Summer School

We do school year round in our house.  But our summer schedule is much more relaxed then during the colder months of the year.  In the summer, we have a basic schedule that we are free to disregard if we decide to spend a day outside in the sun instead.  We sleep in a little longer, stay up a little later, etc.  The only thing set in stone during the summer is morning devotional.

The day starts when everyone is up.  At the latest, I let the girls sleep until 10AM, but we're usually up around 8AM.  We get breakfast and wake-up enough to do our summer devotional routine.

Summer devotional starts with prayer and a hymn.  Then I read from the scriptures to the girls for 10 minutes.  Next we do our memorization boxes.  Finally, we read from our movie book we're currently working on.  That is the only part set in stone.  From our movie book, depending on how we're feeling, we'll typically read anywhere from 10-45 minutes.

The rest of the schedule changes depending on the day, but follows this general format.

The older girls that can read do personal scripture study and from literature I have assigned them for about an hour, while the younger ones spend time reading scripture stories and picture books with me.  If we already have our math curriculum for the next year, the girls do three lessons a week so they don't lose what they've already learned and have to relearn it in the fall.

We also like to do unit studies during the summer that coincide with fieldtrips we're planning or subjects the girls want to study.  We've already done a Japan unit study this summer (I'll post about that later) and plan on an art one next.

When we decide we're done with school for the day, we work together to get chores done quickly and have lunch around noon.  Then we have the rest of the day to pursue whatever perks our interest that day.  Swimming, walks, water parks, arts & crafts, etc. 

After getting the idea from another homeschooling mom in the community, we plan to also try to let the girls have more say in our daily activities this summer.  At the beginning of devotional each day, after prayer, we want to let the girls each pick something they really want to do.  We will try our best to work it in that day or week.

Good Advice & Treats

Dad and I had a chance tonight to go to a gathering of other homeschooling parents in the area.  There we were able to socialize, snack, listen to sage advice from several veteran homeschoolers (some of them having been doing this for 20+ years) and then have a Q&A session with one another.  Over and over, they kept hitting the same points. 

1. What works for one family or child, may not work for another.  If a curriculum or style of teaching is working, try another one.  There are so many choices out there, don't feel like you have to do what 'everyone else' is doing.

2. Don't compare yourself.  Your family is not your neighbor's family.  Nor should it be.  Let you and your children be yourselves.  Not everyone needs goats, chickens, and five acres to be successful at homeschooling.

3. Get support (even if it's just online), don't try to do it all by yourself.  Make sure both parents stay involved.

4. Let go!  Take a break!  Change things up when they need it, or just take some time off if you're experiencing burnout.

5.  Have fun!  If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right.  This is not to say that there won't be days where you have to push your kids to get an assignment done.  But if homeschooling as a whole is stressful and painful - then change how you're doing it.

The Flexibility of Homeschool

One of the reasons that I love to homeschool is that we can change gears at the drop of a hat and choose to do something other than what we had planned.  After a cold winter cooped up inside, it was very easy for us to do shortened lessons on one of the first relatively sunny, warm days of the year.  Instead of spending the majority of a gorgeous day inside with text books, we pulled out our bikes to play and released some pent up energy.  Then the girls put together an impromptu picnic with lots of fun snacks.  By the time public school kids were getting out, the weather was cooling off and storm clouds were moving in.  But we had been able to enjoy the sun and warm weather while it lasted!

Field Trip to the Zoo

Today was a fun fieldtrip day to the local zoo. We weren’t doing a unit on animals for any of our science classes, but WOSU got free tickets for the students, their siblings and one parent. Then it was a cheap $9 for the other parent. And it was a sunny, hot day – probably one of the last we’ll have before winter sets in. The visit was extra fun because we got to go with Dad’s brother and his daughter. They are also doing the  K12 program.

The first thing the girls wanted to visit were the elephants. In front of the elephant enclosure was a large wooden elephant with hieroglyphs all over it. As the girls stopped to admire it, it began to make strange noises and had a startling surprise for them.

After that bit of fun, we went one to see the new baby elephant at the zoo.

Then we were off to see cats and giraffes.

We were wondering if this guy ever gets his tongue stuck to the pole in the winter.

After seeing all the animals, we ended our visit at the kids’ land they have in the zoo where they have playground equipment and a few exhibits about local wildlife. We let the kids wear themselves out before going to the car for a simple lunch of sandwiches, bananas and water. Then we drove home. Everyone was tired, so we took a nap at home before taking the time to write in our journals about the experience.

Washington Online School Utah

Thankfully, we are finally done moving (for the time being) and I can get back into the school routine, which includes blogging time! Yay!

Well, there have been some big changes to our homeschooling life. I was trying to plan an art unit study in which we would learn about da Vinci, Monet and Picasso over a three week period. But two things were causing me a lot of headache. The local library is TERRIBLE! They didn’t have a single children’s book on any of the painters or on art in general! So I was facing the prospect of having to pay $80 a year and travel about an hour every few weeks to use the Salt Lake County library. Then there was the aspect of trying to incorporate age appropriate science into the unit study. Add that to the stress I was already experiencing due to living with family and my husband still trying to find work, and I was ready to come unglued.

Thankfully, my sister-in-law is also homeschooling. But she’s doing it through the state’s online school. She gave me all the information and I checked into it. What a relief for my first year of school! Now I’m assured that the girls will not fall behind!

So here’s the new plan. The girls are part of the Utah K12 program, Washington Online School Utah. They will start out with language arts and science. Throughout the year, we have the option of adding up to five courses per girl in history, art, music and some languages. The K12 program does have a math program, but we’ve decided to keep the girls in the Saxon math program (for which we had already bought curriculums earlier this year).

We'll still do our school journals and family reading, in addition to the regular subjects.  And we still have the flexibility of being able to travel or have field trip days when we need them.

And we haven’t given up on unit studies, either. But instead of that being the basis of our homeschool, it will be a supplemental. We’ll do mini-unit studies for holidays and special occasions. We’ll do full unit studies (like the art study I’ve already put together) during the summer. Then, if a unit study that we’re really interested in doesn’t lend itself well to certain subjects, we won’t feel guilty leaving them out.

This has taken an immense amount of stress off of me for the time being. If the girls do not respond well to their curriculum, we’ll check into others for next year. We’re starting with K12 because it’s free. But if it doesn’t work, we’ll start looking into more purchased curriculums.

Recital Night

As I thought, today was another slow day due to the ballet recital. I let the girls sleep in because I knew they were tired from rehearsal and I wanted them at their best for tonight’s performance. So in addition to letting them sleep in, I also ‘gave them the day off’ from chores. I let them veg in front of the computer watching some movies and we read a lot today. The recital did not get over until after 9pm and they were tired, so I think I made the best decision so that they’d be up to performing. Afterwards, we took the girls out for ice cream (traditional family activity after recitals). By the time they got to bed, it was almost 11pm. So I’ll let them sleep in a bit tomorrow, too. But then it’s back to establishing our routine.

Day Two

Today was a heck of a day on the homeschooling front.

First, we over slept (I’m supposed to get up at 5, the daughter helping w/ breakfast at 6, and everyone else at 6:30). We finally rolled out of bed closer to 9am. I blame it on the activities yesterday. We were wiped.

So we finally got out of bed and had a late breakfast of pancakes and bacon, followed by 45 minutes of reading to ourselves. Fifteen minutes are dedicated to personal scripture study and the remaining half hour is the person’s choice. I read some more of Guide to Homeschooling and Atlas Shrugged, Rebekah worked on a Charlie Bone mystery and Rose read several picture books from the library. Rachel took turns in everyone's lap, having them read some of their book out loud to her. It was a nice, relaxing time.

Then we got started on our house cleaning routine. We got a lot further than yesterday and would have finished but had to stop to get ready for Rebekah & Rose’s ballet recital dress rehearsal. So at 3:30pm, we stopped working and the girls got costumes and make-up on. Rachel & Robin stayed at home with daddy while I took Rebekah & Rose to rehearsal. We were there for almost four hours! I was so glad when it was finally over. But by the time we got home, ate something and got the girls to bed, it was 10pm. So I suspect we’ll have another slow day tomorrow that will also end early for their recital. Thankfully, ballet is all over for the summer and we can get down to business after that.

One of Dad’s uncles wrote me an e-mail today and suggested a book for learning how to teach. It’s a great resource and I’m so glad he reminded me of it. Teaching, No Greater Call is a book published by the LDS church primarily for Sunday school teachers, but it has principles that are true for the teaching of all subjects. It’s available in its entirety online for free and a wonderful resource I recommend to all.