Homeschooling 101

Thu, 28 May 2009 06:49:00 -0500

The first thing one must to do when considering or beginning to homeschool is to learn your state and local homeschooling criteria and laws. To find information and support for homeschooling laws in your state visit the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).

I have been homeschooling since 2001 and here I will share with you what works for my family. For starters I use an eclectic mix for homeschooling my 7, 9, and 10 year old sons. Respectively they would be entering 2^nd, 4^th, and 5^th grades if in public school. Teaching multiple ages or grade levels can seem daunting at first but as you will soon come to realize many subjects can be taught consecutively with all the children.

In our homeschool each child has his individual assignments in Language Arts and Mathematics based on his skill level. The remaining subjects (Bible study, History, Science, and certain Foreign Languages) are taught as a whole to all three boys. Follow up work such as writing assignments, worksheets, map work, etc. is assigned based on each child’s skill level. Following is our list of subjects and the curriculum or texts that we use and plan to use:

Language Arts

· Reading – The Original McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers reprinted by Mott Media

· Spelling/Phonics/Vocabulary – McGuffey’s Eclectic Spelling Book Revised Edition available free online at Google Books and Gutenberg; 7^th – 12^th Bob Jones Vocabulary

· Writing/Grammar – Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl reprinted by Lost Classics; Intermediate Language Lessons by Emma Serl reprinted by Lost Classics; and Harvey’s Grammar reprinted by Mott Media; 7^th – 12^th Bob Jones Writing & Grammar Series

· Penmanship – Zaner Bloser Handwriting

· Literature – Selections of interest per child from the 1000 Good Books List; 7^th – 12^th Bob Jones Literature Series

Mathematics

· Saxon Math Homeschool

Bible Study

· Foundations by Anne Elliott

History

· Mystery of History by Linda Lacour Habar; 9^th – 12^th Bob Jones Histories

Science

· Apologia Exploring Creation series

Foreign Languages

· Latin’s Not So Tough from Greek n Stuff and Introduction to Latin Pronunciation from Wheelock’s Latin

· Korean – Tae Kwon Do terminology

· Japanese – Tae Kwon Do terminology

Many of the texts can be purchased new from local homeschool supply stores as well as the many online homeschool supply stores. A few of my online favorites are Currclick, HomeschoolingBooks, Bright Ideas Press, Keepers of the Faith, and The Schoolhouse Store.

For those of you who want or need to homeschool as inexpensively as possible and don’t mind used books I recommend shopping online at AbeBooks, Amazon, Ebay, and Half.com.

For reviews on different books, curriculum packages, and texts I recommend Cathy Duffy and The Old Schoolhouse.

Elementary School Scope and Sequence

Diligence

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:27:00 -0600

Weeks 4 - 8 - January 26 - February 20, 2009

Are you a diligent person? I am by definition but when it comes to actual application I am lacking. Merriam-Webster defines diligence as 1) a perservering application 2) the attention and care expected or required of a person.

I've let four weeks elapse without any entries on our homeschool progress. This has happened in part because I'm a procrastinator and because I have started working outside the home. So now I'll recap the last four weeks for posterity sake.

Camden

has read 2 Little Bear books and completed his who, when, where, why, what, and how worksheet on the book. In math he is learning to write number words (one, two, thirty, one hundred). In science we have begun a study of the human body. I'm also beginning to review site works with him.

Week 3

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:32:00 -0600

January 19 - 23, 2009

What a fun week we had.

Camden

Finished reading Little Bears Visit and completed his who, when, where, why, what, and how worksheet on the book. In math he is learning to write number words (one, two, thirty, one hundred).

Nathaniel

Finished reading My Fathers Dragon and completed his who, when, where, why, what, and how worksheet on the book. In math he is concentrating on multiplication facts.

Griffen

Is still reading The Phantom Tollbooth and narrating his daily readings. It is an exciting book that introduces many reading and writing concepts in story form. In math he is learning fractions.

All

Literature - Lessons from the Farm as a read aloud

Science - Seed Babies reading and discussion. AND we began a discussion on aerodynamics, speed, friction, and velocity while building Pinewood Derby cars.

Wood blocks with pattern/cut lines drawn on them.

Pattern for a sport car and using a coping saw.

Using a coping saw.

Sanding.

More to come next week. I'll post pictures chronically the process through race day which I think is February 24, 2009 aat 7:00 p.m.

Week 2

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:21:00 -0600

January 12 -16, 2009

Oh what a horrid week we had. Our plumbing slowly stopped flowing out of the house. Not a big deal right? Just add some drain cleaner and you're good to go. Not! Ok, we'll snake the drain to find the obstruction. This was only a temporary fix. So let's use a longer snake, 50' instead of 10'. Ah ha! The drains empty. Yea!! Oh but with the next flush or bath they backed up again. Now we remove vent covers to find possible clog(s). Success! The snake has hit something where the sewer line exits the house but we are not able to break through with the snake or an auger.

By now, Thursday, we are starting to smell sewer gas in the house and we must now bring in the professionals but they cannot come until Monday. So we pack the necessities and our pets (3 dogs & 1 hamster), and move in with my mom across town.

The plumbers arrive and we are told that all that we have done should have cleared the line IF the problem was in the house. They remove the vent cover where we found a blockage and with the use of a power auger they are able to clear it but something beyond the vent has caused it to clog. Utilizing a camera and a snake they are able to see that we have roots in our line. With the power auger they are able to remove up to 10' of roots. Now we have movement and all the lines in the house are flowing smoothly but as soon as it starts to warm up outside we have to replace our sewer lines.

With all of this fun and excitement we veered from our curriculum this week. The boys continued with their math and reading assignments only. They assisted and/or observed all of the work we did on the plumbing while we explained the ins and outs of plumbing. But this week they learned a trade or skill if you will. How many 7, 9, & 10 year olds do you know that can tell you how to snake a drain, how to use an auger, how to install plumbing, and tell you how and why it works? So I don't feel too bad about only covering reading and math.

2009 Week 1

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 23:48:00 -0600

Our first week back to home school for 2009 was January 5th - 9th. It was a good but light week.

MATH: daily

CPC is in Ray's New Primary Arithmetic and workbook Series 1 Book 1. He is reviewing numerals and how to spell number words.

NBC is in Ray's New Intellectual Arithmetic and workbook Series 3 Book 2. He is currently working on multiplication. He is exceeding here and I am very proud of him.

GQC is in Ray's New Intellectual Arithmetic and workbook Series 4 Book 1. He thinks he is doing kindergarten work because he is doing a review of addition and subtraction. LOL What he doesn't know is that he about to start fractions. wheeeee I think they are fun (I know, big geek) but he has not done them before.

SPELLING: daily

ALL boys worked on difficult words from their assigned reading books.

READING: daily

CPC took the week off from the McGuffey reader and read a Little Bear chapter book. He is getting so much better. On his second and third reading of the book he was markedly more fluent.

NBC also took the week off from the McGuffey reader but continued reading his chapter book, My Fathers Dragon. I'm interested to see what he rights about the book when he is finished because he doesn't discuss it.

GQC also took the week off from the McGuffey reader and continued reading his chapter book, The Phantom Tollbooth. It is obvious that he enjoys reading this story. Each day before he reads he will tell me what happened in the previous days chapter.

LITERATURE: daily

ALL of the family gathers for a read aloud and we discuss different aspects of the chosen story. This week we read The Old Man and the Sea. They have all taken a great interest in the story. We tied it in with GEOGRAPHY by finding Cuba on our shower curtain world map :) We also discussed where it is located in proximity to where we live. What body of water it lies in and nearby islands. I must admit though that our bathroom is a bit tight for a geography classroom :) Where else but in home school?

WRITING: daily

No creative writing took place. Instead they are all practicing their handwriting, Zaner Bloser style.

SCIENCE: once a week but normally twice

As a read aloud we read the chapter on Melons and Their Cousins. We discussed the parts of a seed - hull/shell, protective lining, and the cotyldon where the new baby plant lies. After our reading and during our discussion we dissected seeds to find the cotyldon.

We did not do any formal Bible or History.

URGENT! Please Read and Act!!!

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 01:10:00 -0600

I am begging you to read the following post, research the links, and act now!

http://learningathisfeet.blogspot.com/2009/01/urgent-please-read-and-act.html

Have you heard of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act? This act was signed into law last August and will be in effect on February 10, 2009.

"This law requires that ANY item that comes in contact with a child who is 12 years old and under, to be tested at a government approved testing facility and have a 'certification' placed on the item. Sounds simple enough, but the fallout is much more intense."

http://learningathisfeet.blogspot.com/2009/01/urgent-please-read-and-act.html

Back on Track

Wed, 7 Jan 2009 11:03:00 -0600

Home schooling is going well. CP (7) tickles me though. He thinks that because he is not forced to sit in a seat all day to do multiple worksheets that he is not having school. I think that everything they/we do is a learning experience. Example: They can all add, subtract, multiply, divide, and do fractions not only because of our text but from helping to cook and grocery shop. History is a never ending subject. They all play a couple of different historical computer and board games so they are not only having fun but they are learning too. They will encounter a new city, country, or battle and then we research it. School is not all games though; we do use a curriculum:

BIBLE - Foundations http://www.homeschoolingbible.com/

MATH - Rays Arithmetic’s and workbooks, as well as verbal exercises. http://www.mottmedia.com/pages/publications.asp?Pub=rays

SPELLING - McGuffey Progressive Speller and Dolch sight words. http://www.mottmedia.com/pages/publications.asp?Pub=mcguffey

READING - McGuffey Readers plus they all have to read a chapter a day in a challenging chapter book and answer questions about the characters, the main idea, etc... http://www.mottmedia.com/pages/publications.asp?Pub=mcguffey

LITERATURE - Combines with reading of the chapter books. These are not puff chapter books either. They've read Pearl S. Buck, Hemingway, Bunyan and others. Just last night CP (7) read from ‘The Old Man and the Sea’

In addition to their assigned chapter book and I read a chapter or so every day from classic books like C. S. Lewis, Shakespeare (Lamb - adapted for children), John Bunyan, R. L. Stevenson, Kipling, etc...

WRITING - Zaner-Bloser handwriting workbooks and self-led creative writing which will be compiled and published. http://www.zaner-bloser.com/educator/products/handwriting/index.aspx?id=106

GRAMMAR - We're reading ‘Grammar Land’ which is a fabulous introduction to grammar in storybook format. They also have to answer questions about what we are reading and have read to test their knowledge. http://books.google.com/books?id=iXgSAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=grammar+land&ei=sthkSZ6BBJeOMqSJneMI

SCIENCE - We're reading living learning books which are entertaining as well as educational. Currently we're reading ‘Seed Babies’, next we'll read Christian Liberty Press ‘Nature Reader 5’ which is on the Human Body. We also do activities related to what we read. http://books.google.com/books?id=gjgZAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=seed+babies&ei=1dhkSbGJF5T4NcCY8dQO

http://ebiz.netopia.com/clpress/pages/store/skudetail.nhtml?profile=reading&uid=10225&returnURL=http%3A//ebiz.netopia.com/clpress/reading

HISTORY - More living learning books. We have just started reading ‘The Story of The Chosen People’ It is the first in a series of books that combines biblical history with textbook history. Previously we studied the history of Halloween (good and bad, and what it means for us as Christian family); a thanksgiving theme covering its origins, pilgrims, mayflower, colonization, Indians, they built a pilgrim house...; Christmas using Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ http://books.google.com/books?id=YDQXAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22H%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne+Adeline+Guerber%22&lr=&as_brr=1&ei=9tlkSb3kEZW6NtWluIEJ

ART – In addition to various planned and spontaneous crafts we are studying art in a sequential historical order while using ‘A Child’s History of Art’

They all learn differently which makes it interesting and one of the reasons I home school. GQ (10) is easy. Tell him what his assignments are and leave him to it. If he has a question or needs help he asks for it, otherwise he prefers to be left alone. NBC (9) has a form of dyslexia which inhibits him being able to put words and math problems on paper. He can spell and do higher math verbally all day long but struggles with putting it on paper. This requires the use of various manipulatives to help overcome the struggle. He is getting better thanks to the incorporation of the suggested tools at http://www.dyslexia.com/ CP (7) is somewhere between GQ (10) and NBC (9). He has a short attention span so he works for 15 minutes and takes a break, works 15 minutes and takes a break until all is done.

It's 2009?

Mon, 5 Jan 2009 16:09:00 -0600

My, how time flies. Way back in July ’08 I posted our intended schedule for the ’08 – ’09 school year at Lukeion Academy but have not posted on our progress. So now I am going to try to do so.

Our year began slowly the last week of August by only focusing on the core subjects (math, reading, and writing). This was done because my eldest son, who was attending public school, was stressing a sincere interest in being homeschooled. I am happy to say that he did in fact choose to be homeschooled. His reasons paralleled those of mine such as him not being accepted to the magnet school for music, having to be seated beside his brothers’ bully, and for having to “consistently do irrelevant time consuming homework.” His words not mine. I was floored when my 9 year old came to me with that.

In WV a two week notice must be given before withdrawing a child from school. This delayed our adding history and science until the October 6^th. Plus it was my intent to use the same core with all three boys but provide age appropriate activities and exercises.

October came and while we continued our focus on math, reading, and writing, I added a month long unit study on the history of Halloween, from Connect the Thoughts, instead of starting my intended history and science. I also added a living science reader, Seed Babies by Morley, in place of our intended curriculum.

In November we continued our math, reading, and writing. This month we still did not begin the originally intended history or science. We spent this month focusing on the origins of Thanksgiving. A couple of unit studies were combined and many thanksgiving, pilgrim, pioneer, and colonial books were read to round out the month.

In December we again continued our math, reading, and writing while using a unit study focusing on A Christmas Carol.

Now it is January 2009. The “school year” is nearly half over and we have not begun our intended science or history. This troubles me as far as the evaluation of their portfolios for the county school board. On the other hand I am not bothered because we spend time reading living books that are science and history related. That aside, we are continuing our math, reading, and writing but I am hesitant to begin our history and science because there are so many living books that I would rather they hear and read.

Black Friday Sale

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:30:00 -0600

The Old Schoolhouse^® Magazine is having an amazing sale on subscriptions during their annual Black Friday Sale November 26 – 30. For those 5 days only, they are drastically reducing their one-year subscription price to $7.95! That's the price you would usually pay for just one issue at a bookstore!

	1	2	3	4
Language Arts
Reading	McGuffeys Primer and Pictoral Primer	McGuffeys Primer and Pictoral Primer	McGuffeys Frist Reader	McGuffeys First and Second Readers
Spelling / Phonics	McGuffey’s Eclectic Spelling Book Lessons 1-6	McGuffey’s Eclectic Spelling Book Lessons 7-25	McGuffey’s Eclectic Spelling Book Lessons 26-62	McGuffey’s Eclectic Spelling Book Lessons 63-99
Writing / Grammar		Primary Language Lessons Part 1	Primary Language Lessons Part 2	Intermediate Language Lessons Part 1
Penmanship	Zaner Bloser Handwriting 1	Zaner Bloser Handwriting 2M-2C	Zaner Bloser Handwriting 3	Zaner Bloser Handwriting 4
Literature	Little Bear series; Dr. Seuss books; CLP Nature Readers; Beginners Bible	Mr. Poppers Penguins; Matilda; Just So Stories	The Wizard of Oz; My Father’s Dragon; The Little Prince; Many Moons; The Magic Tree House series; Readers Bible	The Phantom Toll Booth; The Big Wave; Sounder; The Boxcar Children series; Gospel of John; Odysseus
Mathematics	Saxon 1	Saxon 2	Saxon 3	Saxon 54
Bible	Foundations 1	Foundations 2	Foundations 3	Foundations 4
History	Mystery of History 1	Mystery of History 2	Mystery of History 3	Mystery of History 4
Science	Exploring Creation with Astronomy	Exploring Creation with Botany	Exploring Creation with Zoology 1	Exploring Creation with Zoology 2
Physical Education
Tae Kwon Do	USAMAF	USAMAF	USAMAF	USAMAF
Aiki-Judo	USAMAF	USAMAF	USAMAF	USAMAF

Foreign Languages
Signing	ASL	ASL
Latin			Latin’s Not So Tough Levels 1-2	Latin’s Not So Tough Levels 3-4
Greek

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