Ten Things We Did This Summer

1. Built a Fort

 

2.  Made Chocolate Pudding Pops



3. Experimented With Vinegar and Baking Soda



4. Picked Some Fruit



5. Planted and Tended a Garden

6. Had a (Giant) Water Balloon Fight

7. Played Barefoot



8. Watched Fireworks

9. Made Jelly (and sampled it!)

10. Visited Friends

I can't believe it's almost over!



Curriculum Plans For The Coming Year

The intention of this post is to give you a look at our curriculum plans for the 2012-2013 school year. However, any list of curriculum used in our eclectic homeschool will automatically be inaccurate and misleading. The problem is that a simple list of curriculum does not show all the things we learn from that are not curriculum. It doesn't show the opportunities we will take advantage of during the school year, nor the various other resources that we add to to those texts. It does not show how we use those texts. Most importantly, it does not reflect the dozens of changes we are sure to make before it is over. What it does do is show you a few of the tools we will be using.

My 16 & 15 year old's Bible study and an
altered notebook to use with the Christian
living books I've assigned for them to read.

So, what's the plan? 
Last year I encountered resistance from a few of my children who were more interested in getting done than getting educated. It was discouraging, and by the end of the year I was pretty burnt out. These three are very alike in personality and learning style. They learn very well by building and doing and experimenting and talking, but they don't want to follow directions or record what they discover. This means that any written assignment becomes a battle ground.

This year has honestly been the most difficult year to plan since we began homeschooling. In fact, we are hoping to start school in four weeks, and I still have not purchased some of my books, nor even decided on everything we will be using. After 12 years of homeschooling, you expect to know everything there is to know about teaching your children. It is hard to admit that your ideas of how to teach don't always match up to how your children learn. In fact, your ideas of how your children learn don't even always match up to how your children learn. So, once again, we will be changing our methods. I'm not sure exactly what this will look like, but I do know that I would like to help my children take a greater interest in their own educations. I want to help them set goals, and give them more freedom in how those goals are accomplished. (Here are two articles I just read that were very helpful: 3 Tips to Transform Your Homeschool Year and Not Working Out?)

I have two students who will be graduating this year and one that will be "unofficially graduating." She will be finishing most of her "scholastic" studies this year, and spend the next year or two on more home-centered studies. (As I was planning out this year, I realized why it is useful to have a plan for all four years of highschool from the beginning. After three very heavy years, there wasn't much left for my three oldest to study this year. I think they would have prefered to spread the load out a little more, but at least we can look forward to a more relaxed year.) So, this year will be one of "tying up loose ends" for my three oldest students.

In addition to their basic subjects, my four youngest students will be doing reports on literature books chosen  off a list of approved titles. They will also be working on scripture memory and will be allowed to choose which verses they work on. Each report written or verse learned will earn them points which they will be able to redeem for (yard sale bought) prizes. Because some of the children have shown weaknesses in  spelling and penmanship (see last paragraph), we will also be emphasizing those.

My  16 and 15 year old sons will be doing the Prepare Thy Work Bible study from Doorposts. In addition to searching the scriptures to learn about the various principles taught, there is a list of supplementary books to read. They, along with their 14 year old sister, will also be doing Auto Upkeep, The Money Book For Teens, penmanship, logic, writing research papers, Bible copywork, and typing. My 14 year old will also be doing Saxon Algebra and the 15 year old a study of animal husbandry/anatomy.

Potato Fruit

For the past few years we have planted a second garden on some space loaned to us on a near-by farm. Today when the children and I went over to weed the potatoes, we were surprised to find small green "tomatoes" growing on one of the plants.

cross pollination?

At first I though that we might be dealing with cross pollination. After all, tomatoes and potatoes are closely related members of the nightshade family. However, when we began finding more fruit on other plants in the garden, I decided that these must be actual potato fruit. Sure enough, a quick search online led me to a site which explains all about these strange green fruit. If you ever find any growing on your own potato plants DON'T eat them. They are poisonous. Really, really cool, but also really poisonous.

potato fruit!

Geometry Puzzle {free printable}

A friend shared this puzzle on Facebook and I thought it would make a nice challenge to keep the kids thinking during their time off of school- so I whipped up a little worksheet.

solution to how many squares puzzle

Menu Form With Cook's Notes

Earlier this year, I took the baby and  flew to Michigan for a cousin's graduation, leaving the house and the rest of the children to the care of my husband. I was gone for almost a week. My oldest daughter (age 13) took over all the cooking during that time.

I had no doubts about her ability to cook (she's been doing it since she was about 6 or 7), however I was concerned that she might not be able to handle all the organizational details that are involved in feeding a family of  eleven nine. In preparation for the trip, I planned the menu (not unusual since I always plan my menus ahead of time) and precooked as much as possible. My secret weapon was a menu with space for "cook's notes" along the side.

my "secret weapon"

In the "cook's notes" I told her things like "Mon: Get out bread and place on counter to thaw for lunch. Get out two packages of hamburger and place in fridge to thaw for Wed. Cook rice for tonight's casserole." Her orders were to look at the menu every morning and find out what she needed to do to prepare the food for the day. Other than a couple of phone calls concerning the location of certain items, it went off without a hitch.

I'm really thinking I ought to make use of this menu for my own benefit. I don't even want to admit how often I forget to thaw the meat for supper. :)

Menu With Cook's Notes



Home Education and The Preschooler

Although I believe strongly that children should be taught as much as possible, as young as possible, I also believe this teaching should take place in a fun and non-pressured environment. I have never set my children down to learn their colors, numbers, or shapes. They pick those up pretty easily in day to day life. Once in a while we do traditional "preschool" activities because they are fun, but not because I think they are necessary.

My children begin "formal" schooling between the ages of 3 and 4, depending on the child, learning phonics in a relaxed way while continuing natural every day learning. Additional learning is introduced casually. I try to bring home books from the library on things that interest my children, but I also use books to introduce them to new interests. Counting and math are learned with manipulatives and games; science and history through crafts, experiments, field trips, and nature walks. Geography studies are really fun to do with little ones because you can play games, do crafts, fix foods, listen to music, and wear costumes.

I try to limit writing as much as possible. Children don't usually have the physical skills for writing until about age 6, and I gave my older children a permanent dislike of writing by pushing too much too soon. Drawing is a fun alternative way to practice these skills, without the pressure (especially drawing exercises where they are supposed to copy step-by-step). Mazes and dot-to-dots also help them to practice pencil control. There are many ways to use notebooking with younger children who aren't writing yet.

Because young children absorb things so easily, it makes sense to include them whenever possible while you are teaching the older children. It also solves the problem of "what to do with the little ones" during school hours. However, it is also good to have some alternatives for the times when it won't work to include them.

Some of the solutions we have come up with are:

1. Take advantage of nap times.
2. Have the older children take turns entertaining the younger ones while you give one-on-one attention to your older students.
3. Teach the little ones to sit quietly for short periods of time and read or color.
4. Have special toys and activities prepared which the little ones can only use during these times.
5. Place them in a safe area (a playpen or their bedroom which is closed off with a baby gate) and allow them to play by themselves while you work with the others.
6. Give them a snack (or scatter cereal or chocolate chips on the floor for a scavenger hunt- they eat off the floor when you aren't watching anyway)

Sometimes, the baby is the lesson

Preschoolers add a lot of noise and chaos to the homeschool. However, their ability to absorb information and their excitement over learning adds sparkle to the learning environment. Sometimes it is necessary to use distraction techniques in order to get the lessons done. But sometimes, the baby is the lesson. Enjoy the days with preschoolers in your homeschool. They will be gone too soon.

Using Anchor Charts In Math Notebooks

One of the easiest ways to begin math notebooking is by having your students create anchor charts for key concepts they are learning. In the traditional classroom environment, an anchor chart is created by the teacher (with student help) and hung on the classroom wall. But in a math notebooking environment, the anchor charts will be created by the student (with teacher help) and placed in a three ring binder for future reference. Pinterest is a great place to search for ideas. Here are a few printable math notebooking pages I have created, as well as links to the anchor charts that inspired them:

• Equal and Un-Equal Fractions inspired by Adventures of First Grade Fractions and Contractions
• Ways To Make 10 inspired by Coaching Chronicles Math Anchor Charts
• Fact Families inspired by Mrs. Zimmerman's Learning Conservatory

This is post is the second in the Math Notebooking Series.

*Go to Part Two of the Math Notebooking Series*