I get this question or comment (I don’t know how you do it) just about every time I tell someone new that I am a stay at home mom and I home school.

So after thinking long and hard I will give the honest answers. I WANT to do it so I make it happen. I know what my priorities are. I plan for what I can and make the chaos work. I humbly sacrifice a personal life outside of my family. I like spending time with my kids. I let go of the little things. I recognize that this is a small chapter in my life….and because it deserves repeating….I WANT to do it so I MAKE it happen!

This lifestyle is a choice. It’s a sacrifice, but it’s a choice that I happily make.

First let’s tackle work. I work inside my home. Some people may think I sit on my ass and read all day, but I work. I have an in home day care. 1 child is all day long, 1 child is half day, and a couple others are before and after school care. Luckily the littlest one that I watch is on a great routine schedule and that is a huge help! 

I also dabble in two direct sale companies….

Shameless plug: www.k4213.myubam.com is My Usborne Books & More website- I LOVE these book and use them in our homeschool. www.keepcollective.com/with/charitydaugherty is my KEEP Collective website. I do not plan this company to be long term, I really just want A LOT of jewelry and its cheaper (and hopefully will end up free) by signing up to sell. Uplines in both of these companies have made the comment that if I put myself out there more, if I assert myself a little more, if I book 1 in home or 1 book fair event I could really get this going. I know what my priorities are and these companies are pretty low on that list. I want to do them for the benefits that they get me personally because I really like the products. BUT do I want them to be long term jobs that I do in and out of the home….no. I don’t have time for that in my life right now. You want to host a facebook party….hit me up girlfriend because I can hook you up!

I am busy with work, especially the home day care aspect. It takes a lot of time to take care of and keep my house clean enough for watching, and after watching, extra kids. So why do it? The answer is simple….money. I hate that is the answer, but it’s true. I stopped babysitting for a while right after our 3^rd child was born and we started struggling. To maintain the lifestyle we do I need to bring in some income also. I do enjoy babysitting and my kids do too. They get to socialize daily, have a little play date every day after school, with the kids I watch. They get to help with the baby’s needs and they get to feel helpful too, so it really is a good thing.

Next is cleaning. I feel like I clean CONSTANTLY with nothing to show for it. When 3 kids are present 24/7 and a few other kids are present for several hours 5 days a week it’s pretty much like a constant tornado. There are no breaks. It is constant. It is crazy. It is frustrating. It makes me feel like I don’t have a clean house, but short of hiring help (which I can’t afford) I have no other option than to continue the cycle.

So how do I do it? Prioritize. What part of the house is most important to keep clean, which rooms can slide when things get tough, which areas can be delegated chores for kids, which areas drive me insane? Well the part of the house that is cleaned up constantly throughout the day is our main living area. That is where the baby crawls around; the toddler plays and eats things off the floor, and where everyone is the majority of the day. That area is played in and picked up a few times a day, vacuumed once a day, straightened a couple more times, dusted most often, and shampooed a few times a year. Next is the kitchen and bathroom. Laundry is in there too. Rooms like our classroom and bedrooms take a backseat because my daycare kids do not go in them and neither do any visitors we have to the house. PRIORITIZE. Clean what NEEDS to be done every day and do the rest when you can. We run our home school on a 6 weeks on 1 week off rotation schedule. My whole family knows on our week off it is go time for cleaning clutter areas! This past week was our week off and I rearranged, reorganized, and cleaned our class room out. Cleaned and reorganized my daughter’s room, cleaned all the little clutter piles that started showing up in the main area of the house and got all the laundry caught up and put away. Whew not much of a break if you think about it, but it was a break in our normal routine and it makes me FEEL good to tackle problem areas. My husband thinks I am weird, but it truly makes me FEEL BETTER when areas that have been building up and bugging me get cleaned up. I actually feel really great about doing that, and when momma feels good everyone is in a good mood!

Now School-- Lesson planning, worksheet printing, sitting down for one on one time in subjects that need special attention, planning, science and art projects, planning, organizing, cleaning, planning, reading, learning, planning, learning, planning, learning….sound like a broken record yet? Home school is also a constant. There are learning opportunities everywhere and my brain somehow seeks out those ideas all the time now.

So I have come to the conclusion that working in my home, cleaning, and homeschooling are constant busy things in my life soooo….now let’s tackle the social aspect. Hahaha.

 I’ve lost friends…or more precisely I have lost acquaintances and “social friends”—you k now those people who only hang out with you as long as you are doing fun stuff. Or only invite you to those parties so you can buy things. As I have crossed over into my 30’s (gasp) I have embraced the saying “quality friends are better than quantity.” Once in a blue moon I get to let my hair down and go out…it’s rare, but it can occasionally happen, usually for a wedding reception ;-) On those occasions I can chat people up and have a really good time with social friends. But on those days when my hair hasn’t been washed in….maybe 2 days, and I haven’t changed my clothes in 24 hours, and I can’t remember if I have drank anything since my cup of coffee I probably left in the microwave this morning because I know I haven’t peed in like 7 hours. On those days, when a friend texts just to ask how my day is going, those are the real friends. That friend also sent a text because she knows I can’t talk on the phone. She knows I haven’t checked snapchat in days. She knows I will forget to respond to a facebook message. She also knows that I may not text her back for hours because when I picked up my phone to check who sent the message my hands were too busy to text back. Socially I am a hermit, because my social life is at the bottom of my list of priorities. I know that makes me a shit friend, but this is only a chapter of my life. I will not be this busy with all these little kids for the rest of my life. My friend knows this and understands that keeping a small line of communication open with me during these rough times will guarantee a stronger relationship when this rough chapter is over.

Does laying all this out make me seem like a tattered ol’ house maid? Sometimes I feel like that! BUT I WANT TO DO IT, SO I MAKE IT HAPPEN!

So how do I do it?

 PRIORITIZE ….PRIORITIZE….. PRIORITIZE

Don’t worry about what other people think (harder to do than say), realize who you are doing this for, cherish the friends that have stuck around, and when you go to bed at night (if you don’t crash immediately) sink into a good book-everyone needs a brain break. Take advantage of a night out or date night if you are lucky enough to get one because everyone needs a little adult time.

Do the best you can. That is all any of us can do. I try every day to be my best and do my best. Learning as we Grow

(fun fact-it took me 3 days to write this because, ya know, who has time to keep up with a blog when every day looks like this)

Following our 6 weeks on 1 week off schedule, we are just finishing up our first week off since the start of our new year. It was far from a relaxing week off for me but I did get a lot of stuff done. The kids took a break from scheduled plans (except PE and Music 4 days a week) and I did some Fall cleaning, decorating, and clothes swapping. Our first 6 weeks were low key with schooling, 3 days a week. Most of what we did was review and making sure they had certain concepts down before we progressed. We tried out some new websites, signed up for some trials to try some new things, and continued with some website that we love.

Some of these websites include:

www.teachyourmonstertoread.com the kids love to play this

www.education.com we tried the free version and decided we like it enough to buy a 1 year subscription. There are some great resources including worksheets and lesson plans available here

www.teacherspayteachers.com I have printed several worksheets and resources from here. I have bought a couple too, but there are so many free ones!

https://allinonehomeschool.com/ (EasyPeasy) good free resource but we do not care for the reading section at all and we don't do the religious section either.

http://www.k12reader.com/ I am loving this website. I have decided we are using this for our spelling for sure and I am still exploring the site for other resources as well.

Www.abcya.com is a website the kids like to play on

I have several more, but that is what I am coming up with off the top of my head. I use Pinterest and just search google when I am looking for something specific.

So why did I decide to do a 3 day work week for our first 6 weeks (and our last 6 weeks before Summer break as well)? Mainly because school should NOT be a stressful,tiring burden for kids. I am striving to make our home school a fun and low stress environment. Learning takes place all day every day, but we do have a schedule for our structured school times. We do not mimic public school and plan for 6-7 hours of confined desk work. We have a list of things to do in a day and we do it. By making a slow transition from having a few weeks off to a 3 day work week it lets myself and the kids adjust to having sit down school time again. Our school/work and relaxing/play time is all in the same location so we all need a little transitioning time to get into the mindset of learning at home.

Last school year was our first time home schooling so we had a bit of a learning curve, trial and error situation getting into a routine that worked for us. Here is or schedule for this year: 

Monday—Reading, Writing, Math, Spelling, Health & Etiquette, Music

Tuesday—Reading, Writing, Math, Spelling, Spanish, PE

Wednesday—Reading, Writing, Math, Spelling Test, Computer Science, Music

Thursday—Reading, Writing, Math, Spanish, Kid's Choice, PE

Friday—Reading, Science, Social Studies, Art

The goal is to be up and done with breakfast by 8. Then we will do a little exercise routine (for all our benefit) for about 10-15 minutes, say the Pledge of Allegance, and start our learning time by about 8:30 to 9am. We will work until lunch time and hopefully be done for the day so they will just have Music and PE scheduled in the afternoon and then be free for imagination play and chores for the rest of the day. Is this a set in stone schedule....NO! Sometimes someone will need a little extra sleep. We will have an appointment scheduled and only some of the work can be done on the go, or someone is just having a bad day. We can and will be flexible. Starting at 10am, taking breaks after every subject and not getting done until 7 in the evening, or being so interested in what we are studying that we just keep going and explore something from 9am until 9pm. Every situation is adaptable, everyone is entitled to a bad day, and as long as we learn something then it has been a successful day. 

I am feeling pretty confident. Hopefully I will have more time for keeping up with this blog in the future. Thank You for keeping up with us. YAY for HOMESCHOOLING!! I can't wait to LEARN AS WE GROW this year!

I have been an Usborne Books & More Consultant for over a year now. I was researching the idea of Homeschooling my kids when I was introduced to this company. It was like a light bulb...YES I can do this! I can sell these books, use my commission and discounts to purchase these great books and use them to teach my kids. I signed up and a few months later I pulled my kids out of Public School and started Home Schooling. I use Usborne Books on a daily basis. Are Usborne Books the only books I use? Absolutely not. BUT they are GREAT books and you CAN create a full curriculum using them if you wanted. Several books are Internet Linked and Internet Referenced. That means inside these books there are links and scan codes for you to use with your tablet or computer to expand the information that is within the books. Very awesome.

So I wanted to Explain a little more HOW these books can be used. Here is a list of Curricula that have Usborne Books built in. If you are using one of these than the books are already built in and you can purchase the books directly from me to go along with your already created curricula.

If you intend to create your own curriculum and want to use Usborne Books & More to do that I have created lists to help you. You can also browse other books for all age levels by searching with the options on the left side of  My Website. There are over 2,000 titles to choose from so the possibilities are endless!

 PRE-K – Kindergarten Age Range

Here are some suggestions for the Pre-K to Kindergarten level. Please note this is only A FEW suggestions there are still so many more options to choose from, this is to just give you an idea of the possibilities.

Reading/Phonics: My First Reading Library, Wipe Clean Books (Letters Focused ones), Learning Pallette K Reading, First Hundred Words, Lift-the-Flap Word Book, Lift-the-Flap Opposites, Finger Match: Reading Readiness and Pre-K Readiness, Farmyard Tales.

Comprehension: Any story book you can read and ask questions for retention some great ones- A Tale of Two Beasts, Going to School, I’m a Dirty Dinosaur, The What if Monster, Who’s Next, Nibbles,  Dan the Taxi Man, Cow Takes a Bow and Other Tales Farmyard Tales, Classic Stories for Little Children (or any illustrated book)

Writing: any Wipe Clean Books help with pen control, letter tracing, and word writing are available as they grow

Math:  First Dot-to-Dot, Wipe Clean book of numbers and first math, Learning Pallette K Math

Science:  themed Flap Books such as Space, What Makes it Rain, How Deep is the Sea, Body Book, Weather Picture Book Pack

Geography:  Children’s Picture Atlas

Art: I can Draw, My First Color Book, Big Drawing, Coloring Books, Fingerprint Activities

Critical Thinking and Fine Motor Skills: Finger Match Sets, Stickers Books, Fingerprint Activities, Maze Book, All Better all Wipe Clean books help with Fine Motor Skills.

This is a list of all the books mentioned above: Pre-K and Kindergarten List

Browse what would interest your little learner and start there, building upon their skill sets and abilities as they grow.

1ST – 3RD Grade Age Range

Reading and Writing: Phonics Readers (Box set available), Phonics workbooks, Series Fiction- Hey Jack and Billie B, My First Story Writing Book, Illustrated Dictionary, Illustrated Grammar and Punctuation, Palette Sets

Reading Comprehension: Illustrated Books such as Aesop, Amelia Who Could fly, Any Series books, Beginner Books

Math:  Learning Palette sets, Wrap-ups, Mastery Sets,  Illustrated Math Dictionaries; Lift the Flap Times Tables

Science: Beginner Books, Weather and Climate, Planet Earth, See Inside How things Work, 50 Science Things to Make and Do

History and Geography: Who Were the First North Americans, Atlas Book and Sticker book available, Timelines of World History, Exploration and Discovery

Art and Fine Motor Skills: What Shall I Draw, Step-by-Step drawing, Paper Airplanes, Sticker Books

This is a list of all the books mentioned above: 1st-3rd Grade List

Browse what would interest your little learner and start there, building upon their skill sets and abilities as they grow.

4TH – 6TH Grade Age Range

Reading and Writing:  Any Series Fiction; Write Your Own Story or Write Your own Adventure Story; Illustrated Thesaurus, A Year In My Life, Illustrated Dictionary

Literature- Illustrated Myths, Adventure Stories, Illustrated Stories

Math: Wrap-Ups, Illustrated Math Dictionaries, This is Not a Math Book

Science:  Discovery Books (Astronomy, Sharks, Snakes), Encyclopedias, Science Dictionary, Pocket Books, Start to Cook, Survival Skills

History and Geography:  Atlas Books, Ancient World, Second World War, Survival Skills, Wrap-Up States and Capitals

Art and Fine Motor Skills: Classical Music, Famous Paintings Children’s Book of Art, Drawing Books, Activity and Sticker Books

This is a list of all the books mentioned above: 4th-6th Grade List

Browse what would interest your little learner and start there, building upon their skill sets and abilities as they grow.

7TH GRADE+ Age Range

Reading and Writing: Write Your Own Story; Write Your own Adventure Story; Write and Draw Your Own Comics; Illustrated Thesaurus, Series Books, True Stories

Literature: Illustrated Originals; Any Series Fiction; World of Shakespeare; True Stories; Dickens, Shakespeare,

Math: This is Not a Math Book, 99 Math Puzzles, Illustrated Math Dictionary

Science:  Illustrated Science Dictionaries- Biology, Chemistry, Physics

History and Geography: World History, World War books, Medieval World, Romans, Greeks, World Religion,

Art: Famous Paintings, Coloring Books, Language Books (French/Spanish)

This is a list of all the books mentioned above: 7+ Grade List

Browse what would interest your little learner and start there, building upon their skill sets and abilities as they grow.

If you would like more information on these books, Homeschooling with them, or joining my team so you can get these books at discounted prices while making some money to pay for extra things then feel free to contact me and visit my website at:

www.k4213.myubam.com

Schooling As We Grow with Awesome books to help us on our Journey! 

Before making the decision to homeschool I researched for about a year. I looked into private schools, but they were too expensive for us. I made pro and con lists of staying in public school versus schooling at home. Although the pros of home schooling far outweighed the cons for us there are still a couple of things that I don't want my kids to miss out on. Seeing their friends regularly, camaraderie with peers their age, participating in Christmas programs, learning and participating in different physical activities in P.E are just a few things on the cons list. So what if we had the opportunity to home school with all the amazing pros, but we were still able to take advantage of some of the pros of public school as well. Would you take advantage if you had the opportunity? Well we decided to take the jump and try it out!

Our state (Illinois) is a very relaxed state to home school in. Thankfully there are not many rules and regulations in regards to home schooling and school districts are able to decide for themselves if they are willing to work with home school families. Luckily for us our district is willing to work with us. Today I enrolled my two homeschoolers part-time for Music and P.E classes only in our local public school. They will both attend together for 45 minutes a day 4 days a week (one class a day alternating days).

The Best of Both Worlds!

This is not an option for everyone. There are also several opportunities for homeschoolers to come together to create their own events and opportunities such as co-ops, YMCA and other similar facilities as well as church groups and activities. We happen to be in a small community with a practically non existent home school community. The closest co-op is 40-60 minutes away and it just wasn't a practical option for us.

My kids are excited to see their friends regularly. They love music and are eager to learn and explore opportunities in that class. I am also glad they will be able to be active regularly through the Winter months with P.E twice a week.

This will be an interesting situation for our family, but we are all eager to try it and hope it works well.

Schooling as We Grow and loving every minute!

WE ARE BACK...but not quite in full swing! 

After 3 full weeks of complete chaos (a.k.a Summer Break) we are slowly getting back into the swing of things. By slowly I mean we are starting off our first 6 weeks with 3 days of schooling a week. Tuesday through Thursday is our buckle down time. Getting back into the swing of things. Back into a routine. Back into a schedule-- I function much better with a schedule and so does everyone else! If we know what to expect from our day/week there are less melt downs, less fighting, less tantrums, and more fun. Don't get me wrong we do some spontaneous fun too, but the overall structure of our day/week is scheduled and that is what works best for us. 

So for our first day we had some fun and did some traditional fun things that I know will be nice to look back on when they are older.

 After pictures. They sat down and filled in some "About Me" type worksheets. Handwriting practice and a base to compare their progress to at the end of the year. We talked about what they would like to learn and explore so I will be looking into trying lapbooks this year. It's time to research and explore now!

I am currently working on our calendar and schedule. I will update those parts of my blog when I have them done! I had 3 weeks off too ya'll so I will be getting back into the swing of things and nailing down some plans as well.

We are Schooling as We Grow....thank you for joining us/keeping up with us on this journey!!

WooHoo It's Summer Break

But What does that mean for us?

We home school year round, so what does Summer break look like for us? Pretty much the same as everyone elses, but in a smaller dose....wait what?

We have 3 weeks off for Summer Break. July 11th through the 29th. BUT for the past 6 weeks and for the 6 weeks following our break we only school 3 days a week. Also because we run on a 6 week on 1 week off schedule we get more free time during the "school year" that those in a traditional school setting don't get.

What can I say about our homeschool journey so far....it has been AMAZING!! For those just clicking in to this blog I pulled my 6 and 7 year old from public school at the Winter/Christmas break (semester end). So for the entire second semester we have been on our home school journey and we are all so much happier. Less fighting, less struggle, less attitude, more sleeping, more family time, more one on one individualized learning.

We are DEFINITELY moving forward with home school and it works well for us. We have had some strange looks, some lost acquaintances, some snooty comments, and blatant eye rolling lip curling attitude from people but you know what....even that is a good learning experience for us. I saw US because we are all learning together, moving forward together, growing together and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So what does Summer break have in store for us? A water park trip, our first professional ball game, a couple Fairs, camping, swimming, exploring....yep just like everyone else! 

What about vacation? We have a little something in the planning stage, BUT we are waiting until school gets back in session so we don't have to fight the crowds hehe! 

During this siesta for the kids the home school mom role isn't so much on break. Sometime within this 3 weeks off I need to write up our year end reports (for our own record keeping purposes). Do some more research and get a schedule lined up for how we will be starting back up and I plan to get some projects planned out. BUT I can do all that pool side with a nice cool drink in my hand because it's Summer Time Baby!

Loving this journey! Schooling As We Grow!

July 4th, 2016

A Great American Holiday. One known for playing outside, barbecues, fireworks, and fun. This year the 4th fell on a Monday so we did out big party and firework show on the Saturday before. When we woke up on Monday to a rainy dreary day I thought it was the perfect time for a school lesson.

WHAT?! School on a Holiday!
Yep! We did school on a holiday, because it was a good teaching moment.

It didn't take long. There is a plethora or information and ideas on the internet. YouTube video's galore and project out the wazoo.

Here is what I went with, but I tweaked it a little for our use: http://townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/2011/07/02/do_this_for_10_minutes_on_the_fourth_of_july

I set the kids up with a coloring sheet while I read and asked them questions.

Before America was a nation, it was a dream -- a dream shared by many people, from many nations, over many generations.

It began with the Pilgrims in 1620, who fled Europe so that they could be free to practice their religion. It continued through the 17th century, as more and more people arrived in a place that came to be known as the New World. In this new world, where you were from didn't matter; what mattered was where you were headed.

As more and more people settled, they started to see themselves as new people -- Americans.

They felt blessed: The land was spacious. The opportunities limitless.

By 1776, a century and a half after the first Pilgrims landed, this new liberty-loving people was ready to create a new nation.

And on July 4 of that year, they did just that. They pronounced themselves to be free of the rule of the English king. We know this statement as the Declaration of Independence.

Q: Why do we celebrate the Fourth of July?

A: Because the Fourth of July is the birthday of the American people -- the day we chose to become the United States of America, a free nation.

Q: Why was America different from all other countries?

A: Because in 1776, all countries were based on nationality, religion, ethnicity or geography. But America was created on the basis of a set of ideas. This is still true today.

Q: What are those ideas?

A: Three ideas summarize what America is all about. They are engraved on every American coin. They are "Liberty," "In God We Trust" and "E Pluribus Unum."

No. 1: "Liberty" means that we are free to pursue our dreams and to go as far in life as hard work and good luck will take us.

No. 2: "In God We Trust" means that America was founded on the belief that our rights and liberties have been granted to us by the Creator. Therefore they cannot be taken away by people.

No. 3: "E Pluribus Unum" is a Latin phrase meaning "From Many, One." Unlike other countries, America is composed of people of every religious, racial, ethnic, cultural and national origin -- and regards every one of them as equally American. Therefore, "out of many (people we become) one" -- Americans.

We Then stood together and said the Pledge Of Allegiance to our flag: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

We then talked about or flag. What it looked like in the beginning and what it looks like now and looked at several pictures on-line.
 Its Symbols

The stripes represent the 13 original colonies.

The 50 stars represent the number of states.

The colors of the flag have meaning as well:

• Red symbolizes Hardiness and Valor.
• White symbolizes Purity and Innocence.
• Blue represents Vigilance, Perseverance and Justice.

They each finger painted their own flags and after they were dry we hung them on the wall in our dining room...and will stay there for a while.

They were so eager to learn and soaked up all the knowledge they could. After doing the flag project we listed to the Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America.

Then we went out to celebrate and play in our own ways Schooling As We Grow!

School is still "in" this Summer

Public School is out for the Summer, but we are still chugging along. Why? To prevent Summer learning loss, to continue to stimulate their ever learning brains, to have “stuff” to do, and a whole host of other reasons.

We just came off of a two week break…yes two weeks. I had us scheduled for one week off, but we were tired plus had things to do so we took two weeks off instead….benefit of making our own schedule at its best! For the next several weeks we will be doing three day school weeks (it is Summer and we need all the sun we can soak up).  So Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we will carve out a couple hours of time to sit and read, do math, writing, and whatever else we want to do.  At the end of this next 6 week stint we will have 3 weeks off before starting back up in new grades!

The plan for right now is to keep chugging along with reviewing, doing practice writing (I have one sloppy child that needs lots of practice), reading, reading comprehension, and did I say reading….there will be a lot of that. The kids are participating in a Library program for the Month of June and then a reading challenge through July.

On a personal note we now have a pool set up in our backyard, the kids have a makeshift pallet club house, the patio will be getting a chalk board for outside school time (and some play time I am sure) this week and the yard is nearly cleaned up for Summer enjoyment! I love watching the kids explore and use their imagination. They find toads daily, build habitats, plant apple seeds (or any seed they can find) daily in random places all over the yard, climb, jump, ride bikes and come up with clever ideas to make things. They play so well together, ages 6 and 7, I am so glad they have each other.

Enjoy Summer everyone! Don’t forget to keep giving kids things to do to exercise and expand their minds whether it be “school work” or free imagination time. They are learning as they grow!

Schooling on the Go. In the Real World. Doing Real Things. Socializing with Real People. 

We went on our first real "Field Trip" today. After I labelled it as "Field Trip" and told the kids we were going on a real field trip I had a brain bubble moment. What is a REAL field trip? What is a FIELD TRIP? Why am I calling our learning experiences by school associated names?

So what we actually did today was go out in the Real World and we learned Real Things with Real People. We also did it in an organized way. Our trip to the zoo was not a reward, free for all, hurry as fast as you can through the exhibits so you can chat with your friends on the playground and retain no useful information experience.

On a Facebook group I am a part of another parent was asking questions about creating worksheets for their child to do at the zoo. Another parent commented "why do you need to do anything? Just let them experience it!" I contemplated and read all the opinions and came to this conclusion: What is a school field trip for a Kindergarten/First Grader? It is an experience, a treat for a year well done, a light at then end of the year long tunnel...is it meant to be a unit study on the habitat and eating habits of the Ring Tailed Lemur? No. BUT why can't it be? For one- to organize and help each student learn about specific animals throughout the zoo would be a HUGE undertaking and quite frankly impossible with a group of 20 or more kids in this age group.

It's also one of the PROS of Homeschooling! We were not on any time table. We didn't have to worry about bus drivers and leaving at a certain time to make it back for school dismissal. We took our time, explored, read animal facts, while also partaking in all the activities and had ample playground time. The kids both said they had the BEST DAY EVER!

So what did I have them do? A scavenger hunt of sorts...

I made it available for Free here if you would like to see the entire thing or use it yourself:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Zoo-Field-Trip-2554514

When we arrived at the zoo there were 6 buses there...all filled with kids that ranged in age from 4 to 8 years old I would guess. When we entered I asked if there was a combined or group ticket that would purchase the admission fee plus the additional activities inside the Zoo. The lady asked if we were part of one of the field trips, to which I answered that we were homeschoolers. To my surprise she said "Oh that is great, I will just let you guys in at the field trip rate." SAY WHAT!! 2 adults, 2 kids (the little was free) admission, train, carousal, animal feed, and a snowcone for each of us for a TOTAL of $26!! I love the small benefits and acts of support we get from certain places!

We all had a blast meeting new people and they each made a friend they hung around with for a while on the playground. We actually learned about some of the animals instead of rushing through with a slight glance into cages. The kids enjoyed filling out their worksheets, using team work to find answers. They constantly asked questions like what a certain animal ate and I feel like it was a great learning experience for them. 

We will definitely be doing more of these hands on, go out in the world and learn, activities. If I can give any advice it's to not over plan. There is a small museum next to the zoo that I thought we might have time for today, but we didn't and that is okay. We arrived at the zoo about 10:30 (after waking up, getting ready, packing a picnic lunch, and driving an hour to get there) and left just before 3 (I wanted to be out of town before the local factories shift was over at 3). We did not have to rush, we let the kids explore at their pace, and they had lots of free play time at the playground as well. 

Slow down, have fun and don't be afraid to make a learning moment out of mundane things. Schooling as We Grow...It's a Way of Life...not a race to the finish.

This will be a long post sorry….I have to play catch-up! I set my alarm for early this morning so I could get up and do some stuff that has been slipping. I literally just went through and deleted over 1,000 e-mails. I feel horrible that my e-mail account has seriously been neglected. I get so many unimportant e-mails so I turned off notifications to my phone-it was dinging all the time and driving me nuts, but they aren’t necessarily spam either. I can tell you one thing I probably will not be winning Publishers Clearing House anytime soon with as far behind as I am doing their e-mails…bummer! Seriously there is not enough time in a day to keep everything in our lives perfect all the time. Food, cleaning, laundry, schooling, activities, grocery shopping, and just the everyday hum drum definitely keeps me busy. My e-mail account, laundry, and the perpetual clutter is what seems to take the back row in our theater of life though.

Mother’s Day was awesome and my kids made me an array of things (some of which I helped with because, let’s face it, if I didn’t do crafts with them who would). I love all of the things they made, but I especially love the little questionnaire that I have made a yearly tradition. I have a feeling that when my children are all grown I will LOVE to look back at these little questionnaires and see how their perception of me changes through the years.

  

 

The other night I had a rare opportunity to have a couple hours of alone time (DH took the kids to his parent’s house to visit and I just wasn’t up for a visit). So 2 glasses of wine and about 45 minutes of youtube videos later and I was pondering the home school life. I came across several video’s that just got to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnC6IABJXOI&feature=youtu.be

Seriously our education system pretty well sucks! I love watching videos and reading articles that solidify our decision to homeschool. I like to know that other people have similar thought patterns. I am not alone in my thinking that there should be a better option. Well that video lead to several others, and then to this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxyKNMrhEvY&sns=fb

Seriously guys! Why are we continuing on a path that just isn’t working? Why are we "judging the fish on how they climb trees!" Why are we continuing to force kids to learn things we know (from experiencing it ourselves) that they will never remember, retain, or use in real life? Why are we forcing our children into a box that is considered “normal” or “the right thing to do.” When our children are little why do we strive for them to be doctors or lawyers and then feel it is our parenting duty to force them to learn on that path? What if they want to create video games, or be a tattoo artist, work in retail, or heaven forbid be a stay at home parent? What if those are the paths our children want to take….is that so bad? I think our society is flawed in that we strive for being the best of the best instead of striving to contribute our specific skills, and most importantly striving to be HAPPY in our life.

Do I want my kids to be doctors or lawyers? Not particularly. Does that make me a weirdo? Probably. Does that make me a bad parent? No.  I want my children to be HAPPY with their life. I want them to feel fulfilled with their life choices, whatever they may be.

As I am playing catch up this morning with some adulating my kids are playing legos and barbies. They are HAPPY! I want that for them above all else. So what if they aren’t interested in being able to break down a sentence into the parts of speech or aren’t the best spellers….have you seen the way people spell things now-a-days anyway? By the time they are adults no one will know what the correct spelling is for anything. I am not saying I will not teach my kids! I am saying why not let them lead the teaching a bit to be subjects they are interested in. Teaching them HOW to learn is more import than pounding information into them at an early age that they will not grasp because honestly they don’t care.

Enough rambling, so an update on our home school…the kiddos are doing well! They’re pretty much done with their respective grades. As I have mentioned before I have a list of what they should be learning at each grade level. We are going through that list, reviewing, filling in gaps, and doing a lot of reading and comprehension activities. I want to make sure they have a solid foundation before we move on to learning new material. We planted our garden and the kids each got to plant something for them to take care of all by themselves. Seriously every day there is something to learn!

Happy Learning and Thank You for Reading!

Making the decision to home school is the hard part. Deciding to withdrawal your child from public school and following through in the middle of the year is the hard part. The looks, the accusations, the silent judgement (and sometimes not so silent) is the hard part. The actual schooling of your kids at home is not hard.

The first step is research. SERIOUS RESEARCH. Join a couple facebook groups about homeschooling and sit back and observe. Save links, take notes; ask questions from people at all stages of their homeschool journey. Find out if there are activities available for homeschool families locally. Think about your family dynamic and your house. Will you be able to set up a separate area in your house that is “school” specific or will you have a cabinet next to the dining room table? Do you want your child to work mostly on-line, all book/workbook with little to no screen time, or a combination of both? Research will help you make all of these decisions.

Don’t think you can afford to homeschool? There are on-line curriculum options that are completely free. There is a GREAT website that lists virtually every home school resource available and it also lists each resource’s stance on common core. Don’t like common core- then don’t use the websites and resources that are explicitly aligned. There is a plethora of worksheets available to print for FREE! You can get workbooks CHEAP all over from the Dollar Tree, to Walmart, to the Five Below store. Places like Goodwill, garage sales, and some on-line groups have GREAT homeschool resources for cheap or in some cases FREE. If you join a group or have a group of friends that homeschool sharing home school materials is a great way to save money too.

There WILL BE trial and error. I started using a few websites and then completely dropped them because my kids didn’t like it. I had a certain idea in my head of the way we were going to do things and it just didn’t pan out. My kids either didn’t respond well or my expectations were a little too high so we scaled back. Trial and error is normal, expected even, and necessary to build a home school routine and lifestyle that works for your whole family.

What homeschool looks like for my family may not, and probably will not, work for your family. Illinois has a very relaxed view or homeschool in terms of keeping records and evaluations (there are none). It is at your discretion to keep records and make sure your child is progressing. BUT if for any reason you are turned in to DCFS you must be able to prove that you are in fact homeschooling your child.

First….do not let the term DCFS scare you! Unless you plan to withdrawal your child from school and let them play zombie video games for 12 hours a day and learn nothing else, but how to defeat whatever monster in whatever the popular game is, then you shouldn’t have a problem. What if you child responds so well to video games? There is a whole Facebook group and lesson plan set up for schooling with Minecraft! Seriously there are so many options to best fit your child’s personality and learning style…which you will find through trial and error.

So what do I do? I keep a home school journal every day. It helps me stay on track and progress. I can look back easily at what we have accomplished day to day. We follow a 6 weeks on 1 week off calendar and at the end of that 6 week stint I write up a one page “report” or summary about what was accomplished in that 6 weeks.

Here is what yesterday looked like for us:

It is not always this long. Tumbling is only one day a week and we also have Piano lessons for both kids one day a week. They practice Piano 2-3 times a week. We watch American Sign Language video’s a couple times a week. There are soooo many video’s on Netflix and Youtube for everything!

Our day usually starts out with a leisure wake up, no dragging the kids out of bed and rushing them out the door. Breakfast, morning chores, and some free time (cartoons/video games) depending on what time they way up. My oldest wakes up before 7 most days and my other 2 sometimes closer to 8.

We try to start “school” about 9a.m. From 9-11am is our sit down worksheet, workbook, pencil to paper school time. They can seriously accomplish A LOT in a solid 2 hour span of time.

I will make note here that we do have a tiny “classroom” set up in our basement, but in the past month or so we have found it easier to bring all pencil boxes and all the sit down work up to the dining room table. My 18 month old has the run of the house right now and it is much easier to keep him entertained if we are in the main part of the house while the kids are doing sit down schooling. He does not bother the kids too much and he feels better being “included” and not separated from us during the sit down time.

After lunch the kids usually have free art time and/or they do their daily journal entry while I am putting the little down for his nap. If we have to drive for afternoon activities (tumbling/piano) or errands then the kids each take turns reading to us on the commute.

Other activities sneak in, but for the most part we are done for the day and the kids have free time and chores to do.

We can rearrange and add to our schedule as needed. If we have doctor appointments and will be in the van for an hour or two; the kids will bring workbooks and learning wrap ups along with their books to read.

I think the biggest thing to remember is it is OUR home school. If something doesn’t work we change it. If the schedule or location needs switched up we do it. If the kids hear or see something they are curious about we can literally drop everything and look it up.

Let the kids explore. Let them learn in ways that are conducive to them. Guide their learning, but don’t dictate too much. Kids are naturally curious and natural learners. My favorite thing about home schooling is that we aren’t governed by benchmarks, tests, and comparisons. We can master one thing before moving on to the next, gently challenge, but not pushing them to move forward before their individual brain is ready. Putting all the kids at the same age in the same box doesn’t work. Yes, some kids thrive with that push, I have a child that does, but I also have a child that doesn’t. That sometimes needs a little extra time on one thing to build a solid confidence level before moving on.

I am no expert, but my main piece of advice is that YOU WILL LEARN! You, as the home school parent will learn as you go. You will learn about your child. You will learn what they need to learn. You will learn how to help your child learn. It’s not hard to home school. Get creative and learn together. Grow together. 

A Little Organization can Save Your Sanity and Time OFF is a Must!

This week is our scheduled week off on our 6 weeks on 1 week off home school plan. It is now Friday and we have spent the entire week decluttering, rearranging, and catching up on house work. Unfortunately it is proving to be a bigger task than I originally planned. I have 3 rooms done (the biggest 3 challenges thankfully), but I now have a HUGE pile in the middle of our play/office room to sort, price, and get ready for a garage sale.

On this Friday morning I have a really long to do list so I can get the rest of the tasks done I had planned for this week. We organized and did a bedroom switch this week by moving my almost 18 month old out of the nursery (tiny room) and into the room with my oldest son. Then we moved all my daughters’ things into the tiny room. Separating them now seemed like the thing to do as privacy is becoming an issue. The task of moving bedrooms took nearly 3 days though, more time than I intended. The kids have been troopers, helping every day, and getting excited about their “new” spaces. I still have a couple more rooms to tackle, including our school room that needs some TLC.

Do you see where I am going with this…..we have worked hard our entire week off!! I still need at least an entire day to organize school work for the next 6 weeks, write my assessment for their progress the last 6 weeks, and get in a good place for kicking off our next sprint. I am hoping my husband can take the kids somewhere Sunday so I can have quiet time for getting all that accomplished! That still does not take care of our “break” problem, so I am having an idea that I need to take a look at our school calendar and schedule a little more time off (a day or two) for this break. Early Spring is when I really get in the mood to Spring Clean anyway so scheduling a little more time off this time of year (now and the future) will be beneficial for us all I think.

Guess What?! Because we home school I can make this split second decision without feeling guilty!! We are chugging along a little ahead of schedule for one kid and right no schedule for another so there is no reason we can’t take an extra day or two when we need it!

We aren’t in a race! I have recently read an article titled “The Secret of Year-Round Homeschooling” (http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2015/year-round-homeschooling) that aligns with my thoughts exactly. This is our first year so there is undoubtedly a learning curve. It is our test year. I am learning as I go and the kids are Learning As They Grow!