What Our Homeschool Looks Like, Part 3 1/2 Of Seuss and Friends

Welcome again to my insanity.  This is not what I planned for Part 4.  (Hence the 3 1/2)  You see apparently gathering a list of all the resources I use is a bigger chore than I thought!  For not being a by-the-book-schooler we learn from a lot of different directions. 

So instead of continuing as planned I'm embracing the unexpected by showing you what partying looks like homeschool style. 

When a six year old learns to read, he likes to read the fun stuff.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Dr. Seuss is the epitome of fun.  Back in the Fall we read Horton Hears a Who and Cat in a Hat (a few pages at a time) and then watched a production of Seussical at a local theatre.  It was really fun and the kids just loved it.

Not too long ago it seemed time to go back for some more silliness and so we broke open Green Eggs and Ham.  The good part about Aidan reading Dr. Seuss is that he can read it, slow but sure, and then I can go back and read it to him in full fledged rhythm, rhyme and humor afterwards to celebrate completion.  And what better way to celebrate completion than with a party?

We made some Green Eggs and Ham Decorations (just photo copied book pages matted and in frames and then green crepe paper and a banner) and of course, Green Eggs and Ham to eat! 

The best way I could think of to translate this into edible food for kids was to make grilled ham and cheese, and then deviled eggs with green filling.  (Thanks to Pinterest for that idea)  They were delicious but strange to look at.

The kids invited Uriah, Zach and Aunt Teresa to join them at their party.  (Yes, we still have the stickers on our windows... because I'm too busy having parties to climb up there with a scraper and get them all.. and I haven't found the curtains I want yet either, lol!)

Oh!  And let's not forget the "not-so-green lime punch" and pistachio cupcakes with pistachio cream frosting that we had for dessert.  I promise, I'll never pursue a job decorating cakes for a living... but I will guarantee that this frosting is worth it's weight in delicious flavor.

After lunch I read the story in celebration, and it was a fun culmination of Aidan reading another book off the shelf all by himself.

I promise, I'm going to finish up the informative homeschool posts soon.. but let's face it everyone needs a party break once in a while.

What Our Homeschool Looks Like, part 3: An Average Day

Welcome!  In "part 2" I mentioned that our days are never exactly the same, but for those who have never seen how any homeschool works I thought I would show you an example of a day around here.    We don't do science every day, and this wasn't a science day.  When we do though, we do outside stuff in the Fall and Spring, and inside activities like experiments and research etc. in the snowy winter.  This day didn't include any music either.  As of late I've been having him practice rhythms and patterns on some of his dad's drums.  This was also  not an "art day", although the map and coloring were still very hands-on.  Lately our art has included abstract painting and art journaling.

Our days usually start at around 9:00 because this guy wouldn't let us delay his breakfast any longer than that.  The rest of us would prefer sleeping until at least ten.  I admit it.  I'm not a morning person and neither are the children I've birthed.  I try to put a load of laundry in the dryer before I ever get him out of bed though, as well as have some "me" time. 

During breakfast I teach something.  This particular day it was homonym and synonym review.  I would give a word and the kids, with their mouths full of scrambled eggs would rattle off a synonym for it, etc.  While I'm doing that I'll be cleaning up the breakfast mess, making a pot of coffee, emptying the dishwasher etc.  (They eat their breakfast on the kitchen counter stools so they are in the hub of everything while I do this)

After the "breakfast lesson" we have a 15 minute timed cleanup.  Beds are made, toys picked up, and kids are clothed.

While they finish getting dressed I'll go to the school crate:

 This is the crate that keeps the journals, etc. that we've been working on as well as some other resources.  It's everything we're using currently, along with some "fun stuff" for extras.  I have collected some things that are for future use, along with stuff we've already studied and are done with.  Michael's building me a new huge bookshelf in the basement family room for those.  Aren't you Michael?  I hid the crate behind our recliner for now to keep Caleb's hands out of it.  This is something that I had to do because there were so many supplemental books, etc. hanging about that I had to dig through too much when I wanted to find something.

See that green tote bag next to the crate?  That's the bag I "pack" at night with the stuff I'd like to do the next day.  So when I go to the crate I really only have to grab that bag.  Then I can take it wherever we end up in the house, be it the couch, the yard, wherever.  And I don't have to sort through the bin to find a little book.

This particular day we did a few math workbook pages.  It was "fun" as Aidan put it.  I disagree but hey, it's his world and I'm just teachin' in it. 

About half of our math lessons are worksheets and pages because the bookworm loves a fresh worksheet to write all over.  The other half are "teaching" lessons and they include hands-on stuff like measuring dimensions of furniture, following a recipe, flash cards, playing store, adding/subtracting with raisins, and playing with Math Ipad apps, among a million other ideas.

After math we curled up in the chair and I read aloud a chapter of Johnny Tremaine.  Then Aidan read a book about trucks.  Cuz that's how he rolls.

Then we took a mini break to unload the dryer.  Well after these two climbed out of the hamper.

We were going to go right back to another lesson but I decided to start dinner first... and left a cup of flour too close to the counter's edge.  At least he's cute right?  Yeah, I thought so too.  It's easy to get out of trouble for things like this when you smile so brightly.  Vivi came over and got her hands involved too, insisting that she needed to write her name in the flour. 

Lunch around here is easy, usually something simple and generally not a hot lunch unless there is some sort of leftover to use up.  After lunch Caleb went down for a nap and the rest of us went back to work.  I have printed a bunch of coloring pages from the American Revolution and stapled them in chronological order to make a little book.  This is how we're journaling this time in history.  He will color the page and then at the bottom he'll write a sentence or two explaining the picture.  For example, this page is labeled already as a Minute Man.  Aidan journaled at the bottom of it to tell what minute men were. 

We have been working out of a really great (and free!) mapping unit that was compiled by some nice public school teacher somewhere and put out on a blog to be shared.  It's nice because it's very adaptable and hand-on.  Well, now that he knows more about maps it was obvious to him that he should map out Paul Revere's ride.  Here is the partially finished result.  (Paul is in blue, the Red coats are.. well duh.) 

While he was working on his map I was fixing dinner and getting ready for Michael to come home.  Shortly before 5:00 we have another timed 15min. clean up in which they run around picking up the toys and putting the school supplies back in the bin, etc. and I do whatever is pressing at the moment... usually sweeping but sometimes it's actually getting myself properly dressed and out of my lounge pants, putting on makeup, etc.  Just depends on how the day has flowed.  That about rounds out our homeschool day.  I know that to some this won't seem very schoolish.  To others it will seem awfully busy and forced.  I think it's all in perspective.  There are some days (like today) when we'll get a few things done and then get an invite to eat lunch with his grandparents.. and most of the time I try to make relationships a priority. 

If you're wondering and you haven't read part 2 of this series then no, I don't follow a written plan or curriculum guide, meaning that I have to search out the resources myself.  It's a little more work than just reading out of a dry textbook but it's worth it when I find living books that Aidan wraps his brain around and that help him understand what the world was actually like during that period of history.  He's funny like that, he likes to see a big picture.  He loves it that way and can remember so much when there is a story involved.   

If you're reading this and wondering what the time frame for any of this is... well I don't have a time frame to give you.  I don't follow a schedule.  My day planner has things scheduled, like appointments and outside commitments but it doesn't schedule my day.  I was recently relieved from the idea that I had to meet some sort of time constraints with schooling or housework.  Instead I follow a basic routine and if I do the same(ish) stuff in order every day for the household and then filling in teaching whatever is in the bag then it's been working grandly.  Some days school is finished very early.  Those are the days when I get to work on a decorating project, trying to make this new house more like home or I get to read a "mommy book" as Vivi calls them.  They actually come quite often in this season, thank goodness.  Then some days we are finishing up when Michael walks through the door.  That's the beauty of it though:  I'm not stressed any more about time constraints and I'm not pushed to move on to the next topic in a text book. 

Next in this series will be a complete "curriculum" list of what I've used so far, awesome resources I've stumbled upon and what I have planned next. 

Someone out there (and I know that people are reading because I can see the blog statistics for views and visitors) is probably wondering how I know that Aidan is learning enough without following someone else's plan.  Well, I don't know that this will ease your mind but I do actually have an outline of what public school expects one to know before moving from K to 1st, 1st to 2nd grade, etc...  I don't use it as a checklist but I do ask myself "does Aidan know how to do that?" from time to time.  I'm not adhering to any sort of time frame but I do like to keep his reading skills on track because the older he gets the more I want him to be able to research the topics he likes without my supervision.  Reading is key.  Reading and math I stay fairly structured with because he is quick to learn and I feel like they are the foundation for so much.

What Our Homeschool Looks Like part 2: Our philosophy

How and why do we teach what we teach? 

Well, this is a question that I can only answer on behalf of my own family, not any other homeschoolers.  Keep in mind that what works for us doesn't necessarily work for everyone either.

There aren't many dull days around here, and I couldn't honestly schedule everything properly if I tried.  At least 3 days out of 5 some thing comes up to push our day ahead or behind "schedule" or we have the opportunity to do something out of the ordinary... but that's okay.  That's the privilege of educating children at home, we can definitely do adapt.  I know that some would argue that a schedule must be kept, children need structure and routine.  To a certain extent this is true.  My kids like to have some routines.  What's clear though, is that relationships matter more than routine.  If an occasion arises to do something nice for someone else, to learn outside of this little box we live in by serving others... well that's worth much more than anything scheduled next in a textbook.  So we don't always stick to our routines, and the days when we break from them are often some of the best spent.

I will tell you that another pro of keeping our kids home versus sending them to public school is that we don't have to have "school at home".  I know that this is hard to wrap your brain around sometimes, particularly if you haven't ever witnessed it.  I still on occasion flashback to my own days in classrooms and wonder at how different we do things here.  You see some homeschooled families do run their homes like a school, using boxed curriculum that include all the subjects, one workbook and one textbook.  All you have to do is sit down and read the lesson, do the corresponding workbook pages and then move on to the next subject, with a quiz thrown in here and there.  This is one end of the homeschool "extreme" if you will.

An opposite end exists too, in what some refer to as Radical Unschooling.  It basically entails no formal planning of lessons or the like.  When the children are young you just play as much as you can and try to work in bits of knowledge here and there.  As they grow older you encourage them to find subjects that they want to learn about and then you help them find out more about them.  The key here is that the student leads the initiative and hopefully being a better student because of their interest in the topics at hand.  Many things are learned by the students and taught by the parents, but they are learned because the time, opportunity or interest organically arises rather than because a professional educator somewhere says "teach them global studies at 14", etc.  An example would be if at age 12 a girl reads the Diary of Anne Frank and shows interest in WWII... her parent would then pursue WWII studies for her. 

We are not Radical Unschoolers either, although I am not opposed to the idea that each child has different opportune times to learn things.  We are somewhere in the middle of these extremes, in an area that I would term "Relaxed Homeschooling with a Charlotte Mason Method".  I don't buy one brand curriculum and follow it straight through.  I made some executive decisions at the beginning of this adventure (2010) and decided to mix up the timeline a bit with history, grammar and math.

I don't sit with a teacher's guide (*gasp*!!) and teach from it.  If it's a subject I'm not familiar with then I will review it but honestly I'm better at speaking to the kids if I can look them in the eye and explain something to them rather than read it how the author of a book intended.  Sometimes it requires me to whip out the dry-erase board and draw them some nice little doodles or math examples.  Sometimes it requires a puppet show re-enacting an event.  (much more effort on my part.)  Other times it's just me, having a conversation with them while they eat their breakfast in the morning, asking Aidan "Hey, if you have 21 cheerios in your bowl, how many more would you need in order to have 29?"  (Look!  Subtraction via the reversed method!) 

There are times, of course, when sitting with a workbook or worksheet happens.  Aidan loves his phonics workbooks and the math worksheets are always a favorite.  I also read aloud to them regularly and he reads aloud to me too.  Arts and music are woven throughout everything we do.  He starts sign language lessons this week.

Somewhere out there in the vast world of internet someone is saying "The education experts of experty and experto state that you should spend one week on this, and two days on that, and that children best learn from the xyz methods of teaching, so who are you to question these methods?" 
I am Mom.  They are my kids and I know how to teach them.  I know what works.  I speak their language.  We have taught them everything from birth to school age and at the risk of sounding proud, they are well educated.  There has been nothing that I have attempted to teach to Aidan that he hasn't grasped.  (Well except to flush the darn toilet after himself but that's another story.) 

I know that this is a tough idea to accept, to think that I would be arrogant enough to believe that I would be more "qualified" than a trained teacher at a school.  But here's the shocker... wait for it.... I am not qualified to teach at a public school, nor do I claim to be.  The people who are willing to commit so much of their energy to other people's kids are angels in my book.  I may be fairly well educated and I have a thorough knowledge of the topics that I will teach at home but I would never claim to be qualified to sit in front of 24 kids in a classroom and claim that I could teach even half of them to an acceptable standard.  Those teachers are well-trained to follow the methods with the highest success rates (meaning they will reach a majority of the class with that method) and then they have to reassess, review, etc. with the children who don't respond to those methods.  It must be exhausting, even it if it is a worthwhile profession.  I could.not.do.it.  I am however, absolutely sure that I am qualified to teach these kids in my class.. and I am sure that I will reach 100% of my students with the method I use. 

Why?  Well because I don't have to follow one way.  If a technique I'm using doesn't work I can switch, and switch again until I find what works best for Aidan.  If I need to spend extra weeks on learning time and money I can.  If he doesn't need as much time in reading then we can make that change as well. 

If something comes up that neither one of us understands.. Heaven forbid he want to study quantum physics at 15 or something... guess what?  I can find an online college course and hook him right up with lectures, online community, etc.  If at 16 he thinks he wants to be a Veterinarian, I can help him find a Vet to shadow or intern with so that he can make an informed decision before college.  There are so many ways and opportunities that I can encourage his education.  He will not be pigeon-holed into taking what someone else considers a well-rounded course load.  If he exhibits natural talent in a certain area then we shall pursue it.  If he shows interest in a certain career choice then it will be encouraged.  There may be times when math takes a back seat to art, or music is dropped out so that he can focus more on science. 

I know that I've discussed our philosophy on education, and I know that there are still some reading this who will throw out ideas about how awfully unsocialized they will be, or how neglectful of us to take away all those potential extracurricular activities.  I'm here to tell you that our children, in fact most homeschool children, are not unsocialized.  They are not sheltered at home.  Vivi is in dance class once a week.  Aidan loves attending VBS programs, story hours at the local library and play dates with his friends.  He's currently weighing the option of Karate.  Will he be in a marching band?  Probably not.  Could he join a band of some sort?  Certainly.  Will he have friends?  He already does, both homeschooled and public schooled.  Will he know how to converse with others?  Even though he tends to be a reserved personality he typically has no problem holding a conversation with a child or adult after an initial few minutes of shyness.  He's not a party animal by nature and even putting him in public school couldn't change that.

I can tell you that there are things that he definitely will miss out on.  The, ahem, learned vocabulary of the public school hallways.  I can guarantee you that when Aidan hears foul language it is not as part of his school day.  (and yes, he does and will hear foul language, I'm not attempting to say that he is in a bubble where profanity doesn't exist but I promise you that there is less of it.)  He also is missing out on pressures from his peers to conform to what is new, in style or impressive to other young people.  If he likes something, no matter what, he will be able to participate in it and nobody here will ever tell him that he's a geek for it.  He will not be bullied in this class.  Except maybe by his sister when she wants to steal what's left of his lunch.  I'm only half kidding about that. 

There are a few other perks also.  I was able to teach Aidan about Christmas this year.  Not just along with all the other holidays, but about Christ's birth.  In covering Ancient Civilizations I was able to explain that some people believe that we came from monkeys but that the BIBLE says otherwise which is why we don't believe in Evolution.  In a couple months we'll be able to cover Easter, and I'm not talking about a bunny.  I know that it sounds awful assuming to make the statement "We can teach them whatever we want." because well, not only is it technically not fully accurate but it also has an air of immaturity.  Essentially though, it's true that we can teach them HOW we want, or better yet how he best responds, and we truly are given core subjects to cover but much of the material we are able to add to and have a choice about.  We, as parents, spend more time with our children than any outside influence. 

If you're still reading this and you're not annoyed with how long it is then I beg you to pay attention to the fact that almost everything I've written here is about my kids and what homeschooling can offer them.  This is not a petition against public school.  Both my husband and myself survived public school with flying colors and we did learn.  Nope.  This post is about stewardship.  Parents are entrusted with a blessing (a child) who they are stewards of until adulthood.  It's our privilege to bless our children by educating them and preparing them to stand on their own.  My husband and I made a prayerful, informed decision to educate our children at home because it was the best choice for them.  The best choice for some may in fact be public school.  I have friends whose children attend a private Catholic school in the next town over and they couldn't imagine it otherwise.  The key is to make it an informed decision by considering your options.  Don't just accept the "norm" because there might be other options available.  Find the best one.  The "norm" might be more normal.. but let's face it your kids aren't normal, they are the best.

I'm working on a few more posts, specifically one with a list of the "curriculum" resources that I've used thus far and another to show what an average day looks like around here. Oh!  And I'm going to post some pictures of our Valentine's Day too, because let's face it we do this all out of love. Also, if anyone is wondering, I'm aware that experty and experto are not real words.  ;-)  If you have any questions or ideas to suggest then please feel free to comment.

 

What our Homeschool Looks Like: Part 1

Good Morning!  If you've been reading my very rare posts you'll know that in order to write this I had to do it in the early morning hours so my apology if it doesn't make sense because I am NOT a morning person.  I just have committed myself to not giving any time during my day to blogging so if I want to blog, I must rise earlier.  If you don't already know, we homeschool.  It works well for us.  Our homeschool has been greatly influenced by the techniques and methods of Charlotte Mason, and we use a variety of resources including classical literature, readers and workbooks, hands-on learning opportunities and most importantly fun activities that encourage learning at every opportunity.  Charlotte Mason believed, among other things, that classical education for young children should have lessons that are short and sweet for best retention, be strong in art and music, include some sort of narration of the reading material (we choose to discuss it or to art journal about it) and that nature studies were vital to a youngster's education.  We follow at least these ideals of hers as well as a few others.

I realized this past week, while typing up our quarterly report for the local school district, that I don't really blog much about school.  Probably because home education tends to monopolize a lot of my time at home.  (Hence the "home" in education, lol!)  But at the risk of letting my dirty dishes sit in my sink while I blog a bit more frequently I am going to do just that.  I'm going to document a little more informally exactly what Aidan is learning, how our days flow, what our routine looks like and what struggles we're having.  It will have to be a series of posts to start with, answering some frequently asked questions about home education.

Saying the Pledge of Allegiance before the "parade"

I could never do that, I mean what does it even look like to homeschool?

I've had a lot of questions from people about our choice to homeschool our kids.  Some are encouraging, some are more negative and then others are just curious.  (I tend to let the negative ones roll off my back because, let's face it, I am confident in our decision and can't imagine any other way for us.)  The more curious questions I can handle, in fact they are healthy for me.  I tend to forget that something that has become so "normal" so quickly for us is so strange for everyone else.  That prompted this series of posts.  These are just some examples of what home education looks like for us.

These particular pictures were taken in the fall.  We are supplementing our early American History units with a study called "I Love America" which gives little mini lessons on how our nation was founded, etc.  One of the lessons taught about the important roles that "regular people" played in the founding of the United States of America:  farmers who picked up guns to fight for liberty, a seamstress who was given the opportunity to sew the first flag of the new nation, etc.  It told of the parades that were held in celebration of the freedom that was claimed by our forefathers, and suggested that we re-enact a parade, even giving instructions for making hats, etc.  So a parade we held!

The parade proceeds down the only paved sidewalk in the neighborhood, while traditional patriotic music is played.

"Betsy Ross" carries her flag carefully and takes her role very seriously.

This series of studies has really worked well for us because not only does it "fit" with the more advanced things that Aidan's been learning but it also fits Vivi's skill level with activities so that she can participate.  It has such added value too and often timed appropriately on the calendar.  Other topics have included how to handle the flag correctly, Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims in November, Christopher Columbus was in October and it teaches about George Washington's harsh winter at Valley Forge.

Do they actually learn as much?

I think one of the biggest "issues" that critics have a hard time figuring out is how the kids could possibly be learning as much as public school kids do, especially when I honestly don't have to spend as many hours with them.  (I say them because truly it's usually both Aidan and Vivi even though Aidan is the only one who technically a student.)  I would challenge that they probably learn more.  In another post I'll review what we actually do and what our routine looks like but I'll try to give you a general idea of what was covered by the parade lesson here. 

Keep in mind that Aidan is six years old and had we registered him at public school this would be his kindergarten because we chose to hold off on any education that wasn't play-based as long as we legally could.  I'm not going to go into our reasoning right now but if you want to read more about the general concept this article tends to explain it well.  Even though we didn't formally educate him before this year, the boy learned his letters through play, sounded out words when we read together, wrote letters to anyone who would receive them and absorbed information about all sorts of stuff.  At age four he could identify the make of every tractor trailer we passed on road trips.  He's living proof that kids will learn when they are having fun, maybe even more so than when they are sitting at a desk for hours.  But that's another soapbox.  Here are the lessons that tied in with the parade lesson or that were going on during that same week:

- Aidan read aloud from two library books about Betsy Ross and the American flag. (reading)

- He journaled pictures of the parade and wrote an account of them on said journal pages.  (writing practice and art)

- Aidan and Vivi crafted their hats and also paper flags (art)

- We played games involving counting, adding and subtracting as well as did a few workbook pages. (math we are fairly traditional with and he loves his math workbook!)

- We observed and harvested the garden plants that were ready that week, drew pictures as part of our documentation of the process from seed to harvest and then journaled about them. (science, writing and art)

- Aidan and Vivi played abundantly outside to take advantage of the nice weather (phys-ed), and Vivi started dance class.

- sang along to patriotic songs (music)

- learned the Pledge of Allegiance, as well as memorized the 23rd Psalm (no true "subject" for these to fall under besides the fact that we're trying to work on memorization here and there which is good for both my forgetful brain and theirs)

- worked in a phonics workbook and learned synonyms verses opposites (language arts) 

All of this happened over the course of that week.  It looks like a lot when you see it on paper, but do you notice how many of these activities overlap?  Then do you notice how many of these activities sound like play time?  It's true, most of it is fun.  There are some activities, like the workbook pages, that were completed as seat work but a lot of it was hands on. 

But wait, you're telling me that what Aidan's doing, all this fun stuff, is leaving him as well educated as the kids in public school?

At the risk of sounding proud, yes I am.  He writes as well as, if not better than any typical K-er or 1st grader.  His vocabulary of site words is well beyond the recommended number for Kindergarten and.. well let's just say that according to THIS list he's about to finish the 1st grade quotas.

Now I'm not saying he doesn't forget stuff.  But what I am saying is that he doesn't need the traditional boxed method of education in order to learn.  See that's the beauty of schooling at home, a parent can assess each child to see how they best react to different teaching techniques.  I don't have to take choose the method or curriculum that has been proven to have the highest success rate for the majority of the class.  He IS my class.  I just need to choose the method that has the highest success rate for him.  That method is the fun method.  I'll leave you with this quote:

"Trying to teach an uninterested child is like throwing marshmallows at a kid's head and calling it eating"

Stay tuned for more installments in this "series"!!

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