Mom Is Teaching

This was originally written and posted on Purpl4 Trail but some things are just too good to mess with.  So, hang on as Purple Train entertains us once again.

PurpleTrail is a brand new way to organize and manage parties, get-togethers, events and meetings. With it’s fresh perspective, PurpleTrail brings together some of the best features and experiences to help you easily manage your event.

Short video Tour - http://purpletrail.com/pt2/cons/mkt/tour/

Since the trend has become save not spend our money, many of us aren’t going out as often as we’d like to.  But that doesn’t mean we have to fore go a social life completely!  Instead get innovative and find creative ways to stay in with your friends.  You can start by creating a dinner club.

A dinner club is a great way to keep in touch and get a meal out! Get a group of friends together that enjoy some great food and wine.  Rotate houses monthly.  The person hosting is responsible for a modest dinner and the guests are responsible for dessert and drinks. Establish some ground rules like the meal can’t cost over x amount per person and the wine can’t exceed x amount per bottle to keep everyone on the same page (and from going overboard!) You can bring the kids along and let them play or consider hiring one babysitter for all the kids as the adults enjoy a meal together. You can split the cost of the sitter with everyone who brings their children.

To much mix it up, try creating various themes like “Italian feast” and make Italian food, bring Italian wine and maybe a little gelato for dessert! Or  a ” comfort food”  theme where you serve mac n’ cheese, and some hot fudge sundays.

As for some activity ideas, you can play board games, watch family friendly movies or play some old favorites like charades or pictionary! Check out PurpleTrail’s printable games for some great group entertainment ideas!

Fabulous and Single? A dinner club is still a fantastic way to keep your social life going without spending your paychecks on $12 cocktails.  Each time your group meets, invite everyone to bring a friend, that way you are constantly meeting new people.

If you don’t want to make it a dinner club, make it a dessert club or wine club instead.  Any kind of club that everyone is interested in putting a little effort into will be fun.

Keep everyone on the same page by using PurpleTrail online invites.  It’s easy to communicate and coordinate a bring along list with PurpleTrail. Bon Appetite!

This week I want to focus on planning out homeschooling. I am a planner at heart, I love to make lists and goals and schedules. Luckily I have just enough of a lazy streak that it does not bother me if not everything falls into order. Just having the plans to look back on is enough for me. Some people need to have detailed plans that they can work off of, some are better suited when they are spontanious. Most fall somwhere in the middle. Having a plan, even if it is just to have a second cup of coffee before getting the kids up, can be beneficial to almost everyone.

One thing that is emphasised in Enki is not to try to fit your life around homeschooling, but to fit homeschooling into your life. One of the first steps they suggest in planning is to make a schedule of the natural flow of your day and see where you can go from there. Are your kids grumpy in the mornings and need more time to wake up? Or do they jump out of bed bursting with energy and need something physical to help release it? How does the energy around the house fluxuate during the day? Making a note of the natural rhythm in the home and using that as a guideline for working in homeschooling can make for a smoother day.

Part of planning around the natural rhythms in the home also means taking into account your normal activities. More than one homeschooling mom has suggested buying a big calender and filling it in first with any important holidays, trips, and activities. if every second Tuesday you have a church function or if Fridays have always been fun days make notes of those. Jot down birthdays, anniversaries, special holidays, anything that the kids and yourself look forward to and expect. Suddenly cutting those things out or rescheduling them can cause frustration and resentment. See how you can work around these important events without losing educational time. An added benefit is that you will be able to see if you are planning too many activities or if your kids have room to add another if they are interested.

Here is some typical plans for us. (more…)

OK folks, help me out here. I’m sure that I’ missing something, but what could it be?

Enki Education
Waldorf (And a part 2 here)
Unschooling
Montessori
Classical
Charlotte Mason
Unit Studies
Eclectic
Literature Based
Principled Approach
Homeschooling Online

So what do you think? What special method am I missing? Once I’ve covered all the specific methods I’ll go over the various curriculums out there.

homeschool, homeschooling, curriculum, Method Madness Monday

Let’s face it, one of the hardest desicions for a parent looking to homeschool is choosing what kind of curriculum to use. There are dozen of styles, methods, and branches out there to choose from. It can be a daunting choice. So I’ve decided to introduce Method Madness Monday, or MMM for short. Each Monday i am going to showcase a different curriculum/method/style and explain it in some detail. Maybe you will find something new that will work for you.

So without further ado,

I wanted to start the first week off with a person favorite of mine, one that is not very well known. Enki Education. Enki is a beautiful method, one that is rich with multi-cultural stories and a love of the natural world. The homeschool curriculum is Waldorf based (Don’t worry, I’ll cover Waldorf nex week) with a holisitc approach. It is a very flexible method, easily adapted to fit each family. Those who use Enki say it is more than a curriculum, it is a way of life. Rhythm, community, and family are very important to Enki users.

Enki Education is a unique and innovative approach to holistic education, for both the classroom and homeschool. We offer a multicultural, arts integrated education for the children, as well as conferences, discussion groups, and training programs for parents and teachers.

Enki is an independent program that weaves together many rich and diverse elements, nurturing the integration of body, heart, and mind. This is key to cultivating educational excellence, confidence, and competence.

The down side? Some Christian families may be turned off by this method. To being with the name Enki comes from the Sumerian God Enki, who was the god of wisdom and water. And secondly the Enki method leans toward Budhism in thought. Though some Christian familes find it flexible enough to adapt to their needs, others choose not to work with it at all.

homeschool, curriculum, Enki education, Method Madness Monday