Homeschool ... How we do it.

I've had many people ask Why and How do you homeschool.  Well the why has a long list of many pros vs cons but the number 1 reason we homeschool is because we feel we have been led down this path for I'm not sure what reasons, but now that I finally followed Heavenly Father's guiding hand, I couldn't imagine our life any other way.  As for the how, well you'll need to read on.

We've been homeschooling for... well, since my kids were born, =) but we've been working on a schedule and trying to figure out how int he world do we do this for a few years now and I think we finally have it.  At least for now because I can already tell that Izzy (my headstrong little girl) is going to be a little trickier.  First, a little bit of advice.

1. Wait until they're ready.  Seriously, I read this over and over again but thought, "No my kids are so smart so they need to be doing NOW."  All it does is lead to burnout and poor Izzy still hasn't recovered from trying to be pushed too soon.  She is after all only 5.  Yes, they grow up so fast and how in the world will we fit everything in?  But trust me.  When they're ready, they inhale it and go through their lessons so much faster and life is much easier.

2. Focus on helping them learn to read.  Once they can do this, wow!  School is so much easier.  But don't forget to wait until they're ready.  If they're interested, go for it.  If it feels like you're pulling teeth, just wait.  We enjoyed Hooked on Phonics.  I actually stumbled across this program by accident when I found a mostly complete set at a yard sale combined with Hooked on Math for $5.  Sheesh!  How could I go wrong.  Both Andrew and Izzy have been successful with this program and I figure the rest of the kids will follow in their footsteps.

3. Your homeschool will not be the same as anyone else's homeschool.  Believe me I've tried.  I've tried over and over again reading everything I could to find someone else's PERFECT schedule.  Every single one of them said you will need to find what works for your family but I always thought there was no way I'd be able to figure it out on my own.  So we've tried out many different things and when it bombed we would give up for a while.  Then I'd read more and we'd try again.  After many trial testings and lots of tweaking, I've finally found what works for my family.

4. Read what you can about how to homeschool and what kinds of homeschooling are out there.  I'd done the research and came to the decision that the public school way wasn't the way I wanted to follow.  But when I tried to start teaching, the only thing I knew was replication how I was taught.  I was introduced to a book called "The Well Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise 

but at the time I wasn't sold on the classical way of learning.  Also read the book "A Thomas Jefferson Education" and that book was really good but still wasn't sold.  A few years down the road, not sure what changed my mind, but someone mentioned the Bauer book in passing and I thought I'd check it out of the library again.  2nd time around both books made more sense and now this is what I used for basing my schedule you'll see below.  Point is, read and find what fits your educating philosophy and find out how to follow it.

And now here's our schedule in hopes that it might give you some ideas.  It looks more intense than it really is.  Andrew does sit down work M-F.  Izzy joins in for some if she's interested, but mostly she's off reading or playing as are the other little ones.  He's done in less than 2 hours with the written stuff and the rest of the day is mostly play.

Monday=Math, Spelling, Writing, Science, Reading, Journal

Tuesday=Math, Grammar, Spelling, Writing, HWT, History, Reading, Journal

Wednesday=Math, Spelling, Writing, Science, Reading, Journal

Thursday=Math, Grammar, Spelling, Writing, HWT, History, Reading, Journal

Friday=Math, Spelling, History, Reading, Journal

Here's the rundown:

1. Math--We are using Singapore Math.  I tried Saxon but have found I prefer the simpleness of the Singapore math workbook/textbook format for the younger ages.  I read that once they hit Grade 5/4 (I'll have to look up when that really is), then switch to Saxon so that is our plan.  I go over the Textbook with Andrew and he has workbok pages to go with it that he does on his own.  He also enjoys Sudoku puzzles or we'll do some flashcards.  The goal is for them to look at the flashcards and already know the answer (no counting on fingers).  Give them 4 seconds and then move on to the next card.  See how many he can get right and then have him memorize the ones he got wrong.  See if he can beat his time or number of correct cards next time.  This works for him because he's very competitive. Izzy I think will be a different story.  During non-school time, the kids play board games, add numbers on dice, etc.  Presto Chango is a fun money board game.  There's so much to do with math in a non-sit-down-and-let's-do-math environment. 

2. Grammar--First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise.  This book is for 1-2 grade.  It's pregrammar working really slow.  We spend maybe 10 mins. each lesson.  So far I'm impressed.

3. Spelling--Spelling Workout books by Modern Curriculum Press.  We do a new lesson everyday.  First I orally test Andrew to see if he knows how to spell the words for the day.  Then he fills in the blanks or puzzles from the workbook to practice some handwriting and see the word in print.  The spelling lists are 6 words and will increase to 8 by the end of the 1st book.  It includes spelling rules to help learn how to spell.  So far we're zipping through the easy stuff til we figure out where he needs to be.  It's helping us get into the habit of doing spelling everyday so that when we start hitting the trickier stuff, he'll already know that he's expected to do spelling.

4. Writing--Writing with Ease by Susan Wise Bauer--The younger grades don't include a lot of writing.  2 days a week Andrew does copywork from this book and the other 2 days he practices what is called narration and I write those down.  I read to him a passage from the book (excerpts from Little House on the Prairie and Pinnochio, etc.) and he tells it back to me in his own words.  (This is all in the Writing with Ease book).  He's learning how to put his thoughts into his own words in complete sentences before he's expected to put it down on paper (which he'll do in a few years).  It's taken me a while to accept this school of thought, but this book finally convinced me.  Writing skills in children are declining so schools are giving longer and more complex assignments to younger and younger children thinking the more they write, the better they'll get but it's not working.  It goes back to the wait until they're ready.  When learning to play the piano, you first learn the right hand, then the left before putting it all together.  When learning a language, you don't start writing essays and compositions until you've mastered the language. First you learn how to form thoughts into your own words then you learn how to put those words on paper.  It's going to be tricky to resist the "my-child's-writing-more-than-your-child pressure" but I feel confident that this way is a smart one.  You'll have to read the book.

5. HWT--Handwriting Without Tears--This is a handwriting program that I've enjoyed.  This taught my kids how to write their letters correctly (which I've always wondered why there's a correct way to write--still not sure on that one but have a few ideas).  And it's been fun.  The kids aren't writing the same letter over and over again.  They practice the letter a little bit and then put it into words and sentences.  They get $1 when they finish these workbooks.  Bribery is o.k. when it's learning a new skill.=)  I've only used this trick with these books but not other school books because I don't want them thinking they'll always get paid for doing school work.  Izzy probably started these books too early as she still gets so frustrated that she's not writing the letter correctly.  She's taking a recouperating break right now.  Since Andrew is to the point that he writes his letters correctly, he does 2 pages of HWT on our narration days (see writing above) so that he gets some daily handwriting practice in.

6. Science--Mondays are our nature walk days.  If we don't make it out on a nature walk, maybe we'll go to the zoo or do some project in the backyard.  Or we'll miss it altogether and that's o.k.  Wednesdays are a co-op group that we attend.  Andrew and Izzy are learning from the book "Exploring Creation with Zoology1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day."  We love this series even if we just look through them.  There's also a swimming creatures and a land creatures book in this series. 

7. History--Story of the World: Ancient Times--My favorite part of our curriculum.  The history curriculum is on a 4 year cycle.  1=Ancient Times, 2=Middle Ages, 3=Early Modern Times, 4=Modern Times.  We do history 3 days a week.  if you're going to get this book, make sure to get the activity book that goes with it. If you have more than 1 child, I recommend paying the extra $10 for the extra activity book pages.  I thought I could scan and print for the whole family (yes the copyright allows for family members), but it would probably come out to be the same price and way too much hassle and my time.  Tuesday we read the chapter from the storybook and do the coloring page from the activity book.  Thursday, do an oral narration quiz (but it doesn't seem like a quiz.  We turn it into a competition to see who can remember the most answers the fastest.)  These are questions from the activity book.   We then color the map together.  The activity book has explanations for this.  We then find what we've colored on our world map.  Friday is the fun day.  There are a few activity ideas in the book and I just pick out one and we do.  Look ahead of time and get those supplies ready.  Our last activity was a Nile replica.  We've had a few floods which caused our grass to explode.  Now we're in the process of seeing what the draught will do.  (See we're getting our science in other places as well.)  Also weeks in advance, I go through the recommended additional reading (also in the activity book) for the sections we'll be covering in future weeks and reserve them through the library computer system.  We have a library shelf at home where the kids enjoy perusing the books at their leisure.  When we finally get to the chapter in our book, they've already read a lot about it and start telling me what I'm about to read.  They've pulled out these extra books when we talked about Egyptian gods and how to make mummies.  It's so much fun.  These extra books are also read at any random time the kids or I want to read out loud.    

8. Reading--My kids are constantly reading so we don't have a set time or place to call this school.  When we were still working through Hooked on Phonics books, they'd read out loud to me until they felt like being done.  If they didn't feel like reading, sometimes I'd make them just read me 2 pages or sometimes we'd just skip it for the day (or week or whatever).  We weren't as consistent as I felt (at the time) as we needed to be.  But I just picked back up where we left off and was amazed at much they had progressed during the time off.  Don't feel guilty when you take those breaks, needed or not.  Just get back up, brush it off and keep going.  You'll be amazed at how much your kids pick up even when you're not "doing school."  I'm sharing this from experience.=)  Now we just play it by ear.  Sometimes they'll read one of the library books out loud to me or to everyone.  Sometimes I read out loud to them.  Sometimes at dinnertime I'll read a short story or if one of the kids finishes their dinner first and they want to stay at the table, they'll read to everyone.  If our bedtime routine went well and everyone got done in time and we have some extra time, we'll read a chapter or 2 from our current chapter book.

9.  Journal--I debated on whether or not to keep this in our curriculum, (is it too much writing) but my kids enjoyed having last year's journal bound.    

They show it off to everyone.=)   Izzy's still not interested in writing in hers again yet, but Andrew does to be able to stay up after bedtime to do his pages.  He tells me what he'd like to write about for the day.  We come up with 2 sentences together.  I write them down in complete and grammatically correct sentences and he copies them down.  The top half of the page has a place to draw a picture to go with the page.  At the end of the year, we take the compilation to Office Max and less than $5 later, they have their bound journal.  

So that's it.  That's what we do.  Here's a list of my favorite books on homeschooking.  There are many, many books and schools of thought out there.  Read what you can.  Check at the library or from friends or anywhere you can and follow what's best for your family.

"The Well-Adjusted Child: the social benefits of homeschooling" by Rachel Gathercole--If you're worried about the "What about socialization?" question.  This is a must read.

--"So You're Thinking About Homeschooling: Fifteen Families Show How You Can Do It" by Lisa Whelchel--Yes, she was Blaire on the Facts of Life.  This was one of my first introductions to the many different styles of homeschooling.

--"Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense" by David Guterson

--"Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling" by John Taylor Gatto.  This will change your view of the public school system forever.

--"A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century" by Oliver Van DeMille--I read this book at 2 different times during my homeschooling journey.  2nd time around I felt more strongly about it.  Follow the suggested plan to help you learn to work your own mind.

--"The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home" by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise.--This book includes a curriculum course for Preschool-12th grade which is what we are currently following.

--Check out www.lovetolearn.net  Diane Hopkins is a veteran homeschooling mom and has a few spiral bound books she's written about her experiences.  They're random helps that I've enjoyed and go back to every now and then.