I've noticed something...my most frequent post topic is, "I should really post more often". Well, here I am to say it again! I actually really love blogging; I like sharing what I've done in the hopes that it will help someone. However, I somehow just don't manage to fit it in! I'm going to try though - really, I am!!
To update those of you who don't know us in real life, we are a family of SIX now! Beautiful, lovely, even-tempered Dahlia was born in September and we are loving our little family of girls. Very frequently, I get messages on Facebook from friends asking how I fit everything in, what I do for homeschooling, etc. Today I'm going to give you my generic response that answers a lot of the questions people ask me, but feel free to ask more specific questions and I'll try to post answers! So, here we go:
I don't know where you're at in terms of information for homeschooling, so I'll just start from square one; I can tell you what works really well for us and you can go from there!
If you're interested in following your province's standards, you can do a Google search for “ curriculum standards”.
I do make sure that we're at least meeting our provincial standards
but, as a homeschooer, it is usually up to you what you cover and at
what pace (depending on the laws of your particular state or province).
You might want to slow it down so you can go more in depth or you may
opt to go through the material faster and then mix in special interest
units. I like to look at the curriculum standards for some of the states
as well as our province when doing my planning, as they seem to be
higher. I also try to follow the interests of the children, to some
extent. If we're in the middle of a unit and something sparks their
interest in another area, we may deviate from what I had planned to
explore.
For keeping children motivated, I find a lot of hands on activities, music and movement, technology integration, and engaging reading material to be a winning combination. I also find for my children (who are younger) that having a routine keeps them excited and motivated (i.e. they know that our science class with other homeschool friends is on Tuesdays and look forward to that).
I'm very excellent at planning things out, down to every last detail, but not very good at executing such a rigid plan. If you are good at “sticking to the plan” I would recommend taking some time over the summer to figure out what you would like to cover in each subject and then making yourself a year-long plan for each subject and then a weekly schedule (I can send point you to some examples if you'd like to take this route).
If you're like me and work better when you have a bit of “fly by the seat of your pants” in the mix, you can plan out what you would like to cover in each subject and then pick what you will do each week. For example, I know what units we would like to cover for the year in science (five sense, simple machines, animal adaptations, air, etc.) but I don't plan out in what order we will do them. We then host a homeschool science class each week and I plan what topic we will cover only a week or two in advance and do all of the prep the week of our class. Of course, there is no limit to the amount of planning you can do in advance; it certainly doesn't hurt, even if you don't use it right away!
If you're curious about the balance of schooling, keeping the house clean, getting healthy meals on the table, and working from home - it can be done! Well...sort of. There are days that you will just have to accept that you need to choose between keeping your house clean and educating your children. It happens, so be okay with it. Which you choose, ultimately, is up to you. Aside from that, here are the things that have worked for me:
- Always leave a room cleaner than it was when you entered. This is actually a surprisingly effective way to clean! It will start as just picking up little things and putting them in their proper spot. Soon, however, you will run out of things to pick up and you'll have to start dusting, washing surfaces, and deep cleaning if you want to stick to the rule.
- Square foot cleaning: When you have a big, messy area to clean, break it up into sections (one or two square feet) and clean one section at a time. Just keep going until you have done the whole room and remember to not move anything into a “square” that you've already cleaned. Just think – if you did a while room this way and all you did was move the mess from square to square you would still end up with 99 clean square feet and one messy one!
- Get the children involved with cleaning, no matter how old they are. Even our barely-two year old helps to empty the dishwasher. If you're feeling really motivated, make a chore chart and have a rewards system for the children completing their weekly chores. I like to have chores that they MUST do and “extra” chores that they can choose to do and get paid for.
- I'm big on lists, so it helps me to make a list of the tasks that I need to complete for the day (sometimes I do this the night before, sometimes early in the morning, and sometimes in the middle of the day if I've forgotten!). I often even “schedule” my day in 15 minute blocks. I don't always follow it exactly, but it gives me a good guideline.
- Try to have meals ready in the freezer. If you don't have a whole day or weekend to cook up enough meals for a month (seriously, how do people take a whole weekend off to cook?) you can make double or triple batches of your supper and freeze the extra servings.
- Have some ideas for very quick healthy meals that you can fall back on when you feel like you want to order take-out. For me, it's things like “Lemon Dill Baked Fish with Curried Rice and Steamed Veggies” or “Pasta in Red Sauce with Chickpeas and Vegetables” (less than 5 minutes of prep). When I feel like ordering take-out, I remind myself that I can make a cheaper, healthier meal in almost as little time as it would take me to call and order food!
- Find a school organization system that works for you. I think, for most people, workboxes are best. Here is a post from my blog that shows how we have used them - http://teachcooklove.blogspot.ca/2011/01/workbox-wrap-up.html.
- Vary learning methods to keep your kids engaged and well-rounded. We do activities outside of the house (dance, gymnastics, skating, etc.), in home group activities (science class, music and movement, drama, etc.), computer activities (I have a HUGE list of resources that our kids love), hands on learning activities, and traditional book work.
- When it comes to working (photography, glass work, writing, art), I try to do almost all of my work activities after the children are in bed or, occasionally, when they have another family member to watch them.
This isn't an exhaustive list but I do find all of the above helpful in my day-to-day routine.
I have many resources that we love (some free and some not) that I will try to share. If you let me know in the comments what subject you are interested in covering from the following, I'll try to base my upcoming post on that:
Art
Bible
Character Study
Language Arts
Science
Math
Drama
Geography
History
Foreign Language
Music
I also do a science class each week and will share some of our resources as we go along. We'll also be doing woodworking workshops, sensory playdates, and a "Let's Create" class (combining drama, music, dance, and art) after March break.
I'm sure this is just touching on the basics – if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask and I will answer to the best of my ability and/or find someone who can.
So, there you have it - the very basics! Hopefully today will be the jumping-off point for more regular blogging. Happy reading!
To update those of you who don't know us in real life, we are a family of SIX now! Beautiful, lovely, even-tempered Dahlia was born in September and we are loving our little family of girls. Very frequently, I get messages on Facebook from friends asking how I fit everything in, what I do for homeschooling, etc. Today I'm going to give you my generic response that answers a lot of the questions people ask me, but feel free to ask more specific questions and I'll try to post answers! So, here we go:
I don't know where you're at in terms of information for homeschooling, so I'll just start from square one; I can tell you what works really well for us and you can go from there!
If you're interested in following your province's standards, you can do a Google search for “
For keeping children motivated, I find a lot of hands on activities, music and movement, technology integration, and engaging reading material to be a winning combination. I also find for my children (who are younger) that having a routine keeps them excited and motivated (i.e. they know that our science class with other homeschool friends is on Tuesdays and look forward to that).
I'm very excellent at planning things out, down to every last detail, but not very good at executing such a rigid plan. If you are good at “sticking to the plan” I would recommend taking some time over the summer to figure out what you would like to cover in each subject and then making yourself a year-long plan for each subject and then a weekly schedule (I can send point you to some examples if you'd like to take this route).
If you're like me and work better when you have a bit of “fly by the seat of your pants” in the mix, you can plan out what you would like to cover in each subject and then pick what you will do each week. For example, I know what units we would like to cover for the year in science (five sense, simple machines, animal adaptations, air, etc.) but I don't plan out in what order we will do them. We then host a homeschool science class each week and I plan what topic we will cover only a week or two in advance and do all of the prep the week of our class. Of course, there is no limit to the amount of planning you can do in advance; it certainly doesn't hurt, even if you don't use it right away!
If you're curious about the balance of schooling, keeping the house clean, getting healthy meals on the table, and working from home - it can be done! Well...sort of. There are days that you will just have to accept that you need to choose between keeping your house clean and educating your children. It happens, so be okay with it. Which you choose, ultimately, is up to you. Aside from that, here are the things that have worked for me:
- Always leave a room cleaner than it was when you entered. This is actually a surprisingly effective way to clean! It will start as just picking up little things and putting them in their proper spot. Soon, however, you will run out of things to pick up and you'll have to start dusting, washing surfaces, and deep cleaning if you want to stick to the rule.
- Square foot cleaning: When you have a big, messy area to clean, break it up into sections (one or two square feet) and clean one section at a time. Just keep going until you have done the whole room and remember to not move anything into a “square” that you've already cleaned. Just think – if you did a while room this way and all you did was move the mess from square to square you would still end up with 99 clean square feet and one messy one!
- Get the children involved with cleaning, no matter how old they are. Even our barely-two year old helps to empty the dishwasher. If you're feeling really motivated, make a chore chart and have a rewards system for the children completing their weekly chores. I like to have chores that they MUST do and “extra” chores that they can choose to do and get paid for.
- I'm big on lists, so it helps me to make a list of the tasks that I need to complete for the day (sometimes I do this the night before, sometimes early in the morning, and sometimes in the middle of the day if I've forgotten!). I often even “schedule” my day in 15 minute blocks. I don't always follow it exactly, but it gives me a good guideline.
- Try to have meals ready in the freezer. If you don't have a whole day or weekend to cook up enough meals for a month (seriously, how do people take a whole weekend off to cook?) you can make double or triple batches of your supper and freeze the extra servings.
- Have some ideas for very quick healthy meals that you can fall back on when you feel like you want to order take-out. For me, it's things like “Lemon Dill Baked Fish with Curried Rice and Steamed Veggies” or “Pasta in Red Sauce with Chickpeas and Vegetables” (less than 5 minutes of prep). When I feel like ordering take-out, I remind myself that I can make a cheaper, healthier meal in almost as little time as it would take me to call and order food!
- Find a school organization system that works for you. I think, for most people, workboxes are best. Here is a post from my blog that shows how we have used them - http://teachcooklove.blogspot.ca/2011/01/workbox-wrap-up.html.
- Vary learning methods to keep your kids engaged and well-rounded. We do activities outside of the house (dance, gymnastics, skating, etc.), in home group activities (science class, music and movement, drama, etc.), computer activities (I have a HUGE list of resources that our kids love), hands on learning activities, and traditional book work.
- When it comes to working (photography, glass work, writing, art), I try to do almost all of my work activities after the children are in bed or, occasionally, when they have another family member to watch them.
This isn't an exhaustive list but I do find all of the above helpful in my day-to-day routine.
I have many resources that we love (some free and some not) that I will try to share. If you let me know in the comments what subject you are interested in covering from the following, I'll try to base my upcoming post on that:
Art
Bible
Character Study
Language Arts
Science
Math
Drama
Geography
History
Foreign Language
Music
I also do a science class each week and will share some of our resources as we go along. We'll also be doing woodworking workshops, sensory playdates, and a "Let's Create" class (combining drama, music, dance, and art) after March break.
I'm sure this is just touching on the basics – if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask and I will answer to the best of my ability and/or find someone who can.
So, there you have it - the very basics! Hopefully today will be the jumping-off point for more regular blogging. Happy reading!
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