Homeschool Hacks

Summer Day Camp- Homeschool Style

Follow these step by step instructions for creating a summer day camp- homeschool style.

Get Other Families Involved
Pick four favorite families for a grand total of five families involved in your day camp.  Five families= five weekdays.  It's an important connection that allows you to get 3 or 4 "days off."

Have a Planning Meeting
Start the Planning with a Meeting.  Group decisions can be tricky, so the goal of this meeting is really just to chat over coffee and declare that each family must be wholly responsible for one day.   Your schedule might look like this;

Monday- Jones Family
Tuesday- Kennedy Family
Wednesday- Adams family
Thursday- Simmons Family
Friday- Osborne Family

Planning Activities
The planning of activities should be kept as simple as possible.  The best way to do that is to have each family do their planning independently of each other.  So what if activities are repeated over the week?  There can be no agenda in the name of summer fun.  You'd have to change the name to Summer School if you wanted to plan something like that. 

Gathering Supplies
Each family is also responsible for the gathering of supplies for their designated day.  See how easy this is?  Even for food.  If you plan to serve pizza on your day then you pay the delivery boy.  Similarly, if Mrs Jones (she always pulls stunts like this) wants to have the kids hand-toss their pizza she can pay to have the pizzeria send a chef to teach the kids how to do it. Who gave her Monday?

Additional Help
Let's assume Mrs Adams only has two children and all of the other families has three or more.  Mrs Adams could get overwhelmed at the prospect of being responsible for 18 or more children.   You can decide, at your planning meeting, to have each family choose a "helping day" so that your schedule looks more like this;

Monday- Jones house, Osborne helping
Tuesday- Kennedy house, Jones helping
Wednesday- Adams house, Kennedy helping
Thursday- Simmons house, Adams helping
Friday- Osborne house, Simmons helping

Bonus Freebies
Did you notice that each family "worked" two days in a row (Except for the Osbornes, 2 days in a row would just be too much to ask)  That means that the other days were completely "Off"  If you're the one setting up the camp I'd recommend a strategic positioning of your days off and book a day at the spa or schedule a long nap.  For heaven's sake, don't use this time to clean the house.

End-Of-Camp BBQ
Try to plan a family BBQ for everyone involved.  To make it easier, have the Osbornes host it on Friday (since the kids will be there anyway) and have everyone else bring the Potluck foods.  The end-of-camp party is great fun and gives Dads a chance to mingle (because we know men love that, right?)  If Friday doesn't work, perhaps a Saturday pool party or even overnight camp-out somewhere local.

Be creative.  Have Fun.  And most of all, relax and enjoy the summer.

by Lisa
DIY Cheap Summer Camp Co-op

For younger kids: don't stress!!!

by Brea

Ok, so y'all know I'm a Charlotte Mason fan. Teach your children through books, books, and more books. And then read them a book or two. And when you're done, why not find a new great book? (Am I getting a tad repetitive here? Sorry.)

Homeschooling can be expensive!! And there's so many options! I've got a little tip for you, something I've heard from almost every mom of older children I know, and something I'm seeing from my own experience. If you do nothing but character training and reading out loud to your kids before they're six or seven, you'll have given them a vast head start over their peers. Seriously. Your kids can pick up 'the essentials' like reading and writing when they're a little older, and they will be just fine for it! A close friend of mine has a daughter I'm crazy about. 'A' is 14, and she and I love to talk books. She's borrowed some favs from me, and we're not talking teen lit here. Big, heavy, wonderful books. She's an amazing reader, devouring almost anything she can get her hands on. Want to know a secret? She didn't learn to read until after she turned nine. A's mom realized something: if she pushed her daughter to read before she was ready, she could possibly end up making her daughter hate reading. So she waited. She did other things with her. And now A is one of the most well-read 14-year-olds I know.

Let your kids learn from life. Don't start formal school with them until they're in the first grade, and even then, keep it light! There are so many ways your kids can learn from everyday things that happen around them. My oldest, Sam, is almost 6. He's starting to learn about money. Every Friday, we head down to our local Farmers' Market. (Sam's mom over here has a big ole' crush on homegrown veggies and grass-fed beef. Mmmm ...) In the last few months, Sam has become my 'money man.' For the most part, he and his sister Evie (4) pick out the veggies we'll be buying for the week. Sam knows that we start each Friday off with $20 or $25. They're each allowed to buy a treat, which costs a dollar. All prices at the market are rounded the the nearest quarter, and Sam is the one who carries the money and pays for everything. (I use ones and fives, to make it easier on him.) So if we get down to the last $5, and each of them still want to buy a treat, that's $3 left. Evie wants to buy spinach, while Sam wants broccoli. But a bag of spinach is $2.50, and four heads of broccoli cost $3.00. Hmm, dilemma! I let the two of them figure out what to do. Sam won out with the broccoli last time, because he logically pointed out to his sister that our spinach at home is getting big enough to eat, so we didn't need to buy any.

Wait, what just happened here? Let me go into this. Sam is learning math skills. Sam and Evie are learning how to interact with other grown-ups in a real-world setting (and people say homeschoolers aren't socialized!!), and they're learning where our food comes from. They're both learning logic and problem-solving skills (broccoli or spinach? It's a tough life, I tell ya!), and they're learning financial responsibility. All that from a 10 minute visit to the market. Oh, and remember the part about growing spinach at home? We have several gardens. There's my nature, science, and ecology classes for the next several years.

Do you have cheerios at home? What about skittles, raisins, or chocolate chips? A few years ago, I bought a bag of 15-bean soup. It's just a bunch of dried beans. There's our math class. We can learn grouping, patterns, addition, subtraction, and later multiplication and division. And it cost me a whopping $.79. Do your youngsters cook with you? My kids are learning fraction without even knowing it, because I can't ever find my measuring cups, so we have to measure out 1 1/2 cups of flour with the 1/2 cup scoop. Evie can tell you that there's three teaspoons in a tablespoon, and Sam knows that you can't leave sugar when it's cooking or 'it turns stinky and yucky.' (We make lots of candy around Christmas time!)

We've been reading The Chronicles of Narnia, and my kids just eat it up. They know the difference between a broadsword and a rapier, and why a ship would have sails and oars. And battle strategy. And the difference between port and starboard.

I'm not writing this to brag on my children, although I'm certainly not above that. :) I'm writing this as an encouragement. It can be really overwhelming when you start looking at curriculum, and what to buy, and when to start, and  what homeschooling method to follow. And then we start looking at the world, and what and when public schools do things. Remember that each child is different, and that's a great thing about homeschooling!! It's much easier for kids to catch up on something they're a little behind on, as opposed to trying to get them to like something that's been forced on them too early. God gave your children to you, not to me, or your mother, or your neighbor, or your friends at church. You. You are better qualified to teach them, for that reason alone, than any other person in the world.

So if you're a little stressed right now, take a deep breath. Now one more. And one more. Get up and go on a walk with your young'ens. Talk about some flowers. Look at the clouds. Why did God make bees? What do they do? Why do round things roll better than things with flat sides? Read this post and the wonderful comments, then take a trip to the library and find Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and some of the other great books. Spend 15 minutes reading, then snuggle for 10 minutes and talk about what you just read. Congratulations, you just did school for the day!! You really can do this!

Moms with older kids, what did y'all do when yours were little? Can you offer any advice?

Daily Links You Will Love

Hopeful Spirit is hosting a wonderful Carnival of Family Life.

A wonderful article from the Washington Post last week is here!

Principled Discovery has the best graphic in this one.

If you have any great articles you would like highlighted please email me- homeschoolhacks@gmail.com

Have a wonderful Monday!

Blessings, Alli

Bullying in the School System

Summer at Mom is Teaching wrote a brilliant article on bullying. Go read it!

From her article-

"I don’t want to teach my sons to deal with bullies. I want to teach them that this behavior is unacceptable, that hurting others in any way does not make them “cool”, that they don’t have to fit into the crowd and that standing out does not have to be painful, and that they do not have to become the kind of adults that use words that hurt as much as fists. They can be better. If that means keeping them out of the bully-rich environment until they have a solid foundation built up and a strong enough personal base to stand up to those who use power-over, then good. They will be strong er for it in the long run."

Is anyone tired of hearing how we should put our kids in school to socialize them? Middle School and High School are artificial environments that children are expected to 'get through'. It is ridiculous to feel we need to expose our children to this simply because most children are forced to deal with it! The school experience for most children has nothing to do with real-life in adulthood. I say we start laughing when we are asked, "What about socialization?" I say the proof is in the pudding, as my grandmother used to say.

Benefits of Online Networking for Kids

So much focus is placed on the negative aspects of allowing our children online that many parents don't take the time to consider that there are benefits as well.   The wonderful folks at SchwabLearning.Org posted this informative article that points out many of the positives to be gained.  

As the mother of  a homeschooled tween & teen, I realized early a few of the benefits of online networking for myself.   Through blogging, I have found many like-minded homeschooling parents who have become true friends, despite living all over the country.  This phenomenna has helped me tremendously, knowing that I have a community for support and resources with which to share my days.

 Children do not thrive in a vacuum either, and social interaction is an aspect of their life that is generally dominated by adults, as we are usually their mode of transportation or acting in some capacity as coach, teacher, leader.   Homeschoolers can, despite all our efforts, feel a bit isolated at times. 

We decided that we would give online networking a chance.  After very in depth discussion of  information sharing, privacy, and online predators, I trusted my children to start slowly in some online gaming communities.   We started with Puzzle Pirates, as it has language content controls.  The kids quickly found online friends and joined a "crew" , playing games together and trading together.  They practiced teamwork and their typing skills improved dramatically!

Soon they had online buddies that referred them to other games, which we always researched together.  My daughter's  current favorite has animal characters and she and her friends create adventures based on Erin Hunter's "Warrior" series of cat clans.   My son is playing a more traditional game with medieval quests and sword fighting. 

They are able to socialize with folks that despite geographic distance share their interests.   The can define their personalities and social skills without peer pressure.  They are strong enough in character to reconize someone who is unkind, and learn how to deal with that person in a safe situation.   ONline networking has been really filled a need for them in a positive way.

 

 

 

 

In praise of Character Training

Character training has unfortunately gotten lumped in with religious teaching, and I find that many don't take the time to consider its' benefits. Yet good character is something that transcends religions and cultures, and is respected universally.

Character training is most often taught to very young children , in themes like honesty and fairness. Yet, middle school is the time when these traits can really be tested. Tweens and teens suddenly discover there are many grey areas in life. Often times they struggle with the choices they must make, and might feel a little foolish asking for help. These are the times when a few bad choices can turn into a real problem quickly.

I have found a wonderful on-line teaching guide which focuses on the character issues of middle schoolers. This site has many excellent discussion questions, activities and writing assignments on traits like trustworthiness, courage, citizenship, and fairness, to name a few.

The folks at Good Character go a step further with their teaching guide for Life Skills. The activities here focus on the "Three R's of Growing Up: Responsibility, Self-Respect, and Doing the Right Thing." The tough questions are asked and brainstormed together on topics which teach them how to enhance self-esteem, control emotions and handle pressures.

Best of all, these teaching guides are completely secular, and can thus be used by everyone.

The “S” Word: Personal Stories

Life Without School is compiling a series of personal stories and vignettes about socialization - that "S" word that many of us are so tired of hearing about. They'll discuss questions like, "Just what is socialization?" and "Do different people have different social needs?"

If you'd like to contribute your own story or opinion, click here.