Wani's Adventures in Homeschooling

1Cor13 for Homeschool Moms

2011-01-15T10:39:00.002-05:00

I Corinthians 13 for Homeschool Moms

Though I teach my children how to multiply, divide, and diagram a sentence, but fail to show them LOVE, I have taught them nothing!
And though I take them on numerous field trips, to ball practice and music lessons; and though I involve them in every church activity,
but fail to give them LOVE, I profit nothing!
And though I scrub my house relentlessly, run countless errands, and serve three nutritious meals every day but fail to be an example of LOVE, I have done nothing!
LOVE is patient with misspelled words and is kind to young interrupters.
LOVE does not envy the high SAT scores of other Homeschool families. LOVE does not claim to have better teaching methods than anyone else,
is not rude to the fourth telephone caller during a science lesson, does not seek perfectly behaved geniuses, does not turn into a drill sergeant, thinks no evil about friends’ educational choices!
LOVE bears all my children’s challenges, believes all my children are God’s precious gifts, hopes all my children establish permanent relationships with Christ, and endures all things to demonstrate God’s love!
LOVE never fails!
Where there are college degrees, they will fail;
where there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
For we know in part and we teach in part. But when the trials of life come to our children, the history, math, and science will be done away and faith, hope, and love will remain

Changes

2010-12-16T10:14:00.001-05:00

I've done a lot of mixing and matching this fall semester. I've been using books from the library and photocopying and printing worksheets I have found online, other DIY stuff like that. I think we have done alright but I feel like I need a little more instruction to make sure I'm covering all the bases needed. So I have ordered the K/1st curriculum from Heart of Dakota. We are going to start that after the new year. I'll let you know how it goes. ;-)

Info Overload!

2010-09-21T11:29:00.004-04:00

I have spent half my morning glued to the computer screen reading information on homeschooling on a dozen (give or take) different websites. Sometimes I am torn between enjoying the freedom to do things my own way and wishing I just had someone to tell me what to do! ;-)

Here are some really helpful websites that I checked out today.

HSLDA Early Years

IAHE Indiana Homeschool Laws

The HomeSchool Mom - Getting Started

Donna Young's Free Homschool Printables & Resources

Homeschool Views Resources

Fun Lesson Plans

There are tons of resources out there. Which is great but also a little overwhelming. I want to have a game plan but I am hesitant to spend money on a curriculum and workbooks, etc when I am not sure exactly what will work for us. Plus I have alot of hand-me-down homeschool stuff from my mom but even that is a little daunting to think about tackling. I want so badly to do this right... I am just not sure exactly how to do that! ;-) A day at a time... thank goodness its only kindergarten for now... how badly could I screw that up?

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Phil 4:13

First day of "class"...

2010-09-16T14:52:00.004-04:00

I made the move to join a homeschool group for Nate's kindergarten year. I was a little hesitant but there are several families from my church who are experienced homeschoolers that are in this group and that gave me the reassurance that I needed to go ahead and do it. My DH and I both thought it would be good for Nate to get a little "classroom" time and for me to meet other homeschool moms, etc.
So today was the first day of class with our group - the first real event that we have attended. Its a good sized group with kids of all ages. The morning started with a few minutes of worship led by a few of the older kids. Then we all split up into the different age/grades for class time. I joined the kindergarten group for their story & craft session then I moved on to assist in another class. The K class continued on to have a recess session in the church's indoor play area, and a science session with a little experiment.
Nate had kind of drug his feet this morning when we were getting ready to leave home for the group. But at the end of the morning he said it was all great except for the "singing". He isn't a big fan of worship time at our church either. I am hoping that will improve when he can read a little better and actually be able to follow along with the songs easier. We will see.
I think I'm over my "first day of school" jitters now. ;-) The church that the classes are held at is considerably larger than our home church and is a little overwhelming. And I feel like such a rookie! But I'm sure after a few weeks we'll get the hang of it. I'm looking forward to getting to know some other moms and participate in other activities in the group throughout this year.

10 Things You Need to Know About Homeschooling...

Hands on Learning

2010-09-12T16:12:00.001-04:00

One thing that I am trying to do more often is ask Nate to help me in the kitchen. Often I take the easy way and just do things myself but I know that it will be good for him to learn to read recipes, measurements, about textures of ingredients and how they react when combined, not to mention team work and cooperation. There is so much to be learned just by allowing my child to DO.
As I have been working on putting together a game plan for our Kindergarten year I am leaning more and more toward what some call "un-schooling". More or less its finding ways to allow and help your child learn the basics within their interests, and not limiting them to "sit down at the table with your textbook" kind of school. There are many more ways to teach and learn that just using textbooks. Instilling a love of reading is important to me. But I am interested in teaching my children through exploring and doing rather than just reading about things in a book. The few times I have tried to sit Nate down and just do "school" I have gotten a less than positive response from him. However, if I try to teach him the same principles using other methods, just having conversations about numbers and letters or working in teachable moments while we are at the museum or the park... those are the times when he learns the most.

Early Learning

2010-08-31T15:14:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to have alot of "fieldtrips" for Nate this year as we embark on our kindergarten experience together. In the last couple of weeks we've gone to the zoo twice, the library a couple of times (once was for a Kindermusik class), the park and to the apple orchard. While we aren't doing alot of sit down school yet we are doing alot of "sneaky" learning things. Sometimes Nate does better when he doesn't realize he is learning. ;-) Its a work in progress.I'm still doing alot of planning right now. I'm getting a schedule in place for our at home projects/activities as well as our outings and classes, etc. I'm trying to decide what all to sign Nate up for and how much is too much... and all that jazz. Even though I have personal experience since I was homeschooled most of my academic life I am learning that it is a whole new ballgame when you're the teacher instead of the student!

Time4Learning

2010-08-28T19:00:00.000-04:00

So Nate turned five this summer and is in kindergarten this year. I worked with him on some preschool stuff last year but was not very consistent. I blame it on being pregnant and then having a newborn... but if I was honest I'd have to admit that part of it was laziness. And Nate is (and I say this unbiasedly) very smart for his age so it is not like he is behind and I should be helping catch up or anything.
Anyway... I'm wanting to get down to business this year, no more slacker mom for me. So when I got the opportunity to try a trial membership to Time4Learning.com I was interested right away. So we have had a couple of weeks to try it out and have been able to get a feel for it.
Nate has taken to it really well. He still has days when he resists doing something labeled "learning" but overall he seems to enjoy the lessons and activities. When he is logged in he chooses from the subjects ( Language Arts, Learning Activity Extensions, Math and Science) and within those there are sub categories to choose from and then the lessons and activities are available for him to do. There are quizzes for him to do following the lessons on each topic to test him. He has done really well. Nate seems to have an amazing memory, I'm hoping that continues!
I like that the parent/teacher can login and check progress and print reports, etc. so that even though I'm not sitting with him watching the whole time I can see how well he is doing on the lessons and quizzes. I do not really want my five year old to be doing all of his school online though. The membership fee is around $20 per month. I would probably be more interested if it were cheaper or if they offered different levels of memberships, ei. if we could subscribe to only certain subjects.
As with any program or curriculum there are pros and cons. There is alot to like about Time4Learning. But I just don't think its right for us right now. Maybe in the future. We'll have to wait and see.

Getting Started...

2010-08-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome... please feel free to join me as I am about to embark on a roller coaster ride called "home-education". My oldest son, Nate, turned five over the summer and he is more than ready for the big "K" - a.k.a. kindergarten. Last year I tried some preschool lessons with him and we did fine but I was pregnant and just did not keep up with it. But I am turning over a new leaf and this year will be more put together. I'm still figuring things out but I'm confident that both my little man and I will learn alot this year!