try to decide what you most like about the curriculum and try to find something similar. You'd be surprised at how many things are out there with a few differences.

{Sam's Noggin}

I'm looking forward to the day when I don't have as much to buy, and will be reusing what we have used in the past. Now that we have found something we love, it will happen eventually!

Four Fast Fun Facts About Our Bloggers Featuring.....Samantha & Tracy!

This week, since it is party week, I thought it would be fun to share some fun info about our bloggers.  Each blogger was given a  list of fun questions, and asked to choose from that list four fast fun facts they would like to share about themselves.  This week we are featuring Samantha and Tracy.

Samantha 

Where is one fun place would you like to visit that you have never been to before?


 The ocean. I'd love to see the ocean.


Do you have a favorite fun food combo?


I love cinnamon toast and chocolate milk. (I don't dip or anything, but love the two together.)

What is one little known fun fact you would like to share about yourself?


I am a horribly picky eater, and I randomly discard bites I deem unworthy, for reasons such as being too thick or unattractive, or if the meal doesn't even out at the end.

What fun activities do you like to do in your "free" time?


Obsess about homeschooling and re-plan our entire curriculum future. I do this often, I think I need a step program!


To learn more about Sam, or to read her blog, you can visit her at Sam's NOGGIN.

 

Tracy 

‎What is one little known fact you would like to share about yourself?

 I did ballet for about 12 years and had my own studio at age 15, teaching girls to dance and planning performances as a high school job.

What fun activities do you like to do in your "free" time?


I am a google-addict. I love to find the answers to all my quirky questions. Also, I do love to plan our homeschool, years in advance of what I really need to do.

Do you have a favorite fun food combo?


One food combo that I grew up on is peanut butter and syrup mixed to a smooth blend and spooned onto a graham cracker. We called it the poor man's dessert.

‎Where is one fun place would you like to visit that you have never been before?


 I'd love to tour the ballparks of America, especially the older ones that are still in use. Not only would the nostalgia be awesome, but I'd also have a great excuse for all the ballpark food!




To learn more about Tracy, or to read her blogs, please visit her at Growing In Grace or Homekeepers.




Thank you ladies for sharing more about yourselves!  Please check back next Friday to learn about two more of our bloggers when they share four fast fun facts about themselves at Growing Your Homeschool!

A Day In The Life...The Kelleys

I am taking a free pass today guys. I am sick right now, and just posted a day in our life in pictures on my own blog last week.

I also moved to WordPress and lost all of my Disqus comments.

What a week it has been! In light of my hectic, sick week, I am simply going to point you to my blog, where you can take a peek into how the Kelley house homeschools.

  A Day in Our Homeschool

Our Journey

Homeschooling is such a journey, each of our family’s journeys look different. In my journey (year 3) I am finally learning to stop looking around me.

I am letting go of so many things that I clung to in the first two years.


I wanted to set up the perfect little classroom, that little place that separated our real home life from school. The pretty workbooks lined in a row just like my favorite public school teacher. Our little public school at home.


Today, I still line things neatly, because I thrive on order; we use some classroom items, like a dry erase board, because we’re visual learners, but other than that we are moving very far from the public school image.

Sam's Noggin

School has now spilled into every part of our life, or life has consumed our school. Not sure which, but I like it.


Literature now takes the spot of workbooks, drawings replace any type of busywork, Scripture memorization is our number one priority and continues into the evenings.

Above all, I am no longer entrusting our homeschool to the ideas of others, but am prayerfully looking for what God would have our home and school to become.


This is our journey, our life, our walk.


We can’t cookie cutter our life into anyone else’s; we shouldn’t want to.


Cut your own path through this homeschooling journey, you don’t have to do everything right to give it your all. Even when you mess up, I promise your children will be fine. 

Homeschooling With Pinterest

In my last post, Assessing Your Year, I mentioned taking the holidays to ponder on changes that you want to make to your homeschool. Today I want to give you an idea about how you can benefit from other moms.


I will take for granted that if you are reading this post, you have a reasonable amount of tech ease. If a blog idea has ever helped you, how many more may be out there that you are missing out on?
Google searches work-but they aren’t visually helpful. You may miss an idea all because the title sounds boring; perhaps the introductory words don’t sound like what you are looking for.


The solution? Pinterest!


Using the search feature, you will be drawn into rooms, see curriculum, be inspired by crafts and storage solutions.

You can also search for homeschool blogs. Pinterest addicts love to share their favorite everything. {I even used Pinterest to choose my latest haircut-I shared my board with my stylist right from my phone!} I prefer Pinterest to homeschool magazines. You can find everything there!

But you don’t have an account you say? I am sure you know someone who does! Even if you don’t-get your email to me and I will personally send you an invite.


Be careful though-it can be pretty addictive. Happy pinning!

Assessing Your Year

Most of us will be taking a break for the holidays. This is the perfect time to step away from the constant push of curriculum and slow down with your family.

Time to enjoy, and also to reflect.

I hope you will plan a day within your holiday schedule to spend some time alone. Grab your lesson plans and some hot tea, have a prayer, and see if your year is going the direction you want it to.

Perhaps you need more structure. Maybe now is when you decide to break free from the workbooks.
Each family is different, and each child is different.

Is there a subject everyone {even you} cringes to tackle each day? Does your child smile with excitement over learning something new each day?






Perhaps you might decide you jumped into homeschooling and have committed all of the Five Things Not To Do When You Start Homeschooling sins. {Not you!}


Homeschooling is a living, constantly changing thing. We might not always see what needs to change as we go through the daily routine, but in the calmness of a few hours alone you never know what revelation you might have.

Always be open to change, and make sure your year is everything you hoped it would be. If it isn’t- on with the next!

Try Something New

You decided to homeschool, studied up on all of the methods, chose one and went running with it. You should be at least a few weeks into school by now.

How is it going?

Is it everything you dreamed homeschool would be? Or do you need to make some adjustments?

For us, we are not using a single curriculum we started with. We aren’t even using the same schedule! I went into this homeschooling journey 3 years ago believing we were traditional homeschoolers, with workbooks and all of that jazz, with an eclectic method for choosing that curriculum.

What I have discovered however, is that we are very much Ruth Beechick-Charlotte Mason type learners, and we adore living books.

I knew we were not going to be happy with the curriculum we were using for the year, we would learn of course, but we wouldn’t enjoy it. I am convinced that when you find the method for you, homeschool will be enjoyable!

We dropped everything, and started Trail Guide to Learning by Geography Matters, which I was blessed to be able to review. {Just ask, it never hurts!}

The fit for us is perfect!

This literature-based curriculum covers everything except math.

Oh yeah, we threw the math out the window as well!

We are using Life of Fred now, and I can’t believe the kids now love math! It is so different from anything I have ever seen in a math curriculum, which is a great thing!

These changes were not even on my radar, but they work for us!

If you don’t have new books in the budget, ask around. What isn’t working with a friend may be just what you need, see if you can borrow curriculum someone else isn’t using right now.

Are you are struggling through school? Maybe you need to take a step back and try something completely different. You never know what might work for you!

When Homeschooling Gets Stressful

Even though I truly believe that homeschooling s the most natural, and effective way for children to learn, doesn’t mean that every day {or every week for that matter} goes smoothly. One of the best benefits of homeschooling is that when everyone gets stressed out, you can take a day, even a week off to unwind.

We had been going strong with school from July 5th, up until September 7th or so. We barely had a break from the previous year, and we hit a wall. We were all just not feeling it anymore. The kids were stressed, I was stressed, and the thought of trudging up the classroom stairs made even my eyes glaze over.

What was my solution?


We took a break. An unplanned, glorious break. We all felt much better, and I came to realize that as much as we love homeschooling, I needed to make some adjustments to our schedule. You see, as much as I loved taking Mondays off, the time it was taking for time for breaks throughout the year was minimal. I still will do year-round homeschooling, but we are going to move to 5 day weeks, with more frequent mini-breaks. Homeschooling is flexible. I am so very thankful for that.

What about you? What do you do when things get rough?

Growing Into Homeschooling

When you start out with homeschooling, one of the best tips I wish I had listened to was to start slowly. I had four students my first year, with one I needed to teach how to read. Things would have gone much more smoothly if I had only allowed us to grow into homeschooling.

What do I mean by that?

Don’t jump into all of the subjects at once and stress everyone out!

If you are a few weeks into your school year, and are feeling overwhelmed already, you may need to take a deep breath, and get back to basics.

Maybe strip away Latin and stick with the 3 R’s, or perhaps you need to go even further and begin with only character training.

Some moms do only certain subjects on certain days, rotating the schedule so that there isn’t a heavy load on any one day.

Do you really need creative writing every day each week?

Take a look at your schedule and your curriculum. How many lessons are in each book? How many days will you have instruction? You may find that you can finish all of your lessons if you only do science for example, three days each week.

Most importantly-we are homeschooling to instill a love of learning in our children-that happens even when the school books are closed.

Doing It All

With home and school, as well as blogging, reviewing, church, and mentoring other homeschool moms, I hear the question often-How do you do it all??

The truth is, I don’t. If I tried to do all that I am supposed to do/want to do in a day, something gets put on the back burner. 

I realized that and yet still tried to keep going with everything.

I ignored the laundry piling higher than normal. {The pile that once was not even a pile…} 

I failed to see that my children didn’t see me much other than school, unless it was over the top of my laptop. 

Home cooked meals were suffering from lack of attention, 

and too many pizzas were picked up. 

Clutter was overlooked. 

I told my husband I wasn’t really unplugged from him.

And then one day I finally got it.


I may enjoy helping other moms, and connecting with those who are so much like myself, but I was missing the important part.


The part that kept me home in the first place.


So how do I do it all? By redefining “ALL”.

The laptop is off limits until 1:00. 

The phone can be used briefly to filter emails {I do have online responsibilities}. 

I have stopped saying yes to things online. 

I have stopped saying no to my family. 

I keep the meals and homemaking on my mind at all times, and I thank Him for giving me the time to come to my senses.

“A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.”
Tenneva Jordan

I am still far from perfect, far from doing it all, but I am on the path I need to be.

{This post is also on my site, Sam's Noggin.}

Letting Go

I am a firm believer in not sticking with a certain curriculum just because you spent money on it. In the three short years I have been homeschooling, I have purchased more curriculum than I could have possibly imagined. Most of it was because everyone else was raving about it, the other half was because the publisher was raving about their own product.

If I could give new homeschoolers one piece of advice, it would be that you should let go of all of the things that you think you should be using {what your friends use, what “they” say is the best curriculum} and follow your heart.

I know what seemed to be the best fit for my family was an eclectic Charlotte Mason approach. I ignored that however, because it seemed too easy, as the lessons were shorter. Living books? Nah, I have these here worksheets to grade!

I came to the end of two homeschooling years and realized that we were just a public school sitting in the middle of my home, and no one liked it. So I started looking back into the Charlotte Mason approach. It seemed perfect, but still I was hesitant-my children couldn’t possibly get an education with short lessons and lots of book reading.


Or could they?

We are indeed eclectic, and although we have not jumped in with two feet to everything that Charlotte fans might be doing out there, we are definitely leaning that direction, replacing one thing at a time as we go along.

Long boring math lessons? Gone.

Repetitive grammar that induces tears? No more.

Dry History from one person’s perspective? Soon to be out the door.

It isn’t about what works for everyone else. It is about what works for YOU. Let the rest go.
When you do let go of all the things that “they” say you should be doing, and go with your gut and what lights up the eyes of your children-then you have found the secret to homeschooling success.

Letter of Intent

A new school year has either already begun, or is soon to get started for home educators. For those who are brand new to homeschooling, I hope you have done your homework and know what the laws are for your state regarding notification. We live in Kentucky, where it is fairly stress-free to homeschool. The one thing we are required to do each year is submit a letter of intent.
Every state is different, and you can easily see what your state requires by visiting HSLDA, where you will find a map and all of the info you need to keep your homeschool legal.
Our letter of intent looks like this:

XXXX County Board of Education                                                             July 27, 2011

123 Your Street

Your City, Your State 12345

ATTN: Director of Pupil Personnel

Director of Pupil Personnel,

This letter is to inform you that as of July 5^th 2011, we will be home educating our children for the 2011-2012 academic school year, pursuant to all Kentucky revised statutes. Below are the names and ages of the children we will be educating, as well as information about our school.

Child #1  Kelley (13)

Child #2 Kelley (11)

Child #3 Kelley (8)

Child #4 Kelley (7)

Child #5 Kelley (5)

Our school, Kelley Christian Academy, will take place in our home at 123 Street, Our Town, KY 12345.

Phone: 555.555.5555

Names of Parents/Teachers:

Richard and Samantha Kelley

Sincerely,

Rick Kelley

Samantha  Kelley

We are required to send this in every year, within two weeks of the start of the public school calendar.

It is not required, but I would highly advise that you send your letter of intent certified mail. This ensures that there is proof that you sent it, should a question ever arise. Just be sure to keep the stub the post office gives you. We keep ours in our homeschool binder, along with a signed copy of the letter intent that we mailed.

Homeschooling is such a wonderful freedom, but we do have rules that we need to follow to keep our school running legally.

If you have yet to check your laws out, head on over now to HSLDA, and make sure you have all of your papers that are required.

The Mission Statement

Do you know what your goal for homeschooling is? Is it for your child to have the best academics possible? Do you have spiritual goals that come before all else for home education?

When we first started homeschooling we knew we wanted a direction for our school. We also wanted a place to refer to our purpose, to remember why we decided to leave public education to start with.

We also wanted a name, a mascot, and school colors. This would provide a sense of belonging. We decided we needed a mission statement.

If you have no idea where to start with a mission statement, you can take a look here at ours, which my husband made back in 2009. Our goals have not changed, so the mission statement remains the same now.

---

Kelley Christian Academy

Mission Statement

2011-2012

Isaiah 40:31

“…they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Family/Education Goals:

We plan to educate, inspire, motivate, provide spiritual emphasis, and instill the heart of a servant, in a Christ-centered environment.

Homeschooling:

Is A matter of our Christian spiritual conviction.

Statement of Purpose:

We believe that children are gifts from God (Psalm 127:3), and that parents are responsible for the training and education of the children God has entrusted to them (Ephesians 6:1-4). Each parent stands accountable to the Lord for the course that is charted, and the course that is followed.

Philosophy of Education:

Eclectic- “Choose the best, leave the rest.”

School Colors:

Black, Gold

Mascot:

American Bald Eagle

---

Our purpose and goals are easy to see, and we have a constant reminder of where we want homeschooling to take us. I hope you will make one as well, and include the whole family in coming up with yours!

Starting A New Year

We took about five weeks off for our break, it was mostly for me to do planning. We officially started back to school on July 5th. From our previous experiences, I recommend not jumping in full-schedule at first!

It is really hard to go from this:

to this:

It can be a bit of a drag, quite honestly.

We are easing into our school year with these steps~

• School is downstairs, not in the classroom.
• We are doing one week with only History and Science {plus leisure reading & phonics for K}.
• We will add 1 or 2 subjects each week until we have a full school load.
• We will  adjust the our schedule as needed.
• I am not ringing any bells. School will start when all are awake and fed.

I used to just jump in and do it all from day one. Hopefully with this plan, we will be able to avoid homeschool burnout from setting in! 

How about you? What do you do to ease your family back into home education?