Starting My 20th Year Homeschooling...... Some Tips I've Learned

Our school picture for the 2015-2016 school year.  Notice we don't wear shoes.

I guess now that I'm starting my 20th year homeschooling, I'm probably considered a veteran homeschool mom or even a pro. But really, I don't feel like either of those.  I'm still learning how to do this correctly and I know I've made lots of mistakes.  So, that's my disclaimer and I'm very thankful for God's grace and His ability to take our shortcomings and use them for His glory.  
But for any new homeschool moms, here are a few tips that I've learned over the years:

1. Start each school day with prayer and the Bible.  This doesn't have to be some fancy family devotional.  Most of the time we start with the Lord's prayer, our memory verses for the month and scripture reading.
2. Have a schedule and a plan.  Don't just tell your kids to grab their school books, sit at the table and get going.  This approach with lead to you putting out fires all morning. If you have multiple children, you'll be running from one child to another to answer questions and help.  Have a set time to spend with each child and try to keep it uninterrupted.  This way you can go over all their work for the day and correct yesterday's work with them right there with you.  Each child will know that they have a certain time for you.
3. Be sure to keep you mornings free.  Remember, to homeschool, you have to be home, right?  I rarely plan anything during our school hours.  Think of it as a job.  Maybe once a month I will plan a field trip but I have learned to say "no" to many seemingly great educational things for my kids to do.  If there is one thing I see now with homeschool moms, it's that their kids are involved in way to many activities, clubs, sports, arts, etc.  But that's really another post.
4. Start as early as is practical for your family. Even though my husband and I get up early in the morning to exercise and to have our quiet times, we don't start school until about 9:15am.  We like to have our chores done, the kitchen clean and everyone dressed for the day. I'm not a fan of schooling in pajamas or even me in sweaty work-out clothes.  I think children perform better and are less lazy when they are dressed.  This encourages them to be serious about their school work and prepares them for adulthood.  
5. Be OK with admitting when something is not working. Say the math curriculum you bought back at the homeschool conference that looked so awesome is bringing your child or even yourself to tears, well be OK with ditching it and getting something else.  Tweak your schedule if things aren't  running smoothly or change up history and science activities.  There is no homeschool police that's going to come to your home and check to see if your child filled in all those silly science workbook pages!
6. Enlist the help of your husband, particularly with discipline and encouragement.  Also, don't be afraid to ask for help from tutors or other homeschool moms.  We are all in this together!
7. And just lighten up!  I've really had to do this. Is it our goal to raise perfect little Christian robots who score amazing on the SAT?  Well, if it is, then it shouldn't be.  We are homeschooling because we feel that God has called us to, right?  And because we love to be with our kids.  So, let's let God do His work and leave the outcome to Him.  The most important thing is remaining in harmony with the Lord and with our kids. 

Homeschool Schedules

A recent picture of my five I'm homeschooling this year.

Here is a question that I received about homeschooling and "getting it all done."  I thought I would post it and post my reply along with our HS schedule this year.  Hopefully this will help someone out : )

I hope all is well. I'm hoping you can share some homeschooling mom wisdom if you don't mind. The last several weeks we've had a tough time getting school finished at a decent time, even when on days I feel like we start on time. Some days it's a lack of focus, others it's whining or moping and of course some days there is both. It's growing very frustrating and I'm not sure how to handle it. I feel quite defeated and a bit like a sacrifice to the cause. I don't want to be selfish in my heart but I'd really like to squeeze in more exercise and a shower I really appreciate your constant help and encouragement. A

My answer:

I know what you mean by going through tough times. It ebbs and flows around here as well. Have you made a school day schedule? I know that having a schedule, having it posted where everyone can see it and even having Dad go over it with the kids really helps. I would set a reasonable amount of time for each subject and then even if they are not through, move on to the next thing. Then in the afternoon when it might be "fun time" or even after dinner when dad is home, they have to finish their "homework." This might make an impact if they are missing something fun like a game with Dad, baking something with you or TV. After we clean up breakfast and do morning chores, I get the kids going on independent easy work like handwriting and drills and then I jump in the shower. So after I'm dressed for the day, we start our CC work, LA and Math. Does this make sense? Also, I've found that I have to get up between 6 and 6:30 every morning and work out first thing or it probably won't get it done. Also, make sure that you are not actually giving them too much work. I know how easy it is to push that oldest super smart child : ) Blessings!

Here is our homeschool schedule for our
days T-F (we have our Classical Conversation co-op on Mondays.) It may be a little hard to read but you can basically see how I lay things out.

Blessings to all you homeschool moms out there!

Answering Some Homeschool Questions

Most of my little class I taught this past year in our Classical Conversations co-op.

I've had quite a few homeschool questions on my blog lately and also from friends and neighbors, so I thought I'd take some time to answer.  So here goes......

disclaimer: I'm not expert, even though I've been homeschooling for 17 years now.  I'm still learning : )


How do you homeschool and keep it fun at the same time?

Well, for one thing, school does not always have to be fun.  School is work for children and work is good. I do think children need to learn that most of the time in life things aren't fun and exciting.  I try to instill in my children a strong work ethic.  But that being said, I do want to make learning fun or at least interesting.  I think the main thing my children would say is fun about homeschooling is the read alouds we do.  They also really like the memory work we do with Classical Conversations, particularly the songs (this is how we learn the time-line, history facts, and our mulitplication tables.)  We also do fun field trips  at least once a month and they also love our homeschool co-op.  I think also not dragging school out the entire day helps as well.  We must remember that the experts say that 1 hour of homeschooling is equal to 3 hours of traditional school.  

How do you homeschool during stressful times?

There have been many times of stress over my 18 years of homeschooling, including family illness, death of loved ones, miscarriages, etc.  I think the main thing is to try to keep as much of a schedule as you can.  This is comforting to the children, even if not much school gets done.  This is one reason that I have my daily homeschool schedule posted in the kitchen and school room.  That way if my husband, an older sibling or sitter is watching all the kids then they can follow the schedule too.  Remember that real life situations are a great learning tool for children.  It's Ok to take a break from school for a while too.  Just read good literature to them, or have them read it themselves if they can, and do some math drills everyday.  You can make up things in the summer if need be. 

How do you homeschool with a newborn?

Some of the answers to this question are the same as the above and I also dealt with this in my post I wrote after I had #10 entitled, "I Won't Lie, It's Hard."  I do take a babymoon and don't do school for 2 weeks after the baby is born.  Then we ease back into it pretty easy the first week and then the following week go full swing.  I find in someways it's easier to school with a newborn than with a toddler (that would be another post : )  I just keep the baby with us and nurse him or her as needed.  I relax the schedule somewhat and keep our outside activities pretty low until the baby is at least 2 months old.  


How does your husband fit into the homeschooling picture?

My husband was the first one to ever mention homeschooling about 19 years ago and has always been a real encouragement to me.  This definitely helps but he also has a very busy career with 10 hour days away from home and traveling a few nights a month as well.  So he is considered our principal but that is about it.  There have been times that I have tried to assign a certain subject for him to do with a child, but it never seemed to really work out and put undo stress on him.  He does help in the evenings with the older children's papers (he is a better writer than me and better at editing.)  He loves to hear in the evenings what the kids have learned, particularly their memory work.  He also reads to them in the evening, either Bible stories or a read aloud that goes with the history we are studying.  I feel that my "job" is homeschooling my children and I let my husband do his.  
And remember if you want your husband to support you in your homeschooling endeavors, don't complain (at least not too much, smile)  or he will want to put them all in school. 

The Flexibility of Homeschooling

So, what other middle school boys can play chess while eating their boiled eggs and homemade buttermilk biscuits at 8am in the morning with no thought of having to catch the bus?  
My husband saw them intently playing chess together as he was walking out the door to work and commented about how wonderful and flexible homeschooling is.  This is just one advantage.....playing chess with your brother, which I believe is good for their brain and good for sibling bonding, so here are some others.........

1.  Everyday and just about anywhere can be a field trip, IE learning experience.
2.  Sick days or snow days don't mean you don't do any school.
3.  You can take a day off if the weather is beautiful or just do school outside.
4.  You can take a vacation when everyone else is in school and places aren't near as crowded.
5.  You can adjust the pace of learning and the curriculum to suit a child's learning style or weaknesses/strengths.
6.  There is no clothes drama in the morning.
7.  You don't have to say goodbye to them and worry about negative peer pressure or negative teaching.
8.  You can do all the science experiments, art projects, nature walks that your little hearts desire.
9.  Going to the library becomes at least a weekly thing.
10.  You have more time for extracurricular activities.

And the list could go on and on!  Now I know that not everyone is willing or equipped or able to homeschool but if you've ever thought about it, then I would give it a shot.  I love homeschooling my children. Now most of them have gone on to attend a Christian high school in our town.  I don't see any advantage to the children that were at that same Christian school for 8 plus years before I send mine and I see a lot of wasted time and money.  I've realized as I've gotten older how fast our children grow and leave the nest.  I'm so glad that I've gotten to spend so many more hours with them by homeschooling. 

A "Doable" Schedule

Here's my #1 sneaky guy who loves to tamper with my schedule

I know I said in my previous post that I had posted my schedule from last year, but in looking back I realize that it was from the year before......boy does time fly!  

I love schedules and over the years I have learned that the best thing about a schedule is that it gives you a plan, kind of like a skeleton for your day.  I don't think anyone, especially moms of little ones, should be a slave to the schedule or put timers all over the house to keep everyone on task. I'm not that rigid.  But many people think that schedules are too restraining, but really I think they are freeing.  To know that you have your day planned and will get done what really needs to get done and not just let the day get away from you, is SO nice.  If you haven't tried a schedule, please do.  A great book if you have 2 or more children and especially if you homeschool, is "Managers of Their Homes", by Teri Maxwell.  I know I have recommended it before, but it can give you a vision for schedules.  It's a little "over the top" and now I just do a version of what she does.  You can see the picture of my daily homeschool schedule down below.  But I will write my schedule easier to see without all the specifics.  One thing I do for my homeschooling hours, is divide my morning into 30 minute segments and have the children rotate through the "segments." But pay attention!.... One thing you must do if you have little ones, is to build margin into your schedule.  So, even though it really might not take 30 minutes to clean the kitchen or for a child to practice piano, you have time built in for the unexpected.........the baby has an explosive diaper, the child can't find their piano books or school books, the 7 year old is starving and must have a snack,the toddler dumps out a whole box of cereal (these things happened to me today during our morning : ) The 30 minute segments I have for my 1st-6th graders are as follows:

math on the computer

practice piano

time with mom

seat work to finish assignments

watch little ones

So here is our daily schedule:

6:00 Wake-up, outside for daily walk/jog
7:00  Quiet time, prayer and Bible reading (this includes                  
          all those awake)
8:00 Breakfast,clean-up, morning chores, kids get dressed
9:00 Dress little ones then I shower.  Older kids start 
        school, ie math drills, hand writing and whatever else
         they can start on their own.
9:30  Group time with everyone.  This includes prayer and
         Bible reading, Classical Conversations memory 
         work, history or science reading. Brief snack time.
10:30-12:30 Kids do their 30 minute increments and I 
          spend 30 minutes with each child going over their
          school work.
12:30 lunch and clean-up
1:00  my time with Christian and kids have "recess"
1:30-2:30 Reading time and finish assignments for school
          age kids and little ones down for naps (I rest and 
           read too)
2:30 If kids have read and done all their school, then 
        they get to watch one TV show (reruns of course : ) I 
         catch up on emails and blog.
3:00-5:00  Extracurricular activities, play outside, chores
5:00  Dinner prep, play with little boys
6:15 Dinner, family time, clean-up
7:00-8:00 Baths, reading time with Dad, little ones down
8:30-9:00  Others to bed
9:00-10:30 Read, watch news, time with hubby
10:30  Lights out

Another School Year Has Begun

Starting my 17th year of homeschooling......

My oldest 3 are all settled in their respective colleges and their classes have begun.  We began our homeschool last week and our Classical Conversations classes this week.  Matthew will start his special ed preschool after labor day.  We are so blessed to have gotten him into a small preschool that meets in a Baptist church that is 80% kids with Down Syndrome.  He will only have 7 other children his age in his class with 2 teachers.  It is a precious school that has very specific therapies for children with DS and is very language rich.  They also teach a good bit of sign language, which Matthew is so eager to learn and I have taught him about all I know.  He babbles all the time now, sometimes very loudly, and really wants to communicate.  I am so excited about him starting.  I feel like he has gotten into Harvard or something : )

Anyway, our homeschool is now in full swing. I have 5 different grades this year, as you can tell from the picture. We are again doing Classical Conversations for the second year.  We really enjoyed the structure it gave us last year and our classes we attend on Monday with the CC community.  It is also so very helpful for high school.  
There are a few things that I've changed this year......
All the kids, except one, are doing Saxon math.  I purchased their CD's that are used on the computer.  This helps so much because they each can watch their lesson in the morning and get started on their math.  Then they can watch the lady do the problems that they miss.  I also bought them each a storage box and placed good literature that is age/grade appropriate for them each to read through out the school year.  Most of my children are strong readers and love to read, but this gives me some structure for what they are reading.  Because we did Sonlight curriculum for so many years, I have a great library of children's literature.  Our schedule is similar to the one we had last year. (It's under one of my homeschooling posts) My older ones like to get up early and get going by 7:30 but we don't officially start up school with me until 9 and then are done by 1pm.  Afternoons are free for reading, running errands and extracurriculars......soccer, tennis, ballet, violin and piano.  
Happy New School Year!

A Year of Classical Conversations

My Anna.....graduating last week from her Christian Classical high-school. I homeschooled her through 8th grade.  I can't believe she is a high-school graduate now!  I'm so very glad I was able to spend more time with her,especially in the early years, by homeschooling her.

Last August when we were beginning a new homeschool journey, I said that I would let you all know how using Classical Conversations for a year has been.  Well, we have loved it!! It has been such a blessing to us and I think this past year has been one of our best homeschooling years........yes, even with having 2 "babies" to tend to and 5 different grade levels to teach. So, for time's sake, I'm going to give a bucket-list of reasons we have liked it so much and why we will continue with CC. 


1. It gives me a scope and sequence that I can use for preK-12th, if desired.
2. All my children have enjoyed it immensely.
3. I love the community it has given us and the other homeschool moms I have met.  These mothers, and Dads, are not only very committed to their family, but very committed to homeschooling.
4. My children have learned so very much!  The memorization comes so easily to them and they have been so "impressed" with themselves.
5. It actually frees me up some in the morning.  I can put on the CC time-line or weekly CD and they can begin without me. 
6. I have loved learning along with them and especially learning about Classical education in general.


We will continue next year and I'm actually planning on being a tutor the for the K-1st grade class.  MK is so excited that I will be her teacher : )

Homeschool "Blond Moments"

I've been homeschooling now for 16 years and in 2 weeks will have graduated 3 from high school.  You would think that I would have it "all together" so to speak.  I've taught just about all grades, except 10th and 12th.  I should know it all but really, I just act like I know it all....well, most of the time.  I'm not embarrassed to say I don't know something or to ask one of my older, "smarter" kids a question about something.  But many times, I'm still winging it.  I'm sure teachers in school wing it a good bit too and in spite of my short comings, my children test well at the end of the year and more importantly are growing-up to be fine, responsible young adults who I love to be around.  


Anyway, back to my title.....whenever I have a dingy moment, my kids call it a blond moment.  Sometimes my kids don't even know that I'm having one, but usually my older kids catch me.  The most recent one happened about a month ago.  We had been memorizing the US Presidents in order and so I found a book on my homeschool bookshelf that I thought was titled "The 5 US Presidents Not Born in the US."  (I must of been really tired that morning to read the title so very wrong.)  So I picked up the book and announce to my kids what the book is about that we will be reading over the next few mornings.  My 11 year old son replies, "Mom, I thought it was a law that you HAD to be born in the US to be President."  I reply that that is correct, but these Presidents must of been Presidents before that law was put into place.  Then I hold up the book to them and my 13 year old says, "Mom, isn't that a picture of Einstein?  Einstein was never president!"  At this remark, I turn the book around and look more closely at it and realize the title of the book is "5 US Scientists Not Born in the US."  Oops!  Well, I quickly corrected myself, had a good laugh and we put the book away.  


Things like this have happened  frequently over the years. My older kids laugh at me and my daughter says that people ask her if English is her second language.  She says, "Yes, and southern is my first."  I guess I need to work on my grammar and pronunciation a bit.  Really though, being married to a New Yorker has improved it quite a bit.  I'm so thankful for homeschool curriculums and love, consistency and the Lord make-up for my short comings!  And this coming fall, I will have 3 in college.......it's a miracle : )

Quail Eggs, Ducklings and other "science experiments"

Personally, I think "wild life" science experiments are the best!

Below you will see a close-up picture of our latest additions to the family and also a great way to learn about wild life up close and personal............

What started as a great science experiment with quail eggs, turned into buying baby ducklings at the farmer's market when the quail eggs refused to hatch.  It was really a rather sad "experiment."  My son bought the fertilized eggs online, built an incubator, kept the temperature and humidity at the appropriate numbers, turned them twice a day and we all waited.  They were duds!  They never hatched.  It was a good learning experience but we had to fill the void, so to speak.  Hince the ducklings are now living in our backyard.  We will keep them for a few more months then release them in the creek in our backyard or the neighborhood pond.  

We've done some great wild life science experiments in our 16 years of homeschooling.  Here are some of our favorite:

Order the tadpool and watch it turn into a frog, or just catch tadpools in the creek : )

The blue gel ant farm

Hamsters, rabbits, guinea pigs

Catch a turtle and keep it for a while

Venus fly trap

Grow a tea garden (we ordered this and are doing that now too)

It's amazing how much children learn from real life experiences with nature as opposed to just reading about it in a book.  I'm sure I'm forgetting some we've done in past years (I probably need to ask my older kids : )  But if y'all have any other great ideas, please comment.

Field Trips

Our most recent field trip to the county courthouse.  The Judge took a special liking to Caroline and let her sit in his chair.

One of the great things, I think, about homeschooling is the opportunity to do so many great field trips. I'm not sure how many field trips traditional schools do, but we do at least one a month. Plus, we are in a much smaller group so we get great individual attention and better hands on learning.  When I was just homeschooling a kindergartner and two preschoolers, we did just about one field trip a week.  Usually one with a homeschool group, 2 with friends and 1 by ourselves.  Of course, you can turn just about anything into a field trip, even the grocery store!

So here are some of our favorite field trips we've taken over the last 16 years of homeschooling.  Hope it inspires someone out there!

All sorts of museums.....art, children's, science, history, etc. And it's great to try different museums when you visit different cities.

Police Station

Hospital

Bakery

Dairy

TV station

Fire and Rescue Department

Plays and Operas 

Zoo

Antique Car Show

Working Farm

Produce picking

Adventure hikes

Factories (these can be hard to get into with kids)

Airport

Rock Quarry
Plantations
Historic/Colonial Homes
Horse back riding
Planetarium

A field trip to the state fair a few years ago.....they seem so little!

Olders Teaching the Younguns

"Many hands make light work."  I don't know who first said this, but it really is true.  I have such good helpers now, and though I try not to work them too hard or too much (I want them to have fond memories of growing-up in a large family) they enjoy helping with the younger ones.  One thing that comes in really handy is having the older siblings teach the younger siblings.  This could be school related things, sports, chores, music, etc.  It seems like the past year or so I had forgotten about this great plus in having a large family. Lately, after talking to a good friend with 7 children, I've realized new ways to incorporate this into our day.  It saves time and money and the kids really love it (older ones as much as the younger ones).  Here are some ways we are using this technique at the moment:

I'm having the 13 year old give tennis lessons to the 10,8 and 7 year old.  I had to oversee the first few times, but they are all doing well with this.  Christian is ranked in the state and knows his stuff when it comes to tennis and he's much cheaper than paying a pro.

 Ellie, who is in 2nd grade, loves teaching MK her reading flash cards.  They actually started this on their own and looked so cute with their ballet stuff on that I had to snap a pic.

Will is teaching Patrick how to play football already : )

No seriously, Anna helps the girls with piano and ballet.  

All the kids love teaching Matthew his sign language and flashcards.

Luke helps the girls with their math.

Christian also can lead the Classical Conversations material if I'm away or busy.

So, do any of y'all with many siblings have the olders teach the youngers?  I'd loves some more ideas : )

Homeschool PE

Yes, this homeschool does PE. Not that we are trying to copy traditional school, but my children need physical activity everyday and I want them to be able to play sports their whole lives, be healthy and have some coordination.  I've found that large families see the need to have them outside everyday playing, running around, riding bikes, hiking in the woods and involved in sports. Boys particularly need to get their energy out. I'm not going to go on right now about the positives of sports in general (yes, I know there are some negatives too, but I feel with high parental involvement that the good out weighs the bad by far), I just wanted to give some good ideas we have used over our years of parenting and homeschooling.
We have chosen tennis as our family sport.  I have all my children, beginning around age 6, start playing.  I played growing-up and loved playing with my dad and siblings.  Ron and I decided early on that it would be great to be able to take our kids out as a family and play and that they would be able to play their whole lives if they wanted.  Anyway, I tell my children that if they were in a traditional school they would have no choice, but to go to PE.  So I keep my kids active daily and once a week I take them out on the court myself (I just started this up again) and I feed them balls and teach the scoring.  They hit with each other too.  As they get older I put them in tennis clinics and we do have a homeschool tennis team in our community that has been great too.  We also start our kids in soccer around age 6.  We have a recreation league that practices and plays games right in our neighborhood.  We can actually walk or ride bikes to the field, which makes it very convenient.  We've been involved in this league for 9 years now and have been really happy with it.  One of my sons was/is very talented in soccer so he left the league for a while to do a traveling, more competitive team.  This was just a little too much for us as a family and he wasn't loving it either.  He went back to rec and started playing more competitive tennis.  So I just wanted to encourage all those homeschoolers out there to fit some physical activity into your curriculum...especially something you can all do together.

Luke getting a tennis lesson from his older brother.

Ellie is actually my youngest girl soccer player.  She is doing great and loves it.  I just love watching her practically skip around the field with her bobbing pony tail : )

Classical Conversations

Well, I did say in my homeschool post about 3 posts back, that we are starting something new this year.  People have asked for me to go into detail.....so here you go!
After 15 years of homeschooling, I needed a change.  Actually, after I had Patrick I was sweetly convicted by the Holy Spirit as I sat nursing him one evening.  I felt like the Lord impressed on me that he had given me a treasure that is actually an empty vessel.  As parents we are responsible for their education and we are responsible for what we "fill them up" with.  We have the awesome responsibility to fill them with the understanding, knowledge and wisdom of the Lord.  Not the world's wisdom.  And while I knew all of this as a homeschooling mom, I felt that many times I was just trying to "get by" with our schooling or do what was expected by the public school and just slide through.  
My older children have graduated from a Classical Christian school that they went to after middle school.  At Ben's graduation from this school, I was so impressed with what they had learned and how the younger ones had learned it.  I started to ask around and do some research.  So after a few months of this I came across a friend doing Classical Conversations and I was truly impressed.  I felt like the Lord was gently leading me and even though it was a pretty major change for us, I had such a peace.  It really has gone smoothly and I love what we are doing!  My kids needed to be challenged more and I needed more structure.  Below are some of the things we are doing and we are meeting once a week with the Classical Conversations community for classes. It is an all day thing for us, but it is so good.  Check-out their website and read some of their books (the library around here has many of them).  So this is what we are doing now, I'll keep you posted on how it goes this year : )

 This is Foundations and is what I use for everyone, but it's primarily for K-6th grade.  This above book last for 3 years, or cycles as they call them, and then you repeat.  I can't believe all my kids have learned in just 4 weeks of school.  

 This is a writing and grammar class for 4th-6th graders that I am doing with my 5th grader.  It's intense...it's even challenging me!

The 7th-12th grade programs are called Challenge and there is one for every year.  It covers 6 subjects (this year for 8th grade Christian is doing Logic, Latin, Debate, Algebra 1, Literature, and Science History/Theory.)

First Day of Homeschool 2011-2012

 School Photo

Yes, we started up school already.  Today was our first day back in the swing of things.  We do a quarter system, with 9 weeks on and then 2 weeks off.  This goes with my high-schooler who is in a private school.  Plus, we are a bit tired of the summer and the heat and lack of a schedule (see previous post, but I'm not complaining, really : ).  So, we did our annual homeschool candle lighting service last night and were excited to get back to "the books."  We are changing things up a bit this year and adding Classical Conversations for the first time.  That will have to be another post.  Anyway, we started up slowly and didn't add all subjects today.  Here was our somewhat easy schedule of the day:

6:30  I went out for a quick jog.

7:30  The boys were up and eager to start   something, so they watched their Latin DVDs.

8:30  Breakfast, clean-up, and get dressed for day.

9:30  All together for Bible, reading and memory work.

10:30 Grammar and Math for everyone.

11:30 All done....Lunch prep

 I saw this idea on another blog.  I made these "flag cups" from card stock, skewer sticks, and plastic cups.  When a child needs to talk to me or ask a question about their work, then they grab a cup and wait.  Then when I have a break I answer the question or deal with the problem in the order of the cups.  Worked great today until my 13 year old hid the #1 cup!

Chunky Monkey Behaved Himself : )

I'm Not Gonna Lie......It's Hard

Reading time with Mom......how we start our homeschool day

Yes,  Homeschooling 5 different grades (my 4th grader was taking this picture) and having a newborn and a toddler, is hard.  But nothing ever worth anything is easy, right?  At least that's what I keep telling myself.  I've never had 2 little ones that aren't walking before.  I have had chidren closer in age before but with Mattie having DS, it's really more like a 14 month age difference at this point.  I know there are Moms out there who have done this and yes, I've done it before, but I'm not going to pretend it's easy.  So, here has what's been hard lately and sometimes quite funny:

1. Nursing a newborn while at the same time teaching Algebra.

2.  Trying to keep Matthew from destroying the house while we homeschool.  His new thing is throwing whatever he can find down the stairs.

3. Starting school before 10am, which is about the time we are all fed and dressed. At that point, I've lost most of the children to the back yard and the spring weather.

4. I've been totally forgetting things on our schedule.  Like, "Oh no, you have soccer practice that started 10 min. ago."  Or "who is that lady at the door?.....oh yeah, Mattie has speech therapy today!"

5.  And as you can see from above, fitting all of us on the sofa for reading time.  Of course, no child wants to sit on the floor!

School Has Started!

Will is all moved into the dorm at UNC (here it is before we unpacked and made it look somewhat cute-not that boys care about that :o) He starts classes today!

Ben and Anna have started Cary Christian School and so far so good.  Ben is a Senior and Anna is a Junior-hard to believe!  Ben is playing football and their first game is Friday night.  We can't wait!

And my little homeschool students are off and running!  Every year for probably the last 10 years, the night before we have scheduled HS to start we have a candle lighting service.  I know, it sounds like a sorority or something :)  But my husband thought this up years ago.  He talks to them about why we homeschool and about obedience and doing our work as unto the Lord.  He shares some scripture and then I share our goals for year and go over our schedule.  Then each child lights their "candle of learning" while giving their commitment to try their best.  My older kids think it's kind of cheesy now, but my younger ones really get into it.  It's a great evening before starting school the next day.

My Schedule

Since we are starting up homeschool for the year next week, I have been working on my schedule.  I love the book "Managers of Their Homes"  and years ago when I just had 4 children, I started using the model she describes in her book.  I actually love to make schedules (I know, maybe I'm weird that way).  Anyway, it really gives me a base for our day during the week.  I'm not a slave to it and we are more lax in the afternoon, but if you have more than a couple of kidos, it really helps.

So, I start with some large graph paper (one inch grid.)  I write the children's names, plus me, across the top and each square is a half hour long.  The book does come with a kit to make a large one of these schedules and a few small ones, but I used it up a long time ago.  Then, as you can see below, is how I divide up the day.  The book has many chapters, such as one on the older kids helping with the younger ones so they are quiet during school time.  Anyway, I hang this up in the school room and also make a copy for the  kitchen and after a few weeks, we are pretty much on auto-pilot. Every year is a little different because I always like to try new things.  For instance, this year my 7th grader will be doing 2 DVD Abeka classes.  I felt that he needed more school work and some professional help with English :o) The "time with Mom" is when I check their work from the day before and go over their assignments for that day.  H.O.D. that I am doing with the girls stands for "Heart of Dakota."  I'm so excited about this.  It is a new curriculum that I found that combines history, science, Bible, crafts and reading.  It's similar to Sonlight but simplified.  Well, hope this helps someone out there.  Happy Parenting!

Crafts for the Not So Crafty

Everyone thinks that you have to be crafty to homeschool, but really this is not true.  I am so not into crafts. I have a hard time getting my house all messy with crafts.  I do let them paint and color and try to do some kind craft a few times a month.  My kids do an art class on Fridays, so I don't feel so bad about not doing too many crafty/art projects.  Anyway, this is an easy craft that we did this week.  Don't laugh-the kids loved them and then we made one for my Mom (cause she wanted one too.)

                               We called them Sock Babies.  Here is how we made them:

Take some baby sized socks that don't have matches (don't use anything much bigger or you'll use too much rice).  Fill them up with cheap rice and tie with a rubber band.  Add googly eyes and your done.  You can also put some ribbon over the rubber band or pull top down and they look like they are wearing ski caps :o) Voila!

My Favorite Homeschool Recommendations

Books:

The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook by Dorothy Moore and Raymond Moore
Mommy, Teach Me: Preparing Your Preschool Child for a Lifetime of Learning by Barbara Curtis
Mommy, Teach Me to Read: A Complete and Easy-to-Use Home Reading Program by Barbara Curtis
Homeschooling at the Speed of Life: Balancing Home, School, and Family in the Real World  by Marilyn Rockett
A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning by Karen Andreola
Educating The Whole Hearted Child by Sally Clarkson

Managers of Their Homes by Teri Maxwell


                                                    Websites:

NCHE. com (North Carolina's HS website)

Youcanhomeschool.org (some general information and FAQ)
Sonlight.com (a literature based homeschool curriculum and support)

Abeka.com (traditional textbook homeschool curriculum)
Timberdoodle.com (eclectic, hands on homeschool supplies, great for younger children)


                                         Tried and True Curriculum:


Abeka Phonics and English
Horizon's Math (K-grade 6)
Saxon prealgebra and algebra
Calculadder Math Drills
Reason For Writing handwriting
Building Thinking Skills
Spelling Power
Apologia Science
Five in a Row Literature for younger kids
The Story of the World

Homeschooling.....My 14 Year Take

This past week I just wrapped-up my 14th year of homeschooling.  If you would of told me 14 years ago that I would still be homeschooling and actually enjoying it, I probably wouldn't of believed you!  Anyway, how God led us to homeschool and how I finally "gave it a try" is another post.  I won't get into a debate about schooling options either, but I love to be with my children (they grow so fast) and homeschooling, while it can be stressful at times, is actually fun and freeing. I just wanted to write some bullet points I have learned in the last 14 years that might actually help someone just getting started or thinking about homeschooling.

1.  Have a schedule and stick with it as much as possible. Make it realistic, but don't be a slave to it.  "Managers of Their Homes" by Teri Maxwell is a great resource for making  schedules.  We get most of our schooling done by lunch time, with them finishing up assignments and "home work" in the afternoon.

2.  Start your schooling day all together with Bible reading and prayer.  We also do literature reading at this time.  This means I read some picture books for the younger ones and then work on a chapter book with all of them.  All my children love this time and look forward to it, so it makes starting school fun and something they want to do.

3.  Take at least one field trip a month.  This is such a wonderful bonus of homeschooling and it's good to take advantage of all the cool things you can take your kids to, basically whenever you want.  We do field trips with friends, HS groups and then sometimes just by ourselves.  When I first started homeschooling and just had kindergarten and younger ones, we took field trips weekly. 

4.  Make sure your husband holds you and the kids accountable.  Many husbands help with the homeschooling, especially if they work at home, but my husband has a very full time job and has never been able to do this.  He is considered the "principal" and checks up on the kids and handles discipline for me.  

5.  Get support. Join a HS group or co-op and take advantage of any HS classes or tutorials that may be in your area.  Also, attend your state's HS conference whenever possible, especially if you are just starting out.  It's so encouraging to see all the other homeschool families and actually get to look at differend curriculum.  The speakers are usually great too.

6.  Be involved in sports.  As a family, we love sports.  As a mother of many boys, I love sports :o) To get my kidos energy out, spend time as a family, have them get some socialization and learn team work and discipline we have been involved in lots of different sports over the years.  We've done homeschool leagues, Christian leagues and community leagues.  We've done tennis, soccer, swimming, football, ballet, running and wrestling.  Tennis is the one sport a basically require all my kids to learn.  I consider it our homeschool PE and they all begin to learn when they are around 5 or 6. This is nice because we can play together as a family and it's a skill they can have all their life. 

7.  Pray! Pray daily for each child.  Take time to pray during schooling time. Pray about what curriculum you use with each child.  I like to change things around some because I like to try new things and each of my children are so different.  I do have some favorites though and I'll post these later on, but I think taking time to pray, set goals and consider with your husband what is best for each child is very important.

Well, these are the first things that came to my mind as I looked back over 14 years of homeschooling.........not how much math we did or what their end of year test's scores were.  Enjoy this precious time with your children.  They will be going off to college before you know it!