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!

Am I doing enough?

Are they learning enough?

Am I a good enough teacher?

Are we spending enough time schooling every day?

Are they keeping up with their public school counterparts?

Will they be made fun of if they learn something at a different pace or time?

I have seen these questions asked in some of the home school groups that I am in on facebook (I ask them of myself as well). I have also seen some great answers to these questions. One of my favorite responses was: It really depends on your description of home schooling, your idea of how home school works, the personality of you children, and how you teach. That was it, that was the response, but asking yourself those questions will help teach you what those above questions mean to you.

We are new to home schooling, but we are learning so much about ourselves every day along with learning the subjects. Public school is so rigorous and stressful. Why is that? I was in public school all my young life, I have nothing against public school, if a situation arises that I have to put my kids back into the public school system it is not something I would FREAK out about. I want to home school because I want my kids to have both more and less. What does MORE mean…… More useless knowledge forced into their little brains? More studying, working harder to get ahead, to be smarter than the smartest kid in class, to be able to brag that my kid can do something that your kid can’t….NO! 

I want more time for them to be kids. I want them to learn at their pace, to be curious and able to explore what they find interesting, to play, to imagine. I want less stress, less peer influence, less bullying, and I want their days to be less packed. I want MORE and LESS.

So how does that factor in to the questions [am I doing enough, am I enough] that I started asking myself and many others ask themselves as well. In our short time homeschooling I have realized that schooling at home is a lifestyle, not a task. We do not sit down for school for a certain amount of time and them we are done for the day. My mind is constantly looking for ways to engage or teach them something all throughout the day.

Before home school they would sometimes ask a questions and I would graze over an answer, say I don’t know hun, or just be too busy to answer. Their constant questions would sometimes get on my nerves….seriously kid I do not know how hot the sun is, you will learn that in school one day! Now my whole outlook is different. Our lives have changed. Now if they ask a question we look it up.

I feel like our lives are less stressed now and that gives us more time for learning. I don’t feel so rushed everywhere we go. Before when we would go out to dinner it always felt rushed. We need to get back home for homework, bath time, etc. Now we go to dinner and we enjoy it, and then we analyze the receipt. We talk about manners, respect, different job positions at the restaurant. If we leave 15 minutes later than we should have, pushing bedtime back 15 minutes for that particular night- oh well! If they need extra sleep in the morning they can just sleep in.

So far in our short journey I can see a change in the kids for the better. We are learning constantly. When my son asks how hot the sun is I can say “you know what buddy, I don’t know, but let’s look it up!” We found out the other day that it is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. Isn’t that amazing and crazy to think about?! Then I had to explain what a million was, and how to write it, and the learning NEVER STOPS!

So, for the questions that I am NOT so worried about keeping answered anymore:

Am I doing enough? We learn new things every day.

Are they learning enough? I found a grade level list of what should be taught to follow, pre common core, we are ticking things off the grade level list as we go.

Am I a good enough teacher? I know my kids better than anyone else, I know how they learn, I know what makes them happy, why would I even consider someone who doesn’t know my child at all could do a better job than me. I CAN LEARN so I can TEACH them HOW TO LEARN!

Are we spending enough time schooling every day? We sit down school for approximately 2 hours a day. We do Reading, Writing, and Math every day rotating Science, PE, and Sign Language throughout the week. Aside from that 2 hours of sit down we learn all day, we read at random times all day, they learn through play and imagination, and we look up any questions that they are curious to know the answer to.

Are they keeping up with the public school counterparts? As mentioned above I have a grade level guide I am going by now so we will stay pretty much on point for the grade level. BUT I am not strict with it. If my child wants to learn something that is a grade ahead we learn it. If one of them is struggling with something we spend more time on it until they FULLY grasp it.

Will they be made fun of if they learn something at a different pace or time? This I can not answer. As of now, no we have not encountered any backlash, but we are still very early in our home school journey. I would hope not, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

The main thing we are focusing on is NOT keeping up and comparing ourselves with the Joe Smoe down the road. The kids will learn what they need to learn. We do not/will not take standardized testing until we need to for College preparation. So being vigorous and learning at a faster pace than their minds can grasp is not something we are interested in. I am NOT pushing the kids past their comfort level. I am NOT stressing them out. We are learning. Most importantly we are learning how to LEARN, because that is what it is all about. As they get older they need to have the knowledge and tools to LEARN what they want/need in their lives.

We have changed out lives to to School and Grow. It is a LIFESTYLE and it was a change pretty easy to make.

Can I just take a minute to say how much we are LOVING home school! 

It seems like everyday my 7 year old son tells me he is so happy we do school at home for one reason or another. Today was one of those days, but it was also a day that meant something to me as well. 

We overslept because I forgot to set my alarm, so the kids and I had to all be ready and out of the house in just under an hour. My youngest had a check up with our pediatrician, which just so happens to be an almost hour commute. YUCK (but the doctor is worth it!) 

My 6 and 7 year old helped each other with breakfast and then helped me get necessities gathered (diaper bag, snacks, drinks, etc) while I was rushing myself through my bathroom routine (hair and makeup in under 15 minutes). As we are loading up I tell the kids to grab school work to do in the van on our way...it is a normal occurrence if we are traveling for more than 10 minutes they bring stuff to do. 

On the way to the doctor's office my son reads two books aloud to us (which helps entertain my youngest who I am throwing fruit loops at from the driver seat) and they both accomplish 2 workbook pages. 

In the doctor's office room there is a set of rhyming flash cards- score! We sit in the floor and do those together. When the doctor walks in (have I mentioned that I seriously love our pediatrician) he says "Ahh the home school family that is always learning, with the mom who somehow finds time to do her hair while juggling it all." He then asks the kids how it is going and they both launch in and begin talking over each other to tell him all about how home school is to which he says "you are doing great mom!" Not even gonna lie, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know our pediatrician supports us.

So we move on to a store and then out to lunch. I have the kids read the menu for themselves, choose what they want, and order when the waitress comes. After we are done eating we look through the receipt and add things together. I get the cash out so we can count how much we will need to pay and the kids are so EXCITED to be involved! I had my son get the right amount of money and take it to the counter to pay and get the change. The cashier praised him for being such a little gentleman--which you could see in his eyes just gave him a self confidence boost. ----See right there folks---real life math, a lesson in manners, and it made my kids heart grow! 

On the commute back they both did a couple more workbook pages and watched Word World (letter sounds and word building cartoon), and as soon as we got home they did their journal entry for the day. 

Homeschooling On The Go, Homeschooling in REAL Life, and something happened to each of us today to boost our confidence (Sis picked out a new dress for Easter and was told that she was very beautiful by the store lady). #homeschoolforthewin

We are into our 3rd month of homeschooling and I feel like we are so much more relaxed. We aren't in a constant rush and it is just....awesome (for lack of a better word). If the kids want to know something we look it up. If they want to cook/bake something we do it. We have a list of school things that need accomplished every day, which can be done all at once or throughout the day, and the rest of the time they can just be kids. Play, use their imagination, create, and be FREE from the hustle and bustle.

WE LOVE IT!

My plan for math is not working!! For our first 6 weeks I did review with the kids, reiterating that they new their addition, making simple bar graphs, comparing numbers, and my 7 year old learned some clock reading.

We are 2 weeks in to our second 6 week stint and I had chosen Moby Max. Some of the website can be accessed for free and then there is a fee for things like reports. There is a one month free trial period, which we are still in, to try the entire site. I am NOT impressed with this website for a comprehensive math curriculum resource. First of all it is Common Core aligned. It does NOT explain how to do things. My 7 year old, first grade, took the placement test and did excellent. When it was time to start lessons he did just fine for a couple of days and then it introduced something new and he didn't know what to do, unfortunately neither did I because it is common core! The Kindergarten placement test was a struggle for my 6 year old. When it was time for lessons it was all above her head and I had to sit and explain every problem. She was getting very frustrated.

WHAT DO I TEACH MY KIDS!!

I was searching for a comprehensive list and what my kids should know at each level. I was hoping for NON COMMON CORE because I just do not agree with the things that are being forced on our children.

I came across this GEM buried in some comments under a post talking about how to teach math on a home school facebook group I am a member of. When I found this I literally squealed. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR! There is a multitude of learning games, websites, printable worksheets, etc. that can seriously be overwhelming. I wanted a list of what my kids should be learning at the APPROPRIATE age level at a NON COMMON CORE standard. Now that I have this list I can teach them each subject and use websites and worksheets to my/their advantage.

I hope this helps others as well. I printed every grade level list and will be keeping it safely in my home school builder in protective sheets. It is a gold mine of useful information.

Thank you to Nevada Homeschool Network for archiving this pre-common core list by World Book (their current list has changed to be common core aligned unfortunately).

I am a happy Home School Mom right now!