AAAAAAHH! I can't believe I did that. I left out Y. OK, so much for eXact. But, really I'm usually very eXact. eXact enough to be bothered by myself doing that! Y - yearning (as in yearning for my home) - that's my word!

The Homeschool Memoirs @ The Homeschool Post is doing the ABCs of homeschooling this week and I am participating.

The ABCs Of Me & My Homeschooling Style

Analytical (big time)
Believing
Curious
Doubtful
Enthusiastic
Free
Grateful
Happy
Intense
Joyful
Kind
Laughing
Mom
Nature
Outdoors
Pleaser
Quizical
Respect
Serious
Thinker
Unworthy
Violin
Wonder
eXact
Zest (meaning flavor or interest)

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Blogger Friend Assignment

This weeks Blogger Friend School assignment is a good one for me. I love perusing the web. I love all the free information that is available on the web. A look at the side bar of my website lists some of my favorite websites. So, here I will attempt to put most of my homeschooling favorites together for you.

Here are some of my Charlotte Mason favorites:

http://www.amblesideonline.org/ - offers a free Charlotte Mason (natural learning, literature rich) book list and curriculum schedule

http://simplycharlottemason.com/home/ - offers Charlotte Mason materials and information

http://bushnell.net/~peanuts/faq1.html - describes the Charlotte Mason approach

http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_2378.html - features the Charlotte Mason blog carnival which links to different sites which host a Charlotte Mason topical blog once a week, sending you to blogs with entries about the topic

http://www.pennygardner.com/index.html - Penny Gardner features basic information about the Charlotte Mason approach, as well as lots of Charlotte Mason links and a booklist

Here are some general Homeschooling Resources:

http://donnayoung.org/ - Donna Young offers lots of free resources

Here are some Preschool & Kindergarten Resources:

http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/learning-letters/books.htm - These are Itsy Bitsy books. They teach the basic letters and sounds. My five year old loves them.

http://www.kidzone.ws/tracers/none/index.asp - You can create your own handwriting practice sheets here. Why buy handwriting practice sheets when you can find them for free on the web?

http://www.primarygames.com/print_zone/activitypages/abc/abcsheets.htm - Here are some other writing practice sheets. These are a pageful of individual letters.

http://www.activitybags.com/ - I haven't tried these out yet, but these activity bags for Preschoolers have been highly recommended to me by many people. When my toddler becomes a preschooler, I will definitely check these out.

Here are some Homeschooling Curriculum Companies:

https://host.rainbowresource.com/index.php - The infamous mother of all Homeschooling Curriculum Companies. If you plan your orders carefully and get $150 worth of stuff at a time, then their prices often beat Amazon.

http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/ - This gal offers great homeschooling history activities and timeline helps.

http://www.sonlight.com/index.html - Also a famous homeschooling curriculum company. There curriculum is literature based. They are also a good source of information. I like to look at what they recommend for each year and get ideas for myself.

http://www.winterpromise.com/ - Also a literature based curriculum company that puts together a curriculum package. Their materials seem a bit pricey to me, but if you want a literature rich, lapbooking and art friendly curriculum package that is put together for you, I hear this is a great place to go.

http://www.abeka.com/ - Abeka puts together basic homeschooling resources for you with a solid phonics and Christian foundation. I like Abeka for their phonics program in the early grades. Many people like to use them all the way through. They offer a solid program, but can be rather textbookish.

Here are some Art Resources:

http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/ - The Crafty Crow offers lots of fun, free crafts to do with your kids. I promise your kids will love it.

http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/ - This is a blog done by an art teacher. She shares art activities to do with your kids. Most are at a 2nd-5th grade level.

Here are some free Notebooking & Lapbooking Resources:

http://www.hslaunch.com/mypage/profile/155 - Jimmie, lapbooker extrodinaire, offers many of her lapbooking files here

http://lapbooklessons.com/ - Offers lots of free lapbooking templates

http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking - This is lapbooking tutorial also written by Jimmie 

Here are some Math Resources:

http://www.mathwire.com/ - Lots of math activities here.

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ - Did you know that 0 is an even number? It is according to Dr. Math. I love math and so I went to this website to find out this answer. If you have a math question, turn here.

As for my favorite verse of the week, here it is:

Luke 11:13 (NIV)

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Here is a paraphrased version:

Luke 11:13 (The Message)

If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing—you're at least decent to your own children. And don't you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?"

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Ok. This week's topic at Blogger Friend School is wacky homeschooling. I've got to admit, I... don't consider myself too wacky. Yet, my kids are hilarious and we have a lot of fun.

One thing we enjoy a lot of is ART. Free form art. Lots of little supplies in the cupboard and they form the most interesting projects. Here is one my daughter did today. Of course, she wants me to put it on her blog, so I hope I'm not stealing her thunder.

   

Another thing we enjoy is farm life. My girls play the most imaginitive outside play. My Rachel goes outside multiple times a day and sings songs while singing at the top of her lungs. I can't even keep track of the things they play. Horse races are very popular, as are relay races. Setting up store is a common theme.

The chickens are a great source of entertainment. Natalie has names for all of them. Personally, I can't tell them apart. But, she can. The girls follow them, watch them, chase them away from my flowers, pick them up, and collect their eggs. It is great fun.

 

Setting up store is a common theme inside. Natalie especially is always trying to run a store. Her blog is called Natalie Art Store - because she loves to pretend she is running a store. And she sells her art and counts her money. They also pretend to run a restaurant complete with menus and lunch served to Mommy.

Then, I just have that one girl that is as funny as can be. She constantly says things just to be funny or contrary. This is her giving us a little jig. I love Rachel. She makes me laugh.

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New Thoughts

Well, blog land has been pretty quiet lately, which is probably good because I've been pretty contemplative lately. What I'm thinking about:

One - The Blogger Friend School assignment. I've found this assignment kind of hard. I shouldn't I know, but I do find this assignemnent hard. The assignment in a nutshell is to do something to help someone and write about how that makes you feel - not what you did to help someone. Well, first of all I do need to get out of my shell more and work on thinking of others outside my family. Secondly, how does it make me feel - I don't know.

Two - Well I've been thinking about Charlotte Mason and habits. Habits were the topic of the last Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival. So, I've thought about some habits for me. I need to work on my own habits before I can really work on my children's habits. So here are some habits I am working on:

• Friendliness
  • I'm naturally introverted, but I know how to be friendly. Now is the time to make this a habit.
• Regular Bedtime 10:00-7:00
  • Doesn't nine hours sound like a long time to sleep? Well, I really do need about nine hours to be alert. Also, sometimes I still get woken up in the middle of the night by baby.
• Time for Stretching, Exercise, Gardening and/or Prayer in the morning.
  • Ok, I am just being honest. With what I have going on just to get a little prayer in most mornings would be a great improvement.
• Making bread every other day.
  • My whole entire family feels SOOOO much better when we eat freshly ground, freshly baked homemade bread.
• Read Bible daily.
  • I'd like to read it all in one year, but perhaps doing some reading every day would really improve things.
• Have dinner on the table to 6:00 p.m.
  • This is so that after dinner we aren't rushing the kids off to bed.

Ok, one of the blog entries about habits said that Charlotte Mason said to work on one habit at a time. Perhaps I am working on too many? But, I feel like I am paring down to the basics - what I can work on - what I perhaps can even make a habit - so eventually I don't even have to think about it so much.

I'll get back with all of you in the future to let you know how it is going on this topic. Maybe I'll even make it a regular part of my blog.

Three - I have been thinking about Charlotte Mason homeschooling. I really want to get a handle on what a Charlotte Mason homeschool means to me. My kids actually like worksheets and everthing, but I don't like them. When we do worksheets I don't see them really wanting to learn. I want a literature rich, arts & music rich, skill rich homeschool - but I don't want to pay big money to Winter Promise or Sonlight. So, I've been perusing Ambelside Online and Simply Charlotte Mason to try and get a grasp of how people do their Charlotte Mason style homeschooling.

I've come up with a couple of conclusions or insights so far:

1. Both of these websites divide up their history into six year rotations. This is different from Classical Homeschooling - which is the style I started out wanting to do. In Classical Homeschooling you start with the Ancients, then Early Middle Ages, then Late Middle Ages, then Modern. I liked this. I liked that everything would be covered and that it would be repeated. But, the idea I get from these Charlotte Mason websites - is that it really isn't necessary to repeat the sequence three times during the 12 years of education. What's really important is that everything is covered and that you are enjoying learning it. Personally, to me, trying to cover Ancients in one year - with multiple books on Ancient Egypt and the timeline I wanted to do, well, it was too much.
    
2. My own personal conclusion is that IF a textbook isn't too textbookish, but is engaging, then this can count as a living book. Just don't limit it to the textbook.

   With science for grade school - I (and most importantly my kids) LOVE the God's Design For Life series. So, I think, at this point, I will continue to use this as part of a Charlotte Mason style education. I just won't limit our study to this book - but will make journaling and walks and wildflower books and the like part of our study as well.

   I think I will try to come up with a six year rotation on science as well. If I'm recalling correctly, Classical Studies study a) Living Things (animals, plants, humans), b) the Physical World (physics, earth science, weather), c) Chemistry, and d) the Heavens (astronomy) in rotation. I will just try and break it up in a more spread out way and incorporate nature study and living books into what we study.

   
    
3. You do small bits with your kids at a time, switching between brain intense activities and physical activities. During Kindergarden and 1st grade you will probably be mostly reading with your child. But, by 2nd grade they should start doing about half the reading with narration to test their reading comprehension.
    

So, for the time being my goal next is to grasp two other things about Charlotte Mason style education.

One) what are good books lists? Ambelside Online offers a 36 week curriculum with a book lists - but if I don't want to go with everything they suggest - what are my alternatives? What is Twaddle Free? What will challenge my students, but not turn them off to learning? What will cover the topics?

Two) what does a day look like? How do you plan and transition with a plate full of phonics, math, literature, narration, dictation, spelling (from narration and dictation), science, history, art, music, life skills, and foreign language?

Any input is appreciated. I'm sure I will write more about this in the future. One other plug, in case you have been interested in the Charlotte Mason style homeschooling is a plug for the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnivalwhich runs on various blogs every two weeks, and a plug for Barb's blogs Handbook Of Nature Study and Harmony Art Mom. They have a lot to say about Charlotte Mason homeschooling.

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Homeschool Freebie Of The Day

I'm sure a lot of you know about Homeschool Freebie Of The Day. It is a website that offers a free resource every day. The only catch being that you have to download it the day they post it. This is a way for them to promote newcomers to the homeschooling market, etc. and a way for us to get free materials!

Anywho...I liked the idea of one of their offerings this week so I thought I'd post about it. It is:

Thursday, Sept 18: Required Poems for Memorization

A collection of classic poems which were originally required reading & meant for memorization in school grades 3 and 4 in the early 1900s.  Wonderful verses, great for reading aloud, recitation & remembering.

I'm always interested in how school "used to be done" so sources like this peak my interest.

Now, I just have to remember to visit their site on Thursday!

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My biggest struggles with homeschooling

My biggest struggles when it comes to homeschooling are 1) feeling isolated, 2) maintaining enough "me" time, and 3) trying to remain focused. Really, I love my kids. I love being able to be with them all the time. Yes, I LOVE that. I’m not looking forward to the time when I can get away from my children. I love teaching them. I’ve always loved teaching. I’m a teaching junkie. So, I really don’t struggle, at least at this point, with how to teach math or science or reading. When it comes time to teach the kids how to write reports and other serious writing, I’m sure I’ll struggle then. I also sometimes want to add more fun aspects to my teaching than I have. For instance, I want to figure out how to work lapbooks into my teaching. However, I don’t wonder if I’m teaching my children as well as a school would. I’m confident about that. My personal struggles rotate around the same personal struggles I tend to have in life anyhow.

Making the homeschooling choice does make it challenging to not feel isolated. When most contacts I have ask me about what school my kids go to, I feel isolated when I say my kids are homeschooled, and the conversation stops. Also, I stay at home most of the time. I’m not automatically out around people like I would be if I were going back to work or if I were volunteering in my child’s school. What has helped me tremendously is the local co-op. When our Friday School co-op extended itself and ran a co-op in my neck of the woods that helped a lot. I got to make friends with other homeschoolers that lived in my general area. This was especially important for me since I live out in the country and don’t have neighbors. That local co-op wasn’t able to keep going because we couldn’t find a church willing to host us – so this year I’m not involved in a co-op. But, I’ve met some of these moms that live nearby me. So, what I need to do is make it a priority to get together for play dates. Also my daughters are taking a dance class made up of homeschoolers, and I have the opportunity to go to a mom’s group. I need to make these things a priority.

Maintaining enough "me" time is also a struggle. This is particularly challenging with homeschooling, as I am sure you all agree. How I have dealt with this one, is to voice this concern to my husband in a concrete way. I have learned, slowly, that voicing this concern in a general way to my husband doesn’t do much. He feels it is a critique or he just feels unable to help. What I do is let him know how much it helps me when I go out to “coffee” with a friend (without the girls) or when I take my sewing class or when I get time in the evening to work on my projects or just to read. In return, I try and make sure he is feeling like he gets down time when he isn’t focusing on work or being a dad or doing a honey-do.

Trying to maintain focus is ALWAYS a struggle with me. I want to do a million things. I go off in a thousand directions. I guess the answer to this is just focus. Focus, do what I’ve already planned, just say no to new things, be faithful in what God has given me to do today.

With that, this scripture will be my verse for the week:

"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'" Matthew 25:23 (NIV)

And, regarding a picture to share, I share with you a picture of our "craft cupboard". Really it is a learning supply cupboard. You can see how crazy I am for art supplies by looking at our cupboard. I am leaving it as I found it. Sometimes it is a lot messier depending on how long since I went through and cleaned it up in between my cleaning job and the kids cleaning stuffing things back into it.

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It is Blogger Friend School's first assignment for the year, and I am trying it out. You can click on the links to Blogger Friend School to see what their assignments are about. Here is my assignment.

How Did I Get Into Homeschooling

Well, I guess the first exposure to homeschooling that I had was a single mom who pulled her kids from the private school they were attending to be homeschooled. The kids were also in the daycare I taught in after school, and they were teased a lot. I didn't think much of it at the time, other than a passing thought on whether that would help those kids or whether it would hinder them.

Then, I guess I heard of homeschooling here and there talking with friends. I heard so and so was homeschooling, but again didn't think much of it. I was a young single gal, why would I think about it much. Then I had some exposure to a friend's sister-in-law who homeschooled. This wasn't good exposure. This mom kept her kids out of school, but didn't really school them, and they were WAY behind on reading and math.

After I married my husband (Jon) and began having kids, I thought about schooling. Then I started having good (typical) exposures to homeschoolers. Jon's cousin homeschooled her girls and did (and does) a fantastic job at it. Her kids are smart, well-adjusted, and happy.

When my oldest girls were babies, we lived just down the street from a high school, and I can tell you I didn't think much of the fruit of public school coming from that (which was displayed before me before and after school). I was sure I would homeschool or private school. Also, several families across the street from us (by that high school), homeschooled and had happy, smart, well-adjusted kids. There was also a homeschooling program through the school district I had heard about. I had even met some adults who were homeschooled as kids, who had healthy sibling relationships as an adult. I knew homeschooling was a viable option.

I hadn't really decided based on all of that, however. I had always loved teaching kids (any kids, not just my own), and had always loved learning independently, so I had a strong tug to homeschooling. Yet, it seemed like a lot of work, and "how did you really know your kids would be socialized properly?"

When my oldest daughter was four, I put her in preschool at a local private school. I was testing it out, knowing that I was debating between homeschooling and private schooling. And, it turned out to be an excellent school. It would have been a good choice I think. But, still, while the fruit shown in the teenage years was better at the private school, it still bothered myself, and maybe more importantly it bothered my husband, that the teens didn't seem that innocent, that they didn't seem that happy to be around their parents. At this point, I met a friend (Keren) at the local MOPS (mothers of preschoolers co-op) who had begun to homeschool and she was sold on it. She was involved in a Co-op called First Class, and she told me about it. I visited with her and saw how she organized her homeschool efforts, and I decided to go for it.

The next fall, when my daughter was in Kindergarten we went to the Co-op. We got the chance to meet lots of other homeschoolers and homeschooling families and talk to them about what they do in their homeschooling. Also about this time we began playing soccer. On the soccer team there were two other families that homeschooled. A year and a half later, for the last half of Natalie's first grade, First Class started a co-op up in our neck of the woods. I especially enjoyed this, as for once I felt connected with others in my community who homeschooled.

Now, I'm sold. I believe I will homeschool through High School. I love that my kids can learn to learn by themselves, and to love learning. Sometimes it's hectic, especially challenging are times like being pregnant and having an infant. But, I can see the fruit of close sibling relationships in my kids already. I love it.

Here are some reality pictures of homeschooling. I try and have things more together, but with a 10 month old, a 5 year old, and a 7 year old, it can all fall apart way too quickly. But, they are learning and they are loved. This is what matters.
 

 

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First Day Of Kindergarden & 2nd Grade

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Well, practically everyone is posting about their curriculum for the next year, so I thought I'd join you all. We're starting school Tuesday. Here it is:

Rachel - 5 yrs

1. Have Rachel read at least one phonics book daily (Bob books, etc.).
   
2. Have her write her ABC’s and #’s (with you). Say or sing them with her when she is done.
   
3. Go over what the letters say:
   
4. Have her do one Spelling Workout A worksheet
   
5. Have her do one Abeka K5 Number Skills worksheet
   
6. Have her do one Abeka K5 Letters & Sounds worksheet
   
7. Have her do one Abeka K5 ABC-123 worksheet
   
8. Have her listen to sister read or listen to you read. Have her participate in her sister’s activities such as science or history as long as she is interested.
   

Natalie - 7 yrs

Daily

1. Saxon Math 2 (2-3 worksheets, one lesson)
2. Abeka Letters & Sounds 2
3. Abeka Cursive or Queens Cursive Worksheets
4. Copywork - have her write something out in cursive with punctuation and capitalization.
5. Science - God’s Design (Plants, Animals, or Human Body lesson) or Nature Study (look at something, read about it, and write about it - proper paragraphs) or a science experiment (have her write about it when done)
   
6. History - Victor Journey Through The Bible & Corresponding History from Kingfisher History Encyclopedia or other history source such as It Couldn’t Just Happen and History Box Set
   • Color map corresponding to what we are studying
   • Place drawing, date, and short description on timeline
7. One page out of English For The Thoughtful Child
8. Bible Reading (read aloud part of my Bible reading to her)
   
9. Practice Violin

1 Day A Week

1. Study a composer/artist & write about him/her & their art/music
2. Nature walk with an assignment
3. Practice a specific art project from Artistic Pursuits or Any Child Can Draw
4. Math Timed Test
5. Poetry
6. Creative Writing

Well, that's my plan anyhow. I'm attempting to do a combination of Classical Homeschooling and Charlotte Mason and these are my ideas. I know Charlotte Mason isn't textbook/worksheet oriented, but for math and phonics I want my children to have a good foundation.

I like Abeka for phonics. Their phonics work has been fun for my girls and they are very thorough. I don't like the rest of Abeka's materials as well, as they are so textbookish and they don't fit into the four year cycle for Classical Homeschooling. If you wanted a completely pre-done package, Abeka would be a great source.

I like Saxon for math. It is very, very thorough. It can be a bit repetitive. I looked into Math U See as my step-daughter is a very hands on type and I wanted to help her with her math. But, I really like math, and in my opinion Math U See can be a bit confusing to the child and isn't as thorough as Saxon. However, if you had a strictly tactile learner, you might really need a program like that. Even my step-daughter, who is mostly tactile, was confused by Math U See, and really felt she was making progress when she's done some Saxon (of course I'm comfortable tutoring her). I also like that Saxon takes you all the way through.

The God's Design For Life books are great. They fit right in with the four year cycle of Classical Homeschooling, yet they aren't too textbookish, they have lots of hands on activities, and they are a great starting point for more research.

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