Schooling So Far

:: If you came to school at our house, you would have to contend with the often sighted Table Top Toddler. This is the only table she can climb on (our dining table is bar stool height) but we spend so much of our time in the family room/school room that she is on that table often, no matter how vigilant we are about pushing chairs in and making sure markers/scissors/staplers/glue sticks/temptations are put up.


:: It reminds me of another Table Top Toddler we had around these parts not too long ago. How is he in FIRST GRADE this year???


:: Have I mentioned yet that this school year is rocking so far? I'm really happy with our materials, our schedule, and how we're working through things. I felt like we really hit a good place of learning in fun ways but also covering basics in the second semester of last year, and have continued at a happy rate this year. We're reading a lot, making lots of art, and getting out for field trips while still covering math and other basics.


:: Our schedule changed a lot this year, and all for the better. I'm teaching in the studio less so that we have more time to learn together. We cover math and language arts first thing in the morning and then we read and make and play until I head into the studio to teach. We're reading from Story of the World and a giant stack of science books, and whatever books come home with us from the library.


:: Read Alouds are a hard thing to find time for around here with Ellie always on the go, but they are REALLY important to me- important enough that I'm admitting that I'm not doing a great job of fitting it in and conceding that audio books are the way to go for now. So far this year we've enjoyed Tales from the Odyssey by Mary Pope Osborne and we're almost to the end of Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. Next up is Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We especially enjoyed the voice work on Tales from the Odyssey- nothing like a British accent from a Shakespearean actor to really bring a story to life!

Adjust

I went to sew with friends on Saturday mornings and was rudely interrupted by a migraine. I had to leave early and go to bed for much of the rest of the day. The boys were able to help Brian outside all afternoon cleaning up one of the overgrown beds in the backyard. Ellie went happily back and forth, outside for a bit and inside with me. She would get very upset if she caught sight of the tractor outside through the window. Ellie seems to believe that the tractor is her personal carriage.

I made some adjustments for school this weekend and gave each of the boys a reading placement test. Ezra's reading is coming along nicely and he's a little bit ahead. Ender is doing great as well and reading a few grades ahead. I'm having a hard time deciding what to have him read- I want to have him read at the level he can read, but I don't want him to read topics that are too mature for him. I'm pulling back in a few other school areas and doing more in others. I always seem to come into the new school year with a little too much to do, see what the boys enjoy and then adjust, making sure we are still covering what needs to be covered.


We're definitely enjoying our reading list so far. I tried to include as much science as possible for Ender which has made him a lot more enthusiastic about getting started each morning. He knows that as soon as he finishes math and language arts in the morning it's on to snap circuits and reading about scientists and how machines work and projects... and for this kid who doesn't *love* school, it's exciting for me to see. Reading is now easy for him and that has made all the difference in the last few months. It makes all of schooling easier and he can really be self-led in his project work now that he can read and follow the directions himself.

What You Need to Learn

I'm in the midst of planning a big picture plan for the next year, and then detail planning for the next 4-6 months. The boys are happily "on a break" so that I can use our usual schooling time to plan a bit.


I'm building book lists, figuring out if a piece of curriculum will contribute to our schooling or hinder it, and ultimately deleting half of what I originally added to the list.


There is just so much out there to aid in education, and a lot of it is good. Really good. It is easy for me to get caught up in all that good and feel like "good" is exactly what we need. The truth of it is that I'm the gate keeper and my job is to provide them with a GREAT education. For us it means protecting our time to explore and our time together as a family. Using materials that individually add a little bit of time to our schedule is fine, but adding curriculum upon curriculum that would keep us at the table for 6 hours just isn't going to work for us.


We want our kids to have the best education they can have, and we decided long ago that that means having the time to really investigate their areas of interest. We have spent the last two years cultivating that philosophy in our home, spending the first part of our homeschooling time on reading, writing, and math and the rest on exploring. There is science, history and geography, there are biographies read and projects begun, but I work really hard not to add anything that ultimately boils down to busy work.

After all- what do we really need to be able to learn?

Paper, a pencil, access to books and real experiences.

Curriculum is a tool, and when used in the right way and situation can be precisely the needed instrument. But sometimes it's a $300 dollar hammer when a $10 hammer would have done the same job just as well.

I'm trying to remember: 

Don't trade "great" for "good".

Less done really well is more than a giant stack you plod through, kids wondering if it's "over yet".

Going out and doing something trumps reading about it.

Our Homeschooling Day

I have really enjoyed doing a Day in the Life posting each year. This is really a perfect point in our school year to do so- we've worked out the kinks by now and eliminated or changed anything that wasn't working, but it also helps me to notice anything else that might need freshened up.


Ender is 7 this year and having a 1st/2nd grade year. Ezra is 5 this year and in Kindergarten. Ellie is 9 months old now and adds an interesting aspect to the day (mostly keeping paper and other goodies out of her mouth!


Each of our days is a bit different. Brian and I are both in client-based work, but my hours are set. His are set too, but it is a really screwy schedule rotating schedule that takes a full month to go through one round of the schedule. This actually allows one of us to be with the kids all the time, aside from a few days per month that our schedules overlap a bit. That's when my mom swoops in to save the day.


6:30/7:00 I am up and prepping for the day. I sometimes don't get this time on my own if the sleep is more important, but my day goes noticeably better when I do.


Ellie wakes between 7:00-7:30 and she has a bottle and breakfast. If she's up early we hang out in her room until the boys join us.


7:30 The boys get up. They have a "morning routine" that they are in charge of completing, including breakfast, brushing teeth, getting dressed and making their beds. I make breakfast for them about half of the week, and they do frozen waffles, pancakes or cereal the rest of the time. I try to make a big batch of waffles and pancakes ahead of time to freeze for the mornings I need them to be more independent. My morning routine involves starting a load of laundry, making sure the kitchen is clean after breakfast and cuddling the baby.

8:30-9:00 We aim to "start school" around this time. We don't have all day to school, so for now in this season we must start "on time" if we are going to get our state required hours in.


During this time the Ender works on anything he can do independently or with minimal supervision. I'm right there to answer questions or to listen to some reading, but mostly Ezra and I work together on phonics, reading and math.

Around 9:30 Ellie goes down for her morning nap and the boys and I get to work on the things we do together- history, science and memory work.


By 10:30ish Ezra is done for the morning and he gets to go play. Ender and I stay at the table just a little longer to work on Language Arts- we review spelling, writing rules (we're learning about punctuation and capitalization right now), practice copywork, etc. I also look over his work from the morning if I haven't already checked it and we talk about any corrections that need to be made.


By this time it's usually about 11:00 and Ender heads off to play too. Ellie is usually up by now and so is Brian. He takes over with the kids so that I can run on the treadmill, take a shower without interruption and get ready for work. Brian takes care of lunch time and supervising chores the boys are responsible for.


Early afternoon sees me at work for the rest of the day. I will be back out of the studio in time to help with bedtime.


In the afternoon the boys follow up on anything they need to finish. Ezra reads out loud to Brian, and both boys practice their memory work again. They usually do a short math drill on xtramath.org and Ezra usually plays a bit on starfall.com. Brian takes care of the kitchen and laundry on my long teaching days, which is such a blessing. Otherwise afternoons are pretty free for them to do whatever they'd like. A few evenings a week Brian manages the runs to soccer or baseball practice and church. I usually finish in the studio just as they are getting home.


At this point Brian heads to work if he is on-shift and I manage bed time with the kids then spend most evenings with Netflix and knitting if I do not need to follow up on any work issues.


If Brian is off-shift we tackle kid bed time together. Usually we both have a little bit of work to follow up on but then the evening is ours.

You can see our past years here:

2012

2011

I know our day isn't the norm for homeschooling families, but we make it work. 

How do you spend your homeschooling day?

Ender's book

I feel so silly now that I have spent so much time worrying in the past about Ender not writing. This year he writes so well and so much. I tried to listen to everyone telling me to not worry and to work really hard not to push him, so I didn't push. I tried to make writing all about special projects and fun activities aside from Handwriting Without Tears, which has been such a fabulous program for Ender and has made writing so approachable and easy for him.

Narration has been the other key component. For the last 1 1/2 years he has narrated about twice a week from whatever we were reading for school. We started with 1 paragraph at a time from the Christian Liberty Press Nature Reader for Kindergarten and by the end of the year he was narrating from the entire reading at his request.  I would have him read the material on the first day and we would talk about what he remembered. The next day I would read the material aloud to him and he would give a narration that I would type into a word document. I printed that out for him and he illustrated the narration.

And now we have little books everywhere.

Did I mention that this book is volume one? I've been told it may be quite a lengthy series.

And now I find signs like this and handmade calendars and little books and projects all written by him. I will be so sad when these little signs disappear from our house. It reminds me of all the sweet little signs in the Winnie-the-Pooh books, complete with tiny misspellings.

Learning All the Time

After getting a bit of a head start on our school year by starting during the hot days of July we've been able to take some time off from the more structured bits of learning. While I think we all enjoy the routine of our typical school mornings (or else we wouldn't school this way!) it is nice to have the option to call a week "off" and pursue life and projects around us.

In the last week we: 

 

Had three soccer practices

 

Had two soccer games

 

Took a trip to the ballpark for September baseball

 

Spent an afternoon at the local art museum to learn about portraits, self-portraits, still life, and landscapes

 

Made a math facts lapbook (Well, Ender did. I mostly just printed it out for him and offered advice when asked.)

 

Picked hundreds of pears (to can later in the week)

 

Went rollerskating

 

Watched Daddy complete his first 10K

And I started back to work last week, hence the "off" week. 

 

 

 

Today we are continuing our spontaneous learning by:

Making bookmarks (now that we have TWO little readers, we needed several more!)

 

Reading together- this is one part of our "regular" school day that isn't often skipped, even on our "off" days.

 

Quizzing math facts with the aid of that new lapbook

 

Prepping for some family art time this evening when I'm finished teaching in the studio.

Watching this video:

 

 

Loving this Monday morning!

School Resources: 2012-2013

Jamie invited us today to write about our plans for the upcoming school year so I thought I'd share what we have planned so far. I have to say- I am so excited to get started on these plans! I will have a Kindergartener and a second grader this fall- it's hard for me to believe that Ezra is old enough to join us for school already!


I've written in this space before about how I started planning really early this year in order to have those plans in place before Ellie was born, and I got about 90% of the way there. Our book list was selected, general plans were laid out for usage and I got about half way through setting up daily plans before the baby arrived.


Kindergarten

Ezra turns 5 mid-summer and though he'll be a young Kindergarten student we're going to go ahead and start lightly, keeping his age and maturity in mind. In our home Kindergarten is all about learning to read, learning to form letters and developing a relationship with numbers. We definitely explore topics of interest in other subjects, but that is not the goal of our year.


The Three R's by Dr. Ruth Beechick: This is the basis of our Kindergarten. I take a lot of ideas from this book in how I teach and I have to say- this book is invaluable for those wanting something a little different than a daily boxed program. It does require more work from the parent, but if you're like me (I love the planning almost as much as the actual schooling) it doesn't seem like work at all.


Victory Drill Book: Aside from the name (which makes it sound like you are relentlessly working your little one on phnics) I really love this book and use it primarily as a resource for myself. This book has list after list of words broken into groups by phonics rules. As we learn new rules for reading we play games with the words on those lists, we practice writing them, spelling them with the moveable alphabet, and once it seems like he has the rule mastered we "speed read" through 1 column at a time.


Explode the Code: Because Ezra loves to write, we used Get Ready for the Code and Get Set for the Code this past year and we will continue this year with Go For the Code and then on to ETC book 1. I wouldn't use this as our sole phonics resource, but it is a nice reinforcement for the learning we do with the Victory Drill Book.


Handwriting Without Tears: I really love this curriculum for encouraging my older son to actually practice some handwriting without complaining. It was a huge success for him last year so I'm introducing Ezra to it this year as well. Of course Ezra really loves to write already, but this curriculum will help us focus on correct formation in a little more formal way. Ezra will be using the orange book this year.


Math: This is where we off-road a little. For Kindergarten I don't use a formal math curriculum. my boys love to draw so we keep a math journal to practice the concepts we learn about through the year, but otherwise we play lots of games, count real money, tell time on the big clock in the living room, learn to count to 100 and then to count by 2s, 5s and 10s. We learn basic addition and subtraction with transformer toys (or whatever seems handy at the moment) and we eat a lot of math-related snacks. :)



Other: Ezra will also start to study the piano this year as part of my music studio (We use Faber and Faber's My First Piano Adventures for this age), there will be plenty of free art time (and a little bit structured), and he will join in on Ender's literature, science, history and geography plans as much as he'd like. We will a bit of informal narration this year also so that he understands the concept before starting first grade.



Second Grade

Ender will be 7 this fall (which I can hardly believe!) and doing second grade work for the most part. Because of his late birthday he would be in first grade in our school district so there were some subjects we put off starting until January last school year in order to be sure he was ready. He will start the school year by finishing those texts and then moving on to the next level.


Ender's resources for the year are a little different. One of the things I so appreciate about homeschooling is that we can truly work in the way that is best for our family. I really enjoy planning our own curriculum in subject areas and would feel really limited by a boxed curriculum and I love that there are resources out there that help me to plan in a way that feels right for us. That being said, many of the resources I'm going to list here aren't directly for Ender, but for me in order to help us have the kind of school year we want to have.


All Through the Ages: I use this resource to fill out our history and science book lists after I decide our course of study. This year we are studying the pioneers and westward expansion plus a unit on elections for American History. For World History we'll be doing a unit on explorers and navigation before taking a tour through the ancients.


How to Teach Spelling: This is another "list" resource that breaks down words by spelling rules and also gives suggestions for appropriate grade levels for learning the rules. Again, it does require some work on the front end for me, but once I set up our lists and approach for the year all I have to do is open and go. :)


Explode the Code: Ender knows his phonics rules very well and reads fluently, but he really likes these books and he asked to keep working in them this year. We're picking up with book 3 and we'll go forward as much as he likes.


Writing With Ease: I find this to be such an easy way to work on writing. Narration is the natural precursor to putting your own thoughts on paper. We don't use the workbook, but we use the principles and apply it to our history, science and literature readings. We will also add dictation in the second semester.


First Language Lessons: We will begin the year by finishing level 1 and then move into level 2. These lessons are short and to the point, just like Ender. That has made it a success for both of us- no busy work.


Saxon Math: We started Saxon 1 this past January after using a different math curriculum and Ender *loves* the repetition of Saxon. I didn't personally enjoy the books when I was being homeschooled myself, but I don't think I would have enjoyed ANY math text as a student. The important thing is that it works for Ender and he never complains about getting out his math work. We'll finish up Saxon 1 and head into 2 as soon as he's ready.


Geography: We're using the geography concepts from The Core by Leigh Bortins to work on learning to map the world one continent at a time. We'll also do some map work around our history work.


Science: Again I create my own book list, but our intention is to cover plant and animal life this year with a bit of geology thrown in for my rock-obsessed boy. One of our primary texts for the year is One Small Square: Backyard, which will be used for a few weeks each season so that we can see the differences each season brings.


Literature: I'll be reading aloud longer works of fiction, but I've also planned a unit on poetry and a unit to introduce Shakespeare using books by Bruce Coville.



Handwriting: Ender is going to use the blue HWOT book for printing and then work on learning italics with Getty Dubay as he transfers over to learning cursive. While I love HWOT to teach printing, I don't like the look of their cursive quite as much.

Planning (part 2)

So when you have that whole nesting thing going on and can't actually do anything about it?

 

Plan the next school year.

Seriously- plans are made and books ordered.

 

I've done as much in Baby Girl's room as I can do without moving, lifting or bending in ways I shouldn't. Everything that can be washed or cleaned or prepared for her arrival has been, well... washed, cleaned or prepared.

 

So in the evenings when I have that urge to work on just about anything I've been focused in on finishing up school plans for this next school year. I had always intended to at least have plans written out before Baby came so that I wouldn't have to scramble to figure things out in May/June in order to start the year in July, but I didn't think I'd have everything done down to the week.

And trust me- these plans will change to some degree as we start to live them in July. But this next year is planned as a continuation of last year, not as a separate entity, so many of the things we began this year will flow into next year. It is so nice to know what is working and to be able to stick with it!

 

New This Year:

1. Adding Ezra as an official student. It's really just a formality with a little more work for me (since I have to actually track his hours and keep a portfolio for him this year) because his work will be remarkably the same as it was this past year. His main job is to go about the business of being a 5-year-old boy, but he is also very different than his brother and has been begging for his own handwriting book and to learn to read and to "PLEASE have a math journal!"

Who am I to say no to a request like that?

2. Focusing a little more on science and history for Ender. Our primary concern for first grade has been fostering mastery in handwriting, reading and math. Without those three things it's really difficult to move forward in other subjects, so that has really been the focus of the year. We do also read about people and within history and science topics, but it's been very informal and the first item marked off the list if time ran short on a school day.

I'm changing that this year, planning a few weeks to introduce and explore new topics in history and science followed by "time off" to allow us to follow whatever topics Ender finds particularly interesting,

3. And of course- Baby Girl. That's going to be a new one on all of us, and I'm looking forward to it!

4. A change in math program. We switched in January from Singapore to Saxon and Ender has been one happy math student since then. I *never* thought I'd use Saxon, mostly because I used it as a student all the way through school and as a seriously non-mathy gal just the cover of the book gives me shivers. For my very mathy son? Love at first sight. It makes sense to him with very little instruction from me and the workbook pages get right to the point.

Same as Always:

 

1. Sticking with the narration and copywork suggestions from Writing With Ease. We don't use the workbook because I like to use whatever literature, history topic or science topic we are currently using, but I'm easily able to keep up with choosing copywork for Ender. I plan to add some dictation in the second semester as long as Ender shows he is ready.

2. Using our own book lists for science and history topics and literature. I've looked at many many book lists and packaged curriculums and I just can't find precisely what I want. I don't like to be told what to read or do each day (and in fact I'll probably NOT do it just because I was "supposed" to...) and I truly do enjoy building the plans myself. I know many families love to be able to "open and go" with a program, and I do something similar- I just happen to build those daily plans myself.

3. Keeping our daily rhythm. Our morning includes time together and time working alongside each other on our individual projects. It works well for us so why change?

 

Planning

I *heart* school planning.


It is one of my favorite parts of homeschooling to be honest. I love planning our trajectory for the year and then breaking it down into achievable pieces. I love watching the plans play out through the year too, but it's the anticipation that comes with those brand new plans that I so enjoy.


Phase one consists of gathering ideas. I look at a ton of curriculum online, I check out what other people with children in that particular grade are doing and get a giant list going of materials that have a possibility of working for us. Basically, I induce curriculum fog upon myself and when I'm good and muddy about all the choices out there I sit back for awhile to think.


Phase two consists of writing down goals for the year. I take all that muddiness in my brain and clarify what is important to me and my husband, what I know my kids love, and what developmentally appropriate skills they need to obtain by the end of that grade.


I've been hanging out with these goals for several weeks now, tweaking anything that didn't seem quite right, and flat out eliminating some of them that I finally decided didn't fit with our overall homeschooling goals. I think they're set now, and I'm ready to move on to phase three.


Remember phase one where I looked at a million and one books to see what was out there? Phase three is defined by culling that giant list. I eliminate anything that doesn't fit with our goals or educational philosophy. And then comes all the outside factors, and this is the land I'm currently living in:

Does this material best help us accomplish our goals?

How does it fit in our budget?

Can this material be used again with the next child?

Will my kid(s) enjoy using the material?

Am I interested in this material because it looks like "another good thing" or because it will truly add value to our homeschool that I don't have anywhere else?

It's a bit of a jigsaw puzzle really. I'm trying to decide which curriculum is a must budget-wise and then the rest is a bit of give and take- if I buy a certain curriculum I may not be able to afford another curriculum, and I always want to make sure I'm getting what will truly help us most. I'm fortunate to have access to a truly awesome library system and I take full advantage for our literature, history and science book lists so that I ony have to buy spines that we'll be using for a full semester or year.


And when I make the final decisions on curriculum I'll get to the truly fun part- dividing our year into four 13 week quarters (leaving 4 weeks unplanned to account for unexpected time off or rabbit trails), then dividing the work down into weeks.


I'm really liking the look of our plans for next year so far, and as soon as I get some decisions made you know I'll be sure to share!