Schooling through the Summer

I have never wanted to school through the summer.  This year though, I have had a change of heart.  Well, I have to do it since we are a little behind from our 2 month winter break.  I took time off during and after our move to get settled and re-evaluate our curriculum.  The kids and I are enjoying our new, living books.  It is nice having my busy boys excited to learn!

As the summer gets closer and closer, I am beginning to get more excited about schooling through the summer season.  First of all, it will be a good indoor distraction from the heat.  Everyone keeps telling us that once the temperatures get over 100, it's all the same.  Yikes!  Secondly, it has never been easy for my kids to get back into the school year after the long summer break.  I'm thinking the shorter breaks during the summer will keep them motivated and having fun.  Lastly, my kids learn daily, with or without school, so adding to their play will not only enrich them, but keep their minds sharp and yearning for more.  Learning should be fun and I am praying that my kids will continue to view it that way!

The type of learning we encounter at our house is through play, life experiences and living books.  I was struggling with thoughts of failure for a few days.  I didn't think my first grader was reading enough, working on spelling words enough, or getting grammar concepts down.  It was a waste of my time to entertain these thoughts.  Each child is unique and learns in different ways and at different speeds.  I am not failing.  When I see him get excited during his lessons, it makes my heart feel much better.

To help ease my mind, I did start a new writing journal for him.  I write him a short letter, a few days a week, and leave space for him to write his response to my questions.  I don't help him spell the words.  I ask him to sound them out.  He did not like this the first couple of times, but now he just jumps right into it.  He is having fun while working on his reading, penmanship, spelling and creative writing.  It is a win-win!

I had to put Dash from "The Incredibles" on the cover.  I created the cover in Microsoft Word.  It took me all of 5 minutes to pick the font, color, picture and print it.  He had the biggest grin when he first saw it.  Something a little extra to make it special for him!

Here is a sample of one of the letters I have written to him.  (I made the picture huge so you can read it all!) I go over his spelling with him when he is finished.  I don't make it a big deal if he spells a word wrong.  I praise him for sounding them out so well and then show him the letters he missed.

The few of the topics I have written about so far are summer trips, summer activities, birthday gifts for siblings, and movie characters.  It is fun to read his answers too!

Enjoy your summer, whether you are schooling, unschooling or just playing!

Amanda

My Reluctant Learner

My first grader is what you may call a reluctant learner.  Sitting still and doing book work is not in his vocabulary.  He is a mover and a kinesthetic learner.  He is the exact opposite type of learner than me.  I am constantly coming up with new ideas to make learning happen that doesn't make school seem like it's only listening to stories and copying words, or doing massive amounts of math problems, etc., what he calls 'boring.'

Spelling words are a battle field.  I used to make him look at the word and spell it on a white board.  Then the next day, show him the word, hide it, use it in  a sentence and have him write it.  It was like this for the 4 days we do spelling.  Let me just say, he cringed when I would pull out the white board.  Obviously, this wasn't working for us.  I did the most logical thing I could think of; I went on Pinterest.  

I found some really cool ideas, but only one I could use that he would find cool as well.  Can you guess what it used?  Legos.  I changed a few things about the spelling game so it would fit my plan better.

My spelling words for this week

Here is what I did:

I used an egg carton and put it in the center of a blank sheet of white paper.  I had my list of 10 spelling words and they just happened to have 12 different letters.  (I am currently using the first grade spelling lists from Heart of Dakota's Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory.)  I assigned one letter to each spot.  When my list has more than 12 letters, I'll be adding the lid or another egg container to the game.  I then counted the frequency of each letter and put that many Legos in the corresponding spot.  You can kind of see the Lego man body in the letter "P" spot and the heads in the letter "H" spot.  I separated them so he could build a man as he correctly spelled the words.  I would say the word, show the card to him, use it in a sentence, and hide it.  He would then try to spell the word aloud, picking one Lego piece from each letter spot as he said the letter.  I helped him sound it out and show the card again when needed.  Then, I let him use all the Lego pieces to create his own whatever when we were done.  The first time, we only spelled the words aloud.  I am going to work into having him write each word as well.  I just want it to be fun learning right now.  

Let me tell you that he loved it! *insert "Hallelujah" song*  He wants to play it every day.  Now, I'm frantically coming up with new ways to use the game with other subjects as well!  I love it when school is tons of fun for the one who would rather play all day.

Amanda

Explorers in the Making - Free Science Printable

Science is a favorite subject around our house.  Inventions, animals, plants, weather, we love it all.  Our new attempt at child-led learning is going well, and I am on the lookout for free resources.

Our studies started off this week with snowmobiles, since we watched the X Games.  We have looked at the first snowmobiles, the inventors, where snowmobiles are used, what people used before snowmobiles, and the weather and animals in those areas.  We pulled out our Birds, Nests and Eggs book.

My kids love this book.  We looked at the different birds and tried to pick out the ones that could live in the colder areas.  Then we went to the internet and googled bird range maps of Alaska, the arctic, northern United States, and other cold areas.  The boys wanted to see what birds are in Texas, so we looked at that map as well.

I found the San Antonio Audubon Society webpage.  It was a great reference and had a "Just For Kids" link.  In it, I found lots of free printables and a link to a kids magazine called "Wild Times" which is published in New Hampshire.  You are able to print off the different issues for your own use.  My boys loved it!  They are very age appropriate for lower elementary.  My first grader was able to read the majority of it and could complete all of the activities.  My preschooler loved the pictures, maze and matching in the first issue.  I am definitely adding this to my list of science add-ons.  Have fun exploring science!

Amanda

Winds of Change Blowing from Schooling to more Unschooling

After taking a long winter break, we started homeschooling again this January.  I had not planned on taking a long break. We moved in October, took 2 weeks off to get unpacked and settled in, and began school again.  After 3 weeks of struggling through our days, my hubby and I made the executive decision to stop, regroup and try something different.  

We have been using Heart Of Dakota for most of our schooling.  I enjoy it and so does my 4 year old, working on Pre-K and K.  My 6 year old in 1st grade is not enjoying it as much.  He is a high-energy kid, who likes to move.  Any type of learning that doesn't have him moving or playing is boring and not fun.  I have made up lots of games for him along the way.

This began my look into child-led learning and unschooling.  Such terms were foreign to me.  So let me explain them as I understand them: child-led learning is more like unit studies, but you let the child decide what they want to learn about.  Let's say they show an interest in sharks.  As the educator, I start them on a quest for books about sharks, find educational shows to watch, and visit an aquarium, the ocean or an online live feed of a shark tank.  Then, you incorporate creative writing, which can cover grammar and spelling, geography (map of the oceans), science (life cycle, how gills work, what is cartilage), history (were sharks hunted by people groups, shark attacks), art, math, etc.  If the child shows an interest in the oceans, or say a group of people that hunted the sharks, you start moving in that direction.  I see it as possibly becoming labor intensive since you can't really plan ahead and you would have to make up the curriculum as you go.  But the positive side is that your child would really enjoy learning, since he is interested in every topic you are studying.  

Unschooling is very similar to child-led learning, but I think of it as I have a plan of topics to cover and teach through learning by play, projects, cooking, games, etc.  There are many different ways of looking at the two terms, so please do not take my thoughts as the final say in how to do either of them!  

I have started to move towards unschooling.  Pictured below is my schedule from the beginning of the year, before our move (Monday's column) and after moving (Tuesday's column).  The scheduled times had flown out the window. I just used the order of subjects to keep me on track.  

I was using read-aloud History books for history, science and geography, with the science and geography relating to the history topic.  I changed copy work from poetry lines, which we used in the fall, to sentences from our Bible story.  Jman's (1st grade) reading was a book that I was picking out for him, as well as BG's (pre-k/k) phonics lessons.  Math for both were out of workbooks.  First grade language arts was spelling flashcards and one grammar lesson per week, while pre-k/k was workbooks.  Lots of sitting.

Flash forward to my new schedule, which I started this week.  I threw out the times and strictly went by subjects for the week.  We are doing a lot more together while we figure things out.  I am sticking with the read aloud history, but tweaking the lessons a little to incorporate play while they listen.  For example, today we learned how the pilgrims built board houses.  Why not let them build their own houses with legos while I read?  Or make "logs" out of playdoh? It keeps their hands busy and out of most trouble.  Granted, their little imaginations get going and we have ninja towers, playdoh ice cream cones, but they listened!  

I decided to pick my own science topics and make my own plans, as well as incorporate a few of the fun activities already in my teacher manual.  This week, to go along with building board houses, we are studying beavers.  I tried to keep the two related.  I found books about beavers with pictures and stories and a Wild Kratts episode to watch.  I am keeping the oiled windows activity and build your own wall project.  I'm adding my own art projects to match our science topics.  My goal is to keep things moving and fun.

I'm adjusting math to workbooks and math games every other day for both boys.  I decided to let Jman pick his own books to read to me.  Of course, they are off of a "Special Shelf" that I filled with appropriate leveled books.  Giving him that little bit of executive power makes it exciting for him.  I am sticking with the spelling flashcards and one day of grammar, because I want to have him do a little bit of sitting each day.  It is good to have him be sit and be still for a few minutes.  I kept Jman's copy work to the Bible story.  God has given him a heart for His word and reading and copying it is enjoyable!  

As for BG, I am adding more play activities in his handwriting, like writing letters in bubbles and playdoh.  He is my mellow, sit down and focus child.  So I am keeping it light to keep school fun.

My stack of books and materials hasn't changed much, but the attitudes and levels of excitement have definitely changed for the better! 

I'll let you follow along as we continue to tweak our homeschool unschooling.  Look for more updates to come!

Bugs!!!

We have had lots of fun this week and last week working on bugs!  We should have been done by now, but we have been struck with illness and took a couple of days off.  We are finally on the mend with the help of antibiotics, an inhaler and some cough medicine.

My kids like bugs if they are not crawling on them or biting them.  Learning about them has helped alleviate some of their concern.  I know they love butterflies, so I eased them in to the topic with an enjoyable bug.  I ordered some Painted Lady butterfly caterpillars from Insect Lore and watched them grow, become cocoons and emerge as butterflies.  My kids LOVE them.  Jman keeps telling me he has new best friends.  Funny boy!

We bought some fresh cut flowers to put in their garden.  Which has turned into the boys telling every checkout person, regardless of where we are, that we have butterflies and they love flowers.  Super cute!  

We had one butterfly perish.  We took it out and examined it.  It was good for them to see the wings, legs and antennae up close.  There is always a teaching moment!

My curriculum this week is the Bug Pack printed from 3 Dinosaurs.  My boys have been enjoying it a lot, especially all of the puzzles.  BG, my 3 year old, has benefited a lot from all of the copy pages, tracing, coloring, counting and cutting pages.  His handwriting is amazing and he loves school time.  I've been collecting a lot of random pages to go with each theme I've planned, but I got most of my bug pages from this particular website.   

That's our school week in a quick nutshell!

Blessings,

Homeschool Goodies

On Saturday mornings, we pack our family into the van and we head out to find some garage sales.  It's our way of exploring the community and looking for treasures.  I have really had my eyes open for homeschool books, games, activities, etc. and have come away with some goodies!

 

I found a Sight Words Bingo Games and Ready to Read Box at a garage sale that a teacher was having!  I really enjoyed myself at her house.  :)

I got these Paddington books free when I told the teacher having the garage sale that I was going to homeschool.  She told me to take all the books I wanted for free!  So I took all of the preschool activity books shown below as well.  :)  I try not to go overboard, because I don't want to have SO much stuff in my little house.  I found room for these, though.

I also like to look in Bargain Book bins and Clearance racks for anything that I could use for homeschooling.  I found these Discovery Kids books in the bargain bin at the grocery store.  I got Animal World (Discovery Kids) , Discovery Kids: Amazing Places , and Ocean World (Discovery Kids) .  The boys get excited when they look at them!

Target clearance is one of my favorite places to shop.  I found these maps on clearance there.  They are on a shiny, almost plastic/waxy paper so they are sturdier than normal paper.  I just need to find room on my walls to hang them up. 

I have a thin paper map of the United States hanging in the boys room and we have circled in big black marker where Grandmas and Grandpas, aunts and uncles, and friends live.  BG, my 2 year old, will tell Auntie Ashy that we are far, far away in Texas.  :)

My mother-in-law is a Reading Recovery teacher.  I am always getting fun ideas, games, worksheets, and lapbooks from her.  I got these great ABC picture books from her.  They are perfect for working on letters and speech with my 2 year old.

It has been fun finding everything and incorporating them into my planning.  (I'll have an update on that pretty soon too.  It's coming along slowly, since I don't have a printer anymore.)

Get up early this Saturday and get going to some garage sales.  I hope you find some treasures to bring into your home and enrich your homeschooling experience!!  If nothing else, just have some family fun!  :)

Blessings,

"Not in School" for the Summer

Summer school, or non-school, is what I should call it at my house.  I don't do a particular curriculum over the summer.  We learn through play and exploration.  Just yesterday, my 5 year old found a butterfly in our backyard.  It was no longer living, so we got to look at the eyes, wings and body up close.  The boys wanted to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and asked if we were going to have butterflies again in our house.

We had caterpillars last year during our bug week.  I'm planning on doing the same this year with our very own butterfly garden.  If you buy the garden, you get a voucher for free caterpillars inside the box.  You only have to pay shipping for them.  It was exciting to watch them grow and turn into cocoons and butterflies, even for me.  :)
 

When we're outside, we'll talk about the sun and why it's important to wear sunscreen.  I am constantly reminded that we need to put it on before we go outside now.  I'm working on getting them to wear sunglasses next.  :)

When the grass starts to turn brown, I'll ask the boys if they know why it turned brown.  We'll dump the water from our inflatable pool onto the grass to see if it will make a difference.  Sure enough, the grass will turn green within days and then we'll talk about what the grass needs to grow.  We may comment that "Daddy needs to cut the grass" as well.

Walk around the neighborhood, park, even your own backyard and you'll find something you can pick apart, take a closer look at, admire and talk about.  The best part is teaching your kids about the wonder of creation and showing them God's vivid imagination!

My kids are already getting the itch to start school.  It makes me happy to know they enjoy learning!

Have fun exploring and learning while NOT in school this summer!

Blessings,

Plan into Action...Homeschooling Preparation

My brainstorming for lesson plans...not done nor in order.

I am really getting excited about next year.  Jman will be in Kindergarten and BG will be doing preschool again and little Miss Lulu will be along for the ride!  Brainstorming, online searching, printing, laminating, it's all happening.  I have finally decided to do my own curriculum for K, but I do think I will be doing My Father's World for 1st grade and on.  I had originally decided to go with the K curriculum from My Father's World, but felt that saving some money and making my own units was what I needed to do.  Panic hit me at first, but now that I'm into the swing of things, it is coming together!

Laminating and printing fun

I've had lots of fun planning out units.  I had saved a bunch from last year when I made my own lessons with Jman, so I am going to reuse them and just add in some extra materials for kindergarten.  I still have some work to do...lots more printing, laminating, cutting and organizing!  A few of the websites I've gotten unit ideas and packs from are Homeschool Creations, Totally Tots, and 1+1+1=1.

I am also making a calendar board like the one I found on Homeschool Creations and 1+1+1=1.  My boys have been peeking in on all my printing and laminating and keep asking "What is that for?!?!", "Can we play with that?".  It makes me smile knowing they already like it and haven't seen it in its entirety yet!  (And I'll say that I have already started looking for Velcro coins, laminating pouches,   hooks and rings!)

I'm still coming up with ideas for BG and Lulu to stay busy while I'm helping Jman.  I've come up with a few ideas: sensory boxes to go along with our themes, our Vtech Computer, and workboxes that have coloring books, learning games, puzzles, our Leap Frog Scribble and Write (my preschooler loves this), books and any other fun ideas/trinkets I find to throw in for a particular theme.

I really feel God's hand on me as everything comes together.  His plan does prevail and I know I'm just along for the ride.  I need to keep my ears open so I can hear Him.  I want to be an active participant in this ride of life.  It does make things easier and much more enjoyable!!!

Blessings!

Homeschool Planning

Getting Organized: BEFORE

AFTER

Ok, I'll admit it, I am an organizer.  I plan ahead.  I color coordinate my closet (and my husbands!).  But having 3 kids puts a damper on many of my organizing endeavors.  I have accepted that I will always be living in some sort of chaos and that my plans will often get altered.  It's the life of a mom!

With our homeschool year coming to a close, I have started thinking about planning.  I've been reading homeschool blogs and following more homeschooling moms on Twitter.  It has given me a lot of new ideas.

The first of which, is that I'm thinking about making my own curriculum for K.  Scary?  Yes, a little, but I have found a lot of online websites and printables that have given me a pretty good feel for what I will need.  It is going to be work, but planning and organizing get me excited!

Here are a few websites I've found:

The Homeschool Classroom: http://www.hsclassroom.net/2012/02/top-ten-free-online-phonics-resources-for-preschool-kindergarten-and-beyond/

Homeschool Creations: http://www.homeschoolcreations.com/

3 Dinosars: http://3dinosaurs.com/wordpress/index.php/free-dinosaur-pack/

Walking by the Way: http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/?p=716736

The Better Mom: http://www.thebettermom.com/2012/06/helping-your-child-become-a-better-reader/

Mama Jenn: http://www.mamajennblogs.com

CENTSible Homeschooling: http://www.blessedbeyondadoubt.com

Our Goodwin Journey: http://www.ourgoodwinjourney.com/search/label/homeschooling

There are so many more out there!  I've only touched the tip of the iceberg.  Regardless, you catch my drift that making your own curriculum is possible.

Secondly, I've come to the conclusion that I would love a Homeschool Planner.  The thought of one makes me smile.  The actual process of planning an entire school year is daunting.  My online searching has eased my anxiety.  There are a lot of free planners and women who share their secrets of what what worked for them, how they planned their school year, how far in advance they planned, etc.  It has been reassuring and uplifting.  I know I'm not the only one out there!

Some websites to check out as well:

Homeschool Creations:  http://homeschoolcreations.com/Homeschool-Planner.html  (You will have to purchase this planner, but there are great ideas and lots of free printables to add to your planner!)

Mama Jenn: http://www.mamajennblogs.com/2010/08/my-homeschool-planning-docs.html

CENTSible Homeschooling: http://www.blessedbeyondadoubt.com/2012/04/20/free-homeschool-plannersgeneral-homeschooling-centsible-homeschooling/  (Lots of websites to search from here!)

Money Saving Mom: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/free-printable-and-customizable-homeschool-planners.html

Free Homeschool Deals.com: http://www.freehomeschooldeals.com/free-monthly-homeschool-planner/

I did not print worksheets/forms off of all of these websites, but I did get valuable information from looking at them.

What a whirlwind!  It is an exciting journey.  I'll be keeping you up to date as I get more and more accomplished.

My next goal: finding ways to keep a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old engaged while teaching my kindergartner.  Oh boy!  :)  But I have a few ideas and have seen some great ones.  More to come!

Blessings,

Home School - Crazy Fun!

Oh what fun!  I have been teaching preschool this past year to my 2 boys.  Jman, my 5 year old, loves it.  He is very bright, but gets frustrated easily.  He is a perfectionist and has to do it right the first time.  We practice writing his name, letters, numbers, shapes, etc. and it is a challenge sometimes to get him to keep practicing. It usually involves a little chat before he will try it again.  He is able to sit for the entire lesson of about 25 minutes, but gets distracted when BG starts playing.  BG is only 2, so it is a frequent occurrence.  I'm still learning new ways to keep them focused and finding new tricks to get them to sit still.  Art, dancing, singing, acting out the stories and "racing" during lessons are always winners.  There is never a dull moment during school time!!

I have been researching different curricula for kindergarten.  I'm trying to find something that will work well for my kids.  They have a lot of energy and like to have hands-on, interactive activities.  I want them to have a good biblical foundation as well.  My first year teaching preschool, two years ago, I designed my own curriculum.  I came up with a list of different themed units and got on the computer ever Sunday night to find activities and stories.  It was a lot of fun, but quite a bit of work.  I ended up buying a laminating machine.  It is one of my favorite purchases!  I printed off alphabet flash cards, letter writing worksheets, number flashcards, matching games, mazes, etc.  I found them all free on the Internet, along with other games I created myself.  I laminated them all and bought dry erase markers.  The boys can use the sheets over and over again without having to waste reams of paper.  It is great!
 
This past year I purchased a preschool curriculum teacher's guide that is Bible based.  It has been very easy to teach from and the boys enjoy it.  It just isn't exactly what I'm looking for.  So the hunt is on to find something else!  I think I've found it.  It has been in the back of my mind for a while.  Prayer, research and God's nudging have led us to what we need.  It will be exciting to continue on our home school journey.  It is always an exciting adventure at our house!

Easter School Week

   

This week was a fun week, short but fun!  Here's the breakdown of our week: 

Monday - We read the story of Palm Sunday and The Last Supper out of our Children's Bible.  We also read "Ollie's Easter Eggs".  We practiced writing the letter "E", which I printed off of Confessions of a Homeschooler blog.  BG worked on matching colors and shapes, while Jman practiced his phonics and letters on his learning computer.  I got the idea for the penguins off of the Everything Preschool website (there are 6 of them in total), while I thought of the ladybugs myself.  I don't remember where I got the shape cutouts from, though I know it found it on the internet about 3 years ago!

Tuesday - We read "The Story of Easter" and out of our children's Bible, the story "Jesus Dies" and "I am the Way".  Jman practiced his letter "E" and "B", while BG did some matching and computer games.  Then, Jman worked on matching the Easter eggs shown below taken from Confessions of a Homeschooler blog.  Then we made Easter bunny heads.  I had left over styrofoam balls from our outer space week, so we painted them, added googly eyes and pipe cleaner ears.  

Wednesday - We didn't have school because I had my 34 week midwife checkup. 

Thursday - We read our stories again.  Jman and BG practiced writing the letters "E" and "B".  Then we read and colored our Easter lap books.  I printed them from www.biblestoryprintables.com.  Jman did some more matching, sorting and counting with the Easter Egg cards.  The boys also did some cutting with scissors!  It's a fun break for them.  They made thank you cards for Dad, just for being Dad!  They're extra special because it was Jman's idea.   

That was our week in an "egg shell".  It is a lot of fun and just thought I'd share a little with you.  God's blessings be with you this Easter weekend as we remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us!