Homeschool for a Day

In my city, we've been having a rough winter, weather wise. School has been cancelled a lot lately due to snow, ice, or whatnot. There's only so many days you can spend free-styling life before you want to have a plan. I had a friend ask me for some homeschool for a day tips, and it got me thinking that more people might want to hear some easy ideas to keep kids occupied, especially when it's too cold to simply shove them out the door into the snow! I decided to break the ideas I have by subject matter for easier use.

SCIENCE

When you're home, experiment based science is going to be your best friend. There are lots of easy ones you can do with basic ingredients. The important thing is to get the kids to make observations and then write and draw what they observed. I've included some links for experiments we loved.

Clean a Penny with Chemistry Make sure you have a lot of pennies on hand. I made sure to have one that were in different states of dirty so they could see how dramatic the change was for the dirtiest.

Alka Seltzer and Oil Lava Lamp My kids loved this one like crazy. Experiment with how different amounts of alka seltzer tabs to see the changes!

Melting Ice This is beautiful and made entirely with ordinary kitchen items. If you don't have time to make a big block of ice, either use ice cubes or, y'know, get some ice from outside your front door. I bet an icicle would be phenomenal for this experiment!

Frozen Bubbles I can't think of better weather to try this one! If you have to go out, might as well do some science while you're out there!

Inflate a Balloon with Science We enjoyed this one a lot. All you need is a balloon, an empty bottle, vinegar and baking soda!

LANGUAGE ARTS

Another important thing to do is work on various elements of language arts. Here are a few ideas to help with that!

Composition This link will send you to some writing prompts, but you could just as easily invite your kids to freestyle and simply compose a story. You can also challenge them to write a rhyming poem.

Spelling A great follow up to composition is to identify any spelling problems they encountered. Make a list of all the improperly spelled words and get them to write them correctly about 10 times. This will help them remember the correct spelling for the future!

Word Searches This is just an example of the types of word searches you can find if you go and search them on the internet. Print out a few at a time and set them searching. 

Handwriting For younger kids, practicing letters and handwriting is always a good idea. Set them down with a piece of loose leaf and ask them to write each letter 10 times. When they're done, identify letters they had problems with and spend time helping them write them correctly.

MATHEMATICS

Work Sheets Find some work sheets for your child's age and grade. Let them do the worksheet alone and then come and check over their work. This will help you identify and help with any problem areas.

Word Problems Just like the other work sheets, print out some with word problems as this will get them thinking in a whole new way.

THE REST

Art: Google a famous painter and learn a little bit about them. Find out what was special about their style and then see if you the kids can mimic something about their work. You can also do a project where you show how mathematical shapes can be used to form the basic shape of any object.

Geography: Pick a country and ask them to do a mini research project. Population, language, cultural dance, food, music, and history are all fun points to touch on. Consider setting them a list of questions to look for.

Baking and Cooking: Let the kids cook with you. Explain why the flavours work together, what culture the food comes from and what is nutritious about the food choices.

Play: Don't forget to have fun! If you're snowed in, try making some of the many home made doughs for some sensory play. I love adding some peppermint extract to make even the most basic dough fun! This no bake recipe was incredibly popular with my kids and help up nicely next to the name brand stuff.

I hope these ideas inspire you and help you through these long snowy days!

Grade 1: First Day of School

As is our tradition we spent our first day of school on a field trip. My husband took the day off and we headed to the zoo. It was also Big Girl's 6th birthday so it was nice to celebrate as a family. Because there had been a storm the day before the animals were anxious to dry out and stretch their legs, so we got to see all of them. The highlights included seeing a lion very close up (for my husband and I), petting the llamas (baby girl), the koi pond (middle boy), the white monkeys and tigers (big girl) and the meerkats (biggest boy). Big girl made her first school project journaling about her trip. She drew some great pictures (I shared two of them below) and wrote about her experience.  It was a nice way to see what she really thought of the day. All in all it was a great start to the year.

Pregnancy (Take 5)

I'm pregnant with our 5th baby! My heart is overflowing with joy and expectation! My husband is incredibly excited too, as usual, and joined me in informing anyone who would listen about our latest little miracle! We called, Facebooked, tweeted, and told everyone else we could in person, even whipping out my freshly peed on pregnancy test to show baby girl's Godmother when we found out as we were going out that evening.

I know at one point I thought to myself that maybe 4 was enough kids, but at some point my heart began to grow, to make room for another little soul to join our family. Once the post-natal fog lifted and life was getting back into order, it was so obvious to me that our family had room to grow. For the first time in the 6 years of our marriage, it took us about a year to conceive. Usually I was finding myself in possession of a positive pregnancy test between 6 and 9 months post-partum. That my youngest is 13 months might seem close to many people, but that is a huge gap in my mind! She's already walking (although crawls sometimes too), eats everything and anything, is incredibly social, sleeps like a champ, and has self-weaned. Her extended breastfeeding is the reason we didn't conceive sooner, and it was an incredible gift to both she and I. I had more recovery time for one. I also had more time to settle into a routine in our new house. I even managed to start getting more involved at our Church, which has meant a lot to me! I also found the energy to get myself started on homeschooling our eldest. With a June due date, we'll have the whole summer to recover before hitting the books again! For her, it meant longer bonding, better nutrition when she was under the weather, and lots of cuddles with Mommy.

So here we are, 5th positive pregnancy test in hand, excited beyond all belief and dedicated to enjoying every minute of it. One of the first things we did was upgrade our baby carrier to an Ergo because our Snugli had really worn out over the past three babies. We also picked up another pack of newborns Bummis diapers so we can exclusively cloth diaper from birth. I hit the grocery store and picked up 300 pre-natal vitamins (as I had run out and wanted closer to a year's supply) and have started to take them daily. With only very mild nausea I'm finding life is going on as normal, though I've been exhausted once naptime hits! The upside of my energy level staying basically the same is that my incredibly strong sense of smell which only happens when I'm pregnant is forcing me to start working on house work to keep the stinkies at bay.

The other big news pregnancy wise is that I got in touch with the Midwives at our local hospital. For most people who might read this outside of my province this may seem like not a big deal, but here in my province we've had to work hard to get Midwives with privileges at our hospital. They weren't available for my first three pregnancies, and they were on hiatus due to political issues during my fourth pregnancies. Today, with two full time midwives and one part-time midwife, I was able to make myself only second on their waiting list for June! Unless I risk out this basically guarantees me a spot! I have wanted to try for midwife care since I first heard of how midwives work, but this is the first time I've been able to sign up. I'll be sad that our regular baby-catching family doctor won't be our regular care provider as we have a beautiful relationship, but I'd do just about anything to have more personalised, natural birth focused care that won't have me alone with a nurse for hours on end. I find the nurses at our hospital range from incredible to absolutely awful. The nurse from my last birth would wait until my husband was out of the room and say all sorts of crazy things, like how I should stop being so noisy as it wasn't helping me labour. The upside about all of this is that's there actually a pretty good chance my family Doc will be in the hospital when I deliver as she is works in the Peri-Natal clinic and does regular rotations on the birth unit. I'll be praying that I get both a Midwife and my own well loved Doctor.

That's all so far. Get ready for belly pics, folks. I'm going to start taking them weekly so you can see how ridiculously fast my belly POPS!

Homeschooling Victory

So, I know it's WAY too early to call our homeschooling year a victory. But I'm going to make the leap and call our first two days a success. We started off our day with a trip to the local wildlife park with the whole family, then had a nice lunch together. While the little ones napped (I must confess our 3 year old was devastated he wasn't doing school during nap time like his sister), the big girl and I sat down and reviewed Math concepts. I discovered, to my surprise and delight, that she has an early love to simple math, and was devouring page after page of her workbooks with very little explanation needed. Per her request, we practised cutting in a straight line with her fancy scissors. After that we made salt dough molds of all their hands, which I painted once they were cooled. Today, we got to work on sight words (I found a fabulous app to support us in this, which her younger brother is loving too!) and did more math, geometry, and practised writing during the little ones' naps (this time with no 3 year old drama). This afternoon we planted a small indoor garden with tomato plants that we will be watching all year. She asked at bed time if we could do more school tonight and then tomorrow. I'm so happy she has a thirst for our school time!

 

Here are a few pictures to make you smile!

Big girl practising cutting in a straight line

 



 

Starting the school year off with a field trip was a big hit

The kids were all in love with the very friendly deer we met

 



 

 

It was the big girl's first day of school, but I'm glad we had a memory of each of them to treasure!

 

 

I hope we can keep up this level of joy and enthusiasm for the rest of the year!

For Her, Not for Me

As I'm sure most homeschooling families can attest, choosing to educate your children from home seems to invite a certain amount of discussions, questions, and criticism. Sometimes these conversations are eye opening, sometimes they make me want to close my eyes and shake my head. I have no doubt that if I had chosen private school for my child we'd still get questions, but it would be more about the uniforms and tuition fees than whether we were doing right by our kids. On top of that I know that if we had chosen public school, it would be treated as so matter of fact that the most we would have been asked was which school, what outfit for the first day, and what school supplies we'd purchased. No one would be asking me if my curriculum was sufficient, if the teacher was capable, or if I thought my daughter would thrive in either public or private school.

I appreciate there is a certain amount of curiosity surrounding homeschooling as it is not as common as the other alternatives. Most of the people that I had heard about being homeschooled were those who were taken out of public schools as the result of bullying. It's only now as an adult that I'm meeting those who choose not to join the public school system in the first place. A few of my friends are actually homeschooled children, and seeing what bright and socially capable they are, I'm actually very encouraged by our choice. I think that the so-called "weird" or "awkward" homeschooled kids aren't that way because they're homeschooled. I met plenty of "weird" or "awkward" kids in public school. All the socialisation in the world didn't change that. Often times those kids became magnets for bullies and spent more time trying to survive school than actually learning. If there seems to be a greater proportion of "weird" kids that are homeschooled, I'd suspect that's because their parents have pulled them out of public school so that they could focus on their education rather than on how to avoid being bullied or ostracised by their peers.

I know many people think I've drunk the special kool aid and that I've bought into some sort of hokum about how public school and teachers are evil, and I need to protect my kids from society so they don't turn into hoodlums and axe murderers. Seriously folks, that's ridiculous. While I see the difficulties of our public school system, and have even discussed them before, I do realise that some kids thrive in that scenario. I know lots of kids who excelled in the group learning scenario, made lots of friends, and came out the class president and valedictorian or whatnot. I value so highly what our teachers, principals, and other staff are doing for the kids in the system. They have tiny budgets, varied learning styles, complex material, and not enough hours in the day to connect with each and every student. They are incredible people, taking on the mantle of educating young minds, while receiving flak from students and parents alike for their teaching methods, quantity of homework, marking, etc etc etc. Over my years in the public school system I had many teachers who I realise now were experiencing an unimaginable level of burnout because they had tried so hard for so long to do what was best for the kids entrusted to them and simply had no more to give.

The fact of the matter is that while all of this came into consideration, the real reason we are home educating our child isn't because of our opinions about the public school system. I'm sure that if we sent her to school she'd do fine. Make a few friends, get a passing grade, and learn what she needs to learn. She'd have opportunities, experiences, make connections, and probably meet that one special teacher she'll look back on for years to come. All good stuff. All admirable and desirable. Plus, I'd get the pleasure of having one less duty around the house for the bulk of the day. But it's not about me. It's not about getting by or her being fine.

For me, homeschooling is a parenting choice. A choice based on each child and their individual needs. For lots of kids, public school is really the best thing. For others, private school is the way to go. For still others, homeschooling is the best avenue. Our choice to educate her at home isn't to shelter her from life, but to educate her in the way we think will best help her to excel, grow, and become who she is meant to be. After a lot of thought and prayer, and some initial resistance from both of us, we realised that the unavoidable truth is that homeschooling is not what we want, per se, but what she needs. That I can offer her this opportunity to learn in the way that is best for her is amazing and humbling. I am not unaware of the incredible responsibility I'm shouldering as her primary educator. I also know that with a lot of hard work, and by the grace of God, I'll look back and be happy we chose to accept this path for our family. This is a choice we're making as a family, for her sake, not for our own.

At the end of the day, questions are normal, especially with something so different from the norm. I still find it difficult to be given the third degree about this parenting choice from friends and strangers. (Not that everyone is giving us the third degree! So many of our friends are very excited for us!) As I was saying to a friend, you'd never corner a woman and berate her for breastfeeding or using a bottle (or for heaven's sake you shouldn't!). As strangers to the situation and the process behind the choice, we need to sit back and realise it's simply not our business. No parenting choice is taken lightly, from feeding, to diapering, to schooling. Each choice a parent makes is for their child, not for themselves. By all means, ask questions as a means to educate yourself on the choice. I'm more than happy to answer any and all questions in that light. However, if your question at any point starts with "Don't you know that...", "How could you..." or "What about..." or other judgement heavy lines, perhaps we would all be better served if you took to the internet or a book to find your answer. If a parent has come into a choice with prayers, discernment, and lots of research, all you're going to do by asking judgemental questions is to alienate them.

What I'm left with in all of this is that no matter what people ask, or how they ask it, we can keep our heads up because we know that this really isn't about us or what we want, it's about our daughter and what she needs. No amount of doubt or concerns from others can change the fact that we're doing the right thing for her, even though though we may not be doing right according to others.

First Day of Homeschooling

The first day of school is rapidly approaching, oddly enough without the sense of urgency I had expected. Unlike the parents of students going to public school, I can set my own start date. I also am not scrambling to buy up school supplies according to an exact list. Don't get me wrong, we've been slowly acquiring supplies over the summer. We already have paper of all varieties, writing implements, scissors and the like. We also acquired a few curriculum workbooks made specifically by Canadian public school teachers for reinforcement and enrichment of their programming that I'm going to use as a kind of benchmark for my daughter's learning in tandem with my own lesson plans. We also found, blessedly on sale, a collection of flash cards for early math, french vocabulary (because YES, I will be teaching my daughter the equivalent of core french), as well as sight words, which I am especially excited about. The great thing about these cards is that, unlike the workbooks which will be written in and then be done (it would cheaper to buy new ones than to photocopy the pages), I can reuse the flash cards for years to come. We also picked up a really great map of the world which includes the flags of all the countries. Seems silly, but I can't imagine a school room without one. Geography is such an essential part of education, even from the start. Kids always need to know the world is bigger than their classroom.

The other side of the first day of school jitters I know I'm missing is that of the teachers in our overwrought public school system. While they face a year of learning as few as 27 new names, preparing worksheets, tests, and permission slips, I have the distinct pleasure of already knowing every member of my class. I know how she learns, and I happen to know her parents personally. When I want to take a school trip, I won't need a week's notice. Maybe an hour or so because I'll need to check the bus schedule. I also don't have to worry about getting angry notes or visits from parents who don't approve of my teaching style or what I'm teaching. I can, however, fall more in love my sweet little student, give her hugs and kisses without fear of it being deemed inappropriate. When she's sick, I'll know well before it's time to take attendance. I also don't have to work as hard as the teachers in the public school system, who have to carefully manage their time to fit everything they need in a day. I don't have to worry that I haven't been able to spend enough time with each of my students comprehends the material. Because I won't have to stretch myself between 27 or more students, each unique and needing of different learning styles, I have the opportunity to tailor a program to just my child, a program that can grow and change with her. As I steadily prepare for the new year, I can't help but give a tip of my hat to all the public school teachers. They are truly making gold out of straw, and deserve our utmost respect for the good works they do.

For the next few weeks, as our excitement grows, we're working on what we'll be doing her first day of school. We want her to feel like this a special milestone, and to do activities that we can do the first day of school every year that she homeschools. We have a few projects in mind to fill our day. Because we want her Daddy to be there, we've planned the day of school to be on Labour Day, which is a holiday for him. So far we have the requisite first day of school picture, including fancy first day of school outfit. Next up we'll be doing a mould of her hand (and that of all her siblings because we want them to feel special too!). After that we'll be planting a garden box that we'll nurture as one of our nature projects during the year. I also plan to include a reading of Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go" and a picnic at a park down by the water if the weather permits. That will fill up most of the "school" parts of the day. The rest we'll spend like any normal day, being wild, loving, noisy, messy and fun. I know that the first day will be easy and wonderful. I know that every day after will be harder, but incredibly worth it.

Homeschooling Begins

The more research I do on homeschooling, the more confirmed I am that we're making the right choice for our daughter and our family. I am lucky to be married to a man that not only supports my long-standing desire to homeschool, but also plans on helping me do the teaching! Not many kids can boast not just 1-1 interaction for schooling, but in fact 2-1 for some subjects. I've noticed over the past few months that our daughter learns some things better from me, and some things better from my husband. It goes to show that our two different learning styles will greatly benefit her. I find myself learning anew with him as he approaches things, and I bet he's learning new things from me too. I also find myself becoming innovative in the way I teach her things because I love to see those light bulb moments. Since we've actively chosen homeschooling and taken our daughter's education in our own hands, I've been so priviledged to watch how thirsty she is for one on one learning.

Rather than take a break this summer, my big school aged girl and I are working hard to keep her beautiful mind learning. I'm not doing a lot of structured work (unless you count the writing practice homework I give her when she goes to her room at nap time!), but I'm making a point of using the situations we come across every day to expand her experience and knowledge. This of course means lots of reading (and what kid doesn't love reading?), daily discussions about the calendar, seasons, reading the clock, and a plethora of nature walks on our way to and from our friends' houses, the library, and Church. We're having a great time birdwatching, chasing butterflies, and identifying various bugs, flowers, and other plants. I can tell it's rubbing off on the boys, who love pointing out all the different things they see and are asking more questions than ever. I'm grateful too that I can teach them about nature while we're out in it, because I can teach them to respect nature at the same time. (Side bonus: All this walking means I have a pretty awesome tan, and, I think, adorable freckles! The kids are still pale but that's because I'm nuts for sunscreen) It's a shame school doesn't run in the summer for all the public school kids, because this is the best time of year to get out there and learn about nature while enjoying it too. My daughter was staring out the window at the rain falling and explained to me, unbidden, the water cycle. That was just another quiet confirmation that what we've been doing with her is working and worthwhile.

While she's busy working on the little projects I'm making for her (next up is planting an indoor garden with veggies she can help me prepare into a meal!), I'm working hard assembling lesson plans and curriculum for more concentrated work in the fall. I know because she's entering grade primary the learning outcomes are not so far beyond her reach, but it's my hope that with diligent planning, as well as taking advantage of what opportunities pop up, I'll be able to help her achieve those outcomes and then surpass them before the year is out. A little bit at a time, according to her attention span and learning style, I'm confident we're going to have a wonderful year.

School

Our oldest child is about to enjoy the last summer of her life before summer is associated primarily as the vacation from school. This September, at the impossibly young age of 4, my big girl will be old enough to enter her first year of school. I have been dreading this moment for the past 5 years (I'm including pregnancy, folks). I'm not sure she's ready to go. I'm not sure I'm ready for her to go. To me she still seems so little, so young, and simply not ready for that level of all-day learning required at the school she would be attending. Four months seems like too short of a time for her to suddenly become a morning person, and additionally to gain an attention span of more than twenty minutes. She is distractible at best, easily frustrated at worst, when faced with any attempt to learn new things. I look at her face and know that sending her to school doesn't feel right. Doesn't feel fair. I can see in her all the necessary ingredients for the same false ADHD diagnosis we hear is being levelled upon so many young elementary school students. I fear her being bullied as she is small for her age, and in so many ways still very innocent and naive about the cruelty of others.

I don't think I should have to change her, to crush what I love best about her, so that I can prepare her for a school system that is woefully underfunded, understaffed, and overflowing with students at the youngest levels. Through the years I have watched so many of my friends become teachers, working hard to enlighten and inspire the generation entrusted to them. I love these teachers for their enthusiasm, dedication, and fortitude. I respect them for trying to do what they can with what little they are given, making gold out of straw in so many cases. That being said, I look at my daughter and wonder if I can give her more attention here at home. While her teacher could have something nearer to 30 students, I would have just her (plus the distraction of 3 other little monkeys who, fortunately, take naps). I am a university educated woman, and although I don't have a BEd I'm relatively sure I can figure out how to teach my daughter what she needs to know (and some things she doesn't need to know too). I've already taught her about letters, numbers, shapes, colours, phonics, spelling, some french vocabulary, and music. Her reading is coming along slowly, but primarily because she is only 4 and still has a very short attention span. I can see that she knows how to sound out her words, but doesn't have the patience to sit and do it with every word. So we read short simple books, but we do read.

The one thing that had kept me dedicated to the idea of sending our daughter to public school has been that we would send her to French Immersion. Both my husband and I had our schooling primarily in French, and I do feel like it served me in the long run. My paternal Grandpapa was also French, so it was important that my kids learn the language as well. We recently discovered there's a good chance that due to budget cuts the school that our daughter would be attending might be losing its French program over the next few years. There have also been lots of talks of school closures in surrounding regions which I'm sure will be coming to our part of the city too, when you consider the number of schools close to us with the declining enrolment, not to mention the declining education budget.

As we reflected on all this information, we came to the conclusion that, for us, homeschooling was the right path for at least this year. I don't know how many years we'll be able to keep this up, but as long as it's what's best for her (and later on her younger siblings), our home will also be their school. With a bit of guidance from some other homeschooling parents I'm going to dive in head first and do everything I can to give my daughter the best possible educational experience.