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I've been wanting to do a lapbook with my son for a while. Monday, Presidents' Day, provided the perfect opportunity to do our first one. Since it was I first I wanted to keep it simple. We did just George and Abe. We had already studied Abe last week for his 200th birthday. All we needed was information on George. We had fun looking up (researching) fun and fasincinating facts on George. Did you know he had six white horses whose teeth were brushed everyday? My son was especially excited to learn they share birthdays and a love for ice cream. As we found facts, we wrote them on a list. Then we went through the list and decided what he wanted to include in his lapbook. I have seen some amazing, elaborate lapbooks, but this was our starter one, there just wasn't enough room for it all. Then we cut out pictures and shapes. After the cutting was complete we laid it out to see how it looked. Then we glued. What a mess, what fun. The front We had a blast putting it together. I love the simplicity of lapbooks, yet the educational value is huge. It is a wonderful, educational, hands-on learning tool. One of the best parts is that we have a priceless way to look back and review what we learned. It resembles an educational scrapbook. What's not to love? Plus, if you happen to be creatively challenged, there is help right at your fingertips. Next, we are going to do jungles and butterflies, our topics of study in Geography and Science. Let the fun, um learning, begin. The inside |
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I came across this article the other day, and it made me laugh. I've experienced many of the questions at one time or another. It can be a little sarcastic at times, however, I'm sure that if you have encountered these conversations numberous times over the years then you would be a little tired of it, too. The Bitter Homeschoolers Wish List by Deborah Markus 1. Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is-and it is- it's insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we are criminals, would we admit it? 2. Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means have the acquired skills to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume we have a decent grasp of both concepts. 3. Quit interrupting my kid at her piano lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson and ask her as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize. 4. Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know. 5. If that homeschooler you know is actually one you saw on TV, either on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double. 6. Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you've ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away. 7. We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschoooling. 8. Stop assuming that all homeschoolers are religious. 9. Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons. 10. We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experiementing, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of us homeschooling as either an affront or a judgement of your own educational decisions. 11. Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family. I don't need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up and spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can't teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there's a reason I'm so reluctant to send my child to school. 12. If my kid's only six, and you can ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand you're calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to act in kind. 13. Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in the word "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky. 14. Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in homeschool, we must sit around a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school" side of education- and many of us perfer an organic approach- we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don't have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator. 15. Stop asking, "But what about Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid may not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school do not go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else. 16. Don't ask my kid if she wouldn 't rather go to school unless you don't mind if I ask your kid if he would n't rather stay home and get some sleep now and then. 17. Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it's some kind of compliment, it sounds more like your horrified. One of these days, I won't bother disagreeing with you anymore. 18. If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you're allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can't, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one. 19. Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my child around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else. 20. Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentive, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without be branded as representative of anything but childhood. 21. Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she's homeschooled. 22. Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids. 23. Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids. 24. Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school. 25. Here's a thought: If you can't say anything nice about homeschooling, shup up! |
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My homeschooling journey began almost four years ago, and it was overwhelming to say the least. I felt the call from the Lord that this was the way for our family. I didn't know too many homeschooling families at the time. However, over the next couple years I would come to know many who were homeschooling or thinking about homeschooling or who had homeschooled. When I was first called to homeschooling my husband was not. I knew that He would not call one but not the other. My husband's rationale was that we had both went to public schools and turned out okay. He also had several common concerns. Most were the basic "but what about" questions that surround homeschooling in general. Over time he came around to the idea, but with the "we'll do it for a year and see how it goes." Then "we'll take it a year at a time." He kept saying, "but if you change your mind", "if it's too hard", "we can always send him to school." Finally, I told him that, yes, I did have to homeschool. It was the Lord's will, He had commanded it, and I must do it. I knew that it wasn't going to be easy. At the time, I had an 11 month old and was due with our third in eight weeks. Deciding to homeschool was the easy part for me. Deciding upon a curriculum was another matter. The choices were vast and overwhelming. I had no idea where to start. I asked for advice, recommendations, suggestions from homeschooling friends. However, what works for their families may not work for ours. One day I sat down at the computer to request catalogs. It was maddening. It didn't seem like anything would work properly. I managed to get three requests to go through without difficulty. I'm pretty dense though. I tried several more times throughout the day to request those other catalogs. No luck. Then, it hit me, I wasn't supposed to look any further. God had narrowed down my choices to three. Wow, how awesome, and what a blessing. I found myself still torn between those three for a few more months. I felt strongly drawn to one curriculum, another was more economical, and the third had lots of variety. I went with my gut and my heart. I ordered the one that felt the most right for us at the time. We have absolutely loved it. Right now, I believe we will homeschool our children through high school. If we make it through middle school, then I see no reason to send them to high school. For me, it would be like running the Boston Marathon and quitting with a mile to go. Just doesn't make much sense. |
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I had a difficult time coming up with a title for my new blog. All the initial ideas where either already in use or didn't seem to work. Then it hit me- "For His Glory." That's the primary reason I homeschool. God placed it on my heart three years ago to homeschool our oldest son. He was two at the time. That was the beginning of our amazing journey, and it is all For His Glory. In August, we began our first official year of homeschooling. I have homeschooled since his birth, and when his was 3/4 years old, we did a little preschool curriculum for 30 minutes to an hour each day. We didn't push much "formal" education. I believe that during their first 5 years that most things are "caught and not taught" because they learn best from free, unstructured play. So, here we are, five months later. We have just started our third quarter of his kindergarten curriculum. We are having a blast. He's learned so much, and I have, too! |