Category: Our Homeschool

October 1, 2014 Curriculum Reviews, Curriculum Reviews, Writing 2 Comments

The Phonetic Zoo {Curriculum Review}

This year we are using quite a bit of curriculum from the Institute for Excellence in Writing. We’re using Primary Arts of Language for Helen’s phonics, Teaching Writing: Structure and Style for Henry’s writing program with our co-op group, and The Phonetic Zoo for Henry’s spelling.

Andrew Pudewa, president of IEW has been a mentor of mine from the beginning of my homeschool career when I saw him speak at the Rocky Mountain Catholic Home Educators Conference. The talk that most inspired me, Teaching Boys & Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day,  is available on his website for a couple of bucks and is totally worth a listen.

There are many things I like about the IEW materials. First, they are all based on reaching auditory learners as well as visual learners. This can be hard to find, particularly in language materials which are often highly visual. Second, the folks at IEW totally get kids – lessons are short, interactive, and based on quick mastery of tiny pieces of information. Pudewa understands that kids want to do what they think they can do, and will often refuse to do anything they think will be too hard.

I have heard others describe IEW materials as “intense” or “parent heavy,” but I think these people may be falling into a common trap of homeschoolers – failing to use the curriculum as a tool and allowing it to be your master. I like the materials because they provide you with a lot of really good material to teach. However, the authors also frequently and insistently encourage you to use the materials as they best suit you and your child. Attempting to cram a lot of information into a passive and even resistant mind is NOT what IEW is about. If it takes you a week to get through a single day’s lesson plan, your child is still greatly benefiting from this high quality material, and you are in no way failing as a homeschooler. Why use subpar material just because the pace is slower? Why not set your own pace using quality tools?

I like Andrew Pudewa and the IEW materials so much, that Pudewa is a household name here. In fact, my son thinks I like him a little too much. During a particularly challenging Phonetic Zoo lesson, my son threw down his headphones and launched into the following tirade.

“This is too hard! I can’t do it! Why do you even like Pudewa so much? You like Pudewa more than you like your own family! You worship him like he’s some sort of god!”

Ahem. I guess I shouldn’t have been so upset when this child chose not to enroll in our enrichment program’s theater class. Clearly, he is already quite skilled in drama.

Fortunately, using some of the skills I’ve learned from Master Pudewa, I was able to navigate this little bump in the road and get us back on track.

So onto the nitty gritty of the Phonetic Zoo. The program is intended for students beginning in 4th grade and is designed to be self-teaching. It comes with an audio CD that the child listens to for each lesson.  Each lesson consists of two audio tracks as well as a large card printed with the lesson’s spelling rule, a list of spelling words, and a picture of an animal or two whose names also illustrate the spelling rule (for example, caiman and ray for the ai/ay lesson).

When the child sits down to do his spelling lesson, he listens to the audio CD with headphones to minimize distractions and to help channel the information directly into his brain. The audio lesson consists the spelling rule repeated every 3-5 words, followed by dictation of the spelling words. The child writes each of the 15 spelling words as they are dictated while also listening repeatedly to the spelling rule. The following track is a self-check with the proper spelling of each word dictated back to the child. The whole thing takes about 10 minutes. As a mastery program, the child repeats the lesson every day until he spells each of the 15 words correctly. This might take one day or a couple of weeks. Once he has mastered the list, he receives a small trading card with a picture of the lesson’s animals on it.

I want to note that these cards are not childish. They have nice line drawings of interesting animals. The program is designed for later elementary kids, and it does not insult them with cartoonish, childish trading cards.

This program has been brilliant for us for three reasons. First, it is something Henry can do entirely on his own. Second, it is short and finite – Henry knows exactly how long it will take and when it’s done, it’s done. This is key for a kid who has trouble focusing on school work. Finally, Henry is a highly auditory learner, so hearing the words spelled back to him is essential. Incidentally, Pudewa asserts that this piece is critical for any type of learner because when we just look at words we don’t really see the order of the letters. You can learn more about the theory behind the program here.

The one bump we hit in the road, the one that prompted the aforementioned accusations of my preternatural adoration of Andrew Pudewa, was caused by my failing to properly introduce the lesson. Henry had done such a good job with lesson one, that I thought I could get away with just throwing lesson two at him with no introduction. While it is a self-teaching program, if your child is a particularly poor speller (as mine is), there are a number of ways you can introduce the lesson to help him succeed. First, you can read through the large lesson card together and have him copy the list of words while saying each letter out loud. Second, you could simply have him listen to the second track of the lesson and write each word as it’s proper spelling is dictated. He could even do this for several days until he is confident enough in his ability to pass the “test.” The point is to learn the material, not to make your kid cry.

While we are only on lesson three (that second lesson took a loooong time to master!) I have seen an improvement in Henry’s spelling, and more importantly, in his confidence around spelling. I really like the self-paced mastery approach because by the time a child can spell the more challenging words, all of the words are solidly cemented in his brain.

I highly recommend this program for anyone teaching spelling, especially if you hate teaching spelling or if your child has struggled with it in the past.

 

September 29, 2014 Encouragement, General, Our Homeschool, Parenting, Schedules and Routines 4 Comments

Our Homeschool Schedule: Lessons Learned

We’ve been using our homeschool schedule now for about six weeks, and I want to highlight some of the things I’ve learned from the experience. For the most part, it is working as I hoped – sometimes even better. Here are the tips I would share with anyone else trying to make a major change like this.

Take baby steps
One thing I’ve learned repeatedly is that if I try to change everything at once, I will fail. I will burn out, get discouraged, and give up. I took a good 4-6 weeks to plan this schedule, and another 4-6 weeks to implement it. When I began living the plan, I started with getting up early and going to Jazzercise 3 days a week. My next step was to start getting the kids up at 7:15. I then added the morning group school (what we call Morning Time). Once each piece became routine, I added a new piece. Because we were moving from an anything goes free-for-all to a day of expectations and requirements, I felt it was critical to go slowly. This helped me to feel successful instead of defeated.

Get up early
I know. Everyone says this. And it makes me groan too. I have been dragging my butt out of bed 3 mornings a week at 5:30 so I can get to Jazzercise by 6am. Hard, but so worth it. I love having that workout out of the way, and it wakes me up and gets me ready to face the troops when I get back home at 7:15. On Tuesday and Thursday, I’m up at 6 for some office/quiet time. I spend 5-20 minutes of this time praying, depending on the day. This is one of my favorite times of the day. It’s all about nourishing my mind, body, and soul so that I can take care of others with a full tank.

I’m glad I started the schedule implementation by working on my own wake time. It was quite an adjustment, but what those all those annoyingly chipper bloggers say about getting up before your family is true. It really does make the day run more smoothly. 

Go to bed early
I had been in the bad habit of staying up later and later each night because it was the only free time I had. The problem was, it was never really “free.” I was too damn tired from the day to do much of anything except maybe fold a load of laundry while staring blearily at a mild-amusing sitcom streaming on my Roku. Or I was taking care of a few last minute details for the next day. Or I was tucking naughty kids back into bed for the 457th time.

We’ve been getting the kids tucked in by 8 the last few days and it’s heavenly. I still have just enough energy to have a conversation with my husband, or read a little, or fold that laundry and enjoy a sitcom. And then I can go to bed at 9, be asleep by 9:30 and still get in 8 hours before my 5:30 Jazzercise alarm.

I will say that if you are a night owl and can truly use your night hours in a way that recharges you and still get up and face your family when you need to, then by all means ignore this. I will add though, my best friend, a consummate night owl, is the one who finally convinced me that getting up early is the way to go. She started doing it and talking about how great it is. This from the girl who  cursed at the morning radio show host when my clock radio alarm would go off at 8 o’clock when we were in the dorms together.

Discipline and consistency are key
To really make this work, I’ve seen that I absolutely must stick to the schedule every day. When the kids know that this is what’s happening at this time and there’s no getting out of it, they’re much more likely to get with the program. They have all tested me. Because I’ve given up and thrown in the towel on things like this so many times in the past, I think they’ve all expected this to be one more thing they could get out of if they made it unpleasant enough for me. After a few weeks, they’re all getting the message that this is the way we do things now, and there’s no since in fighting it. An incentive program for my oldest has been especially helpful. Also, consistent expectations for my three year old during school time.

One of the things I changed after realizing this is we now do our Morning Time routine at the kitchen table 3 mornings a week. I had planned to do school in the car on the way to my parent’s house once a week, but I found that doing at least an abbreviated version at home before we leave makes more sense.

Discipline applies to me as well. If I don’t get up early and do what I’m supposed to, the day doesn’t run as smoothly. If I don’t plan meals or start dinner on time, bed time is a mess. The more I follow the plan, the more smoothly things run and the more fun and free time I have.

Plan ahead and be prepared
I’m using several curriculum resources that spell out exactly what and when to do things, and so I thought I could get away with just doing the next thing each morning without any planning ahead. However, I have found that the day runs much more smoothly if I write out exactly what I want to cover each day and put it all in one place. I’ve resisted lesson plans for 4 years, but now find them necessary. Sometimes I want to do more or less of something than is assigned for that day. Sometimes I forget some small but critical piece (like handwriting). Making a written lesson plan helps me feel more in control and less scattered. It also keeps me from just blowing something off for the day.

 Screen time during school hours is a Bad Idea
At least in our family. Our original schedule had bits of screen time scattered throughout the day for each of the kids. I’ve done away with that. The new rule is that, unless it’s been specifically assigned for school, you may not use a screen before 4pm. I found that it was too easy for the kids to stretch the screen time – and for me to let them because it was easy for me. Then there would be fights about turning it off, and it made transitioning through our day too contentious. What was screen time for each kid is now free time. Once 4pm rolls around, they can pretty much glut themselves until about 6 when I ask them to do some chores before dinner.

For the most part, I’m super pleased with the way things are going, and I’m happy I stuck with the bumps that came with making a big change. I feel much better about the way we spend our days, and my kids seem happier too.

 

September 17, 2014 Education Theory, Our Homeschool, Parenting, The Joys of Boys Post a Comment

Using Incentives in Your Homeschool

Yesterday was an agonizing day. I had a certain amount of work I wanted my oldest to achieve. Grueling assignments such as writing 6 sentences and completing a 10 minute spelling lesson. Finishing 5 problems on Khan Academy. You know, things that clearly no reasonable person would ask a 4th grader to do.

There was drama. There were tears. There was eye rolling and yelling. There were threats. And there was googling of schools for kids with ADD.

And I found the school. And if we started eating ramen and selling our blood, we might be able to afford the school.

But I thought, if this school can do it, then it can be done. There are methods they use that I can learn too, right?

I know from my history with this child that he responds exceedingly well to incentives. He used to chew on his shirt. Constantly. I told him if he went three weeks without chewing on his shirt, he could have the Lego Movie video game for the XBox. He never chewed on his shirt again. It was infuriatingly simple. If it was that easy for him to stop, why didn’t he just stop before?

Smart But Scattered, a great book on how to help kids with executive functioning challenges, had taught me that working for incentives is actually an executive functioning strength that my son has. If the price is right, can do just about anything.

Here’s the thing. I HATE incentives. I feel like if you can do something, you should just do it because it’s the right thing to do. It seems to me, that if you can do something for an incentive, then you can do it, and you should do it without a reward.

But apparently, doing the right thing, or just getting it done, is not enough of an incentive for my son to leave behind the incredibly exciting world in his imagination to write 6 sentences about the lost colony of Roanoke. Because sitting in a chair all day really isn’t torture for him. His mind is a fascinating place to be, and it keeps him perfectly well entertained.

This morning he woke up asking what he could do to earn more money. He has finally developed an appreciation for all of the useless crap amazing treasures money can buy him. Like machetes with fake blood and nerf guns and large books from the thrift store that he can turn into secret hiding spots. This is great because when a kid wants money, a parent can generally get him to do things he might not otherwise do willingly.

I told him I’d think about it. I’m a bit of a miser, and I don’t want to just go handing money out like some kind of money fairy or something. I mean, it doesn’t grow on trees now, does it?

It wasn’t long before I’d asked him to do something and he gave me attitude about it. Inspiration. “Every time I have to ask you to do something more than once, you owe me a quarter.”

Ha! See? I’m making money this way, not handing it out.

Later, we were doing school work and he started whining “It’s too hard!” Boom. “Every time you whine about school work, you owe me a quarter.”

I ran down to the basement and grabbed a bag of poker chips and two paper cups. I wrote “Henry” on one of them and “Mom” on the other. I filled the “Henry” cup with 20 poker chips – each worth a quarter. I took two quarters for his earlier infractions.

Because I’ve been trained in such things I know that a strictly punitive system is not likely to be effective for long. So I started offering incentives. “If you write 4 sentences before I come back downstairs, I’ll give you a quarter.” Because I’m a mean mom, I am incapable of a strictly rewards based system. So along with the carrot I proffered a stick. “If you haven’t written at least 2, you owe me a quarter.”

I told him, “Each chip is a quarter. There are five dollars worth of chips in here. You can gain and lose them based on your behavior, and I will pay you on Sunday. Each Monday morning you’ll start out with 20 new chips.” And that, ladies and gentleman, is a glowing example of my stellar making-it-up-as-I-go-along parenting. 

But you know what? He finished everything I wanted him to do by noon. Yesterday, we didn’t finish until five o’clock. That’s right, I bought five hours of extra time with my system. Not bad for 5 bucks.

I will admit, though, that I’m still uncomfortable with the system. I have learned repeatedly that this sort of thing is super effective for my son, but I’ve also read enough Alfie Kohn to feel that this sort of “manipulation” is somehow damaging to my son or to our relationship.

And so I struggle between what I desperately want to believe philosophically, and what I see creates peace and harmony and a happy son in reality.

I’m curious. Have any of you have had success with using incentives in your homeschool? Did it create any unintended consequences that caused problems down the line?

August 21, 2014 Book Reviews: Books for Parents, Homeschool Science, The Joys of Boys, Uncategorized Post a Comment

Sandbox Scientist: Real Science Activities for Little Kids {Book Review}

If you’ve been following my posts on scheduling, you may have noticed that Thomas and Henry have a block called “Science Box Time.” This is a time of open ended science exploration facilitated by the handy little book Sandbox Scientist: Real Science Activities for Little Kids.

sandbox scientist

I first discovered this book when I randomly checked it out from the library. I loved it, returned it, and forgot the name of it. A bit later I despaired when  I couldn’t recall the name of it. All of my vague descriptions to the nice librarian and her creative searches yielded nothing. Then one day the title just came to me and I immediately jumped on Amazon and ordered my own copy of it.

This book is very nearly perfect for teaching science to young children. And by young, I mean anywhere from age 2 up to middle school.

In the early years, science is not about learning scientific facts. It is about the formation of scientific habits. It’s learning to think like a scientist. Science is learning to ask questions and to look for the answers through exploration and observation. Raising a scientist involves nurturing curiosity, and encouraging creativity. It means empowering children to discover, learn, and prove things for themselves rather than just accepting what they’re told.

Science asks “Why? Really? What happens if I. . . ? How do you know? Show me. Let me see. Let me try. Prove it.” Science sounds an awful lot like an impudent teenager.

Sandbox Scientist provides a list of science boxes you can assemble yourself that encourage children to ask these questions and to seek the answers for themselves through exploration and observation. The boxes work perfectly in a home environment because the materials they call for are cheap and easy to find.

I am using the book to plan out six weeks worth of boxes at a time. For our first six weeks I went through and pulled boxes calling for water. This is not because I’m doing a water theme (though you could certainly use the book that way), but rather because I want to take advantage of the warm weather while we’ve got it. By assembling six weeks worth of boxes at a time, I can make one trip to the hardware store and/or dollar store to get what we need and put everything together at one time. My boxes are now ready to go when I need them.

Yesterday my kids played with the Ice Box. One of the best things about the ideas in this book is that they are suitable for my 3 year old and my 9 year old. They approach the material in different ways, and they learn from each other in the process.

The Ice Box contained large blocks of ice made from yogurt tubs and 1/2 gallon milk cartons, spoons, forks, knives, paint brushes, watercolor paint, and squirt bottles of warm water. I put it all out in a couple of large aluminum trays on a sheet in the back yard and invited the kids out to play.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh5.ggpht.com/-XowHUEWOcGw/U_XtwAaXkVI/AAAAAAAAEWE/fxHT0BoPuBQ/s144-o/IMAG1259.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/107257479592166177418/20140818?authkey=7zpGA5U9QqA#6050003083442229586″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”IMAG1259.jpg” ] [pe2-image src=”http://lh5.ggpht.com/-00po8OJQKSM/U_Xt2CdXo4I/AAAAAAAAEWQ/qN8wYfTu-GU/s144-o/IMAG1258.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/107257479592166177418/20140818?authkey=7zpGA5U9QqA#6050003187070903170″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”IMAG1258.jpg” ] [pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-5QD65SYJpoE/U_Xt79rZkDI/AAAAAAAAEWc/u0XrkxgKb7Y/s144-o/IMAG1257.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/107257479592166177418/20140818?authkey=7zpGA5U9QqA#6050003288866787378″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”IMAG1257.jpg” ]

The children had a blast observing the different properties of the ice. “This block is clear!” “This one is cloudy!” “Hey look, this one has holes in it?” “Let’s make the hole bigger.”

They also enjoyed painting the ice and watching the patterns of the swirls as the painted ice melted. They observed the effects of spraying a stream of water on the ice blocks versus spraying a mist of ice onto them. They enjoyed chipping and chiseling the ice into smaller pieces to make them melt faster.

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The boys did not happen to discover that they could melt the ice more quickly by using the magnifying glasses to focus the sun’s heat onto the ice. I think a small suggestion from me on using the magnifying glasses in this way could have extended the exploration a bit. As it was, they worked with the science box for a good 20 minutes before it devolved into a squirt bottle fight in the back yard. All in all, I thought our first science box was a success.

 

 

August 18, 2014 General, Our Homeschool, Schedules and Routines Post a Comment

Homeschooling Multiple Children: Our 1st Grade Plan for 2014-2015

You have now seen my schedule, my 4th grader’s schedule, and my preschooler’s schedule. Because she’s involved in most of our schedules most of the day, you’ve also seen the bulk of my 1st grader’s schedule, but I’ll share it here on it’s own.

DSC01937

I want to note that in preparing each of these schedules I carefully considered my kids’ unique personalities. Helen is my most patient but also my most extroverted child. I knew I had to include time for her to play with her neighborhood friends which means that she has to be done with the majority of her stuff by the time they can play after school. It also means that I need to try to keep her busy when her friends are in school.

This is Helen’s first year of school with me. I didn’t do formal school with Henry at this age.  I don’t think it’s necessary to have scheduled school time with a 1st grader, but Helen is begging for it. It also gives us a format for interaction that we both enjoy. Our one-on-one school time has become a highlight of the day for both of us.

I just don’t want anyone to read this and think that their 1st grader needs to have a bunch of formal school time scheduled into their day. I still stand by my relaxed approach. Henry was unschooled at this age. You know your kid. If they don’t delight in sitting down to do math and phonics for an hour a day, don’t force it!

You’ll see that much of her day is still free time, though I provide a little structure to keep boredom away. Most of the activities (like science box time and sensory time) are open ended and optional. If she has a better way to spend her time, for the most part, she can do what she likes.

7:15-8:15 Wake, dress, brush teeth, eat breakfast
8:15-9:15 Group School This has been happening at the breakfast table for the most part. I read aloud from Life of Fred, our science reading for the day, and our history reading for the day. The kids can color or draw or play quietly on the floor.
9:15-9:45 Outside Time All three of the kids go outside while I clean up the kitchen and such.
9:45-10:15 Free Time This was initially read alone/book time while I do school with Thomas, but in practice it’s been free time while I finish up chores or play with Thomas if he’s interested.
10:15-10:45 Morning School Here is more read alouds or picture study, composer study, or nature study a la Charlotte Mason. This is still developing.
10:45-11:30 School with Mom We’re working through the Primary Arts of Language phonics/reading program. We’re also starting Ray’s Arithmetic. Phonics takes priority. If we have time, interest, and attention, we do a little math.
11:30-12:00 Time with Thomas They can choose to do whatever they want as long as they leave Henry and I alone to work. The science box materials are still out. I also plan to have a planned sensory or craft activity available during this time. Or they can play with dolls or trucks or whatever. Again, as long as they let Henry and I work, it’s all good.
12:00-12:30 School Alone Yes, 1st grade is young for independent work, but the idea is that she’ll work on her phonics games and worksheets at the kitchen counter while I prep lunch.
12:30-1:00 Lunch
1:00-1:30 Spanish with Henry I don’t know if this is going to work, but I’d like to have them do some sort of Spanish at this time. We have Power Glide Spanish, but we may switch to Spanish videos or something.This time has two goals in addition to learning a little Spanish. 1) Henry and Helen spend time together doing something constructive. 2) They leave me alone to do some prayer and reflection.
1:30-2:00 Screen Time This is first (of three) 30 minute screen times. During this time, Thomas is resting in my bed with me, and Henry is working on his independent work.
2:00-2:30 Rest Time Quiet play in her room, preferably resting on her bed. She can listen to audio books, look at books, or play quietly alone with her dolls and such.
2:30-3:00 Time with Mom This is for us to do whatever it is she wants to do with me. Often it’s playing with dolls.
3:00-4:00 Outside Time Free time outside. I’m available at this time to supervise, but I’m reading or making phone calls or doing yard work.
4:00-4:30 Afternoon Chores Making sure everything is picked up from the day and straightening up her room.
5:00-6:00 Outside Time As soon as afternoon chores are done, they’re free to play outside with the neighbor kids.
6:00-6:30 Screen Time
6:30-7:00 Dinner and Clean up
7:00-7:30 Screen Time or Free Play Sometimes she heads downstairs for more TV after dinner, sometimes she spins around in the living room for a half an hour.
7:30-8:30 Bath, bed, tuck-in Lights out at 8:30.
August 14, 2014 Encouragement, Our Homeschool, Schedules and Routines 5 Comments

Mom’s Schedule for Homeschooling

As I’ve posted some of my thinking about schedules and shared the schedule for my preschooler and 4th grader, I’ve received some questions about my own schedule. So here it is in all it’s glory.

When I read Managers of Their Homes, one of the things that most attracted me to using a schedule was Terri Maxwell’s personal schedule. She had scheduled time to sew, time to rest, time to read and pray, and time alone with each of her kids. How in the world did she do this? Housework was a bit different for her because she has grown children living at home that do much of the housework. So that was part of the answer. But it wasn’t the whole answer.

When I filled out the Mom’s Activity worksheet that came with the book and wrote out all of my activities with the time it would take to accomplish them, I thought I was being extravagant. I included a nap time, reading time, project time, time with each kid, time for school, time for housework, 8 hours for sleep, 1.5 hours to exercise (to allow time to travel to my beloved Jazzercise class). I expected it to total something ridiculous like 40 hours. It didn’t. It totaled 23.5 hours.

Huh.

So maybe I DO have enough time in my day.

We-always-have-time

I did the math over and over and I was really excited to see that maybe I could actually fit everything in. Maybe I could actually take a nap every day, do some writing, keep my house reasonably clean, educate my children, and even play with them. Maybe.

It took some puzzling. It took a willingness to commit to going to bed early (my preference anyway) and getting up early. I don’t mind getting up as early as 6 am. But in order to get to the 6am Jazzercise class, I need to get up no later than 5:30. Yikes. That seemed nearly impossible. But I’ve been doing it for a couple of weeks now and I love it. I go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On the other days, I use that early morning time to pray and write. And I LOVE it. I’ve never been much use after 9pm, so making myself go to bed early and get up when my brain works has been really good for me.

So here’s what my day looks like.  

5:15-6:00 Wake, pray, eat, travel Or sleep in a bit if it’s not a jazzercise day.
6:00-7:15 Jazzercise Or prayer and office time. This is a good time for me to write, pay bills, do some planning, get copies made for the day. Or just sit and read. It’s my time. It’s good time. If a kid wakes up at this time (happening less and less these days), they can have screen time or snuggle with me as long as they’re quiet.
7:15-8:15 Shower, dress, breakfast I’m working on this, honestly. I truly need to streamline breakfast. I feel like an hour should be more than enough time to do these things, but breakfast always runs long.
8:15-9:15 Group School On the days we leave for co-ops or my parents’ house, this is a “load and leave” time. On the drive to my parents’ we do school in the car with audio books or our Classical Conversations memory work.
9:15-9:45 Chore Time While the kids play outside I do some chores. I more or less follow the FlyLady plan, so this is when I finish up my “morning routine” and check the zone missions for the day. (If you’re not familiar with FlyLady, take a few minutes and check her out. She’s really helped with my housekeeping.)

On Fridays I will use this time to hang in the coffee room at our enrichment program.
9:45-10:15 Preschool Time with Thomas So far, he’s usually engaged in his own thing during this time, so I’m just following him around and giving him my attention. I plan to get the Flowering Baby curriculum to use with him on days we’re looking for inspiration.

On Fridays, this is time for grocery shopping and errands.
10:15-10:45 Morning Time School More read alouds with the kids to finish up what we didn’t get to during Group School.

Or, on Fridays, grocery shopping and errands.
10:45-11:30 School with Helen This is Science Box time for the boys and one-on-one time for Helen and me. This is when we do our Primary Arts of Language phonics work and a math lesson. This is one of my favorite parts of the day.

Fridays: finishing up groceries and errands.
11:30-12:15 School with Henry Sensory/craft/free playtime for Helen and Thomas and one-on-one time for Henry and me. We work on math, handwriting, and writing. This is one of the most challenging parts of my day.

Fridays: lunch with Thomas.
12:15-1:00 Lunch/Clean up A quick clean up from the morning, lunch prep, and lunch.

Fridays: House cleaning.
1:00-1:30 Prayer and Reflection Henry and Helen do Power Glide Spanish while Thomas and I hang out in my bed. Thomas can play on the Kindle while I pray and read.

Fridays: More house cleaning.
1:30-2:00 Nap time Everyone is supposed to have quiet time during this half hour. Helen is supposed to read alone, Henry is supposed to do independent schoolwork, and Thomas stays in bed with me. He can keep playing on the Kindle. I really do lie down and sleep most days.

Fridays: More house cleaning.
2:00-2:30 Time with Thomas Thomas needs my attention to leave the screen behind. This is our time to play trains or draw pictures or whatever it is he wants to do with me.

Fridays: Finish up housecleaning
2:30-3:00 Time with Helen This is Helen’s time to do whatever she wants to do with me.

Fridays: Rest with a cup of coffee and get ready to go get kids.
3:00-3:30 Ryan Time Ryan is my husband. This is a block in my day to do whatever it is he’s asked me to do. Often this is nothing. Sometimes I water the garden or call plumbers. This is also a good time for me to make phone calls to schedule appointments. The kids are playing outside, and I am outside to supervise if I need to be.

Fridays: School pickup.
3:30-4:00 Reading Time Kids are still outside. I’m reading outside to keep an eye on things.

Fridays: Visit on the playground after school if weather is nice, or just come home.
4:00-4:30 Time with Henry This is Henry’s time to do whatever he wants to do with me. This usually involves learning something new about Minecraft.

Fridays: settle in at home, clean out car.
4:30-5:00 Laundry Time/Chore Time The kids have some afternoon chores that need my supervision at this time. I’ve put in this time just for laundry so I don’t have to do it at night. I’m remembering that it’s almost impossible to fold laundry with a toddler around, so this will have to change at some point. Right now it’s great (when I’m actually disciplined enough to do it!) to have this time to actually fold and put away laundry.

Fridays: Schedule resumes it’s normal routine at this point.
5:00-5:30 Project Time It’s only half an hour, but this is my time to work on whatever little project has caught my fancy. I might spray paint a lamp, or put up some curtains, or write some more, or organize a closet. Whatever seems most satisfying to me that day is what I spend this time on.
5:30-6:30 Kitchen Time Dinner prep, baking projects, kitchen cleaning. I find that if I don’t try to multi-task by being on the computer during dinner-prep time I can actually get quite a bit done in there in this hour.
6:30-7:30 Dinner and Kitchen Clean up
7:30-8:30 Kids Bathed and Bedded I also use this time to do some chores upstairs – a quick wipe down of the kids’ bathroom, a quicky tidy of Thomas’s room or my bedroom. This is also when I get myself ready for bed.
8:30-9:30 Time with Ryan We are working hard to train the kids not to come out of their rooms during this time.Anyone got any advice on that one?
9:30 Light’s Out

I’ve implemented most of this at this point. We’re still easing into school, but the rest of it is going pretty well. It does take discipline. It’s easy to sit with Henry on the computer for another half hour rather than stop to do chores. It’s also easy to let everyone sleep while I write a little more rather than get going at 7:15. But we’ll figure it out. Just the fact that I’ve been able to write so much more has motivated me to keep working to get it all implemented. 

What motivates you to stick to your routines and schedules? Where do you get “stuck” in your day?

August 13, 2014 Encouragement, General, Our Homeschool, Schedules and Routines 8 Comments

Homeschooling Multiple Children: Our 4th Grade Plan for 2014-2015

A few days ago I shared my plan for my preschooler, and I’ve decided to go ahead and share my plan for the rest of us as well. I do this with some hesitation because I am certainly not holding us up as The Family That You Should Imitate. We’re not. But I have found it helpful to see how others with families similar to mine are managing things. I share this so you can see how I have solved some of the challenges associated with educating multiple children at different developmental levels and scheduling when things aren’t always the same.

Our Homeschool Up ‘Till Now

I am a very relaxed educator in the early grades. My oldest was very much unschooled from birth through 2nd grade. Periodically I would pull out some sort of reading or math program and give it a go, but if he didn’t take to it (and he never did) we put it away and just went on with our lives. At some point between 2nd and 3rd grade I began requiring him to do 10 minutes of reading and 10 minutes of math a day. He was allowed to choose anything he wanted to read and anything he wanted to do for math – computer games, card games, Life of Fred, etc. Through this process he went from reading the same Henry and Mudge book every day to reading Harry Potter in a very short period of time.

Reading Time

The rest of our time was spent playing with friends, reading books, listening to audio books, field trips, outside time, and yes, a good amount of computer time and television.

Last year, his 3rd grade year, I tried a more formal approach. What began as a day involving math and handwriting and spelling and reading devolved into just trying to get through a lesson in our Saxon math book without killing each other. We limped toward the end of the year, me stubbornly clinging to the idea that we must get through a lesson a day in math if nothing else. I ignored his atrocious handwriting and poor spelling. I felt science and history and language arts were more than adequately covered by all of our exploration and the great books we were reading.

Our Big Picture Plan for 4th Grade

At the end of last year, I was ready to give up on homeschooling. We started talking about school. We toured our local Catholic school. And I prayed a lot. And a few seemingly random opportunities for this year just fell in my lap. And these opportunities and resources made me believe that we can do this – that we can find a balanced approach to homeschooling that works for us.

First, we got an email telling us that our enrichment program will begin carrying the Book Shark curriculum. One of the perks of our enrichment program is access to free curriculum. The Book Shark program is a literature based approach to language arts, history, and science. And it is amazing.

We have always learned so much through the great books and stories we enjoy together. My kids love to listen to me read aloud or to audio books in the car. The Book Shark program pulls it all together for you. We’ll be studying American History this year through reading a series of engaging, often award winning, novels. No dry textbooks. No tests. Just good stories and conversation. The approach is very much in line with a Charlotte Mason living books and narration approach. And I don’t have to do the legwork myself.

The opportunity that came our way was the chance to participate in a Catholic co-op based on the Classical Conversations curriculum. This was such an answer to prayer. We have tried to find a Catholic homeschool group that fits our family, and we just haven’t been successful. Many of the groups were simply farther than I wanted to drive. This one is less than 10 minutes from my house.

Classical Conversations is something that has always intrigued and repelled me. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s essentially rote memorization of facts. They memorize parts of speech, math formulas, a history timeline, science facts, geography facts, poetry – all kinds of stuff.

This year the group will be studying American History and Anatomy. Which goes perfectly with what we’re covering in Book Shark. The co-op also offers an amazing writing program for my oldest son. They’ll also be learning Latin.

I am so, so, excited about all of the great things my kids will be learning this year.

How It Will All Work in Practice

So I had to figure out how all of this was going to fit together in real life. I knew that between the Classical Conversations co-op on Thursdays and our enrichment program on Fridays and our weekly trip to my parents’ house on Wednesdays, I had to be very realistic about how much we could do at home. My challenge was to figure out what I really needed to teach the kids this year, and how to fit that into the time we have without making everyone crazy.

Managers of Their Homes strongly encourages you to have the same schedule for every day. That was my first challenge. We’re only home two days a week this year. How in the world was I to make every day the same?

I solved the problem by creating a schedule that keeps our mornings, late afternoons, and evenings the same and only changes the “school time” in the main part of the day. When we’re home we follow our homeschool schedule. When we visit Grandmother on Wednesdays, we follow a modified version which has our “group school” time happening in the car on the drive down and the drive back plugs into  our afternoon rest/outside time.

Here. I’ll show you. This is what my 4th grader’s day looks like.

I’d love to hear what you’re doing this year and how you handle the  variability of a homeschooler’s week. Do you have more or less the same routine every day? Every week? Or do you start from scratch every day? What works for you?

 

 

 

7:15 – 8:15

Wake and Morning Chores

 Henry’s morning chores are dressing, making his bed, personal grooming, eating breakfast, and unloading the dishwasher.

8:15-9:15

Group School

 This is when we do our Book Shark reading, a chapter from Life of Fred and our Classical Conversations memory work. We’re all together in the living room. The work is primarily read alouds. On Wednesdays we will listen to audio books and our Classical Conversations memory CD in the car as we drive out to my parents’ house.

9:15-9:45

Outside

 The kids all go outside at this time and I do my FlyLady chores.

9:45-10:15

Morning Ticket

 My kids each get three 30-minute blocks of screen time per day. This is Henry’s first “ticket.” He earns his ticket by finishing his morning chores on time. If he doesn’t, he uses this time to finish up anything he needs to from the morning chore block before he can “spend his ticket.”

10:15-10:45

Morning School Time

 We finish up anything we didn’t get to at Group School Time and spend some time learning a hymn, reading about a Saint, or doing a Picture Study or Composer Study.

10:45-11:15

Science Box Time with Thomas

 I need to do a whole post on Science Boxes. This is time for Henry and Thomas to do open ended science exploration. They may do anything they want, really, so long as Henry keeps Thomas busy while I do school with Helen. The science box gives them a place to start.

11:15-12:15

School with Mom

 This is when we work on writing, math, spelling, and anything else he needs help with.

12:15-1:00

Lunch

1:00-1:30

Spanish with Helen

 We’re using Power Glide Spanish. I’m not super concerned with mastery or anything. So as long as they’re not bothering my prayer time, I’m not too concerned about what they do at this time. I wanted to make sure that each of the kids had one-on-one time with each of the other kids and I provided some structure to help keep it sane. Thomas will be having his Kindle time in bed with me so the kids just need to leave us alone at this point.

1:30-2:30

Independent School Time

 This is going to be tricky. We will definitely be slowly working up to a whole hour of working independently. Very slowly. But that is the goal. I will give him a daily assignment sheet so he knows what to do.

2:30-3:00

Ticket Time

 His second ticket. He earns this by being cooperative with schoolwork.

3:00-3:30

Rest/Outside Time

 This is free time for him. If he wants to rest or read or play Lego in his room this will be a quiet time for him. The rest of us are outside and he’s welcome to join us. On Wednesdays, this time is spent driving home from my parents’ house.

3:30-4:00

Read Alone Time

 This will be assigned reading from the Book Shark program. On Wednesdays, this is still car time.

4:00-4:30

Mom Time

 This is his chance to do whatever he’d like with me. Right now he’s working on learning to make Minecraft “Let’s Play” videos.

4:30-5:00

Afternoon Chores

 For Henry this is taking out the trash, tidying up his room, and putting away anything of his laying around the house.

5:00-6:30

Outside/Free Time

 Whatever he wants to do so long as it’s not screens. When the weather is nice this is usually playing outside with the neighbor kids.

6:30-7:00

Dinner and Cleanup

7:00-7:30

Nighttime Chores

 Shower, jammies, brush teeth, bring family laundry down to basement.

7:30-8:00

Nighttime Ticket

 He can hit the screens as soon as he finishes his nighttime chores.

8:00-8:30

Reading with Mom or Dad

 Bed time stories.

8:30

Lights Out
August 9, 2014 Book Reviews: Books for Parents, Education Theory, Encouragement, General, Our Homeschool, Schedules and Routines 4 Comments

Why you should consider a schedule for your homeschool

If you know me or have followed my blog at all, you know that I have always tended toward a relaxed, unschool-ish, laissez-faire approach to my kids’ education. You probably also know that I have flirted with curriculum on and off, and that part of me has always longed for a more predictable routine and, yes, even schedule.

At the beginning of last year I had big plans. I made a really impressive Excel spreadsheet that laid out our week for us from 7am to 8pm each day. I scheduled 20 minutes for phonics, 20 minutes for math, etc. It all looked so nice on paper. And parts of it did go smoothly. The kids loved morning recess. Though I usually wanted to use that time to do a few chores.

We gave it the good college try for about a month before I threw in the towel and decided that our homeschool schedule now consisted of a math lesson and some handwriting. Eventually I just insisted on math. And then there was the day it took us two hours of screaming and crying to get through a Saxon math lesson. I should note that only my oldest was required to do school. The other two kids could do whatever they wanted. Which usually involved staring at a screen.

Despite my greatest hopes and desires, most days simply deteriorated into either tears or screens or both. I didn’t feel good about what we were doing, but I didn’t have the energy to change course. “You guys want to play a game? Or read a book? Or go for a walk?” was usually met with “Nah. I’m watching My Little Pony. Or Pokemon. Or Thomas the Train.” And so I spent a little more time scrolling through Facebook.

This isn’t how I imagined homeschooling would be. I imagined science experiments and read alouds and nature walks. And we did those things. We did a lot of great stuff and learned a lot. My kids even learned stuff from My Little Pony and Pokemon and Thomas the Train. I’m not saying they didn’t.

But on those days when we had no plan – no field trip, no co-op, no park days, no play-dates, no science club – we all felt at loose ends. I wanted, as my friend Clea wrote so eloquently, to put the “home” back in our homeschool.

And then a woman whom I like and admire on our local Catholic homeschooling board recommended the book Managers of Their Homes. She described her homeschooling days, and it sounded much closer to my dreams for my family. Now, I know we should keep our eyes on our own paper. I know that what works for her and her 7 girls won’t work for me and my motley crew, but the book promised to help me create a custom schedule for my family.

So with a bit of fear and trepidation, I bought it. And I read it. Slowly. And prayerfully. I watched my anxiety ebb and flow as I processed the lessons. And I began to see the wisdom and the peace of having a predictable daily routine.

What’s great about this book (and I’m not an affiliate so I’m not trying to sell you anything here) is that it really baby steps you through it. It has you think about all of the things you want to fit into your day for yourself and each of your children. It has you prioritize. And it asks you to be realistic about how much time there is in a day. It reminds you that God does not give you more to do than you can fit into the 24 hours in a day He gives you. So if you don’t have enough time, you’re not following God’s plan for you. That one was hard to stomach. My schedules hand’t worked in the past because I didn’t start in the right place – with God’s plan for my family and with respect for the limits on my time.

As I was reading Managers of Their Homes, I was also reading Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie (again, not an affiliate). There is much wisdom and gentleness in this book. One of major points was that each interruption to our schedules is a visit from Our Lord. Each time a child needs us to tie a shoe or wipe a bottom or “look at a really cool block tower I just built,” it is Jesus asking us to look up from our own agenda and meet Him in our day.

Reading these two books together really pushed me to think about finding the balance between having a predictable routine and schedule on the one hand, and being a slave to my planner and the clock on the other.

I confess that this is never a line I have walked well. I have some OCD tendencies, am prone to anxiety, like to have everything “under control,” and can become a cruel task master when trying to follow a plan. I tend to waffle between anal-retentive-Type-A-crazy-woman and it-can’t-be-perfect-so-I-give-up-anything-goes sloth.

It has been a constant spiritual battle for me to come to a place where I believe I have a reasonable chance – with much prayer and God’s continued out-pouring of grace – to approach a plan like this without making myself crazy or my family resentful.

If you’d like some help getting started with thinking about a schedule/routine that will work for you and your family, I’d love to walk you through the process and share what I’ve learned. Check out my Homeschool Consulting page for more information on working with me. It is always my goal to encourage and inspire you on your homeschooling journey.

August 7, 2014 CD Reviews, Our Faith, Our Homeschool 2 Comments

15 Favorite Catholic Hymns

FavoriteHymnsPinIt

Part of our Morning Time this year will be learning a hymn each term. We will listen to a beautiful performance of the chosen hymn and then sing it every day of the term during Morning Time. I’ll also provide sheet music so the kids can learn to “read” the sheet the music. At this point I just want them to see the pattern of the notes going up and down with our voices, and start to see the different counts of the different kinds of notes.

I asked the members of my local Catholic Homeschooling group to share their three favorite hymns with me. I got quite a huge response, and noticed there were many that were cited over and over again. I thought you all might also appreciate a handy resource for favorite hymns. So here you go. In no particular order.

Holy God We Praise Thy Name (this was easily the most often mentioned) Here’s the sheet music.

Oh, Lord I Am Not Worthy

Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All

The King of Love My Shepherd Is

Alleluia Sing to Jesus

Immaculate Mary

Faith of Our Fathers

Angels We Have Heard on High

Ave Maria

Soul of My Saviour

All Creatures of Our God and KingHail Holy Queen (Some might not like this less traditional version, but I think it’s great.)

Be Thou My Vision (And here’s a beautiful instrumental version.)

Hail Mary, Gentle Woman

Prayer of St. Francis

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee (And because I love flash mobs, here’s a great one that makes me cry every time I see it.)

Please do share your favorite hymns and links to favorite versions of the ones listed here. I had such a lovely morning putting together this post and listening to beautiful music!

August 6, 2014 Our Homeschool, Preschoolers, Rethinking the 3 R's, Schedules and Routines, Uncategorized 4 Comments

Homeschooling with Preschoolers: Plan for 2014-2015

I’m trying something new this year. I’ll have a 4th grader that I’m starting more formal work with, a 1st grader who will be doing very light school, a preschooler who is just along for the ride, and halfway through the year I’ll have a newborn. And possibly a nervous breakdown. I’ll keep you posted.

One of my challenges in thinking about this year was to figure out what to do with my preschooler while trying to teach my 1st and 4th graders. 

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I have always been a very relaxed schooler, but as I’m looking at meeting the needs of all my children at their different levels, I’m trying something new this year. I’m trying more structure, more routine, and more curriculum. I have spent the summer praying and planning and have come up with a plan that I am praying will work. I have felt God’s hand guiding me through this process and putting resources in my path that have helped me to get really clear about what we need to do this year. 

The two books that have most informed my thinking this summer are Managers of Their Homes by Steven and Teri Maxwell and Teaching From Rest by Sarah Mackenzie (note, there are no affiliate links in this post, I get no kick back if you buy any of this stuff).

Managers of Their Homes walks you through a detailed and prayerful process of creating a schedule for your family and your home school, and Teaching From Rest reminds you that anxiety has no place in the home school. The two books complement and balance each other nicely, and together helped me get clear about how to create routine and structure without becoming a slave to a schedule and the clock. 

I never intended to create such a detailed schedule for my kids. But I’ve noticed how they thrive on the schedule at their weekly enrichment program, and how much more smoothly the more routine parts of our days go. So I made a schedule. 

The Plan

This is what the schedule looks like for my 3 1/2 year old.

7:15 – 8:15 Morning chores

This is simple for my 3 1/2 year old – just getting dressed, brushing his teeth, and eating breakfast. He loves to help me make breakfast.
8:15 – 9:15 Group school
This is school for all my kids together. We’re using Book Shark for history and science so this time will be mostly read alouds. We’ll also do some math with Life of Fred. The preschooler will be free to play quietly in the room with us with blocks or legos or trains or drawing or whatever.  If he can’t be quiet, he will be asked to play in his room. I expect this to take practice and discipline, but I’m hoping once it’s routine, it will be easier. He generally likes to listens to stories, so I’m hopeful this will go okay.
9:15 – 9:45 Outside time
This is 30 minutes in the backyard with the other two kiddos while I do some morning chores.
9:45 – 10:15 Preschool with mom
I am typically anti-curriculum for preschoolers, but I wanted him to have some intentional attention from me early in the day. I’m going to try Flowering Baby. I chose this because it looks flexible, not too focused on academics, and very doable. I don’t intend to follow it to the letter but rather to use it as a handy guide so I don’t have to be terribly creative in planning this time with him. The activities look like things I do with him anyway, but saves me the hassle of having to think too hard about things.
10:15 – 10:45 Morning School 
This is my nod to Morning Basket Time as described by Jennifer Mackintosh at Wildflowers and Marbles. Jennifer describes her original conception of this time as ” a basket of inspiration that could be ageless in its offerings, that spanned abilities, that spoke to beauty and loveliness, and gave the day an inspiring start.” I plan to use this time to share art, music, hymns, and our faith with the children.
10:45 – 11:15 Science Box Time
This will be Thomas’s special time with Henry, my oldest. I’m using the book Sandbox Scientist to put together some free exploration boxes that should be able to keep the boys busy together for 30 minutes while I work one-on-one with Helen. The secret to making this successful will be 1) planning ahead and making sure I have everything ready to go and 2) teaching expectations for this time. The science boxes in this book are super cool, hands-on, and totally open ended, so I’m hopeful this will be a great time for both of the boys.
11: 15 – 12:15 Sensory Time with Helen
This will be some sort of play dough, or very simple open ended craft, or sensory bin activity. I like the creative invitations at the Tinker Lab site for this because they are simple and fun. I am also planning to rely heavily on Pinterest for this time. I’ll be pinning stuff here.
 
Lunch
1:00 – 1:30 Screen time
He’ll be able to play on the Kindle or play Starfall, or watch a show on the laptop. This is my prayer and reflection time, so we’ll likely be in my bed or on the sofa together. So this will also be some mama time for him.
1:30 – 2:00 Rest
He really should still nap, but he doesn’t. He desperately needs this midday rest. I have little hope that he’ll take to this idea easily, so this is also my rest time and we’ll lay down together. The screen will be put away, but he’ll be allowed to look at books or listen to music or audio books.
2:00 – 2:30 Time with Mom
 This will be one-on-one time for us to play whatever he wants. We’ll probably be building train tracks.
2:30 – 3:00 Play alone in office
The “office” is where his favorite toys are and all of the messy supplies. During this time Helen gets her alone time with me and Henry gets his computer time. Thomas likes to watch Henry play on the computer, so he can also do that during this time. I’m hoping this will work because he’s just had an hour and a half of time with me just prior to this. This is perhaps the most critical time for him to leave me alone because my poor middle child really needs some one-on-one mama time.
3:00 – 4:00 Outside time
This is Helen’s outside time too. It’s my phone call and reading time which I plan to do from a chair outside so I can keep an eye on them
while they ride bikes and such, and so they don’t feel abandoned. I won’t be playing with them though.
4:00 – 4:30 Screen time
Each of my kids gets 3 blocks of 30 minutes for screen time. This is Thomas’s second block. It’s scheduled so there’s no fighting about who gets to pick the show or use the computer.
4:30 – 5:00 Afternoon chores
This is helping with a general whole house pick-up as well as tidying his room and possibly another small, “real” chore like collecting eggs. Once he’s done with whatever it is, he can go back outside.
5:00 until 6:00 or Dinner Time
As long as the weather is nice and it’s not dark too early the kids will usually play outside with the neighbor kids until dinner time at 6:00. I will also hopefully have a mother’s helper once a week or so which should take the edge off when the weather is bad or it’s getting dark early and the kids need to play inside. Thomas can also choose to have his last block of screen time at 6:00.
If looking at this overwhelms you, keep in mind that I created this after a whole lot of prayer and reflection. It’s based on the very specific needs and interests of my family. The plan you have for your family should look different because your family is different. What I hope you take away from this post is the idea that some careful thought to the needs of your preschooler and a little bit of advanced planning can help you fit him into your home schooling day.
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