Homeschool Hacks

Climbing Homeschool Mountain

by Lisa

(cross posted from my site because I think it's important)

Yeah- I am not the one climbing a mountain, although I absolutely love hiking.  However, the image of climbing a mountain can bring about all sorts of deep thoughts about the value of laboring for a goal and taking small steps and having faith that there is a top to the mountain and bla bla bla whatever- I am sure mountain climbing is  an analogy you're familiar with on all sorts of levels.  (did you know in early pregnancy, you burn more calories per hour when you're sound asleep than a mountain climber does... climbing)

Anyhow, so last night I'm listening to a speech from Writer and History Curriculum developer Diana Waring about the upcoming WATCH Conference when she starts a story about an insight she had while huffing and puffing up a hiking trail climbing a mountain. And it had nothing do do with a mountain, except in a deep metaphorical sense.

Imagine a little child sitting at the table, saying "Mom, I'm hungry" and his mother says "Would you like a steak?" And the child says "Oh yummy- I love steak" and his mother says "And would you like some corn with that?" and the little boy says "Oh yes, please- I love corn" and his mother says "And how about some baked potatoes?" And of course, the little boys says "YES- I love baked potatoes."

So the mother, goes into the kitchen and brings out a platter with a huge 50 ounce steak on it, 12 ears of corn and ten pounds of baked potatoes and sits it down in front of the little boy. 

Then, she says "You're not getting up until you're finished."

Do you think that little boy will ever want another steak in his life?  Don't you think his stomach will wretch at the sight of an ear of corn or a potato for maybe just the rest of his life.  She has completely ruined Steak and potatoes for him.  Not that it's a nutritious meal anyways, but still.  The point is, by over-indulging him and forcing him to digest it all at once, she has ruined his inclination to enjoy that particular meal.

Imagine instead, if she had placed 2-3 ounces of steak, 1/2 a baked potato and half a cob of corn on his plate.  Just the right amount of food for a little boy (as if I know anything about boys)  and not so much that he gets sick at the idea of having that meal again.  His immediate hunger is quenched.  Next time he sees a steak, he'll have a pleasant reaction, his mouth will water.

Isn't learning similar?  I can't even think of how many times I have told my children "You're not getting up until your math is done."  With my oldest child, when I was more of an unschooler, I'd peek at the lesson at hand and organically demonstrate the principles of it in real life.  So she's learning the topic in a way that's relevant, and led by her interests.  That's not so hard to do.  In fact, if a topic is worthy of study then by default, it should be easy to blend it into life. 

As obsessed as I've been with math in my house for the past year, I know I've stolen the passion from at least one of my kids.  She's still small enough to reclaim it, though.  And I'm making that my goal today.  She loves graphing and measuring gardening and cooking.  So today, we're putting the math books on a shelf and measuring volume, temperature and displacement of mass baking cookies.  When we serve them at our tea party, we'll cut them into fractions bite sized pieces.  We'll make a scaled diagram drawing of our flowerbeds to go into our little "scrapbook of home" that's easing the moving stress from the littler ones (and me)

How Diana was able to divine that steak analogy while hiking amuses me, though.  I can relate completely; when my body is fully engaged in hiking or lawn mowing, my brain seems to go into deep thought mode, and there's always some sort of epiphany that comes from just letting the wheels turn aimlessly.  Perhaps that's why playing is so important for children.  That's another entry entirely, though and I, for one, have a tea party to attend to.  Toodle-doo

Our Goofy Air-Conditioned P.E. Class

by Lisa

I just have to confess.  My girls and I were innocently looking for instructional ballroom dancing videos on YouTube when we stumbled across some hip-hop dance videos.  Instructional hip hop dance videos.  I could shake it when I was younger, and it was fun but now that I'm 33ish there's a whole lot more of me to shake.  Who says P.E. is just for kids?  Did you even know they had dance instruction videos on YouTube?  It's quite a fun experience, hanging out with my 14 and 11 year old daughters in this way.   Here are some things we've discovered:

1. Stretch out first, warm up those muscles. 
2. Wear comfortable clothing
3. Make sure you have room to dance.  Your office might not work if that's where your computer is.  We use the laptop in the living room, so we won't be bumping into each other
4. Don't let your kids film it or you'll wake up with nightmares that your denim-jumper-wearing friends  from the co-op found it on YouTube

Bad Homeschool Days Are Like Giving Birth

By Renae

Children refusing to cooperate shower me with tears and pelt me with complaints. Some days distractions swallow every plan, or we work on nothing but attitudes. Bug mopes in his room. Sweet Pea sobs at the doorway. And Sunshine plays hide and seek, except I didn’t ask to play. Where is that child? I find her in the bathroom painting her toenails with mascara. I want to scream. I want to quit, but quit what?

I cannot stop being a parent. I cannot stop loving my children. Yes, my oldest could attend school. That has been suggested by well-meaning family and even by my son, but would that bring resolution? Our time would be more compressed, and character issues are not erased by trading one circumstance for another. There is no utopia.

Perhaps the only solution is to endure for the joy set before me. The joy of reasoning with my children. The joy of seeing them grow in wisdom. The joy of learning love through suffering.

After a terrible, no good, very bad day, the uneasy dread of the experience stays with me, but spiteful words and specific instances are harder to retrieve from my memory. Bad homeschool days are like giving birth. Once you behold the result of the effort, the pain fades.

Renae has been homeschooling for five years. Her goal is to give her three children a Life Nurturing Education.

Free Spring Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt PDF

by Amanda

Spring is a perfect time to get outside and enjoy the changing weather. Especially if you live in a place where winter is cold and dreary, the warmth and freshness of spring is always welcome. It can be really exciting to spend a little extra time in nature study- observing new growth, listening to streams rushing from runoff and hunting out wildflowers. That's part of the beauty of homeschooling we can spend some time outside in the sunshine enjoying Creation and actually be "doing school."

Sometimes it is hard to know how to use our nature study time. We want it to be something more directed than just wandering but we don't want it so rigid and planned out that we lose our joy. So, I have put together a Spring Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt Worksheet PDF that is designed to get you and your children outside looking for specific things in nature and to encourage you to explore nature using all of your senses. On this worksheet I have included a space to sketch something you find during your nature walk, which you can use if you have not yet started your own nature journals.

When you click on the link it will take you to a savefile.com page. Scroll to the bottom and click on the Download File button. The download should start automatically. If it doesn't start, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Download File Now.

You can find my other nature walk worksheets in the sidebar of my blog Hearts and Trees under the heading My Free Downloads.

For younger kids: learning to write

by Brea

My daughter Evie is four going on 15 five, and she is exactly like her mother. And her grandmother. To say that she frustrates me at times is like saying that Texas can get a little warm in August. It's the biggest understatement in the world! I'm telling you this for a reason, I promise. I've just been blessed with the gift of gab. Give me a minute, and everything will make sense ...

One reason my husband and I love homeschooling is you can take a slower pace if needed. There's no need to push your kids beyond what they're ready for, stress everyone out, make school something to be feared and dreaded. School should be a time of love, fellowship, learning, and an open exchange of exciting and energetic ideas. (Cue inspirational music here!) (And yes, I've been called an idealist from time to time.)

My oldest son and daughter are only 14 months apart, so there are many things we're able to do at the same time with both children when it comes to learning. Memory verses? Yes. Science and nature studies? Yes. Reading aloud? Absolutely. Writing? NO. No, no, no, and absolutely not. We were having a great day last week, doing our little math workbook that the kids both love and beg to do more of, and suddenly, the smaller version of myself is pushing every single button I have and telling me she doesn't remember how to write the number 3. Even though she only has to trace it. She can't do it. She (insert a really dramatic sob) just can't do it.

What did I do?? Well, I handled it in the best way possible. I got angry, just about lost my temper, called off school for the day, and sent everyone upstairs to play in their rooms. Obviously the best thing I could have done, right?

Apparently not. I called my very wise personal guru best friend from church who has five kids under ten, and ask her what should I do? In all her wisdom, she reminds me that my daughter is four. She doesn't need to know how to write the number three just yet.

Oh, yeah!! She's only 4!!!!! Come to think of it, I don't know any 10-year-olds who can't write the number three. I feel better already. But as I keep talking to my friend, she suggests that maybe Evie can learn to write in a different way, a way that would be fun for both of us since we really push each other's button on a pretty frequent basis. It was time to put on my thinking cap. I thought long and hard. Then I went to WalMart and browsed the arts and crafts section. And I came up with it! The solution!!

I bought some of that finger-painting paint. A big ole' thing of it. And I bought some cheap, gallon-sized zip lock bags. I came home, put about one cup of paint in the bag, made sure all the air was out, and zipped it up. After I flattened it out a bit, I called Evie in, and told her we were going to practice writing numbers. Her face fell, at least until she saw the bright yellow bag. And we practiced writing numbers and letters through the bag in the paint ... and what a wonderful, non-messy way to use paint!!! We had so much fun that when Sam, my oldest boy, came in, he was very offended that we were having such a nice time without him. What a great problem to have!

So there's my hack for the week. Get creative!! There are no homeschool rules that say you have to use standard, boring workbooks (unless your kids love them and think they're fun). What are your kids having issues with? Have you come up with any fun ideas that some of us could steal take inspiration from? Let us in on what works for your kids, because I think we can all use a little help from time to time to keep things in school fresh and fun. :)

Blogging as School for Homeschoolers

by Lisa

One of the deep dark secrets of homeschooling is that,as a mom, you get to do so many fun things.  I've learned to knit, to sketch wildlife, to make scrapbooks, to use cuisenare rods and a myriad of other wonderful things all of course, so that I can be a better teacher, right.  Of course.  I wouldn't devote all this time to myself, would I?  That would totally violate the martyr mom code that homeschoolers are supposed to follow.  Of course, it's all for the kids.  So it should come as no surprise then, that my kids blog, too. 

We've found that blogging is a fantastic way to display the kids writing skills, and thoughts.  We don't have any family in our town, so whenever family wonders how the kids are doing or what they're "learning in school" we direct them to the blogs. 

My girls are all contributors to a blog that reflects their history program.  We're following The Well Trained Mind's four year history cycle, so this year, the History Blog theme is Ancient History.  My 14 and 11 year old share design responsibility(computer technology 101), as well as contributing their written summaries (language arts) of each civilization as we study(history).  My 7 yr old also writes summaries of what she's read (writing, history) and occasionally I'll upload pictures she and my 5 yr old have drawn that reflect what they've studied (art, history.)  My 5 yr old doesn't write well, so her narrations are in video form (speech) and occasionally I'll let my 7 yr old post a video narration, too.

Each girl has her own individual blog as well.  Participating in Memes is definitely an exercise in creative writing.  Posting their content online helps their Grandparents (Arizona, California and Maryland) share what they've been learning so I never have to hear them asking.  Grandparents can communicate with each other via the comment section as well.  I can correct written grammar all I want, but when three Grandmothers point it out, it's suddenly a more pressing issue.

My 5 yr old is practicing for her future career as a newscaster, introducing herself to viewers by first and last name in every post.  She insists that her hair must be brushed before we turn the camera on and if she messes up, she shouts CUT.  She even requires audience particiaption.  Today, while filming a piece about her baby sister, she looked into the camera and asked "Have you ever haved' a a baby sister?"   I'm hoping no one  mistakes the word "haved" (being the past tense of have of course) for "halved"

Even my 2 yr old has a blog.  We post short videos of her every week to share with friends and family.  As her language development progresses, her sisters interview her and she parrots back to them, to the delight of friends and family, I am sure.

Keeping a portfolio of your child's homeschooling years is sage advice and I never did get the hang of scrapbooking.