5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials: Day 5: Confessions of a Homeschooling Father or Something Like that

Yesterday I discussed the importance of having support as I homeschool our children. Yes, the supplies, organization and hands-on learning are very important to our learning, but without support, we aren't going to get really far. So, I asked my husband to write a "guest post" to share some of his views on homeschooling with us on this last day of the 5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials. So, without further ado, here is what he has to say.

OK, I'll admit it.  When Karen first mentioned the idea of homeschooling our children I was, in a word, perplexed,  petrified, confused...I didn't realty know what to think or how to feel..
I grew up in a christian family and had always believed in God and enjoyed my time in church.  I even went so far as to tour local churches as part of a Teenage Christian choir.  I had even broached the idea of homeschooling with my mother because one of my friends in that very group was home schooled.  My dear sweet mother looked at me like a cow looks at an oncoming train and she said...

no

There was no discussion.  No give and take.  no way.  no chance of parole even with good behavior.  She absolutely would hear nothing about it.  Then she spouted off all the tired cliches about home schooled kids "you won't learn how to interact with other people."  "It'll damage your social skills"  "You won't get a real education" and, just to add insult to injury "You won't be able to do all the things you enjoy in school"
Let's look at these individually, shall we?

"You won't learn how to interact with other people"? "It'll damage your social skills"?   Right, because getting pinched, kicked and spit on by my fellow classmates was such great interaction.  I'd hate to miss it.  Oh, and let's not forget hiding my clothes in a running shower while I was in gym so I had nothing to change into.  Wow the great memories keep flooding back as I write this post.  I'm sorry to have ever thought about being home schooled.
OK, truthfully, Interacting with other people is an important Social skill that everyone needs to learn.  But the thing is, schools can't teach that nearly as well as your average homeschool.  Our girls all belong to a co-op which allows them the opportunity to interact with children around their own age.  It's also among a smaller group then your average public school classroom.
My class had 28 kids in it when I graduated.   The co-op has 11.  A lot of time in public school is spent on "crowd control" issues and learning to conform so as not to disturb the group as a whole.  In co-op.  Time is spent on actual learning as well as proper interaction with peers.  Surely even the biggest skeptic can see how much better that is.

" You won't get a real education"  This myth hearkens back to the olden days (you know, way back in the 90's) when people would "homeschool" their children so they could make them work ridiculously long hours on the family farm.  This practice is, of course, now illegal everywhere but china.  There has also been a tremendous growth in the amount of curriculum available to assist in planning out lessons and making it easier to ensure all important topics are covered thoroughly.  My friend that I mentioned earlier actually had to take her GED test after graduating because her diploma from homeschooling wasn't considered a "real" diploma.  fortunately, this perception has changed over the years.

"You won't be able to do all the things you enjoy in school"  My schedule my senior year of high school consisted of sitting in study hall for the first two hours of the day, going to band practice, then going to lunch.  Doesn't that sound enjoyable?  Wouldn't it have made more sense to come in to school at the start of band and do things I enjoyed at home???  Oh wait.  The state needed me to be there  at the start of the day as part of their attendance requirement which is how school funding is calculated.True, I would miss the music (both band and chorus) but man, I sure wouldn't miss sitting in a hard plastic chair at a table with three of my "closest friends" for the first two hours (and, ironically enough, the last hour) of my state mandated school day.  It got to where I knew the flight pattern on every single fly in the room before the year was done.  BOOOORINGGGGGG!!

So, after sitting down and writing this post seven years before it was needed, I looked at my darling wife and said "I want to help"  Because no child of mine will go through what I had to endure.  No child of mine will spend most of there time learning to conform and not be a "distraction"  instead of real, honest-to-goodness learning.  No child of mine will be bullied.  It's really that simple.

I work nights so, unfortunately, I'm usually asleep while the kids are having school but it does have it's advantages.  The grocery store is open when I get out of work so it's a simple matter to stop in and get anything we may discover that we need for our lessons that day.  I'm also near the library so dropping books off in the morning is quite easy.And of course, there's the fact that I try to make sure we have all the supplies we need and, on occasion will even help with the housework (only if Armageddon is upon us.  I don't want the 4 horsemen to see a dirty house after all )

But there's something much more important.  The best support I can give is encouragement.  I love having the kids run up to me and shout "Daddy!  Look what we learned about today!!" when I get up in the afternoon.  I love playing educational games with them and listening to them read to me, or each other.  I also like to read to them.  When the kids get frustrated, I do my best to help them feel better.

I also encourage Karen whenever I can.  When she is trying to get 4 kids out the door to co-op in record time because they wouldn't get up, I'm there.  When she's ready to give up and send the kids to public school, I'm there to remind her of why we chose to make this journey.  When my two year old is pulling my seven year old's hair during the pledge of allegiance while the five your old is yelling at the three year old for laughing about it....She's on her own.  Nah.  I'm just kidding.  I'm there for that too.  As often as I can be.She does a great job with the kids and has even taught me a thing or two bout how much young children can do if given the freedom to try.

I'm truly grateful that I've been given the opportunity to become a home school parent.  I'm also truly grateful to be married to such a wonderful home school mom.

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials: Day 4- Support

Welcome to the 4th day of the 5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials. I hope you have been enjoying the series, and don't forget, there are 89 of us homeschool bloggy moms who are on the Schoolhouse Review Crew and are sharing what is essential for us and our homeschool. So far I have discussed the supplies that I feel I can't live without, the importance of organization, and hands-on learning. As important as those 3 things are for us, I can't see being able to homeschool without support. 

If it wasn't for the support of my husband, there is no way I would be able to homeschool. I had wanted to homeschool my older children, but their father wouldn't allow me too. When Tabitha was born I knew I wanted to homeschool, but hubby was a bit hesitant at first. I am so glad he gave me the green light to start. Not only has he changed his mind about homeschooling, he has been here to remind me why we are not putting the children in public school when I start doubting myself. He takes time with the children and shows a great interest in what they are doing. He even helps out at times. But, I'll let him share more about that tomorrow.

Not only do I have the support of my husband, but I have found great support in different online groups, from forums to Facebooks groups it is wonderful to have fellow homeschooling moms to chat with and get advice and inspiration from. I have also made some great bloggy friends through different linky parties and the Schoolhouse Review Crew. All of these work together to remind me that I am not alone in this homeschool journey.

Finally, I have been blessed to become a part of our local homeschool co-op. This is our second year in the co-op and the children get a chance to socialize and learn different subjects. They get gym once a week and each year they put on a production. All the moms have to teach or help out in at least one class. I have been helping out in preschool and this month I have been teaching the gym class to the K-3 graders. This has been stretching me a bit, in fact I was quite nervous to be in charge of the older children because I have been so used to preschoolers for many years. I am glad I was given this responsibility. Co-op is a great place to interact with other homeschoolers and get some mommy interaction. 

Where do you find your support?

As I mentioned, there are many more insightful posts to be found. Here is the link to the main post on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog where you can find a list of everyone who is sharing. To get you started, I invite you to stop by these blogs:

Mary @ Winecup Christian Homeschool talks about Commitment 
Jenni @ Conversaving discusses the need of having a Sense of Humor
Meghan @ Quiet in the Chaos
Beth @ Weavings discusses a Schedule
Tawnee @ Adventures in Homeschooling discusses Field Trips
Karen @ My Harbor Lights discusses having an Awareness of Your Own Needs
Amy @ Wildflower Ramblings
Kristi @ The Potter’s Hand Academy shares Waldorf Essentials: Thinking, Feeling Willing
Tara @ This Sweet Life shares her ABC's of Homeschool Essentials: O-U

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials: Day 3: Hands-On Learning

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while will know that we like hands-on projects. I can't see having the children sit at the table all day working on worksheets/workbooks and such as they would be doing in public school. Don't get me wrong, the girls do enjoy workbooks/worksheets, but I don't want that to be our focus. Children need a chance to not just sit and listen, watch and read, but to actual do with their own hands for maximum learning.

From the beginning, when we were home preschooling and using Montessori activities, I have tried to make sure the children have had lots of opportunities to have tactile learning experiences.  The majority of our Montessori activities were what I remembered from the Practical Life center. The children practice foundational skills such as spooning, pouring, tonging and sorting. In fact, I shared about many of these activities back in August as a part of the 5 Days of Teaching Toddlers Series. On that day I shared about Teaching Toddlers with Montessori Activities.

Spooning

Using a dustpan

Sweeping

Placing sticks in a cheese shaker

Of course our hands-on learning has expanded beyond simple (yet foundational) practical life, fine-motor activities. The children get a lot of practice with pouring when they help out in the kitchen. I love having Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen time. Not only do they work on those fine-motor skills, they get to work on math and reading skills while making yummy foods.  I love the opportunity for one-to-one counting as we pour or spoon ingredients into the bowl or pan. But, it can go beyond counting when the children are asked how many spoon/cupfuls we still need to attain the amount necessary. We also use kitchen time as a time for early fraction skills. For example, how many 1/4 teaspoons do we need to make a teaspoon or if I cut this apple into 4 pieces how many will we need to equal half an apple. The girls also help read the recipe to improve their reading skills.  They will read the ingredients while I gather them and then Tabitha will help read the instructions. When Amelia was just learning to read I would write the individual ingredients on flash cards and have her try to sound them out.

When we are working on math I love for the girls to have manipulatives so they can really understand the concept. I start when the children are just toddlers with number recognition and math readiness. You can see some of what we have done here. I love projects that focus on one-to-one counting into which I also add the numeral. For example:

Counting with pompoms in an egg carton

Cover and a couple of pages from Tabitha's #2 book

And the girls have all made letter/sound books. The older two have also made letter/sound collages and crafts in the shapes of the letters. I can't wait to make these with Hannah and Harold, perhaps next year.

We also use sandpaper letters and a moveable alphabet to learn letters and form words. Additionally, magnetic letters, foam letters and wooden alphabet blocks are great for letter and word recognition

Another way to enjoy hands-on learning and to really get into a unit is to create a lapbook for it. 

And I also love to create file folder games when I get a chance. Here is one of our latest file folder games:

What sort of things do you do with your children for hands-on learning?

I invite you to stop back tomorrow as I discuss another important essential for homeschooling, Support.

As I mentioned, there are many more insightful posts to be found. Here is the link to the main post on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog where you can find a list of everyone who is sharing. To get you started, I invite you to stop by these blogs:

Mary @ Winecup Christian Homeschool talks about Catalogs
Jenni @ Conversaving
Meghan @ Quiet in the Chaos discusses Supplies
Beth @ Weavings discusses The iPad, Kindle and More
Tawnee @ Adventures in Homeschooling discusses the importance of a Laminator
Karen @ My Harbor Lights discusses having the Willingness to Grow
Amy @ Wildflower Ramblings discusses being Content with Her Role as a Mother
Kristi @ The Potter’s Hand Academy shares her "Absolute Favorite" homeschool company
Tara @ This Sweet Life shares her ABC's of Homeschool Essentials: H-Z

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials- Day 2: Organization

Anyone who knows me in real life know that organizational skills do not come my way naturally. In fact, they tend to run the other way! I haven't been near as organized as I would like as I need to be. This is something I am working on, not just in our homeschool but in our house and other aspects of my life. In fact, "Organization" is my Word for 2014 because I know that it is essential, not just for our homeschool, but for peace in our daily lives.

What are some things I am working on toward organization?

I am working on decluttering, which I hear will not only help with my stress levels (being able to find things when I want them is definitely less stressful), but may also help alleviate some of my memory problems as well (from what the hubby had been reading).

I am working on creating a schedule for my day, limiting my time on the computer and making sure I am getting necessary things accomplished. I have actually started setting a timer to help make me aware of the amount of time I have spent on different tasks. Even if I am in the middle of something I will stop and wait to finish it later so I can stay on schedule. I don't have a specific schedule written out yet, but I am working on it. As I stated recently, little steps at a time. I am looking forward to the opportunity to review one of the Chore Planners from Motivated Moms to help keep me on task. You can look for the review the first week of March.

One of the biggest things that has helped me keep from getting completely disorganized in our homeschool time was adopting a workbox system.  I had read about workboxes here and there but wasn't sure if they would be for us. I am so glad I gave it a shot. At first I thought it was going to be too expensive and take up too much space. I had seen pictures of other's workbox systems where they have sets of drawers to keep their children's work in. I have to tell you now, I knew those would be way beyond our financial reach and NOT an essential for our homeschool. Then I was directed to a blog called, The Mother's Journal where the author had shared about using cereal boxes for her child's workbox system. This seemed quite promising.

Here, let me share how I have been organizing our school work.

I start by having the year's work all laid out by unit in file folders in a box that I keep under our activity table. Fortunately this is easy to do using the My Father's World curriculum. The student sheets we purchased, along with any of the letter of the week ideas from the past are in each letter unit's folder.

At the beginning of each week I take the pages and place them in folders labeled by day. Currently we are on a 6-day system, taking 2 weeks (3 Days each week) to finish a unit. We are actually going to be switching to a 4-day system (taking 1 week) after we finish our K unit. These folders will remain about the same, except the 3rd folder will just be for Miscellaneous work each week. 

Each morning we have lesson time I take their workboxes and remove the previous day's work to check it over. After I file that work I put the new work in the workbox.

As the girls finish each activity they take the number off of the workbox and place it on the chart on the side of the bookshelf.

When we first started I was using mini post-it notes that I had handy. However, when I ran out of those I found it to be more frugal to write the numbers on a little rectangular piece of card stock and use Velcro to attach them to both the boxes and the chart (Yes, this is an old picture that I took at the beginning of the school year. The bookshelf isn't quite this organized right now, but the system is the same.). 

When we first started the girls would work on their workboxes at the same time. However, just this week the girls began alternating working on their workboxes and having computer time.  I can rotate between them and have time with the younger children. We will see how this change works.

This organization system has become essential for me to keep some sort of order in our homeschool. Even when nothing else is going quite right, I can keep us moving along by filling the workboxes so the girls know what to do.

How do you keep organized in your homeschool?

I invite you to stop back tomorrow as I discuss another important essential for homeschooling, Hands-On Experiences.

As I mentioned, there are many more insightful posts to be found. Here is the link to the main post on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog where you can find a list of everyone who is sharing. To get you started, I invite you to stop by these blogs:

Mary @ Winecup Christian Homeschool talks about Libraries
Jenni @ Conversaving discusses A Plan
Meghan @ Quiet in the Chaos discusses A Planner
Beth @ Weavings discusses the importance of Living Books
Tawnee @ Adventures in Homeschooling discusses Quiet Time
Karen @ My Harbor Lights discusses having a Sense of Humor
Amy @ Wildflower Ramblings discusses being Content with Her Role as a Mother
Kristi @ The Potter’s Hand Academy shares her "Absolute Favorite" homeschool company
Tara @ This Sweet Life

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials- Day 1: Essential Supplies

Welcome to the first day of the winter blog hop brought to you by the Schoolhouse Review Crew. Today I would like to discuss what I consider essential supplies for our homeschool. What do I feel I need to be able to homeschool successfully on a limited income?

There are so many "things" out there that I would love to have. I try not to dwell on them and covet what my fellow homeschooling moms have for their children. Since we started home preschooling 5 years ago I have found that there are some things I just can't do without.

My computer with internet connection hooked up to a printer (with ink).

The computer has been the biggest help to me, but without the internet it wouldn't be nearly as helpful. Yes, the printer is somewhat separate, but what good would all the goodies I find online be if I couldn't print them out. How do I utilize the computer for our homeschool?

• There are many resources online for homeschoolers, some of them are even free. A while ago, I started a blog page for Free Resources. I do have to work on it some more, but there are many helpful sites for homeschoolers. 
• I use Google Images to pull up coloring page images to print off for our lessons. The children love the coloring pages, mazes, dot-to-dots and color-by-number activities that I add to our day. However, I also shrink them down for our Letter of the Week lessons. The children have all colored and cut pictures to include in letter/sound books and collages. 
• There are also many sites that have printables such as handwriting sheets, Do-a-Dot activities and cutting skills pages. Some are free, others do have to be paid for. As of now, I haven't used any resources that I have had to pay for, but if you are able to pay there are many that look wonderful. The other concern about some of the printables is that they will use a lot of ink. When ink is an issue I try to only print off pages that are black and white outline pages. 
• We also use the computer to research the topic we are learning about. We have found some wonderful videos of animals to help the children really see what we are learning this past year.
• I am blessed to have a wonderful library system that has an extensive inter-library loan system. Unfortunately it is 20 minutes away, so I can't just run down there whenever I want. Thanks to the computer I can get on their system and put books on hold from any of the libraries in the system. When the books are available I will receive an email notification.

Paper

Of course, without printer paper the above would be useless. However, it isn't just printer paper that I have come to rely on. We also use:

• Cardstock- There are some printables that need to be on heavier paper, so I will use plain white cardstock. I also use it to make our word/picture flashcards and our picture cards to go along with our Letter of the Week. 
• Construction paper- We may not always be able to get all the craft supplies I want, but there is no way I could do without construction paper. I use it for the above mentioned picture cards and for our letter/sound books and collages. We also need it for projects.
• Spiral notebooks- When notebooks are on sale at the beginning of the school year we stock up. The children will use them for coloring/doodling and journals. During school time we use them for our handwriting, spelling and Spanish. Of course, as they get older they will be using them for other subjects. 

File Folders

I have found a few important uses for File Folders

• File folders have been essential for keeping our curriculum organized. You don't even need a filing cabinet to file papers in. We have a box that is the perfect width to hold file folders lying on their sides for easy access of the contents. 
• We have used file folders for lapbooks quite a few times. It is nice to have the colored folders to make a really nice presentation, but regular file folders can be used in a pinch. 
• In addition to lapbooks, I have also created some fun file folder games for the children. You can Google "file folder games" for some great ideas, though I try to make my own to go easy on the printer ink. These are great for hands-on learning.
• As the children get older I will also be using file folders to keep our papers organized as we will have to report to the school district. 

Craft Supplies

In addition to paper there are some essential supplies we need for crafts. And crafts are big in our house of hands-on learners. 

• White glue and glue sticks
• Scissors
• Crayons
• Pencils (both #2 pencils and colored pencils, though we have been known to go without the colored pencils)
• Scotch tape
• Paint (water colors and tempera paint)

Miscellaneous Supplies

There are a few additional supplies that I need for myself in order to get lessons and crafts ready for the children

• My paper cutter
• A stapler 
• Packaging Tape
• Clear Contact paper for "laminating"

Finally here is a list of things I like to have but we do without when money is tighter than usual. These things I try to buy when we get our tax refund, but I never can buy enough for a year and the children go through them fast. 

• Markers
• Pompoms
• Craft Sticks
• Straws

Though I may not have every thing I want or think I need, the Lord has made it possible for us to homeschool on our limited budget with the items listed in this post. 

I invite you to stop back tomorrow as I discuss another important essential for homeschooling, Organization

As I mentioned, there are many more insightful posts to be found. Here is the link to the main post on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog where you can find a list of everyone who is sharing. To get you started, I invite you to stop by these blogs:

Mary @ Winecup Christian Homeschool discusses a few of her favorite things
Jenni @ Conversaving discusses A Prepared Heart
Meghan @ Quiet in the Chaos discusses Planning
Beth @ Weavings discusses the importance of The Bible
Tawnee @ Adventures in Homeschooling discusses The Library
Karen @ My Harbor Lights discussed Community Service
Amy @ Wildflower Ramblings
Kristi @ The Potter’s Hand Academy shares an essential science program
Tara @ This Sweet Life shares her ABC's of Homeschooling Essentials (A-G)

Coming Next Week: 5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials

Next week I will be joining in with 88 other homeschool moms to share a series of posts on "Homeschooling Essentials." 

Are you a parent who is thinking about homeschooling? Or, maybe you have just started homeschooling and are wondering what you will need to be a successful homeschooler. Hey, maybe you have been homeschooling for a while and are curious what others have found to be essential in their homeschool. I invite you to stop back Monday through Friday of next week (that would be January 20th though the 24th) to see what will be shared. Perhaps you will find some of the following subjects being addressed:

Curriculum
Supplies
Attitudes
Space
Outside help
Co-ops
Certain subjects
Certain methods
Planning tools
Schedules

I'm sure there will be a lot of helpful insights. Hope to see you here!