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Hi Jacque! In my little "newbie"way, I am going to try to enter your contest. Hope I'm doing it right!!!
Here goes...
1. What type of homeschooler are you? I am definitely a "fly by the seat of my pants" homeschooler! I love the flexibility of our days. We do have a routine (note the use of the word "routine", not "schedule"!). If we get off the routine, then I just go with it. I figure there is ALL kinds of learning, not just book learnin' :0) How do you homeschool? Like I said, we hare our routine and try to follow it, unless something more interesting comes along (!) We try to cover certain subjects on certain days, leaving room for field trips and skating day, etc. I like to get right to it in the morning so we don't get too distracted. I've found my boys do better that way. We can ALWAYS find other things to do, it seems! Do you plan? Oh yeah, I plan. I write all kinds of things down and get all my ducks in a row. This year, especially, I feel like I need to have my "act" together since my oldest son is "officially" (whatever that means!) in high school. However, I have not written much down for this coming school year yet...better get on that, hmmmm?
2. Are you using a specific curriculum or a conglomeration or none? Well, let's see, in keeping with my "by the seat of my pants" approach to homeschooling, I tend to pick and chose each year. I poll my boys and see what they like and don't like and what worked and what definitely did NOT work and go from there. (How's that for a run-on sentence???) I guess you could say we use an eclectic approach with a conglomeration of materials!
3. Are you making it up yourself? Don't all homeschoolers kind of make it up as they go along? I know I do. It goes along with my "fly by the seat of my pants" approach to life. You see, when I started homeschooling 8 years ago, I basically recreated public school in my living room. Ugh. We even had recess and a blackboard and pointer and..oh my! What was I thinking? I think I was just going with what was comfortable and familiar. I have since changed my ways and swung the other direction. Praise God!
4. Do you have a plan or just use ideas as you go? Again, it's the "seat of my pants" thing! I always have a plan. Any of my friends would tell you that I can be anal and unnaturally attached to my routine and schedule. But I'd like to think I have mellowed with age and experience and now am much more flexible. If a better idea comes along, I have no problem pitching what I'm doing and going with it!
5. Do you homeschool in desks, at the table or anywhere it works?? See number 3 for how I started out 8 years ago! Now we have a schoolroom that looks suspiciously like the family room with comfy couches and a beat up old table from the thrift store, accented nicely with a yard sale book shelf and desk for the 'puter. I don't really care where they do their work, as long as it is neat and done in a timely manner. In other words, they can't watch TV or play video games while they work!!!
6. Tell me what you are excited about that you will be doing! There's a lot we are excited about this year. For starters, my oldest son is starting high school. At first, I was terrified, like I didn't know what I was doing. Silly me. It's no different than what I've been doing all along! I am also very excited because said oldest son actually suggested a subject he wanted to do this year. This is the boy that I used to have WWIII with over school a few years ago! Now he is suggesting a subject for us to do: Greek mythology. So I, dutiful home school mom that I am, searched out a curriculum that not only studies Greek mythology but also ties it in to current day. Praise God x 2! Yet another reason we are excited is because my parents graciously gave us buckage to purchase a computer solely for homeschool purposes. So we are going to try Switched on Schoolhouse Language Arts this year. (This has been a sore subject with both sons in the past!). Yes, yes, there is much to look forward to and we are thankful.
7. Are you going to teach each child in their own grade level or do you multi-grade teach? Well, I do a little of both. My students are "officially" two years apart. However, in grade levels, they are close in some subjects. Sooooo, we do math and language arts separately and come together for Bible time, history, science and foreign language. Plus, this year, we will do Greek mythology together too. Yay!
Well, there you go. All you wanted to know and MORE. I hope you are blessed and/or entertained! And, I hope I WIN!!!
Blessings on you and yours,
Melinda
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