Posted on my category page: Lessons from Our Humble Homeschool

I've received a lot of pressure to mold our home school into a wonderful, hands-on, natural learning environment as opposed to a copy of a traditional classroom. Most of this pressure was from myself, some was from others. But I have found that as our personal circumstances have changed, so have our learning needs.

To begin with, we have begun our homeschooling walk in a state that has granted homeschoolers a lot of freedoms within our right to teach at home. We are not required to take standardized tests, turn in grades, or even keep attendance records. I LOVE this! It allows me to do my job (teaching my children) in the ways that are best for US without worrying about meeting the state's impersonal requirements. So we have tried many different approaches over the past 6 years with the goal of raising godly, intelligent children who love to learn. Just when I think I've found something that is going to work for our family, we have another major change in our lives and I have to switch gears again.

Currently, I have 6 children and a husband who is deployed stateside with the military. When my husband left, my responsibilities increased exponentially. Balancing homeschool with housework, meal prep, toddler care, yardwork, oil changes, etc. is quite challenging. We are also looking at the probability of moving to another state in the near future. We're not sure where we'll be, but very likely in a state that requires much more than we are accustomed to. In order to get "on track" before we make a major move, I have begun to keep more detailed records of what the children are doing. (Up until now I have just kept ALL their work in a file box. No attendance records -- we're always "here." No grades. My opinion is that if it's not A-level work, they didn't "get it" so we do it again.) This year I am grading their work and keeping records, although we still do it again if they don't get an "A." I am keeping attendance, marking them absent on days they were sick and we legitimately did not do anything that could count as a learning experience.

I'm also using ALL textbooks. Yikes! I used to desire to learn "naturally," without "artificial" textbooks or divisions of subjects. I am finding now that with all my other responsibilities I don't have time to make sure learning "naturally" happens. My children are too young to be independent learners. They still require a lot of my attention and instruction. And without the guidance of a textbook curriculum, I have found it impossible to ensure they are learning enough academically on a day-to-day basis. Life skills are easy to teach every day. So are character issues and even Bible study. But the academics will easily slip through the cracks without a solid plan. So I am unashamedly leaning on my trusted curriculum to guide us through our "school" day. I have found that when I use the curriculum to teach our academic core subjects, I am freed of the responsibility to research and pre-read materials from an assortment of sources as I used to do in the past. I have saved myself a lot of time and effort. I have chosen curriculum from a conservative, Christian publisher so I know I can trust the content. Using the curriculum also limits our school day to a designated amount of time, which frees up the rest of our day for other necessary and desirable activities. What "school" may lack in the fun department is easily made up for in family time later on.

Our home school looks very much like a traditional classroom this year. I am brushing aside all the pressures of what we "should" be doing, both internal and external, in order to do what is best for us. Hmm, "best for us"? Isn't that why we started on this road to begin with?

~Layla

Posted on my category page: Lessons from Our Humble Homeschool

When I first started researching homeschooling before officially making the decision to do it, I decided right off the bat that whatever I did, I was NOT going to be an "unschooler".  I wanted a very structured, literature-based approach and was leaning toward classical or Charlotte Mason. 

Since making the decision to homeschool (about 5 years ago) we have tried just about every approach there is just trying to find the right fit for our family.  I'm learning that even though something works one year it may not work the next year.  The dynamics of our family change every year with all the differing developmental levels of our children.

In my last entry I described our current approach.  It is theme-based, literature-based, and interest-based.  It is extremely flexible because of our family situation.  And it is working for us.  I have considered it somewhat of a living books approach (leaning toward Charlotte Mason) because we are reading many quality books and doing some narration and hands-on learning.  I am quite pleased with the compromise I have come up with.  The best of many approaches, I like to think.

So the other night, I was reading on Ambleside Online (a free online Charlotte Mason curriculum) and discovered a paragraph which perfectly described our homeschool.  According to AO, we are a Delight-directed/Unschooling family.  Egads!  How did I get here?!?!

However, even though I was turned off by this approach in the beginning, I now see the benefits of it and am reaping them!  I guess the moral of the story is "Don't judge a homeschooling approach before you try it.  You may just use it and benefit from it someday!"

Cheerio!

~ Layla

Posted on my category page: Lessons from Our Humble Homeschool

Homeschooling is a challenge in our family.  I learn a lot by trial-and-error (don't we all?).  I would like to share some things that have helped our homeschool days go more smoothly with 3 toddlers "underfoot" during school hours.

* "Interruption" is the name of the game!  Expect to be interrupted -- many, many times!  If you're expecting interruptions, it is much less frustrating when they happen.

* Flexibility is a must!  Very, very few things will go according to your plans. 

----Practical application 1:  I have learned to write my lesson plans in list format rather than by the week or by the day.  (I write lesson plans only for core subjects math, phonics, grammar, etc.)  For instance, I type a list of all the lessons in our Saxon math program and keep it in my lesson plan binder.  As we complete a lesson, I highlight the lesson on my list and write the date next to it.  This way if we only do 3 lessons this week instead of 4, I don't have to adjust my plans for next week.  I just continue on in the same list.

----Practical application 2:  I have changed the way we do unit studies.  I guess its more of a "living books" appproach.  I allow my 2 older children to choose the topics we will study, alternating between the two of them.  I order a handful of non-fiction books, a dozen or more fiction books, and 2 or 3 educational DVDs from the library on each given topic.  We read the books and watch the DVDs as a family.  I log the books and videos on their reading list.  During our reading, either the children or I will be inspired to do a project or two on the topic.  (Sometimes projects are suggested in the back of the books or on the DVD.)  These projects are logged in their notebooks.  Sometimes they will conduct an experiment, put on a puppet show, copy a poem, draw a picture, create a sculpture....  The possibities of learning activities are endless.  The point is, I don't plan these ahead of time anymore.  Planning for oodles of projects took a lot of time and led to disappointment if we weren't able to get to all of them.  Instead, we are inspired as we learn.  I just log our work afterward.

* Involve the little ones whenever you can.  In the mornings, the toddlers are full of energy.  This is when we do our living books studies.  The toddlers are able to sit with us while we read or watch a video.  Often, they are even able to do the projects with us.  For example, big brother and big sister may put on a puppet show for the little ones.  This reinforces what the biggies are learning while entertaining the littlies at the same time.  Many times, the littlies will color a picture while the biggies are drawing or writing.

* Use butcher paper.  My toddlers love when I pull out a long sheet of butcher paper and spread it across the floor.  I hand each of them a crayon or a pencil and let them draw to their heart's content.  (I'm always nearby to be sure no one eats the crayon or pencil. )  This will buy us 15 to 20 minutes.

* Take advantage of quiet time.  After lunch, I put the youngest 2 down for a nap.  My 3-year-old no longer naps, but he will ly down on the sofa near us and watch a movie.  This is when we do our core subjects which require more concentration.

* Utilize novelty.  For the purpose of controlling messes in our home, I took all toys out of my children's bedrooms a couple years ago.  I organized them all by type (Star Wars, Strawberry Shortcake, kitchen, sports, blocks, etc.) into plastic, lidded tubs.  I keep them in a storage room in the basement.  Each child is allowed to have 1 tub in his/her room at a time (which means 5 tubs can be upstairs at once).  If someone wants a new tub, he must make a trade.  All of this to say that when a "new" tub comes upstairs that hasn't been there for a while, it is like brand new toys to toddlers!  So when we are doing a detailed project in the morning or when a little one just won't go down for a nap, I am able to pull out a tub of toys, set it in the middle of the room, and let them play.  They are usually content for 20-30 minutes.  If we're not done but the toddlers are bored with those toys, I help them clean it up and trade for a new tub.

I will add to this list as I come up with more ideas.  So far, these things have made a huge difference in the success of our school days.

~ Layla

Posted on my category page: Lessons from Our Humble Homeschool

I just cannot settle on a teaching approach. I guess I'm still in the process of figuring out our "style." I know for certain I've been very consistent with our Bible, math and phonics lessons. It's just everything else that changes often. I'm spending some time during our summer break evaluating what we've done and where we need to head in the fall. 

I've been doing some unit studies.  I intentionally created very basic units because of all the little ones (and therefore all the distractions) we have in our home; however, I still feel that we are somehow missing the mark.  I'm going to experiment with another approach this fall.  I'm leaning more toward Charlotte Mason, I guess.  I tried CM in the past....  I'm less concerned about putting a label on our lessons as I am about making sure REAL learning is taking place in our home.

I also want to focus more on the arts. My eldest son, 8, loves to draw and create sculptures. He just made an abstract object tonight, in fact, that is sitting in my garden window in the kitchen. He used an empty milk jug, an empty juice bottle, some package labels, scissors, and A LOT of staples. I didn't get a chance to ask him what it is yet (his cousins are staying over tonight -- they're all sleeping in the tent in the backyard with my hubby right now ), but I'll be sure to inquire in the morning.  Anyway, I want to include more art projects and fundamental concepts (color, line, perspective, etc.) in our lessons.

My eldest daughter, 6, loves to sing and dance and listen to music. We've had her in dance classes in the past, but I have some concerns about the program and won't be re-enrolling her this season. I'd like to get her started playing piano. Although we cannot afford formal lessons right now, I did take a piano class in college and could at least get her started on the basics for the time being .

As I pray through this "dilemma" I will make a decision and post again on our progress.  Until then......

~Layla