Where do we learn?

[For those of you new here, visiting from the Not Back to School Blog Hop, welcome!  I'm the mommy and learning assistant to four little ones, ages 5, 4, 2 and almost 5 months old.  I'm currently doing "school" with my oldest, Tornado... age 5. ]

Before I get into the pictures, let me first give you the real answer.

Everywhere!

And I don't just mean outings (field trips), I mean everywhere!

Driving in the car, walking through the grocery store, picking tomatoes in the garden.  Sometimes it's inspired by something that we see... sometimes by a question from one of the kids... sometimes because Daddy or I see an opportunity to teach something (character, civics, Bible).  Math fact questions get thrown out at "random", referencing literature happens all the time as we think of it. 

Everywhere!

But that's not what this post is really about.  One day I may just have to devote a whole post to the "everywhere" concept, but today it's about the learning I plan for. 

It doesn't get too fancy.  We live in 5 rooms (including the bathroom... and the kitchen and living room aren't separated by a wall) over 720 square feet.  There is no dedicated school room.  There isn't even a dedicated shelf (you'll see that later).  


 Here you see Tornado working at our kitchen table and you may notice that the table isn't necessarily even "dedicated" to learning while we're there.  Exhibit A:  garlic chives on the table waiting to be dehydrated later today. 


Usually Sweet Pea and Little Man join us at the table for at least some of the time playing with stickers, Tornado's math manipulatives, coloring or whatever else they've found to do. 


Another place of learning.  Tornado loves to read.  He's reading Farmer Boy (one of the Little House books) aloud to us these days.  Picture books, chapter books, toddler books or my Bible.  He doesn't discriminate... and often he reads them right here. 


Here is where our active "school" books live.  Among other things.  Our "circle" books are usually standing upright, but one of the kids put them away today.  And the bag from Lowes used to be somewhere else... until we needed it for something and it didn't get put away. 

On the left are my Polished Cornerstones and Plants Grown Up books from Doorposts.  I'll be working them in one of these days.  For Instructions in Righteousness is in there somewhere too.  I've been starting to use that one.  I've so excited to finally have them!

Missing from pictures is our living room floor where we all sit for "circle" time in the morning after our chores are done and my computer where we watch a 3-5 minute video with each new math lesson (usually once a week) and sometimes Netflix videos on animals or the ocean, etc.  But usually those are reserved for when I'm sick. 

This is where the children's books live.  Just above the toys.  You see the mess of toddler books on the floor by the cubicle where they should be. :)

And this is where Tornado does a bunch of his daily quite reading.  Usually he's on the other side of the bed by the window where it's a little bit brighter, but he wanted to sit on his pillow this time.  Since it's a bunk bed and I didn't like him sitting so high so close to the edge, he moved for me. :)  Since they all share a room, each day during nap time, he sits quietly and reads all sorts of books while the little ones sleep.


Tell me?  Do you have a space set aside for teaching your little ones?  Or does it kind of blend with life like mine?


Joining in here:

Labels: Homeschooling 2012-2013

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 2:05 PM 1 Comments

Home Educating: The New Plan

I've been reading about homeschooling since I learned I was pregnant that first time.  (Ok... longer than that really since I wrote a paper about it in college.)  I read books, I read blogs.  I read.  And read.  And read.

Then I dream.  I put all those things I like together and I plan.  I'd picked our math curriculum before Tornado was 1, I'm sure of it!  Then I change my plan.  And change it again.  Then I actually try out what I have planned and change it some more.  Last summer I made two different plans for the whole year before finally changing it to a third... and then not really doing it either.

I'm so glad I'm doing so much learning about what we don't want to do now, while I'm not even legally required to be "doing school".  I've learned a lot through the pre-school years about what sort of homeschooler I am and what sort of helps I may need to get things done (anyone want to clean my house?)  And I'll tell you something... I will surely make more changes, especially when Sweet Pea is officially ready to start up.

So what am I doing now?  What is this "new plan" I keep talking about?

Well, I mentioned that I don't care much about grade levels (I'll probably have a post about that one of these days to explain it in more detail), but I'll have to use them at some point when working with the districts.  For that reason I'd dubbed this last year "kindergarten".  But looking back at the year in February, I saw much left to do.  Still, my boy was reading at a second grade level or higher at the time... I didn't see another full year of kindergarten in us.  So instead, I decided to start over then (at the end of March) with what I'm calling K-1, to continue through this next school year.

So what does that actually mean?  Nothing.  It makes no difference to us at all.  It's just a title.  Let me tell you what we are actually doing.


The three "Rs"
Arithmetic (math) is one of our three focuses.  We purchased curriculum and started it not long after Belle was born this past March.  We homeschool year around, so this makes it possible to miss days and even whole weeks when things are a bit crazy (think newborn, think Lyme Disease, think life).  We've completed 7 of the 30 lessons in the "alpha" (first grade) math book.  This past week we spent on review because of how little math we've done in the last couple months.  I don't know how long it will take us to work through the remaining 23 lessons, but if we average one a week with a couple weeks off here or there, we'll probably finish it by the end of January.  Let's say end of February for a more realistic view.  :)  Whenever it's done, we'll start the next book.  If we find a concept he's not ready for or that takes a while to get, we'll wait on it and pick back up when he's ready.

Writing is another of our three focuses.  Each day that we do math, we usually do "handwriting" as well.  For now, we're working through a letter a day.  If I'd been disciplined, we'd be done with that by now.  Instead, we have 11 letters to go.  I'm not worried about it.  He's 5!  He already knows how to do most letters in a way that is legible.  We're just trying to learn this script and to make them look nice.  When we've finished with going through each letter (and numbers, we did that first so he could start his math book back in March), we'll start copy work of some kind to practice.  I'll have to share more on that later.  So far I haven't decided on any special plan other than to have him write something.

Reading is the last of our three focuses, and it really encompasses almost everything else we'll cover in our "homeschool".  Tornado began reading about a year and a half ago and has become quite a proficient reader since finishing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. He is now reading somewhere around a fourth grade reading level (depending on which scale you look at and what the book is).    He loves to read.  He reads... I read.  He loves it all!

The question is, what are we reading???  We read everything.  We read picture books and chapter books.  We read books about missionaries and history and science.  Musicians, historical figures, and places.

Really, this next bit about what and how we read and when and how I plan for it is enough for it's own post.  So... consider this post the introduction to "the new plan" and look for the next post soon! :)


Joining in here:

Labels: Homeschooling 2011-2012, Homeschooling 2012-2013

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 6:00 AM 2 Comments

Curriculum

A few weeks before Belle was born this past winter, My Beloved determined that it was almost time for Tornado (5) to start on a math and handwriting curriculum.  He needed something more.  Something official.  Something to keep me accountable to doing it.  Something to help us look back and see real progress.  I don't know that all our children will begin such a thing at this age, but I agreed with My Beloved.  Tornado was ready.  If only I could bring myself to do it.  Consistently. 


In continuing with our completely rational and non-defensive discussion of this whole topic that day last February, I was able to share with him some ideas I had to fulfill his wishes.  As it turns out, I'd thought about it already.   I simply hadn't made any decisions on when to begin.


I'd already done a bunch of research and had determined that, when it was time, I wanted to use Math-U-See for math.  I liked the look of the program, loved that it went all the way through high school math, and the price is reasonable.  I just didn't realize that it was time.

I'd been thinking through handwriting too.  My big hang-up over starting was that I hadn't decided which manuscript to teach.  I didn't really *love* any of them.  Then I found BJU's Precursive New... downloadable!  I liked the look of their manuscript and their curriculum.  Perfect!

When My Beloved brought this up, it's entirely possible that he meant for me to be thinking things through for the next "school year".  I'm really not sure.  I never asked.  Instead, (with his blessing) I started a new plan.

I mentioned already that I wasn't as consistent with our 2011-2012 year as I'd hoped.  Various stages of pregnancy helped with that.  My own lack of discipline and organization were a part of it too.


What I don't think I've ever mentioned is that I intended this past year to be an unofficial kindergarten year.  I don't care much about grade levels anyway, and I figured that, if need be, next year could be "real" kindergarten.  Tornado has always seemed ahead of the curve, and while I don't intend to push him into academics (I really like the delayed academics approach in general), I also want to follow his readiness cues.

So I set to work figuring out a new plan.  I purchased the Math-U-See "Alpha" level curriculum and, having already spent the money on math, designed handwriting worksheets for each of the letters and numbers.  (With My Beloved's blessing of course!) 


Next Week:  The plan

Labels: Homeschooling 2011-2012, Homeschooling 2012-2013

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 6:00 AM 2 Comments