What About College?

How do you homeschool high school? It's really not as complicated as it sounds.  When my kids started high school, I panicked a little. I ran through the questions that most homeschooling mothers ask themselves. Can I homeschool high school? What about electives? What about extra curricular activities? Aren't they going to miss out on something? What about prom? How are they going to get into college? All of these questions are valid because we have all been raised in a world that glorifies the high school experience.

Yes, you can homeschool high school. You just have to be a little more aware of what they need for college and organize yourself and you child. The wonderful thing about homeshooling high school is they can be mostly self directed. They can make informed choices, organize themselves, they know how to prioritize, and they understand work and reward.

The key is knowing your rights and knowing your state laws. My state happens to be one of the most homeschool friendly states in the nation. There aren't any real requirements and I don't have to meet any kind of criteria. I just have to be responsible for my children's education. Armed with this knowledge, I have an idea of what my choices are and where I want to go in educating my children.

Currently Peaches and Pinkie are my only high school age students. At the end of each school year I have a pow-wow with each of my children and we talk about what they want to learn the following school year. My high school students and I discuss their goals, dreams and where they want to be in by the end of the year. We structure their curriculum around those goals. Peaches wants to get into fashion design. She's not big on math but knows that she needs it if she's going to be designing and sewing clothing. She thinks about how math applies to her future career and when putting together a project, she uses the math skills she has learned to help her in designing and creating her fashion works of art. Peaches also likes to sing, play the piano and write music. Currently she is taking piano lessons, she attends the local high school for choir and we schedule time for her to write and play around with her music. She also uses a lot of math when she's writing her beautiful melodies.

Pinkie is really interested in becoming a nurse or a forensic anthropologist. Currently she is studying biology and will be adding anatomy and physiology. She is taking a lot of sciences because they pertain to her goals in her future career.

I require all of my children to do all of the core subjects. We stress reading, writing, math, history and science. We have discussed these requirements with my children and they feel just as strongly about building their knowledge and skills in those subjects as we do. My older children also take a foreign language and any other elective they feel will help them reach their goals. We use Mango Languages through our library for free from our computer and tablets. If you choose to use Mango, be sure to check with your local library to see if they have this product available. There is a good variety of foreign language programs you can use. With a little research, you can find one that works for your family. Have fun and get creative with the electives. The wonderful thing about homeschooling is that they have time to add as many electives as they feel they can handle. Some of the electives my children have chosen are art, music, home ec., choir, foreign languages, child development, work study, family finance, family relations, dance, piano, guitar, gardening and needle crafts. They are also part of youth groups and they serve in their community. These are all things that are going to look good on college applications. (please know that these are electives chosen by several of my children and not just one child. I didn't want to overwhelm anyone.) Many of the electives can be taken care of just within your normal every day living. For example, we do home ec. while we are cooking dinner, doing chores, taking care of younger siblings, planning our two week menu and grocery list and budgeting. We include our children in these activities and use them as teaching moments. Life sciences that are no longer taught in schools can be taught at home.

What about college?  What college does your teen want to attend? How can they get into college without a high school diploma? Do they need to take the GED? A lot of these answers can be answered at HSLDA.com.  Search their website and get to know your state laws and the process for college admissions.

My children have chosen to go to BYUI and they are planning on attending a local community college for a couple of semesters first and then transfer to BYUI. The acceptance rate is higher when the student has attended a community or junior college and maintained a good GPA. Our local community colleges don't require an ACT or SAT score or a high school diploma for admission. They do require a placement test called the Compass test in order to determine placement in the core classes. This test only tests for math, reading and English. They also require a list of subjects studied during the high schools years and some require some sort of a transcript. This is not hard to create on your own. Just keep good records. Here is an Excel spreadsheet I use for documenting grades and subjects studied. If you just open it, it will not work as an editable document. However, if you save it and you have Excel on your computer, you will be able to use the document and edit it to fit your needs. I assign a subject to each tab and the last tab is for the final report card for the year. We do three semesters because we also count Summer as a semester. If you only do two semesters, you can always delete the third one and still make it work for you and your family. This has helped me keep accurate records so I will not have a problem just printing out the report cards to use as transcripts for college admissions. Each state has different requirements and each college has their own specific requirements. Look into the college your child has chosen and find out what you need to do in order to prepare your child for admission.

As we all prepare our children for important stages in their lives, we need to remember we also need to prepare them for adulthood and living in the real world. I give my children as many opportunities to be responsible and work for what they want and sometimes what they need as much as possible. Of course, when doing so, I have to make sure that those responsibilities are age appropriate and match my child's is maturity level and abilities. These milestones come at different times for each child. The point is to be flexible when assessing your child's abilities and needs. We have stepped away from trying to make them fit the world's mold and instead we are teaching them to be happy and confident with the mold they have created for themselves. Our job is to give them the tools they need, teach them how to use them well so they can be independent adults and contribute to society.  The hardest part is trusting in the process and feeling confident in the things we have taught them.

High school is a fun time for kids. Your teen doesn't have to miss out on anything. Many co-ops have their own prom. Our local schools allow homeschoolers to attend all of their extra curricular activities. Our kids go on  creative and fun group dates when they are 16. They have parties with their homeschooled and public schooled friends. They attend church dances and other youth activities. My teens feel that public schooled kids are the ones missing out because they are tied down with homework after being in school for 7 1/2 hours. My teens are finished with school by noon most of the time and have plenty of time to hold a job, go shopping, to movies, the mall and hang out with friends. There are many times when they choose to spend their free time reading. :) I guess it's all in how you look at it and in the opportunities you may or may not take. I have found that homeschooling my teens has been a lot easier than homeschooling my little ones. They are self directed and self motivated. They grade each other's papers and turn their summary sheets into me at the end of each day. Once in a while I will check their corrected work to be sure it was done correctly.

Don't be afraid to homeschool high school. It can be a fun experience and a great way to teach your teen to be more independent. For the last couple of years we have had our teens create their own daily schedule and then sit down with us and discuss whether or not it will work for them and then work out any kinks. Most of the time, they do better at creating their schedule than I do and they are more likely to stick with their schedule when they have put forth the effort to do the planning. We also have them set goals throughout their school year. If a goal is not met, we reassess and set another one. When a teen is actively involved in making decisions regarding their education, they become more motivated to accomplish their goals and learn skills they will need in the workplace and college.

The Horror!

This week has been interesting to say the least. We sent Blue and The Brain off with their grandparents for 10 days camping and a family reunion we were not able to attend. This caused a bit of anxiety for me since I've never been away from any of my children for longer than 4 days, this was The Brain's first real camping trip and she's terrified of bugs. The location of the family reunion is at least an eight hour drive from where we live. The thought of them being out in the middle of nowhere without the ability to call or talk to them has been tough for me. The only comfort I have is that they are with family. I was relieved to hear from them yesterday and to hear that The Brain hasn't had any problems with bugs. I hope they are having a great time.

Some friends of ours were going camping just overnight at a campground only 45 minutes away. We thought we would join them since our other 5 children were missing out on camping. We packed up on Friday and left for a splendid adventure with our children. Peaches stayed behind and took a day trip to a water park with cousins and stayed with them until we came back. We stopped at a reservoir on our way to the camp site and had fun playing in the water and hanging out in a nice big raft. We had so much fun at the lake we knew we were bound to have an even better time at the camp site.

We pulled up to the camping area and were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. There was green grass and big trees that made large, wonderful shaded areas and the bathrooms were nearby.  I imagined little nature walks with the kids, singing camp songs around the fire and sitting outside visiting and playing games with our friends until it was dark. It was a picture perfect scene...until we got out of the car. Millions and millions (no exaggeration needed here) of mosquitos were swarming everywhere. There was no escaping them. We couldn't breath without ingesting several of these blood sucking beasts. We bathed ourselves in deep woods bug repellant and hoped for the best while we quickly put up our tent and set up camp. When we finished putting up our tent, dinner was served but no one wanted to eat outside so we all went to our respective tents and tried to eat without the annoyance of pesky little demons swarming our food and heads. Instead of finding shelter, however, we found we had trapped thousands of the spawns of Satan in our tent. I couldn't eat even if I wanted to. It was so bad Gremlin, the 2 yr old, picked up her flip flop and began attacking the little buggers shaking the entire tent as she yelled her battle cry, "DDDIIIIIEEEE!!!!".  Leia quickly followed and my husband and I joined in. Pinkie was in another tent with friends and we could hear them screaming and smacking the sides of their tent. When we were finished, mosquito carcasses littered our tent floor and bedding. Not only did we forget to bring a broom to sweep out our tent, we didn't want to open the door and allow thousands more to enter our now mostly insect free abode. We instead opted to shake the tiny bodies off of our bedding and make the best of it. Just as we had determined to stay in the tent for the rest of the night we realized our young children still had to use the bathroom before we could call it a night. The thought of opening the door to our tent was like a scene out of Jurassic Park. One would have thought there were behemoths waiting to devour us the minute the tent door was unzipped. I opted to stay in the tent with Gremlin as my poor husband braved the jungle outside to take our twins to the bathroom. After he stepped outside, following the children, he tried to zip up the tent door as quickly as he could when the zipper got stuck. I found myself panicking and trying to hold the door closed while he fought with the zipper. Thousands more mosquitos came rushing in as if we had an oasis of blood for them to feast on. I was so terrified I found myself yelling at my husband for getting the zipper stuck and not getting out of the tent fast enough. He finally freed the zipper and headed off to the restrooms. Gremlin immediately took up arms and fought the tiny tyrants swarming in our tent. I joined her and just when we thought we had our crisis under control Luke and Leia unzipped the tent and came flying in with a massive swarm of mosquitos following them. I quickly zipped the door closed as my husband came to the door swatting and slapping at all the pests flying around his head and body.

"You have to stay out there and find shelter elsewhere. If I let you in THEY will follow you and I don't know if I can take it anymore!" I told him in a tight, screeching voice.  

"Umm...Okay" He said kindly, realizing I was really terrified. I couldn't leave him out there, somehow I knew I would be a widow in the morning so I quickly unzipped the door and told him to hurry. He flew into the tent and quickly turned to try and zip the door closed. STUCK AGAIN! The zipper got stuck again! We have to get a new tent, this is beyond ridiculous! We finally freed the zipper again and armed ourselves with our flip flops and joined our children in the joys of mass murder. I could hear my youngest laughing wickedly as she attacked each mosquito. Each time we tapped a full mosquito, it would pop leaving a bloody mess on the tent wall. The inside of our tent was beginning to look like a murder scene on Castle.

It was getting dark we were having a hard time seeing the pesky little demons. When we thought we had killed all but just a couple, we tried to clear the bedding once again and get settled in for the night. I was the only one who had not had a chance to use the restroom. I thought I would tough it out and hold it all night, but when it gets to the point where it's painful, you know you're in trouble. But now it was dark enough that I would need someone to hold the flashlight so I could see in the bathroom. My husband couldn't leave our little ones alone, they would have opened the door to follow and left it open and then there would be big trouble. Leia volunteered to hold the flashlight; she is so brave. We quickly left for the bathrooms. I think we both received at least 100 bites between our tent and the bathrooms. I quickly took care of business and we rushed back to the tent and leaped in as fast as we could zipping the door closed behind us.  We spent the next 20 minutes killing the little vermin that had snuck in with us. Finally our children were able to lay down and get some sleep. 

Our air mattress had a hole in it so we took some thin foam mats to sleep on thinking it would be comfortable enough. We couldn't have been more wrong. I felt like we were sleeping on boulders and my body was feeling bruised with in minutes of laying down. I tried to make the best of it and slept off and on as I tossed and turned trying to get comfortable. The sun was rising and it was light enough to see around 5:45. I had been sitting up in our makeshift bed for at lease 30 minutes at that point. I woke my husband and tried to talk him into breaking camp and leaving right then. He grumbled and went back to sleep. I looked around our tent and could see thousands of mosquitos clinging to the outside of our tent. I woke him up and told him to look at the walls of the tent. He jumped up and said, "We need to get moving before it gets worse."  We all piled out of the tent. We have never broke camp so fast in our lives. We were packed and ready to go in just minutes.

I was so thankful we didn't bring Peaches. She is so highly allergic to mosquitos, we would have ended up in the hospital.  In the end I received over 200 bites all over my body and Leia received more than we can count. The other members of our family had plenty to irritate them and cause pain. I have never seen mosquitos like this. Most mosquitos can get what they need from humans unnoticed but these ones hurt. We could feel them siphoning the blood from our flesh. We had applied and reapplied bug spray and different bug repelling oils so much that when I finally got home and took a shower, I could taste the repellent in the water. EWWW!

It was so traumatizing we spent most of the next day swatting at imaginary mosquitos and poor little Gremlin would freak out over a speck of dust seen from the corner of her eye. Two days later we are still trying to sooth the burning and itching bites. They only looked worse the next day and were more numerous than we had originally thought. 

What was supposed to be a fun and educational family outing turned into a scene from a horror movie. Attack of The Killer Mosquitos. We now have some pretty tall tales to share, in fact the experience has occupied most of our conversation since we returned. Next time, I am going to do my research and be sure to watch the news.

Happy homeschooling.

Am I Cut Out to Homeschool?

We've all heard it before. "I'm not cut out to homeschool my kids", "I'd kill my kids by the second day.", "I would homeschool but I think my kids need to be socialized", "Do you have a degree?", "Does the school know you're doing this? Did they give you permission?", "Is it legal to homeschool?", "I need my time or I'll go crazy".......BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! Complete strangers demanding answers to such a personal decision, then making snap judgements on how they think the children will turn out. What would they do if the tables were turned and a homeschooling mother grilled them on their decisions to send their child to public school to essentially be raised by strangers and become part of the collective? It's in their best interest that I don't speak the words that are running through my head each time I'm accosted by one of these "all knowing" and "wise" outsiders, for that is what they are to me.

As much as we would love to give a thorough tongue lashing to every single person who feels they know what's best for our children more than we do, it's not always the best way to handle the situation. I have a sharp tongue and speaking my true thoughts and opinions feels natural, however, rarely do I have warm, fuzzy feelings afterward. Remember the movie "You've Got Mail"? Tom Hanks' character teaches Meg Ryan's quirky character to say exactly what she means but then gives her a warning about the terrible feelings that follow. She defends herself and says exactly what she means only to feel awful just moments after. I related to this part of the movie more than the rest only because I have always had the talent of saying what I want and what I mean in the heat of the moment. I have to admit, there have been a few times I have come away feeling victorious but most of the time I feel like a bully. Isn't that exactly how we feel about adults who grill our children about being homeschooled? I do. They are bullies. If they have any questions or feel that they need to express their opinion on the subject, they can always talk to me. Am I being a bully when I put them in their place? In some cases no. In most cases, for me, the answer would be yes. Over the years I have struggled to find the confidence needed to have a rational conversation with those who judge me harshly and have realized I'm not alone in that struggle.

The truth is, we have research and statistics on our side. We only have to prove ourselves to our creator, but He loves us no matter how we choose to educate our children. Often times He is the one who guides us in our parenting choices. With this knowledge, why do we let imperfect human beings effect us so much? I have finally come to a point in my life, where I don't care what others think. As soon as I made that decision, my children were more confident in their education, my abilities as a parent and their abilities to discuss their education with those who pepper them with ridiculous questions.

My 13 year old daughter was at a youth activity at our church. She was talking with some friends and a leader expressed her views on homeschooling mothers and children. She said that a mother who stays home and homeschools her children must not have much to do and probably makes her children do all the work for her so she can keep up with her soaps on TV. My daughter promptly said, "My mother is extremely busy and doesn't even have time for TV. We don't watch TV very often and never during the day. My mother works out of the home and takes us to all of our activities and appointments. I bet she's busier than you." Then another leader, who happens to be a homeschooler, agreed with my daughter saying "Homeschooling mothers are very busy, all the time." My daughter walked away feeling great about defending her mother and confident in our decision to homeschool. The offending leader hasn't said anything about homeschooling since, at least not to my child. I don't think my daughter would have had the confidence in her ability to defend herself against an intrusive adult without knowing I am confident in my abilities as a parent.

Too many of us sabotage ourselves with our inability to see the gifts and talents our Father in Heaven has given us. We don't know how to accept compliments and struggle to allow ourselves to enjoy and agree with those compliments. Our children are watching and learning from us everyday whether they are homeschooled or not. They have learned to walk, talk, play, and even work through observing us. Children learn their how to be adults from their parents, not their schools. Do our children gain character from schools? For the most part, no. If they have parents with character who expect them to have character, they will learn the importance of character.

When my children come to me with troubles regarding their self-esteem, I have tell them what my mother told me "You are who you think others think you think you are." Confusing? Let me put it to you this way; If you think others think your a loser, you will be a loser. Essentially, we are who we think we are. How do we change our way of thinking? We have to start acting as though we are who we want to be. We are a religious family so I tell my children they need to believe God, not just believe in Him, but believe Him. There is a difference. God is perfect and doesn't make mistakes. He created you so you cannot be a mistake. He knows your divine nature and individual worth. Do you know? If you don't, take the time to get to know Him and He will tell you how amazing you are. He will tell you about the beautiful gifts and talents He has bestowed upon you. So, to answer the question that is put forth in the title of this post, yes. Yes, you are cut out to homeschool. Yes, you are capable and strong enough and patient enough. If you don't believe you are, then you're not. Believe in your abilities. Believe in your divine nature and individual worth. Believe in the worth and nature of your children.

There is a philosophy that teaches whatever you put out into the world will come back to you ten fold. I believe this to be true. Is it karma? I don't think so. If we fill our minds with negative thoughts about ourselves we will put out negativity and negativity only reaps more negativity. Have you ever been in a grouchy mood and vented to a friend about another person? Unless your friend is really good at putting our positivity, your friend probably joined in on the negative rampage and probably said a few negative things about the person you were venting about. The next time you see that person you both get even more irritated with them because the last time you talked about them you only focused on the negative. Then the next time you get together with your friend you both have to vent about how annoyed you were at the sight of the other person. It's a vicious cycle that only stops when you allow yourself to see the positive. I know it's difficult to see find the positive in those who drive us insane. But, it is even more difficult to see the positive in ourselves. Start there. Pray to see yourself through the Savior's eyes. Seek out that which is good and you will find good.

I would love to hear some of your experiences with combating the negativity that we all run into. As homeschooling parents, we can sometimes allow the negative comments and actions of others interfere with the positive things we are doing with our children. Let's not give negativity that kind of power. You are strong, homeschooling is not for wimps and you chose to homeschool.

I know this post was a little more serious than usual. I have just heard so much negativity coming from some of the wonderful homeschooling parents I know. We don't have to listen to it. We can shut it out and continue on the path we know is best for our family. Seek out the positive and choose to be happy in your life, where you are, right now.

Happy homeschooling!

Brandon Mull and Chad Morris!

Birthdays are always fun and exciting. The Brain's birthday was going to be memorable this year. I found out two of her favorite authors were going to be signing books at a local Barnes & Noble on her birthday. What an awesome opportunity to keep her passion for reading alive and to feed her love of writing.  We got there early at ate at the café they have in their store. The Brain was very anxious as she waited to meet two of her idols.

We have met Brandon Mull two times before, but she was pretty young and wasn't old enough to read his books. I just realized we might sound like Brandon Mull stalkers. Maybe we are...a little. We had never met Chad Morris and had honestly only heard about his books. Since the book signing, The Brain has become a huge fan!

Before we got in line for the long awaited book signing, both authors talked to their young fans and revealed some awesome information about upcoming projects they are working on. They also allowed time for the kids to ask a lot of questions. These men are hilarious and fantastic with kids. I think it's pretty safe to say they are 5th graders in adult bodies. They were so personable and made every child feel important.

Finally, it was our turn to meet them face to face and get The Brain's new books autographed. My husband mentioned that it was The Brain's birthday and they both responded with excitement and signed Happy Birthday in her books. Chad Morris even commented on her picture we posted on his Facebook page and said she was "Awesome!" and wished her a happy birthday again. I think this birthday will go down in the books as historical for her. She will never forget the experience.

Now if they could just come back to our area on my birthday...:)

Authors do tours all the time. Check out your favorite author's website and check out their tour dates and locations. There are so many opportunities to get our children excited about reading and sometimes meeting an author can be just the push they need. I don't think I've seen my kids more star struck than when they meet their favorite authors. Meeting Brandon Mull and Chad Morris and hearing them talk about their writing process and how they get their ideas has really helped The Brain in her writing and kept her working on her writing goals. When they heard she wants to be a writer, they fully encouraged her with so much enthusiasm she came home and couldn't wait to get started on her writing projects. I can't thank authors of children's and YA literature enough. They have kept the spark alive in not only my children but also my husband and I.

Happy homeschooling!

Making Learning Fun!

I know it seems that I put the word "fun" in almost everything. We really do have a lot of fun homeschooling. I feel that education should be a positive and exciting experience and "fun" should be apart of the process as much as possible.

My older children have several friends and family who are homeschooled and sometimes, as in any educational process, "life" can get a little boring or stale. My homeschooling friends, family members and I decided it was time to shake things up a bit and throw a homeschooling study party. My girls invited other homeschooling teens to the party and had a great time. The rule was, complete an assignment then take a "play break". Our version of that "play break" was Just Dance on the Wii. Believe it or not, they actually got a lot of school work competed and had a blast doing it. Don't be afraid to break out the goodies and have a great time with your teens.

 

 

Our littles like hands on learning and this makes everything we do a learning experience, including going to the park. We played but we also learned about light and shadows, up and down, high and low, left and right, on top and below, between and next to, far and near, and cooperation. We got a lot of exercise in the process and really had a great time. Some of the pictures below are also of a really fun birthday party for a cousin where they learned about the laws of physics while hitting a piñata. ;)

 

Sometimes my kids get a little bored when we aren't officially schooling and ask for schoolwork. I think this is great! It means they are enjoying the things we are doing while "schooling". Remember that closet full of craft and art supplies? There are lots of fun activities you can do with all those supplies. My little ones love to play with and sort the beads.

 

Sorting is a fun activity for kids. You can teach them colors, shapes and patterns through the sorting process. We like to use ice cube trays and plastic shot glasses found at the dollar store.

 

Make learning a fun and memorable experience for your children. Just because homeschool has the word "school" in it's title doesn't mean children have to sit down and be quiet while they listen to an adult lecture. Don't put learning in a restrictive box. Most children don't learn well in that environment and do better in an environment that allows them to explore and experience learning their way.

 

Happy homeschooling!

Artists in The Making

I love art! Unfortunately, I'm have absolutely no talent for drawing, painting or anything resembling that kind of art. Blue, however, is very artistic in the art of drawing. She has been really good with anime and is now expanding her work to other genres. I'm pretty impressed with how she has improved over a very short period of time. She gets a lot of her techniques and inspiration from Disney and Mark Crilley videos on YouTube. Just search his name and you will find more videos than you probably need. He posts a new one every Friday.  Here are some of her latest drawings.

She has been such an inspiration to her siblings. Pinkie has decided to work on her drawing abilities and drew this.

 

I know this seems more like a brag post. Maybe it is. I do however, want you to know how you can utilize websites like YouTube to teach your children.

 

The word "Artist" means something different to everyone. We also have musical, crocheting, cooking, and fashion artists in our family. I have three children in piano lessons but I can't afford to put all of my children in piano. We have found a great alternative. We use Hoffman Acadmey but there are many others: Zebra Keys, Piano Nanny, Go Piano, Piano Lessons, and How to Play Piano. These are just a few. I found many of them on A Year of Homeschooling blog.

 

You can find almost anything you want to learn on YouTube or a blog somewhere on the web. I hope some of these links help in your homeschooling endeavors.

 

Happy homeschooling! 

Crafts Galore!

Who doesn't like crafting? Okay, maybe it's not everyone's favorite thing to do, but it is a favorite of mine and my children. My littles have been learning their letter sounds. It's been a slow but fun process as we usually have several crafts and activities to go with each letter. Even Gremlin is getting it down. In her nursery class at church, she was naming the letters on the blocks and saying their sounds. One of her teachers heard her and was very impressed.

A little warning: My littles don't like getting ready for the day before they craft, especially if it's something they have been looking forward to doing. They have a disheveled yet cute appearance.

Here are some of our more recent creations. We learned about the letter "J" and found a really cute craft idea on allinonehomeschool.com. We use the curriculum found in the Getting Ready 1 section. I have a closet full of everything you would need to craft and I let the kids pick the items we used. Here's what they came up with.

 

This was a really great craft to practice fine motor skills and learn shapes.

 

For the letter "K" we had a great time making these kangaroo puppets. The link is also posted on the Easy Peasy website under Getting Ready 1 section. They were pretty easy to make. My littles tried to cut them out themselves but we ended up with a bunch of severed kangaroo parts (graphic, I know). In the end I told them "great job" and cut them out myself.

 We are also making lapbooks for each letter of the alphabet. There are some great free printables at Homeschoolshare and we found the cover at Chubbie Cubbie's. I am a frequent visitor of Homeschoolshare and I found link to Chubbie Cubbie's on a cute blog called Our Many Adventures. Check out these great blogs. I find a lot of great, free helps because of amazing and creative bloggers. Here is out letter "L" lapbook.

 

We found a great template for a lamb at All Kids Network. This was a super fun craft. Gremlin was a little disappointed she couldn't fit all 400 cotton balls on the lamb. I think she was finally happy with the finished product.

 

Crafting while learning is one way you can be sure you child is retaining the lessons. If your child doesn't like crafting you can always add music, physical activity, story telling, and puzzles to the mix of things you use to teach your children. Even if you don't think you are "crafty" enough or "creative" enough, you can find what works for your children and family. There are so many free resources online and amazing blogs created by homeschooling parents just like you. Use those resources and make homeschooling something fun for the whole family.

 

 

Happy crafting and homeschooling! 









Lesson Plans and Programs

I know it's crazy to think that we have already finished another year of school. We homeschool year round and take longer breaks for Christmas and holidays so I am working on getting all of my lesson plans together for the 2014-15 school year. Even if you don't homeschool year round, now is a good time to get ready for fall.

There are several ways you can create your lesson plans and many ways to organize them. I know several families who use a student/teacher planner and have their children write down their lessons weekly. You can also keep track of your younger children in a planner. There are planners you can purchase and planners you can download and print for free. Donna Young has great, free printables that are great. Peaceful Mom has some simple forms that are also free and printable. The Homeschool Mom has an entire system you can print for free. With a little bit of research, you can find what works for you. The links in this blog are just suggestions and have been helpful to me.

Another way to keep track of lesson plans is using a computer program or app. I like using Evernote . Evernote can be synced with tablets, phones, computers. We have it on every device so my children can access their lessons easily. There are a variety of programs that can be downloaded for free. The two I like are Homeschool Tracker and Homeschool Skedtrack . For the most part, I use Evernote for the lesson plans and I keep track of grades and completed assignments on the forms I shared in the Helpful Forms post.  Below is a video showing you how I use Evernote for my lesson plans. It also shows you how to use it with Easy Peasy .




Homeschooling is a lot easier than it was 15 years ago. We now have many free resources online and support groups we can join. I hope you take advantage of these resources. I have only shared with you a few. You can search for others and I will share more as I find them. 

Happy Homeschool!

Hanging With The Birds

We went on a recent field trip to a really fun place in our area. There were ponds and a lot of different birds. We have been learning a little bit about birds and my sister and her children have been working on a really fun unit study on birds. Her children were very helpful in teaching my children a few interesting facts about birds. We were lucky enough to get there just in time to see a lot of ducklings and goslings.

Luke was very disappointed all of the ducklings weren't yellow. There was quite the variety of ducks.

The littles found feathers for their natures books and had fun learning all about them. Their cousins told them how ducks use their feathers, why they preen, why they are waterproof and a lot of other information. It was a great addition to our bird unit from earlier in the year.

There were great trails and some not so great trails for strollers but Pinky was happy to help push Gremlin down the bumps and ruts. Gremlin really enjoyed the ride.

Peaches and Leia enjoyed walking along the paths and looking at all of the different plants. The Brain and her cousin also enjoyed the sights.

We happened upon a snow goose nesting. She popped her head up and thoroughly chewed us out for getting too close. My sister and I have had experience with mad geese and promptly guided our children away from the worried mother. We also saw a lot of other beautiful birds. After our trip we went home and looked some of them up on the internet to learn more about them.

We also learned about moss and some of the other plants in the area.

My sister and I had received the news that our grandfather had passed away that morning. He loved nature and especially loved birds. He had a great respect for animals and nature. We took the opportunity to teach our children about their great-grandfather and share some memories. We are so blessed to have such a beautiful reserve so close to home. We didn't have to travel far to see the beauty nature has to offer.  I think Gremlin wanted to stay and swim with the ducklings.

This was a great, free fieldtrip. Be sure to find the inexpensive and free sights and events in your area. Not only was this a fun learning experience but it was a great way to make memories and share memories of our loved ones. Happy homeschooling!



Helpful Forms

I know I have been MIA for the last several months. Let's just say, life happened.  I plan on homeschooling through the summer with a few breaks since we take breaks throughout the year. I have had a few people ask me how we do our schedule and keep my kids accountable and on track. I have to say that we don't always, but most of the time we do pretty well. That is the life of homeschooling. I have a dear friend who has really helped me with this part of homeschooling. She is a longtime homeschooler and has made some forms that help her keep track of what her kids are doing and help her kids be a little more accountable to her and themselves. There is one for older kids and one for younger kids. I have been using these this year and they seem to have worked. My children have to have these forms completed and in their binder before the end of the day, which is 5:00 pm for my family. 

The first form is for older children, but I have a younger child who prefers to use this one. Here is where you can print the form for the older students. I have scanned both forms into my computer since I do not have them on my computer. Here is the link to the form for the younger children. I do not use these forms for children who cannot write.

My children have been taught to be self directed and self taught. We start when they are really young. We direct the majority of their learning but give them opportunities to direct portions of their education. It has really paid off with my older children. I am already seeing one of my twins (5) begin to become more independent in her schooling. I have found that this approach has given my children more confidence in their own abilities to teach themselves something new and not be afraid of exploring in education.

I hope these forms help you as much as they have helped me. I am so thankful my friend shared them with me and has given me permission to share them with you.

Messy Fun!

This last week was very busy and the weather was wild. We had rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, wind and a little bit of sunshine. My little ones were a bit antsy because they were cooped up inside most of the time. They were having a hard time focusing on schoolwork and started tormenting each other just for kicks. We thought it would be a good time to try something new. We went outside and brought a tub of snow inside and painted it with colored water. They had a blast. It was a little messy but fairly easy cleanup. We used a small tote, I didn't want a huge watery mess when the snow melted. 

We scooped some out onto a plastic plate for each child. I used a cupcake tin to mix the colored water. We just used a drop or two of food coloring and it worked great!

The colors were brilliant and the kids were happy. 

We also had fun painting dinosaurs in our dinosaur book. After the pages dried, the littles practiced writing the letter D. 

I found the dinosaur book on Enchantedlearning.com. I love this website. It is well worth the small annual fee. 

Peaches is getting her craft on! She made this adorable top out of a t-shirt. I think she did an amazing job. 

This week is full and busy. We are getting excited for our co-op Valentine party. 

I hope this week goes well for you all. Happy homeschooling!