Mom Is Teaching

First Book, a non-profit organization that provides brand new books to children in low-income communities, is celebrating the distribution of their 50 millionth book this summer. To celebrate they are asking people to share with them what book got you hooked on reading. Go to their What Book Got You Hooked? page and fill out the short form. Then select which state you want to win 50,000 brand new books!

You can vote once every 24 hours until July 31. In August the results will be announced and one lucky state will have a huge stack of brand new books for the low income families living there.

books, reading, literacy, First Book, low income families

Susan Marlow, homeschooling mom and author of the Circle C Adventures, a series of historical fiction novels for kids, is hosting a contest for her newest upcoming book. Visit her blog, Suzy’s Scribbles, to read a brief summary of the upcoming book and get a sneak peak of chapter one. But more than that, you get to vote on which of the two covers she should use for the new book. Leave a comment on which book cover you like and why. Even better is that one lucky person will win a copy of the book, Andrea Carter and the Family Secret, when it comes out winter 2007/08.

And don’t forget to check out her other two books in the series, Andrea Carter and the Long Ride Home and Andrea Carter and the Dangerous Decision.

I read a great post last night at Tookshire about creating the skeleton calendar of the coming year. It is looking to become a multi-post series on how they plan and prepare for the year ahead. With three teenagers in the home I am sure that there is a lot of planning going on to make sure they have great transcripts full of the things that impress colleges. It is certainly a great post to read and take a few ideas from, even if you have younger children to plan for. I personally love how the first two things she plans for are the important dates for the family (birthdays,holidays, anniversaries) and the already existing routine that the family has.

I have seen some families try to write a perfect schedule that looks great on paper, but falls apart in action. Often becasue they failed to look at the family’s normal rhythm first. Sure getting up early to take a family walk and them jumping into the math lesson may look great, but if your kids are naturally slow to get going in the morning this could turn into a battle. Instead of trying to create a schedule that looks impressive then forcing your family into it, instead create a schedule of your family and work the schedule in around them.

What is your advice for planning out a schedule for homeschooling families?

homeschool, planning, schedule, family

Being a single income family can have seom drawbacks. Like not being able to buy the latest fashions, or sometimes not even being able to buy a new pair of jeans when the old pair rips. But part of the joy of homeschooling is being able to use our imagination and creativity on our own terms, and that can mean finding new ways to deal with the need for new clothes.

Recycled fashions are actually pretty popular among teenagers in some areas. Thrift stores are hunted through for outstanding hidden treasures. An old pair of jeans with ripped knees and an old leopard print shirt with a ruffled collar can become a fun and funky jean skirt. Old t-shirts can be cut and sewn together to make unique new shirts, or used as patches on jackets. Even guys can get into the fun by adding images from concert and band shirts to jeans and jackets.

Spend some time looking through thrift shops and second hand stores, talk about fashion and using clothing to express yourself, then pull out the sewing machine and let your kids enjoy the thrill of making their own fashion statements.

children, fashion, clothing, recycled fashion

I’ve seen some people, homeschoolers included, who make the mistake of thinking the summer months mean freedom from everything. Including education. Comments like “We’re not learning anything new right now, we’re on vacation.” and “We’ve stopped teaching for a while to let the kids take a break” seem to assume that learning only happens during scheduled times.

The fact is though that humans are constant learners, and children are the experts of this. Every day they are actively learning something new without curriculum, books, or lesson plans. They learn at what angle to hold the garden hose to make a rainbow appear in the water, how many lawns they need to mow to get that new bike, and how to finally dive into the city pool head first. They will even learn things we don’t want them to learn, which can then give us a lesson as we try to explain why they shouldn’t repeat what Eddie down the street said.

While many kids are taking a break from the formal lessons over the summer months that does not mean that their learning has taken a break too. Kids are not passive creatures by nature. They are born scientists and are constantly seeking out how and why. It might not always be something we deem important, or even something we approve of, but they are always learning something new. So don’t let yourself be fooled into thinking that because the books and lesson plans are put away for a while that their education is on vacation as well. Take some time to watch your children as they play and you might be suprised at what they are learning.

“I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.”
~Eartha Kitt

homeschooling, unschooling, education, learning, children, fun, play, summer vacation

I saw this posted over at Homeschool Hacks and thought it was a great resource. It is called News Flash Five and is ran by PBSKids. The site offers helpful lesson plans and information for parents to help teach their children about the news and current events.

From the About the Site page:

News Flash Five is a news site whose mission is to encourage young people to take an interest in news and current events. Animated broadcasts offer a fresh way of receiving the news online. Additional interactive activities are designed to provide users the means to understand how current events relate to and can affect their lives. A section for parents and teachers will provide guides for teaching children about current events. The site will also give users guidance and a means to write and share their own news stories.

news, News Flash Five, PBS, PBSKids, kids, current events

Pass The Torch has her Homeschool Tips and Advice post up. Everyone should rush over there now to check it out. And because for whatever reason my post didn’t save and I was in too much of a rush to double check it, here’s my post for it off the top of my head.

Relax.

No, seriously. That’s it. Relax.

I noticed a trend when I’m reading a lot of homeschool blogs, especially of families new to homeschooling. They sometimes get worked up into a frazzle. 30 different classes, constant educational field trips, trying to fit in this and that. Some spend more moeny each month buying toys/games/resources than most spend each month on food. They feel that they not only need to have everything that the public schools have, they also have to have better. And their children are pushed to be fluent in Latin by 3, doing algebra by 7, and outperforming the local high school kids by 12. They worry that they have to have it all, be it all, and do it all every day or else they’ve failed.

Stop. Breathe. Step back.

There is no way any parent, or any child for that matter, is going to be able to excell in every single area. Yes there are a few extremely bright kids being homeschooled. And yes some families can afford, or choose to budget in, high tech gadgets and special software. But that does not mean that everyone can, or that every one needs to. It is OK not to be the idealized perfect homeschool family.

Heck, its even OK not to be the perfect family period.

homeschool, homeschooling, advice, tips, children, parenting

In case anyone is interested in buying Oak Meadow but hasn’t gotten to it yet, their Spring Sale ends June 30th. Buy now and save 10% off all Kindergarten through High School Enrollments, all printed High School Curriculum, and all Craft Kits and Craft Supplies. Or get 20% off Preschool through 8th Grade Curriculum (printed and online) and All Teacher Manuals.

You can order by phone through Friday, the 29th, but you can place orders on our web site through Saturday, the 30th.

www.oakmeadow.com
(802) 251-7250

homeschool supplies, sale, Oak Meadow

I came across A question for home schoolers over at Greg Laden’s blog and wanted to air it here.

I’m on my way out the door right now so I can’t give his questions the answers they deserve, but it is still an interesting post. The basic question seems rather simple, then he goes into a tangest that has me scratching my head. Or maybe the coffee just hasn’t kicked in yet. No matter, it is an intesting question on the term homeschooler.

Is a homeschooler a child who is being home schooled? Or is a homeschooler a parent who is homeschooling their child?

homeschool, homeschooler

The 7th Country Fair of Homeschooling opened yesterday with a bang. The theme was diversity and the posts submitted certainly shared what diversity was all about. I wanted to share my top 5 favorite posts from the Country Fair, though there are certainly a lot more posts worth checking out.

1. When Tammy, of Just Enough, Nothing More, said “Homeschoolers are Weird“ I couldn’t help but giggle. I should put a banner up that reads “Weird, and proud of it!”.
2. Tammy, of Life Without School shared a post called Unconditional Teaching that really made me stop and think.
3. Owl, of Owl Flutter hit my heartstrings in her post on feminism and motherhood, in “Because We Treat Children Like Little Mental Patients“
4. Melissa, of Read Mommy, Read! shared a post that really made me smile, “Diversity and Compassion“.
5. RegularMom, of Like I Have Time For This, talked about the diversity all around her in her post Diversity.

Choosing just 5 to showcase was hard, as there are so many great ones lsited. I hope everyone takes the time to hop over and enjoy the Country Fair.

homeschool, blog carnival, diversity

Pass the Torch is calling for homeschoolers to share their best tips. Go to her blog on Friday, June 22 and add your link to the Mr Linky she’ll have up. I’ll be adding my own post to the collection and I hope you will too. It will be fun reading all the great posts submitted.

This is another of the reasons why I love the blogging community available for homeschoolers. We can connect and share with other families hundred, even thousands of miles away. We can exchange tips, advice, stories, and concerns. No matter what is going on there is usually at least one other family that has lived through the same situation.

homeschool. homeschool tips, advice, blogging

Did anyone read this acrticle from the SFGate.com? Homeschooling is a viable alternative to public schools. I have to say that I love reading some positive press for homeschooling.

Why do homeschooled students do so well? Koret Task Force member and Harvard professor Caroline Hoxby has shown that, of the factors affecting student performance, home environment and family support greatly outweigh school inputs: “Families matter most.”

So often homeschoolers are seen in the media as bumbling, anti-social, kids with no understanding of anything outside their homes. Some people in the media have gone so far as to mock homeschoolers, claiming that they are not being educated correctly. Rude comments to the effect that they will bee when they are out of the home and realize that everything they were taught was wrong are too often spit out at homeschoolers.

Comparisons in achievement tests of homeschooled students to national averages for all students show that homeschooled children are well above the national average in every subject and at every grade level in the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and in Tests of Achievement and Proficiency.

One such recent article was the infamous Russell Shaw post Let’s Restrict Home Schooling. Not only did he manage to offend many homeschoolers and lump them all into one neat package, he also made a claim against homeschooling that is used widely by many homeschoolers as to why they dislike public education.

Will these people be on equal preparatory footing for jobs where scientific inquisitiveness, technical insight or critical thinking skills are far more necessary than rote recitation?

Get your submissions in now for the Country Fair of Homeschooling! The last day to get them in is Saturday, June 16 and the fair will be up Monday, June 18. The theme is How we celebrate diversity, though you don’t have to go with the theme if you have a great post that you’re just itching to share.

You can go to the Call For Submissions post to see how to submit your blog post to the fair. And read the FAQs to see what is and isn’t allowed.

And don’t forget to thank Doc for all her hard work getting the Country Fair back up and running!

homeschool, blogging, blog carnival, Country Fair

My local homeschool group is hosting a bookfair next week and many families selling their old curriculum packages. For the family without a lot of money to spend, or the one just trying not to spend too much, buying used curriculum can be the way to go. You can easily find everything you are looking for at half the cost you would spend new.

Most people know about Ebay for buying used curriculum, but did you know there are many other places online you can shop as well? You can search within your local homeschool group and those around you. Check out your local craigslist and see what others have up to offer there. Or you can check out these sites that are just for curriculum. Happy curriculum shopping!

www.usedhomeschoolcurriculum.com
www.homeschoolclassifieds.com
www.vegsource.com/homeschool
www.thebackpack.com
www.usedhomeschoolbooks.com
theswap.com
www.edexbooks.com

homeschool, curriculum, books, used currirulum, homeschool curriculum, shopping

Over at Earth Ember we were fortunate enough to get a glimpse into her typical day. in her home with 4 kids and homeschooling. I loved it! And after already reading Quaballah share a bit of her day with with her boys I was just feeling the love. So I thought I would share what we did Monday.

I was up by 8 AM, woken by a boy in need of some breakfast. A little fruit and yogurt and a couple slices of toast later and he was happy as a clam. Meanwhile the little one was up and had taken his place curled on my lap nursing and occasionally babbling to his brother.

9 AM and we’re all done, dressed, and pretty much ready to go. We read a little, but the sunshine outside was too tempting for us. So out we went for playing in the yard, in mud puddles, and a bike ride.

11:30 AM we came back in to cool off and drink a big glass of ice water. I set my oldest up with coloring and the yougest with toys while I made lunch.

12:30 PM After lunch my little one goes down for a nap, so my oldest and I pull out his riddle book and do several. When he’s ready to put them aside we read a dinosaur book and do a couple pages in his dinosaur activity book.

1:30 PM We’re both in the mood to zone out, so we curl up on the couch and watch animal planet for a while. There is a great show about orangutans on. We had a long talk about orangutans and looked up more about them on the laptop.

3 PM The little one is up from his nap, and we’re all ready to do something, but it is too hot outside. So we pulled out the waterpaints and did some art.

4 PM Daddy is on the couch and that’s where all the focus is. The boys climb across him and act generally silly for his benefit.

5 PM Daddy is out mowing the lawn, so we load up and take a walk while we wait.

6 PM Back home, dinner is on the grill, and we head inside to clean up before we eat.

7:30 PM Back outside to play ball with daddy and chase bugs with mom. The boys play until they can’t play anymore.

9:30 PM The boys are in the bath, daddy is cleaning up the house, and I’m getting their night clothes laid out. The end of a great day.

homeschool, homeschooling, day in the life