It is amazing how much homeschool is a learning process for me as much as it is for Monkey. Thankfully one of the best advantages is that if something doesn't work you can stop and try something different. My family though seems to think that we need to sit at a table and do "school at home" for like 5 hours each day. I love my family even though I get minimal support from them, but boy do we have a difference of opinion when it comes to what homeschool entails. One family member basically thinks I should be "training" her to be put in public school. NOT! My method for her school is that I know what I want her to learn, and whatever fun ways we can come up with to accomplish this is what I will use.
Last week we started our homeschooling very slowly, doing one subject each day for 5 days for no more than 1/2 an hour per day. Math and science related activities are definitely her favorite subjects as they tend to be more hands-on activities and using manipulatives. Some of what we did last week was more traditional schooling, which did not go well for either of us.
I decided this week to completely change gears. Doing a different subject each day just didn't have a nice flow to it, so for this week I am doing things really differently. I decided to try my first unit study. A while back Hands of a Child was giving away their Butterflies project pack, so I downloaded it to try at some point. Who knew that point would come so soon. We are doing a section of it each day with most of the activities, (not quite all of the activities are suitable to kindergarten), and she is having a blast and begging me to do her "school work" first thing when she gets up.
While I am trying to homeschool for almost free, I can see me purchasing a few of their project packs over the next year. Monkey is having such a great time with the Butterfly project pack that it completely justifies the cost of purchasing a few more. Besides, their prices are very reasonable; and since I am also working outside the home it will save me hours of time.
Since this is our first lapbook experience, I am anxious to see what the final project will look like. Now if I can only remember to get some pictures so I can remember forever this experience.
Quick note to self: when deciding to do lapbooks, it would be great to have some colored paper for printing the projects on, and some nice colored file folders!
Beth
Tuesday 30 August 2011
Friday 26 August 2011
The First Week
It has been a lot of fun easing into a homeschool routine. I really like that if she doesn't understand something the first time, I can change tactics to a method that she will understand.
It was fun the other day doing our math lesson and learning the place values for ones and tens. Once she figured it out she didn't want to stop working on it. That was two days ago and this morning when she got up she went to our "makeshift" white board to practice place values more all on her own. Another advantage of our "white board" is that she hates to do printing worksheets, but loves doing printing on the window.
This little impromptu learning session then turned into a spelling assignment for the sight words we are working on this week. This is part of the reason I wanted to homeschool, instead of a set time where she is required to do "school work" it just seems to happen during the day. Usually after breakfast she will ask me to do her lessons.
I should add a little note about our makeshift white board. You see, I have a very small budget for homeschool supplies and buying a nice size board for school just wasn't in the budget, so I had a great idea the other day. My aunt gave Monkey a package of crayola window crayons a while back, and I have a nice big window in my living room that is only a couple of feet off the ground so she is able to reach really well to use it too. She really enjoys being able to write on the window to "do school".
It was fun the other day doing our math lesson and learning the place values for ones and tens. Once she figured it out she didn't want to stop working on it. That was two days ago and this morning when she got up she went to our "makeshift" white board to practice place values more all on her own. Another advantage of our "white board" is that she hates to do printing worksheets, but loves doing printing on the window.
This little impromptu learning session then turned into a spelling assignment for the sight words we are working on this week. This is part of the reason I wanted to homeschool, instead of a set time where she is required to do "school work" it just seems to happen during the day. Usually after breakfast she will ask me to do her lessons.
I should add a little note about our makeshift white board. You see, I have a very small budget for homeschool supplies and buying a nice size board for school just wasn't in the budget, so I had a great idea the other day. My aunt gave Monkey a package of crayola window crayons a while back, and I have a nice big window in my living room that is only a couple of feet off the ground so she is able to reach really well to use it too. She really enjoys being able to write on the window to "do school".
Tuesday 23 August 2011
Our First "Official" School Lesson
I have decided that we need to move into the homeschool lessons slowly so yesterday we did a short science lesson about scientists and what they do. We also took a notebook and designated it as her "science journal" to put all of her science stuff in. Since my husband isn't completely on board and we are trying homeschooling for this year to see how it goes, I will need some concrete proof for him of the stuff we are doing, otherwise I would continue in the same way we did preschool - just living life and learning as we went.
Even though we are having some structure to her grade primary education, I still plan on it being quite relaxed with lots of cuddle time on the couch reading favorite books, as we have been doing since birth.
I am really hoping that as the year progresses and family sees what we are doing, they will at least accept our decision even if they don't agree with it. It would be nice if they were willing to discuss my reasons for homeschooling. They think I am doing this just because she is shy so I don't want to put in her public school. They don't realize that this is something I have wanted to do since she was born. Who knows, maybe someday they will read these posts and finally understand.
Beth
Even though we are having some structure to her grade primary education, I still plan on it being quite relaxed with lots of cuddle time on the couch reading favorite books, as we have been doing since birth.
I am really hoping that as the year progresses and family sees what we are doing, they will at least accept our decision even if they don't agree with it. It would be nice if they were willing to discuss my reasons for homeschooling. They think I am doing this just because she is shy so I don't want to put in her public school. They don't realize that this is something I have wanted to do since she was born. Who knows, maybe someday they will read these posts and finally understand.
Beth
Saturday 20 August 2011
The Big Decision
I have known in my heart since my Monkey was born that I wanted to homeschool her, but who knew putting that final signature on the form that needed to be mailed in would be difficult.
I am sure if you are considering homeschooling, one of the first things you did was google the pros and cons of homeschooling vs public school. I know when I did this it really confirmed why I was going to homeschool. Then it turns out that my Monkey is extremely shy and I started second guessing wanting to homeschool. I unofficially homeschooled preschool when she was three as she was really showing signs that she wanted to learn and would beg me to do her "special binder", which was just a few printing and math worksheets I had printed off one day and put into page protectors so they could be reused.
Once I started second guessing myself about whether she would be better in public school, I did enroll her in their preschool program for the 2010-2011 school year so that if I put her in public school she would at least already know the school and be used to going there without me. Thankfully preschool was only 2 hours a day for 2 days a week. Also, I have to admit that with living in the country the school she would have gone to is quite small with a total of only 60 students for the entire school.
Once preschool ended in the spring I realized that I really had to make the final decision about whether to homeschool or send her to public school. I finally started talking to my DH seriously about what we wanted for our Monkey and decided that since I felt so strongly about homeschooling that it was really worth a good try to see how it went.
I still continued to second guess myself after the "Big Decision" was made, and just got up the courage last week to finally mail the form for registering for homeschooling to our provincial department of education.
Now the only issue left is all the objections from my family as there are only a couple of people who actually agree with my decision. They think that because she is so shy she should be in public school. Oh well, nothing I can do about their beliefs. Here's hoping I can prove that homeschooling is a good option for my family.
Beth
I am sure if you are considering homeschooling, one of the first things you did was google the pros and cons of homeschooling vs public school. I know when I did this it really confirmed why I was going to homeschool. Then it turns out that my Monkey is extremely shy and I started second guessing wanting to homeschool. I unofficially homeschooled preschool when she was three as she was really showing signs that she wanted to learn and would beg me to do her "special binder", which was just a few printing and math worksheets I had printed off one day and put into page protectors so they could be reused.
Once I started second guessing myself about whether she would be better in public school, I did enroll her in their preschool program for the 2010-2011 school year so that if I put her in public school she would at least already know the school and be used to going there without me. Thankfully preschool was only 2 hours a day for 2 days a week. Also, I have to admit that with living in the country the school she would have gone to is quite small with a total of only 60 students for the entire school.
Once preschool ended in the spring I realized that I really had to make the final decision about whether to homeschool or send her to public school. I finally started talking to my DH seriously about what we wanted for our Monkey and decided that since I felt so strongly about homeschooling that it was really worth a good try to see how it went.
I still continued to second guess myself after the "Big Decision" was made, and just got up the courage last week to finally mail the form for registering for homeschooling to our provincial department of education.
Now the only issue left is all the objections from my family as there are only a couple of people who actually agree with my decision. They think that because she is so shy she should be in public school. Oh well, nothing I can do about their beliefs. Here's hoping I can prove that homeschooling is a good option for my family.
Beth
Friday 19 August 2011
About Me
Hi. My name is Beth and I am married with one child. I live in beautiful Nova Scotia, Canada. I am starting this blog because I have decided to homeschool my little Monkey (my daughter) and was looking for a convenient way to keep myself organized. Also, since I am just starting this journey, I thought I might be able to help out others who are starting this journey, and even get advice from fellow homeschoolers.
I have looked at a lot of websites about homeschooling through the couple of years and will be adding links to the ones that have been the most help and that I visit regularly.
One thing that seems to be a bit different about my homeschooling compared to the other moms that I have read about is that I work outside of the home. My boss has always been very considerate of the fact that I have a young child at home as I only work evenings, after my husband is home from work. This really helps save money on babysitters. On the rare occasion I need a sitter I am lucky enough to have family only 1km away who loves having Monkey over to play and visit.
I hope you will enjoy this website as it grows.
I have looked at a lot of websites about homeschooling through the couple of years and will be adding links to the ones that have been the most help and that I visit regularly.
One thing that seems to be a bit different about my homeschooling compared to the other moms that I have read about is that I work outside of the home. My boss has always been very considerate of the fact that I have a young child at home as I only work evenings, after my husband is home from work. This really helps save money on babysitters. On the rare occasion I need a sitter I am lucky enough to have family only 1km away who loves having Monkey over to play and visit.
I hope you will enjoy this website as it grows.
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