Making Time for It All

The Bad News: Homeschooling takes time ~ lots of time.

The Good News: You have time ~ lots of time.
{If you homeschool from kindergarten through senior year, then you have 13 years worth of time.  During that time you will learn lots of lessons and complete many classes.}

So why are you trying to fit it all into one year?

In one week? 

In one day?

The Better News: Not every class or subject must be taught every day of every year.

How can you fit it all in?

First determine your essential classes.  What classes do your children need?  The bulk hours of homeschooling are filled with these essentials.  Only have time for a few classes one day?  Essential classes are the ones you will most likely complete.  Math and Language Arts are usually found on most need lists.

Next, brainstorm with your children about elective classes.  Which ones would they like to take?  What skills do you want to share with your children?  What opportunities are in your area?  Fill these classes into your schedule on a weekly or monthly time period.  Art, Music, and Poetry may be in this category.

Finally, the fun extras happen occasionally.  You can't always go on field trips every day.  However, you can go every once in awhile, and maybe even once a week, depending on your homeschool choices.  Decide what items, events, or extras your family wants to include over the course of your homeschool year, and make time for them.

 

The Best News: With a little planning, you can fit what your family needs and wants into your homeschooling days.

On Tactile Learning

After a year of homeschool and watching how Sophie learns best, I finally figured out that she is a hands on learner - or a tactile learner.

We've had great success using household items to do everything from math to spelling! 

* we use straight pretzels to make letters, both upper case and lower case - and they make a fun snack!

* we use wooden train tracks to make letters and have the trains drive around them.

* we do adding/subtraction with blocks.

* we do sorting with colored foam blocks.

* we use rice spread in a cookie tray to trace letters and shapes.

* we use basic shapes to make everyday objects out of blocks

There are so many other ways that you can use tactile objects to help your child thrive!

Do you have a tactile learner? What tips do you have?

Seeds of Wisdom - Reading Aloud

Some of the sweetest homeschool moments happen during the hearing of a story.  Whether read aloud by you or with the help of an audio book, read alouds are a favorite part of the day for most families.

Today, we are sharing a few of our recent read alouds and adding them to a favorite Thursday read aloud link-up.

Jessica - Our first read aloud book for this school year has been Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. It is set on the Oregon Trail and in the early years of westward expansion, the historical time-period we are currently studying. It has wonderful descriptions of how Native Americans,trappers and settlers lived. The story has also piqued the interested of my children in pioneer life. We have enjoyed many conversations about cultural understanding and tolerance based on the struggle the main character goes through. I definitely recommend this book!

Beth - We listened to Charlotte's Web on audio as our first read aloud this year. It was narrated by the author E.B. White and was fantastic. I hadn't read the chapter book in a while myself, so it was very captivating. My children enjoyed it very much. It was warm like cozying up under a warm blanket during the fall. Great book for autumn.

Dorie - We just finished Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell.  It is a story about one girl alone on an island for many years.  Shortly after a traumatic loss of most of the men in their tribe, Karana's people choose to leave the island.  Karana, ready to depart with her people on the boat, can not find her brother Ramo.  She finally spots him, on the island, alone.  Without consideration for herself, Karana jumps off the boat and swims to the island to join her brother.  The boat leaves without them.  Just a few days later, Ramo dies, and Karana is left alone on the island for many, many years.  Our family loved this story the first time we read it, and again five years later.  It is one we will return to time and time again.

 

Looking for more read aloud suggestions?  Every Thursday, Amy at Hope Is the Word hosts a link-up called Read Aloud Thursday.  It is a great resource to find new read alouds or be reminded of old favorites.  Hop on over there today, or any Thursday to find some more great read alouds.