Home*School*Home: Hits and Misses.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Hits and Misses.

Old Santa had some hits and misses here with the Christmas gifts. The Leapster was a miss with my youngest son, probably because it has educational qualities. We are keeping it though and may require him to play some games on it to help with some of his school skills. My daughter loved her Littlest Pet Shop toys and has been taking them everywhere we go. Both boys have enjoyed playing Heroscapes, which is a board game, a lot. I'm still not sure what my oldest son thinks about the Lego Mindstorms set he got, but he has at least opened the package now and gotten started with it. Some things haven't even been opened yet, like my older son's woodcarving kit, but it is going to be a long winter, so I figure he'll get into that later.

I still haven't worked on the schedule for next week ...

4 comments:

Janet said...: Maddie LOVES her Littlest Pet Shop toys too! I do like some of the pets, they are pretty cute.

Have a wonderful New Year!; 11:20 PM
Fatcat said...: Thanks!; 8:39 AM
Perri said...: We got 3 Leapsters and the kids are loving them!; 11:19 PM
Anonymous said...: It's very interesting to hear about last year's Christmas gifts, this year! I'm sorry the Leapster was a miss but think it is not surprising that your boy was disappointed by the educational game. My company recently created a very different kind of educational game - one that focuses on life skills and character rather than letters and numbers. Maybe it would be a better match!

Thank you for your insights,

Sincerely,
John Florez
Cheeruppet World Preschool Life Skills Software; 4:10 PM

Post a Comment

Homeschooling Advice.

1. Try it. You might enjoy it. It might change your life. It might not be your thing, but you won't know if you don't ever try.

2. Find out what your state (or country) requires, the bare minimum. Do this and then with the rest of it, have fun with it. It doesn't have to be all serious and it doesn't have to look like the inside of a classroom. You're at home. Relax. Play. Read. Learn together. Enjoy your kids. They grow up way too fast.

3. Don't let a written curriculum boss you around. If it works, great. If it's not working for you, throw it out. If only parts of it work, use those and throw the rest out. It's not the boss of you. When shopping for curriculum, read reviews. Try to go somewhere where you can actually hold the book in your hands and look through it. Print out a sample day or week and try and implement it or borrow it before buying. It's kind of hit and miss buying books without being able to see them.

4. Find a homeschool support group. Or two. If you can't find one in real life, find one online. Get support where ever you can.

5. Make a mess now and then. Go outside and put some mentos in coke. Make alka-seltzer rockets. Make some great art. Make a timeline and a map. Grow some borax crystals. Use levers to lift things. Make a trebuchet out of whatever you can find around the house.

6. Go on as many field trips as you can.

The point of this blog.

"there is a theme, if you read, you'll get a growing conviction that homeschooling is a lifestyle that is worthwhile, that it is extremely good for kids and families, that it promotes bonding, is a personalized education that is superior to what you can get anywhere else for your kids, is fun and can be done even if you have a 400 track mind, no math skills (thankfully my husband does though), through working, job changes, bad hair days, home remodeling, deaths, illness, surgery, broken bones and various other things and it actually makes dealing with these things easier, not harder, than it was when we were in the public schools, because homeschooling is so incredibly flexible. That's the point I've been trying to make for the last 5 years or so."

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Hits and Misses.

4 comments:

LinkWithin

Followers

The point of this blog.

Blog Archive