I devoted a blog to just homeschooling. I've got 2 posts up so far. Check it out
www.academichomeschooling.blogspot.com
Showing posts with label homeschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool. Show all posts
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
How to WIN the Printer War!!!!
What is the printer war?? It's the fact that ink costs as much or more than a printer. Also the cartridges are next to impossible to refill and the printer knows if you try and if you use a different cartridge. Well, no more for me after months of not printing because I didn't want to spend the money on ink and some attempts to refill existing cartridges I spent 2 days researching printers and ink. I picked HP Photosmart Plus printer for about $90 and bought the refill kit for about $40 ( I already had ink) from
www.inkproducts.com
This company is so awesome!! they have all kinds of ink refill kits for all different printers. I chose mine because of their recommendation page and then bought their empty cartridges refill kit. It even came with a tool to remove those nasty microchips and a special plastic cover to place them on to trick the printer into thinking you are still using its own cartridges.
Good job Inkproducts.com We love to print and now we can. I'll probably start my digital scrapbooking again!! I love being able to print a lot. I refilled for the first time and it all still works beautifully. The quality is awesome. It makes homeschooling so much nicer. I love having a copier and an unending supply of worksheets and coloring pages!! YAY!!!!
www.inkproducts.com
This company is so awesome!! they have all kinds of ink refill kits for all different printers. I chose mine because of their recommendation page and then bought their empty cartridges refill kit. It even came with a tool to remove those nasty microchips and a special plastic cover to place them on to trick the printer into thinking you are still using its own cartridges.
Good job Inkproducts.com We love to print and now we can. I'll probably start my digital scrapbooking again!! I love being able to print a lot. I refilled for the first time and it all still works beautifully. The quality is awesome. It makes homeschooling so much nicer. I love having a copier and an unending supply of worksheets and coloring pages!! YAY!!!!
Friday, October 1, 2010
Education in Utah
I know a lot of people around here are really confused about why I would want to homeschool when the schools out here, especially in my neighborhood are so good-- these are the best schools in the state after all!!-- so they say.
Well Utah education may not be as good as they think. I realized this when I was at BYU and would often not understand references people made to historical events and famous literature like the Odyssey for example. I had zero understanding of history and I graduated from high school with a 3.9 GPA with lots of honors classes and 4 classes worth of AP credit. I began to grasp how much I had never been taught and started wondering if those who told me I was smart and great knew what they were talking about. Thus the open mind to research homeschooling when I came across it. Many people I think, think they don't know things because they didn't apply themselves or pay attention as well as they should have, but for me I did my best and tried hard and did every thing they told me I should, and I got out and realized I didn't know much and it was because it wasn't taught. Utah schools don't teach Latin and Greek. They don't teach history very well. There are no formal logic classes. There are no rhetoric classes unless you count debate which is not true rhetoric. They are great at sports and dance competitions. Math was decent- I got through calculus. The music programs seem O.K. Science was O.K. But overall, my education was poor. I did not feel well read or educated. I did not even know what my deficiencies were, let alone how to make up for them. I felt cheated once I realized what I had missed. I guess that's the big reason I'm homeschooling now- to give my kids the education I wish I had received.
This week the Deseret News had an article about the the fact that when Utah test scores are compared to other states in the nation, Utah comes out somewhere in the middle of the nation, but when Utah is compared with other states with similar demographics of low poverty and high ratio of parents with some college education, then Utah is way at the bottom and often last.
That is very interesting for Utah. I don't fault anybody for sending their kids to the public school, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking they are receiving a superior education. I would really like to see the schools do better. I think we would all benefit from more people having a better understanding of history and the ability to think logically. And I would appreciate people understanding my position a little better. I'm not trying to one up anybody. I'm just doing what I think is best and there are valid reasons for it -- even in the best school district with the best schools in the state!
Well Utah education may not be as good as they think. I realized this when I was at BYU and would often not understand references people made to historical events and famous literature like the Odyssey for example. I had zero understanding of history and I graduated from high school with a 3.9 GPA with lots of honors classes and 4 classes worth of AP credit. I began to grasp how much I had never been taught and started wondering if those who told me I was smart and great knew what they were talking about. Thus the open mind to research homeschooling when I came across it. Many people I think, think they don't know things because they didn't apply themselves or pay attention as well as they should have, but for me I did my best and tried hard and did every thing they told me I should, and I got out and realized I didn't know much and it was because it wasn't taught. Utah schools don't teach Latin and Greek. They don't teach history very well. There are no formal logic classes. There are no rhetoric classes unless you count debate which is not true rhetoric. They are great at sports and dance competitions. Math was decent- I got through calculus. The music programs seem O.K. Science was O.K. But overall, my education was poor. I did not feel well read or educated. I did not even know what my deficiencies were, let alone how to make up for them. I felt cheated once I realized what I had missed. I guess that's the big reason I'm homeschooling now- to give my kids the education I wish I had received.
This week the Deseret News had an article about the the fact that when Utah test scores are compared to other states in the nation, Utah comes out somewhere in the middle of the nation, but when Utah is compared with other states with similar demographics of low poverty and high ratio of parents with some college education, then Utah is way at the bottom and often last.
That is very interesting for Utah. I don't fault anybody for sending their kids to the public school, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking they are receiving a superior education. I would really like to see the schools do better. I think we would all benefit from more people having a better understanding of history and the ability to think logically. And I would appreciate people understanding my position a little better. I'm not trying to one up anybody. I'm just doing what I think is best and there are valid reasons for it -- even in the best school district with the best schools in the state!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Schedules
I ordered the book, Managers of their Homes by Steven and Teri Maxwell because a bunch of bloggers posted their so-called MOTH schedules. I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with the house and school. We do alright, but I would like to do so much more and I thought this might help. It was a good reminder for me about how important it is to have a schedule. The authors brought up some good ideas like having older children play with younger children to free up time for working with other children and how that is good for everyone involved. Also, she talked about scheduling babies, so I think I'll try harder to get my babies on a schedule although I will use it more as a guideline. But the most value I got from the book was motivation to schedule and plan our days better. I spent quite a few hours on my computer today doing just that. I didn't want to use the enclosed kit. I need a different schedule for each day!! Then I needed to make sure we got each subject on the schedule enough times each day so that the kids will be all done with everything by Friday afternoon. I've got our field trip day and the park included, so I'm pretty proud of that and I think it will be a lot of fun.
I also have scheduled cleaning times for everybody. I've been having the kids clean up certain zones and that helps a ton, but we've got to start folding clothes everyday and following up on the dishes better. I do about 3 loads of laundry per day, and leaving it to be folded once a week is just overwhelming!!
The schedule is pretty close to what we've been doing. The biggest difference is that I am going to have to get up much earlier if I want to exercise, which I love. The kids were looking at the printed schedules and I think they are pretty excited. They all went to bed at 8 and I checked on them and turned the lights out at 9.
Now I just have to schedule and plan our meals and food prep better and get our music and Spanish lessons better planned. Right now though I think I'd better get to bed so I can get up at 6!!
Step by step-- one thing at a time!!
I also have scheduled cleaning times for everybody. I've been having the kids clean up certain zones and that helps a ton, but we've got to start folding clothes everyday and following up on the dishes better. I do about 3 loads of laundry per day, and leaving it to be folded once a week is just overwhelming!!
The schedule is pretty close to what we've been doing. The biggest difference is that I am going to have to get up much earlier if I want to exercise, which I love. The kids were looking at the printed schedules and I think they are pretty excited. They all went to bed at 8 and I checked on them and turned the lights out at 9.
Now I just have to schedule and plan our meals and food prep better and get our music and Spanish lessons better planned. Right now though I think I'd better get to bed so I can get up at 6!!
Step by step-- one thing at a time!!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Awesome site for free audio books
I had heard of this site before but forgot about it:
www.booksshouldbefree.com
I just downloaded a bunch of children's books to start listening to tomorrow. I'm excited to play them on my new awesome mp3 player through the stereo system while we clean or work on art or other projects. Now I just need a radio converter so we can listen in the car!!
www.booksshouldbefree.com
I just downloaded a bunch of children's books to start listening to tomorrow. I'm excited to play them on my new awesome mp3 player through the stereo system while we clean or work on art or other projects. Now I just need a radio converter so we can listen in the car!!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Why study Latin and Greek?
I got this question in my comments-- here's the drawn out answer:
My husband had the unique opportunity of studying Latin as a high school student and one year at BYU. More than anything else he attributes his ability to think clearly and logically to his study of Latin. Also by learning Latin, he learned Grammar with a capital "G", most of us won't understand what he means until they study Latin. Grammar schools get their name from the schools where the kids attended to learn Latin, like in Anne of Green Gables. It was and can continue to be done.
Latin is a very organized language. The nouns, adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech will have a different ending depending on what it is doing in the sentence-- subject, direct object, indirect object, possessive, or what word it is associated with etc. Therefore, in order to make a sentence properly in Latin, it must be clear exactly what it is you are tying to say. Same with the verbs and other parts of speech. I think the Grammar is what makes it so difficult. There is so much to keep straight which trains the mind very well. Also, by learning Latin, the student will learn English grammar as a by product and way better than they would by studying any modern language.
Another reason to study Latin is that many English words come from Latin, so it helps us understand our own language so much better. Latin is also the underlying language of our civilization. By learning Latin, we learn about history, art, science, and everything else Latin has touched which is just about everything in Western Civilizaiton.
So now why Greek? Greek has one less declension than Latin, so it is not quite so involved. So the Grammar is a little easier and that makes it a nice precursor to studying Latin. Many English words also come from Greek and how cool would it be to read the New Testament in the original Greek? And it is pretty fun to read in a different alphabet.
Tough subjects turning out disciplined minds?-- yes, just what I want. Do my girls like it-- yes when it's easy, and no when it's hard. They sure are pleased with themselves when they struggle through and finish what they thought was insurmountable.
Check out these articles from Memoria Press on studying Latin, scroll down to the bottom to see the Latin section. The section on studying formal Logic is also enlightening.
http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/
Need a short answer?
Mean Verbal SAT scores for 2006:
LATIN STUDENTS: 672
Spanish Students: 577
French Students: 637
German Students: 632
Hebrew Students: 623
Average for all students: 503
My husband had the unique opportunity of studying Latin as a high school student and one year at BYU. More than anything else he attributes his ability to think clearly and logically to his study of Latin. Also by learning Latin, he learned Grammar with a capital "G", most of us won't understand what he means until they study Latin. Grammar schools get their name from the schools where the kids attended to learn Latin, like in Anne of Green Gables. It was and can continue to be done.
Latin is a very organized language. The nouns, adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech will have a different ending depending on what it is doing in the sentence-- subject, direct object, indirect object, possessive, or what word it is associated with etc. Therefore, in order to make a sentence properly in Latin, it must be clear exactly what it is you are tying to say. Same with the verbs and other parts of speech. I think the Grammar is what makes it so difficult. There is so much to keep straight which trains the mind very well. Also, by learning Latin, the student will learn English grammar as a by product and way better than they would by studying any modern language.
Another reason to study Latin is that many English words come from Latin, so it helps us understand our own language so much better. Latin is also the underlying language of our civilization. By learning Latin, we learn about history, art, science, and everything else Latin has touched which is just about everything in Western Civilizaiton.
So now why Greek? Greek has one less declension than Latin, so it is not quite so involved. So the Grammar is a little easier and that makes it a nice precursor to studying Latin. Many English words also come from Greek and how cool would it be to read the New Testament in the original Greek? And it is pretty fun to read in a different alphabet.
Tough subjects turning out disciplined minds?-- yes, just what I want. Do my girls like it-- yes when it's easy, and no when it's hard. They sure are pleased with themselves when they struggle through and finish what they thought was insurmountable.
Check out these articles from Memoria Press on studying Latin, scroll down to the bottom to see the Latin section. The section on studying formal Logic is also enlightening.
http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/
Need a short answer?
Mean Verbal SAT scores for 2006:
LATIN STUDENTS: 672
Spanish Students: 577
French Students: 637
German Students: 632
Hebrew Students: 623
Average for all students: 503
Friday, July 30, 2010
This year's Homeschooling Plan
I am really looking forward to getting back into schooling full tilt! I've got preschool, kindergarten, 2nd grade, 4th grade and 6th grade this year. Check out other people's plans at latter-dayhomeschooling.com
Math-- Each child does Singapore math at their level, the 2 older ones should finish the series by December and both should start Algebra around January -- I am very excited for this.
Grammar/Latin- We are studying Koine Greek with this fabulous curriculum called Elementary Greek. Not only is this a fabulous way to really learn English grammar and lots of Greek root words and the Greek of the New Testament, it is great preparation for learning Latin which we start when the child has finished the third year book which should be by May or June for the 2 oldest girls. This will become our focus. Preceding years, our focus has been in math. They need to start Latin by 7th grade to fulfill our requirements.
Science-- We use Singapore Science once the kids are proficient at reading and writing. The sixth grader should finish the program by May or June to be ready for junior high material next year. For the younger kids I am really excited about some expensive books I bought from a door to door European girl salesperson printed by Southwestern. They are actually really good. I was worried about the money, but I think it was worth it. We also bought a set of 5 used Southwestern Student Handbooks that have some great info and really fun experiments and and games for science, math, geography, and nature.
Writing-- All the children are required to write in their journal each school day. They can write whatever they want at least one sentence long. The little ones draw a picture, tell me what to write and then copy it. They also practice writing in workbooks I bought at Sam's Club and when we get our printer figured out, they will trace the scripture of the week in cursive. The older ones copy the scripture of the week each school day and write 1-2 compositions per week all in cursive.
Spelling-- I use The Natural Speller to find words for the kids to practice. When I was taking care of babies, I had my older girls practice typing out of a typing book I had bought. Now the older one may spend time typing her stories and I call that good for spelling.
Reading-- Once the kids can read well, they are required to read a book from a list for at least 30 min. per day. They love this part and have read books they wouldn't have otherwise read and have loved it. The younger kids learn to read by first learning their letters and sounds from the Letter Factory DVD, then by reading out of the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. We supplement that with Phonics games from LDFR.com and the McGuffey readers.
History-- I started out homeschooling by reading the story of the world to my kids. It worked for me at that time because it was all new to me, I had no sense of history at all and it was a great starting point. However, now I think it is just too long jumping around too much for these little guys to keep up and let some of the events sink in. So now the older ones do 15 min. of history reading a day from books we bought at yesterdaysclassics.com . I also read books to the younger ones mostly from yesterdaysclassics and some picture books we have and from the library. We will be reading about American history together this year.
Group Time -- We'll have story time for the younger kids various classic stories and pictures books, history, science, and scriptures, also poetry and time for memorizing scriptures and poems, we sing primary songs and other fun songs and songs in Spanish and French, then we have Spanish class and Greek review and art and experiment hands on time.
outside activities-- 4 kids in soccer!! That will be busy-- violin lessons, piano lessons, boys club, drama, and book club.
Good thing we don't do everything everyday, we just do something each day. The kids have a list what they must accomplish each day. We include make your bed, brush your and get dressed among other things. They have to do Math, Greek, reading, journal, and scripture 4 times per week. Instruments must be practiced daily.
So that's the plan for this year. I still have to work out some of the details but I think we are all excited to get back into it yay!!
Math-- Each child does Singapore math at their level, the 2 older ones should finish the series by December and both should start Algebra around January -- I am very excited for this.
Grammar/Latin- We are studying Koine Greek with this fabulous curriculum called Elementary Greek. Not only is this a fabulous way to really learn English grammar and lots of Greek root words and the Greek of the New Testament, it is great preparation for learning Latin which we start when the child has finished the third year book which should be by May or June for the 2 oldest girls. This will become our focus. Preceding years, our focus has been in math. They need to start Latin by 7th grade to fulfill our requirements.
Science-- We use Singapore Science once the kids are proficient at reading and writing. The sixth grader should finish the program by May or June to be ready for junior high material next year. For the younger kids I am really excited about some expensive books I bought from a door to door European girl salesperson printed by Southwestern. They are actually really good. I was worried about the money, but I think it was worth it. We also bought a set of 5 used Southwestern Student Handbooks that have some great info and really fun experiments and and games for science, math, geography, and nature.
Writing-- All the children are required to write in their journal each school day. They can write whatever they want at least one sentence long. The little ones draw a picture, tell me what to write and then copy it. They also practice writing in workbooks I bought at Sam's Club and when we get our printer figured out, they will trace the scripture of the week in cursive. The older ones copy the scripture of the week each school day and write 1-2 compositions per week all in cursive.
Spelling-- I use The Natural Speller to find words for the kids to practice. When I was taking care of babies, I had my older girls practice typing out of a typing book I had bought. Now the older one may spend time typing her stories and I call that good for spelling.
Reading-- Once the kids can read well, they are required to read a book from a list for at least 30 min. per day. They love this part and have read books they wouldn't have otherwise read and have loved it. The younger kids learn to read by first learning their letters and sounds from the Letter Factory DVD, then by reading out of the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. We supplement that with Phonics games from LDFR.com and the McGuffey readers.
History-- I started out homeschooling by reading the story of the world to my kids. It worked for me at that time because it was all new to me, I had no sense of history at all and it was a great starting point. However, now I think it is just too long jumping around too much for these little guys to keep up and let some of the events sink in. So now the older ones do 15 min. of history reading a day from books we bought at yesterdaysclassics.com . I also read books to the younger ones mostly from yesterdaysclassics and some picture books we have and from the library. We will be reading about American history together this year.
Group Time -- We'll have story time for the younger kids various classic stories and pictures books, history, science, and scriptures, also poetry and time for memorizing scriptures and poems, we sing primary songs and other fun songs and songs in Spanish and French, then we have Spanish class and Greek review and art and experiment hands on time.
outside activities-- 4 kids in soccer!! That will be busy-- violin lessons, piano lessons, boys club, drama, and book club.
Good thing we don't do everything everyday, we just do something each day. The kids have a list what they must accomplish each day. We include make your bed, brush your and get dressed among other things. They have to do Math, Greek, reading, journal, and scripture 4 times per week. Instruments must be practiced daily.
So that's the plan for this year. I still have to work out some of the details but I think we are all excited to get back into it yay!!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Mother's Day by my daughter age 11
Mother's Day
Today is the day
When Mothers get their way.
No one will scream or yell
Not even do a tattle tale.
When presents are passed along
Everyone sings a song.
Flowers come in May
Winter! Winter! go away!
Music may fill Mothers ears
And remind her of the Happy Years
Children is the reason why you are a mother
You must teach them to love one another
Birds will chirp and sing
You may hear bells ring
Sometimes Mothers ask for strange presents
not stuff and elepheasants
When this is her way
Everyone.....
Happy Mother's Day!
Pretty good-uh!! What a happy day. I got to sleep in a bit. I'm very thankful to have 1 o'clock church this year!! I got lots of cards and happy wishes and flowers and 1 1/2 tons of compost from the dump-- that may be the strange present. I also want a valve replaced for my garden and some ink for the printer-- stuff we just don't get around to sometimes, but on mother's day and my b-day I get what I want!! Thanks! And happy Mother's day to all the mothers out there!!
Today is the day
When Mothers get their way.
No one will scream or yell
Not even do a tattle tale.
When presents are passed along
Everyone sings a song.
Flowers come in May
Winter! Winter! go away!
Music may fill Mothers ears
And remind her of the Happy Years
Children is the reason why you are a mother
You must teach them to love one another
Birds will chirp and sing
You may hear bells ring
Sometimes Mothers ask for strange presents
not stuff and elepheasants
When this is her way
Everyone.....
Happy Mother's Day!
Pretty good-uh!! What a happy day. I got to sleep in a bit. I'm very thankful to have 1 o'clock church this year!! I got lots of cards and happy wishes and flowers and 1 1/2 tons of compost from the dump-- that may be the strange present. I also want a valve replaced for my garden and some ink for the printer-- stuff we just don't get around to sometimes, but on mother's day and my b-day I get what I want!! Thanks! And happy Mother's day to all the mothers out there!!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Parenting and Educational Philosophies
Apparently there are a lot of confused parents out there. There are lots of books, classes, groups, shows and blogs on the best way to parent children. I'm all about progress and finding the best way to do things, but recently I have become extremely bothered by a couple philosophies floating around out there. Especially being a homeschooler, I come in contact with all kinds of people and ideas. So I'm going on the offensive in this post, because I just have to get it out and let people know that not all Utah Mormon homeschoolers are this way or have such strange ideas.
Here are some ideas I am very bothered by - mostly from the Utah Mormon homeschooling community in general:
All you have to do to raise bright, responsible, independent, good children is to provide them with the proper environment. Get rid of all the distractions in your life and their life including most of the toys including puzzles and legos, stacks of paper, dumb craft projects, television, computer, video games and anything else that might interfere with your greatness and your children's progress. Require your children to help you with the housework everyday, so they will gain discipline and your house will be a model of cleanliness and tidiness, but do not require your children to do any kind of academic work unless they really want to because you might squelch their natural love of learning. Model great scholarship to your children in the afternoons by reading great books and learning on your own. Call it Free Time for you and them, and make them use that time to do whatever they want on their own as long it does not involve any of the distractions you have already removed from the premises. The only interesting thing left in the house is books, so this will inspire and encourage them to read a lot. This is also free time for you to study, and you should not be bothered unless it is really important. Your home will be a place of peace and beauty this way. The children will feel more secure and will grow to be truly great only troubling themselves with the very best this life has to offer-- the best books, the best music, the best food, the best organization, the best education...., even though you don't require them to do academics.
Do you think I'm kidding? I wish I were. There are people who really do think this way. What an easy way to homeschool. The only thing you have to make sure your children do is clean your house in the mornings, and clean up after themselves which gives you the benefit of a constantly clean house-- every mother's dream. Then you have the afternoon to read or work on things you are interested in. No worries about curriculum. No encouraging the child to keep going even though it just got hard. No continual repetition or waiting patiently for the child to figure out that long word, or that weird story problem or to remember how to say something in another language. If the kid is not interested, they stop. There are no messes from children's "crafts" or a refrigerator cluttered with 10 drawings of the exact same thing. Everything is neat and orderly and clean and structured. What the mother says is law. The mother has figured out how to run a smooth domain with no mutiny, and has figured out to explain it so that it sounds like this is all done with the children's best interest at heart.
There are so many problems with that philosophy, I'm not sure where to begin. Most people, I think, can see that this is not a good way to raise or educate children. So instead of analyzing each piece separately I will just give an overview of what I think is a good, normal parenting philosophy and what has worked for me so far.
The children can make whatever messes they want as long as they can clean it up when they're done. If the children start misbehaving, I give them a warning that they will lose some thing or privilege they value if they are older, or they will have to go on time-out if they are younger. I do not threaten things I am not willing to follow through on. If I don't want to carry a kid all the way up the stairs to their room, then I will not threaten to take them all the way up to their room. The corner right there will work just as well, so that's what I'll threaten. I won't take away a privilege I really want them to have. Whatever I do threaten, I do follow through on. Consistency is key. A warning is necessary also, so that the child knows what he did wrong and what he needs to do to make it right. This also gives them a chance to explain themselves and sometimes I find that the situation is not what I thought it was. I try to be as fair as possible in each circumstance. I have to find out exactly what is going on, and if I can't, then they get a warning and a lesson on how to act properly and be nice to each other.
We do have certain rules that need to be followed such as no eating on the carpet, no jumping on the furniture in the front room, sitting still and being quiet during scripture reading, etc. When any of these rules are broken, then an appropriate consequence is given to fit the crime. For example, those who eat on the carpet get their food taken away. Those who yell at the dinner table get sent to their room on time-out. Those jumping on the front room furniture have to sit on the floor, etc.
That's pretty much it for rules and consequences. Be consistent!!
Then for parenting and ensuring that my children are receiving a proper education, we have decided to homeschool. This means that we have reviewed and picked the best curriculum for the various subjects we want them to know. We schedule and organize a time and place for that to happen. We have requirements for each child to fulfill. The children are responsible to keep track of their books and fulfill the assignments and chores we give them. Once they finish those, they are free to do as they please pretty much.
That's pretty much how we operate. The why we do that and what we hope to accomplish by doing that are subjects for another post. This is way too long already. I think it is pretty easy to see the difference between my idea of good parenting and educating and the idea of some of my fellow homeschoolers. My way requires me to do a lot with my children and follow through and work with them and guide them along their academic path, as well as provide lots of different opportunites for them to try and explore all different kinds of activities and ideas and eventually, I hope, find their passion. Some of my fellow homeschoolers ( thank goodness, not all) have chosen to let their children kind of fend for themselves when it comes to academics. They have also chosen to limit what their children can do as far as what is available to them, i.e. limited access to media, stacks of paper, art supplies, toys, etc. They have chosen to steer their children towards what they want for them i.e. great readers by having few interesting things available to them besides books and maybe piano or something similar.
So this incredibly long post is not for those already involved in this flawed thinking, although I do feel sorry for them. It is for those of you who may know some of these people and associate homeschoolers to this type of idea. Homeschooling has so many benefits and advantages and I want to do my part to define it the way I think will provide the best benefit for all. And that I think is to be a normal, caring parent who is involved with their children and guides and teaches and helps them along the way. I also want to point out that this has also been done and is being done successfully by parents who send their children to public and private school. Parenting is parenting. Thanks for reading!! Comments are welcome!!
Here are some ideas I am very bothered by - mostly from the Utah Mormon homeschooling community in general:
All you have to do to raise bright, responsible, independent, good children is to provide them with the proper environment. Get rid of all the distractions in your life and their life including most of the toys including puzzles and legos, stacks of paper, dumb craft projects, television, computer, video games and anything else that might interfere with your greatness and your children's progress. Require your children to help you with the housework everyday, so they will gain discipline and your house will be a model of cleanliness and tidiness, but do not require your children to do any kind of academic work unless they really want to because you might squelch their natural love of learning. Model great scholarship to your children in the afternoons by reading great books and learning on your own. Call it Free Time for you and them, and make them use that time to do whatever they want on their own as long it does not involve any of the distractions you have already removed from the premises. The only interesting thing left in the house is books, so this will inspire and encourage them to read a lot. This is also free time for you to study, and you should not be bothered unless it is really important. Your home will be a place of peace and beauty this way. The children will feel more secure and will grow to be truly great only troubling themselves with the very best this life has to offer-- the best books, the best music, the best food, the best organization, the best education...., even though you don't require them to do academics.
Do you think I'm kidding? I wish I were. There are people who really do think this way. What an easy way to homeschool. The only thing you have to make sure your children do is clean your house in the mornings, and clean up after themselves which gives you the benefit of a constantly clean house-- every mother's dream. Then you have the afternoon to read or work on things you are interested in. No worries about curriculum. No encouraging the child to keep going even though it just got hard. No continual repetition or waiting patiently for the child to figure out that long word, or that weird story problem or to remember how to say something in another language. If the kid is not interested, they stop. There are no messes from children's "crafts" or a refrigerator cluttered with 10 drawings of the exact same thing. Everything is neat and orderly and clean and structured. What the mother says is law. The mother has figured out how to run a smooth domain with no mutiny, and has figured out to explain it so that it sounds like this is all done with the children's best interest at heart.
There are so many problems with that philosophy, I'm not sure where to begin. Most people, I think, can see that this is not a good way to raise or educate children. So instead of analyzing each piece separately I will just give an overview of what I think is a good, normal parenting philosophy and what has worked for me so far.
The children can make whatever messes they want as long as they can clean it up when they're done. If the children start misbehaving, I give them a warning that they will lose some thing or privilege they value if they are older, or they will have to go on time-out if they are younger. I do not threaten things I am not willing to follow through on. If I don't want to carry a kid all the way up the stairs to their room, then I will not threaten to take them all the way up to their room. The corner right there will work just as well, so that's what I'll threaten. I won't take away a privilege I really want them to have. Whatever I do threaten, I do follow through on. Consistency is key. A warning is necessary also, so that the child knows what he did wrong and what he needs to do to make it right. This also gives them a chance to explain themselves and sometimes I find that the situation is not what I thought it was. I try to be as fair as possible in each circumstance. I have to find out exactly what is going on, and if I can't, then they get a warning and a lesson on how to act properly and be nice to each other.
We do have certain rules that need to be followed such as no eating on the carpet, no jumping on the furniture in the front room, sitting still and being quiet during scripture reading, etc. When any of these rules are broken, then an appropriate consequence is given to fit the crime. For example, those who eat on the carpet get their food taken away. Those who yell at the dinner table get sent to their room on time-out. Those jumping on the front room furniture have to sit on the floor, etc.
That's pretty much it for rules and consequences. Be consistent!!
Then for parenting and ensuring that my children are receiving a proper education, we have decided to homeschool. This means that we have reviewed and picked the best curriculum for the various subjects we want them to know. We schedule and organize a time and place for that to happen. We have requirements for each child to fulfill. The children are responsible to keep track of their books and fulfill the assignments and chores we give them. Once they finish those, they are free to do as they please pretty much.
That's pretty much how we operate. The why we do that and what we hope to accomplish by doing that are subjects for another post. This is way too long already. I think it is pretty easy to see the difference between my idea of good parenting and educating and the idea of some of my fellow homeschoolers. My way requires me to do a lot with my children and follow through and work with them and guide them along their academic path, as well as provide lots of different opportunites for them to try and explore all different kinds of activities and ideas and eventually, I hope, find their passion. Some of my fellow homeschoolers ( thank goodness, not all) have chosen to let their children kind of fend for themselves when it comes to academics. They have also chosen to limit what their children can do as far as what is available to them, i.e. limited access to media, stacks of paper, art supplies, toys, etc. They have chosen to steer their children towards what they want for them i.e. great readers by having few interesting things available to them besides books and maybe piano or something similar.
So this incredibly long post is not for those already involved in this flawed thinking, although I do feel sorry for them. It is for those of you who may know some of these people and associate homeschoolers to this type of idea. Homeschooling has so many benefits and advantages and I want to do my part to define it the way I think will provide the best benefit for all. And that I think is to be a normal, caring parent who is involved with their children and guides and teaches and helps them along the way. I also want to point out that this has also been done and is being done successfully by parents who send their children to public and private school. Parenting is parenting. Thanks for reading!! Comments are welcome!!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Singapore Math-- should we switchover from Saxon?
That is the question I answered on another blog this way:
We love Singapore math. I started my first on Saxon and we both hated it for the constant repetition and it's sooooo dry. The Singapore books are like you're playing. If you did have your kids go back, they'd probably actually enjoy it it because there are so many codes and mazes and things to , so if they already know the concepts it would be a fun review and practice but you can have them take the placement tests on the Singapore site to see where they are.
I have posted a couple posts on our math experience on my blog if you want to read about it. My first daughter had a bit of a hard time transitioning and we took a loooong time on levels 1 and 2, finally by level 3 I decided we needed to really focus on math and get her caught up. Level 4 was tough, but now she's onto level 5 and whizzing through. I'll find out tomorrow how well when she takes her test which is the placement test on their site. I'm hoping she'll start Algebra by the end of this year, she'll be 6th grade age.
It was a tough transition I think mostly because she got a sour taste for math from the boring Saxon books, and she's more of an artsy imaginative kid not real math minded. The other kids who started with Singapore have just whizzed through with no problem. They slow down when we get to a harder section, but once they get it, they're off. They should be fully prepared to start Algebra when they finish level 6, and the story problems are amazing. I'm learning how to solve them without Algebra. Then we plan to use the Algebra and Geometry books from McDougall Littell. We haven't picked the Trig or Calculus books yet.
Also the US edition Singapore math books are the ones they were using in their schools when they were ranked #1 in the world for math. Tried and tested with excellent results. Love it!!! Good luck on your decision.
We love Singapore math. I started my first on Saxon and we both hated it for the constant repetition and it's sooooo dry. The Singapore books are like you're playing. If you did have your kids go back, they'd probably actually enjoy it it because there are so many codes and mazes and things to , so if they already know the concepts it would be a fun review and practice but you can have them take the placement tests on the Singapore site to see where they are.
I have posted a couple posts on our math experience on my blog if you want to read about it. My first daughter had a bit of a hard time transitioning and we took a loooong time on levels 1 and 2, finally by level 3 I decided we needed to really focus on math and get her caught up. Level 4 was tough, but now she's onto level 5 and whizzing through. I'll find out tomorrow how well when she takes her test which is the placement test on their site. I'm hoping she'll start Algebra by the end of this year, she'll be 6th grade age.
It was a tough transition I think mostly because she got a sour taste for math from the boring Saxon books, and she's more of an artsy imaginative kid not real math minded. The other kids who started with Singapore have just whizzed through with no problem. They slow down when we get to a harder section, but once they get it, they're off. They should be fully prepared to start Algebra when they finish level 6, and the story problems are amazing. I'm learning how to solve them without Algebra. Then we plan to use the Algebra and Geometry books from McDougall Littell. We haven't picked the Trig or Calculus books yet.
Also the US edition Singapore math books are the ones they were using in their schools when they were ranked #1 in the world for math. Tried and tested with excellent results. Love it!!! Good luck on your decision.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Math/Homeschool Update
My almost 11 yr. old passed the Singapore Math 4B test with a 94% after taking it 4 times. She kept missing different answers, they were mostly silly mistakes adding wrong etc., but I finally went over the whole test with her and just kept making her take it again until she got it right. She has already finished her 5A workbook and will finish corrections and take the test this coming week. Her 9 year old sister has also finished 4B and had to take the test twice to pass, but I don't remember what she got. So I think that 4th level just has a lot of new concepts that are tough. We'll see how the rest of the levels go, it only goes to 6B and then they'll start Algebra. I'm really proud of them for working so hard because it is not always easy. My 7 year old boy just finished 2A and passed his test on the first try. I'm a much better teacher after going through the books with their older siblings. Poor oldest child-- such a guinea pig, but still better off than I was, I think and hope!!
They do get tired of all the stuff they have to do, but don't we all? It's just part of life. I didn't make them do anything extra today because I was tired too. I was considering taking a spring break, but I think we'll wait and take one when their daddy can join us and we can do something fun. I have started to do more of our enrichment activities and it is fun and rewarding, but time consuming. It's nice to get back to normal!!
They do get tired of all the stuff they have to do, but don't we all? It's just part of life. I didn't make them do anything extra today because I was tired too. I was considering taking a spring break, but I think we'll wait and take one when their daddy can join us and we can do something fun. I have started to do more of our enrichment activities and it is fun and rewarding, but time consuming. It's nice to get back to normal!!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
A great website for young Mormon pianists
I just found this website looking for a simplified version of Once Within a Lowly Stable for my daughter to play on the piano, and wow, they have a lot of the Primary songs in a simplified version ready to download pdf style as well as some original music and other stuff. Just thought I'd share!!
http://www.smurthwaitesong.com/index.php
http://www.smurthwaitesong.com/index.php
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Lots of time and work Learning Good Stuff-- Our Schedule
Wow!! Now that my kids are "older", we have really been working hard. Homeschooling is a lot more time and work than I anticipated, but I still enjoy it, and I think it will be worth all the hard work. I made up a chart for each kid, so they know exactly what they are supposed to do each day, and they can check it off as they do it each day. When I added up the time I estimated each subject to take, it came out to about 5 hours a day for the 10 and now 9 yr olds, 4 days a week and that didn't include the enrichment of story-time or singing time or art. I limited the 10 yr old to 2 hours a day of math so that she would have time to work on other subjects. She is doing better, and understands the concepts, but we are now working on speed and accuracy. I hope she can move on to 4B soon. Her 9 yr.old sister is just about done with 4A and will probably pass the test and move on to 4B in a couple weeks. That is a little frustrating to the older sister, but that's just how it goes. Maybe the younger one will be able to explain things to the older one or at least motivate her to really focus and concentrate. It doesn't come easy to her, but she still has to and can learn it. It will take a lot more practice for her than it will for the other children.
The great thing now is that the girls are getting up, cleaning their room, getting dressed and ready for the day and starting their schoolwork on their own around 9 a.m. It is so nice!! They are able to do so much on their own and are really learning and doing well. They are realizing that starting earlier means finishing earlier, and I think they are leaning to appreciate the fun of working hard and succeeding at difficult tasks. I am really quite proud of them. They are actually growing up.
The little boys are easy to teach now that I've been through the girls and found the best curricula for everything. They also love computer games and when they finish their schoolwork and their chores, they get 15 min. each on the computer. That has been awesome motivation for them finish and learn. I'm really proud of them too. They are finally getting those simple addition and subtraction facts down and are understanding the concepts. My reluctant reader who is now 7 is really close to reading the Treehouse books on his own.
So the schedule that seems to work best at this point is for me to get up around 6-6:30 a.m., make breakfast, exercise and get ready for the day. Have the kids start their chores, eat breakfast and get ready for the day around 8 a.m. The girls can then get started on their schoolwork with the stuff they don't need me to help them with around 9 a.m. Depending on what kind of house stuff I need to do and what kind of mood the little ones are in, I can read little kid books to the little kids at 9 or let them play a little. I then help them get all their work done by 11-11:30 and they can all take a break and go play outside for a bit. Then we can eat lunch, clean up and have singing time and story time which includes scripture and poem recitations, Spanish practice, Science and some history as well as learning new songs and reading interesting stories mostly from Yesterday's Classics.
After that the younger kids are pretty much free to do anything constructive or fun while I help the older kids with Spelling, Greek, Science and Math. It is fluid from day to day, but that is the goal. We try hard to be done by 5, but with activities scheduled during the week, we usually have to finish up in the evening. I try to leave the required reading and instrument practice for the evening and have them do those last. For a couple weeks, I wondered if I was pushing them too hard. But we seem to get done a little earlier each week as they get better at focusing and realizing that they have to finish even if it's late. So I think it is paying off.
I am finding that consistency is very important. We seem to be making great progress because we have been consistent. Doing a little bit each day seems to be better than cramming a bunch of info in a short period of time. It has been very rewarding to see my children work hard and grow and learn so much. Not that I am never frustrated and wonder how many times I will have to explain estimating and rounding. But overall, I'm feeling good about our academic homeschool. There is always room for improvement, but I think we are on the right track. Here is the chart for the oldest. The numbers are the estimated time for each activity, mostly 4 days per week. We are now doing spelling each day and the emphasis is more on goals accomplished rather than time spent. The time spent thing doesn't work well for us, because I have some kids who are masters at sitting at their desk and accomplishing nothing, but it is helpful for them to know about how much time each subject should take.
(Sorry the chart isn't more legible, but I don't want to take the time to fix it. You can still get the idea!!)
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Clean room
Get Dressed
Eat
Brush teeth
15 min. Clean
Scripture 10 10 10 10
Journal 10 10 10 10
Grammar Practice 5 5
Word Study 5 5
Sentences 5 5
Spelling 15 15 test
Poem 10 10 10 10
History Report 30
Composition 30
Book Report 30
Math 120 120 120 120 120
Science 15 15 15 15
Greek 5 sec. 20 20 20 20
Spanish 10 10 10 10
Music 15
Drawing 60
Piano 30 30 30 Lesson 30 30
Violin Lesson 20 20 20 20 20
Required Reading 30 30 30 30
History Reading 15 15 15 15
The great thing now is that the girls are getting up, cleaning their room, getting dressed and ready for the day and starting their schoolwork on their own around 9 a.m. It is so nice!! They are able to do so much on their own and are really learning and doing well. They are realizing that starting earlier means finishing earlier, and I think they are leaning to appreciate the fun of working hard and succeeding at difficult tasks. I am really quite proud of them. They are actually growing up.
The little boys are easy to teach now that I've been through the girls and found the best curricula for everything. They also love computer games and when they finish their schoolwork and their chores, they get 15 min. each on the computer. That has been awesome motivation for them finish and learn. I'm really proud of them too. They are finally getting those simple addition and subtraction facts down and are understanding the concepts. My reluctant reader who is now 7 is really close to reading the Treehouse books on his own.
So the schedule that seems to work best at this point is for me to get up around 6-6:30 a.m., make breakfast, exercise and get ready for the day. Have the kids start their chores, eat breakfast and get ready for the day around 8 a.m. The girls can then get started on their schoolwork with the stuff they don't need me to help them with around 9 a.m. Depending on what kind of house stuff I need to do and what kind of mood the little ones are in, I can read little kid books to the little kids at 9 or let them play a little. I then help them get all their work done by 11-11:30 and they can all take a break and go play outside for a bit. Then we can eat lunch, clean up and have singing time and story time which includes scripture and poem recitations, Spanish practice, Science and some history as well as learning new songs and reading interesting stories mostly from Yesterday's Classics.
After that the younger kids are pretty much free to do anything constructive or fun while I help the older kids with Spelling, Greek, Science and Math. It is fluid from day to day, but that is the goal. We try hard to be done by 5, but with activities scheduled during the week, we usually have to finish up in the evening. I try to leave the required reading and instrument practice for the evening and have them do those last. For a couple weeks, I wondered if I was pushing them too hard. But we seem to get done a little earlier each week as they get better at focusing and realizing that they have to finish even if it's late. So I think it is paying off.
I am finding that consistency is very important. We seem to be making great progress because we have been consistent. Doing a little bit each day seems to be better than cramming a bunch of info in a short period of time. It has been very rewarding to see my children work hard and grow and learn so much. Not that I am never frustrated and wonder how many times I will have to explain estimating and rounding. But overall, I'm feeling good about our academic homeschool. There is always room for improvement, but I think we are on the right track. Here is the chart for the oldest. The numbers are the estimated time for each activity, mostly 4 days per week. We are now doing spelling each day and the emphasis is more on goals accomplished rather than time spent. The time spent thing doesn't work well for us, because I have some kids who are masters at sitting at their desk and accomplishing nothing, but it is helpful for them to know about how much time each subject should take.
(Sorry the chart isn't more legible, but I don't want to take the time to fix it. You can still get the idea!!)
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Clean room
Get Dressed
Eat
Brush teeth
15 min. Clean
Scripture 10 10 10 10
Journal 10 10 10 10
Grammar Practice 5 5
Word Study 5 5
Sentences 5 5
Spelling 15 15 test
Poem 10 10 10 10
History Report 30
Composition 30
Book Report 30
Math 120 120 120 120 120
Science 15 15 15 15
Greek 5 sec. 20 20 20 20
Spanish 10 10 10 10
Music 15
Drawing 60
Piano 30 30 30 Lesson 30 30
Violin Lesson 20 20 20 20 20
Required Reading 30 30 30 30
History Reading 15 15 15 15
Thursday, October 15, 2009
A Little Poem
I got an awesome book from Yesterday's Classics , actually I got a bunch of cool books that I'll write about as we read them, but this one is called Poems Every Child should Know by Mary E. Burt. It is a great collection of nice poems and it is divided up starting with shorter and easier for younger kids and then moves into longer and harder poems for older kids. My 7 and 5 yr old, actually all the children are memorizing this one:
Little Things
Ebenezer Copham Brewer
Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.
Thus the little minutes
Humble though they be,
Make the Mighty ages
Of Eternity
Isn't that so true? What a great way to internalize the message!
Little Things
Ebenezer Copham Brewer
Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.
Thus the little minutes
Humble though they be,
Make the Mighty ages
Of Eternity
Isn't that so true? What a great way to internalize the message!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Teaching Math at Home, can be frustrating
Math does not come easy to my oldest child. She is amazing at music and art and loves to write and make up stories, but when it comes to being exact and focusing, it is really hard for her. We have been using Singapore Math and I let her fall behind a bit because I didn't want to push her too hard, but I had an awakening when she turned 10, that she needed to be farther along in all our subjects. As a 10 year old I felt that she was old enough to learn to focus and really train that brain, so it was time to play catch up. Not that she is behind her peers, just that she was behind where I want her to be and if we're going to homeschool, we'd better be at least a year ahead.
So instead of doing 2 pages of Singapore Math a day, the requirement was 5 pages a day which turned into 10 pages a day. I would explain the new concepts and she would go to work, but when she finished the book and I went to correct it, I found that she had been mostly guessing and really didn't understand much of what she had done. So we had to go back through the book with me watching over her train of thought and teaching her to be exact. That took forever, but we did finish 3B. Then we pretty much took the summer off and started 4A the first part of September.
This time however, I kept up on checking as she went along and caught the mistakes early, but it took FOREVER. The first 2 weeks of school Math was pretty much all we did. I hoped that she would eventually be able to focus without me right there over her shoulder, but since she is not math minded, it never happened. After 2 weeks of spending pretty much 2-3hrs. with just her on math a day, I decided that I couldn't neglect the other kids or subjects any longer so we worked on math at the end of the day if we had time, and her dad could help her when he got home. We thought that once we got through fractions and onto measurements, it would be easier-- no such luck. However, she really worked and tried her best and finally finished 4A -- we finished the corrections on Thurs. It took about 5 hours. While I was frustrated at times during the correcting phase, at the end of the day, I felt fulfilled and like we had actually accomplished something. She realizes that she has to do math even though it's not her favorite. She understands that it is important and that it will leave so many doors open for her in her future. She feels good about sticking with something she doesn't really like and that is hard for her, but overcoming it and making it a strength. I don't think she is ready for the test, so this week we will be doing review problems out of the textbook until she is solid on the concepts and does everything in the proper order and writes everything down and can check it and find her little errors on her own. Then hopefully she can take the test on Thurs. and move on to 4B.
The goal is for her to start Algebra next September-- she'll be in 6th grade and on that track she can take Calculus as a sophomore and be done with Math forever if she wants. It is hard playing catch-up and being the guinea pig, but I think she will be able to do it although it does take a lot of time and concentration. I am becoming extremely patient.
The difference between her and her sister just younger in math is amazing. The younger one loves math and is a year ahead, just finished 3B and passed the test and started 4A. I only have to explain things once and she gets it right. It is such a breath of fresh air for me teaching it to her. The boys so far seem pretty math minded too and after that first daughter I am just happy they can make jumps in their heads so easily without having to go through every little step. Math always came fairly easy to me and I loved it especially though high school, but now I understand those who don't like math after going through it with my daughter, because if it doesn't come easy, then it can be torture!!!!
So instead of doing 2 pages of Singapore Math a day, the requirement was 5 pages a day which turned into 10 pages a day. I would explain the new concepts and she would go to work, but when she finished the book and I went to correct it, I found that she had been mostly guessing and really didn't understand much of what she had done. So we had to go back through the book with me watching over her train of thought and teaching her to be exact. That took forever, but we did finish 3B. Then we pretty much took the summer off and started 4A the first part of September.
This time however, I kept up on checking as she went along and caught the mistakes early, but it took FOREVER. The first 2 weeks of school Math was pretty much all we did. I hoped that she would eventually be able to focus without me right there over her shoulder, but since she is not math minded, it never happened. After 2 weeks of spending pretty much 2-3hrs. with just her on math a day, I decided that I couldn't neglect the other kids or subjects any longer so we worked on math at the end of the day if we had time, and her dad could help her when he got home. We thought that once we got through fractions and onto measurements, it would be easier-- no such luck. However, she really worked and tried her best and finally finished 4A -- we finished the corrections on Thurs. It took about 5 hours. While I was frustrated at times during the correcting phase, at the end of the day, I felt fulfilled and like we had actually accomplished something. She realizes that she has to do math even though it's not her favorite. She understands that it is important and that it will leave so many doors open for her in her future. She feels good about sticking with something she doesn't really like and that is hard for her, but overcoming it and making it a strength. I don't think she is ready for the test, so this week we will be doing review problems out of the textbook until she is solid on the concepts and does everything in the proper order and writes everything down and can check it and find her little errors on her own. Then hopefully she can take the test on Thurs. and move on to 4B.
The goal is for her to start Algebra next September-- she'll be in 6th grade and on that track she can take Calculus as a sophomore and be done with Math forever if she wants. It is hard playing catch-up and being the guinea pig, but I think she will be able to do it although it does take a lot of time and concentration. I am becoming extremely patient.
The difference between her and her sister just younger in math is amazing. The younger one loves math and is a year ahead, just finished 3B and passed the test and started 4A. I only have to explain things once and she gets it right. It is such a breath of fresh air for me teaching it to her. The boys so far seem pretty math minded too and after that first daughter I am just happy they can make jumps in their heads so easily without having to go through every little step. Math always came fairly easy to me and I loved it especially though high school, but now I understand those who don't like math after going through it with my daughter, because if it doesn't come easy, then it can be torture!!!!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Book List for 9-12 year olds
My 10 yr. old needed a little more structure in her choice of literature, and while Nancy Drew is fun, we wanted to make sure she has some familiarity with other genres and literature. So my husband who is really behind most of the curriculum choices we make did some research mainly on amazon.com reading the reviews both good and bad for these books and came up with the following list. Neither of us have read all of these books although we have read some of them, so if any of you think any of them may be inappropriate for this age group, let me know. We bought most of them and I'm going to try to keep up with my kids' reading. It looks like a lot of fun. We want our kids to read at least one of the books listed in each genre.
| Genre |
|
| Science Fiction |
|
|
| The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet |
|
| Ender's Game |
|
| The City of Ember |
|
| Journey Between Worlds |
|
| Enchantress from the Stars |
| History |
|
|
| Number the Stars |
|
| The Bronze Bow |
|
| The Witch of Blackbird Pond |
|
| Sounder |
|
| Johnny Tremain |
|
| My Brother Sam is Dead |
|
| Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry |
|
| The Matchlock Gun |
|
| The Golden Goblet |
|
| Hittite Warrior |
| Biography |
|
|
| Archimedes and the Door of Science |
|
| Augustus Caesar's World |
|
| The World of Columbus and Sons |
|
| George Washington's World |
|
| The World of Captain John Smith |
|
| Poor Richard |
|
| The World of William Penn |
|
| The Diary of Anne Frank |
| Mystery |
|
|
| The Mysterious Benedict Society |
|
| The Treasure of Alphaeus Winterborn |
|
| The Westing Game |
|
| The Ides of April |
| Fantasy |
|
|
| A Wrinkle in Time |
|
| The Hobbit |
|
| The Book of Three |
|
| Eragon |
|
| Alice in Wonderland |
|
| The Wizard of Oz |
| Adventure |
|
|
| Call It Courage |
|
| Island of the Blue Dolphins |
|
| Treasure Island |
|
| The Sign of the Beaver |
|
| The Great Brain |
|
| The Secret Garden |
|
| Anne of Green Gables |
|
| Tom Sawyer |
| Plays |
|
|
| Theatre for Young Audiences: 20 Great Plays for Children |
| Tragedy |
|
|
| The Bridge to Terabithia |
|
| Where the Red Fern Grows |
| Poetry |
|
|
| The Random House Book of Poetry for Children |
Friday, September 4, 2009
Our First Week of Homeschool for the New Year!!
We officially started school this year last Friday for our first Friday Fun Day. The plan is to cover all the core subjects (Reading, Writing, Math, Greek, Science, History, Literature, Spelling) from Monday to Thursday. Then Friday will be an enrichment day where we'll study art, artists, music, composers and play games and do activities. Friday turned out great. The kids loved it, (except for the 1st grader for the first part --he didn't want to play the recorder, but did later after being in time-out for awhile). We set up the desks like a real school and basically played school. We also learned a song in Spanish and a song in French. I decided to go ahead and do both languages this year. The Europeans learn a bunch of languages, so why can't we? We'll see how it goes.
Unfortunately, the rest of the week didn't go so smoothly, starting with Monday. We ended up getting new carpet that day and having a mold clean-up crew come on Tuesday and Wednesday because of a leak in the shower we didn't know about. We were without air conditioning on Thursday, and it was hot, but at least we could use the bathrooms. Also, my kids are so out of the habit of doing anything difficult because of my laxness this summer, that it was a real struggle to actually do any work at all. The 5th and 3rd grade girls basically just did math, a little bit of journaling and one composition this week. The preschooler and 1st grader fulfilled their requirements of handwriting, math and reading each day, because it doesn't take them long at all. But I really missed doing the fun part of homeschool which is reading stories and great literature to the kids, learning history and science, singing songs together, memorizing scriptures and learning languages and grammar. That's the fun part we missed this first week.
The girls took an average of 2 hours working on their math assignments because they are so out of the habit of concentrating. I've decided though, that that math has to be done first thing when their little brains are the most fresh, and we'll keep the fun and interesting stuff for after lunch. Had I had my house together and not under construction, I think we would have done better, but overall I think it was pretty good given the circumstances. I really hope the girls will move along better in math next week, so that we can do the fun stuff, but it may take them another week to acclimate to that math concentrating part of their brains. I just about have to sit with each of them individually to remind them to look at their book and write down the answers to the problems. They have gotten a little better each day though, and it is very rewarding to see the sense of satisfaction they feel when they are finally done!!
I can't wait to get my house and life back together. I feel like we went on another long vacation. Hopefully I can get a lot done this weekend so that we can do all the things I hope to do this week!! By the way, the twins are boys and look good so far-- that will be 5 boys in a row-- I'm a little nervous. I am really going to have to find ways to keep them out of trouble!! My 3 boys seem to get wilder everyday, they really need the fun stuff. They love listening to stories and learning songs. Once we get the house organized, I hope they will calm down a little bit. At least I can send them outside!!!
Unfortunately, the rest of the week didn't go so smoothly, starting with Monday. We ended up getting new carpet that day and having a mold clean-up crew come on Tuesday and Wednesday because of a leak in the shower we didn't know about. We were without air conditioning on Thursday, and it was hot, but at least we could use the bathrooms. Also, my kids are so out of the habit of doing anything difficult because of my laxness this summer, that it was a real struggle to actually do any work at all. The 5th and 3rd grade girls basically just did math, a little bit of journaling and one composition this week. The preschooler and 1st grader fulfilled their requirements of handwriting, math and reading each day, because it doesn't take them long at all. But I really missed doing the fun part of homeschool which is reading stories and great literature to the kids, learning history and science, singing songs together, memorizing scriptures and learning languages and grammar. That's the fun part we missed this first week.
The girls took an average of 2 hours working on their math assignments because they are so out of the habit of concentrating. I've decided though, that that math has to be done first thing when their little brains are the most fresh, and we'll keep the fun and interesting stuff for after lunch. Had I had my house together and not under construction, I think we would have done better, but overall I think it was pretty good given the circumstances. I really hope the girls will move along better in math next week, so that we can do the fun stuff, but it may take them another week to acclimate to that math concentrating part of their brains. I just about have to sit with each of them individually to remind them to look at their book and write down the answers to the problems. They have gotten a little better each day though, and it is very rewarding to see the sense of satisfaction they feel when they are finally done!!
I can't wait to get my house and life back together. I feel like we went on another long vacation. Hopefully I can get a lot done this weekend so that we can do all the things I hope to do this week!! By the way, the twins are boys and look good so far-- that will be 5 boys in a row-- I'm a little nervous. I am really going to have to find ways to keep them out of trouble!! My 3 boys seem to get wilder everyday, they really need the fun stuff. They love listening to stories and learning songs. Once we get the house organized, I hope they will calm down a little bit. At least I can send them outside!!!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
TJED/A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille -- A Rotten Educational Philosophy!!
A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille, sounds interesting and rigorous, right? Thomas Jefferson was a smart guy, he wrote the Declaration of Independence after all and he was the 3 rd president of the USA, so A Thomas Jefferson Education also known as TJED or a Leadership Education should be a pretty good thing, right?
You would think so, but unfortunately, A Thomas Jefferson Education is anything but the kind of education Thomas Jefferson actually had. It's more of a modern educational philosophy disguised under a name that describes something totally different. It got big here in Utah, and I really hope it dies out, because it can't work. Here are the 7 Keys of Great Teaching:
Classics, not Textbooks -- Learn math by reading Archimedes instead of filling out mindless workbooks --- Excuse me, my goal is to learn and if that is best done through a textbook and so called busywork, then so be it!!!
Mentors, not Professors -- I don't think mentors are a bad thing, but I think they need to give advice and guidance which is not encouraged by DeMille, he says they should stay back and allow the student to figure things out on their own. Hello!!! Teach me what you know, then I can add to that, don't make me reinvent the wheel!!
Inspire, not Require -- This is one of the WORST keys in the philosophy!! Don't require your child to read, do homework, or chores, instead, trick them into doing it through whatever passive aggressive tactics you can get to make them do what you want them to without them realizing your manipulation call it inspiration!! Please!!!!!!
Structure Time, not Content -- Isn't this one of the problems we face in the public schools? The kids are doing their time for example in math, just waiting to get through to the next grade and the next teacher. Content is by far more important, some things will take longer than others, the important thing is that the content is mastered!!!
Quality, not Conformity -- I'm not sure what this one means. Quality is a good thing, and conformity is not always a bad thing.
Simplicity, not Complexity -- When you put many simple things together such as notes on a piano in a certain sequence, doesn't it often come out sounding very complex?
You, not Them -- This is the one that makes me the most upset!!! The "mentor" or homeschool parent is supposed to concentrate on themselves and then the students will follow their example and be just as educated as the parent even though they haven't been required to do anything. This is an excuse for parents to ignore or neglect their child's education and pursue their own goals and ambitions. Here is my response: It is all about the child, the parent's turn or chance is past.
Now there is a new key in addition to these original 7:
Secure, not Stressed -- why did DeMille have to add this one? Because the other keys don't work and they cause the parent stress, but now with this new key, you can ignore your stress and promptings that TJED doesn't work and keep doing it anyway!!!
My thoughts on TJED? Run away, run far far away!!! It is a very bad educational and parenting philosophy. I think we will see a great many disappointed future leaders and parents of future leaders who have given their all to TJED. These keys I have listed are just a small part of the philosophy. They've got books and seminars and classes and groups. I could go on and on, but I think that is enough to see that the philosophy is erroneous. There are a couple blogs that already go into more detail if you search.
TJED reflects very poorly on the homeschool community and I try to distance myself as much as possible from these people. If I were given the choice between TJED and public school, I would choose public school hands down. I am very disappointed in the people who have embraced TJED and I hope I can distance myself from them as much as possible as an academic homeschooler. There are some very nice people who have gotten caught up in it, and I feel sorry for them. I hope they don't really do all the things DeMille recommends and don't feel like failures. I think the nicest ones are the ones who feel failure because they can't do everything DeMille says, but in reality they will be much better off. That's all I'm going to say on the subject for now. I feel better getting that off my chest. I want to spend my energy finding the best ways to teach my kids the things I want them to know and focusing on the positive. But sometimes, I have to point out the bad. Glad that's over!!!
You would think so, but unfortunately, A Thomas Jefferson Education is anything but the kind of education Thomas Jefferson actually had. It's more of a modern educational philosophy disguised under a name that describes something totally different. It got big here in Utah, and I really hope it dies out, because it can't work. Here are the 7 Keys of Great Teaching:
Classics, not Textbooks -- Learn math by reading Archimedes instead of filling out mindless workbooks --- Excuse me, my goal is to learn and if that is best done through a textbook and so called busywork, then so be it!!!
Mentors, not Professors -- I don't think mentors are a bad thing, but I think they need to give advice and guidance which is not encouraged by DeMille, he says they should stay back and allow the student to figure things out on their own. Hello!!! Teach me what you know, then I can add to that, don't make me reinvent the wheel!!
Inspire, not Require -- This is one of the WORST keys in the philosophy!! Don't require your child to read, do homework, or chores, instead, trick them into doing it through whatever passive aggressive tactics you can get to make them do what you want them to without them realizing your manipulation call it inspiration!! Please!!!!!!
Structure Time, not Content -- Isn't this one of the problems we face in the public schools? The kids are doing their time for example in math, just waiting to get through to the next grade and the next teacher. Content is by far more important, some things will take longer than others, the important thing is that the content is mastered!!!
Quality, not Conformity -- I'm not sure what this one means. Quality is a good thing, and conformity is not always a bad thing.
Simplicity, not Complexity -- When you put many simple things together such as notes on a piano in a certain sequence, doesn't it often come out sounding very complex?
You, not Them -- This is the one that makes me the most upset!!! The "mentor" or homeschool parent is supposed to concentrate on themselves and then the students will follow their example and be just as educated as the parent even though they haven't been required to do anything. This is an excuse for parents to ignore or neglect their child's education and pursue their own goals and ambitions. Here is my response: It is all about the child, the parent's turn or chance is past.
Now there is a new key in addition to these original 7:
Secure, not Stressed -- why did DeMille have to add this one? Because the other keys don't work and they cause the parent stress, but now with this new key, you can ignore your stress and promptings that TJED doesn't work and keep doing it anyway!!!
My thoughts on TJED? Run away, run far far away!!! It is a very bad educational and parenting philosophy. I think we will see a great many disappointed future leaders and parents of future leaders who have given their all to TJED. These keys I have listed are just a small part of the philosophy. They've got books and seminars and classes and groups. I could go on and on, but I think that is enough to see that the philosophy is erroneous. There are a couple blogs that already go into more detail if you search.
TJED reflects very poorly on the homeschool community and I try to distance myself as much as possible from these people. If I were given the choice between TJED and public school, I would choose public school hands down. I am very disappointed in the people who have embraced TJED and I hope I can distance myself from them as much as possible as an academic homeschooler. There are some very nice people who have gotten caught up in it, and I feel sorry for them. I hope they don't really do all the things DeMille recommends and don't feel like failures. I think the nicest ones are the ones who feel failure because they can't do everything DeMille says, but in reality they will be much better off. That's all I'm going to say on the subject for now. I feel better getting that off my chest. I want to spend my energy finding the best ways to teach my kids the things I want them to know and focusing on the positive. But sometimes, I have to point out the bad. Glad that's over!!!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Utah Homeschool Education Association Convention 2009
Susan Wise Bauer was the keynote speaker and made the whole convention completely worth it. Her keynote speech was very similar to the one she gave at the conference 5 years ago, and I realized that I have incorporated a lot of her suggestions into my homeschool without really realizing where they came from. Here are some of my notes:
Things her mother did right in homeschooling her:
1-Make learning a regular part of life instead of something to be gotten over in order to do something fun. Learning is fun.
2-Make books central to your homeschool-- give them as gifts to show that they are something to be valued.
3-Get control of the screens in your house -- T.V., computer, video games, etc.
4-Set times where you are off duty-- her mother was off-duty before 8 a.m., between 1-3 p.m. (they spent it quietly, alone in their rooms, so they could all have a break from each other) and after 8-9 p.m.
5- Cover the basics-- and then allow the kids focus in on what is exciting and interesting to them. This way they learned how to learn and when they realized they had never studied goegraphy, it was O.K. because Susan knew how to find and gain that info. There is no way to learn everything, so cover the basics and then follow your interests.
6-Don't be afraid to be hard-hearted about a social life. They lived on a farm and would have to drive for social activities, so they were very limited and as a teenager, Susan felt deprived. But her mother would tell her she would make friends in college, and she did and married and has a nice family of her own even without a teenage social life.
7-When a child has an emotional meltdown -- first offer them a sandwich, if that doesn't work, then a shower and if that doesn't work, then a nap. Most of the emotions are physical changes and happenings going on. Don't take it personal, they just may be hungry.
8-Don't encourage your child to go to an expensive college and get wrapped up with debt. There are plenty of affordable colleges that will give them a comprable education without debt.
The Things she would Change:
1-Don't worry so much, try to have an outside family member or friend let you know your kids really are doing fine so that worry can be eased. Smile!
2- Be careful about joining Co-ops, your time may be better spent using that time on your own kids.
3-Praise the kids
4-If you have family difficulties, get professional help and learn what your responsibilities are and are not.
5-Don't ignore your gut instincts or rely on your child to tell you if something is wrong. If something doesn't sit right with you, trust that and find out what is going on.
6-College at age 16 is too early, cannot rush emotional maturity
7-Sing more around the house, singing seems to indicate that everything is O.K.
The things I have found to be the most helpful for me is to tell my kids they have to get their own of whatever it is before 8 a.m. or go back to bed. We have pretty good control of the screens, my kids love listening to music. Covering the basics and not worrying so much about everything else has been good too. Also, using and enjoying a wide variety of books and thinking of library fines as a contribution to the arts has been beneficial to us as well. I hope I'll never need counseling, but I guess you never know what may come!!
I taught Elementary Academics twice at the conference. I was disappointed in the number of people in the first set, but had a decent number of people in the last class. I think it was helpful and informative, and I'm glad it's over!! There were 1 or 2 other classes I would have liked to have attended, but for the most part, I had already attended many of them in past conferences. I missed Deborah Recksiek this year, her classes were always awesome and she has been an inspiration in homeschooling to me ( she has raised and homeschooled 7 successful kids of her own and is now finishing raising 8 lovely adopted children). I really like hearing from people who have done it successfully. I hope she'll present next year. There were a few others I missed who have presented at past conferences, but that's just how it goes I guess. Susan Wise Bauer really made the whole thing worthwhile this year.
Thanks to all the UHEA people for putting it together. It was a huge ordeal.
sidenote: I saw Tony Robbins in person on stage at the Salt Palace on my way to my car to get the materials for my presentation!! He was presenting for some company called zrii. It made having to walk the length of the Salt Palace not so bad!!!
Things her mother did right in homeschooling her:
1-Make learning a regular part of life instead of something to be gotten over in order to do something fun. Learning is fun.
2-Make books central to your homeschool-- give them as gifts to show that they are something to be valued.
3-Get control of the screens in your house -- T.V., computer, video games, etc.
4-Set times where you are off duty-- her mother was off-duty before 8 a.m., between 1-3 p.m. (they spent it quietly, alone in their rooms, so they could all have a break from each other) and after 8-9 p.m.
5- Cover the basics-- and then allow the kids focus in on what is exciting and interesting to them. This way they learned how to learn and when they realized they had never studied goegraphy, it was O.K. because Susan knew how to find and gain that info. There is no way to learn everything, so cover the basics and then follow your interests.
6-Don't be afraid to be hard-hearted about a social life. They lived on a farm and would have to drive for social activities, so they were very limited and as a teenager, Susan felt deprived. But her mother would tell her she would make friends in college, and she did and married and has a nice family of her own even without a teenage social life.
7-When a child has an emotional meltdown -- first offer them a sandwich, if that doesn't work, then a shower and if that doesn't work, then a nap. Most of the emotions are physical changes and happenings going on. Don't take it personal, they just may be hungry.
8-Don't encourage your child to go to an expensive college and get wrapped up with debt. There are plenty of affordable colleges that will give them a comprable education without debt.
The Things she would Change:
1-Don't worry so much, try to have an outside family member or friend let you know your kids really are doing fine so that worry can be eased. Smile!
2- Be careful about joining Co-ops, your time may be better spent using that time on your own kids.
3-Praise the kids
4-If you have family difficulties, get professional help and learn what your responsibilities are and are not.
5-Don't ignore your gut instincts or rely on your child to tell you if something is wrong. If something doesn't sit right with you, trust that and find out what is going on.
6-College at age 16 is too early, cannot rush emotional maturity
7-Sing more around the house, singing seems to indicate that everything is O.K.
The things I have found to be the most helpful for me is to tell my kids they have to get their own of whatever it is before 8 a.m. or go back to bed. We have pretty good control of the screens, my kids love listening to music. Covering the basics and not worrying so much about everything else has been good too. Also, using and enjoying a wide variety of books and thinking of library fines as a contribution to the arts has been beneficial to us as well. I hope I'll never need counseling, but I guess you never know what may come!!
I taught Elementary Academics twice at the conference. I was disappointed in the number of people in the first set, but had a decent number of people in the last class. I think it was helpful and informative, and I'm glad it's over!! There were 1 or 2 other classes I would have liked to have attended, but for the most part, I had already attended many of them in past conferences. I missed Deborah Recksiek this year, her classes were always awesome and she has been an inspiration in homeschooling to me ( she has raised and homeschooled 7 successful kids of her own and is now finishing raising 8 lovely adopted children). I really like hearing from people who have done it successfully. I hope she'll present next year. There were a few others I missed who have presented at past conferences, but that's just how it goes I guess. Susan Wise Bauer really made the whole thing worthwhile this year.
Thanks to all the UHEA people for putting it together. It was a huge ordeal.
sidenote: I saw Tony Robbins in person on stage at the Salt Palace on my way to my car to get the materials for my presentation!! He was presenting for some company called zrii. It made having to walk the length of the Salt Palace not so bad!!!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Elementary Academics
I applied to teach a class on homeschooling at the UHEA conference this year. They accepted my proposal and I just sent in my Handout last night. I thought some of you might be interested, so here it is:
Elementary Academics
Philosophy of Education-- My overall philosophy of education is that children need to learn and do stuff. How they do it is less important than what they do. So the most important thing for the parent to figure out is what they think their child needs to learn. The end goal will help you get them there.
So for me in the area of academics my husband and I have mapped out where we would like our children to be with each subject. These are some of the things we want them to know, master and be familiar with:
For Mathematics -- Calculus.
For Logic and Grammar -- Latin
For History -- A good working and in depth knowledge
For Music -- Play an instrument and understand music theory
For Art-- Know the great artists and be able to draw well
For Science -- Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy
For Economics -- Markets, Business, Government
Literature and Philosophy -- Great Books of the Western World
Home Skills, Cooking, Gardening, Life Skills
Love of Learning and Reading
Religion -- Know our Faith and Scriptures and love and obey God
Your list may be very similar or different or both.
So now that I’ve established where I want to go I can figure out how to get there.
First Skills -- They must be able to read and write and do arithmetic.
So we start as soon as the kids are ready usually around age 4 especially for the younger ones who are watching the older ones.
For Reading I like to use several resources.
First to learn the letters I recommend “The Letter Factory” by Leap Frog. Now they know the letters and their sounds.
The next step is to start putting the sounds together to make new sounds and then words. So to do this, practice saying words slow and then fast and letting the new reader guess which word it is. Then they are ready to start ready easy books like Bob books or other reading curriculums. My favorite is the Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Reading by Jessie Wise. My first daughter learned to read on McGuffy and Bob Books. The second daughter memorized those easy words quickly and never learned to sound them out so That book solved that issue. I also love Diane Hopkins “Phonics Games” from www.ldfr.com . That really helped her learn all the different phonetic combinations, and my boys have enjoyed it also. It just takes practice, practice, practice. If it is too hard or frustrating, find something easier for them to read, and pretty soon they will take off.
For writing I like to teach my kids cursive first because it teaches them that there are spaces between the words and they can’t write it backwards. I print off the scripture of the week in grey or another light color and school script dashed font because it’s free and they trace as much as I tell them given their ability. Eventually they are able to copy and write on their own.
For Math-- I love Singapore Math. I like their approach and their format and I like that they have the results to match-- #1 in math in the world. The kindergarten books get them so ready for level 1 and they are fun and colorful and make sense. When we need extra help, then we go to the textbook but otherwise we just work through the workbooks. Keep up on checking to make sure they are doing it right, and again go back to easier problems if they get too frustrated so they get the concept and then they will be able to continue on through their book.
If they keep up with Singapore Math they will be ready for Algebra in 6th or 7th grade which will get them to calculus their sophomore or junior year.
Then to get them used to beautiful language and language usage and to love learning and books, we have story time. We have little kids story time first with the picture books and nursery rhymes and scripture stories. Then we move on to reading directly from the scriptures to other stories and longer poems turning it into big kids story time which consists of an interesting chapter book, a longer poem, a history chapter, a Greek lesson and memory verses ending with Science. I love the stories and resources at www.mainlesson.com . We love story time. The older girls color, draw or crochet while I read to the younger kids, and the younger kids play with toys while I am doing the older kids stuff. If they get too fussy then we eat lunch and put them down for a nap.
For music I like to play a lot of classical music. It seems to make the house calmer and happier and it really helps them with music later because they are familiar with so many tunes even if they don’t know the names. We also like to sing together. We sing all sorts of songs and make sure to include lots of fun little kids ones like popcorn, wheels on the bus, Fun To Do, pioneer songs, etc.
For religion we read scripture stories during story time and memorize a scripture a week and a religious song. Obviously, we try to be good examples and attend our church meetings.
So that for me covers the basic foundational skills that will be needed for the younger children. So far this is what has worked . On to the next level:
After the Basics
Once they are able to read and write fairly well, they can start Greek. Our goal is to get good at Latin and Greek is a good fun stepping stone in that direction. Greek has 4 declensions instead of 5 and they can learn all the grammar and concepts with the easier Greek and then Latin will be a little less challenging. Plus I love the Greek curriculum we are using. It is found at www.opentexture.com and is called Elementary Greek. Our pick for Latin is to start them around age 11or 12 on Henle Latin. So they should have very good mastery of the subject and be able to read many of the Great Books in the original Latin by high school age.
For writing and English Studies I like Singapore’s program Sentences to Paragraphs and Word Study. They are workbooks that are fun to fill in and cover things that the kids pick up just from reading but may not realize there are rules governing punctuation, capitalization, grammar, etc.
Also for writing, I require some sort of journaling whether a traditional journal or a story journal, it is up to the child. Out of there I find spelling words for them to practice writing. I also have some writing cards which I got at one of these conferences that give some fun ideas to write about. I also have them write up a summary of something they’ve read for me once a week. I also ask them about what we’ve read after we read and have them summarize the story for me during story time.
But the main focus in these elementary years is for them to be able to write well and quickly and to be able write down what they are thinking in their head. Then when they are age 10-11 they can learn to outline and other rules of good writing, and then to be able to express themselves fully with reports and journals and other compositions. Maybe they’ll write short stories or novels or screenplays. Once they can read and write and think, they can grab a book and figure it out.
For Science I again really like Sinagapore‘s program, My Pals are Here Science. They were ranked #2 in the world in science, and we love the pictures, the explanations and the activities.
For History we really like Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. When they are older I will also have them read biographies and other historical books. We read many historical stories during story time and movies can be a valuable resource.
For piano, I like Music masters and Edna Mae Burnam piano course as well as music theory books. My kids have also had fun playing the recorders from West Music.
We continue with the stuff mentioned above as needed for the older children and add things like reading time on their own and reading the scriptures on their own always with the end goals in mind.
Schedules-- Now that we know what we want to do, how are we going to do it?
Organize and schedule
1-- Your house needs to be orderly and dinner needs to be planned
www.flylady.net has worked wonders for me to run my household smoothly and efficiently-- follow her plan to the letter, there are letters from other home schooling moms that are very helpful. Babysteps- alittle at a time
www.childrensmiraclemusic.com will help your children pace themselves and be ready to go in the morning.
We have to start by 9 a.m. or we will not accomplish our tasks for the day. Clean up after yourself and require the children to help clean and pick up after themselves including meals!!
2-- Make a school schedule that your kids can mark off and so that they know exactly what is required of them. My kids also like to use timers to see how long it takes. Figure out how to make this worthwhile for them-- a trip to the park or library when they’re done, a special treat, free time, etc.
Other considerations
Co-Op -- Think about what you would like for your family and then figure out how to get it. We organized a girls club when my girls were younger and this past year we joined a larger co-op. This coming year we’re organizing a Greek club and doing some smaller co-ops. Just be specific and find or make something that will work for you and your kids.
Enjoy your kids-- Do School when it’s time to do school and be home and enjoy your sweet family the rest of the time. If it gets to be too much, take a break and then start over. Keep up with Math and Piano as those are skills that are harder to make up later. Don’t push too hard while they are little. Enjoy your freer time as things seem to get more time consuming and demanding the older they get. Just love them and encourage and require and they will do their best.
Health -- Take care of yourself, exercise, eat dark green leafy salads and raw foods. Soaked almonds are great. Cut back on meat and dairy products and all processed foods. You will feel better and be able to accomplish and enjoy more.
Elementary Academics
Philosophy of Education-- My overall philosophy of education is that children need to learn and do stuff. How they do it is less important than what they do. So the most important thing for the parent to figure out is what they think their child needs to learn. The end goal will help you get them there.
So for me in the area of academics my husband and I have mapped out where we would like our children to be with each subject. These are some of the things we want them to know, master and be familiar with:
For Mathematics -- Calculus.
For Logic and Grammar -- Latin
For History -- A good working and in depth knowledge
For Music -- Play an instrument and understand music theory
For Art-- Know the great artists and be able to draw well
For Science -- Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy
For Economics -- Markets, Business, Government
Literature and Philosophy -- Great Books of the Western World
Home Skills, Cooking, Gardening, Life Skills
Love of Learning and Reading
Religion -- Know our Faith and Scriptures and love and obey God
Your list may be very similar or different or both.
So now that I’ve established where I want to go I can figure out how to get there.
First Skills -- They must be able to read and write and do arithmetic.
So we start as soon as the kids are ready usually around age 4 especially for the younger ones who are watching the older ones.
For Reading I like to use several resources.
First to learn the letters I recommend “The Letter Factory” by Leap Frog. Now they know the letters and their sounds.
The next step is to start putting the sounds together to make new sounds and then words. So to do this, practice saying words slow and then fast and letting the new reader guess which word it is. Then they are ready to start ready easy books like Bob books or other reading curriculums. My favorite is the Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Reading by Jessie Wise. My first daughter learned to read on McGuffy and Bob Books. The second daughter memorized those easy words quickly and never learned to sound them out so That book solved that issue. I also love Diane Hopkins “Phonics Games” from www.ldfr.com . That really helped her learn all the different phonetic combinations, and my boys have enjoyed it also. It just takes practice, practice, practice. If it is too hard or frustrating, find something easier for them to read, and pretty soon they will take off.
For writing I like to teach my kids cursive first because it teaches them that there are spaces between the words and they can’t write it backwards. I print off the scripture of the week in grey or another light color and school script dashed font because it’s free and they trace as much as I tell them given their ability. Eventually they are able to copy and write on their own.
For Math-- I love Singapore Math. I like their approach and their format and I like that they have the results to match-- #1 in math in the world. The kindergarten books get them so ready for level 1 and they are fun and colorful and make sense. When we need extra help, then we go to the textbook but otherwise we just work through the workbooks. Keep up on checking to make sure they are doing it right, and again go back to easier problems if they get too frustrated so they get the concept and then they will be able to continue on through their book.
If they keep up with Singapore Math they will be ready for Algebra in 6th or 7th grade which will get them to calculus their sophomore or junior year.
Then to get them used to beautiful language and language usage and to love learning and books, we have story time. We have little kids story time first with the picture books and nursery rhymes and scripture stories. Then we move on to reading directly from the scriptures to other stories and longer poems turning it into big kids story time which consists of an interesting chapter book, a longer poem, a history chapter, a Greek lesson and memory verses ending with Science. I love the stories and resources at www.mainlesson.com . We love story time. The older girls color, draw or crochet while I read to the younger kids, and the younger kids play with toys while I am doing the older kids stuff. If they get too fussy then we eat lunch and put them down for a nap.
For music I like to play a lot of classical music. It seems to make the house calmer and happier and it really helps them with music later because they are familiar with so many tunes even if they don’t know the names. We also like to sing together. We sing all sorts of songs and make sure to include lots of fun little kids ones like popcorn, wheels on the bus, Fun To Do, pioneer songs, etc.
For religion we read scripture stories during story time and memorize a scripture a week and a religious song. Obviously, we try to be good examples and attend our church meetings.
So that for me covers the basic foundational skills that will be needed for the younger children. So far this is what has worked . On to the next level:
After the Basics
Once they are able to read and write fairly well, they can start Greek. Our goal is to get good at Latin and Greek is a good fun stepping stone in that direction. Greek has 4 declensions instead of 5 and they can learn all the grammar and concepts with the easier Greek and then Latin will be a little less challenging. Plus I love the Greek curriculum we are using. It is found at www.opentexture.com and is called Elementary Greek. Our pick for Latin is to start them around age 11or 12 on Henle Latin. So they should have very good mastery of the subject and be able to read many of the Great Books in the original Latin by high school age.
For writing and English Studies I like Singapore’s program Sentences to Paragraphs and Word Study. They are workbooks that are fun to fill in and cover things that the kids pick up just from reading but may not realize there are rules governing punctuation, capitalization, grammar, etc.
Also for writing, I require some sort of journaling whether a traditional journal or a story journal, it is up to the child. Out of there I find spelling words for them to practice writing. I also have some writing cards which I got at one of these conferences that give some fun ideas to write about. I also have them write up a summary of something they’ve read for me once a week. I also ask them about what we’ve read after we read and have them summarize the story for me during story time.
But the main focus in these elementary years is for them to be able to write well and quickly and to be able write down what they are thinking in their head. Then when they are age 10-11 they can learn to outline and other rules of good writing, and then to be able to express themselves fully with reports and journals and other compositions. Maybe they’ll write short stories or novels or screenplays. Once they can read and write and think, they can grab a book and figure it out.
For Science I again really like Sinagapore‘s program, My Pals are Here Science. They were ranked #2 in the world in science, and we love the pictures, the explanations and the activities.
For History we really like Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. When they are older I will also have them read biographies and other historical books. We read many historical stories during story time and movies can be a valuable resource.
For piano, I like Music masters and Edna Mae Burnam piano course as well as music theory books. My kids have also had fun playing the recorders from West Music.
We continue with the stuff mentioned above as needed for the older children and add things like reading time on their own and reading the scriptures on their own always with the end goals in mind.
Schedules-- Now that we know what we want to do, how are we going to do it?
Organize and schedule
1-- Your house needs to be orderly and dinner needs to be planned
www.flylady.net has worked wonders for me to run my household smoothly and efficiently-- follow her plan to the letter, there are letters from other home schooling moms that are very helpful. Babysteps- alittle at a time
www.childrensmiraclemusic.com will help your children pace themselves and be ready to go in the morning.
We have to start by 9 a.m. or we will not accomplish our tasks for the day. Clean up after yourself and require the children to help clean and pick up after themselves including meals!!
2-- Make a school schedule that your kids can mark off and so that they know exactly what is required of them. My kids also like to use timers to see how long it takes. Figure out how to make this worthwhile for them-- a trip to the park or library when they’re done, a special treat, free time, etc.
Other considerations
Co-Op -- Think about what you would like for your family and then figure out how to get it. We organized a girls club when my girls were younger and this past year we joined a larger co-op. This coming year we’re organizing a Greek club and doing some smaller co-ops. Just be specific and find or make something that will work for you and your kids.
Enjoy your kids-- Do School when it’s time to do school and be home and enjoy your sweet family the rest of the time. If it gets to be too much, take a break and then start over. Keep up with Math and Piano as those are skills that are harder to make up later. Don’t push too hard while they are little. Enjoy your freer time as things seem to get more time consuming and demanding the older they get. Just love them and encourage and require and they will do their best.
Health -- Take care of yourself, exercise, eat dark green leafy salads and raw foods. Soaked almonds are great. Cut back on meat and dairy products and all processed foods. You will feel better and be able to accomplish and enjoy more.
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