Homeschooling ABC's a Great sale for a Great Resource!!!

HOMESCHOOLING PARENTS

are you

NEW?

CONSIDERING?

DISCOURAGED?

A MENTOR?

I have a great resource that is on sale for a few days, and I want to be sure to get this information out to you ASAP!

Five years ago I wrote a review for Homeschooling ABC's by Terri Johnson of Knowledgequest, when it was brand new. Well, it's been awhile, and Terri has gotten feedback over the years, and requests for more information.

She has put together a 3-part video series that addresses some challenges head-on when it comes to homeschooling and gives help in overcoming them. Terri came up with these challenges through a poll she took a couple of weeks ago to find out what her fans' biggest challenges are when it comes to homeschooling your kids. Here are some of the common themes that kept coming up (out of hundreds of responses):

• Staying motivated and being consistent in teaching
• Sticking to a schedule
• Balancing schoolwork with housework
• Developing patience and controlling anger
• Getting organized
• Dealing with life's interruptions
• And more!

The first video in the Homeschooling with Joy series: "How to Stay Motivated and Be Consistent in Homeschooling (I'm Sharing My Secret Sauce Recipe)" is up, and available to watch for free for a limited time, so check it out, but don't wait too long...

Along with these new videos, Terri is offering the Homeschooling ABC's course for sale. The price is regularly $67 for the full course, but is being discounted to $47 through August 4th. Be sure to read my review of Homeschooling ABC's, to see all the topics covered. You will receive hundreds of dollars in curriculum to help you get started as you go through this course. I am still very impressed with this course, and think that you will be too!

Blessings~

**Lesson Planning, and Planning for Mom’s Devotion time

"Scheduling" is on everyone's minds these days, it seems~ From coordinating "After school" classes, practices, games, and competitions, dentist and doctor appointments, to maintaining a daily schedule, lesson plans, and in the middle of it all, fitting in time for Mom with God.

Thankfully, there are many options, the trick being to find the one that works for you~for now....

Let talk about “Mom-Time” Devotions first, because that is a key to making the days productive and flow well.

First~ we need to figure out WHAT we’re doing devotion-wise, whether it’s reading through the Bible in a certain number of days, or certain Books of the Bible, or Topics…  doing a book study(Like Raising a Daughter After God’s Own Heart By Elizabeth George  (Read my review), a devotional like Our Daily Bread, or Days of Praise, or attending a Community Bible Study or Fellowship Bible Study.

There are different seasons and times when our devotions may be short, and others when they are real “Digging into Scripture” times. Something to remember: don’t compare yourself to others~ we are all in different seasons, and none of us have the same family make-up, so what works for one will not work for others~ so if Our Daily Bread is all you can manage on a daily basis right now, well~ That's OK! So is listening to Scripture in song. Oh, and let's not forget~ there is the option of audio bible~

Once the "What" is taken care of we need to figure out the WHEN of our devotions.

• In our house, there is a devotional Bible in the Bathroom, because, well, we HOPE that the bathroom is one place that we won’t be interrupted (HAH! Wish that were true, but it does work for DH who gets up WAY before anyone else is awake). I like to keep a copy of either Daily Bread or Days of Praise up there as well.
• Waking up1/2 hour earlier than your kids, or going to bed ½ later is an option. Clearly, morning is ideal for "Starting the day off right", but evening might work better for your schedule and your family. That's OK!
• Making a mid-day “Quiet-time” (BOB-Time = Books On Bed) mandatory~ so that you have that time for yourself as well as everyone else.
• Incorporating YOUR devotions in with your children’s devotions~ Reading and exploring the Bible can be a sweet time together, and if that’s all that you have time for, hey, it's all GOOD.

Some resources that were mentioned~

• Grapevine Studies~These Studies use stick-figuring to walk through the Bible. I used the New and Old Testament Overviews with my kids and our Japanese Exchange student a couple of summers ago. The stick-figuring is drawn out for you, the teacher, and is very easy to model for the kids. Loved this! (You can read my review of the program here). You can find Samples here.
• Seeds Family Worship (Music)  You can listen online to some of this music, which is scripture set to music. 
• Marilyn Boyer from The Learning Parent was also mentioned by a number of moms at the meeting as a good resource. 
• Community Bible Study   (Check for local courses~ there are 4 within a 25 mile radius of my home, so there is a good chance that there is one local to you) Many locations offer concurrent children's classes, including homeschool-age classes up through junior high.
• A few other books recommended~ to help with "tying the heartstrings", and working WITH your children to help them achieve their best. Not exactly "Devotional" in nature, but helpful in understanding our children as we segue the topic into scheduling lessons for our children.

Give Them Grace

The Way They Learn

Life in a Minor Key

One more slightly off-topic note here. We talked about the importance of "Touch" in being able to "Read" our children~ to maintain physical contact (Hugs, pats on the head/shoulder, squeeze, a kiss on the cheek, or caress across the brow) even on into their teen and adult years. I personally melt a little when I see a teenage boy put his arms around his moms's shoulders and lean in when listening to a sermon in church, or at a concert, or really, wherever... there is just something so sweet and connected in that motion.
"Touch"/"Human contact" is essential for normal growth. An example would be those children who come from Eastern European Orphanages weighing almost nothing, but who begin to thrive when given not only proper medical care(especially for the severely malnourished), but the proper emotional care. The specific case I referred to was a sweet girl, Carrington, whose adoption was final this spring. Here is a post on her blog to show you the miracle that occurred for Carrington. She was 3 years old and weighed only 11 pounds~ gained 8 pounds in her first 4 months here.(If you, or anyone you know, are considering adoption, I hope that you would consider one of the sweeties listed on Reece's Rainbow~)

Alright~ back on topic now ;)
Scheduling and/or Lesson Planning

I have played with many things over the years. I started with a simple grid that had a space for each day and one extra for "notes" (a 2x3 grid with big spaces). I listed what I wanted to accomplish each day, and then marked it off when I got to it(not necessarily on the day it was scheduled). At the end of the week, I decided if some of the things that we didn't get to were things I needed to move to the next week, or if it was something I could just drop (This was Kindergarten/1st grade for one child, so there was a lot of flexibility).

After awhile (once I added a second child to the schedule), I decided that I needed to get a handle on how long things took, and how to reasonably fit them in, so I created a "Time-block" schedule on a grid.

Now that I have a younger child in addition to the two olders, I have gone away from my "Time-schedule", and have returned to more or less a list of what needs to be done each week. I use Bright Ideas Press' basic schedule from Illuminations, tweaked for my family.

Bright Ideas Press has their schedule available in their samples for Illuminations  so you can see what I'm talking about. 

Free Printables/Do-It-Yourself Options~

• Donna Young has a bunch of forms that are very helpful.
• The Home School Mom has a number of planning items
• Notebook-Style~ write your list for the day on each page, with specific notes(lessons in the math and science texts for each child, etc...)~ cross off what gets done, move what wasn't completed to the next page for tomorrow.(My friend Heather W., Planner Extraordinaire, has some great "Organization" posts... this is one of my favorites) 
  
• Workbox Style~ laminated charts with velcro dots for the various chores and lessons~ with a place to put them when they have been finished. Here's a good blog with some great pictures and explanations to get you started. :)
• Chore or Lesson "Packets" ~ a clear "pocket" that fits index cards~ each lesson or chore placed in order in the pocket~ as they are completed, the card gets moved to the back.
• Regular “Teacher Planner” from Staples
• I have one friend who uses a blog as her "Assignment book" for her high-school age son. This is pretty cool! 

~Paid Planners~
If creating your own is more work than you want to undertake, OR you want to make sure you don't miss a detail, then an already created planner may be the thing for you.

• TOS has a behemoth of a planner~this is MUCH more than simply a lesson planner~ it includes home organization, menus and recipes, lists and, well.... a huge amount of information~ over 800 pages worth! There are also separate Student Planners if you like to have individualized planners for your children.
• The Well Planned Day~ I know some friends online who have used this planner and love it~ it is lovely to look at. :)(Take a peek here)
• Managers Of Their Homes

So, you see, there are LOTS of Options! This is one of those things~ one method may work for most people most of the time, another may work for some people some of the time, but no one method will work for all the people all the time, so take YOUR time, try a few out, and see what works best for you and your children. Keep in mind that you may need to try a few styles, and that you may even need to USE a few styles. You might have a child who is motivated by a list, and checking things off, and another child who works best seeing the concrete evidence of work "moving" which is evident in either index card or workbox methods.

Blessings~

Homeschooling What style are you

For those who have conventions coming up, this is a  “Do your homework BEFORE Convention so you don’t get overwhelmed AT Convention” post. (Ours was earlier, in April, and this post is taken from my notes for our pre-convention support group meeting)

There are now so many different styles, methods and philosophies of homeschooling, with vendors catering to each niche, that it is helpful to develop your own philosophy before embarking on an adventure through the Speaker workshops and the vendor halls.

"Wait a minute!" you say.... "I have to have a philosophy? What do you mean by that?" 

I hope that this post will give you some helpful information on home school philosophy, what some of the differences are, and some resources to get you going, as you develop your own style or philosophy.

Towards the front of every Old Schoolhouse Magazine (BTW, the spring promotion* with 19 free gifts is still available) there is a page called “The Tutoring Center” that is a bit of a “quick start” to homeschooling. It includes the following run-down on most of the styles of homeschooling (In green print), and I felt that this would make a helpful format to work with (Thank you TOS for providing the "bones" for this post)

First, though, one basic resource that I feel is written in a very common-sense sort of way is Terri Johnson’s Homeschooling ABC’s* “Class”, with Lesson’s D, E, and F being the most helpful for helping to solidify your personal strategies for homeschooling. (The entire class is available to download~ regularly priced @ $67, or for $10/month for 6 months of weekly "lessons" delivered to your mailbox. )

Now, on to the basics~ 

Philosophies, Styles, & Methods

_Charlotte Mason: Based on a method introduced by nineteenthcentury educator Charlotte Mason, this approach includes nature studies/ journaling, narration, and living books.

Charlotte Mason wrote a series of 6 books (The texts are available for free online at Ambelside Online, an internet community for CM homeschoolers).  

Here are some additional great books  written by Karen Andreola~  A Charlotte Mason Companion*,   Pocketful of Pinecones* and her newest book, Lessons at Blackberry Inn*. These distill many of the concepts presented by Charolotte Mason, with the last two being written in very readable prose.

  

Classical: Based on Dorothy Sayers’ The Lost Tools of Learning, in which child development is broken up into three “stages” of learning commonly called “the Trivium.”

 The Bluedorns' Teaching the Trivium (They have an excellent Q&A section in the “Articles” portion of their website) 

and Susan Wise Bauer The Well Trained Mind*

The Classical method is based on 3 stages of learning~ Grammar (Memorization),  Logic (Reasoning), and Rhetoric (Ability to put together and use the previous two stages)

Here is a great explanation from the Bluedorn’s site: The trivium model for child development may be explained in computer terms. Children are:

• Booting up in the early Grammar Stage — birth through age 9.
• Keying in the information in the later Grammar Stage — age 10 through 12.
• Processing in the Logic Stage — age 13 through 15.
• Printing out in the Rhetoric Stage — age 16 through 18.

_Delight Directed: This puts the learning in the hands of the child, based on his or her interests. Parents help facilitate this type of learning with appropriate instructional materials.

Heart of Wisdom seems to fall under this approach as well as the Principle Approach(See below). And Raymond and Dorothy Moore would may seem to fit here as well.

_Eclectic: A mix of philosophies and curricula to accommodate each child’s abilities and interests. Parents choose from any method or style only those components that fit their

specific needs.

Here’s a nice interview with Ruth Beechick that I feel highlights this train of thought. :) 

_The Principle Approach: An approach based on the principles of our Founding Fathers and an emphasis on God’s Word as the basis for every subject.

Beautiful Feet combines Literature with Principle, Here is a website  (Curriculum Connection)with a great synopsis of this approach with suggested reading and more information.

_Traditional Textbook: Normally uses a full-range, packaged, textbook type curriculum that also may include a scope and sequence, testing, and recordkeeping.

Abeka, Bob Jones, and Alpha Omega all come to mind

_Unit Studies: All or "most" core subjects are covered while studying any one topic or unit of study, using a variety of resources and supplemental activities.

Five In a Row ~ be sure to check out the FIAR message boards, ~ this is my FAVORITE curriculum, hands-down!  (Purchase from Rainbow Resource Center), Amanda Bennet’s unit studies and Download-N-GO series, Valerie Bendt, and Konos

_Unschooling: A relaxed setting where learning is directed by the child. Parts of this philosophy are based on research by John Taylor Gatto and John Holt.

Mary Hood’s “The Relaxed Homeschooler” comes to mind. She has a number of books out~ including "The Joyful Home Schooler". Who doesn't want a little bit of JOY to add to their home school?? :D

One of the most important things to remember is that there is NO perfect curriculum, that suits each and every child,  AND that what was once “good” for your circumstance may have changed, as your lives and children grow and change. Evaluate and re-evaluate each year.

 

 I hope that this is helpful to you~
Blessings~

Apologia, Debra Bell

I'm guessing that we are all familiar with Apologia as the provider of science curriculum, but did you know that Apologia Press offers resources for homeschooling parents? One of them is a book that they have republished, an updated version of Debra Bell's "The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling" $20.00

Now, I have to admit, that this resource is new to me, so it's interesting to read it, as someone who is not new to homeschooling..... ;)