Tag Archives: Education

Preschool at Home for 2016-2017 (with a Baby Underfoot)

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It was a difficult decision to not do a community preschool again. Strawberry thrived in preschool last year. She loved her teachers. She loved the people. She loved the crafts, the toys, and the anticipation that she was going again. Our choice to do preschool at home came down to the fact that I missed having a free homeschool schedule, and preschool was a huge cost each month.
With community preschool, we had to say no to playdates and field trips. We had to make sure to be somewhere at a certain time. We could not do storytime at the library. We could not take impromptu walks or bake cookies on days when we felt like it. Instead, we had to make sure to keep preschool schedules on the calendar. This year we’ll be doing preschool at home and with friends, and I hope the atmosphere of spontaneous learning, reading, and playing will translate into a love for learning at home.
Our goal of preschool this year is to learn to love reading and learning together, but especially to build an atmosphere of love in our home! Continue reading →

Homeschool Curriculum Choices for Fourth Grade for 2016-2017

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It’s that time of year again: time to examine what homeschool curriculum choices we have for fourth grade for 2016-2017. In our busy house, self-directed learning is paramount! With a fourth grader, a preschooler, and a soon-to-be toddling baby, it’s sure to be an active year. Using various tools for self-directed learning is a key focus of our choices for the fourth grader.
My fourth grader, Raisin, has showed lots of initiative in working independently this year. I think it helps that we have dropped regular handwriting assignments from his schoolwork. Instead of asking him to handwrite answers, he is able to type and print them out, taping them into the notebook. This eliminated lots of the battles. He will do another year of Keyboarding without Tears. Already, at age 8, he is typing 14 wpm. Not too shabby!

 Fourth grade is a year of greater self-direction for my son in his homeschool work and our curriculum choices.

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Homeschool Curriculum 3rd Grade Plans for 2015-2016

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Homeschool Curriculum 3rd Grade PlansAs much as we have loved having a summer break with no required school work, it is definitely time to start planning for the new year. Since I’m expecting a baby in October, I definitely want to get started sooner rather than later so that we can take an extended break during October and the following months as needed.
This school year, I will be doing third grade with Raisin. Strawberry is 3 and a half and will be starting at a local preschool in September. Continue reading →

Second Grade Curricula

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It’s hard to believe, but I’m ready to share my curricula for my son’s grade year. My daughter, at age 2, is going to be enjoying learning too, but I don’t have anything formal for her this year! From ancient and medieval history to Logic of English, here’s what we will be doing this year.

curricula

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Week in Review: Mom-School

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mom-schoolMy son has found a way for us to enjoy school even more: Mom School. As we do his school during the week, he curates ideas of things to test me on. Then, on Friday, he gave me school.
I had to do a crossword puzzle with all of his spelling words in it.
mom-school-words
Next week, I suppose, we’ll have to learn how to spell SEARCH. Those /er/ phonograms are tricky!
I had to write some other spelling words that he found from his textbook. (He made sure to review the phonograms with me before he gave me the spelling words.)
mom-school-spell
You will notice that a few of the problems were marked incorrect because I either did not write it in cursive (I did not realize that was the assignment, but of course! Why wouldn’t it be! I make him write in cursive all the time) or it was not proper cursive. He was very particular that I write neatly. And he had fun tricking me with the “to/two/too” homophone!
I had to answer some math problems he typed up for me.
mom-school-math
My favorite part of this one is the “I Love Math!” he put on the bottom of the page. I hated Math, but he loves it. This is what homeschooling is about. He also found Microsoft clip art and a border to make it look interesting. He put his name and copyright at the bottom, too, with a link to his blog (“for more information”). Apparently, he sees me making educational products for sale a bit too often. LOL!
And then he asked me some silly questions in Spanish that I had to answer in Spanish. (No picture because this got my son speaking in Spanish!.)
In general, it was quite fun to see him (try to) stump me. He really wanted it to be hard for me. I love how, for him, that means adding 1,000 to a problem.
A fun time was had by all!
How often do you let your students turn around and be your teacher?

Can I Homeschool Even Though I’m Not An Expert?

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notanexpertI have been feeling discouraged this week as I read about theories in education on subjects such as learning to read, how to incorporate play into education, better strategies for teaching kinesthetically, and so forth. I am not an expert in teaching children in anyway.
It is strange that I became discouraged. I began researching these theories in order to improve myself: I want to be the best teacher I can be for my kids. I want to improve. But as a result of reading, I began to wonder if maybe all those people who ask “do you have a teaching degree?” are right: maybe I need to be a teacher to do this right.
I have come to the conclusion that that is wrong for many reasons. Despite the fact that “the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know,” I can teach my children without a teaching degree. The true Teacher is the Spirit of truth.
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Ten Homeschool Learning Tools I Love

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homeschool learning toolsThis week I thought I’d begin joining in with Top Ten Tuesday at Many Little Blessings. But Tuesday has passed and I did not finish this post, so you’ll have to bear with me and take it on Wednesday.

Today I decided to talk about the top ten learning tools I have loved in homeschool thus far. I just finished my first full year, and we’re enjoying a more casual summer, with some unschooling as well as some more formal learning going on! Continue reading →

Daily Learning: Why I Started a Homeschool Blog

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I started a homeschool blog to keep a record of our daily learning in our homeschool. I hope our journey inspires you on your!

Hello? Anyone there? It feels a bit strange to start out on a new blog. But starting a homeschool blog is exciting! Blogging regularly provides a great reminder of the daily learning we all do, be we young children or homeschooling parents.

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