Category Archives: homeschooling

Sep 13 2013

4 Steps to Homeschool Success

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In life, flexibility is the mother of all things good. In homeschooling, it is do-or-die. Want the dictionary definition for “do-or-die?” Here it is: requiring supreme effort to avoid the dire consequences of failure. As a recovering perfectionist and schedule-oriented person, I feel flexibility does take a supreme effort on my part. But I want to avoid the dire consequences of failure. So, I get flexible.

One of the greatest books a homeschooling newbie can read is Things We Wish We’d Known by Bill and Diana Waring. I am reading it right now. Fifty veteran homeschoolers share lessons from their own mistakes. I don’t know about you, but I sure want to learn from other people’s mistakes. What I get from most stories so far is that flexibility equals homeschool success.

Take this example… This homeschooling family was traveling through South Dakota on a cross-country road trip adventure. The children did not finish their workbook assignments, so the parents did not allow them to see Mount Rushmore. They continued on their not-so-merry way and showed the children who the boss was. Astonished? Yeah, me too.

Mount Rushmore Flexibility Equals Homeschool Success

Mount Rushmore in South Dakota

I would have used that instance to teach grace, i.e. unmerited favor, and remind them of the great gift of eternal life through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. I would say something like, “Grace is a gift from God and we do not deserve it. You children did not finish your workbooks, but we will show you grace and take you to see Mount Rushmore anyway. Grace is what God gives to us through His Son, because He loves us. And we love you. So we show you grace… We will see Mount Rushmore and then you finish your assignment.”

As our first official homeschooling week was drawing to a close, I realized I was already making adjustments to the plans I had so carefully laid out, based on our circumstances (my sister and her family left after spending the summer with us) and my students’ responses (the emotional letdown of saying goodbye took a toll on them; plus, they found it hard to get on a schedule after unschooling for a month).

To help me flex my weak flexibility muscle, I came up with 4 steps:

1. Teach according to the lesson plans you made. You have to start somewhere. A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. Make a plan and work it, even if you feel it is incomplete because you do not have the time or the expertise to take everything into consideration. As a homeschooling mom in my first year of teaching, I definitely fall in this category.

2. Tinker according to the events of the day. Many things happen in a household that interrupt homeschooling. Some are as banal as a UPS delivery. Others are life-changing like a pregnancy or a death. Take a deep breath (or many) and wait for the moment to re-start where you got interrrupted. Or how about this example? DS says, “I am tired” after reading six three-letter words to me (mud, cud, run, sun, rub, tub). Is he tired or lazy? That’s for me to determine based on what I know about his life in the past 24 hours.

3. Tweak based on the responses of your students. Some nights, my children just don’t sleep well. Or they are just being kids. Or something. They do not cooperate during the morning devotional. No matter what consequences I dangle in front of them, they will not listen. I go to my room to pray and ask for wisdom. They know I do that because I tell them. When I come back, they ask me, “What did Jesus tell you?” and I can see it in their eyes. They have come to their senses. They are ready to obey before I even tell them what the plan is. I learned this technique from one of the best books on parenting I have ever read, Kay Kuzma’s Easy Obedience.

4. Troll back to your lesson plans. Were you too ambitious or too lax? Adjust based on what you learned in the previous steps. Change is the only constant.

So tell me, is flexibility an issue for you? How have you had to adapt and change your plans in your homeschool? Please leave me a comment below.

Sep 9 2013

Homeschooling Stats

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Homeschooling, like anything else, can absorb all your energies and consume you if you let it. Pretty soon, you and I will be so busy with daily and weekly goals, we might forget about the big picture. So before we can’t see the forest from the trees, I wanted to share some information that came into my inbox recently.

If you are only thinking about homeschooling, the data should give you food for thought. If you are already in the homeschooling trenches, you should be encouraged.

Personally, I already feel the homeschooling ride getting faster. I have homeschooled officially for all of six days now and find myself adjusting methods, curricula, schedules, and the transition between activities. I had to cancel a picnic with one of my support groups (Blount Home Education Association) because our schedule was too full for that week and the children were feeling it. One of the advantages of homeschooling, after all, is flexibility.

Another important detail: during our first week of official homeschooling, we said goodbye to our summer guests – my sister, her husband and their fourteen-year-old son. Lots of emotions to deal with plus lots of things to get done before and after their departure. The silver lining? Taking my sister and her family to the airport doubled as a field trip for the children.

Which brings me to my point about the stats below: homeschooling happens in real families who deal with life events on a regular basis. All the more reason to appreciate the hard work of the researchers who put it all together. Enjoy!

Homeschooled: How American Homeschoolers Measure Up

Sep 6 2013

Sevier County Homeschoolers

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I just got back from registration night for the 2013-2014 homeschool year in Sevier County, so this blog post is fresh off the WordPress press. We met at Victory Baptist Church in Sevierville. We registered as homeschoolers and received our ID cards. The coordinator, Sabrina Gray, opened the meeting with prayer and a few remarks about our goal of instilling godly character in our children. Then, she introduced some of the vendors and activity leaders.

She surprised me by asking me to come upfront and share about my blog. Afterwards, several ladies with small children walked up to me and asked for the name of my site again. I was excited to share, obviously, and hope they will sign up for updates. I am honored to serve the homeschooling community through this blog.

A paragraph about Sabrina: she is such a neat lady with a beautiful story of homeschooling three children through the tough times, in the early nineties, and now. A talented artist, a writer and an actress, a quilter and a storyteller, she can also bake some seriously delicious bread. Back in May, we were in her home for a bread-making workshop and her husband shared how he went to Romania in 1992 to give Bibles to people. Coincidentally, 1992 was the year when I decided to follow Christ and the Bible. We all cried as we traded stories of how God used different people like him to bring the gospel to Romania.

Sevier County Homeschoolers

Registration night for Sevier County homeschoolers

The Sevier County Homeschool Support Group offers so much: 4-H, choir, Keep Sevier Beautiful, the Passion Play, several activities for highschoolers, quilting classes, parent support night, just to name a few. My children will try the choir. For myself, I will attend the parent support night. I felt encouraged every time I attended last year.

The homeschooling family Sabrina invited to speak are engineers by profession and the parents of four children. I expected them to be informative, but they were also funny. Who would have thunk it? The mom used to be the president of her company when God called her to homeschool her children. He is still an engineer with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Their older children got accepted into all ten colleges they applied for and six of these ten colleges offered them a free ride. Intrigued? I will pass on to you their twelve pointers about homeschooling in a future blog post.

All in all, it was a great night of networking. It was good to see old friends and make new friends. Homeschooling is an exciting adventure and being plugged into a support network makes it even more fun. My suggestion is that you find a support group wherever you live. You will need them in good times and tough times alike.

Sep 2 2013

First Day of Homeschooling

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And… they’re off! No, not exactly. They are still here, at home. And yet, they are learning. A lot. Isn’t that amazing? Our homeschooling journey started yesterday, on September 1. Of course, Self-University Week started yesterday, too. When I made this schedule I did not know about this neat coincidence.

I dressed the kids up in their school uniforms. DD asked, “Do I have to wear this all the time?” She’s such a girlie girl, she wants the scoop on her outfitting options. “Only for school time.” She accepted it.

I chose to buy school uniforms because

a. children look cute in uniforms.

b. it helps them get into “school mode”.

c. we are a private school. Well, sort of.

d. we can use them on field trips.

The routine wasn’t much different than before, but we did take pictures.

First Day of Preschool at Home

DD and I

We started with our Accountable Kids morning cards, followed by a devotional. We are using GraceLink Kindergarten for our Bible story time. This week’s lesson is about Baby Moses. It find it providential, because when God came to me about homeschooling two years ago, He used the story of Baby Moses. Another neat coincidence for our first day of homeschooling.

DS tutored himself through Simple and Motorized Mechanisms from LEGO Education while I worked with my daughter on preschool activities. She was very eager to learn, but got silly after 10-15 minutes. That was my cue she was done. I sent her to play by herself, which she was happy to do, while DS and I tackled the 3 Rs for 30 minutes.

They had recess and lunch. Then, they had P.E. and art (drawing with chalk).

That was it. Easy, peasy, homeschoolese.

First Day of Kindergarten at Home

DS and I

However, it was not smooth. In the early morning, our cat left us a calling card on the living room carpet. Later on, as I reached for a box, I knocked down a tray. Glass shattered and contents spilled out. My husband and I spent fifteen minutes cleaning. Just when I thought I could start teaching, I noticed the magnetic letters I had chosen so carefully the night before for my son’s reading lesson were missing. DD had noticed them in my tote bag and put them back up where they belong. So I had to pick them out all over again.

How do I come up with the four hours of homeschooling instruction required by the State of Tennessee? I’ll tell you in a future blog post. For now, I covet your prayers on our behalf. We need wisdom to guide our children well. Thank you in advance for praying for us!

Linking this post to

Join Me at The Homeschool Post!

Aug 30 2013

Homeschooling Retreat

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As I wrote in my previous post on homeschooling back-to-school, I think it is a great idea for homeschooling parents to take an overnight trip without the kids, just before school starts again. My husband and I chose Hot Springs, NC – about 90 minutes by car from our house. The trip was good for our school on many levels:

  • For the first time in five years, my husband and I were not parents for a full 24-hour period. Don’t get me wrong. We love being parents. We love our children. We planned to have them. Then, the constant job of parenting wore us down. We have taken time away from them for the last five years, but it was only for three hours at a time, at the most. We did not leave them overnight mainly because I could not handle it. However, as the children grow, so do the parents. I guess I have done some growing for the past few months.
  • We talked at length. We covered our educational goals, methods, and developments in the character our children that we noticed lately.

Hot Springs Sign

  • We were quiet, too. We focused on our individual laptops and did not say a word. Reading or writing for a full hour without little voices asking me this or that is a luxury I do not take for granted.
  • I used to feel guilty about not being with my children 24/7. I knew intellectually that a break would actually make me a better mom, but it was hard to move that piece of information into my emotional brain. During this trip, I made that switch. Not sure how it happened other than by being a tourist.

Eating good food + taking pictures + buying souvenirs + listening to the French Broad River from the porch swing + soaking in a Jacuzzi filled with hot spring mineral water = rest and relaxation.

After this trip, I feel I am ready to tackle homeschooling again. It won’t be long now. I’ll be back to tell you all about it.

Aug 26 2013

5 Steps to Homeschooling Back-to-School

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I spent the last few days before our homeschooling back-to-school cleaning, dusting, washing, sanitizing, sorting and organizing. Every six months we turn the house inside out, get rid of clutter, clean corners where the sun doesn’t shine, and eliminate any sources of potential hazards (like mold). In the process, we find things we had been looking for or things we completely forgot about.

Since we teach September through July, the two semi-annual cleaning sessions happen in August, just before school starts, and in February, when everybody is burned out of learning and suffers from cabin fever. What a perfect way to spend a week, cleaning and organizing, feeling like you have something under control. It is also a semi-annual reminder that we don’t need all this “stuff.” So we scale down our inventory to the next new maximum.

Here are 5 steps to organizing for homeschooling back-to-school:

1. Clean the house thoroughly. Slide furniture out of its place, get under couches, look at corners you have not seen in months (or, – dare I say it? – years). Dust bunnies have killed many a homeschool.

2. Discard items you have not used in a year or so. When it comes to sorting possessions, most organizing gurus tell us to get three boxes: “Keep”, “Throw” and “Donate”. Of course, if the items to throw or donate are large, you leave them in their spot for the day you are ready to haul them off. If they are small, you will need to use some boxes until you finish the organizing process.

3. Organize books and school supplies. You have heard the saying, no doubt: a place for everything and everything in its place. Nothing discourages more than looking for something for ten minutes before using it. Get a grip (no pun intended) on school files and binders. If it stacks, it’s a pile. If it hangs, it’s a file. As for our daily school books, I put them in a medium size tote-like box with handles. If we have to move from one room to another, I just grab the tote.

Homeschooling Tote

4. Sort clothing according to the system under step #2. Be ruthless. Ask your spouse to help you make cutthroat decisions. The more you linger, the harder it is to get rid of stuff, especially if you have warm, fuzzy memories of your babies wearing a particular item. I am personally guilty of that.

5. Take a day off. Find a reliable babysitter, if at all possible, and take an overnight trip with your husband. After all, he is the principal of the school. You two need a retreat to focus on the upcoming school year, right? Or just to forget about homeschooling entirely and relax. This year, we took our first ever overnight trip without children since we became parents. We chose Hot Springs, NC and it was a good choice. I will tell you about it in a future blog post. Here I am in front of their library. I love their sign…

Read to your kids sign @ Hot Springs Library

How do you prepare for homeschooling back-to-school? Leave me a comment below, please.

Aug 24 2013

Homeschooling Blog Disclosure

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A homeschooling blog is a homeschooling blog. Or is it? Back in 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decided it was time for bloggers to disclose if they received a freebie from a company in exchange for a  review on their blog.

Since mommy bloggers could be held liable for product reviews, I decided to look into the FTC regulations on bloggers. The result is a new tab on my website, Disclosure.

Homeschooling is a journey I never thought I would embark upon. Once I gave in to God and accepted the call to homeschool my children, I felt the need for an outlet to express not just the information I accumulate as I teach my children, but also the feelings behind our day-to-day life.

It’s not about money, but, when it has to be, I need to do things according to Caesar because, after all, we ought to give the FTC what belongs unto the FTC.

So here’s my disclosure policy…

Homeschooling Blog Disclosure

This is my blog and I write my personal opinion about different products and services inside and outside the beautiful world of homeschooling. So far, I have not been paid to provide reviews. I am open to starting such business relationships though. When I do, I will disclose it.

I have several affiliate links on this blog. If you purchase through my affiliate banners and links, I receive a small commission. Besides getting the same great product at the same great price you would get on a non-affiliate website, if you buy through my links, you also get the satisfaction of helping a homeschooling family. Thank you!

Aug 23 2013

Unschooling Through August

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As I wrote in a previous post, I don’t particularly jive with unschooling. But when I decided that August was going to be our official summer break, I unleashed unschooling. The results almost persuaded me that unschooling is the Holy Grail of homeschooling. The key word being almost…

Some days, the kids played with their LEGOs and DUPLOs, with their toys and bikes, or in the sand box or the tree house. I’ll have to tell you about our tree house in a future post. In the meantime, here’s a picture of DS in the tree house just before we put a roof on it, in June 2012…

Our tree house, no roof yet

 

On other days, they asked for crafts and workbooks and painting time. I complied. It worked so well, it gave me an appreciation for the unschooling method. They were so eager to learn and so happy to receive instructions on how to finish their projects.

Do-a-Dot Letters

And yet. And yet. And yet. How would I know what they learned? And was it Math or Science? Do I count it as Language Arts or Fine Arts? Did they just do P.E.? Or was it recess?

Learning obviously happens all the time and everywhere we go. I just don’t know how to record it. I need a box to check.

If my kids grow up to be freer in their thinking than I am, more power to them. If they take this education revolution to the next level, it would not bother me one bit. But I can only come so far.

For now. One never knows the future. I have watched some homeschooling friends evolve over time in their methods. I suspect it can happen to me, too.

Until then, I remain eclectic with a strong classical-Charlotte Mason-Moore Formula bias. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate the energy the kids show during delight-based, child-led educational pursuits, i. e. unschooling. I’m just not ready for this approach, as I feel like I am lost without a map or a GPS in the educational jungle.

Please leave me a comment below about your experience with unschooling. How comfortable are you with this method?

 

Aug 19 2013

7 Ways to Answer the Socialization Question

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“What about socialization?” If you homeschool, you have been asked this question at least once. And that’s OK.

Here are 7 ways to deal with the socialization question:

1. Congratulate this person for having the courage to ask. Homeschooling one’s child is like wearing braces after 35. Even though it is legal and more accepted than ever, it remains a bit of a stigma. Most people think they embarrass you if they ask questions about it.

2. Ask them to define socialization from their perspective, so you understand their background. It also helps with figuring out the emotion behind the question. Are they open-minded and curious? Or angry and closed-minded? Give information to the curious and don’t argue with the angry ones.

3. Mention your children attend [insert activities outside the home], where they have lots of opportunities to interact with people of different ages and walks of life.

4. Tell them people have socialized their children in the context of home for millennia. Ask, “Do you think American children were ‘unsocialized’ before 1852, when compulsory attendance was introduced for the first time?”

5. Smile. Ask: “What do Jesus, George Washington, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Albert Einstein, Tim Tebow, and Will Smith’s children have in common? Homeschooling. As far as I know, none of them has/had problems interacting with others.”

Too Cool for School

6. Using a meek voice, tell them:  “Socialization in a school environment is self-taught and unsupervised, i.e. children learn to socialize between classes or during recess and lunch. No adult takes the time to teach them the proper way to interact with each other because adults are not welcome in their circles at those times. Adults only intervene when things get out of hand. This type of socialization has more to do with being cool and fitting in than with manners, team work, and being polite.”

7. Last but not least, use this: “Personally, I have a problem with the quality and quantity of socialization that happens in schools. Spending 35 hours a week in a classroom with 30 other children is not socialization. It is over-socialization.”

However you answer the socialization question, be gracious and patient, not snarky and sarcastic. People are on different journeys. The last thing they need is to be snapped at by a homeschooling mom.

Aug 16 2013

Junior Ranger Program

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This summer, DS was finally able to take part in the Junior Ranger Program organized by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. One must be at least five to start in one of the age groups available. I have been looking forward to this program for about 3 years. Yes, I like to plan ahead.Jr. Ranger Booklet

We bought the booklet and worked our way through the requirements:

1. Complete eight activities in the booklet. It took us three fifteen-minute sessions over a month. We stretched it out especially because we were busy with family visiting from overseas.

2. Attend one ranger-led program. We attended three. Just because. Plus I wanted my Not-So-Junior ranger badge, which one can get after attending – you guessed it! – three programs.

Our first event was Bear-mania. We learned there are 1,600 bears in the park, 2 per each square mile, which is a really good density. We got to touch a bear skin. I was OK with touching the fur, but my son invited me to feel its paws and claws. I hesitated. Then, I went ahead and touched those parts anyway, trying hard not to shudder. The things we do for our children…

Our second event was Retiring the Colors, a touching presentation on the Stars and Stripes which taught the children how the flag came about, how to fold the flag and what the stars and stripes stand for. They got to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Then, they all ligned up and folded the flag. And what do you know? My children knew how to stand in line – proof positive that they don’t need to go to school to learn that particular life skill. We practice at the supermarket every week, don’t we? I digress. The good news is that since this program both my children have been spotting the American flag everywhere we go.

Our third event was Yukky Animal Stuff, a hilarious presentation on scat, skulls, and scents. When the ranger asked for volunteers to come upfront and read the Scat Rap, DS volunteered. DS stood in front of the class, alongside six others, and followed directions. What was that question about socialization again? He even read along with them from the laminated piece of paper he received. (He reads on third grade level, but that is a topic for another post.)

In all honesty, I feel the what-in-the-world-am-I-doing-with-this-homeschooling-thing fear now and then. The fear that I am “messing up my children,” “handicapping them for life,” or “ruining their education and their ability to socialize normally” – all words said to me or my homeschooling friends by well-meaning family members and friends. But then I attend events like those just mentioned above and I relax. My children interact well with people of all ages and they are not afraid of public speaking. Breathe.

Picking up litter3. Pick up one bag of litter. We walked around our neighborhood and picked up trash from the ditches or the road itself. It took about 30 minutes. We filled up two shopping bags, especially from the ditches around overnight rentals. People like to party and throw their beer bottles in the ditches – that’s one of the lessons of the day. Besides discussing hygiene and proper trash disposal, we talked about the dangers of alcohol consumption. Again.

4. Take booklet to a Smokies park ranger at any visitor center. DS was so excited to get his badge! He got sworn in and received a certificate, as well.

As we walked away from the Sugarlands Visitor Center toward the car, my son asked me: “Did I earn it, mommy?” pointing to the certificate in his hands. We have been talking with him about how fun it is to receive gifts and how it is even more fun to earn things. I reassured him he earned it and that mommy was proud. Because I am.