1 hour ago
Remember that summer to-do list I posted back in June? Well, we ended up crossing quite a few things off my unreasonably long list. We squeezed a lot of fun into summer, and as we are turning toward fall now, I wanted to record how we made the most of this summer, all the unusual circumstances notwithstanding!
---
Trampoline Games - Check! I taught the kids "pop the popcorn", and they had so much fun when I joined them on the trampoline!
Catch - Derek bought the boys some gloves, and he's been practicing catch with them this summer. We never signed either of them up for baseball, but it's one of my favorite sports, and I'm glad they are getting some practice in!
Spray Bottle Sidewalk Paint - Check! We did squirt bottles instead of spray bottles, and it was a hit! But they used it up way too quickly.
Ice Cream Playdough - Check! We used this recipe, and it was interesting - not much different than regular play dough, except it smelled like frosting. I think this is basically the same way you would make fondant. It's a fun recipe to try if the cooked-playdough recipes scare you!
Homemade Bubbles - We did try this! It looked cute, but it wasn't my favorite because the cornstarch kept separating from the mixture. But it did work!
Glow Sticks In Kiddie Pool - The weekend that we went porch camping, I also let the kids play in the kiddie pool. I threw a few glow sticks in it that night so they could see it from the tent! It wasn't as glow-y as I wanted it to be, but still fun.
Treasure Hunt - I put together a scavenger hunt for the kids to find some candy, using some free printables! The prize wasn't anything super special, but they still loved it. Clyde asked to do it again the next day, so I guess it was a success!
Reading Challenge - We did participate in our library's reading challenge! I took the kids a couple weeks ago to get their prizes, which included a book, a journal or bookmark, and coupons for a free entree at Noodles and Co.
Nature Hikes - We took several nature hikes this summer, and it was so nice to get outside so much.
Play In A Creek - Check! We found a creek in June, and the kids splashed around while I read. It was lovely, and the kids begged me to go back. Unfortunately the next time we went the creek was dry! We'll have to remember that it dries up by mid-summer next year.
Swimming - We managed to go swimming twice! My kids are finally getting to the age where taking them to the pool is less stressful and more fun. The big kids do pretty well in the deeper parts of the pool, and the little three are great with their floaties on. Wyatt and Gwen were even big enough to go on the slide this year!
Park Days - We visited several parks, including one where splash fountains were on, and the normalcy of just going to the park this summer was so good for all of us! My kids desperately missed the park when they were all closed during the spring.
Historical Sites - We had to delay one of our historical site plans until September, just because of finances and weather. But we did add in a more local historical site, and I am totally counting it as a school field trip! We also visited some local fossil beds one weekend.
Fishing - We went fishing twice, with plans to go more this fall! We went to a lake near our church on my birthday, and we also fished in ponds that are very near our house. The ponds looked really promising, but the fish didn't like our bait, so we are going to try live worms and go again soon!
Stargazing - We went stargazing in Arches National Park! It was the perfect place to stargaze as an International Dark Sky site. We found an empty parking lot, and laid on the pavement for about an hour, just staring at the stars with the kids and talking. The boys also saw their "first meteor", which they were super excited about! It was a good one too, with a long tail streaking across the sky.
Porch Camping - We try to do this every summer, and it's a big highlight for our kids! There is just something special about sleeping in a tent. And a bonus is that they spend alot of time playing in the tent the next day as well!
Campfire - The burn ban was lifted for a couple glorious weeks, and we snuck in a campfire a few days before the re-instated the ban. It was lovely, and even Georgie got into the marshmallow roasting this year!
Regular Movie Nights - We tried to have a movie night with the kids every Friday this summer, with pizza and dessert! We are definitely going to continue this tradition. It's fun to introduce the kids to some of our childhood favorites!
Firework Fruit Kabobs - I did make these for the 4th of July! They were so pretty.
Special Kid Drinks - At the beginning of the summer, I froze a bunch of kool-aid ice cubes. When we were having a boring day, I'd just pour Sprite over them for the kids - it's sweet how something so simple can make you "the best mom ever", ha!
Popsicles - I didn't do great at serving up the popsicles this summer, but I redeemed myself in these last few weeks! Popsicles all around.
Spaghetti Salad and Broccoli Salad - These are our favorite summer foods, and I made a batch of each to take on our end-of-summer trip a couple weeks ago.
Circus And County Fair - We visited our county fair for the first time as a family this year! I was really happy they went ahead with it. There was also a free circus at the fair, and the performers were great!
Dates - Derek and I were able to go on a date night this summer (rare occurrence)! We went mini-golfing and had a take-out picnic in the park. We also had a whole weekend away at the Gaylord hotel! It was beautiful, and we had a great time.
Boys' Birthday Party - We threw a joint birthday party for the boys! We did a party for the girls last fall, and had plans for a boys' party in April. We ended up doing it in June instead!
End Of Summer Trip To Arches - We ended up taking a weekend trip out to Arches before we started the school year! It was a really lovely trip, and I'm going to share more in another post soon. I have too many pictures to share here!
---
Stuff We Didn't Get To:
Trampoline Sleepover
Drive-in Movie
Bible Verse Memory Challenge
Make Bird Feeders
Origami "Fortune Teller" with Boredom Busters
Puffy Paint Ice Cream Cones
Hand-clapping Games
H.O.R.S.E.
Tic Tac Toe rocks
Homemade Bouncy Balls
I am hoping to add some of these into our fall plans, and if not, I'll just tack the rest onto next summer's bucket list!
Did you all do anything out of the ordinary this summer?
A Quote
“But I”m glad it’s not rainy today because it’s easier to be cheerful and bear up under affliction on a sunshine day…It’s all very well to read about sorrows and imagine yourself living through them heroically, but it’s not so nice when you really come to have them, is it?”
-Anne Of Green Gables
Anne, she says it like it is, right?
A Book
In case you hadn’t surmised, I have added a re-read of Anne Of Green Gables to my morning routine. I haven’t actually read the books for close to 20 years, if I’m not counting listening to them about 10 years ago. Now that I am almost old enough to be child-Anne’s mother, I thought it would be time for a re-read. I do find myself relating to Marilla more and more, but I still find Anne pretty delightful!
A Bit Of Nature
This tree outside our library is always the first to give us a hint of fall. However, overall I am shocked at how many of the leaves up here are already looking yellow-ish!
A Recommendation
I highly recommend the Acorn Spice cleaner by Mrs. Meyers. You don’t have to tell me how it’s not very effective and not very natural - I use it for the smell. I still haven’t found another cleaner that makes me so delighted to be cleaning. This particular scent is deliciously fall-ish. A few times I have found myself wondering what that wonderful smell is, and then remembering that it’s my all-purpose spray!
A Moment Of Happiness
We started homeschooling this week - a soft start, so every subject except reading/math instruction. I was showing Wyatt his history and language arts books, and explaining his work for the day. When I told him his language arts book would replace his old reading curriculum now that he’s in 4th grade, he perked up. “No reading? This book is it?” When I told him yes, he said: “Hmm. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m going to like school this year!” That’s what I like to hear!
Before we left Galveston, you know I had to try to get some family pictures on the beach! Unfortunately, I lost a piece of my tripod, so I ended up just taking individual shots of everyone, but I think the photos still turned out beautiful. The light was so moody and pretty.
The next day we waved goodbye to Galveston, but on the way home we checked out a few places of interest.
First, we stopped at Brazos Bend State Park. We had tried to go there when we spent a couple days in Houston, but they wouldn't let us in without a reservation. However, the areas I could see were beautiful, so we scheduled a stop on our way home. It was gorgeous! I really wish we could have spent more time there to birdwatch. There were ponds with all this beautiful vegetation, and big moss-covered oak trees everywhere.
We decided to take the route through Waco because I was just curious to see where the Magnolia setup was. Unfortunately we missed it's re-opening by a mere two days, but it was interesting to at least drive past. I'm not a huge Gaines-fangirl like a lot of people I know, but I can see how it would be a neat place to visit.
We also made stops at all the historical markers on the way home (including a small, very interesting cemetery), and we had some Texas barbecue for dinner!
The next day we took another slight detour and drove through the Oklahoma panhandle. Remember, I was reading The Worst Hard Time, and I really wanted to see the heart of the dustbowl. It was certainly dusty. We also stopped in a city that was mentioned in the book, one that I pictured being much bigger, and I was surprised at how small it still was. It was really interesting to have a book I was reading come to life like that. Thankfully no dusters blew through.
We also made a stop at John Martin State Park and Reservoir, for more impromptu birdwatching. It was funny, because the rangers told us that one of the birds we saw in Texas (I want to say the neotropic cormorant?) happened to be there, which would be really rare for Colorado...but we had already seen it in Texas, ha!
That is pretty much everything interesting that we saw on our trip! The rest was just alot of driving, and trying to read in the car, and fast food, mixed with gratitude to be heading home.
(A peek at our beach photos.)
(Isn't the light just beautiful here?)
(Then our stop at Brazos Bend State Park!)
(These were from another gorgeous area of Brazos Bend. Seriously, everywhere we looked was so pretty!)
(Driving to the hotel. Eating our barbecue.)
(The next day in the Oklahoma panhandle! Told you. Dusty.)
(John Martin State Park. Last interesting stop before we booked it home.)
Did anyone else take a road trip this year? Where to? It seems that it's the thing to do in 2020!
So let’s say you’ve decided to homeschool in the upcoming school year, and you have started looking into curriculum. How do you not get overwhelmed with the endless curriculum options out there? Because seriously guys, there is so much. I’ve heard from so many new homeschool moms that all the different curricula is overwhelming. How do you start to narrow it down, how do you figure out what will work for you family? I have a few thoughts and tips on where to start.
Figure Out Your Homeschooling Style (As Much As Possible Anyway)
Before you start to wade through curriculum, I think it’s helpful to think ahead to what you are hoping to get out of homeschooling, for yourself and your kids. What exactly do you want your homeschool to look like? What are your main goals for your kids? How do you want to evaluate their learning? Do you want it to look like textbooks and quizzes? Do you want opportunities for learning through doing? Do you want them to develop any particular skill really well?
One thing that really helped me was doing a little research into different homeschooling educational philosophies - learning more about the possibilities really helped me figure out the specific things I wanted for my kids out of different subjects, and out of our homeschooling journey as a whole. I wrote a summary of some popular homeschooling styles here, and I also highly recommend watching this video to give you an idea of the different homeschooling styles.
Don’t get too bogged down in research, but once you know the types, I think you should think carefully about which style (or which aspects of different styles) appeal to you. If you really like the idea of learning through interesting books (as opposed to textbooks) that will affect the curricula you pick. If you want your kids to have more input into what they learn (as in unschooling), that will guide your whole year. If you love the idea of the trivium in classical homeschooling, you’ll want to look for a curriculum that incorporates some of that.
And if you look at all the different styles and you still have no idea where to go with it - don’t worry. I’ve got more tips.
Attend A Curriculum Sale
If there are any homeschool conferences or curriculum sales in your area, I highly recommend you attend (though I do realize that this may be hard to accomplish in 2020). If you can’t find a curriculum sale, see if there are any physical bookstores in your area that carry homeschool curriculum (Mardel’s is one), or you can ask friends who are already homeschooling if you can come over to look through their curriculum. It is so much easier to get an idea of what you like and don’t like in a curriculum if you have a chance to look through it.
Even if it’s a curriculum you aren’t initially considering, take a look at it anyway. Read through the parent notes at the beginning of the book and start thinking through what you agree or don’t agree with. Look at a curriculum that has a lot of moving pieces, and see if you like that or not. I think just looking through different curricula of different styles will help you start to decide which direction you want to go.
Even if it’s a curriculum you aren’t initially considering, take a look at it anyway. Read through the parent notes at the beginning of the book and start thinking through what you agree or don’t agree with. Look at a curriculum that has a lot of moving pieces, and see if you like that or not. I think just looking through different curricula of different styles will help you start to decide which direction you want to go.
Choose A Curriculum That Appeals To YOU
I think it’s tempting to try to choose a curriculum that’s going to be perfect for your specific kid and their learning style. But…as Pam Barnhill says in Plan Your Year, “the best homeschool curriculum is the one that will get done.” And especially if your kids are young, the person who is driving the curriculum is you, as the mom. You want to work with a curriculum that you are excited about, that you want to open up and start with your kids. If you open up a book and feel excited to teach the subject to your kids, then your kids are most likely going to become more excited to learn it.
Consider Your Child’s Dislikes
As you are looking at curriculum, I think considering what your child hates to do may be more important than considering what they like. One of my goals for homeschooling is that my children learn to love learning, so I don't want to make it harder on them than necessary, especially in the younger years.
If you kid really hates writing, you’re going to want to avoid a curriculum that’s mostly writing-based. If they are still getting a handle on their reading, don’t choose a curriculum that expects the child to read huge chunks of text (unless you know you have time to read it to them). If you know your child loves learning in a certain way, by all means incorporate those things! But pay attention to the things that are difficult for them, or that they dislike, and find a curriculum that you can adapt to work around those things until their skills develop more.
If you kid really hates writing, you’re going to want to avoid a curriculum that’s mostly writing-based. If they are still getting a handle on their reading, don’t choose a curriculum that expects the child to read huge chunks of text (unless you know you have time to read it to them). If you know your child loves learning in a certain way, by all means incorporate those things! But pay attention to the things that are difficult for them, or that they dislike, and find a curriculum that you can adapt to work around those things until their skills develop more.
Other Things To Consider:
Worldview
One of the most important things to me in picking curriculum is making sure that I choose a curriculum with a biblical worldview. A major reason why I homeschool is so I can impart a knowledge and love for the Lord to my kids as an integral part of their education, so I try as much as possible to pick curriculum that fits with that (especially with subjects like science and history). Before you pick curriculum, make sure you are okay with the worldview it has as its foundation, and also make sure you agree with how it presents differing worldviews. Since this is such an important aspect to me, I've eliminated a lot of curricula on this point alone!
Worldview
One of the most important things to me in picking curriculum is making sure that I choose a curriculum with a biblical worldview. A major reason why I homeschool is so I can impart a knowledge and love for the Lord to my kids as an integral part of their education, so I try as much as possible to pick curriculum that fits with that (especially with subjects like science and history). Before you pick curriculum, make sure you are okay with the worldview it has as its foundation, and also make sure you agree with how it presents differing worldviews. Since this is such an important aspect to me, I've eliminated a lot of curricula on this point alone!
All-In-One Or Piecing It Together
Is it really important to you to choose an all-in-one curriculum, or are you okay with piecing together different curricula for different subjects? A lot of moms like the ease of an all-in-one curriculum, and the fact that a lot of the subjects can be integrated and connected in an all-in-one, because someone else already thought it out for you. Other moms (like me) have specific ideas about how they want to teach different subjects, and it’s easier to choose curriculum for subjects individually in order to get exactly what they want.
Learning Styles
What about learning styles, you may ask? How do you figure out if your kid is an auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learner, and how do you find a curriculum that fits with that?
This is just my opinion about learning styles in my experience so far, so take it with a grain of salt…but I don’t think kids’ learning styles are quite as important as people sometimes think. Learning styles are still being researched, but it's my understanding that there is no hard evidence to support the learning styles theory, or the idea that we must teach to specific learning styles.
In my very unprofessional opinion, I suspect that most people probably work within a combination of learning styles - some people may lean more toward one style than another, but most people are served well through a combination of hearing, sight, doing, etc.
And if your child really does appear to lean heavily toward one learning style, you can probably adapt most curricula to fit within that. For example, if your child retains more by hearing, consider the audio version of a textbook if it’s available, or just plan to read it aloud to them (or have them read aloud to themselves). But where a curriculum doesn’t quite fit, your child can also get practice in other learning skills too. Maybe your child is a big visual learner, but practicing listening skills through audiobooks would also be a good thing for them, for example. You don’t necessarily have to pick a curriculum that focuses on one learning style just because your child might lean that way.
And if your child really does appear to lean heavily toward one learning style, you can probably adapt most curricula to fit within that. For example, if your child retains more by hearing, consider the audio version of a textbook if it’s available, or just plan to read it aloud to them (or have them read aloud to themselves). But where a curriculum doesn’t quite fit, your child can also get practice in other learning skills too. Maybe your child is a big visual learner, but practicing listening skills through audiobooks would also be a good thing for them, for example. You don’t necessarily have to pick a curriculum that focuses on one learning style just because your child might lean that way.
However, I do think it’s important to consider your child’s skill areas and areas of struggle when choosing a curricula - this is less about an innate "learning style", and more about being aware of where they are excelling or still growing. To me, it’s more important to consider my child’s current skill level in order to not overwhelm them in that area too quickly, as I explained under “Consider Your Child’s Dislikes”. If my child is a weak writer, I want to gradually stretch them in that area, but I don’t want to make them drink from a fire hose by choosing a really writing-heavy curriculum either. That would just be a recipe for a miserable year for everyone.
Subjects To Do Together
If you have multiple kids it is very easy to combine different age groups for certain subjects. You don’t have to do this - you can choose grade-specific curriculum for each child in your house if you would like. But if you have a bunch of kids (like I do) doing some subjects all together will make for an easier and shorter homeschool day, so that may be something to consider when you are looking at curriculum.
For example, we do history, science, and Bible all together as much as possible in our house. I read the book to all my kids, and then I might give my older kids a couple extra tasks to reinforce the lesson. We are able to do subjects that way because I chose a history and science curriculum in which we could all participate together. If I had chosen a curriculum that was more grade-specific, or an all-in-one that had different books for different grades, this might be harder to do.
For example, we do history, science, and Bible all together as much as possible in our house. I read the book to all my kids, and then I might give my older kids a couple extra tasks to reinforce the lesson. We are able to do subjects that way because I chose a history and science curriculum in which we could all participate together. If I had chosen a curriculum that was more grade-specific, or an all-in-one that had different books for different grades, this might be harder to do.
So to sum up, here are some questions to ask yourself, and these will help inform what kind of curricula you should be looking at:
-What is my preferred homeschooling philosophy and teaching style? Does the philosophy of the curriculum I’m looking at fit with that?
-Does the curriculum I'm looking at support or undermine the worldview I am trying to pass on to my children?
-Does the curriculum I'm looking at support or undermine the worldview I am trying to pass on to my children?
-Do I want an all-in-one curriculum, or do I want to hand-pick each subject?
-Do I want to combine multiple age levels for certain subjects? Is the curriculum I’m looking at conducive to that?
-Have I looked inside the curriculum and read the teacher’s notes? Does the philosophy of the curriculum make sense to me?
-Am I excited about this curriculum? Would I have liked it as a kid?
-Is this curriculum a good fit for my child’s current skills and abilities? Will it stretch them without overwhelming them? Does it include too much of any elements my child struggles with?
I hope this post has been a little helpful if you are still struggling with choosing amongst the sea of curricula! And if you have any questions or additional tips, please add them in the comments!
I hope this post has been a little helpful if you are still struggling with choosing amongst the sea of curricula! And if you have any questions or additional tips, please add them in the comments!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
