Some things we have been thinking about lately...

So you might remember the post from just a week or so ago about KM wanting to be more independent and schedule her own week, well she has decided that she doesn't want that responsibility any longer. Personally, I thought she was doing a decent job, but she was feeling a bit overwhelmed by it and really didn't like that she was doing lessons 6 days a week instead of 4. She has asked if we can go back to the previous setup ~ me giving her the weekly list, which is broken up into four days for her ~ but instead of her doing things right off the bat in the morning, she can do them whenever she wants throughout the day. This is TOTALLY fine with me. However she wants to get her lessons done is up to her. She is starting to really understand that she is in charge of her learning.

A few days ago I was asked by a friend what I would do if KM didn't want to do "lessons" anymore and I was a bit taken aback by this one, as I had no idea what I would do and honestly had never thought of it. There have been programs that she has decided that she doesn't want to complete for whatever reason and that is totally fine. However I don't know, for sure, what I would do if she just flat out didn't want to do any of it.

I think that if she really and truly didn't want to do any lesson work, then I would talk to her and see why she felt that way and/or what her plan would be moving forward. As I also mentioned in previous posts, I truly don't feel like you can force anyone to "learn" anything. You might be able to get them to memorize something or test through something, but in order for them to truly absorb, understand and retain it, they have to be invested and interested. I don't think that my feelings on this will ever change.

Having gone to school and having always done work with me over summers and during vacations, it has just always been the norm for her to do academic studies. She really enjoys the programs that we use. She has a huge hand in the decision making process and makes the final picks on what she will be using, as she is the one that has to do it and why would I want to waste money on something that I would have to fight with her to get done. She is even liking the writing workbook that she has been doing - Spectrum Writing, Grade 8 - which is a huge find! She has goals that she has set for herself and now it is my job to help her get to reach those goals. If for some reason she has a change of heart, I will keep an open-mind and work with her in whatever manner she needs me to. 

Unschooling Video

Bopping around the blogosphere I came across this incredibly interesting video interview of Astra Taylor and her life as an unschooler. It is an incredible glimpse into a really wonderful perspective of the system.

I can't wait til her movie Examined Life becomes available on Netflix streaming on the 23rd!

almost back...

We will be back to lessons starting Sunday. I am trying to take the rest of this week to get myself, my house and my coop responsibilities under control before we delve into lessons here. I am waiting to see what happens with the Littles. I am having some anxiety over it, but I know that it will all work out in the end. We have decided to do a few things on Sundays, as they are generally slow get things done and ready for the next week days around here. KM agreed and thinks that if it will make me feel less pressure with the Littles during the week she is all for it, so we have picked Health and Cultural Studies to do on Sundays. We will wait and see how things really turn out with the kids and how much we can get done before we decide to switch things out anymore. There has been some talk of making the days that we have them more like weekend days, but I really need time that is neither lesson or daycare time - wow what a CONCEPT! Does such time actually exist?
I am bound and determined to find it! Anyway we will be back in full force next week and I am working on coming up with some sort of themes like Science Thursdays that we did during the Summer, but I will have to keep everyone posted on that one!

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - HOW IT ALL FITS TOGETHER

Since I started listing our curriculum picks in August I have been asked a LOT about how we are actually going to implement ALL of the choices that we have made this year and here is a pic from Homeschool Tracker Plus which outlines our weekly plan. ~~~ If you click on it - it will open bigger in another window.

Now pay no regard to most of the timeline on the side as it is very rare that KM EVER gets her work started at 8am! However it just gives a breakdown of how things fit together. Sometimes ELA may take twice as long and Science might take half the time, but this is a good outline so that KM and I can see what it is that should get completed each day. I also am not 100% strict on which day something gets done, if a field trip, outing, playdate or something comes up OR we just don't feel like doing it that day, then we can very easily switch it to another day or move it to the weekend or whatever. I am rather rigid that all of the work gets completed within the week though, otherwise I would feel like we weren't progressing and things would get too piled up!

We upgraded to the PLUS version of the tracker in the fall so that we could save time and paper, by setting up KM's account where she can go in and check her assignments for the week or the day instead of me having to copy them to the whiteboard or write them all out in the planner. It has worked WONDERFULLY during the summer and there have been many times when KM has gone ahead on her own and completed something early so that she could setup a playdate or sleepover or just to get brownie points when asking to do something extra special! This has also helped create a lot more independence when the Littles are here. KM can go into her room and get her things done without having to tempt SC because she has to check with me on what is next.

A mom who is new to homeschooling mentioned recently that she was really concerned about being able to fit everything in and I think this is a big fear for a lot of parents especially those who have taken their kids out of PS. One thing that you have to remember is that you work at your child's pace, you don't have to rush through things to get to the next thing , to get to the next thing. You can work on it for as long or as short an amount of time as your child(ren) need or want you to. There are as many ways to homeschool as there are families who homeschool. Not one family does it EXACTLY the same as the next because no two children are EXACTLY the same! This is the BEAUTY of homeschooling!

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - Everything Else

This is the list of everything else that we will be covering!

Foreign Language - Latin
We will be continuing our Latin study at least through the fall and maybe into the winter...

• Learning Latin Through Mythology - two of KM's favorite things rolled into one, where could you go wrong with that?
  
• Minimus Secundus - KM really like the first level of this book, so I figured we should go for it again!
  

Art -
KM loves art and is very excited we are going to be starting Meet the Master which I got another great deal on through Homeschool Buyers Co-op!


Music -
Another one of KM's favorite areas so we have multiple resources here -

• Piano Adventures Series - this covers her lesson books, artistry and technique, theory, performance practice and her favorite - Christmas songs!
• Music Alive!
• Classics for Kids
• Voice Lessons To Go

Health -
We will be continuing to use the free curriculum supplements from NICHD publications. When I found this resource, just over a year ago, I thought it would be just some small little packets or pamphlets. I ordered almost everyone and nearly fell over when they arrived! These are full sets all ready to go into a 3 ring binder and some come with CD-Rom games and online interaction!
We also will probably be using a few of these websites -

• KidsHealth in the Classroom
• Learn to Be Healthy
• Safe Kids
• BBC's PHSE site
  

Term Elective - KM picks a subject area each term that she would like to know more about!
With the newest baby around so much lately KM has become very interested in learning about child development. It is rather tricky to find information for Middle School at this level, but I did manage to find a few things...by searching under Babysitting Skills!

• Babysitting Handbook - American Girl
• 4H - Child Development Set - I was sooooo excited when I found out that you could just order the 4H curriculums and use them at home!
• REAL LIFE BABY IN OUR HOME 2-3 DAYS A WEEK!
• REAL LIFE TODDLER IN OUR HOME 2-3 DAYS A WEEK!

CO-OP Classes
We will be attending our co-op for two classes this fall, as well as a Theater Group with our local homeschool support network. Our first co-op class will be Geography and loosely based on the Trail Guide to World Geography for the mapping aspects and different parents will be responsible each week to provide the cultural aspects that go along with it. The second class will be on Algebraic Reasoning using Family Math for Middle Schoolers and LOTS of math games. The theater group is the same one that she participated in last spring and they will be continuing to do some work on Shakespeare, as well as some monologues and some skits on famous historical times and people.



I think that is it for our fall session line-up. If you missed any of the previous posts just head to the top of the screen and type in curriculum picks and they should pop right up! Don't know how much we will get done or how many times we will change things around, but we are hoping for the best!

It may be quietier around here for the next few weeks as we take a bit of time off in between sessions! Be sure to let us know how your fall is starting out!

Not-Back-To-School Day - 2009

All of our local public school counterparts headed back to school this morning and we spent the day enjoying some of our favorite things about homeschooling..here is what we did on our NOT-Back-to-School Day!

Got up REALLY early for us - 6:15a so that we could go to Friendly's for breakfast with CJ before he headed out to work.

We came back to the house and KM practiced piano until The Littles got here!

After SC ate her breakfast, jammed on the guitar for a bit....

and KM did her chores we spent some time playing sports on the Wii!

SC wanted her nails painted and KM was happy to accommodate her!

Then went out to enjoy some sunshine!



We went for a silly ride to pick up lunch!


After lunch naps were had by all!

All and all it was a great, relaxing, enjoyable day!!!

How do you celebrate Not-Back-To-School Day?

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - Math

It is that time of year again - KM would be entering 7th grade this year and we are finally finished figuring out what in the world we were going to study! We had made an outline last spring as to what subjects she wanted to learn more about and then I set about the task of finding options that I thought that she would enjoy. Of course if you have been visiting my blog before you may realize that we don't always stick to the full plan so there are some changes since the beginning of the summer! One of the greatest as well as most overwhelming tasks for any homeschooling parent is making that final decision and dishing out that cash for the product with high hopes - all fingers and toes crossed - that it will be as FANTASTIC as it looked online or in the store! So I have decided to post our final decisions here over the next few weeks doing one or two subjects at a time so that it does not get lost in the midst of all the other posts!

So I thought I would start with my favorite subject:

Math -

You may have seen my post in the spring where I mentioned that CJ and I had discussed having KM take a year off from Teaching Textbook. She did Pre-Algebra last year and did a really great job - averaging a very strong 94% -, but I felt that maybe I was rushing her a bit in this area. I really want her to fully understand the concepts and processes of math. So we will be working through some pre-algebra and area specific workbooks at least through fall and winter. Here are the ones we will be starting out with -

• Tables, Charts and Graphs
• Building Basic Skills - Problem Solving Grade 7
• Math Minders Graphing - Grade 7
• The Complete Book of Algebra and Geometry - Grades 5 & 6 - I made this choice because KM has never had much Geometry and the Teaching Textbooks did not cover it at all, so I really feel like she needs this before she moves onto the more advanced concepts in Algebra 1 and Geometry
• Family Math - Middle School Years - Our co-op is going to be doing an algebraic reasoning class using games and projects from this book as well as some great math board and card games.

We will also be using some math software that KM hasn't used in a while to change things up from time to time -

• Cluefinders Math Adventures
• Math Blaster
• Carmen Sandiego Math Detective
• High Achiever Middle School Math 1, 2, & 3
• Middle School Advantage 2007 - Pre-Algebra & Geometry
• Snap! Geometry

I am sure that there will be more to come in this area, as I am ALWAYS finding new things for math - so I will keep posting additions!

What will you do differently this year?

This question was posted on one of my favorite yahoo groups and I thought hmmmm.....what a great blog entry! Here is my list:

1. I feel like I am getting to the point that I am really comfortable with our home learning process, but KM is in the midst of her "middle school" years and I need to really let go a bit to allow her some more independence in her studies. I took her opinion into consideration when I made all of her curriculum choices and allowed her to make the final decision on which programs we would use. This will also be really helpful since I will have not one, but two little ones around my house this fall so she will really need to be a bit more responsible for her own time management.
   
2. I am going to be more flexible with our schedule. I upgraded to the Homeschool Tracker Plus late last spring and I have spent all summer inputting lesson plans and outlines so that I can reschedule things with a click of the mouse! We are also getting to the realization point where it suddenly dawns on you that lessons really don't have to be only Mon-Fri. There have been times this summer were KM has opted to get her lessons done on a rainy Sunday so that Monday she can spend the day in the pool with her friends - and it has worked out FABULOUSLY!
3. I am going to be strict about 3 Stay Days a week! This is for my sanity as well as KM's attitude, as she tends to get REALLY cranky when she is overscheduled. We will also really need to stick with this in order to stay on track with her lessons, as there will be times when we can't work on something with SC running around and wanting to be right in KM's space - see #4.
4. Setting a routine with the little ones. Last year SC got really into coloring and working right next to KM, but as our summer has progressed SC has gotten to the stage in development where she wants KM to stop what she is doing and get right into what SC wants her to do - this is not going to fly come the fall! The tricky part to this is dealing with the newborn -GC- and my sister's rotating schedule so that I don't have the kids the same days each week. I think we are going to work it out where we will have a Week 1 Schedule and a Week 2 Schedule. On week 1 I will have the little ones Mon, Tue, & Sat and Week 2 Wed, Thur. Since our coop is on Mon I think it will work out that we will have the first day be our go day and the second our stay. So that Wk 1 Mon & Wk 2 Wed will be GO Days and I will plan somewhere - park, playground, library, museum something every other Wed and then the Wk 1 Tue & Wk 2 Thur will be STAY days and I will plan art and craft activities, backyard science things, and games for SC to do in the morning while KM works independently. Then I can work with KM in the afternoon during SC's nap. I am optimistic that GC will still be little enough, at least through the winter that I can have her either in the sling or seat right with us. Come next spring when she is starting to crawl we may need to rework a bit again, but for now I think this plan is going to go very well! KM has her lesson books in baskets on a shelf organized by subjects and I am thinking of setting up a somewhat similar system for SC - with like play-doh in one bucket, art stuff in another, instruments in another - so that she feels like she is doing the same type of thing as KM.
   

Our homeschooling experience has brought so many wonderful changes to our family and our lives. As each session goes by and we prepare for the next it is so exciting to see how our lifestyle has changed since we began this journey and how much we continue to grow with each passing season!

What will you be doing differently this year?

Question of Extremes

I think it is hysterical that the top two questions that I have gotten from people over the last two years of homeschooling have been"What about socialization?" and "How do you not overschedule your child?" - one extreme to the other!

Overscheduling is a huge thing because you see all these great classes and opportunities for your family to have a great time, but you still need to have time for lessons, chores and nothing time scheduled!

My homeschooling "GURU" has this system of "stay days" and "go days" that you may have seen me mention before. How this works is you choose a few days a week consistently that you do not go anywhere! Now this does not have to mean that you are locked in the house, but more that you don't have any outside activities planned on those days. For us this is Tues, Wed, Sun. Some people have/need for it to be more than that. Others choose to not schedule anything before 12 or 1. However you work it out the key is to stick to it consistently. Now I do make concessions if there is a Field trip, play date or something like that, but I will not schedule anything that is repeating on those days.

If it is a particular class(es) you are debating over or trying to choose between, another thing is to really think about what the class is and if it will be running again. Would this be something that your child might enjoy more next year, after doing a unit study on the topic, maybe they could wait until spring and take it then, maybe they would enjoy it more when they are older. Most classes that are offered for homeschoolers will run again. Really this is just about prioritizing.

How do you avoid overscheduling in your household?

What to do, what to do?

I think as we move forward in our homeschooling journey, we have begun to discover more and more how much learning takes place outside of the daily "school hours" of 8 to 3. However as I am looking ahead I have been struggling with the combination of what to sign KM up for and what to pass on and hope to do next year. I think that it can be VERY enticing to sign up for great classes that are being offered during the day that are geared to Homeschoolers and also to feel very thankful that these classes are available, but at the same time it can be good to step back and think about what our priorities are for our children and how we can best accomplish our learning goals.

I have made a commitment to work on our local coop program and I really feel like this is something that I need to stick to for the coming year. I have also been looking at one or two other things that I would like KM to participate in, but I need her to make the decision and the commitment for herself. She also needs to understand that some things may have to be sacrificed for others to happen. I think she is old enough to make the decision of where her priorities need to fall. She needs to understand that the commitment has to come from her and she must do the work in order for it to be a successful and worthwhile endeavor.

We had a very long discussion about what she wants to accomplish and what her goals are going to be for the coming year and I think that she really is starting to understand that her education is based on what she wants to make of it. We have both come to realize that in order for something to be truly learned, it needs to be much more ingrained into your being - to have content and connection to the things around you, rather than just random facts memorized in order to fill in the correct bubbles.

As we get farther and farther away from our old ways of thinking and that tape that constantly plays inside my head seems to get quieter and quieter - she seems to be learning more and MORE. Of course not just learning it for the moment, but really retaining and recalling the information in situations that relate to it. The transformation has been so amazing to me!

Over this summer we will be working on a more independent study approach to things. I will not be reading right along with her or standing over her shoulder until it is done. I need to know that I can give her an assignment and she will complete it. If this can be done, then I am more than willing to allow her to commit herself to more classes and outside activities in the fall. If not than we really will need to look at what sacrifices she is willing to make in order to obtain the goals that she has set for herself...not sure how this one will turn out, but I am truly keeping my fingers crossed for it!

Another Revamp ----

While I was traipsing around the blog-o-sphere last night I came across the post of a fellow homeschooling mom blogger Summer Fae - here - who had typed about her case of HMP - Homeschool Mom Panic!

This of course is the worst sort of mom panic, because your child's entire FUTURE rests in your meager little hands. There is no "awful teacher" to blame it on - except yourself - no "student peer pressure" to blame that behavior on - except those other children you have in your house - and no "school bus driver" who they picked up those bad road rage words from - I would never say those things!

Once you get past those wretched truths, you can soon come to realize that this is also the best sort of mom panic because you have total control over the situation - of course you may want to consult that co-principle that some of you have and then again you may not. You have the right to decide when, where, what and how your children are learning! The best part of homeschooling is that revamp policy that says "hey if it isn't working try something different or scrap it all together".

Here at GCK Homeschool we are working on an experiment in timing. We have found that trying to get KM to wake up, eat breakfast, brush her teeth and get ready to start her bookwork in the morning is just not worth the fight! It was getting to feel like we were back to the rush rush rush out the door feelings we used to have when she went to PS and I just don't have it in me to fight that battle anymore!

So instead, we are letting KM get out of bed and have breakfast at a leisurely pace. She has been watching some great Discovery Channel DVDs on the laptop during breakfast - presently she has been enjoying the Secrets of Archaeology Series which we got from the library. We then ease into our geography/holiday project we have been working on "Holidays Around the World" - pictures of that will be posted later in the week. We have been doing some yoga, silly games, exercises and chores after that, which brings us just about to lunch time. While I start lunch KM goes in and gets her daily estimation, daily writing, daily science question and Wordly Wise assignments done - which generally takes about 20-25 minutes to get done when she wants them to. During lunch we have been listening to audio books together - we just finished up the Redwall Collection by Brian Jacques, which is such a great story for audio books! After lunch we work on History, Science, Foreign Language, or whichever elective we have planned for that day. She has some free time in the afternoon, which she has been spending either on the computer or reading a lot lately. Then KM does her Teaching Textbooks assignment on her own in the later afternoon early evening.

Some days it feels like a lot or like the day is dragging on forever, but there are no fights in the morning to "get into gear" - CJ's favorite morning euphemism - and besides her daily things, she seems to be getting most of her other work done in 2 or 3 days instead of 5 - which is FINE by me! She seems to be much more able to focus and get things done when she hasn't been rushed into starting.

I don't know if this revamp will last forever and I am sure that it won't be our last, but I do know that at the moment it has calmed my HMP attacks quite a bit!

Are we spoiled?

Disclaimer: for those of you who read this and aren't homeschoolers I truly apologize ahead of time and suggest that maybe you skip reading this entry. I would also like to reiterate the fact that we have only been homeschooling for 8 mo, so for those of you who are homeschoolers I believe you will truly understand what I mean by this...

KM and I took a trip into the Museum of Science today. I just got an annual membership a few weeks ago because she has always loved going and exploring this museum and with all the other benefits you get with a membership I managed to work it into our homeschool budget. So I planned this day in so that I could really look around and see how I could incorporate what they have with what we were planning on learning in science this year.

We started out -as always - in the math section. KM was a little bit disappointed as three of her favorite areas were down and needing repairs. In all the times we had gone to this museum we had never managed to see the whole Lightning Show presentation that they have so we decided to head in there early to make sure we got a clear view. We parked ourselves on the second level so that we could get a really good view of the lightning, but not too far away from the speaker. We had been sitting there for about 15 minutes waiting patiently for the show and when it started there was a sudden mad dash of people hovering in around us. This women with her three very young children shoved her way onto the end of the bench we were sitting on and her son kept poking KM who was trying very hard to listen to the description and be polite to the young boy at the same time. At the first crack of lightning all three of her kids let out these unbelievable ear piercing screeches, to the point the man running the show (a level below us mind you) said "and that is why we don't recommend having young children present!" Glad he said it cause I was thinking it. She took her children out of the room and we would have thoroughly enjoyed the remainder of the show if people hadn't kept pushing in around us. We were sitting on a bench with no back and I just don't understand how in those types of situations all respect of other's personal space is shoved out the window. The just keep inching forward and leaning in on you - it drives me CRAZY!

After the show we went and got lunch, checked out the live animal center where they have endangered and rescued animals, and then into the Science in the Park area - another of KM's favorites. In here the children were running everywhere, pushing and shoving, paying no attention to who was in line next just getting to where they wanted to go. I also noticed that there were quite a few attractions that were being repaired in this area as well. We then decided to go through my favorite area the butterfly exhibit, we got our tickets and while we waited for our time slot to come up we walked through and area I don't really remember ever seeing before...

This whole area had all different optical illusions and art pieces.

Maybe she will do her chores now?

This one showed how photography had developed through the ages. When you clicked the trigger it showed how differently images looked through the lens of cameras throughout their development.

Then it was time to go visit the butterflies...

These were some of the better pics of the day. I didn't get as many from the area as I usually do because we had to be ushered through because there were a few boys that were trying to "free" the butterflies.

As we were leaving this exhibit I asked KM where she wanted to head next and I was very surprised when she said, "Would you mind if we headed home?" Now it is not like we had just gotten there we were coming up close on our 4th hour in the Museum, but the surprising part was that I usually have to fight the "can we just look at this - I didn't get to look at that though" the whole way out of the museum, through the lobby and into the parking garage. When I asked her why she said - "I just really think we should come back in September." Out of the mouths of babes as they say & I must say I gladly agreed with her.

Museums are different places when Public/Private/Traditional/Whatever Schools are in session. If you are not a homeschooler and you don't believe me, keep your kids home for a "family field trip" one of these days and you will see what I mean! As I said in the beginning those of you who homeschool surely understand what I am talking about.

Please understand that it is not that I think that other people don't know how to behave in these situations or that they don't have a right to be there as that is not the case. I just think that we have been spoiled by being able to go to the museums, gardens, parks, movies, etc during "regular" school hours when there are not gobs and gobs of people attending. I also feel sorry for the children & parents for that matter, who are rushed through these exhibits and barely get a chance to really see what they are about because either someone else is waiting or they need to get through the entire museum in one day. I am glad that our family is fortunate enough to be able to really enjoy the museum at our own pace - at least 9 months out of the year we are anyway!