Homeschool Materials that I Use

I thought I would take a post to write about what I use to homeschool my kids. I think I should qualify that statement. I am going to write about what I use right now to homeschool my kids. I say "right now" because I am constantly changing things up. I find that I might research something that looks really amazing and then when we go to use it, it isn't the right fit for our family. Also, I am always looking to add to what we use on a regular basis. I always feel that we can be doing better (must be the mom guilt that I so frequently enjoy). I'm sure none of you moms out there feel that way. :) So the following list is what we currently have going on and what we have coming up.

Honey:

Math

Horizons Grade 5

Spelling

Grade 5

https://www.zaner-bloser.com/media/zb/zaner-bloser/spellingconnections/practice-pages.html

Handwriting

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/cursive.html

and

http://www.handwritingworksheets.com

Writing

Copywork

History

Story of the World Volume 2

Science

R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life Level One

How to do Science Experiments with Children Grades 2-4

Lapbooks

United States http://marinecorpsnomads.com/2009/02/united-states-lapbook.html

Famous Artists

http://practicalpages.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/famous-artists-lapbook.pdf

Marie Grace American Girls Lapbook

http://4littlepiglets.blogspot.com/search/label/Lapbooks

Human Body

http://marinecorpsnomads.com/2008/07/human-body-lapbook.html

Our Forefathers

http://www.handsofachild.com/meet-the-founding-fathers-curriculum.html

United States Constitution/United States Government

http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/constitution.shtml

http://www.currclick.com/download_preview.php?pid=71453

Babe:

Math

Saxon Grade 3

Spelling

Grade 3

https://www.zaner-bloser.com/media/zb/zaner-bloser/spellingconnections/practice-pages.html

Handwriting

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/cursive.html

and

http://www.handwritingworksheets.com

Writing

Copywork

History

Story of the World Volume 2

Science

R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life Level One

How to do Science Experiments with Children Grades 2-4

Lapbooks

Same as Honey

Porkchop:

Math

Math Made Easy Grade K

Spelling

Grade 1

https://www.zaner-bloser.com/media/zb/zaner-bloser/spellingconnections/practice-pages.html

Handwriting

http://www.handwritingworksheets.com

Reading

Learning to Read Using the Book of Mormon

History

Story of the World Volume 2

Science

R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life Level One

How to do Science Experiments with Children Grades 2-4

Some things that you might notice that I left out are reading for the girls and P.E..  I left those out because the girls always have a book that they are reading so I don’t necessarily have a set curriculum for that subject. We do try and have a reading time each day where both girls sit down and read and then they also read before they go to bed some nights. Most of the time the girls reading time is at the same time I am sitting down working with Porkchop with his reading. As for P.E., I don’t really consider that a subject of concern for our family.  My kids do Zumbatomic every Tuesday and Thursday, take tumbling on Fridays and then practice their tumbling skills at home, and also take swim lessons off and on. I just make sure that they have some sort of physical activity each day and have different activities on occasion that they can learn new developmental skills.

Also if you notice under the girls Writing subject you will see Copywork.  I use the Charlotte Mason principle of copywork to teach language, grammar, develop vocabulary, and practice good handwriting. I don’t have a specific source for copywork because I find new stuff all the time! Sometimes we work on character traits other times it might be poetry. We sometimes use this time to work on scripture memorization. Anyways, I love copywork and I LOVE that there are so many free resources online. Just Google free copywork and you’ll see what I mean.

I think I have covered most of what we use for schoolwork. I could quite possibly be leaving something out, but I think that’s the gist of it.

Tomorrow I will write on how the kids and I “DO” the schoolwork and how I school multiple kids. It’s not as bad as you think . . . I promise! And if I’m super brave maybe I’ll even address the dreaded SOCIALIZATION concern! 

Do Not Dwell In Darkness

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This weekend I had the opportunity to listen to our church's general conference. I look forward to these weekends twice a year and always come away with a feeling of hope and a resolve to be a better person. This quote is only one of many that really struck me. This quote can pertain to so many different aspects of our lives. Right now I feel like when I read the news and hear about all of the horrible and scary things that are going on right now I have an impending sense of doom. But these words give me hope. Even though these things are not going to go away anytime soon I can find peace and light through our Savior, Jesus Christ. With Him all things are possible and I know that I don't have to be afraid.

Homeschool Options Part 2

So now that I've covered the boxed curriculum options, I thought I would go over how I come up with my own curriculum. Here are some tips on how to do just that and how to homeschool on your own. 

The first and MOST important thing you need to do is look up your states requirements for homeschooling. I'm fortunate that in my state it's not horribly difficult to homeschool. Here are the requirements in Washington State for homeschooling

1 - be supervised by a certificated teacher for one contact hour per week, OR...
  
2 - have earned 45 college-level credit hours or 1 year of college, OR...
  
3 -be deemed sufficiently qualified to homeschool by the superintendent of the school district in which you reside, OR...
  
4 - have completed a course in home-based instruction at a post-secondary institution or vocational-technical school

 5. file annually a signed "Declaration of Intent" to homeschool for any children between 8 and 18.

6. You are also required to have your child either tested or assessed annually.

7.The other requirement is to ensure that test or assessment records and immunization records are kept in the child's permanent record. These records are pretty much for your own record and to personally access how your child is progressing. The only time you would need these records are if you ever want to enroll your child in public school again.

See! Not too bad! 

Now you need to decide what kind of approach you want to take. You can do a traditional school type approach where you model what they do in a typical school setting. There are also different models like Thomas Jefferson Education, Charlotte Mason, unschooling . . . just to name of few. I won't go into detail what the differences are between each of them, but you can easily Google each of them and find out what they are about. I personally like a little bit about each of the different models and so I try and find ways to incorporate some of the various aspects that they each have to offer and it seems to work for us. But as said in the previous post it's all about what works for you and your family. So once you decide what type of homeschooling you want to do you can start planning.

 This is what I do. I sit down and list the subjects that I want to cover for each of my kids 

Examples:

Math

Language Arts

Reading

Spelling 

Writing

History

Science

P.E.

Then I go to work. I research, then research, and then I research some more. It takes a little time, but before I spend money on something I want to make sure I think it might be a good fit. Once I find the materials I want to use I then go and find the best price. Most of the time it's on Amazon with prime shipping (I LOVE AMAZON!!), but sometimes I find a better deal elsewhere. But most of the time it's Amazon. I also try and find what I can use that's free. You'll be surprised that there's quite a bit of quality stuff out there that you can utilize for free. Later I'll post what sites I use for free stuff! Everyone likes free, right?!

So once you find the materials you want to use, order all your stuff and then receive that familiar brown box from Amazon, you're probably wondering "Now what?!"

This is where a little organization can really help. I'm not talking anything super elaborate, unless thats your thing, but just some little things that can make your school days run a little smoother. At the risk of sounding redundant, this is what works for me. You have to decide what is going to work for you. 

First off, I use a bag like this one.

It fits one of these hanging file folders perfectly.

I put all of our daily use stuff in this tote and I have hanging files to separate the kids work. The pockets also hold all of our pencils, sharpeners, rulers, tape, glue, crayons, etc. I love this option of organizing our supplies cause if we want to pick up and go somewhere everything is in one place and is easy to grab and go. It's a little heavy, but totally doable. 

I also have a notebook for each of the kids. Each notebook contains five file folders, one for each day of the week. On Saturday or Sunday I take about an hour and go through all of their independent work (more on that later) and put each days work in it's corresponding folder. That way when I tell the kids to go and do their school work they just go and grab their folder and get to work. This method works VERY well for us. 

So there is a rough idea of how I go about selecting materials and then organizing it all. I'm sure I am leaving something out, because that's how my brain is now days, but I think this covers it. 

Next post I will write about the actual materials I use and maybe even how to homeschool multiple children. I might be getting a little ambitious, but we'll see how far I get tomorrow!

Homeschool Curriculum Options

So a friend of mine just asked me about homeschooling and had quite a few questions about how I go about homeschooling our family.  So I decided to write todays post about some of the questions that she asked when considering homeschool. 

A couple of her main questions were: What's the difference between the different types of boxed curriculums and how do you go about choosing your own curriculum if you decide to go it alone. So first off let me just state that I am not an expert at all things homeschool. What I am about to say is purely what I have learned over the past 5+ years of homeschooling. And there are pros and cons to each of these options. We simply do what works best for our family. And if you decide to homeschool that's what you'll need to decide as well.

So let's start off with the boxed curriculums. 

First, there are state run curriculums. And because they are run by the state you essentially get all your materials for free. Your tax dollars that go toward education and what would be used if your child went to public school are used to pay for this option. So that is a definite plus. The negative to this option, in my humble opinion, is that it is a state run program. I have done this option and I did not like the feeling of the state running how I was "supposed" to be educating my child. I'm going to stop there because I don't want this to become a political debate.  Anyways, as homeschooling laws get more and more picky, these state run programs get more and more picky about what you have to do at home as far as reporting and such. Also, you are stuck with what they send you as far as learning materials. Example: My oldest daughter has definite ADD tendencies and not all of their curriculum fit her needs.  So we moved to a different option. But I know lots of people that this option works really well for them so again it's all about what works for you and your family. 

Here are a couple state run boxed curriculum options (these are for Washington State, so if you live in a different state you'll have to check what your state has to offer):

WAVA(Washington Virtual Academy)

http://www.k12.com/wava/#.UV5bmb_3DL8

Columbia Virtual Academy(they offer the Calvert Curriculum)

http://www.cva.org/calvert-curriculum/

Some other boxed sets are available that are not state run are also an option. A couple of pros to this option are that it's not run by the state and everything is laid out for you i.e. materials, lesson plans, etc. Some cons are that they can be VERY expensive, especially with multiple children and again you are stuck with what they send you. So if for some reason the math program just isn't a good fit for your child, that's too bad, you've already paid for it.

Some non-state funded curriculums are:

Sonlight

http://www.sonlight.com

Oakmeadow

oakmeadow.com

BJU Press

bjupresshomeschool.com

So there is a light and brief reading on some of the different boxed sets you can take a gander at. Now there is also the option of a state run and funded program that gives you an allotment of funds per child to go towards their educational materials that you choose (sort of). I say sort of because again this is a state run program so it has to fit within their boundaries. Meaning it can't be of a religious nature and anything you purchase or use your funds for has to be equal to that of which is offered to regular public school children. That was not always the case. Again, as homeschool laws get more and more infringed upon we have less and less freedoms, but again I don't want this to turn political, so I will move on!

I have done this option also and at first it was a great fit, but as the state got more and more involved it got to be more and more of a hassle. You are in contact with a teacher and at the beginning of the year you choose your materials you want to use and then have to make sure they are approved. Then you have to come up with a syllabus outlining the entire year. After that is approved (usually with multiple revisions from the teacher) then you have to have weekly contact with that teacher and monthly reports have to be filled out. Anyways, if you are willing to put in all the work and the materials you want are on there approved list than this is a great way to go. The reason I stopped using this option was because I felt like it was becoming more of a hassle than it was worth and most of the things I wanted to use our funds for weren't being covered anymore. So again it's all about what works for YOU!

So here are a couple of state funded programs where you choose the curriculum:

Columbia Virtual Academy

http://www.cva.org

Quilcene HEP Program

http://www.quilcene.wednet.edu/domain/27

So I think that's all I'll write for now! Tomorrow I'll post about what to do if you decide to go the route of choosing your own curriculum. It can feel incredibly overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be! 

Wild Orange

I just found out some pretty awesome things about wild orange today and I thought I would share them with you!

Wild orange is cold pressed from the orange peel and is excellent for revitalizing and energizing.

It is great for treating bronchitis, the flu and cold, lowering high cholesterol, and it has anti-cancer properties. It can help control appetite, reduce inflammation, and it is also antiseptic and antifungal. 

I LOVE wild orange! I put it in my diffuser and my household cleaners. I even put it in my water and wear it as a perfume when I am needing a little pick me up. And guess what? You can get a bottle FREE just by coming to my class on Tuesday 4/9/2013 or 4/10/2013 @ 7pm! How cool is that?

Not only will you get to learn some pretty amazing things about essential oils, but you'll get to take home a free bottle of wild orange!!! 

So if you are interested in coming please email me to RSVP to

heatherhamm@me.com

Easter Snapshots

Part of the fun for our kids living by both sets of grandparents is getting to do most holidays twice. It's somewhat exhausting for us parents, but our kids LOVE it! So here is easter egg hunt #1.

Piglet was so excited to look for eggs this year. This is the first egg she found. She's even telling me "Look Mom! 1 egg!"

We were watching our nephews while their parents were moving so we got to do the big hunt with them too. This cute boy didn't want to even look at the camera. He was to excited to see what was in his eggs. So cute!

The hard part about being older and doing these egg hunts with little kids is knowing when to stop hunting and let the little kids find the rest.

How awesome is his face! So much excitement over a jellybean.

And you can't have easter without dying eggs, right?! Well I suppose you can, but it's tradition!

Piglet kept trying to crack her egg on the rim of the cup. You can tell she was with us during our cooking co-op lesson on eggs! She finally figured it out though.

We used koolaid this year to dye our eggs. Some family members didn't think the colors were as bright as the little packets you get at the store, but I liked them cause they didn't stink like vinegar.

And EVERY year my dad does his token egg and EVERY year he draws a Starship Enterprise with white crayon before putting it in the dye. 

The following day we had easter egg hunt #2. Actually it was # 3.  We did a small one in the morning, but I was far too tired to take pictures and I'm pretty sure that if anyone saw what my kids looked like in the morning they would think that they were ferrel children and we would be turned into CPS. Just kidding . . . kind of! :)

This is a picture of Porkchop finding the golden egg. 

Here's Piglet shaking the eggs just to make sure there's something inside.

 Oh look! Babe found one too!

 This is the final haul! 131 eggs in all! Amazing! I can't take credit for this though. It was all my mom and sister. They even found big carrot shaped easter eggs and gave each of the kids 5 bucks! WHAT??!!!  Next year, I want in on the easter egg hunt! I'm just saying!

Aside from all the easter egg hunts, it was a great Easter with amazing food and family and a great Sunday at church reflecting on the Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ who suffered all, that we might live again.

Another Reason to Make Your Own Cleaners

So I have been making my own home cleaners for quite awhile now and finding this tid bit of info has made me feel even better about my decision. I don't know if you've seen or maybe even use a product called 7th Generation, but they promote themselves as being a "natural" based product and non-toxic.  Well check out what I found. They use a preservative called methylisothiazolinone and its in their hand wash and dish soap. Methylisothiazolinone is a NEUROTOXIN that is absorbed through the skin and it can cause neurological damage to a fetus in utero and cause all kinds of allergic reactions. Um... NO THANK YOU!!! If this is whats in the more expensive and more "natural" cleaning products I don't even what to begin to think what's in the cheaper stuff and what it could do to my family and myself. I'll just stick to my homemade stuff with essential oils and call it a day!