My Cool HomeschoolHomeschooling Resources

Ever have one of those days when you feel as if you are just running…running… running… until the day ends? We had one of those days.

It started out in a rough way — my son John had forgotten to do one of his Geography assignments for his co-op class, and it was due at 9:00 am. I got up at 5:30 to get a jump on the day, then I woke him up an hour later. By the time we had to leave, he had his project done, but that’s about all that was ready.

I knew we had yearbook pictures to take, but the kids didn’t get their clothes out the night before — it was a mad scramble to find something clean that sort of matched for their group picture. As it was, two went in t-shirts, one in a long-sleeved velvety shirt, and one in a hooded sweatshirt. So much for coordination!

After we dropped John off at co-op, my other three children and I ran errands until class was over. When it was time to pick him up again, I realized I hadn’t purchased the right supplies, and I would need to take them all back. Oh well, anther time — we still had to get John and get to the place where the photos were being taken.

The line for the pictures was a little longer than I expected. Normally, it wouldn’t have mattered, except there was a fall party the kids all wanted to go to, and it was starting the same time our pictures were to be taken. When we finally finished up, we were already an hour late.

But we continued on… and unprepared! Everyone was supposed to bring some type of lunch food to share at the party, but I didn’t remember until that morning. We stopped for a moment by the grocery store for cookies and chips, and kept going on our way.

We eventually made it to the get-together, and it was relaxing. We visited with friends and enjoyed the colorful mountain scenery for a few hours. Then we had to hurry to…

Another activity — a PE class for John. We stayed an hour but then had more errands to do. We stopped by two stores on the way home, finally arriving around 5:00 pm.

A day of fun with friends? It was, but did we get any schoolwork done? Except for John’s co-op class, the answer is “no.”  A day like that is just proof of the saying, “You have to stay home to homeschool!”

There are some exciting writing opportunities coming up soon!  Here are a couple of them:

Write2Ignite!

I am already gearing up for the next Write2Ignite! Christian Children’s Writing Conference (www.write2ignite.wordpress.com). It will be held in Greenville, South Carolina in February 2010. And the best part is, it’s not only for adults, but for teens as well!

I have the privilege of being on the planning committee again this year, so I get to find out all the details right away. This time, author Jonathan Friesen will be back to teach the teenagers how to get their stories on paper.

Jonathan’s classes cover a range of topics, including characterization, plot, and emotion. Two of my children attended his classes at the last conference, and they both came away from it inspired to write. That, and they really enjoyed staying in a hotel overnight.

NaNoWriMo

If you enjoy writing fiction, then you’ve probably heard of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. Some of my family members and friends participated last year. The goal is to write a 50,000-word novel from start to finish during the month of November. No revising –  just writing, writing, writing.

I don’t think I’ll be trying it this year, as I already have many projects on my plate, but I might just sign up my son John for NaNoWriMo. Students 13 years old and up can participate through the regular site, but they have to stick to the 50,000-word goal. However, there is also a Young Writer’s Program (www.ywp.nanowrimo.org) set up for children 17 and under. Here parents can set the goal for the word count based on the age of the child. After that, the plan is the same — to write and write during the month of November with no revisions at all.

What’s the purpose? To encourage creativity, build confidence, improve writing skills, and teach time management techniques as students work to reach their word-count goal. You know, I just might sign up all my children!

For the last couple of years, my children have done quite a few extracurricular activities: P.E. class once or twice a week, a literature class once a month, FCA club meeting twice a month, scouts, music lessons, art classes, and holiday parties. We saw the same friends sometimes two or three times a week, and they enjoyed being together. This year, though, that group has gone in many different directions, and we haven’t seen some of those friends since school started back.

I’m not worried about my children’s socialization — they’ve been meeting new people this year as they’ve attended co-op classes. We still have some friends over to our house once a week for art lessons, and that’s a lot of fun. But as the saying goes, old friends are like gold, and I don’t want my children to lose touch with the friends they’ve spent so much time with in the past.

So today, I made the 30-minute trip back to our old P.E. class. The P.E. class was re-arranged this year so younger children play games during the first hour while older students play during the second hour. My oldest, John, was the one who wanted to participate the most, so we went for the second hour.

And it was really good. The girls, Luke, and I went to a friend’s house who lives nearby; her girls and younger sons weren’t doing P.E. that hour, so all of them had a great time playing together inside. Another friend whose older sons were also in PE stopped by with her daughter, and it turned out to be a very relaxing visit. And John had the opportunity to play soccer with friends he hadn’t seen in a while either.

On the way home, I asked them if the trip was worth it. A resounding “YES!” went up from everyone else in the car. We won’t be able to go every week, but when we can, we’ll make the effort to get there. It’s an investment of a little more time and a little more gasoline, but I’m sure it will have a big return as the relationships continue to grow.

In my son Luke’s K-5/First Grade co-op class, we’ve been using the Five In A Row curriculum. Because our co-op meets once a week, we choose a book for the week and center the class activities around it. This week, our book was The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola.

The story takes place in Renaissance Italy, so we talked about the Renaissance and the types of clothing people wore. We discussed Renaissance architecture, such as the buildings and bridges, as recommended in Five In a Row. Children this age really enjoy hands-on activities, though, so I wanted to find a craft they could all work at and have fun with. So we decided on building our own “Renaissance” structures — using just gumdrops and toothpicks!

Here’s how we did it:

Supplies (for 10 children):

• Gumdrops (we used three small bags from the grocery store)
• Toothpicks (we used two boxes with 250 toothpicks in each)
• Sturdy paper plates

To start, we gave each child a paper plate on which to build his or her structure. We then placed the gumdrops on plates and set them in the middle of the table where everyone could reach them. We gave each child a handful of toothpicks to start with. I then showed them how to push a toothpick into a gumdrop and then connect it to another gumdrop by pushing in the other end.

The children caught on quickly, and were soon designing their own structures by forming squares and triangles. One even resembled a pyramid. Some of the children built their structures two- and three-”stories” high; when the buildings began to tip over (still held together with toothpicks), they turned into even more interesting shapes. It was fun to see how many different designs they came up with.

All in all, it was a good day for the Renaissance. I’m sure most (if not all) of the students will forget the word “Renaissance” before the end of the day (it’s a big one, after all), but they won’t soon forget building their gumdrop structures. Especially since they took them home to display.

As part of my constant effort to get our home in order, I have decided to implement an idea I first heard about when I began home schooling. At the time, I was attending a homeschooling conference where educator Inge Cannon was selling a tape set entitled “Finally Organized.”  In it, she recommended a certain method for helping children (and parents!) remember to put away their things: the Redemption Box.

I’ve since misplaced that tape set (hmmm…. sensing part of the problem here), but I do remember the basic premise of the Redemption Box. If someone leaves their personal belongings out of place around the house , the items are placed in the box. Once a week, the child will have the opportunity to “redeem” the items by paying a certain amount for them. We’ve decided to empty the box on Saturdays and have our children pay 10 cents for each item they recover. If it’s an item they need before Saturday (such as a shoe, a school book, etc.), they’ll have to pay 50 cents to get it back early. If it’s an item they don’t really care about (such as a toy, not a school paper!), they can leave it in the box, and it will be given away the next week.

But what if Mom leaves something around?  The kids came up with a good idea for that one. If they find something of mine out of place, they can put it in the box, and in return take one of their items out of the box. That way, they don’t have to pay to get it back on Saturday.

How’s it working? We’ve been using the Redemption Box this past week, and it’s been great!  I don’t have to fuss at people to put their things away anymore — I just throw the items in the box. And as a result, the kids are working a lot harder at picking up their stuff. They’re also helping each other remember to put their things away.

I’m not sure yet what we’ll do with the money I collect, but so far it’s proven to be a good motivator — and the Redemption Box a great organization tool!

Recently I reviewed the book Find Your Strongest Life by Marcus Buckingham. This morning, as I was talking with my son John, I was reminded of a point Buckingham made. Buckingham contends that women are generally less happy now than 40 years ago because they have so many choices, and they’re afraid they’ll pick the wrong ones. While I’m not sure about the entire supposition, I think he’s right about the effect of having so many choices: it seems to naturally lead to discontentment.

As we were driving to co-op this morning, we passed by an elementary school; the school day had already started. John was sitting in the front seat, looked at the school, and commented on how it’s “too bad” for the kids who have to go to school. (I’ve been trying to make the point to my children lately that they have more free time than many of their peers).

I thought back, then, to my own school days. I remember complaining if I had a lot of homework or if I wasn’t ready for a test, but I never thought of myself as unfortunate. We went to school — that’s just what we did.

But now we have more choices. We choose to homeschool, and in doing so I choose the curriculum. We have more free time, so we choose from the many activities available. We do so many things during the year: music lessons, art lessons, scouts, library programs, roller skating, ice skating, PE classes, clubs, field trips, holiday parties, and meeting with friends. So why, then, do my children come to me with grumpy faces and say, “Why can’t we go bowling sometime?”

We aren’t limited in the foods we eat either; we can have pizza one night, chicken the next, then soup and sandwiches, then tacos, then spaghetti. Why then, after fixing a full meal each night, do my children come again with grumpy faces and say, “Don’t we have anything else to eat?”

I often feel like I should give my children every opportunity I can that comes along. That will ensure, I think, that they will have a well-rounded and productive childhood, helping them to grow into fine adults. Yet somewhere, among all those choices, we tend to lose our sense of gratitude and contentment. These, I believe,  are two of the key elements to a truly happy life — and a good lesson to learn.

Yesterday, I had an art class meet in my home, and I felt like I was well-prepared. I had a plan in place — each student was to create a painting of a pumpkin in watercolor. I had purchased some small ornamental pumpkins from the store, enough so each child could have one. According to my plan, each child would draw a pumpkin on her paper, then use some watercolor techniques to fill it in.

I had thought it through before we began: the students would spend a few minutes drawing the pumpkins, then they’d paint the background a deep, fall-ish brown color with a little green mixed in, and then they’d paint the pumpkin a vibrant orange. The pumpkin would really stand out against a dark background.

But…the one thing I didn’t have on hand was an example. And so I merely explained the plan to the students, and they started to work. Some drew their pumpkins quickly, others more slowly, but they all worked diligently.

Then the first student was ready to paint. I explained my “vision” for the background again, and she replied, “Can I just make a blue sky with some green grass?”

“Well,” I said, a little taken aback, “I guess so. Let’s get out some other colors.”  We did, and she painted a lovely blue sky and green grass. Then she painted her pumpkin.

The next student, who loves horses, asked if she could add a horse to her picture. “Well,” I said, again a little unsure, “I guess so. Let me find a picture of one you can look at.” I pulled out several photos of horses, and she chose the one of a horse laying on the ground. She drew the horse with its neck outstretched, sniffing the pumpkin.

The third student, inspired by the horse photos, decided to add one to her painting too. Her horse was looking over a fence and licking the pumpkin. There were beautiful yellow flowers in long green grass in front of the fence.

The fourth student decided to try my idea with the browns and greens behind the pumpkin. It was a wonderful painting too, but not because of my idea. Like the others, it was an example of the creativity of the young artist. When I stepped out of the way, the students’ personalities came shining through — as each one created the perfect pumpkin.

Find Your Strongest Life, the latest book by Marcus Buckingham, is subtitled “What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently.” By the title alone, it seems like a book geared for women who are in the workforce. But what about a homeschooling mom?

I am constantly finding myself struggling to get everything done. I made the choice to homeschool my children, so I should be satisfied with that, shouldn’t I? Yet although it’s what I want to do, I feel the tug of other interests pulling on me constantly. So how should I use any spare time I may have? I make schedule after schedule for myself, trying to fit everything in — but it never does.

Buckingham’s title, then, intrigued me, so as a struggling homeschooler I jumped right in. In the first half of the book, he explains why women today are not as happy as they were forty years ago, despite the increase in opportunities. The information could have been condensed into a single chapter or two, and his comments are all directed towards women who work outside the home. But if you continue on into the second half, his insights are extremely helpful, even to the stay-at-home mom .

Buckingham has developed an online test for the reader to take to determine her personality type, then describes in detail the roles best-suited for each of these personalities. With that insight, the reader is encouraged to discover (or re-discover) those moments and activities in which they felt strong and energized. These are the moments in which she was doing what she was designed to do, the moments which create the strongest life.

Could that life be one of staying home and homeschooling your children? Absolutely!  But it can also include other things as well. What I found as I assessed my current activities is that while some of them are fulfilling, others are just “filler” –  depleting busywork that, while good activities for someone else, just aren’t right for me.

Buckingham also provides tips for strengthening your marriage and your children, a section I plan to go over again and again. Overall, Find Your Strongest Life is a must-read for any woman who is struggling with purpose, priorities, and a long to-do list.

After John took his geography test on Monday, he was sure he did very poorly. The test involved naming the countries in northern Africa, and though he did study a little, he quickly realized it wasn’t nearly enough.

A good learning experience, I thought. Next time he’ll be more prepared.

Then John did something that surprised me. On his way home from scouts with his dad Monday night, he told him about the test. He told his dad he had failed, that he probably made a zero on it.  Naturally, my husband expressed his disapproval and was quite frustrated that I wasn’t more concerned. But that got me thinking…

Why would a boy tell his parent about a bad test score, even before he knew just how bad it was? Especially when he knew what the reaction would be? I believe John told his dad because he needed reassurance.

John needed to know that although he did poorly on a test, everything would still be okay. It’s still early in the semester, and there will be opportunities to bring his grade up. He might even ask the teacher if he could do an assignment for extra credit if he was really concerned about it.  He needed a cheering section, and he was hoping that it would be us.

And I’m happy to say, when we understood, we did cheer him on. I told him how this was a good lesson for life, for learning how to organize yourself in such a way that you are able to meet deadlines and come prepared. I told him how some adults forget to pay their electric, telephone, or credit card bills, and how they’re fined because of it. Sometimes people will miss an appointment, too, just because they don’t write it down.  What he’s learning now, then, will only help him when he’s grown.

John went to bed feeling a little better that night, and all this week he’s been studying and studying those African nations. He received the test back today; he didn’t do as badly as he thought, and to his relief, it was actually a quiz, so the grade won’t count as much toward his final grade. Now we have to tell Dad, so he can have some reassurance as well.