Plans vs. Preparation

(I originally wrote this article for the HSBA Post.)

Does your homeschool have ups and downs?

We have so many ups and downs in our homeschool, it can make you have motion sickness.

Two weeks ago, we decided to take a short break from doing full school days so we could pack for the first family vacation we have had in 2.5 years! We were so excited to go to the Baltimore Harbor and play in the area museums, sight see, and be tourists! Would you like to guess when we went to Baltimore??? It was during their record-breaking snow, of course. We were there for one and a half nights, before we awoke the kids at 3 A.M. to drive home and avoid the second barrage of snow!

When we arrived back home, I thought we had better make up for our homeschooling “vacation” days. I decided I would take a bit of a break from my real estate business so that I could focus 100% of my energies on homeschooling. Instantly, 3 buyers came running to me, asking for my help in listing their homes, saying they wouldn’t work with any other agents. I’m thankful for the business of course, but it didn’t exactly enhance my homeschooling schedule!
Well, this week I really put my foot down. I actually made the declaration, “This week, we will do nothing but school, so we can all feel caught up again.” Lo and behold, Georgia got more snow in one day than we’ve gotten in the past 3 years. Public school kids were stoked about being out of school, and many of them spent 3 days in my house and yard. That’s not the best environment for completing a homeschool day!

Yesterday evening, I took a deep breath.

Me: “God, I have no idea how to get over this very large bump in the road.”
Psalm 32:8“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.”

Me: “Lord, are we helpless at this point? Will we ever be caught up?”
Proverbs 15:22Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.

Me: “I will do everything I can to try to catch up God, but you KNOW I will seriously need Your help!”
Isaiah 58:11The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.

So, I sought out some counselors. After an hour of searching and planning this morning, I devised my very own “morning calendar” for the family to follow, and a customized homeschool schedule to reference daily. If you are interested in seeing my homeschool calendars, please scroll to the bottom of this post.

I gave each child a small amount of chores to complete each morning upon awakening, listed a showering schedule, and listed what time everyone should meet at the table for breakfast on our morning calendar.

On the homeschool calendar, I gave an allotted amount of time to each subject, alternating some subjects on different days. We tried the schedule for the first time today, and I was THRILLED with our success. We finished exactly on time, and we all felt great.

Sometimes our plans for life don’t go the way we had hoped. But a little preparation never hurt anyone.

Proverbs 16:9
The heart of man plans his way,but the Lord establishes his steps.

Why Do I Homeschool?

So... Why do I homeschool?

Most people I know have many reasons why they homeschool. I'm included in this group. My reasons for homeschooling are varied, and numerous.

Our history:
My two oldest children started out in a Christian Academy. The school was great, but it closed down after 3 years of operation. My son went to Kindergarten and 1st grade there. My daughter went to pre-k at that school. They decided to close just before the school was to open for its 4th year, but unfortunately, enrollment in other Christian schools in the area had already closed. So, because I was working away from the home at the time, I enrolled my two oldest children (3rd grader and Kindergartner at the time) in Public School.

Education... on the bus:
I despised putting them on the bus each day. Yes, it was painful to wake them up from a deep sleep at the crack of dawn and put them on the bus, often while it was still dark outside. But that's not why I disliked the bus. I really disliked the things they were "learning" on the bus. I knew the moment the bus doors closed, it was a child-induced free-for-all with very little supervision. There were stories of bratty older boys shoving my son out of a chair (even though it was his assigned seat), because two friends decided they wanted to sit together. Because my son is totally non-confrontational, he never fought back. I'm working on that.

They also learned a few new words on the bus. I'm not talking about a friendly vocabulary lesson. I had no idea they had picked these things up, until the news was on TV one night. Someone made a strong "situational reference" in a news story. Because it made me uncomfortable with the kids in the room, I changed the channel. My son piped up and said, "Mom, I know what that means, thanks to 'X' on the bus, who enjoys talking about it." (I'm replacing the boy's name with the letter "X" here.) My jaw almost hit the floor. Here was an 8 year old boy who had already been taught something that I probably learned about when I was 15- and I wasn't ready to hear about it then! Thank GOD that my son is as mature as he is. He handled himself perfectly in those situations, and never made jokes, or "spread the word" as others were doing. I always got comments from his teachers about how they loved having him in class, because of his self-discipline.

School subjects:
In our area, foreign language classes are chosen based on district. My children's school was studying French. My husband and I believe it will be more financially beneficial for them to be fluent in Japanese. Therefore, both my oldest son and daughter can write some Japanese characters, and can speak sentences in Japanese, thanks to Rosetta Stone.

School situations:
Were there teacher-related reasons why I began homeschooling?
Yes.
The Clif's Notes versions- my son was told at one point, "Maybe you are just bad at math. Maybe it just takes you longer to 'get it.'" This was told to a boy who always scored in the top 95% of all subjects on his tests. Since he has been doing school at home, he has completed 4 grades of math in 2 years. Yep, sounds like he's "bad at math" to me. (???)

My daughter (as a Kindergartner in Public School) was asked to draw a picture of a historical figure, and write a sentence at the top about why she would love to meet this person one day, even though they may already be deceased. She drew Jesus (or what she believes He might look like!). Sandals and all. At the top, she wrote, "I want to meet Jesus one day because he is my Savior." (Do you have chill bumps too?) Know what she got on that project? A 1 out of 3 possible points. She got a 1 for drawing a picture and writing a sentence.
But the teacher told me, "We've been talking about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and the answer key says that the children should recall the information they learned about them, and draw one of them."
I said, "Did you say it was to be someone you studied?"
Teacher: "No."
Me: "Did you say it should be a President?"
Teacher: "No."
Me: "So, it sounds to me like she followed directions perfectly."
Teacher: "Yes, but 'Jesus' isn't in my answer key."

So there you have it folks. This leads us to my #1 reason for homeschooling.

Jesus just isn't in the Public School's answer key.

Since I've pulled my children out of Public School, we have together memorized probably 30 Bible verses or more. My kids can recall a memory verse in an appropriate situation. When they are afraid, they can pull a Bible verse from memory about not being afraid. When they don't feel like working, they remember that they are always to work as if doing their work for God- not man.

Our science curriculum is based upon truth- Creationism. Adam and Eve are on our timeline. Our history timeline begins at Creation. As we study Roman culture, we also study Christ. Does your public school teach history this way? Nope.

I believe homeschooling is the absolute perfect choice for my family. I feel blessed to watch my kids become more and more knowledgeable each and every day. And I am now in control of what information is learned... and is NOT learned... every day.

Oh, and that picture of Jesus, that my daughter received the "1" on? It hung on my refrigerator for an entire year. I'm very proud of that "1."

Helpful Documents

I decided to get a little bit more organized this year in our Bible verse memorization. I printed all our Bible verses on business cards, and then loaded them into business card holders (the large plastic ones that have holes for 3-ring binders). I wanted to share the cards with you, in case you would like to print them as well. It would not be necessary to purchase business card paper- you could print these on regular typing paper or card stock, and load them into the holders!

verses3
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AerpIiWcQiXNZGNqOWZjdHNfMmQ1eGNtM2tt&hl=en&invite=CO3lsN8H

verses2
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AerpIiWcQiXNZGNqOWZjdHNfMWhjNHd3NGZj&hl=en&invite=CJDYhVo

verses1
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AerpIiWcQiXNZGNqOWZjdHNfMGdqbXNwNWhm&hl=en&invite=CIytoZ4G

They're not attachments -- they're stored online at Google Docs. To open these documents, just click the links above.

Good luck, and enjoy!

College Prep for Homeschool: Transcripts and Portfolios

Although my children are young, I have learned that they grow up FAST!!!!
Something that has been weighing on me is the fact that I haven't kept organized transcripts or portfolios for my children. So now, I will be going back and compiling information I have saved into an organized system.

If you would like to see a sample homeschool transcript: CLICK HERE

And here are some great tips (from 4 different sources) on creating a homeschool portfolio:
CLICK HERE or HERE or HERE or HERE

Homeschool Planning!

I feel as if I was picked up in a tornado a little bit after Christmas, and plopped back down at the end of the school year. That should tell you a little bit about how organized the second part of our school year has been! I decided that the only thing that is going to get this huge weight of disorganization off my shoulders is to sit down and plan out the coming year.

What I am NOT going to do in this blog post is to lay out our lesson plan. I wouldn't do that, because our lesson plan would not work for anyone else I know. Not because we're all that advanced, or that we're doing things that others cannot. It's because all of my kids are in different grades on different subjects. In other words, my 11 year old son would be going into the 6th grade in public school. But he is halfway through with 8th grade math. He is reading and writing Japanese on a high school level. He reads on a Sophomore level, and he is practically a genius in sciences. But we started history from the beginning of time, literally. So we haven't even touched the Civil War, or any recent events. We're still learning about Ancient Egypt. So a typical 6th grade curriculum would thoroughly bore him in some areas, but then in history, he would end up skipping about 1500 years on a timeline!

What I WILL provide below are some links to sites that can help you in your quest to lay out the perfect curriculum for YOUR family!

The first thing to remember is, while goals are good and often necessary, your childs understanding of a topic of study should ultimately dictate how quickly you move through a study. If my kids seem bored to tears with a new math curriculum, and most of it is review, I generally have no problem picking out problems from a few chapters to make sure they understand the concepts, then moving along when necessary.

A second thing to remember is, no matter how young your child is, long-term goals are a good thing. Much like a business plan, you should have goals of where you would LIKE to be at the end of a year, at the end of elementary school, middle school and high school years, and what subjects you would LIKE to have thoroughly studied in your homeschool adventures.

One last thing to keep in mind: Don't panic if life gets the best of you, and you miss a day here or there. One of my favorite things about homeschooling is, some days you're ahead, some days you're behind... but when you are one-on-one with your kids, you always win.

Some helpful planning links:
http://donnayoung.org/
http://homeschool-curricula.suite101.com/article.cfm/homeschool_lesson_planning
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/gettingorganized/planner.php
http://www.geocities.com/mamabrown_1122/planning.htm
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/materials/SW4Records.htm
http://www.eho.org/homeschool_prep/homeschool_basics.asp

May God bless your upcoming year!

HISTORY!!!!!

A lot of people have expressed their concerns over finding a good history program to me.

I will share with you what a wonderful homeschool mom shared with me a couple of years ago! This program has worked wonders for us, and we really love it.
We use Story of the World (click on the book below for product information), coupled with Egermeier's Bible Story Book. And we follow the curriculum for both as suggested by Paula in Paula's Archive at this LINK.

Story of the World:
Egermeier's Bible Story Book:

Another Product Review

As a Mom of a 10 year old boy and 8, 4, and 2 year old girls, I have spent some time in teaching dates, calendars, months, seasons, and scheduling! One product I really love is Melissa and Doug's Magnetic Calendar!

This was given to us by my parents one Christmas, and we hang it in our homeschool room. At least once a week, we go over our schedule and apply the proper magnets to the proper days!
To order, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-133-Magnetic-Calendar/dp/B00004KHAD

Product Review

I came across a product I really love, and wanted to share it with you!

I have 4 children in very different stages in Math, and in school in general! My daughter is focusing on memorization of multiplication and division facts, and my son can always use a brush up on them so he can answer faster. My 4 year old is learning addition and subtraction, along with the value of money. All 4 of my kids are learning states and capitols.
Can you believe I found a product that will help all of them with all of this?!?!You buy the hot dots pen for about $9, and then you buy each group of flashcards for $9-10 each. The pen talks and makes fun noises to let the child know if they have chosen the proper answer. My kids are all techies, and this turns the mundane task of studying flashcards into a technological treat!
To order, click here:
http://www.learningthings.com/searchresult.asp

Fun Christmas Homeschool Ideas

I am always looking for fun ways to tie in current events with our homeschooling!
For instance, at Easter time we learned Bible verses about the Resurrection, did a science experiment with an egg, planted some new flowers and talked about Spring, and had fun with an "empty tomb" marshmallow recipe (http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/recipes_q_-_s.html#resurectionrolls).

For the Presidential Election, we created a huge scrapbook with the history of voting, the requirements of Presidents, the processes of running for President, etc. Of course, we ended the scrapbook with polls and ballots that the children we able to cast themselves! They also went to the polls and watched me early vote.

I've been looking for some fun activities to do for Christmas as well!

Here are our plans:
Memorize the verses surrounding part of the Christmas Story (Luke 2:8-14)
Create new ornaments for our tree
Make some Amish Friendship Bread Starter to share with neighbors (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amish-Friendship-Bread-Starter/Detail.aspx)
Study Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol
Learn some Christmas Carols, their place of origin, and put them on our timeline
Learn the origin of the Christmas Tree
Learn the legend of the candy cane
Bake a birthday cake on Christmas Day and sing "Happy Birthday to Jesus!"

Fun Homeschool Blogger Swap!

I received my gift today from my swap sister in the homeschool blogger gift swap!

I am going to love scrapbooking with "The Art of Choosing Joy!" And what a wonderful topic as a homeschooling mom! When there are so many other choices that we sometimes make, it is important to remember that God wants us to be joyful. Thank you again, Montserrat!

S...L...O...W... Start!

Have you ever awakened one morning, and realized that WAYYYY too much time has gone by, and many of your goals that were scheduled to have been completed have not even been started?? That has been happening to me lately!
I also feel as if my day planner is my worst enemy. Actually, it's more like a nag who follows me around constantly and taunts me about things that I said I was going to complete, but never followed through! As I turn the pages of my day planner, I see things such as, "lose 20 pounds by now!" Then, I turn the pages backward and see that my diet was suppose to have begun 2 months prior, and I actually could have realized those goals if I had stuck with it! How frustrating!

I am at one of these cross-roads with school as well. In a down market, my real estate business has drastically picked up (go figure!), and I find myself taking constant phone calls and emails during the entire school day, and eventually sitting in amazement as I tuck my children into bed, wondering "where did the day go??? How am I ever going to catch up???" It is easy to become terrified about these sorts of things. YOU are responsible for your child's education as a homeschooler! YOU could make or break their future! YOU could be doing them a huge disservice instead of enhancing their academic aptitude!

And, all these things are true! But, His Grace is sufficient for me. And I know that one day, I will look back and say, "Wow- that was not even anything to worry about!" I know that this too shall pass, and we will be ahead again in no time.

Isn't it amazing how God can make time stand still for us? Sometimes that is not such a great thing- like the times that we are sad, or scared, or feeling guilty... and we just want the time to fly by so we can move on. But I've noticed that sometimes God seems to say, "let's sit and think about this for a minute, just to be sure we won't end up here again..."

So while I could continue to unproductively worry and fret over losing a couple of weeks of schooling, I am instead going to take some time to sit back, and take My God in as I ask for his help in achieving my homeschool goals.

To Be... Or Not To Be?

The Foundation of a Fabulous Classical Homeschool

The Well-Trained Mind by Susan and Jessie Wise-Bauer:

What an amazing work.

After reading this book, I felt as if I had been invited to an everything-you-need-t0-know session given by homeschooling experts! I also felt totally inundated and overwhelmed.

But in navigating through this homeschool encyclopedia, not only did I gain some insight to new teaching ideas, curricula choices and scheduling suggestions, but I also had some epiphanies regarding what was working for us... and what needed some serious tweaking.

These realizations will ultimately be the foundation of our upcoming homeschool year.

Realization # 1: My own entire learning experience was built on a modge-podge of dates, relevance, and time periods, all gooped together as teachers saw fit. Because of this, I could not build a historical time line to save my life, with out having the dates already laid out in front of me.

Realization # 2: I know a few key facts about key figures in history, but for instance, I couldn't tell you what kind of art, music, cuisine or literature was popular during Julius Caesar's rule.

Realization # 3: In order for my children to absorb information in a thorough, thought-provoking and chronological manner, I must conduct our homeschool in completely different form than the way I was taught.

This year, we are starting from the beginning.

As the book states, the word HISTORY contains the word STORY. And that is really what it is all about. History tells a story. And like any good story, it doesn't start in the middle. It always begins at the beginning.

This year, we will begin with Genesis, and progress through Romulus Augustus, the 6 year old Roman Emperor! Along the way, we will learn hieroglyphic writing, common cuisine in Ancient Rome, some common teachings of Confucius, and the lore of the Greek Gods. We will learn of their art forms, their music, the maps of the areas at the time, and what the Bible says about the leaders of that age.

And in the end, I will be certain that my kids can create a timeline.