2015 Curriculum Plan

   

                   

            

As we soak every moment out of summer, I am simultaneously planning and purchasing for our upcoming school year. This year I will officially have five students, although my oldest student is only in my school this year, because I discovered through trial and error that trying to get scholarship funds to a Christian college is much easier if you are applying as a freshman than as a transfer student. For this reason, my oldest son will do one more year of high school to better prepare him to transfer as a freshman, and hopefully get some financial help with his schooling. I will update next year, with the results of this experiment

I will also be sending my other high school student to community college with the oldest three. This is another experiment. Only time will tell if it is a good one. He took an online class at the community college last year and scored well, so I feel it is worth a try to let him take two days a week of classes with his older siblings. Although I am presently not willing to send my children to public school (aside from my spiritual objections, I feel that high school wastes a lot of time) I do believe that older boys especially might benefit from the instruction of someone other than their mother as they grow. Especially this mother. I love teaching the younger years, but because I tend towards being a little better at relationships than consequences, having the experience of a classroom with a teacher who doesn't love them, might benefit my kids as they grow. So far, it has worked well for my students, and we will see how this one does.

Without further explanations, here is the plan.

                              

1st Grade Boy

Math Mammoth, Level 1

Prescripts Scripture Cursive

Spell To Write and Read/All About Spelling

Explode The Code Book 2

    

Rod and Staff Reading, Grade One, readers only

Mystery of History, Ancient Times

    

Apologia Flying Creatures

    

4th Grade Girl

Math U See Delta

Bible Copywork

 Jr. Analytical Grammar

I.E.W. Ancient History Writing Lessons

Spell To Write and Read

    

Memoria Cursive

Ancient History Reading List

Mystery Of History Ancient History

Apologia Flying Creatures

8th Grade Boy

Life of Fred Algebra

                                             

Bible Copywork

Jr Analytical Grammar

 (I will do this as a class with the younger sister,

 followed by Jr. Analytical Grammar Mechanics or R&S Grammar)

Theme Essays with Co-op

I.E.W. Ancient History Writing Lessons

Ancient History Reading List

Apologia General Science

Studies in World History-Stobaugh

                                             

  

10th Grade Boy

Algebra-Community College

Theme Analysis with Co-op

Ancient History Reading List

Beginning Painting-Community College

Philosophy 1 (audit Community College class with older siblings)

English 1A (semester 2)

Studies in World History-Stobaugh

Spanish 2-BJU

12th Grade Boy

Study hard for SAT

Chemistry- Community College

Geometry- Community College

U.S. History

The children also do martial arts and ballet for physical education, as well as music lessons, for, well, music.

For science and history, we will focus more on notebook pages with illustrated and written narration than on using tests or worksheets to assess their progress. We will do experiments and hands on work in our co-op.

For Bible, I am using Long Story Short and The 18 Inch Journey as my curriculum. We will also be reading through the Old Testament and copying Bible verses. 

                                            

    

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Homeschool Planning

I have been busy over the last few days feverishly sipping iced coffee and working on plans for our upcoming school year. Although a few of my students were still finishing up stuff from last year as I worked, that small fact won't deter me from getting started on our plans for a new year. I will have five students in the coming year, and although I will be sending a few of my students to community college for some of their classes, it is still a tremendous amount of planning.

The very first step for me when planning our homeschool year, is to evaluate what went well in the year we just (nearly) finished. If a curriculum was causing a lot of frustration, then it it will probably not be used again. Same thing with classes and activities; because there are so many of us, I have to carefully evaluate what we spend our time and money on.

The homeschool planner by Alicia Hutchinson has been a great resource for me this year, as I work on this process. I usually pull together calendars and lesson plans from various sources on the internet, but when I saw that Alicia had put together a planner that was sold as a download so I could easily fit the pages into my existing binder system, I was really excited to try it.

One of the first pages that I used was the, "More Of This, and Less of This" page. Tools like this, really help me to nail down my thoughts so that my planning makes sense.

Once I had jotted down some thoughts there, I printed one of the lesson plan pages which I used to jot down ideas of which curriculum I would use for each child. This provided a helpful grid for remembering which subjects I needed to cover as I hashed out what resources I would need. As I filled in the squares with book and curriculum ideas, I then made notes at the bottom of the page about which subjects I would need to purchase. As a long time homeschooler, I am blessed to be able to pull from a stash of books that I have collected through the years. This is one of many ways that I am able to homeschool on a budget. 

I also started a comprehensive list of what books we would be reading in the coming school year. I don't want our schooling to be just about getting through a textbook, but I want my children to interact with real ideas from living books, the kind of books that bring history to life. The planner from Alicia also included a helpful resource for book lists. 

If only the work ended there, but unfortunately, the next task usually takes the longest. Before I can get my students baskets filled with their new books, I have to weed through the pictures and pencil stumps and (mostly) finished workbooks to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. I used to keep nearly every bit of work, until a helpful friend recommended just keeping a few samples. You could check with your state, but this article from HSLDA suggests keeping samples of work, attendance records and records of what curriculum you used, among other things, but doesn't say that I have to keep every single workbook page. Sweet relief.

I did find that since we moved away from using so many workbooks, and more towards integrating written and oral narration, our keepers are much more fun. I ended up stapling some of the best ones into a booklet that we could flip through later to remember our happy homeschool year. This amazing post by Jodi Mockabee gives some more clever ideas for saving your children's best work.

Once I had gone through and cleaned out the baskets, they were ready to fill with our new curriculum, which I am slowly compiling. As I filed last years school work, I also averaged out test scores to give grades to my high school and junior high students, and filled in simple report cards for all of them. We don't make a big deal about grades in our house, everyone is expected to give their best effort, but I do start coaching them on the importance of grades as they enter the junior high and high school years. That is when grades start adding up to money for college, if that is the path they choose.

Once all the grades have been logged and last years school work filed, I am left with empty baskets and a happy list of what we will be studying in the coming year. There is plenty more to do, before I officially start school, but I am super happy to have the most difficult jobs behind me so I can get back to reading aloud to my kids.

I was blessed with a review copy of the planner, which is well worth its bargain price tag. It had tons of options for planner pages, and is a great tool for getting your homeschool organized.

Homeschool Speech and Debate

We just returned from participating in two back-to-back STOA speech tournaments. As I recover from the exhaustion which wandering around a campus with hundreds of teenagers has induced, I am reflecting on all that we learned from our experience.

We began the year by participating in a speech club with some local families. The boys enjoyed going to club, and the experience helped them to craft an organized essay and respond well to critiques from other parents. As part of the club requirements, we needed to participate in a minimum of two events. Many of the families had signed up for as many as eight tournaments, which in retrospect is a huge commitment of time and money.

We arrived at our first tournament, bright and early on a Monday morning. There might have been some mild hysterics in the car on the way up, but once we got there and they saw all the interesting young people, who were also clad in conservative dress suits, looking like so many mini business people, they started to get excited about competing, or at least about playing ninja and discussing LOTR.

As a parent, I was required to judge, so my two littles and I were given a round of humorous speeches to listen to. Only a couple of the eight speeches were actually funny, but having to tell teenagers that their efforts at inducing laughs were in vain, is not my jam. I gave my best shot at being constructive and kind on the ballots, as the critique forms are called.

On the third day we were required to show up by 7 am to see if any of our children had "broken" as they call making it to finals. Unfortunately, my boys had ranked fifth and below on nearly every ballot, which was quite disappointing. After we spoke with some of the moms, who had been doing it for a few years, but whose children had rarely broken either, we were mildly encouraged that it wasn't just us.

The next tournament, just a week later was not quite as confusing, since our previous experience was so fresh in our mind. We arrived, once again at the ungodly hour of 7am, dropped off our snacks and scripts and worked on finding our rooms. 

Again, I had to bring my two youngest children and when I had finished all my other duties, I was assigned a round to judge. This was a round of eight persuasive speeches and in order to give them my full attention I had left my 6 year old in the care of his older brother. About two speeches in, the older brother dropped him off, saying that he could no longer handle him. Embarrassing, but it would get worse. 

He was pretty quiet through the speeches, merely knocking his swivel chair against the bookshelves a few times in a passive aggressive show of protest, but by the eighth speech he was done. He quietly wandered up behind the speaker, picked up a soft ball, and lobbed it in the direction of the young speaker. I responded by running my hand deftly across my neck, a motion which I hoped would clearly communicate my disapproval. Needless to say, I gave the patient speaker first place, if not for his clever speech, then assuredly for his ability to concentrate amid the distractions. 

The boys finished up the tournament again without placing. I loved their speeches, one boy had written about the benefits of twelve year olds having part time labor and the other had written about finding joy in a world of sorrow, based on a book he wrote by the same name. However, as we watched the young people who swept the trophies, it was clear that their families had put in much more time than ourselves. One highly organized mother had invested in a week of speech camp for her successful teens, and another family had boys who were involved in many online classes, as well as having a father who was both a lawyer and their coach. It was like being at a gathering of the Tiger Mothers (and fathers) of the homeschool world.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Our year of speech was a worthwhile experience. My boys had the opportunity to craft an organized essay, respond well to critique, and get input from other caring mothers. We are very grateful to all the amazing people who contributed to our year, and the tournament. 

Would we do it again? I hope not. Although it was worthwhile, the idea of spending days away from home, hundreds of dollars on tournaments, and neglecting the schooling of the younger ones to be there, does not appeal to me. Although it is a wonderful opportunity for some families, it is not for everyone.

In speaking to adult alumni and their parents, it seems that the results are mixed as well. Some of them got scholarships, while others needed loans. Some had gone to college and others started their own businesses. One mother inferred that her chronic fatigue was a result of her years of debate. Another mother inferred that her children had become much more confident communicators, while another mother felt that her children had also gotten better at arguing with her, as a result of their experience. So, it seems that like many activities we put our time into; sports, lessons, and clubs, the results are mixed.

My prayer is that as homeschool parents, we would use our variety of gifts to encourage our students. Science clubs, art co-ops, choirs, business apprenticeships, 4H, and drama groups are all wonderful ways to encourage our students, and to develop the many different gifts that God has placed in our children.

If your community doesn't have a group that fits your family's learning style, then find some friends and start one. This is the beauty of homeschooling. One size doesn't fit all. It doesn't need to. You just have to discover what your family loves doing, do it well, and then trust the results to God. 

Did your family participate in speech and debate? Do you have a favorite homeschool club or activity? I would love to hear about your experiences!

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Bountiful Homeschooling On a Budget

I am doing an online book study with the book 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker right now and it is a fresh reminder of why I wrote the book, Bountiful Homeschooling on a Budget. So often, our decisions about money are based solely on what we want or can afford, and we often neglect to consider how our financial choices glorify God, or how they don't, whatever the truth may be.

So, over the next several weeks and just in time to help you save for the holidays, I am going to be highlighting some key ideas from the book.

                                                

One of my favorite ideas for saving money on homeschooling is to form a learning community with local friends. Homeschooling is so much more fun in community, but if you are trying to do it on a budget then many organized co-ops such as Classical Conversations may be out of reach. 

As well, there may be a particular learning focus that is important to you, and so a one size fits all approach is not going to be in the best interest of your family.

We have had a homeschool co-op in some form for over ten years, we started one when we lived in the Northern California foothills, grouped up with some homeschoolers while in Mexico, and have one in our current little town as well. 

Some years, the focus has been on science and other years we study history. We are currently working our way through Early American History and having a blast with a small group of local friends.

For myself, the areas of learning that are really hard for me to cover are art and science experiments so when we have a co-op we make sure to have those areas covered. This has also saved me lots of money on art and science classes as we have been able to learn from other moms in our community those skills which we might lack.

              

Interested in forming a co-op but not sure where to start? 

Here are a few easy tips to get you going.

1. Find a few friends who are interested in getting together to learn. Usually 3-4 families is optimum for an in-home co-op.

2. Set up a meeting to discuss the schedule and expectations. I usually plan a year's worth of topics at the beginning of the school year. For instance, we might meet once a month and cover a chapter in a science book at each meeting or we might cover a different time in history at each meeting. 

 

3. Plan who is responsible for teaching. In our co-op, we usually have rotating duties which include; hosting, art instruction, geography and snack. In our science group we would assign a different mom to each science book group (some children were in high school textbooks, others were in elementary Apologia books).

4. Give each mom a calendar and then form a Facebook or other group to keep the moms in the loop about where you are meeting and what they are responsible for.

Having our own homeschool co-op has saved me thousands of dollars and hours of time. I did check into Classical Conversations one year, but with a family of my size and even with working as a tutor it would have been very expensive and even more time consuming. For now, forming our own co-op has been a wonderful and creative option for learning in community and gaining new skills. 

If however, Classical Conversations is the best option for you, I know some excellent tutors and directors. Comment for more info.

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2014/2015 Curriculum Plan

I am so excited about this school year. I graduated my second student last year and so this year I only have five students to homeschool. I also have no babies or toddlers this year and although I would love a baby and I miss that stage, it will be really fun to delve a little deeper into learning this year with my school age children.
My oldest student is taking most of his classes at the local junior college so I will only be overseeing a few classes for my advanced students. I love having other teachers involved with my older students and so far, they have had good experiences in their classes.
Because I just published Bountiful Homeschooling On A Budget, I am also including what I paid for each class or subject.
So here it is, the 2014/2015 curriculum plan.



12th Grade Son

Bible-One Year Bible (I own)
English 1A (Jr. College, $14 fee, dual enrollment is free in California but there is a registration fee.)
Algebra 2 (Jr. College, $0)
World History, BJU (given to me several years ago)
Biology  (Jr. College)
Peer Tutoring (Jr. College)
Guitar (self taught with occasional lessons)
Physical Education, Martial Arts ($195 per month for the whole family)
Spanish 3 (BJU, I own the book, donation find at a non-profit book sale)


9th Grade Son

Bible-Studying God's Word-Book G (Christian Liberty Press, free)
English 151, Intro to College Composition (Jr. College, $14 fee)
Algebra 1-(Teaching Textbooks, purchased last year)
U.S. History (Clarence Carson, given by a friend several years ago.)
Physical Science-(Purchased for $25 from a friend a few years ago.)
Spanish 1 (BJU, I own)
Guitar
Physical Ed-Martial Arts (see 12th grade boy for cost)
Speech Club ($125 for the family plus tournament fees, we will probably do 1 or 2 tournaments)

camping fun

7th Grade Son

Lincoln's Daily Devotional-(Given to me)
TT Math 7 (owned for several years)
Rod and Staff Grammar 5 with worksheets (I own)
America-Land I Love-(ABeka, I own)
Reading (I took all my American History books, put them in a basket and the children will read them)
Spelling-Spell To Write and Read ( I own)
Science- (CLP Nature Readers, Computer Science, pre-owned or computer tutorials)
Piano- (Local friend $12-15 a lesson twice a month)
Speech Club (see 9th gr.)
Martial Arts (see 12th gr.)

3rd Grade Daughter

Bible-(CLP Book B, I own)
Math- (Saxon 3, $20 at used book sale)
Explode The Code 6 (trade in at used book store)
A Reason For Handwriting  ($14, purchased at Homeschool Conference)
English For The Thoughtful Child (owned for years)
Spell To Write and Read (I own)
Picture Story (my older daughter made this form to use with our narrations)
Reading (BJU Reader/CLP Nature Reader)
Life Science (Steck Vaughn Workbook, given to me)
Piano (Local Friend, $10 a lesson)
Ballet ($50 a month)

my youngest students

K/1 Son

Bible- I read children's Bible
Math N More (Review copy, owned for several years)
Explode The Code 1 (trade in from homeschool used book store)
All About Spelling (borrowed from a friend)
Handwriting Without Tears (13.81, Amazon)
Spelling Power Book A (I own)
Reading-I am reading Early American History books this year, more on that to come)
Science- Nature Study

We are also doing an early American History project day with a few friends which will be a fun opportunity to present reports, do map work and make crafts. This will be a highlight of the year for us.

I only spent around $65 dollars for curriculum this year, which makes it one of my most economical years ever. This is so helpful because I also have more monthly activities than usual. When totaled, these monthly activities add up to around $300 dollars a month. Although my homeschool students cost very little this year, my two students who we are helping put through college, have classes and books that are not quite as economical, another reason I am thankful that I was able to keep curriculum costs low this year. The upside is that my homeschool students are taking some of the same classes as the college students and can share their books, resulting in more savings.

What books are you using this year? How have you stayed within budget? I would love to hear about it!

Swimming Creatures Lapbook

We loved our year studying the book, Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day by Jeannie Fulbright of Apologia. The only thing I did not love was the notebook. Some of the pages were wonderful but there were just so many of them! It frustrated me to have blank pages but my children had other work and projects that were higher priorities than filling out multiple workbook pages.

                       

The way we solved this issue when we hit the end of our school year and reviewed all the blank pages was by taking apart the notebook and making a lapbook. The children did this project in a morning, with a little help from me in the cutting department. We simply cut the lovely mini books from the back of the notebook, assembled them, and then wrote definitions for the terms.

                        

Once the writing was finished the children glued them into their tri-folded file folders. The children were eager and happy to get this project done and it was a nice way to review all they had learned through out  the year. 

Even my reluctant hand writer enjoyed putting effort into making a lapbook, and I was so proud of his efforts and accomplishment.

       
                       

Country Life is Healthy For Kids (But You Can Meet Nature Needs in the City)

                       

We had been reading about pioneers in much of our read aloud times; Laura Ingalls Wilder, Sarah Whitcher, Kirsten, and so I should not have been surprised when she came to me, eager and pleading with a faded prairie skirt that I was to put on. I hesitated at first, I had lots of real life pioneer work to do; caring for the goats, folding up the line gathered laundry and watering my thirsty fruit trees, but as I saw the disappointment in her face at my hesitation I complied. I slipped the bulky skirt and thread bare apron on over my jeans and tromped about the property doing my chores while trying to be as Ma like as I could with my modern busy mind.

As we worked and played I reflected on an article I had read earlier in the day. This study was conducted in Australia where a school had their safety conscious playground removed and were left with a mud hole and some spare parts. The results were amazing. Suddenly kids were engrossed in creative play and as a result anti social behaviors decreased. This article talks about even more health and wellness benefits which come when children are allowed free play in the great outdoors. 

                        

Many of these benefits I simply take for granted. With homeschooling and country life we are free to adapt to our children's needs. Instead of putting a child on medication to help them focus in class, I can set them on an exercise ball to finish a math lesson, and then send them outside to jump on the trampoline to get some wiggles out. It would never even occur to me to make a child sit indoors under artificial light all day and then pressure the parents to medicate him so he would comply with my unreasonable demands. When did adults forget that children need time to play, to explore and to think their own thoughts? When did school administrators get so enslaved by the idea that all children should learn and test the same things at the same time that it would be worth putting non food substances in their body to make them able to comply? When?

I realize how privileged we are to have the freedom and the means to live in the country and to homeschool. And I was still privileged when we lived in a tiny suburban house with a tiny lot. During those intervals when I couldn't just send the kids out to run circles around the property, or bounce on the trampoline to release energy, we had to be creative. It often meant leaving areas of our small yard unadulterated so the children could plant flowers or build minuscule roads for their matchbox cars.

He's smiling because he just walked through a creek!

And no matter where we live we have made forays into the natural world a priority. Hiking trails, creeks, beaches and ponds all offer calm and creative places for our children to explore and connect. Where better to encounter Father God, who is the source of all life than in the natural world that He created with such care.

       
                       

Looking for a good read aloud about a girl who got a little lost in nature? 
check out Sarah Whitcher's Story (affiliate link)

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Parenting From The Bathroom

Yesterday was an interesting school day. I was so excited for a full day at home and started off with a special breakfast with the four youngest children. The older kids were all away at school or work for the morning but when I went to check on my daughter's dog, I could see that she was in labor with her first set of pups. I quickly called my sister who is an expert in these matters and she got me set up with a list of what to do. Although she recommended I move the dog out in the living room, where I could watch her and be a part of the family, the dog had other ideas. What she really wanted was to be on my daughter's bed, but since none of us wanted that kind of mess on our beds, I ended up closeting myself in the bathroom with the laboring dog. 

This meant leaving my four youngest children to manage themselves without my supervision for a few hours until their sister arrived home. Although the oldest of these children is 13, they are the youngest of my children and as such, not as used to being in charge. My oldest daughter at that age could have run the house just as well as me, but my younger ones generally need pretty direct supervision.

However, when I finally was able to leave the birth room, er bathroom at 4:00 pm, I was happily surprised that the house had not caved in around our ears. The kitchen was relatively clean and some of the schoolwork had been done. They had also only watched one movie. This was not as bad as it could have been, in my estimation. We also had a one hour visit from a tutor, during which no fights had broken out and the children had all stayed indoors.

A few things that helped these young children manage themselves without too much destruction were the good habits, chore lists and assignment sheets that they have been taught to use. 

Even though I wasn't out there checking every thing they did, I could at least say, "Do your schoolwork," and then, "Have you done everything on your assignment sheet?" when they came in to tell me that they were done. They also got the awe inspiring treat of seeing tiny puppies just moments after birth when they came to check in with me.

Although this was by no means an ideal day, it did result in the safe birth of two puppies which will hopefully help put my girls through college. It was also an opportunity to develop more self management skills, which although these skills can be hard to give our children the space to learn, they are valuable skills to learn.

Some good resources that we have used for developing good habits and order are:

Managers of Their Homes- Steve and Terri Maxwell
Managers of their homes: A practical guide to daily scheduling for Christian homeschool families br /> Home Education-Charlotte Mason
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What are your favorite resources for developing an orderly home?


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