Decompression and Schooling Types June 1, 2008

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about homeschooling, and have been giving a lot of thought to the idea of decompression time for the kids.  I read somewhere that for every year a child has been in public school, they need a month of time off to readjust.  I think there is a lot of truth to this.  I know, just watching Logan now, he’s getting really burned out.  I think if I were to try to go right into homeschooling, it would really cause problems.  But, by giving him time to adjust to the new schedule, and really it’s a new lifestyle, he’ll be so much more ready to go when it’s time. 

Also, I read in The First Year Of Homeschooling Your Child by Linda Dobson, about the different types of homeschooling.  I found this very interesting.  I could see some that definitely do not fit me, like unschooling.  But, two of the styles really hit right on what I want to do:  school at home, and unit studies.  I thought it was intersting how she nailed down these styles so well.  Lots of good info in reading these.  It also gave me comfort to know that there is a large chunk of people out there doing what I want to do, in a similar way to how I want to.  

Educational Plans May 27, 2008

In order to comply with Nevada Law, when we submit our Notice of Intent to Homeschool, we also have to submit an educational plan.  So, with a great deal of information taken from Rebecca Rupp’s Home Learning Year by Year, I’ve completed the plans for the boys.  I know this is much more detail than the school district requires, but this also serves as a great guide for me.  Anyway, I thought I’d post them, in case anyone was interested. 

 education-plan-kindergarten1     education-plan-2nd-grade

I also went to Barnes and Noble today and ordered Rebecca’s book.  Should be in next week.  I’m pretty excited.  Thank you to Erin for finding it for me!  What a blessing this book has turned out to be! 

Another great treasure! May 27, 2008

I just love the DI!  I try to go every couple of weeks or so, just to see if I can find any treasures.  I went again today, and like last time, found a ton of Living Scripture workbooks!  This time, I got 57!  Can you believe that?!  I think I’ve got to have nearly all of the New Testament and Hero Classics now!  These things are so full of learning resources.  What a find!  I’m also using these to create Sunday Folders for the kids.  I also got for $.50 each, a book about the Gettysburg Address and a book about questions about animals, called I Wonder Why Camels Have Humps.  Yeah!  I love bargains.  I’m definitely going to have to check out the little used book stores in the libraries, like Erin suggested! 

Our First Project May 20, 2008

The boys were really antsy yesterday, so I decided to give them their first official homeschool assignment.  I had them each pick out a book, read it, and then do something to report to me what the book was about.  It could have been anything from a written summary to an art project to acting it out.  I just wanted them to get their creative juices flowing and also see what kind of comprehension and retention they have. 

So, I read to Gavin and Logan read on his own, but only part of the book.  I thought it was interesting how Gavin picked an actual story, while Logan chose a non-fiction book.  He’s always liked those best.  Anyway, Gavin wanted to do an art project for his, so I got him started with that.  Logan had written about what he read, but when I told him that Gavin was making something and he could too, he decided to do that as well.  All in all, it turned out really well, and everyone had a great time with it.  Here’s their books and projects: 

Gavin: 

   

Logan: 

Progress and Rewards May 15, 2008

Well, I’m doing much better now.  I think I’m over my Yikes moment, for now.  I’m sure there will be more in the future.  As I’ve read, I’ve come to discover that homeschooling takes some getting used to and some trial and error.  I have every confidence that we will be able to make things work out well.  I’ve started already, with some small things with the kids, and so far so good.  We’ve also got our classroom all ready.  That was a lot of work, but it was actually really fun to do.  The kids helped a bit with it too, as well as Grandma.  I’ll have some pictures of it up in a day or two.  And, a special thank you goes out to my friend Erin, who discovered two amazing books that outline and detail grade by grade curriculum and expectations.  Hooray!

Also, this week I’ve discovered the rewards of telling people that you are a homeschool teacher.  First I went to Learning Is Fun.  When the sweet lady asked me if I was on their mailing list, I replied that I wasn’t, but should be since I was going to be homeschooling four kiddos.  So, when I told them that, they not only put me on their list, but also gave me some teacher magazines, but also some of the coupons teachers get to hand out to their students to get a prize at Learning Is Fun.  Then, when I took our calendar over to OfficeMax to get laminated, I was asked if I was a teacher, and I told them I was a homeschool teacher.  Then, they gave me their teacher discount and reward card.  So, that’s pretty cool.  These stores are now on my newly created list of homeschool friendly businesses. 

Best Book I’ve Found, So Far May 5, 2008

I found this book online, somewhere, called Homeschool Your Child for Free.  So, I went and checked it out from the library, and wow, is it a wealth of information.  It’s full of lots of great ideas from the author, as well as other parents.  The bulk of the book is spent on listing different websites, broken down by category, with descriptions of the sites.  This has been exceedingly helpful to me, especially as I look for lesson ideas.  She’s got the book separated into sections, including resource sections like curriculum and education essentials, and then into subject sections like language, math, social studies, etc.  It was published back in 2000, so some of the websites are no good now, but most are.  Also, I just read something from the author where she said she is now working on a new edition of the book.  I was planning on going out and buying this book, but I think I’ll wait until the new one comes out.