Homeschooling Part 2 - How We Roll

Continuing my unofficial and unlicensed series on homeschooling, I thought I'd give a little info on how our tribe makes it work. Remember that I am inately lazy. I make things as easy as possible for me which is why I think its funny that people think homeschooling is so much work. It keeps me from eating bon-bons and watching soap operas in terms of the level of work, but its really not that hard because I choose not to stress out about it too much.

Let me preface this by saying I don't think for a moment that I have this whole thing perfected or that my way is the only way. My personality allows me to not be super particular about a lot of things. I have friends who need for their school time to look like a traditional school and use school desks and schedule time blocks for subjects. If your personality needs that kind of structure, then the way I do things will be very hard for you to emulate.

I am flexible for sure and am more than happy to try and see if there's a better way or revise things on the fly. I also don't think that high school will look the same as elementary school has. (In fact, I am kinda biting my nails over middle school already!) My oldest is only doing 5th grade (ish) work right now, but we have been "officially" homeschooling since he was pre-K, so I am often asked what I do and how I do it because by definition, I am not a newbie.

What do you teach them? How do you know what to teach them?

Cultivating the love of learning is my most important task. If they love to learn and enjoy finding things out and having those "light bulb moments", they will continue to willingly "do school". I think many schools aren't set up that way... the focus is more on what facts/skills must be learned within the confines of the school day and school year. I am not saying that my children are never asked to learn something they aren't that interested in, but because they do like to learn new things, they can usually be cajoled into investigating with minimal drama and then find something positive to take away from it. Its a culture we've created in our house with much time and training. But I still run out of patience. I still cut things short some days when I am frustrated. I do let them put something aside when they want to pull their hair out. Luckily, we have very few firm deadlines because we homeschool. It expands everyone's patience and its nothing like a homework battle with a child in traditional school.

An older picture of Thing1 & Thing2 doing actual schoolwork while Thing3 "pretends" by drawing in a notebook so he is just like the big kids.

Choosing what actual things to teach them comes from a lot of research. We prefer the Classical Method of educating them. This involves a lot of memorization (which I admit I first thought was torturous, but they love it and are good at it!). They learn facts rotely which they later expand upon as they get older. I choose curriculum that supports that but also crosses with each child's learning style. What I choose for history and science (and the fact that we teach Latin) ties in with the cycle we are on for Classical Conversations, the homeschool group we participate in.

My state has a list of things they expect each child to know at a particular grade level listed out on a public website. Homeschoolers are not held to this list, but it is what the public school system uses so I thought it would give me a "jumping off point". (Homeschoolers are just required to make a years worth of progress each year as judged by a certified teacher or standardized test) When I looked up the Kindergarten requirements, I realized Thing1 knew them way before he needed to. He also had accomplished the skills needed for first grade when we were just getting started in first grade and I hadn't even focused on those things on purpose. I also felt that Thing1 wasn't overly smart, but that the requirements were too simple... That's when I let go of the idea that the state should tell me what to teach them and when.

I know that I am covering the materials and skills they need to be productive members of society. To be able to attend college should they choose to. To see God in all the things they learn about. First and foremost, they are learning how to learn and therfore can choose to learn about what they want in the future without even needing me involved. In my opinion, that's a more important thing to be taught than the phases of the moon in "November of 2nd grade"...

What curriculum do you use?

Thankfully, there are a million different curriculum options out there. There are "box" kits - where you order "Second Grade" from a particular publisher. This is a great hand-holding technique to get started if you are nervous.

The box kits make me batty! You'd think I would embrace them with my laziness, but I get annoyed because my kids aren't across the board subject/grade level. For example, Thing1 is definitely grade level in Math, but somewhere near high school level in reading. To do traditional 5th grade reading curriculum would be torture for him and not challenging. Nor would it make him want to keep learning about reading and more importantly at his level, actual literature.

I pick and choose my curriculum. I use someone's math, someone else's grammar, etc. If you truly want specifics here's what we use at this time:

Thing 1, age 10, doing roughly 5th grade: Discover 4 Yourself Bible Studies (by Kay Arthur), Classical Conversations Essentials program for grammar, IEW for writing (through CC), Singapore Math 5, Progeny Press Literature "The Witch of Blackbird Pond", Latin for Children, Apologia Science - Botany, Story of the World Volume 1.

Thing 2, age 8, doing roughly 3rd grade:  Discover 4 Yourself Bible Studies (by Kay Arthur), Shurley English 3, IEW Writing (not the writing in Shurley - she asked to do Essentials, but I wasn't sure she was ready so this is our compromise and she's doing pretty well!), Singapore Math 3, Progeny Press Literature "Charlotte's Web", Latin for Children, Apologia Science - Botany, Story of the World Volume 1.

Thing3, age 4, pre-K: Reading Made Easy by Valerie Bendt, MathUSee Primer supplemented with various flashcards, games, etc until he masters reading/writing numbers.

Perhaps another time I can "review" the curriculum I use and fill everyone in on the why's of each.

What do you do each day?

Each "school night" after they are in bed, I write each child a list of work for the following day.  It has their name, the date and then each subject listed with its assignment and then their list of chores. Some days are more extensive than others based on life (like dental appts or playdates) and the need of each child. For example, if they've been busting their hump in schoolwork, I may give them an easy day as a reward or because another child has a big task that requires a lot of mom-involvment.

Thing2 and Thing1 working away. She's looking up Bible verses and he's working on Math.

The pre-K child is a non-reader. His list is pictures and asking me what to do. He's in high-level training mode right now and usurps much of my hands-on school time. I can do that because the other 2 are mostly independent in their schooling. He needs a lot of reading, writing, math and chore instruction. Yes - he has chores like folding laundry and putting away silverware! But all these items are pretty hands on for me or an older sibling.

The list reads something like this:

Bible: Next lesson
Math: WB 25
Reading: Read Chapter 12, answer questions 1-6 on p 12 of WB.
Latin: Chapter 6 vocab on FlashDash site until you accomplish 94% or better 2X in a row.
IEW: Write your rough draft from KWO
Grammar: Ch 14, L 3 **
History: Read Ch 8 with your brother
Science - nap time
CC - Review map work, all weeks

Chores:
Vacuum LR
Wipe bathroom counter
Help with dinner prep

Any item that has a * is one they need to work with me on. They must start with Bible, but after that they can select any subject/chore in any order until its all done. If Thing2 wants to do Grammar, but sees I am working with her brother on something else, then she will simply pick something else to do until she sees that I am free. In this example, the Math assignment is simply a practice for a lesson she's already been taught and probably doesn't need my helpf for. If she got confused or stuck and did need my help, she would just ask. "Naptime" means we're waiting for science until Thing4 is in bed because he'll make it impossible for us to do what we need to do. Sometimes we wait until evening to have Hot Husband on hand to keep the littles entertained and out of the way.

No one gets any screen time until all the tasks are completed and approved by me, which is the motivation in my house to get them done. Also, my Hot Husband is an awesome "principal" of our school. If my kids are whining or slacking, he lets me "clock out" when he gets home and he is not nearly as fun as mommy when enforcing schoolwork. He makes them get it done but makes it decidedly unpleasant. As a guess, I'd say between the 2 oldest kids this only happens 2-3 times per school year - its that much motivation for them.

This method works well for us for 2 reasons. One is that it gives me the sense that we are doing enough and leaving a paper trail. Secondly, it lets each child see what they have to do and work accordingly to make time for what they want (legos, oustide play, etc). Before laying it out like this for them, I'd have a lot of whining and balking. "What eeeeeeelse do I have to dooooooo, Mom?" They can see the end of the tunnel from the beginning of the day.

One more thing before I finish this...I don't lay it out more than one day at a time because life happens and I am flexible. Also I am lazy and I don't want to. Truly, there are days where they start their bible lesson and realize its realllllly long so we break it into two days. Other times there are days where they really like their math lesson or find it easy so they ask or choose to do more than one practice. Sometimes someone gets sick in the middle of the day or the weather is too pretty to just sit inside and learn Latin so we move outside and get less done. I'd be rewriting all the future lists if I did too many days at once.

Thing1 & Thing2 on a (rare) chilly day. They chose to do their reading outside on the back deck. Why not?

What do you do with the little ones?

Truly, this is a day-by-day thing. There are certain games and puzzles and other activities that live only in the school room. These can come out and be used on the high chair tray (when I need to put the little on lock-down) or on the floor. Thing4's favorite thing at the moment are the Crayola Color-Wonder markers and papers. He thinks he's doing the same amount of work the bigs are doing. Plus when he reaches over to try to "help" them answer a question, he can't really mark on their page. 

Thing3 and Thing 4

Thing3 is working on a color sheet & Thing4 is using his color-wonder markers. He insisted on being at the table with his brother.

 

An older picture of Thing3 playing with cars on the table while the older 2 work on school work.

 

As each little ages, they are occasionally given something specific to do like put all the red blocks on the red plate or something. Sometimes I ask one of the big kids to play trains or build a fort for the littlest to buy time or re-direct chaos and calamity.

Lest you think I "have it all together", this is what my living room looks like

on a regular basis during school time.

Overall, our main focus is being flexible, loving to learn, learning to love, and having fun whenever possible!

That's how we roll.