Review: "The Complete Guide to Home Schooling"

So, I’m finally done with The Complete Guide to Homeschooling. It took forever just because things have been crazy around here and the book was chock full of good information that I didn’t want to skim in a quick read.

So, while the book has had some of the best, most up to date information I’ve read so far, I’m scoring it down because of the tone of the authors. They have a very arrogant, their way is best, everyone else’s are to be looked down on tone. Have you ever met a person that claims tolerance of all groups, but then when they talk about how tolerant they are, their tone of voice oozes snideness, sending the message that while they’re ‘tolerant’ they think the other person is an idiot for doing it differently? Well, that sums up the whole tone of this book. But if you can force yourself to ignore their tone, there is a ton of good information in this book. Especially for the parent that is planning on using textbooks as a major part of their curriculum. I also like that it had chapters devoted to things to do with different age groups (elementary, middle school and high school).

This book has so much information that applies to my situation, that snide tone or not, I plan on purchasing my own copy so I can reference it whenever I want instead of having to go back to the library and hope it’s not checked out.

Husbands & Homeschooling

Today was a good and bad day.

Good because the girls and I maintained our morning schedule. I’m up at 5 and have an hour to myself. The daughter helping with breakfast is up at 6, the rest of the kids are up at 6:30. We’re done eating and dressed by 7, when we start our chores. Done with chores by 9, then read scriptures for 15 minutes and personal reading for 30 (morning reading is done silently to ourselves). All of this is done before Daddy gets home from work (he currently works 3:30 – 9:30AM).

Then Daddy comes home and usually causes a ruckus – this is why we need to be done before he gets home, because nothing gets done after.

I got very frustrated with him tonight when we were supposed to be doing our family reading time just before bed. I was reading chapter four of Charlotte’s Web and the older girls were listening attentively until Daddy decided to start goofing off… So we didn’t finish the chapter. After the girls were sent to bed, I kind of laid into him about needing to set an example for the children and that reading time is serious as it’s one of the homeschooling activities.

Will see how things go tonight.

Happy Days!

Today was an excellent day in the course of establishing our daily routine! Everyone got up on time, ate quickly, got to work on chores and we were done by 9am! I was so happy with the girls. After the chores were done, we read scriptures for 15 minutes and then whatever we wanted for a half hour.

Tonight, I read chapters two and three of Charlotte’s Web aloud to the family. Rebekah and Rose were attentive, but Rachel was being kind of a pain. Not sure what I can do to get a 2-year-old to be quiet during reading time at night. Will have to work on that. Robin (7 months) kept squealing during reading time, but it was nice to know she felt involved. After I finished, Dad read Mosiah 23 from the Book of Mormon aloud to the family. Then it was time for family prayer and bed.

If we are able to follow the morning and bedtime routine everyday this week, then I will add journals (for penmanship) to the routine next week.

Tentative Subject Schedule Outline

Daily Activities

• Personal reading time silent
• Personal reading time aloud
• Scripture reading time aloud
• Family reading time aloud
• Family scripture reading time aloud
• Flash cards – alphabet, colors, counting, states, capitals, countries, presidents, prophets, multiplication, subtraction, addition, division, body parts, etc.
• Math
• Journals
• Life skills - chores, cooking, etc.
• Physical education - play outside, take a walk, bike ride, etc.

Weekly Activities

• Science 2x
• Fieldtrip 1x
• Game & Puzzle Afternoon 1x
• Spelling test 1x
• Research paper or book report 1x – Rebekah only
• Arts & Crafts 2x
• Creative Writing 2x
• Library 1x

Monthly Activities

• Social Studies Project 2x
• Health education 1x

Progress Is Being Made

Yay! The girls got all their chores done in two hours today! Happy days! Thus we were able to go to the library. Our library is being renovated, so harder to find things right now. But the girls were able to find books for their personal reading in the morning and I got a copy of Charlotte’s Web to read aloud as a family at night. I read it to Rebekah when she was a baby, but have not read it to any of the others. And of course, my husband has never read it. The girls got me to promise that any books we read that have movies made; we will have a family movie night and watch it when we get done with the book.

I’m at a loss for what to do about a curriculum. We got very lucky and were able to get the Saxon math programs we needed for dirt cheap from other homeschoolers that were done with them. But I haven’t had any luck with anything else. I’ve found several curriculums that I would love to try, but they’re too expensive, especially with my husband not having a full-time job yet (wonderful economy). For now, I think the best course is to use the internet to provide science lessons and experiments for us to all do together, work with the Saxon math, and then read various books from the library on other topics. Some of the books I’ll have the girls do oral reports on to the family and others write reports. Our local library has kits that have lots of picture books on a particular subject. I think we might get one of those each week this summer and check out some harder books for Rebekah on the same subject. For penmanship, I am thinking of journal and creative writing. The creative writing, I’d fill a jar with various ideas or themes. Have the girls draw one and them give them a specific amount of time to write on the subject.