Tales From Another Planet

I try not to be one of "those" homeschoolers who tries to convince everyone to homeschool and is anti-public school. I actually have a HUGE passion for education, including public school. However, there is a big area that public schools are failing our children, and this may not be entirely apparent until the next generation enters the workforce. I was reading an article about Generation "Z" entering the workforce. They were talking about a few different things, and one of them was that these new employees were "risk averse" and "non-entrepreneurial". That got me thinking about the future of job opportunities for children currently in school - including my own. My husband is a manager, and one of his main complaints is that some of the employees only want to do one thing one way, and they aren't easily able to adjust their thinking, think divergently, plan ahead, or make executive decisions. This can cause real problems in the workforce. Ev...

I think one of the most interesting things about homeschooling compared to trying to teach in a public classroom, is the easy ability to adjust based on a child's learning style. It's quite a monumental effort in a large classroom to even determine learning styles, much less meet each child's needs. While I don't actively homeschool my 3 year old, he is almost 4 now, and definitely wants to participate in school. Of course, his learning style and personality is almost a complete opposite of my oldest.

Let's be perfectly clear here, I'm not an unschooler, and I don't know many who are. However, I thought I would write from the perspective of a "schooling" mom as to what unschooling can be, is, and should be. Unschooling, in the truest sense of the word, is letting your child's imagination drive the learning process. However, that can look very different from family to family and age to age. Myths: Unschooling requires less time and effort than an "in the box" curriculum. In the early years, this is probably true, because most early learning (Kindergarten and below) happens naturally in the car, at the breakfast table, and playing outside. Once you get a bit beyond that, if you're truly unschooling, you will spend a lot of time running to the library or pulling up websites or Youtube videos to answer your child's most recent queries and trying every trick in the book to ensure a well-rounded education without formalizing it too much. ...

A part of any good organization is a well-thought out mission statement. Since we aren't "officially" a homeschool yet (in our state, we don't have to register until the oldest child in the school turns 7), we haven't quite sat down to come up with an "official" name or mission statement. However, after a few of the latest blog posts, and helping some other families with advice for their journey to begin homeschool, I've decided it is important to sit down and list a few of the reasons we homeschool. Having a goal, idea, or even just a homeschooling "personality" is very important. I would suggest narrowing down your reasons for (or against) and ideas about homeschooling before even looking at curriculum options. If you don't, you might find yourself overwhelmed by all the choices, or spending a lot of money on a curriculum that doesn't end up fitting with your style. Obviously, this is just a blog post, but if you want a book t...

As you may note from the labels, this is primarily a homeschool post, but it has many applications to real life as well, for those of you who haven't jumped on the homeschooling bandwagon yet (and may not ever). The last few weeks, I've gotten busy with other things. We started out the "semester" strong after a short Christmas break. We finished up our first set of math books and fine motor skill books. My 5 year old's reading has blossomed without any help from me, and his social skills are improving everyday. I was doing very little planning for our homeschool and the co-op had been planned well in advanced. So, I could finally relax and enjoy the fruits of my labor of an easygoing homeschool lifestyle, right? Then, the dreaded 3's hit our house a few weeks early. My adorable monster suddenly began demanding MY time and attention during our school day. He suddenly pushed his bedtime from 9:30 to 10:30 to 11:30 at night! Doesn't he know that I need sle...

I've been talking with a few "new to homeschool" mom's lately, and come to realize that, as overwhelmed as I am with all the curriculum choices, they honestly have no idea what type of curriculum they want or need. The good news is that, with a little time and patience, you can figure it out. I recently read one of Cathy Duffy's Top Pick books from the library. While it was helpful. and full of advice on choosing curriculum, I had fortunately already found the right curriculum for me and my kids. And my method didn't involve a whole bunch of charts or adding up percentages or open ended essay questions (because really, what homeschool mom has time for all that). First, I heard about an all in one curriculum that a friend loved (My Father's World). But her kids weren't really learning quickly with that method, and my son already knew the integrated phonics. Plus, I felt the Bible was a bit more kitschy sayings than actual Bible verses. But I loved...

The other day, I happened to visit our local homeschool bookstore on an evening, when kids are not allowed. It was a fabulous time to relax and browse the used curriculum, but there were not a lot of people around that evening. The one employee must have been quite bored, and we started a brief conversation and somehow got onto the topic of whether I have any gifted kids. Of course, every parent thinks their kid is gifted in some way, and all kids do have a special gift, but I knew that he was talking about academically gifted. So my answer was, yes for both of my kids, but not really, since my kids are still little. Here's the thing, kids that are in early elementary school can very easily be gifted in some areas and incredibly far behind in others. So, while my almost 3 year old talks very well and knows most of his phonics, all his shapes and colors, counts to 14 and can do basic addition, that doesn't mean that I'm signing him up for Kindergarten next year. Kids don...

I thought I'd do a quick review of our first few days back to school. I'm sure this school year has been difficult for many families, with New Year's Day on a Friday, and back to normal for most schools on Monday, it can feel a bit rushed. The adults still feel the need to get all our shopping and errands done over the weekend, and suddenly it's like there was no holiday at all! We had some neighbors over for dinner Sunday night. They mentioned as they left, that the Kindergarten age daughter has to wake up at 6:30am to get ready for school. Granted, when I was in high school I had to get up at 5:30 because we had to leave by 6:30am, but still it seems a bit excessively early for a Kindergarten student. I'm so glad that we are able to homeschool (and I get to sleep in too). Monday morning, we woke up at about 8am, ready to get back to school. There was relatively little resistance, even though we had taken a full two weeks off. I had started using a "mornin...

I ordered next year's curriculum "way too early" because I found some great deals on used curriculum that I couldn't pass up. Since it has already come in, I thought I would offer a free "preview" of Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory. As well as how we "plan" to actually use it next year. First, let me say that I wasn't initially planning on purchasing this curriculum. I wanted to do something different for science, and wasn't sure about the price for the curriculum guide since we weren't planning on using the curriculum as written. Then, I saw a seller that listed an "acceptable" quality used guide for $20 + shipping. Considering that I paid $35 for a similar condition used guide at our local homeschool store, I thought this was a great deal and promptly snatched it up. I hadn't had a chance to fully look through the curriculum, so I quickly reviewed it after it arrived last week. Now that I've had a chance to re...

I feel pretty good about life right now. I actually completed a craft project with some friends a few weekends ago, and I finally was able to hang it up. The kids played with it for their obligatory two minutes before going back to what Parents magazine called "the game of ouch". If you're not sure what the rules are for the game of ouch, they do vary for each round. The game is over when one of the boys cries loud enough to need attention. Props may include wooden trains, Hot Wheels cars, puzzle pieces and more. House rules (such as playing nicely with our toys and keeping our hands and feet to ourselves) obviously do not apply when playing this game. So, to avoid the game of ouch using Christmas ornaments, I jumped at the chance to make a simple felt Christmas tree for my kids to redecorate. A few friends came over and we all pooled our craft materials together. It took a bit longer than expected, primarily because I'm not that into crafts and we had two ex...

In my work from home job, I've added some more hours recently. Since I'd taken a brief hiatus in order to transition to a new position, and actual tutoring sessions have slowed down with the end of the semester for many college students, I wanted to try to earn a bit more income. A large percentage of the time this week I haven't had many sessions, but I wanted to have some work available to distract my Kindergarten student if I ended up with a session popping up during our "school time". I created a "Morning notebook" with some free printables and my amazing laminator. Essentially, the printables I laminated include one for each day of the week. He practices writing the day of the week, writes down the number, and the number for the day before and after. There's another page for the temperature, time, and what he's wearing. I also have a non-laminated calendar page where he can practice writing the month and fill in the numbers for the days of...

We have two sets of grandparents interested in gift ideas, and are looking for things for our own children, so I came up with my top list of Christmas gift ideas that you won't see advertised on TV (based on my kids ages and interests, of course). Almost 3-year old boy - STEM - educational toy - Bambino-LUK Starter Pack (approximately $25).  Music - VTech Record and Learn KidiStudio  Art - high quality paintbrushes, canvases, and paints. Preschool kids can use adult art supplies with supervision. The Crayola 5-count art and craft brush set is also a good quality "kids" set. Books - purchase quality children's literature such as The Story about Ping , How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World , or true classics like Winnie the Pooh . Active play - Balance ball for kids (they can "sit" while listening to a story, "play" with it, or exercise with it). Young Elementary School Age STEM - educational toy -  Outdoor play - Anything f...

I decided to post my current thoughts on scheduling our 1st grade year for a young 6 year old boy, starting in August of next year. Science - Apologia Science (either Exploring Creation with Botany or Zoology 1) Young Explorers, with Junior Notebooking Journal. This may be overkill for most 6 year old kids, but my oldest kid is a science fiend. They do science in co-op as well, so I may adjust this to go along with what they are doing in co-op, but the Apologia science curriculum is amazing. Math - Singapore Math (1A and 1B) Grammar - First Language Lessons of a Well-trained Mind Reading - read aloud quality literature outside of "school time" (we've already made it through the first Boxcar Children book in the last week). Explore various genres of literature as in-school read-alouds - biography, non-fiction, historical fiction, folk tale, poetry, mystery. Encourage him to read on his own for pleasure, using reward systems as needed. Vocabulary and spelling - add t...

Recently, I started ordering books from the library after researching various book lists ( Honey From a Child's Heart and the books used in Five in a Row ). I've noticed some amazing differences in the quality of literature from reputable lists versus what my children randomly pick up at the library. It's not always a good thing to be able to pick from thousands of books when such a large percentage of them have terrible themes, iffy artwork, and in general promote ideals that I don't agree with. If I ever felt bad that my child was "missing out" on the school experience, I am forever cured after listening to a Dan Gutman book on tape. Now my son can spout off such excellent quotes as "So's your face" and learned fabulous lessons like "girls like school and boys don't" and "I don't want anything boring for Christmas like clothes or food". A whole year's worth of lessons on humility, kindness, and a love for read...

What if I told you that your child could have a private tutor for several hours per week to completely individualize his or her education plan, and there's no cost to you! Whether you work full-time, part-time, or are a single parent, the answer is - that private tutor is you! We can talk a lot about what's broken in our current education system, but I think the biggest breakdown is that parents have taken a step back from their child's education. Sure, they may "help with homework" or go to parent-teacher conferences, but most parents of public or private school children rely entirely on "the system" to educate their children. Education is not an institution. There is no one-size-fits all. Even homeschoolers can fall into this trap if they rely on the "curriculum" to educate their children. My husband challenged me in a discussion on our education system by asking if I really "individualize" everything for my child - mainly be...

Tuesday marked the third (and final for us) day in a row of visiting the NC State Fair. We had a blast each day, and did a lot of really fun "field trip" type things, as well as the usual fair food and rides. We spent a ton of money and did a lot of free things as well. Overall, it was definitely worth it, although it may take me a full three days to recover.

During lunch at our homeschool co-op, I was chatting with one of the moms as she was nursing her littlest one. We were just making small talk, but were both interested in the individuality of our kids. She has a hard time because her 3 year old, who I teach in the preschool class, seems to have a better memory for certain things than her Kindergartener. I teach the preschool during one class, and she teachers her Kindergartner and my Kindergartner during another class. She was also mentioning the fact that my 5 year old can read, but many of the K-1st graders can't. I was quick to point out that my 5 year old can't draw: anything. I half-joked that my 2.5 year old and 5 year old complete identical art projects.

If you're not a homeschooler, you may have heard of different types of co-ops and wonder what they have to do with homeschooling. If you are a homeschooler you most likely already have or will at some point make a decision either for or against joining a co-op. We are first year homeschoolers, with only a kindergarten and preschooler, and I am already learning a ton about co-ops after joining our first co-op this year. First, what is a co-op? Technically, a co-op is a group of people working together

First, I don't see anything wrong with a preschool, as long as it's used for what the original intention was, which is a break in the day for Mom to have some time either to herself or with another child. It also does give children who may not otherwise have social interaction a chance to learn to be around other kids their own age. Second, whether you are schooling your preschooler at home or comparing group preschool, you probably have questions about what to look for to educate your child properly. I will give you my ratio for every hour of "school" so you can compare apples to apples. 15% - outdoor time 15% - music time 15% - art and sensory play (not just coloring) 10% - good read-aloud books 10% - talk about numbers, shapes, colors, etc. 10% - food related (snack, lunch, cooking) 10-20% - active fun games or free play 0-10% - group learning Obviously, the longer a school day gets, the more flexible these numbers will be as it will be difficult for t...

So, this has been a productive week of homeschool, other than a few minor hiccups. The first hiccup being that we only did two days of school at home. We had our co-op on Tuesday, today is scheduled as a field trip day (although it was organized through Facebook and I haven't had any updates, so hopefully it is still on track). Tomorrow we are off for family reasons. I was thinking it would be a difficult week, especially with the very busy weekend we had. I was pleasantly surprised.