This is so inspring. Michelle Stone is so passionate and would perhaps be considered on the extreme side but there are so many truths. It is, I think, 2 1/2 hours long but well worth the time.
Warning: If you are not even possibly considering Homeschooling don't watch it because it will make you feel guilty.
Click here to watch Celestial Education
I am curious to hear some feed back.
Showing posts with label Curriculum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Curriculum. Show all posts
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
More Relaxed
Last week at our homeschool group Mrs. Hana taught the kids about matter: solids, liquids, and gas. I thought my boys were probably a little too young for the lesson, but they loved it and I have looked for other ways to apply it and discuss it at home. For gas, she gave each of the children a balloon which they put 2 tbs of Baking Soda in, then a water bottle filled 1/4 full of vinegar then once you dumped the soda into the vinegar the gas, CO2, filled the balloon. Then we made ice cream and she explained how it starts off as a liquid. She gave everyone their own bag and quickly it turned to a solid. The children loved it. We also talked about the first Thanksgiving and pilgrims. I think every time we meet it inspires a love of learning and rejuvenates us for a while.
I feel like I have relaxed quite a bit lately with our routine and somehow Benson has still learned amazing things. This last week he got burnt out with reading again so I just stepped back and didn't force anything. Well, almost everyday he has gotten a Dr. Seuss Book and will read for a good 10 min. on his own. He is completely capable so I really struggle to not push him when he gets burnt out. I also pulled out a Math CD my mom had given me a few years ago and I have been putting it on every morning and Benson can now Count by 10's, he knows the months of the year, and tonight he counted to 300 hundred. (I told him if he wanted to keep counting he should try counting in his head.) We've spent a week learning about dinosaurs, now we are learning about pilgrims, and next week we are going to learn about the solar system.
I have had all theses ideas lately that I still don't know how to organize. I love the combination of history and the scriptures which is why I love "The Four year Plan". I love the idea of units but I also know I need to be flexible and not get frustrated if we take a detour. Then I had this idea that maybe I could do FIAR with the scriptures. Then it felt like I was preparing a Sunday school lesson. I still like the idea, but I don't think I will focus our entire curriculum around the scriptures. Then I had the idea of Rowing the suggested "Classics's" list from TJ Ed. I think we will try that for a while.
I often feel guilty because I feel like I should be doing more homeschooling "stuff" but he is learning. Sometimes I think it is too easy (at least at this point, I'm sure it won't last forever) but he is already exceeded Kindergarten requirements. I feel like everything I do is just part of being a mom. I am enjoying the journey.
Do you remember Pizza Hut Book It's? They still exist and you can do it as a homeschooler. Is that cool or what? As a parent you set the requirements and if your child meets them, he can receive a personal pan pizza every month. The deadline was sometime in Sept. but they said as long as they still have packets left you can enroll. We just signed up about 2 weeks ago. I am excited to do this.
Things I have to remind myself of often:
Inspire a love of learning
"Teach the [people], not the curriculum" - Elder Holland
"Structure time, not content" - TJ Ed
I also decided I am going to start taking the boys to an indoor swimming pooling in I.F. once a month for a little swimming lesson. We went yesterday and they had so much fun. Where my parents in AZ have a pool and we have a ditch right in front of our house I hope they will be able to learn how to swim well...and it's good exercise.
I feel like I have relaxed quite a bit lately with our routine and somehow Benson has still learned amazing things. This last week he got burnt out with reading again so I just stepped back and didn't force anything. Well, almost everyday he has gotten a Dr. Seuss Book and will read for a good 10 min. on his own. He is completely capable so I really struggle to not push him when he gets burnt out. I also pulled out a Math CD my mom had given me a few years ago and I have been putting it on every morning and Benson can now Count by 10's, he knows the months of the year, and tonight he counted to 300 hundred. (I told him if he wanted to keep counting he should try counting in his head.) We've spent a week learning about dinosaurs, now we are learning about pilgrims, and next week we are going to learn about the solar system.
I have had all theses ideas lately that I still don't know how to organize. I love the combination of history and the scriptures which is why I love "The Four year Plan". I love the idea of units but I also know I need to be flexible and not get frustrated if we take a detour. Then I had this idea that maybe I could do FIAR with the scriptures. Then it felt like I was preparing a Sunday school lesson. I still like the idea, but I don't think I will focus our entire curriculum around the scriptures. Then I had the idea of Rowing the suggested "Classics's" list from TJ Ed. I think we will try that for a while.
I often feel guilty because I feel like I should be doing more homeschooling "stuff" but he is learning. Sometimes I think it is too easy (at least at this point, I'm sure it won't last forever) but he is already exceeded Kindergarten requirements. I feel like everything I do is just part of being a mom. I am enjoying the journey.
Do you remember Pizza Hut Book It's? They still exist and you can do it as a homeschooler. Is that cool or what? As a parent you set the requirements and if your child meets them, he can receive a personal pan pizza every month. The deadline was sometime in Sept. but they said as long as they still have packets left you can enroll. We just signed up about 2 weeks ago. I am excited to do this.
Things I have to remind myself of often:
Inspire a love of learning
"Teach the [people], not the curriculum" - Elder Holland
"Structure time, not content" - TJ Ed
I also decided I am going to start taking the boys to an indoor swimming pooling in I.F. once a month for a little swimming lesson. We went yesterday and they had so much fun. Where my parents in AZ have a pool and we have a ditch right in front of our house I hope they will be able to learn how to swim well...and it's good exercise.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Co-op and Curriculum
Our homeschool co-op has met twice now and is working out well. We meet the 1st and 3rd Wednesday every month and the children all seem to get along. On the 1st Wednesday Ms. Hana starts with some cute songs, Ms. Carolyn does math with abacus's, Ms. Melody does arts & crafts, I do a read -a -loud, and the other Ms. Tiffany does science. The 3rd Thursday is for field trips and this month we are going to the pumpkin patch.
These are the cute crafts Ms. Melody had for the children made of egg cartons.
I feel like I am getting the hang of things more and more even though I am constantly mixing things up to keep it interesting.
For Phonics we are using a variety of things: Reader Rabbit Reader's, sight word "Go fish", sight words around the house, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (we took a break from it for a couple months but there are a few lessons left that I think will be beneficial) and we just start using McGuffy Eclectic Readers. For writing we are using Handwriting Without Tears.
For Language Arts we started a journal. I have Benson re-site a particular event or retell me a story and I write down what he tells me, then he gets to illustrate the story. Later I have him read his journal to his dad and it is amazing the words he reads all because he knows what it is supposed to say. I also read to him everyday (The goal is 2 hours a day).
Math consists of everyday events or sitting down for 5 minutes and having him add beans or other objects. (Right now we are working on addition.)
History and language arts are blended right now. I read books to him about an historical events. If the weather cooperates, I want to do a unit on American Indians because Josh's dad has real tee pee that would be fun to set up after we learn about it. I want to plan out units for the rest of the school year but I have yet to do this.
Science, I just ordered a book called Mudpies to Magnets. I am excited to start this book for children. I think a little bit of science will help break up the mundane work.
Next Year, 1st grade:
We will continue to use McGuffy Readers for phonics and spelling.
I am really excited about the abacus curriculum I found. This will be a great Montessori approach to math.
I will use The Four Year Plan as a reference to tie in Language Arts, History, Science, and Religion.
With History I also plan to use The Story of the World, Book 1
Language Arts, I will continue to use journaling and the Library
It is so overwhelming all the resources that are out there. These are ones I found that I think will all tie together. Phonics and spelling is the only thing that should feel like "work" everything else should be fun. This is why I like the hand on approach of the abacus curriculum. Benson won't even know he is doing math. Science will feel like we are playing. History and Language Arts should be an enjoyable time for reading. It all makes sense in my head. Hopefully it will in real life.
Today we made scarecrow necklaces out of a peppermint for the head, a box of raisins for the stomach, tootsie rolls for arms, smarties for legs, and raffia for the string. The boys enjoyed it.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Answer to Prayers
All this reading and research I have been doing has made me crazy. I have officially pulled Benson out of K12.
Let me just start by saying that last week I got a phone call from a lady who also lives in our town and homeschools. I had never met her but she got my name from a mutual friend and asked if we wanted to be apart of a homeschooling group. YES! Of course. The best part is she has a 5 year old boy, a 6 year old boy, another lady has a 6 year old boy, and then there is a 5 year old girl; children his age and there are even boys. We just met this last Wed. and it was fun. I hope it continues to work out well. This is a blessing.
On another note. I spoke with another lady I know whose children are all much older now. She told me about some books she uses. She let me borrow them to look over and I got so excited. I really feel like this is what I have been looking for. In one of my first posts I talked about how I had this vision of what I wanted to accomplish by homeschooling and in my mind how I thought it should be. I have been looking for ways to achieve this and, like I said, K12 was not the answer but it was a good learning experience. It is called The Four Year Plan by Ken and Teri Ebert.
The Four Year Plan is four separate books which can be purchased for around $25 each. It is a well thought out outline to help you accomplish a wide range of topics from LDS scriptures, History, Science, and English. Like I said, it is mostly an outline. There are some great ideas for science experiments, crafts, field trips, and text recommendations (that go along with the subject) that all tie into the scriptures to help you cover each subject that would possibly be required in a formal school setting and more, so you would supplement their plan with additional readings that you would either purchase or get from the library. Each year there are 3 levels: young children, middle aged children, and older children. You repeat each book every 4 years but when you repeat it you go further in depth on the subject. I also love this idea because when you have another child joining your homeschool setting they can just jump right in no matter the year so, as a family you are studying subjects together. So for example:
Year 1 in History you would study the Ancient World;
English, Foundations;
Science, chemistry;
Scriptures, Old Testament.
They even include life skills and a family focus. So with the Ancient World you would also have, depending on the age, the foundations of the English language, the creation as part of chemistry, and the Old Testament as the beginning of time. I am so excited to use this plan. I hope to be able to incorporate it with TJ Ed and Charlotte Mason. Many of the books that "The Plan" recommends are text books. I would prefer to supplement them with the Classics and Living Books. I have some time though and I guess I'll worry about it when I get there. Book also has great tips for organizing and just great gospel insight.
So what am I going to do the rest of the year with Benson? We will work on reading a little every day, I read to him a lot, we will stay away from any form of worksheet (or he will completely shut down) and we will just play, sing songs, and spend time together. That's what we have done the last couple days and they have been amazing. I love my children.
P.S. I am still looking for a good math program. I would like to learn more about some the abacus programs out there, they are very appealing to me. If anyone has any good recommendations I would be interested, though, for now we really need to stay away from worksheets.
Let me just start by saying that last week I got a phone call from a lady who also lives in our town and homeschools. I had never met her but she got my name from a mutual friend and asked if we wanted to be apart of a homeschooling group. YES! Of course. The best part is she has a 5 year old boy, a 6 year old boy, another lady has a 6 year old boy, and then there is a 5 year old girl; children his age and there are even boys. We just met this last Wed. and it was fun. I hope it continues to work out well. This is a blessing.
On another note. I spoke with another lady I know whose children are all much older now. She told me about some books she uses. She let me borrow them to look over and I got so excited. I really feel like this is what I have been looking for. In one of my first posts I talked about how I had this vision of what I wanted to accomplish by homeschooling and in my mind how I thought it should be. I have been looking for ways to achieve this and, like I said, K12 was not the answer but it was a good learning experience. It is called The Four Year Plan by Ken and Teri Ebert.
The Four Year Plan is four separate books which can be purchased for around $25 each. It is a well thought out outline to help you accomplish a wide range of topics from LDS scriptures, History, Science, and English. Like I said, it is mostly an outline. There are some great ideas for science experiments, crafts, field trips, and text recommendations (that go along with the subject) that all tie into the scriptures to help you cover each subject that would possibly be required in a formal school setting and more, so you would supplement their plan with additional readings that you would either purchase or get from the library. Each year there are 3 levels: young children, middle aged children, and older children. You repeat each book every 4 years but when you repeat it you go further in depth on the subject. I also love this idea because when you have another child joining your homeschool setting they can just jump right in no matter the year so, as a family you are studying subjects together. So for example:
Year 1 in History you would study the Ancient World;
English, Foundations;
Science, chemistry;
Scriptures, Old Testament.
They even include life skills and a family focus. So with the Ancient World you would also have, depending on the age, the foundations of the English language, the creation as part of chemistry, and the Old Testament as the beginning of time. I am so excited to use this plan. I hope to be able to incorporate it with TJ Ed and Charlotte Mason. Many of the books that "The Plan" recommends are text books. I would prefer to supplement them with the Classics and Living Books. I have some time though and I guess I'll worry about it when I get there. Book also has great tips for organizing and just great gospel insight.
P.S. I am still looking for a good math program. I would like to learn more about some the abacus programs out there, they are very appealing to me. If anyone has any good recommendations I would be interested, though, for now we really need to stay away from worksheets.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Curriculum Options
Today was a ruff day. We started off on the wrong note so I had to stop and start again several hours later. The last couple days Porter has been taking really early naps so that has worked well and Grant has been entertaining himself by digging up worms. I am afraid of what will happen when the weather is no longer pleasant. The snow is only exciting for so long. Days like today I rethink everything I am doing. Is IDVA the best way to go? We probably won't do it next year. I keep waiting for these great experience that we just are quite reaching. Most days really are good but, I was talking to a lady the other day who homeschooled all her children, which are now grown. She told me how much they loved homeschooling and when she sent them to public school they begged to come home. I am afraid if I put Benson in public school he would rather stay, maybe not. I feel like we are too busy trying to keep up all the things IDVA requires that I am missing out on the fun teaching moments. My aunt was right, it is like a public school in the home. I want to teach Benson about the things around him that are interesting, like 9/11 for history instead of learning animals that are native to Australia. Language Art Lessons have you read the same story 4 times and ask different questions each time like, "What words would you use to describe Jack?" Seriously? For a kindergartener? Math is frustrating too because we are still taking assessments. How do you make a test fun? It's not! You can't! Things like count to 10, count to 20, make a picture graph, and hammer it into them. Phonics is Phonics. We are caught up on assessments there at least. Give me another week and things will be better. I just need to learn to work the system, teach the objectives, move on, then get creative. The thing that I was struggling the most with before was giving up the state curriculum. I was afraid I would forget to teach him something and I don't have $800 to invest in all the 1st grade curriculum kits. Now, I realize if I forget something, it is very likely he will pick up on it anyway. I am doing my homework and couple people have told me they use several resources from the library. We do have a great library for such a small town. I am still exploring other avenues to find a better teaching method. The government method is not for us.
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