My advice for the new homeschooler.

Question:

What advice do you have for those considering homeschooling, or just starting out?

Answer:

My advice would be to prioritize what you want for your children.  As an example, my priorities are

1. Relationship with God
2. Relationship with me
3. Character
4. Academics

Then base your homeschooling style and curriculum choices around your priorities.

Now for me having academics last does not mean I want dumb children.  It just means that I look for those other qualities in curriculum first. 

My next advice would be to start out slow.  With the basic subjects first.  Reading, Writing, Math.  As you get the hang of it, you will know when you are ready to add in other subjects, such as History, Science, Art, etc.  However, you can about those subjects through reading, writing, and math as well. 

Next, Do NOT compare yourself or your children to others.  I am sure you will hear that from most homeschoolers out there.  We are all different in different situations.

Know that you will have bad days, everybody does, including school teachers.  Know that things will not always go as planned, you may be ahead of schedule, but most likely you will be behind.  It’s ok.   

When I was considering homeschooling I did alot of research, ALOT.  I checked out every book from the library on homeschooling. My favorite book was Homeschooling, Take a Deep Breath, You Can Do This.  I searched the internet, read blogs, etc.  I even began after-schooling, before I pulled them out of public school.  That way we could all get our feet wet with it before jumping in.   I also know that if things change and it really doesn’t work out.  The public school will be there.  However, I do not live day to day thinking that I want to send them back.  It just made me feel more comfortable in the beginning.  Now, I don’t even think of sending them back.  However, I have enrolled Katey in public school Kindergarten for a half day.  I have various reasons for doing so.  However, she will still be doing homeschool after school.  So we get that quality time together. 

To see what advice other have, check out The Old Schoolhouse Blog Cruise.

My school room…. umm house.

Well this weeks theme over at Heart of The Matter is your school room. 

***Update*** Since this post was written we have moved, here is our new school area!

I must say in my house, there is no spare room for a school room.   We just utilize each room in our house.   Alot of things are done in the kitchen, because that is where I have a small bookshelf that I store some supplies.  And recently I have incorporated workboxes into our school and they are also stored in our kitchen.  You can see how I did that here. 

Sometimes we learn right on the frontroom floor.

Sometimes we use our big picture window in the kitchen as a writing board.  This day we were learning how to play suduko.

We often have “reading picnics” outside in our yard, or at a local park.

My older two children each have a desk and a bookshelf in their rooms, that way if they feel they need to be alone to work quietly.  They can go their.  They also each have their own favorite and current reading books in there.


If we are doing a more active/ loud activity we usually head downstairs to the family room.  (Especially if the baby is napping.)  This was us doing our Mexican Hat dance with history vocabulary words.

I don’t even know if we had a specific room for school if that would work for us. Since I often need to be doing other things around the house as well as helping each child.  There are many days that I do long for a school room, I have often thought about turning our TV room into a school room, but I just don’t know if it would work for us.  I might try that in the future, but for now, this is what works for us.

Family Bike Ride

 

 

A while ago I posted our Summer Bucket List.  We have been working at getting things checked off it all Summer.  We have decided that we would give ourselves until Sept 30 to get it all done.  We decided since we don’t really have a deadline, some of the things we would just rather do in the fall, when it’s cooler (mostly the zoo and hiking). Plus those things are just less busy when public school is in.

 

However we have been doing some things on it.

We rode our bikes along the Legacy Trail. 

 

The kids had really been wanting to ride their bikes on a bridge that goes over the highway.  They thought this was so cool.   We haven’t been on the trail in over a year.  I just haven’t gotten out much since Tyler was born.  But we were able to get a babysitter for him so we could all ride.  What fun. 

Art Expression

Today I explained that we were going to do a type of abstract art.   I told them we were going to just draw random shapes with chalk.  They loved it.

 

This is Emily’s masterpiece.  Emily, Katey and Tyler drawing.

This was my sample drawing.  I am pretty proud of it.

A is for….

Apple Tree

We made this cute apple tree craft.

We did some letter A Playdoh mats.

We had some “A” snacks.

Ants on a log (celery and PB or cream cheese and raisins)

We tried dried apples.

We made this cute Alligator A from No Time For Flashcards.

We played find the A or a game. (we looked for words around our house or objects that started with the a sound.)

We practiced writing letter a, A. 

We played this letter A game from Kidssoup.

 

We had so much fun learning the letter A. 

To see what others are doing check out Homeschool Creations

Yes, I buy my Oreos in bulk

 

Oreos are a staple in our house, but not because we eat them every day.  But because they mean special time for my husband and I.  About once a week, after the kids go to bed, we pour us a glass of milk and get out the Oreos and just talk, or enjoy a show together on the couch. 

 

One box usually lasts about 2 months, and the cost me about $10.  And these are some of my most memorable times with my husband.  It keeps us connected and gives us time for just us.  We don’t even have to go out, or spend any money.

 

So whenever am shopping and I see a box of Oreos.  I just immediately think of how much I love my husband and the special times we have together over a package of Oreos. 

Katey knows the Alphabet song!

I am so proud of her!


I had no idea, how to teach the alphabet song.  I looked and their were tons of ideas about teaching the individual letters and sounds, but not much on the alphabet song. 

So how did I do it?  I just sang it to her every time I though about it.  Soon she began singing some of the letters with me.  Then she began to sing the entire song with me, and just the other day, I had her sing the song to me.

 By the way, please excuse the swimsuit, we were heading out to the pool.