14 hours ago
Showing posts with label Homeschooling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeschooling. Show all posts
On St. Patrick’s Day, the car was running as I sat and painted my nails a pink-red. I honked the horn once, and the last kid came running out the front door and hopped over a bag of books as the minivan door slid shut.
We took part of the morning off from homeschooling to do something that I used to do all the time when my kids were little - go to the library, grab a coffee, and stop at the park on the way home. I remember when these simple little outings were a lifeline in my day, when my kids needed so much help to get anything done, and before I really figured out what I was doing with homeschooling.
We didn’t go because I was at the end of my homeschool rope. Not at all. We went today because it was sunny, and my oldest is in high school, and I owed my kids a sugar-filled slush from Sonic as a reward for finishing their checklists last week. And also because sometimes I get the urge to recreate a good memory.
Even though those little days were so hard at the time, I find myself looking back at them with fondness and trying to relive them every now and then. I was barely scraping by, but it was precious, and magical, and I miss it.
On the way home, as my oldest worked on his algebra, and my kids worked on various subjects in the back seat, I played an old episode of a favorite podcast. That got my mind spinning on all the podcasts I had loved and that had helped me keep perspective back when I had five kids all under eight years old. So I thought I would share some old favorites here.
Sometimes I think the early days of podcasts are better than more recent episodes, as if all the best tips and advice were shared up front. It’s not that the recent episodes are no good, but the older episodes have a depth and level of effort that comes from the hosts being new at something. Older episodes are sometimes a bit better.
So if you take my recommendations here, I hope you’ll click that little “more episodes” button and scroll back to the beginning. Pick an episode and see what you think.
The Read Aloud Revival Podcast
The hopping, happy music at the beginning of this podcast conjures up all sorts of sunny afternoons driving down the winding road to our library. We used to all listen to this podcast together, and my kids were delighted by the clips at the end of every episode of kids sharing their favorite books. I got so many great book suggestions from the early episodes of this podcast, and it helped me understand the importance of reading aloud in developing vocabulary and language in kids.
Helpful episodes that I’ve listened to multiple times:
and a whole bunch of others!
Your Morning Basket Podcast
If you’ve ever heard of a morning basket in the context of homeschooling, it probably originally started with this podcast, now re-named “Homeschool Better Together”. I first started implementing enrichment subjects because of this podcast. The idea of having a basket of resources that we could loop through made things like music appreciation and memory work so much less intimidating.
Episodes that stand out in my memory:
The Smiling Homeschooler Podcast
I started listening to this podcast after hearing Todd speak at a homeschool conference when my oldest was only in first grade. It became my go-to for when I felt overwhelmed or like I was doing homeschooling all wrong. Todd has a way of reminding you what really matters - academics are important, but so is having a good homeschool experience for myself and my kids. This podcast helps me keep things in perspective.
P.S. I just have to note here that Todd Wilson is also an excellent story-teller. Our family loves his Christmas story collection, and you might enjoy this free short story about a homeschooling mom!
Episodes that helped me keep things in perspective:
In writing this post I went back and listened to a few of these episodes, and my premise holds up - there are good things in the archives of your favorite homeschool podcast. I hope this post gives you something new to listen to, or reminds you of old favorites that you may need to hear again! And if you are new to homeschooling, check out all the episodes I linked above for some evergreen encouragement.
Every December I find myself wanting to set aside a weekend for in-depth Advent and Christmas school planning. Unfortunately, since it is December, I almost never have a weekend for such pursuits.
It occurred to me that alot of other homeschool moms might be in a similar place. You want to have a beautiful plan for a meaningful Advent, or Christmas School, but you have very little time to put one together. Maybe you end up purchasing a pre-made plan, only to realize it will take time (and more money) to gather all the required books and craft supplies.
I am going to share what we fall back on for homeschooling during the Christmas season. This non-plan requires no purchases (except the ones you want to buy), no required resources, and it’s open-and-go in the sense that you can do it mostly on the fly if necessary.
This is my very simple plan for adding some Christmas flair to those homeschool days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We keep up with some of our regular subjects, but the “Christmas school” activities are a priority.
Step One: Pick a book of the Bible to read through.
Since Advent is about waiting for the coming of Jesus, and the whole Bible is His word, literally any book will do! But we want to make sure we are not neglecting spending time with Jesus by reading scripture together. Some great choices would be:
Any of the Gospels - Start at Jesus’s birth and end with His resurrection!
Psalms - Especially 100-150, which are songs of praise.
Genesis - The number of times Genesis points ahead to Jesus is astounding!
Revelation - Not for the faint of heart, but points to what we believers are waiting for now - Jesus’s return.
Step Two: Choose some Christmas carols to sing (and learn).
There are so many places you can print music for some of the good old Christmas hymns. I appreciate this free hymnal, which has a good selection. I printed up seven copies the “Incarnation” section of the hymnal, and that’s what we use for singing, but you can also just look up the lyrics for songs you want to sing as you go through the month. Sing one well-known carol each day, and choose one that’s new to you to learn each year. We have found some new favorites this way!
Songs In Our Bundle Of Papers:
Joy To The World
Hark The Herald Angels Sing
Angels We Have Heard On High
Silent Night
Away In A Manger
O Little Town Of Bethlehem
We Three Kings
Once In Royal David’s City
The First Noel
In The Bleak Midwinter
O Come All Ye Faithful
See Amid The Winter Snow
God Rest You Merry Gentlemen
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
Good Christian Men, Rejoice (highly underrated)
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Gentle Mary Laid Her Child
Step Three: Gather Christmas books.
This is my favorite part…if you are a homeschool mom, I know you probably have some Christmas books already in your house. Round them all up into one big stack, and grab a couple to read each day! If you really don’t have that many Christmas books to choose from, hop on your libraries website and place a few holds. Read them as they come in. I have a list of our family’s favorite Christmas books here, but the best ones are the books your library actually has, so work with what you have. If all else fails, try searching for a few titles on Youtube - there are many videos of popular picture books being read aloud.
Step Four: Make a list of Christmas crafts and goodies.
Think of goodies you were planning to make anyway, or crafts you remember from your childhood. Think of items you already have around your house you could use for crafts - construction paper for chains, oranges you could slice and dry, extra yarn you could knit into garland, flour you could make into Christmas playdough… be creative, but don’t overthink it! It doesn’t have to be complicated to be a wonderful memory. The humble paper chain is greatly underrated.
Some Christmas Craft Ideas:
paper chains
aper snowflakes
dried orange ornaments
cranberry and popcorn garland
any Christmas art tutorial on Youtube (just do a search)
handmade gift tags
Our Favorite Christmas Goodies To Make Together:
Sugar cookies
Ginger cookies
Chocolate covered pretzels
Salted caramel cookie sandwiches (using this filling recipe)
Christmas fudge
Wassail
Step Five: Make a list of activities you want to do.
You do not have to do all the activities that are listed in a perfect Advent guide - in fact, I think you shouldn’t try! Choose some things that are fun and meaningful (or even just practical) to you and your own kids, and put them on the calendar. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Christmas Activity Ideas:
Make a day of taking the kids shopping for each other’s presents
Bake, of course (see Step Four)
Write Christmas cards (recruit everyone to help - why not?)
Listen to music from the Nutcracker (or watch the ballet on Youtube)
Listen to Handel’s Messiah
Watch an old Christmas musical
Play a game together (we like this game for a Christmas theme)
Do a Christmas scavenger hunt at the mall (search for ideas, or get these handy cards)
Read A Christmas Carol together and then watch the movie
Assign secret pals, like a secret Santa only you do nice things for each other
Plan a poetry teatime with Christmas poems, tea, and cinnamon toast (or another easy snack)
Those five steps are really all you need to do “Christmas School”! I know because this is how we have made December homeschooling special for the last five years or so.
You will notice that not all of these ideas are very school-ish or perfectly coordinated, but that’s not the point of adding Christmas activities to your homeschool day. The point is to slow down, enjoy each other’s company, make memories together, and make the excitement and wonder of Jesus birthday tangible for your kids…yes, through cookies, and playdough, and Christmas lights, and as much beauty as you can cram into the season. Point them to the reason we do all these joyful activities: because of joy for the gift of Christ Himself.
I love this quote:
“At Bethlehem, God’s Word became flesh and dwelt among us, the Consolation of Israel was born of a woman-and that moment was so staggering that even the stars had to come down and see it. And then, every year, we celebrate that moment. We take one of the most difficult theological truths— the Incarnation—and attempt to show that truth through our celebrations. The men can talk about the Incarnation, church fathers can write important treatises about it, pastors can preach about it, theologians can parse and define it ... but we women are the ones who make it taste like something. We make it smell good: How crazy is that? ‘And for my next trick, I will take Athanasius’ De Incarnatione and I will say it with cookies and wrapping paper and cinnamon and marshmallows and colored lights and tablecloths and shopping trips and frantically-last-minute-late-night-Amazon-orders and ham—and I will do it in such a way that my four-year-old will really GET it, and it will send roots deep down into his soul where it will anchor his loves and his loyalties and shape his allegiances well into his nineties.’”
-Rebekah Merle, ‘Eve In Exile’
This is what we are doing amidst all the flurry of Christmas preparations and activities. Creating the wonder of Christmas in little hearts doesn’t have to be complicated, but I hope you’ll remember that all these little special touches do matter. They make the birth of Jesus and the Gospel that much more impactful, special, and tangible to our children and families as we celebrate God’s greatest gift to mankind - our Savior.
As Charles Spurgeon says in another favorite quote:
“Feast, Christian, feast! You have a right to feast. Go to the house of feasting tomorrow! Celebrate your Savior’s birth. Do not be ashamed to be glad - you have a right to be happy.”
Let’s make this Christmas season as joy-packed as possible, even on homeschool days. Not aesthetically perfect, or impeccably organized, or flawlessly executed - just hectic, happy, warm, sparkling, messy, calm, cozy, exciting…and joyful most of all.
I had a request last week for an article sharing the homeschool curriculum that we are using this year.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped sharing our curriculum online. When my kids were younger I loved reading about all kinds of curricula, and subsequently sharing my own choices. It was exciting to see what was out there and get ideas!
However, as the years went on, a couple things happened. First, I settled into the day-to-day of homeschooling, and there wasn’t as much to be said about curriculum from year to year. But also, I started to realize how subjective choosing curriculum really is. Just because this curriculum works for my child, doesn’t mean a different one won’t serve your child just as well. Just because I happen to align with one curriculum, doesn’t mean it’s going to be one that anyone I know likes.
I’m not even always sure I love all my own curriculum choices absolutely. There actually is no perfect curriculum out there. I’ve been around the block enough times now to know that a different curriculum does not solve every problem, and almost any decent curriculum will do the trick if it’s diligently applied.
Even though I have mostly figured out what works for us, many people are still in the getting-ideas-and-reading-reviews stage, and so this post is for them.
Just a reminder, I have five kids, spanning from 2nd grade to a freshman in high school. We are eclectic homeschoolers in our family, meaning we make use of varied curricula and resources for different subjects. I’m drawn to classical and Charlotte Mason influences, and I am familiar with both educational philosophies without being a purist of either. We don’t read Plutarch and don’t intend to, and we like a workbook now and then.
Math
What We Use Right Now: Rightstart, Apologia, Denison
All of my kids have been taught their initial math concepts with the Rightstart Math curriculum. I like Rightstart because of the emphasis on mental math, understanding why certain math tricks and formulas work, and the abundant exposure to geometry from early ages. The way Rightstart teaches math has always matched up really well with how I think about math myself, so it’s been a good fit for the elementary years.
However, late elementary is always a period of trial with this particular curriculum - some of my kids have continued on and are doing well with it, and with other kids it became really apparent that we needed to try something else. Rightstart only goes through 8th grade, so I have always known we also needed to find something else for high school. This year half my kids are continuing on with Rightstart, and the other half are trying something else.
Apologia’s Exploring Creation With Mathematics is new to us this year and its lessons are much shorter than Rightstart. But it has been covering all the grade-appropriate basics and has been a good transition to becoming more proficient at procedural math.
Denison is our choice for Algebra this year, and it has been a dream so far. While the upper levels of Rightstart had been taking up to 2 hours per lesson (perhaps they were meant to be split into two sessions), Denison has hit the sweet spot of a reasonable amount of time and the right amount of challenge. This curriculum is written specifically for homeschoolers - my husband and I sat down to research different Algebra curricula, and as soon as we watched the sample lesson and saw how well the instructor understood homeschooling, we were sold.
History & Geography
What We Use Right Now: Living Heritage, Biblioplan, Story Of The World
Last year I made the switch to a more “true” Charlotte Mason curriculum, called Living Heritage, and it has overall been a really enriching choice for our family. Living Heritage is a guide more than a curriculum - all the chapter books and other resources must be purchased separately (similar to Ambleside Online). It follows a four year history cycle, and tailors all the resources around the history “streams”.
We mostly use Living Heritage for the history, literature, and art and music book choices, with an occasional science read thrown in. We don’t follow their recommendations for math or science, and we are about half-in with grammar. I retain the right to nix any book that I just don’t find worthwhile for whatever reason. However, even using the guide only partially, it has been worth the money to me. We have read so many wonderful books together, and my kids’ “independent history reads” from the booklist are one of their favorite parts of the day. It has really brought different historical periods to life, especially ones that would otherwise feel a little dry.
We are also part of a somewhat classical co-op, and for that we are going through Biblioplan for middle and high school, and Story Of The World for younger students. Though I didn’t choose the curriculum, I am actually teaching Biblioplan for middle and high school at our co-op, and I’m still becoming familiar with it.
I will say this for it - Biblioplan is very thorough. If you try to poke around on the website you will see how overwhelming it can feel. We are still getting our feet under us, but I think it’s actually nice for my kids to have a history “spine” textbook, and then to have the Living Heritage choices at home to add the color. It ends up being alot of history work each week, especially for high school, but we are making it work.
I feel ambivalent about Story Of The World - my younger kids enjoy it at co-op, but all we do at home is read the chapter to keep up with it.
Science
What We Are Using Now: Berean Builders, Apologia, a little bit of Living Heritage
We have used Apologia Young Explorers series for my elementary kids since the beginning, and they quite enjoy it. My 2nd, 4th, and 6th grader are doing Land Animals Of The Sixth Day (1st edition) with co-op right now, and because that is the science we would have chosen with or without co-op, it’s been working out really well.
My 7th grader is using an older version of Exploring Creation With Earth Science from Apologia. This is a textbook written by Jay Wile, and I much prefer his middle and high school science texts to the more recent editions from Apologia. I could go into more detail in the comments if anyone wants more information.
Because I don’t like the current Apologia editions as well, I’m okay with my 7th grader doing an older textbook for middle school. I already had the curriculum, and even though scientific understanding is always changing, middle-school level earth science is unlikely to have changed too terribly much in only 20 years since the text was first published.
My high schooler is doing Berean Builders, Discovering Design With Biology, at home. Berean Builders is a newer curriculum company from Jay Wile, the same author of the older Apologia texts that I like so much. One of the things I love about Wile’s approach to teaching science is how he guides the students in keeping a scientific notebook in which to record experiments according the scientific process. You don’t buy a separate “student journal” that hand-holds your kids through recording observations, or worse, just gives them busywork. Instead kids learn how to keep a notebook like a real scientist would. I was once a homeschool student learning from one of Wile’s courses, and that skill of writing up experiments served me particularly well when I got to college.
My kids are also reading an occasional science living book to go along with their studies. For instance, my high schooler is reading All Creatures Great And Small to go along with biology.
Language Arts
What We Are Using Now: Living Heritage, Fireworks Press, Spelling Power, Generations, All About Reading, IEW, copywork, and a bunch of other random books
We now come to the behemoth category of homeschool curricula, “language arts” - which is somehow supposed to cover phonics, handwriting, reading comprehension, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and maybe even literature too. Is it any wonder I have such a long, hodgepodge resource list?
My 2nd and 4th grader are making their way through All About Reading, which is the best phonics-based reading curriculum on the market, in my opinion. Well worth the slightly high price tag, especially if you have multiple budding readers who will use it. My 2nd grader also has the English 2 workbook from Generations, which has been nice for extra handwriting, spelling, and light grammar. Both my little girls are also doing their respective books in Handwriting Without Tears.
My 4th grader is going through Royal Fireworks Press’s Grammar Town with my 6th and 7th grader. It is a discussion-based approach to teaching grammar and sentence analysis. This is our first year trying this, so the jury is still out on how we feel about it - in previous years we have used Rod & Staff grammar, and that has given us a good foundation from which to try something different.
All my younger kids do weekly spelling tests using Spelling Power, and I am reminded that sometimes the most boring resource is the one that gets the job done. There are no fancy pages or cards or tiles to keep track of here - just literally a book filled with lists of words. It is the only spelling curriculum that has made a lick of difference.
My kids are reading various literature books at their individual levels from the Living Heritage curriculum lists. My youngest two narrate their books orally, and my oldest three write narrations on the books they read - one each day for my high schooler, 2 or 3 per week for my 6th and 7th grader.
We are also going through IEW’s theme-based writing books with co-op, so my big kids are writing a short paper (1-3 paragraphs) for that each week.
Bible
What We Are Using Now: Answers Bible Curriculum, the Tune My Heart catechism, devotional and theological books, and the actual Bible
We have hopped around to different Bible curricula over the years. We really like Answer Bible Curriculum, and it’s something that can be done with the whole family. We have unfortunately used it a little sporadically because we are typically using alot of other resources at the same time. But every time we pick it up the lessons are so rich.
My kids are reading various devotional and theological books as part of the Living Heritage curriculum, and I have been so pleased with the choices so far. We have covered alot of really deep theological topics that I’m not sure how we would have discussed otherwise. We also work on a catechism question (I’m partial to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, but we are trying the Tune My Heart catechism this year) and we read through the Apostle’s and Nicene creeds during our morning time, all of which are full of biblical truth.
However, my best recommendation for studying the Bible in homeschooling is to just pick up the Bible and read it together. You actually don’t need anything fancy to study the Bible with your kids. Just read it, and discuss it, and pray over it together. You will be surprised how enriching that is. This is my favorite discussion guide if you need a little guidance.
Extras
What We Are Using Now: Living Heritage recommendations, Art classes
By extras, I mean things like art, music, Shakespeare, and poetry. There are so many good books and resources for doing picture study and composer study. There are tons of online art tutorials, and books filled with collections of poetry for kids. For Shakespeare we just listen to the play with a copy of the text on the table and a highlighter in hand.
This year we are using alot of guidance from the Living Heritage resource recommendations for these areas of study, and my kids also take an excellent art class at co-op. In the past we have made good use of the Simply Charlotte Mason website, the library, and Youtube. Here are a few favorite resources:
How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare
Simply Charlotte Mason Picture Study
Simply Charlotte Mason Composer Study
Ark Angel Shakespeare Productions
Humility and Doxology Poetry Lists
Homeschool Compass Poetry Lists
As you can see, it’s never a simple answer when someone asks me what curriculum we use! I almost envy those people who can simply reply “Abeka” or something. However, piecing our curriculum together over the years has been a joy to me, and has allowed me to customize our curriculum - not only for my particular kids, but also according to our own family values and educational priorities.
That’s the wonderful thing about homeschooling isn’t it?
I’m happy to answer any questions about why I do or don’t like a curriculum, or give more thorough reviews of individual curricula in the comments!
I have been deep in the homeschool world for the vast majority of my life, to the point where I sometimes forget how not-normal homeschooling must seem to the average mom. My mom started homeschooling me when I entered the 4th grade, and my own kids have only ever known being homeschooled. I’ve been going to homeschool conferences ever since my oldest was in kindergarten, and I’ve read more books about homeschooling than I can remember off the top of my head.
But sometimes I try to put myself in the shoes of someone who has just started to become curious about homeschooling. Maybe they have seen beautiful portrayals of a homeschool lifestyle on social media and they find it appealing. Maybe they’ve recently listened to a podcast or video with ideas that intrigued them. Maybe they know a homeschool family and would just like to understand them better.
If a friend told me they were curious about homeschooling, these are the books that I would pull off the shelves and hand to them.
For someone who just wants to know how it all works:
Answers For Homeschooling: Top 25 Questions Critics Ask by Israel Wayne
Whether you are mystified about the whole idea of homeschooling, or you want to be able to explain your interest in homeschooling to friends and family, this book will be a help to you. Wayne covers questions from critics and also addresses many practical homeschooling concerns.
For someone who wants to homeschool but is worried about socialization:
The Well-Adjusted Child by Rachel Gathercole
Gathercole addresses every concern about socialization you could think of in this book. She defines what good socialization is, then discusses issue such as family relationships, citizenship, peer-to-peer friendships, conversations between kids and adults, bullying, and being “cool”. If you need reassurance that your child won’t be missing out by being homeschooled, this is the book you should read.
If something doesn’t feel quite right about public education, but you can’t quite put your finger on it:
Weapons Of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto
This book has been around for. along time, and though it’s not explicitly about homeschooling, it does paint a picture of what we could do differently (and hopefully better) than the current school system. Gatto was an award-winning public school teacher who quit teaching after thirty years and started speaking about the problems he saw with education in America. He weaves in information about the history of the public school system, and his insights are fascinating. Also see Dumbing Us Down by Gatto (shorter, also very good).
If you want to broaden your ideas about what education really is (hint: it’s not about reading textbooks and taking tests):
For The Children’s Sake: Foundations Of Education For Home And School by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
This book was my first introduction to the idea of “living books”. As someone who has always loved to read, I was inspired to think of education in terms of connections and ideas, instead of merely remembering things until it is time to take a test. Macaulay gives an accessible introduction to the educational philosophy developed by Charlotte Mason, but whether you choose that style of homeschooling or not, there are so many sound principles in this book that are worth considering.
If you want to work on developing a truly Christian view of education:
Education: Does God Have An Opinion? by Israel Wayne
I always put a disclaimer when recommending this book to someone that the title sounds more provocative than the book actually is (at least in my opinion). Wayne gives a thorough argument for Christian education, and the chapters in the second half of the book address how to approach every educational area from a Christian worldview. These last chapters are where the book really shines! I’ve had certain children read the math chapter when they repeatedly asked “why do we have to learn math anyway” - and I can report that attitudes improved significantly.
If you want reassurance and help for a rigorous academic outcome from homeschooling:
The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Bauer
First I want to say, don’t pick this one up if you are overwhelmed or are already dealing with learning struggles. This book is not for everyone - I myself picked it up when my oldest was in kindergarten and was immediately discouraged because I couldn’t picture doing everything this book suggests. I tried it again closer to middle school, and have found it alot more helpful. However, if you are an academic person yourself, and you want a guide for providing rigorous academics for your kids, this book is it.
If you think you are ready, and you just need a push to dive in:
The Call Of The Wild And Free by Ainsley Arment
The author of this book is alot more “wild and free” than me, but even though our styles are different, I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up this book. The joy of a homeschool lifestyle bubbles off these pages, and I found myself remembering everything I love about homeschooling while reading. Arment paints a vivid picture of just how beautiful homeschooling can be, and I think it’s great for inspiring hesitant moms to jump in.
I hope if you are curious about homeschooling, you’ll find something to encourage you in this booklist - this doesn’t even scratch the surface of the amount of homeschool books out there, but it’s a good place to start!
Subtitle: How to do it, and why you may not want to
(The quintessential stack of homeschool read-alouds. These are about half of the books we went through this year.)
How can I help my kids learn to work more independently?
I’ve heard that question so many times, in conference talks, online forums, from friends, and from my own lips. Developing independent learners is something homeschool moms, especially moms of multiple kids, think about a lot.
I remember many days, collapsing into bed exhausted after being pulled in multiple directions all day, and wondering how long I could keep doing this. Helping my kids learn to work more independently became a crucial concern, like it would be the life or death of our homeschool. Now, as my oldest prepares to enter high school, I’ve seen him grow leaps and bounds in working independently, and I’ve learned a few things about helping kids be more independent. I’m sharing practical suggestions and a little straight talk.
1. Don’t push for independence too early.
When my kids were still in elementary school, in a desperate bid to find something my kids could start to do without me, I gave my older kids a workbook for language arts. When I had to be busy with another child, I would ask them to pull these workbooks out for some independent work.
At first the year seemed to go along swimmingly, but eventually I realized that while my kids were progressing to the next lesson each week, they still could not tell me the parts of speech. When we had a minor existential crisis over writing a poem, I realized that what I thought was independent work was really just busy work. In order for my kids to really learn what the workbooks were trying to teach them, I would need to sit down and go over everything with them step-by-step.
On top of that, I had wasted valuable learning time during that homeschool year when a little more effort from me up front would have set a stronger foundation. My kids were not ready to be independent, and that was normal, and I had to learn to accept it.
I think a mistake that we often make is pushing our kids to be independent in their school work too early. Some kids are naturally more independent and make homeschooling look so simple, but we need to be careful of even putting those kids into the “independent” category too quickly. Our kids may appear to be making progress, but if we never sit down and watch them do their work, we can’t really know if they are learning something, or if they are just pushing ahead in the book even when they don’t quite understand a concept. It’s our job as the homeschool mom to help them actually learn, not just get through a workbook. In the younger grades, kids need a strong foundation of understanding, through a lot of help from mom, so hopefully they can be solidly and truly independent in the older grades.
2. Start with checklists.
Once your child is at an age where they can reliably manage their own work - this usually comes in stages, so probably just one or two subjects at first - consider helping them stay on track with daily checklists.
Before I developed our checklist system, I’d often be working with one child, and another would interrupt to ask what they should do next. “I don’t know, go start on your next subject,” ended up being my vague default response - and my poor child, who still didn’t know what to do, would end up deeply invested in a lego game with a younger sibling instead of accomplishing anything.
Eventually I realized that we needed to break out of that habit, and one summer I created a document with a weekly checklist for each child, with all their subjects broken up into days. It looked something like this:
Monday:
-Math lesson -Grammar book -Copywork -Writing video (with sibling) -Read history
Tuesday:
-Math lesson -Grammar book -Copywork -Write outline for paper -Read science lesson
Wednesday:
-Math lesson -Latin -Copywork -Write first draft -Read history -Work on Awana book
Thursday:
-Math lesson -Latin -Copywork -Finish paper -Read science
Friday:
-Math lesson -Art lesson -Copywork -Type up paper -Science experiment with mom
That’s a very simplified example, but you get the idea. I have checkboxes next to each task, and once the checklist are finished, my kids know they are done for the day. I think it is motivating for them to see how much is left and to know they are making progress. It helps prevent wasted time since they always know what else they can work on by themselves (I will sometimes highlight their independent subjects a different color from the ones they need my help with). I even print these checklists for my little girls, but I am the one who manages the checklists for them, since they still need my help for nearly everything. The checklists keep me on track too.
3. Map out the year.
You can’t expect to just hand a child a homeschool curriculum and have them proceed without any help or direction from you.
A couple years ago, as my son entered middle school, I started having an “orientation day” with him toward the end of summer. We sit down with his school books and a calendar, and I show him how many lessons are in each book, how many days we have in the school year, and how many lessons he would have to finish each week to stay on track. I sometimes even write up syllabi and expectations for each homeschool subject - which is helpful, but you don’t necessarily need to go that far.
What I am trying to accomplish with our orientation days is teaching my child how to look ahead at the whole year, and provide checkmarks for them to be able to easily see that they are staying on track. It’s really teaching them how to plan by holding their hand through the process. Some kids may catch on quickly, and for most kids you’ll have to repeat this process every year until they can naturally take it on themselves. I think middle school is the best time to start this - remember, not expecting too much too early, but hopefully helping them learn more planning skills before they reach high school.
4. Remember that independence does not mean mom can be hands-off.
Another mistake I see in homeschool circles (and that I have made myself) is the tendency to become a little slack on checking up on your child once they have reached a certain level of independence. This is how you reach Christmas break and take a peek inside your child’s Latin workbook only to realize they are two months behind (ask me how I know).
Even if your child is on the correct lesson number, remember that it’s still your job as a homeschool mom to make sure the understanding of the subject is there. You should frequently ask your more independent child about what their science book is covering right now, take a peek into their workbooks often, make sure you are grading their papers and tests so you can help shore up any areas where they are struggling. Be ready to answer questions, edit their papers together so they can learn how to improve their writing, and expect to have to research the answers to confusing math questions.
If you find yourself never doing any of these things, I’d encourage you to check yourself. Are you too busy with your own projects or outside commitments to make sure your kids are progressing as they should? Are you spending too much time on your phone, and not enough time enriching your child’s homeschool experience by actually talking with them about what they’re learning?
The truth of the matter is, there really is no point when a homeschool mom can just lean back and rest on her laurels, until her kids are graduated - maybe not even then. Homeschool students are always going to need help, direction, tips, discussions, and check-ins with mom. These things aren’t a chore, but an opportunity to pour into and connect with our kids through their education. Don’t wish those tasks away - don’t push your kids too much to not need you. They do need you, you are their best and only teacher, and being there for them is the beautiful thing about homeschooling.
I’d love to hear any more tips or encouragement you have on this subject! Comment below.
Our lilac bush, which has not bloomed in three years, came to life with flowers this year. As I was choosing a photo for this post, I remembered the too-many photos I took of the lovely blooms, and it struck me that our lilac bush feels like a fitting metaphor for our homeschool season. After two years of struggling through our homeschool days, somehow as we close out this year I find myself less burned out and more excited about homeschooling again.
Often when I write these “lessons learned” posts I’ll have some general principles and advice mixed in with my points, but I don’t have any this year. The changes we made were unrelated to any specific challenges we had, but ended up shifting our homeschool dynamic in unexpected ways.
Last year I ended the year struggling hard, and the fact that this year was better is probably a mix of the changes I made and also just entering a different season with my kids. I don’t think if you are struggling you should do the same things we did this year - but if you are struggling in your homeschool, make the changes YOU need to make to feel excited about homeschooling again. Don’t be afraid to try something new, because sometimes it ends up being just what you needed.
These are the two new things we did that breathed some life back into our days.
1. We started a new Charlotte Mason curriculum for history, geography, and literature.
We have been doing Masterbooks for history since the kids were small and to be clear, we have loved it! But after going through the same books several times now, I was ready to try something else. I heard about a reformed protestant Charlotte Mason curriculum that was in its beta year, called Living Heritage, and I was intrigued. I liked a lot of the books on the lists and the layout of the curriculum, and I decided we would give it a try.
I have been familiar with Charlotte Mason’s philosophy for years, and we have incorporated some of her principles (such as narration), but this was our first attempt at a full Charlotte Mason approach for certain subjects. We followed Living Heritage Cycle 4 for history, geography, art and music, and literature (with one or two science books as well).
Living Heritage ended up being a success for all my kids. I saw them grow leaps and bounds in their abilities to recall information from the readings, and in their writing endurance (for my older kids). We had zero complaints about any of the books (except my boys making fun of the opera stories we read), and my older kids asked to continue reading “real books” for history next year too.
Since we have never done another true Charlotte Mason curriculum, I can’t compare it to the big curricula, like Ambleside Online or others. It’s my understanding that there is some crossover in the booklists. What I appreciated the most about Living Heritage was the Bible, which is treated as a full and important subject. The books under “Bible” were so rich and theologically deep. I was especially nervous that the 8th grade Bible read would be too tough for my oldest, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much he understood and retained. It taught me that I shouldn’t underestimate my kids’ abilities to understand and enjoy even hard books.
This ended up being one of my favorite years of our homeschool, but not because it was easy. We combined Living Heritage with other curricula for science and math, as well as different “spine” books for our co-op classes. It was challenging to balance everything we were doing, but I think it stretched and grew my kids, and raised my own confidence in what we can accomplish if we manage our time well. We spent a lot of time on meaningful learning, and it wasn’t a burden to me or the kids because we really enjoyed so many of the books.
I did make adjustments as we went - I dropped one classic that was proving too much of a burden, and a couple books slipped off the list merely because of time. But when I look at the stacks of books we did read, I’m left with alot of satisfaction. We will adjust the curriculum to work with our high school plan for the fall (I still can’t believe my oldest is in high school), but it wasn’t even a question that we would be doing Living Heritage in some form again. You can check out Living Heritage here.
2. We rejoined a local co-op.
After taking a four-year break from any kind of co-op group, we re-joined a local co-op this past fall. We were part of this same group when my oldest was in 3rd and 4th grade, but at that season of life with young kids, I found it too challenging to attend a weekly co-op. I was floundering and recognized I need to spend some time developing my own homeschool discipline and direction before considering a co-op again. My goal was to wait until my youngest had learned to read - and after she finished her kindergarten year, we visited the co-op again.
The timing was right for us to give co-op a try for multiple reasons. My kids were more academically independent, we had good homeschool routines established, and my youngest was reading. Over the past several years we also had several of our core homeschool friends either move away or stop homeschooling all together, and we were in a place of needing a group we could connect with locally.
It’s been new for me to balance having a vision for our homeschool days at home and keeping up with our co-op work, but it helps alot that our co-op is mom-run and flexible. All the kids’ co-op leaders are also homeschool moms with their own things going on, and we recognize that mom makes the final call on what work needs to get done and when. My kids get the most out of it when we stay on schedule with co-op, but if we have a bad week or choose to drop an assignment in favor of something else, we have freedom to make adjustments.
Socially, it’s been a lovely thing for the kids, and I don’t take it for granted. They have made friends, they have just the right balance of structure and visiting time, and the kids in this particular co-op have seemed to mesh together very well. It was what we needed this past homeschool year to keep us encouraged.
Most homeschool moms would tell you that you often have to re-learn how to homeschool every year - there are always new challenges and adjustments that need to be made! This year we took a risk on changing our homeschooling style for over half our subjects with Living Heritage, and adding a big item to our weekly schedule with co-op, but both of those changes ended up paying off, by God’s grace. I’m thankful to end this homeschool year feeling satisfied instead of burned out.
How did your homeschool year go? Did you make any major changes, or was it a year of staying the course?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
