Wandering through life one season at a time
Hey….isn’t it supposed to be summer break?
So far mine has been a blur, but the rest of this week is looking fairly empty. Maybe I can actually finish my Create Your Own Curriculum series! My real life comes before my virtual one. 😉
I decided to visit my archives and round up some of my favorite free homeschool resource posts. Many of you are busy planning right now, so I hope you find some useful goodies!
Vintage Preschool Coloring Pages
Homeschool Hangouts
Our temps will soon be in the 100s every day, so I am making a craft store run this weekend to stock up on supplies for when it is too hot to go outside!
These are some of the crafts on our Summer Fun list:
Want more ideas? Check out my Pinterest boards!
Before I get to the nitty-gritty planning details, I want to share with you how I gather ideas throughout the year.
Have you ever used LiveBinders?
It is an online organizer. I like to think of it as a virtual file cabinet.
I create a new LiveBinder at the beginning of every school year … for the NEXT year. Then I save any links that I come across that I think we might want to use for the next school year.
Here, take a peek at my 2012-2013 Curriculum Ideas LiveBinder.
I gather all kinds of ideas:
You want your planning to be simple, so only save links that you want to consider for your upcoming school year. Don’t save every cute idea you come across – that is what Pinterest is for! 😀 (Or create another LiveBinder to house all those extra links.)
Setting up a LiveBinder is simple!
You can easily save links by installing a bookmarklet in your toolbar. Instructions for this, and for customizing your LiveBinder, are in the Help Section.
Feel free to ask all the questions you want about setting up your LiveBinder!
You can view my 2012-2013 Curriculum Ideas to see what kinds of things I save, or browse my Public Shelf to see the other ways that I use LiveBinders.
More posts in this series:
Follow me on Facebook & Pinterest, or by email!
This week’s 10 in 10 is reasons why you chose your homeschooling method.
I would describe my method as eclectic with a twist of Charlotte Mason. I am going to share 10 reasons why I put together my own curriculum each year!
1. It is inexpensive! At least half of our subjects come from free internet resources.
2. I enjoy it! I taught preschool when my oldest were little bitty and discovered I love planning and gathering ideas.
3. I am easily bored! Just being honest here. I never had ADD issues as a child, but I think I have developed some as an adult LOL. Some people like the routine of doing the same thing year after year. I like the fun of discovering something new. I have, however, learned to create some balance for the sake of my children. It would not be good for them if I were to change up every subject every year.
4. I can add in a bit of fun! If I am creating the plan, I can schedule in time for creativity. Things like making a brain hat, or a customized Trace Through the Year book, add bit of cheer to the day. (Some people can followed a purchased curriculum and still fit in the fun stuff on top of it, but I am not one of those people – I am easily overwhelmed and we never ended up having time for anything fun.)
5. I can cover what I want, how I want! I can tailor our subjects to exactly what my kiddos need to know, or want to know.
6. I can easily teach multiple ages! With 5 students, I try to do as many subjects together as we can. Planning my own curriculum makes it easy to adjust the activities for the different ages groups. I can teach science on a higher level and let the littles play with some critter cards. I can teach history on a lower lever and assign the older kids to research the culture.
7. I can pull from different methods! We add in some Charlotte Mason with nature notebooks and Truthquest History. We print out free grammar workbooks. I don’t mess around with math, so we use Saxon & Teaching Textbooks. I can pick & choose according to what fits our needs and our budget.
8. I can be flexible! Because I am creating my own lesson plans, I can structure them to fit our schedule. I decide exactly how many weeks we are spending on a topic, and fit it in around break weeks and holidays.
9. I can customize! My kids are very different (as most are). What works for one in 6th grade, for example, doesn’t necessarily work for the next. By using as many free resources as possible, I can change it up for that next child without purchasing yet another expensive book.
10. We can celebrate! My family is big on holidays. We love to decorate and make the everyday special. I like to mix in a bit of Holiday Funschool in with our regular studies.
More posts in this series:
Follow me on Facebook & Pinterest, or by email!
I have been piecing my own curriculum together for years using the resources that I post about on this blog, but it didn’t occur to me to share my planning methods until a reader posed a question.
Faith asked: “Do you make up your own curriculum using various resources and an over all guideline? How does that work for you?”
I am so excited to spend this week showing you how I throw it all together create a plan for my kiddos each year.
Before we jump into planning, there are a few things that I want you to ponder.
Things to Consider Before Searching for Curriculum
State Requirements – What does your state demand from you? Do your children undergo testing each year? Take this into consideration when choosing your courses.
Styles/Methods – What do you want your days to look like? Give some thought to how you want to study each subject. Maybe you like the classical focus on history, or want to dip your toes into living math. There is no need to put a label on your subjects, but you do need to have an idea in mind before your curriculum search begins.
Your Family’s Preferences – Do you break out into a cold sweat at the mention of lots of crafts & activities? It’s probably not a good idea to use unit studies for every subject. Do you have a kinesthetic child who can’t sit still? It will be torture for both of you to use workbooks for everything. Don’t choose a course just because it is free (unless free is your only option). Choose wisely and tailor it to your family’s needs & wants.
Your Focus – Now that we have been homeschooling for several years, I have noticed that each of our years has had a focus. Two years ago we concentrated on history, a year ago we tackled grammar, and this year we crunched some numbers in math. We will be focusing on writing & spelling in the coming year. We have still done all of our other subjects, but I made that one subject a priority – the one we did no matter what! You might want to focus on something that has been falling through the cracks, like music or art, and give it a high priority for a year.
Your Schedule – Take a realistic look at your schedule. If you want a simple, relaxed school day, don’t cram every waking minute with lessons & activities. I am guilty of trying to plan too much and eventually overwhelming everybody. Draw up a loose schedule of your week and fill in your core subjects. Then realistically fit in the extras around those subjects. It is up to you to decide which are core subjects & which are extras – what is your focus? (Don’t try to map out your actual schedule this early in the game – save that for after you pick your courses. All you want to decide now is how much time/how many days in your week you want to designate to each subject.)
Above all, ask God to guide you and trust where He leads.
More posts in this series:
Follow me on Facebook & Pinterest, or by email!
