Freebie! Downloadable shoe unit for first graders.

I've started following more and more teacher blogs to get ideas to use with the kids.  Today I found a new one and she is offering a free digital download printable unit using the topic of shoes.  It looks like a lot of fun and will be a nice little supplement for the girl to work on while I have one-on-one time with the boy.  Thank you Mrs. Tabb.

Why Homeschool?

I’m very excited to be bringing big sister (Ling) home to join little brother (Ping) in our homeschool adventure.  The big question is why?  She had a pretty awesome year at Kindergarten in the local public school (PS).  She learned to read quite well, excelled in math, made several friends, and really came out of her shell. 

The bottom line is that I want the best education for my kids.  While our local PS is good, I don’t think institutional education, in general, is best.  Conveyer belt education is not optimal.  Children learn at such different paces that it seems wrong to group them strictly by age.  Why shouldn’t they have the chance to interact with kids of other ages?  Why shouldn’t they be able to talk in class?  Why should they spend so much time learning how to walk silently in straight lines down the hall.  [I have visited Ling’s school on average once a week during the last year.  Seriously, the students in all grades spend a significant amount of time on that “skill.”]  I want more individualized attention for my kids.  I want them to experience more hands-on instruction.  I want them to be able to develop their personalities (and, yes, social skills) in a more nurturing environment.  I want them to spend time with grandparents.  I DON’T want to do any more fundraising!  I don’t want them to spend all day at school and then come home to do more hours of homework.  I like my kids and want to spend time with them.

Although many home educators’ reasons are bound up in their religious beliefs, that is actually not a foundational reason for wanting to educate my children at home.  My husband and I actively share our faith and beliefs with our children any way.  Shielding them from the secular humanism found in PS is not that important to us.  We know the difference between fact (the fossil record) and theory (evolution) and have no trouble training our children to know the difference as well.  We can tell the difference between the core truth of biblical Christianity versus the theology of different sects and denominations.

In my research of homeschooling resources I came across a book that completely solidified the approach I wish to take with educating my children.  The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise (WTM) lays out a complete course of education from preschool through 12th grade.  The educational approach is Classical, which divides up the learning stages into a trivium: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. 

WTM uses a four-year cycle of history as the spine for content areas of history, geography, social studies, art, literature, and even science.  The skill areas of math and reading are to be taught daily following some recommended resources.  From the WTM web site:

We suggest that the twelve years of education consist of three repetitions of the same four-year pattern: Ancients, Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation, and Modern Times. The child studies these four time periods at varying levels — simple for grades 1-4, more difficult in grades 5-8 (when the student begins to read original sources), and taking an even more complex approach in grades 9-12, when the student works through these time periods using original sources (from Homer to Hitler) and also has the opportunity to pursue a particular interest (music, dance, technology, medicine, biology, creative writing) in depth.

I believe that following the WTM model will give us a rigorous, efficient, and fun educational experience.  I know we’ll have challenges and difficult days but I believe in my very soul that this experience will be great.

Next up, curriculum choices and scheduling and our home classroom.

If you are a homeschooler, why do you do it?  If you think it is a bad idea, why?

 

PS: Here is a great video I just saw that highlights many positive outcomes of the homeschooling experience:

Gardening!

It has been a few years since we've had a vegetable garden.  Alex got tired of messing with it and plowed the whole thing under.  This year, I thought it would be fun to try again since Ty and I will be around to take care of it.  I picked up a bunch of different seeds and got the early crops started.  I convinced Alex to make some raised beds (hopefully, we can fence them in and keep the bunnies out).  The first of the seeds (tomatoes, cucumbers, and chives) are sprouted and we're ready to start planting.  Crossing our fingers that we don't have any more freezing nights.

Tomato

Cucumber
(or, perhaps, Audrey II.  "Feed me Seymour!")

Lovely, black dirt

Ye olde composte pyle

When I picked up seeds, I also got the kids a flower kit.  They've had loads of fun watching their plants sprout.  They've been measuring them daily, anxiously awaiting the time to transplant.  Tyler was proud as could be that his was the first one to be tall enough to transplant.  It is so rare the youngest gets to be first at anything.

I'm looking forward to printing out the garden preschool pack from Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations.  I hope Tyler will have fun working through the various activities.

I'm linking up to Homeschool Village to share our progress with other families throughout the spring/summer.

First official day of home preschool

Ever since leaving my job last fall I've been immersing myself in the blogs of homeschooling moms in an attempt to develop a plan for Tyler and I.  One in particular has been an absolutely fantastic resource: 1plus1plus1equals1.  I've gotten so very many ideas, downloads, and links to great resources from her.  She's got a little guy about the same age as Tyler.  She used to be a Kindergarten teacher in public school so has lots of resources and ideas from that time in her life.

This morning T and I started off with some color and animal sorting disguised as trying to find all the pieces to the UNO Moo game he got for Christmas.  This is a wonderful game for preschoolers.  There are so many great things to do with it in addition to playing it as it was designed.  We sorted all the pieces into color-coordinated bowls and then found the matching animals from each color and discovered that we were missing a green pig.  Then I got out some tongs to exercise some different muscles.





Next we worked on several items from the Fireman activity pack found on Homeschool Creations.  I supplemented this with another Christmas gift: a giant firetruck floor puzzle from Melissa & Doug (one of the best toy companies around).  After building the puzzle, Tyler likes to sit on it and pretend he's riding to a fire.  He wanted me to drive.  We hopped on and then walked down the hall to put out a fire in Annali's room.  I picked up a red tube from our musical instrument stash and pretended that was our fire house.  We got out a step stool to be our ladder.  We put on bicycle helmets to be our firefighter helmets.  Tyler got a blanket for the people inside the burning building so their clothes wouldn't smell like smoke.  He's such a considerate boy!  I wish I would have gotten pictures but I chose to be in the moment instead.  So fun!!



Tyler's attention span was running out of steam so we took a break and he watched 101 Dalmatians.  After lunch we played with our Math Link cubes and another print out from another print out from 1plus1.  The page was meant to be used with pom poms but we matched up our cubes instead.






Right now he's playing with a plush nativity set we picked up from Mardel yesterday.  Great bargain at 75% off; however, I just realized we are missing Joseph so we'll have to trek back out to the store soon to make an exchange!  Next we'll be taking a nap.

A good first day!!

PS: Tyler is 49.5 months old

Our newest pet

Slimy up close
Originally uploaded by Qcaller

Do you like him? We found the shell at the park today. I assumed it was empty but after I had carried it for a bit, I noticed a dark blog sticking out. We brought it home and fed him (her?) some leaves and named him Slimy. All four of us got very excited when he finally started coming out of his shell.

The same, and yet, completely different

Hellooooo!  Anybody out there?  Not sure if anyone still has this blog on their radar.  Between my crazy job and my personal crazy (depression) all my creative energy just got sucked right out of me over the past year.  There's been no blogging and almost no digi scrapping.

I'm still battling depression and probably always will to one degree or another.  However, this Fall I am starting on a new season of life.  I quit that all-consuming job to focus on sanity and family.  I've been working 15 hours a week for the past month (loving that!!) and will quit completely on 10/21 after training my replacement for a total of 15 hours.  Hope she's a fast learner.

Annali started Kindergarten this fall and is quietly brilliant.  Somehow I got elected head room mother and will be coordinating the fall classroom party over the next couple weeks.  After I completely quit working, Tyler and I are going to be holding preschool here at home.  He's also going to speech therapy and Kindermusik.  We'll be searching out lots of fun, FREE activities around town.  Alex is working tons of overtime to make up for my loss of income.   He has been my rock throughout my personal struggles.  I couldn't ask for a better husband or kids.

Money is the thing that scares me the most about this new phase of our life.  I want to be frugal without making my kids feel poor.  We are all going to be learning new habits.  We've been much too loose with our money and have often given in to buying worthless trinkets for the kids.  I've been totally inspired by a blog called Filth Wizardry into exploring our creativity and using things we have on hand already.  My friends at work blessed us with a gift card to W@l-M@rt.  Today we stocked up on some art supplies to supplement the recycling bin.  I'm looking forward to lots of creative fun with the kids.

Wishing you all the best,

Pam

Wild Things

Alex and the kids were having a silly time with all the stuffed animals.  They kept egging him on to pile "more, Daddy, more!!"  I just love listening to the kids being silly with their Daddy.  I love watching him be an awesome father.

Digiscrap Credits:  Papers and elements from Jungle Boogie by Kay Miller.  This started from a template by Misty Cato but was altered significantly.