Archives for August 2007

i need a time machine

August 9, 2007 By: amyswandering3 Comments

If I had only known…

What have you learned on your homeschooling journey? What would you/did you change?

I don’t think there is anything that I haven’t changed! If I had it to do over again, I would RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. I had no idea at the time that there were so many wonderful options available. My sister-in-law and I have very similar tastes, so when I found out they were enjoying A Beka, I just knew that was the one for me. That was a very expensive mistake. We ended up hating it and dreading school every day. I finally sold the whole thing and we did workbooks for the rest of the year. It had nothing to do with A Beka – it is a great curriculum and my nieces & nephews excel with it. It just wasn’t the right fit for our family. I’ve been tinkering with things ever since, trying this & that, & keeping what works. I feel like this year is the first time I have been completely happy with our curriculum.

Helpful Tip #1: Spend some time and prayerfully look through websites & catalogs. Most publishers will have samples on their sites. Here are two places to start:

Cathy Duffy– great info on her website & many libraries have her book.

Rainbow Resource – this is the mother of all homeschool catalogs, about 2 inches thick. It would be a little too overwhelming to actually pick out your curriculum from this for the first time, but here’s what it is good for: it will give you an idea of just how vast the choices are if you have no idea what’s out there.

Helpful Tip #2: Don’t really give much weight to anyone’s opinion about a particular curriculum. It is waaaaay too subjective. For example: We LOVE Saxon Math. I enjoy teaching it, my kids enjoy learning it, and I would tell anyone that it is the best Math out there. Know what you’ll find if you talk to enough people or visit enough message boards? There are lots of people that HATE Saxon Math, to the point where it borders on child abuse to force your children to use it. I was afraid that one of us was going to go into a coma, fall out of a chair, and sustain a fatal head wound if we continued with A Beka. Your family might grow & blossom & think every day is a party while using A Beka. That’s because God made us all different! (Didn’t we learn that in Bible class when we were, like, 3?) Welcome to the beauty of homeschool.

Helpful Tip #3: Listen carefully to me now, this is important. You.Do.Not.Have.To.Do.Every.Assignment. WorkbookPage.Or.Problem.Just.Because.It’s. In.The.Book. Did you get that? Give yourself permission to just let it go if your kids don’t need it. We throw out the first month of lessons in our math because it’s just basic review of what we just finished, written to refresh minds or catch kids up who may be jumping into a new curriculum.

I could spend the rest of the day writing about mistakes made & things I changed, but for some reason my family thinks hot food & clean clothes are necessities. You”ll have to visit Back to Homeschool Week, hosted by Randi, to read more or play along.

wfmw – blog for kids

August 8, 2007 By: amyswandering10 Comments

I’ve been participating in Back to Homeschool Week so I thought I would share an idea I will be using for school this year. It is not an exclusive idea though, so keep reading even if you are not a homeschooler!

I set up a blog just for my kids to read. I put all of their favorite game links in the blogroll, plus lots of educational sites that I want them to explore. They will have computer time each afternoon and I have assigned different subjects for each day. After they choose a site to explore, they will have to leave me a comment telling me what they learned and any questions they might have. (sneaking in writing practice where they least expect it, Ha Ha Ha) They can also let me know of any projects they would like to do or subjects they would like to know more about. I will be posting sites that go along with our current studies, or just a little note to say Hi, I Love You.

I will be sharing Tons of FANTASTIC educational links like these in the next few weeks, so bookmark me & check back. They are great for homeschoolers or for homework helpers. I can’t share my kids’ blog with you because it is private, but I will share their assignments:

Monday – Math & Geography

Tuesday – Science & Animals/Bugs

Wednesday – Reading & Bible

Thursday – Health & History

Friday – Music & Art

Run on over to Rocks In My Dryer for some really great tips!

beyond these four walls

August 8, 2007 By: amyswandering4 Comments

Getting out there…

Today we are talking about extracurricular activities. I appear to be one of the few not involved in a homeschool support group. LOL This is the first year since we started homeschooling that I’ve not been pregnant or had a napping toddler, so I think we will be joining one this year. I am a major homebody, but my kids are social butterflies and would love all the new friends.

I’m sure there will be plenty of posts today on the whole “Socialization” thing, so I might as well throw my two cents in. I have no scientific study to back this up, just my observation, but I think my two older girls are MORE social than if they were public schooled. They have never had to deal with peer pressure and cliques, with having to choose between friends or being made fun of because of their friends. Therefore, they see every child as a potential new friend. They search out little girls at the park to meet and introduce themselves to, and they are all best buddies by the time we leave. Here’s the most popular response to that:”But what’s going to happen when they get out into the real world one day and are thrown into the middle of all that in college?” Guess what, they already are in the middle of it. They have many public school friends and have seen & heard it all. The difference is, they think that kind of behavior is childish and ridiculous. It is rather amusing to watch their reactions to it all, and it stimulates some great conversations about being a follower of Christ. Just to clarify – my girls are not little angels who never say an unkind word to others or get their feelings hurt, but they are able to be objective about it all. Ok, I’ll get down off my soapbox now.

One thing they have been involved in for the past two years is music class. I can’t say enough good things about that experience. They did the typical elementary music class things like folk songs and dances, Dancerella learned to use rhythm sticks, and Funny Girl was old enough to start beginner recorder. The fantastic thing about this class was the voice training. The Fall semester was spent learning songs for a Christmas program, and in January they started training for regional contest. That was a lot of fun! Our little homeschool group was out there with all these huge public school groups, and they did great – they got a 2 at contest! Performing really built up my girls’ self confidence, although they were terrified at the thought of it at first. Funny Girl is old enough to start Beginner Band this year, but we are going to take the year off to ease our way into support group activities. If you are in the Dallas area, please check out J & L School of Music . She offer classes in Sachse, Sunnyvale, Allen, Rockwall & Richardson.

Well, if you are still here after all that rambling, thanks for coming by. Visit Back to Homeschool Week, hosted by Randi, to read more or play along.

how we homeschool

August 7, 2007 By: amyswandering5 Comments

How do you homeschool?

I would be considered an eclectic homeschooler. I pull together a little of this and a little of that instead of using a boxed curriculum. Come back Friday to hear more about that!

We do not follow a schedule for school, but we do have a routine. I hear some of you asking ‘What’s the difference?’. A schedule is doing certain things at certain times – a routine is a pattern of doing things, but not necessarily at the same time every day. It all still gets done, but maybe we had a late night with our youth group the night before & sit around on the couch looking at each other until 10 a.m. Or maybe it’s a beautiful, breezy, non-100 degree morning and the kids are actually asking to go outside. Or maybe there’s something really good on Rachael Ray that morning – I’m kidding, just wanted to see if you were paying attention!

I try to buy most of our curriculum used if I can. Here are some great swap boards to browse:

Homeschool Christian

Well Trained Mind

Vegsource the best in my opinion

Used Homeschool Curriculum

Homeschool Classifieds

If you have a Half Price Books in your area, that is a great source too. Check thrift stores for cheap readers, workbooks, and toys. I’ve found many Discovery Toys for under $5, including one of these still sealed in the bag. My latest find was something I’ve wanted for a long time & I paid less than $3.

My kids keep a Nature Journal using pages I find on the internet. I can’t imagine schooling without the internet – I use it every day! My friends call me the Link Queen & they don’t waste time looking for anything – they know I’ll have a link for it LOL! I will be sharing TONS of great school links over the next few weeks, so check back in. Here are my nature notebook links:

Birds-n-Garden printables

Wildflower coloring book

Illustrated writing paper

Nature Study pages

Visit Back to Homeschool Week, hosted by Randi, to read more or play along.

why we homeschool

August 6, 2007 By: amyswandering4 Comments

What led to your decision to homeschool?

You know, I can’t remember why I first considered homeschooling. I know it was about 9 years ago, when our oldest was two. I had a friend who was doing Five in a Row with her daughter & it looked like so much fun! I’m always up for a good round of fun, so maybe that was what lured me. I’ve always loved school – I was a preschool teacher at the time and my “plan” was to get my degree as soon as my kids were in school & teach full time. Whooo, God must get the biggest kick out of me. A short time later, I found out that my sister-in-law was planning to homeschool her kids too.

Here’s some honesty for you: It took me several months to finally make the commitment to homeschool. (Hubby was on board right away.) I had big PLANS for when my kids went off to school, important things like volunteer work & starting a mommy support group & having a clean house. I was very selfish and it was painful to let go of those dreams, but God was patiently calling me and I knew I had no choice :o)

Our main reason for keeping our kids home is that we did not want to have to de-program them each day after they came home from school. We had a vision of what we wanted our children to grow up to be spiritually, and we could not accomplish that unless we had them home during the early years to lay a strong foundation. I was only going to school them through elementary, then decided that maybe we would do junior high too, cuz who really enjoyed junior high anyway? They could go to public school in high school so they wouldn’t miss out on really important stuff like pep rallies. What a ding-dong I was! We work with the youth group at church now, and no way are my kids going to public school! Not only is it a scary world now, but what a waste of time!! I want my kids to get a rich, deep, rewarding education.

The payoff has been big already (we are about to start our 6th year). My girls have many public-schooled friends and just stare in amazement at them sometimes. Their friends live in a catty, Bratz-loving, “I’m not going to be your friend anymore” world, and my girls find it ridiculous. An unexpected benefit is that I’m learning as much as they are!

Visit Back to Homeschool Week, hosted by Randi, to read more or play along.

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Archives for August 2007

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