Home*School*Home: Shopping.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Shopping.

I can't believe it, but I'm thinking of shopping around for a new curriculum. I've been a big KONOS fan and I know it works, but there is so much work to it for the teacher and with my job, my cafepress store and my general lack of enthusiasm lately, I've found it very hard to make the herculean effort of planning that it takes. I have to read through the material, make a shopping list, make a list of books at the library to get (which they frequently don't have) and plan all the crafts, experiments and activities and sometimes I don't know the information and then have to find a reference book so that I can learn about it first. When I feel up to it and excited about it, it's a wonderful curriculum and I know the kids learn a lot. We went to see Happy Feet last night and thhey were discussing the emperor penguins, rockhopper penguins and leopard seal from the movie very knowledgeably last night, because we studied Antartica last year. I don't know whether to get a kit or something to help with KONOS and still use it, or to try and find something easier or maybe just do a Christmas unit this month and then get back into KONOS next month. I won't make any rash decisions but I think I'm going to start selling some of my extra books on ebay to start raising money to do some shopping.

2 comments:

Birdie said...: I often take off as much as a month or two at the holidays for a unit study. It works quite well for us.; 2:50 PM
Anonymous said...: I say do your Christmas unit, and then reassess after the new year! *Smile*; 9:01 AM

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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."

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Shopping.

2 comments:

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