Discoveries

Some recent discoveries:

      I discovered homeschool moms on Instagram! There are TONS of great ideas there, lots of great people to follow, and lots of feeling like I don't measure up. I started posting some of the things we've been doing, and then I lost my brand new phone, so I'm not sure what I'll do. I guess I can just post here instead. With that said, here are some discoveries since discovering Instagram Homeschoolers:
     I've discovered that sometimes the first year of homeschool is like being a kid in a candy store- I WANT TO DO EVERY SINGLE THING I SEE!!!!  There are so many fun things to do, so many ideas for educating our little ones, so much that looks so. stinking. fun. The only problem is that it can be an overload. Lapbooks, notebooking, history pockets, STEAM challenges, Charlotte Mason, Waldorf, TJEd, co-ops, Kimber Academy, classics or living books, then nature time, art studies, loose parts play, baseball and play dates. It's a lot. Am I the only one who thinks so? I want to make their educations beautiful, help them to be creative and be able to think for themselves, I want them to feel the Spirit and have a love of learning. easy right? Piece.of.cake.

     With all of that in mind, I've discovered that it's good to have a plan. I saw lots of people posting about planning for next year, and I thought, Why? Why do you need to plan? We've just been doing what we've been doing. Then I took a good look at myself- I've found some great things, but we've only done them for a few months until I find something else that's also exciting.

Too Many Good Things at Once

This is fun and exciting, but it's not good for long term learning.

 I found a mom who used to be a radical unschooler- where the kids literally got to decide their educational life. This is supposed to make it so kids can follow passions and do what they feel led to do, which is great, BUT as this mom found out and I agree with, there can be lots of gaps. So, with all of the fun, I've taken some time to sit down and decide what it is we actually want, what the goals are for this homeschool, and I've decided that I really don't want huge gaps in my kids' education. We are doing lots of fun things, but a plan would be better. So here's my plan:

1. Morning Duties:
chores, breakfast etc. then
Morning Box (devotional at the breakfast table):
scriptures,
hymn
memory work,

writing in journals,
& ancestor study     

2. Table Time. 4 days a week (TW--FS)
Weather/Calendar
Math Masters activity
Letter of the Day, to go with word of the day, so the kids can practice writing. We have a little alphabet book that they're making, and we make the word of the day to start with that letter.
Mom chooses- loop schedule, so 1 thing each day, ENWC, GYCW, Artist & Activity, and Character studies.
Kids choose- lately it's always Uno! Maybe I can get them to go for some other thinking-games, but for now it's their favorite.
Read-alouds- picture books, or Little Town on the Prairie- on culture day it'll be books from that continent.
3. Chores, outside time, project time
4. Personal Studies, R/M online, Geo Safari, workbooks etc. 

How does that sound for a schedule/rhythm? Too much, too little?  

I've discovered that I really like having reading and math programs online- it's a way to make sure it gets done and it's not tons of pressure. My 7 yr old actually likes math and math worksheets are fun. What? Is he my child? He literally saw a page of addition problems and said, "Is this for me?" in an excited voice. Math isn't a problem around here, but I really needed something non-pressure for reading and the online programs have been great for that. Because of the cost, I signed up Mr. 7 for a local charter school with a distance program! I found out there is one in Brigham City so I won't have to drive to Logan and try to figure out what to do with the little kids for 6 hours. We'll just go to the park and come home. Mr. 7 is also excited for the group experience, since they do EPIC days once a week and field trips. It seems like a good fit, and I hope it's not another "Let's try it because it sounds fun right now" thing. They pay for online programs for us to do at home, so I don't think it will be much different than what we're already doing, except for the added friend time.

My 2 favorite discoveries for learning excitement this year are Exploring Nature With Children and Give Your Child the World! ENWC is a weekly themed nature study that I've written about before. I plan on continuing with this next year, along with Nature Anatomy. I found GYCW in June, and it has been really fun. There was a summer reading group based on the book, "Give Your Child the World," which suggests learning about the world through literature, with many suggested readings. Before this we had cultural studies in our morning basket, but my plan really was better for adults or older children, who could understand the Forgotten Worlds book. Now as we follow the reading group's suggestions, we can add children's stories, music, food, dancing, stories, shows etc. to learn about a culture! I was happily surprised to find a LOT of books in the Bear River City's community center library, which is run by volunteers and stocked with mostly donated books. When I asked the book mobile librarian what they had, he answered, "We don't have our books about other countries out because they're old." It made it extra special to find all that I did in BRC's. I am loving this! There is a group that will be studying the cultures listed in the book throughout the school year, so it should be fun to see what everyone is doing. We sent some postcards throughout the country with this, so it has been an added benefit. When we've gotten one, I put it in Mr. 7's mail box that he made, and we post it on the wall next to the state it's from, with a line to the card! How fun is this? I love social media sometimes. I've also started studying Ancient History with Lapbooks, so I'm thinking we can go over the ancient history of the country we're studying one week, then things like clothing and food other weeks.

Middle East Week

Post Cards from other GYCW families

Mr. 7's mail box :)

I've discovered that Lap Books... are a whole lot of work! They are supposed to bring learning to a new level with their interactive flaps inside a folder. They are interactive, BUT for me it was hard to figure the layout, decide where to put what, what to have the kids help with, and how to make it include everything I wanted. That part of it made it difficult (though lots of people love them). We did two- Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia, then I found an even better idea! It is from an older book, but it's called history pockets. You make a pocket by folding construction paper, then add lots of interactive activities inside the pocket. They have post cards from the ancient civilizations for the kids to make, and things like a folding dragon for ancient China. With pockets I don't need to worry about layout, just put the activities inside and start the next one. This year should be great!

I read a book by some parents who homeschooled in the 80's, and their boys went to Harvard! I discovered two main points in it, about writing and reading. These activities should be authentic, with reasons to do it instead of mindless drills. They suggested writing in a daily journal and writing letters to people. I love this! Seeing writing as a way to communicate is a great thing to understand. They also had the theory that kids will learn to read when they feel like it. They had 4 sons and the oldest wasn't interested in reading until he was 9 and had a reason for researching when he found a place where Native Americans once lived in their ranch area. With him, he went through the readers they had in about a year and was reading at a high school level by the end of the year. They also had a son who wanted to read at age 4 because he was the baby and wanted to keep up with his brothers! The other two kids read at the expected age and in a "normal" speed, and guess what, it was fine! I think Authentic Learning is the best, so we've started doing journals in the morning and I keep hoping that Mr. 7 will wake up one day really wanting to read! While I like the idea of this, it's hard when other kids his age are reading chapter books on their own, and he isn't, but we'll keep working on his love of reading and hopefully it'll work out.

A shopping list, something real to write!

 Lastly, I've discovered that our Nature Days are the best days of the week for me! I love meeting with friends and taking a deeper look at the world around us. Have you heard of rolling rock bugs? These are larvae that make shells out of rocks and mud, and I've never realized they were there! We also saw a leech, which was a first for me. What a fascinating place Heavenly Father made for us. My cousin made the observation that He didn't have to make it a beautiful world, we only needed a place to live and grow, but He blessed us with flowers, creeks, mountains and birds! What a blessing nature is.