Home*School*Home: The verdict.

We've decided to use mom's schedule with a few modifications. My youngest wants me to put a space on the page at lunch, so he'll know when he's done with his morning section. The oldest wants time for guitar on Fridays. We decided to put 4 freebies (things we don't have to do) per week. Most of the time we save our freebies until Friday and have a shorter day, but sometimes we use them on a day we just don't feel good for whatever reason.

So here's my 9-year-olds version of our new lists.
1. Breakfast.
2. Brush teeth.
3. Chores. (These vary from day to day.)
4. Exercise 1 hour.
5. Spelling words (writing, alphabetizing, sentences)
6. Math review.

Lunch.

7. Unit study we all do together.
8. Geometry.
9. Daily grammar.
10. Art/game.
11. Reading.

I found some good spelling lists here.
I found some good daily math review here. \
I found these daily review grammar lessons here.
And here is the best place for art lessons.

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."

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The verdict.

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