In homeschooling we talk Math, and Language Arts, Science and History, socializing, discipline, Co-ops, groups, curriculum choices, philosophies.....but do we ever talk Art? Not crafts, making paper back puppets and glitter pens. But Art, as in Monet and Impressionism, line-shape-texture, sculpting, painting.......I am finding it's actually a tough subject to find in terms of Homeschooling. One that is disappointingly lacking in our {Homeschool} community! We know that the Arts in general have gotten a backseat in terms of funding and attention. The focus is on Math and Reading scores (subjects that are important)! I think (no, I know) that as a homeschooling parent, we can offer our children experiences far better than they would have otherwise. With a little effort and patience. So.....lets talk art.
Let me introduce this series by saying, I was an Art Major, more specifically and Art ED Major. So for years Art was my breath, my life, my love. I'll admit, I have never thought of myself as very talented, but I loved creating, doing, making, learning. Over the years of adding children and starting homeschooling, I've found myself less and less creating art, and even more so letting my kids create less than I would like.
Why? That's easy!
Art is messy. It is, there is just NO WAY around it right? Paint on clothing, play dough ground into the carpet, little tenny weeny bits of paper everywhere.....glued to the floor......
Art takes time. It takes work to get out the supplies and then clean them all up again. Sometimes it feels like it took 30 minutes to prepare, 10 minutes of art and 30 more minutes to do damage control!
Art takes talent. Even as an Art Teacher, I've had those thoughts....."how am I supposed to teach them when I can't draw myself??" I understand it takes a little back ground knowledge to teach something, and in the area of Art it can be extremely intimidating.
To start off this series, let's discuss a little (and please feel free to link back to me in your own blogs, Facebook, twitter...)
What does art look like in your Homeschool?
Are you using an "Art curriculum" or adding crafts to other subjects like History and Language Arts?
Where do you struggle when it comes to Art?
What would you like to see in this series?
I've got some ideas planned for this series including:
Art Areas (setting up and maintaining an art studio for your kids)
Art Links to Artists and History
Everyday Art Ideas
Foundations of Art
Great tools and tips to have on hand
and much more! So link up, comment, discuss! I'm very excited about getting back into the stroke of things! Help spread the word to get this going!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
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)
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!
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
- 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
- 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!
New schedule
I'm the sort of person that both loves and hates being on a schedule. In one sense a schedule brings a rhythm, a security and comfort knowing what needs to be done, how it will get done and when. But on the other hand, they can get boring and monotonous! That is why summer and breaks in between are so necessary! I didn't used to but now, I actually enjoy letting the house go a little, not rushing around trying to keep everything in it's place and on time! But as we head into the new year, I know without a doubt the laundry will pile up, the dinners not be planned well, the house a disaster if I don't plan well......so here it is, my schedule for next year.
I am hoping it will {mostly} work out. In a house full of little ones it's easy for something to go wrong differently than planned. But at least with a skeleton of a schedule we've got an action plan! It will be a little tricky some days picking Bella up from the school up the road, but she'll just join in the schedule at around 2pm. I even scheduled myself some "free time"....dreamily I might even start some sewing projects, catch up on blogging or *gasp* nap or read a book!
One thing I did notice is, I failed to schedule myself a time to shower......hmmmmm.
So how do you get yourself going from the summer lazy routine back into the busy school season? This year I've taken the slow approach. I've read you should just jump into a schedule full steam, without looking back! That has never worked for me. It actually makes the schedule more stressful. I'm not great with change, remember?
This year I've decided to go a different route. I've been easing myself into the schedule this week and next week. The following week we will hammer it down a little more with our "Week of Review" before our actual school year begins. Let me say it's been nice to ease into this school year. So how do you do it?
1. Make a Skeleton Schedule I take our routine already and write it down. What time normally do you get up, eat, school, lunch, play etc. Don't try to reinvent everything and wake the kids up at 5am. Seriously no one needs that trauma.
2. Make a To Do list. What else realistically needs to be done during the day? Laundry? Errands? Blogging? Napping!
3. Find REAL Time When you start writing all this down you will actually see where you are wasting time, where you need more time to accomplish certain tasks (that always seem to be on your to do list) Now you can start to fill in the spaces logically! For instance a huge frustration used to be cleaning. After a long day of teaching, kid rearing and meal prep I would have try once a week to clean the entire house top to bottom. Okay besides that being downright stupid for a Mom with 3 (at the time) kids under 3, I didn't even have enough time in the day to accomplish the task! But separating the cleaning throughout the week (Mopping Mondays, Toilet Tuesdays, Washy Wednesday, Thirsty Thursday, Foliage Friday~ uh yes, it's that cheesy) I can set aside an hour (most times I finish in less) to clean that one area. Of course throughout the day we straighten, and the kids have chores as well. But this way the floors get vacuumed and mopped once a week, the bathrooms scrubbed, etc.
4. Make it official. Yup, type it out, write it down, share it with the world (or just your family), post it somewhere, talk about it, go over it. I used publisher and have tweaked the schedule many times with the addition of new family members, saving the old printouts just for memory sake. Let everyone know of the changes that are going to happen, what is expected and how you are all going to work together.
5. Ease into it. For me jumping in head first was stressful. Going from no schedule to being "tied to a clock" wasn't a friendly experience. So this year I have been watching the clock and just trying to keep some of the appointments. Having breakfast done by 7:30, starting some laundry at 8:30, getting lunch ready, etc. I am familiarizing myself daily by glancing at what time it is and asking, "what will we be doing at this time?" This week I mainly stayed on top of meals and cleaning. By today we've had clean rooms for a week, laundry caught up and a clean house. Next week we'll add a few more things from the schedule and by the time we are ready to get back into the full swing of things everything will flow naturally!
6. Change what isn't working. Obviously it's your day and life, what you are doing has to work for you otherwise life will be stressful! Make your schedule fit your family, lifestyle, habits and hobbies.
One thing I did notice is, I failed to schedule myself a time to shower......hmmmmm.
So how do you get yourself going from the summer lazy routine back into the busy school season? This year I've taken the slow approach. I've read you should just jump into a schedule full steam, without looking back! That has never worked for me. It actually makes the schedule more stressful. I'm not great with change, remember?
This year I've decided to go a different route. I've been easing myself into the schedule this week and next week. The following week we will hammer it down a little more with our "Week of Review" before our actual school year begins. Let me say it's been nice to ease into this school year. So how do you do it?
1. Make a Skeleton Schedule I take our routine already and write it down. What time normally do you get up, eat, school, lunch, play etc. Don't try to reinvent everything and wake the kids up at 5am. Seriously no one needs that trauma.
2. Make a To Do list. What else realistically needs to be done during the day? Laundry? Errands? Blogging? Napping!
3. Find REAL Time When you start writing all this down you will actually see where you are wasting time, where you need more time to accomplish certain tasks (that always seem to be on your to do list) Now you can start to fill in the spaces logically! For instance a huge frustration used to be cleaning. After a long day of teaching, kid rearing and meal prep I would have try once a week to clean the entire house top to bottom. Okay besides that being downright stupid for a Mom with 3 (at the time) kids under 3, I didn't even have enough time in the day to accomplish the task! But separating the cleaning throughout the week (Mopping Mondays, Toilet Tuesdays, Washy Wednesday, Thirsty Thursday, Foliage Friday~ uh yes, it's that cheesy) I can set aside an hour (most times I finish in less) to clean that one area. Of course throughout the day we straighten, and the kids have chores as well. But this way the floors get vacuumed and mopped once a week, the bathrooms scrubbed, etc.
4. Make it official. Yup, type it out, write it down, share it with the world (or just your family), post it somewhere, talk about it, go over it. I used publisher and have tweaked the schedule many times with the addition of new family members, saving the old printouts just for memory sake. Let everyone know of the changes that are going to happen, what is expected and how you are all going to work together.
5. Ease into it. For me jumping in head first was stressful. Going from no schedule to being "tied to a clock" wasn't a friendly experience. So this year I have been watching the clock and just trying to keep some of the appointments. Having breakfast done by 7:30, starting some laundry at 8:30, getting lunch ready, etc. I am familiarizing myself daily by glancing at what time it is and asking, "what will we be doing at this time?" This week I mainly stayed on top of meals and cleaning. By today we've had clean rooms for a week, laundry caught up and a clean house. Next week we'll add a few more things from the schedule and by the time we are ready to get back into the full swing of things everything will flow naturally!
6. Change what isn't working. Obviously it's your day and life, what you are doing has to work for you otherwise life will be stressful! Make your schedule fit your family, lifestyle, habits and hobbies.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
It came and went....
Summer that is. So that's it!? In and out like a flash. I can't say we didn't enjoy our time. We took part in Awana camp, VBS, made trips to the beach and pool, lazed around, got some projects done, rearranged, reorganized and re-alized....summer is just about over! Dave is back in school and I am preparing for the start of our year! As always I have lofty goals, "School Year Resolutions" I suppose....here are a few
I've been getting lots of things crossed off my list like making my own planner and putting together Gracia's curriculum (Preschool!!) Planning review weeks and the first term, reorganizing the school room and making the kids portfolios from last year. Little by little we are headed into a new and exciting year!
But before we do.....maybe we'll take one more trip to the beach......
- To enjoy this year more than any other year.
- I want to have 4 days of school planned.
- I don't want to over do it!!!!!
- Do more Science Experiments, Art projects and Field trips! (wait didn't i say I didn't want to "over do it"?
- I want to focus on what God has for us this year, not on what I want to accomplish!
- I want to take each day as God gives to us.
- I would love the kids to be involved in either music lessons, Gymnastics, Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts.....
- I should probably state again I don't want to over do it!
- I do want to stick to a schedule or routine....
- I want to live life, not from emergency to emergency.....life is not an emergency!
- I want to finish this year's curriculum (I've come closer each year!)
- I would love to be a part of a Homeschool group or co-op.....
I've been getting lots of things crossed off my list like making my own planner and putting together Gracia's curriculum (Preschool!!) Planning review weeks and the first term, reorganizing the school room and making the kids portfolios from last year. Little by little we are headed into a new and exciting year!
But before we do.....maybe we'll take one more trip to the beach......
Saturday, June 4, 2011
{MORE} Startfall Giveaway!
I'm pretty excited about this giveaway for a number of reasons! First of all you don't have to be a homeschooling family for this to be a great giveaway! Any family with kids ages 2-8 will LOVE this new website! It's fun and educational and it gives your kids a way to hold on to or move ahead from what they've learned this year!
Just about any Mom you talk to has heard about and loves Starfall.com! Starfall Features Pre-reading, beginning reading and reading activities for kids ages 2 and up. The website is a great addition to any reading program! It's entertaining and educational and what is better than that?
So when the creators of Starfall started advertising MoreStarfall, well for our family we were sold on the demos alone! MoreStarfall boasts activities in:
hoggin using MoreStarfall at any given time, that means a cost of $.02 a day per child. That is very reasonable for this household!
Already the benefits of MoreStarfall have given Jonah a jump on learning his Multiplication and Division! And Ellie is free to continue being reinforced in the skills she worked on this year in K4! Most of all I love how Starfall utilizes both Auditory and Visual skills in creative and Musical ways making memorization easy!
And the best part? I've 6 Month-long Trails to giveaway to 6 Lucky households! You don't need to be a homeschooling family to benefit from this giveaway! If you've got kids ages 2-8, they will enjoy the benefits from MoreStarfall!
Just about any Mom you talk to has heard about and loves Starfall.com! Starfall Features Pre-reading, beginning reading and reading activities for kids ages 2 and up. The website is a great addition to any reading program! It's entertaining and educational and what is better than that?
So when the creators of Starfall started advertising MoreStarfall, well for our family we were sold on the demos alone! MoreStarfall boasts activities in:
- Math (Songs, numbers, addition, subtraction,multiplication, division, place value, skip counting)
- Preschool Skills (colors, shapes, ABC's)
- Reading (Spelling, phonics, grammer)
- Nursery Rhymes
Already the benefits of MoreStarfall have given Jonah a jump on learning his Multiplication and Division! And Ellie is free to continue being reinforced in the skills she worked on this year in K4! Most of all I love how Starfall utilizes both Auditory and Visual skills in creative and Musical ways making memorization easy!
And the best part? I've 6 Month-long Trails to giveaway to 6 Lucky households! You don't need to be a homeschooling family to benefit from this giveaway! If you've got kids ages 2-8, they will enjoy the benefits from MoreStarfall!
Mandatory Entry Requirements:
{Please leave a separate comment for each entry, a winner will be chosen randomly using Random.org}
- Visit the MoreStarfall website and look over ALL the site has to offer! You can even sample a few of the games for free, let me know which one you like!
- Follow my blog or subscribe in RSS feed
- LIKE the Homeschool Hoop-La page on Facebook
Extra entries:
{please leave links in your comments for each extra entry}
- Update your Facebook Status and tell everyone you know about this GREAT giveaway, linking them to my blog!
- BLOG about this giveaway!
- VOTE for my blog by clicking on the "We're on the Fence button on my side bar!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
{Winner}
And the winner is of the Well Planned Day Planner is
*~Julie Lear~*
Julie, I know you are busy. But drop everything and send me your email address at keikikuddlerz@earthlink.net! I'll forward it on to the Home Educating Family and your planner will be in your hands shortly!
Thank You
To the wonderful people at Home Educating Family for sponsoring this giveaway! And thank you for making a fabulous product!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Mr. Poppers Penguins {Summer Fun Idea}
Have you read Mr. Popper's Penguins with the kids yet? If not this would be the perfect time! You've got 17days till this movie comes out!
I just requested my copy from the Public Library (since I returned the school copy yesterday!)
It's a delightful classic, it captured the imagination and interest of my children, I'm sure it will yours as well! Here is a little summary about the book:
"Mr. Popper, when not painting or papering his neighbors' walls, has a persistent penchant for penguins. A decorator by day, he's an intrepid Antarctic explorer by night--at least in his imagination. Mr. Popper resigns himself to quiet evenings at home with his family and his travel books, until one day a mysterious package arrives. Pretty soon the Poppers have a house full of penguins, an ice rink in the basement, and an ever-increasing bill for raw fish and canned shrimp. Time to take this show on the road!The Atwaters wrote this unforgettable tale in 1938, but its timeless charm shows no signs of aging. Children are invited to imagine, dream, and believe that anything is possible. An ideal read-aloud book for all ages, Mr. Popper's Penguins will have any audience rolling in the aisles. (Ages 9 to 12)"
From the movie trailer you can tell the book and film do have some differences, but what a fun way to start off summer and cross something off your summer list!
I just requested my copy from the Public Library (since I returned the school copy yesterday!)
It's a delightful classic, it captured the imagination and interest of my children, I'm sure it will yours as well! Here is a little summary about the book:
"Mr. Popper, when not painting or papering his neighbors' walls, has a persistent penchant for penguins. A decorator by day, he's an intrepid Antarctic explorer by night--at least in his imagination. Mr. Popper resigns himself to quiet evenings at home with his family and his travel books, until one day a mysterious package arrives. Pretty soon the Poppers have a house full of penguins, an ice rink in the basement, and an ever-increasing bill for raw fish and canned shrimp. Time to take this show on the road!The Atwaters wrote this unforgettable tale in 1938, but its timeless charm shows no signs of aging. Children are invited to imagine, dream, and believe that anything is possible. An ideal read-aloud book for all ages, Mr. Popper's Penguins will have any audience rolling in the aisles. (Ages 9 to 12)"
From the movie trailer you can tell the book and film do have some differences, but what a fun way to start off summer and cross something off your summer list!
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