Curriculum Round Up!

I'm always interested in what curriculum other people have chosen, mainly because I like to see what works in each family with kids of ages similar to mine. I always come across something I haven't heard of and it's fun to peek into the schoolroom of someone else! So this will be what it looks like in our "Learning Lab" this year:


Jonah (2nd grade)

• Sonlight Core C with Grade 3 readers. I know he is only 6, but that kid can read! I am taking the grammar part of it slowly and working on introducing him to concepts, but not overwhelming him.
• SpellWell, Explode the Code, MCP Phonics, Wordly Wise and Hooked on Phonics Master Reader
• Handwriting without Tears and A Reason For Handwriting
• Horizons Math 2
• Story of the World Volume 2
• Apologia Astronomy
• Telling God's Story Bible Study

Ellie(Kindergarten)

• Calvert 1st grade curriculum (we'll be using the reading, Math and Social Studies)
• Explode the Code
• Handwriting without Tears
• Story of the World Vol. 2
• Sonlight Science and Apologia Astronomy with Jonah
• Telling God's Story Bible Study

Gracia(Preschool-age 3)

• Letter of the Week (from confessions of a Homeschooler)
• Kiddsoup activities
• Homeschool Creations activities
• 1+1+1=1 Activities
• 2 Teaching Mommies activities

We like starting the day together in Circle Time. We go over skip counting, days of the week, tell time,
talk about the month or activities we have coming up, and a few other things (that is a whole post in itself!) We do Bible study together and then History or Geography. The kids do separate activities for Language Arts and Math and then come together again to do Science, Art, PE and those subjects. I know with kids of younger ages some of the facts and figures may go over their heads. I do believe being introduced to basic concepts and supplementing activities on their own level helps introduce them to a subject that we can build upon later!

I hope you enjoyed your view into our upcoming year! I would love to answer any questions! Hop on Over to Heart of the Matter and link up your blog!

End of the Year Motivation

So this school year is coming to an end. Though the nice thing about homeschooling is not having to set an official start and end date, I like to have that for my own mental marking point! But getting close to that end date for me means my motivation starts to wane a little bit. Everyday seems like the perfect day for an unschooling day! I know though, not finishing what I've started also brings a fair amount of stress. So here are a few ways to keep trucking along for these last few weeks!

1. Set an end date, and count down to it! Be bold and set an official date! Not to guilt you into finishing or put a rush order on completing this workbook or that. But to give you an end in sight! Something to look forward to! Of course that doesn't mean learning stops! Or that you can't compete any more lessons. But it means you can breathe......just a little easier.

2. Make a summer wish list, and share it with the world! I've started mine! One lazy afternoon (or if you would like the kids to get some extra spelling and writing practice) day dream about all the realistic (and unrealistic) things you'd like to do together this summer. Maybe there are field trips that got skipped over this year, something special coming up this summer, or something you've just always wanted to do. Make a nice long list and highlight a few! Decide what is realistic for your family and really make an effort to make it happen!

3. Shorten your school days, lengthen the play time. Lessons can be done in less time and still be as effective. Around here we've been concentrating on the basics and still adding our History and Science once a week and life seems more simple. The blow up pool as become a permanent fixture in the yard, the pile of towels has replaced the pile of worksheets. And still books are being read, Math facts accumulating.

4. Add more fun into your school time. We've found a few new websites to keep us motivated. I found some Computer games on History at Goodwill. I've made up Math games using flashcards and M&M's to help recognize numbers. You don't have to spend hours researching to add some more fun into what you are already doing. But changing things up a little makes a big difference sometimes!

5. Out with the old, in with the new. Grab some iced tea or iced coffee, and start making your list for next year! (maybe even hang around here for a cyber curriculum fair, TBA) and learn something new! Pack up all the old books and curriculum, spring clean your shelves, get ready for the next year.! If you can order early and start your planning now, do it! Spreading it out over weeks instead of days will be invaluable in the future months to come!

What are you doing to help motivate you to finish strong in these last weeks of the school year?

{Hybrid}schooler

Okay so I'm making up terms here. Recently i've been on a quest to learn more about unschooling. It has always intrigued me, and confused me, and interested me. Through reading various books on the subject I've come to the conclusion I couldn't possibly be an un-schooling parent 100% of the time. Though I think there are some very wonderful things about unschooling that I could (and will) adopt as part of my educational philosophy,  there is no way I could drop everything and jump headlong into un-schooling.

The positive things I've learned about un-schooling, are that it's child led. This means so many things on so many levels. It could be that your child has a special interest in frogs, and you foster that interest the best you can through books, collecting tadpoles from a nearby pond, keeping records of the changes the tadpole goes through, etc. All the while your child is learning! I can so easily and happily apply this to my own style of teaching! My children have various interests and I love providing them with opportunities to take an interest and really get as much information until they are satisfied. Frogs don't have to be on the science list for you to do this! The best learning takes place when there are personal connections made between the learner and the content. Taking advantage of those interests is like doing half the work for twice the pay!

Learning is relaxed, not forced. Even studies show that when a student is forced to complete or "learn", the learning doesn't take place. The knowledge doesn't make an impact and therefore doesn't stay with the child. Children are allowed to learn concepts and knew knowledge at their own pace, not according to a chart or outline or "what your child should know by_____ grade". For me this means taking a seat sometimes and waiting for the concepts to sink in, the interest to flair and the facilitation door to be open. It doesn't mean I get stressed out if Jonah can't memorize his addition facts, or Ellie can't sound out the words! It means I take a deep breath, keep providing opportunities for learning without the pressure.

It's about drawing near to learning, not pushing away. There are so many kids that hate school by the time they get out of 1st grade! It's hard to make "lifelong learners" out of something that seems miserable! It doesn't mean everything has to be super exciting and fun. But learning should be a basic desire. If it's not there it's okay to take a break, not to push and tie the kid to the chair until he finishes his spelling! Maybe it does mean there is a different way to get him to learn spelling, through writing his own stories, or playing spelling games on the computer. It doesn't have to be the same worksheet/workbook every single time.

Un-schooling is about using the whole world as your classroom. This can be both easy and hard. It's about making real life connections with knowledge. Teaching Match concepts at the store, science on a hike, learning about your heart after a bike ride. It's about sharing knowledge as you take the journey! It's about making the most of every opportunity but not bogging down you children with endless lectures and speeches! It's about taking advantage of teachable moments when the conditions are right.

Un-schooling is providing resources for your child to learn through discovery and in their own way. I've seen Jonah teach himself both the add, subtract, divide and multiply with little help from me. I've seen Ellie take to reading and through providing her with the right books, games, etc. Children are natural learners if they are given the right opportunities!


What un-schooling is not:

It's not about letting your kids do nothing all day, leaving them never learn to read write or compute.

It's not about not caring what or when or how your kids learn.

It's not forcing your kids to do things they are not ready to, don't understand or have no interest in.

For my children and I, we are Hybrids, half-bloods, amalgams......call it what you want. I am learning along the way to step back, take it all in and listen to them. I am learning to quiet the voice that wants all the duckies to be in a row, to compare my children to others. I am learning to listen to their interests, to see them for who they are and how they learn, to help them with that.  To stop when they have had too much, to keep going when they are interested. To try new things, change things up, re-do and start over. I can't quite jump into the unschooling waters, but I can surely paddle around in my little canoe!

Grades in Homeschool

I have been reading a lot on the impact of grades in the book The Schools our Children Deserve by Alfie Kohn, which of course has me thinking about how that plays out in a Homeschooling setting. So.....

1. Do you grade your Homeschoolers?
2. If so what age(s) are they?
3. Are you required to do so by law, or for your own records?
4. Do you share the grades with your children?

According to Kohn and research he has done, grades actually make a negative impact on learning and motivation. Instead of grades being a positive motivating factor, students concerned with how something will be scored are less concerned with what they are learning.

Research in 2 groups of students found that the group that was told they would be graded on the project actually did worse when tested, than the group that was told they needed to complete the assignment, but that it wasn't going to be graded. Interesting!

As an ex-public school teacher I can totally relate to this! There wasn't a lecture/presentation/project that I didn't at least one student ask, "Will this be on the test?"

And do I blame them? NO WAY? If the goal it to have a high grade point average, than finding out the requirements for getting that glorious "A" (even down to the questions on a test) would be important to know! That would make some information more important than others purely for a grade, not necessarily for the sake of learning.

I've been trying to process this as both a teacher, a Homeschooler and a learner myself. In school I taught Art, a very subjective subject (if you will). Though I tried very hard to make effort and not talent the basis for my grading, it was still very difficult!

Now that I am free of those responsibilities I have enjoyed not grading my own kids. We learn and practice learning. If there are mistakes, they are discussed and explained right on the spot, but there is no BIG RED X's and words scribbled on the top of the page. (honestly I've got no time for that folks!)  And it's refreshing. My children don't have the experience of someone telling them they didn't perform something "100% perfectly". They are able to practice mastery at a comfortable level, and re-practice when there is room for that.

DO traditional grades have a place in a Homeschool setting? Do you think grades have a positive effect on learning and students?