If I compared myself to other homeschoolers, this blog post on 10 ways to make your homeschool run smoothly would make me cry. In the bloggers defense, she has 5 kids aged 5-15. If she were not this organized, she's probably be in the fetal position in a corner somewhere. I recommend you read it as there are some nuggets here that are very useful. But since I have 2 kids 2 years apart, we've had a more ... organic existence.
As we are in our last year of homeschooling, our existence has few rules as they are pretty self managing. This list is much more for me than for them.
1. Wake up at a reasonable hour because none of us like to do schoolwork in the evening hours.
2. Make sure there is food in the house so everyone eats nutritious meals.
3. Give the teen (s) a list of academics to complete either weekly or daily. They prefer (preferred) to be given lists and then left alone.
4. Remember to check the assigned work so I can help them learn concepts they did not understand.
5. Work fun outside activities into our life. Or at some point, limit them.
6. Try to make sure they have clean clothes that fit. Why do they insist on looking like the homeless?
7. Update record keeping at least monthly, before I lose everything.
8. Kill no one... Because Lord knows, sometimes I feel homicidal.
9. Be nice to others, especially around kids. I noticed they mimic my behaviors, and I prefer them kind.
10. Take a time out when you feel like killing the kids. Yes, there's a theme.
FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com
Showing posts with label homeschool planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool planning. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
homeschool info, homeschool planning
5 Homeschooling battles I stopped fighting
Lydia from Rants from Mommy Land wrote an article on 5 stupid battles she stopped fighting. It is spot on. Read it.
I loved it so much I am going to copy her a bit... This is sincere flattery. So, here are the homeschooling battles that I have stopped fighting.
1. Curriculum comparison: Unless I see that you have a curriculum that I have been thinking about, I probably won't talk to you about it. Unless, you ask about my curriculum, I also won't talk to you about it. ... And even then, I will keep the conversations to a bare minimum. I have seen too many curriculum discussions come close to fisticuffs or at the least, leaving an insecure or newbie homeschooling mother in tears. It's not that important. Just pick something and use it.
2. Defending homeschooling: I don't care what my neighbors think, what my friends think, what my parents think, what my siblings think, what my in-laws think, and most importantly what strangers think. I am not going to have any more of THOSE conversations trying to convince someone that I am doing the right thing by homeschooling. I will encourage homeschooling for people who are looking
into it, but I am a grown woman and don't need to answer to anyone as to how I am raising my kids, and those people who are all up in my business.... They're just going to have to deal with it.
3. A pristine home: It is not going to happen. You can't have people in the home 24 hours 7 days a week and have it look like a model home. I've tried cleaning obsessively. I've tried having a cleaning service. I've tried bribery and threats. Now I'm just waiting them out. The youngest goes to college next year. My house will be clean again.
4. Teaching Teenagers an actual lesson: Once they hit middle school and decide that mom is a flaming idiot, having them sit through a lesson as you read the book and try to impart knowledge to them is not going to work... especially when they can read the same book themselves. It is more likely that you are just slowing them down anyway. I did manage to "teach" them American History for two months because I wanted to add more information on slavery and the Civil war to the curriculum and do it in a way that would guard them emotionally. (I had to explain this to them to get buy-in). But as soon as those units were done, I was summarily excused and sent on my way. It is far better to teach a love for learning and help them to teach themselves before they are 13.
5. Scheduling: It amazes my how some homeschooling parents have a full day, week, and month's schedule planned out to the minute, including lunch and snack times. I tried that once and it made me and the kids CRAZY. Sometimes subjects just take longer, sometimes they take no time at all, and sometimes they need to spend 45 minutes in the bathroom. So instead of planning out our days, I give a rough beginning and ending time, and a checklist of what needs to be done. I'm much more relaxed that way, and they still feel a level of accountability.
FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com
I loved it so much I am going to copy her a bit... This is sincere flattery. So, here are the homeschooling battles that I have stopped fighting.
1. Curriculum comparison: Unless I see that you have a curriculum that I have been thinking about, I probably won't talk to you about it. Unless, you ask about my curriculum, I also won't talk to you about it. ... And even then, I will keep the conversations to a bare minimum. I have seen too many curriculum discussions come close to fisticuffs or at the least, leaving an insecure or newbie homeschooling mother in tears. It's not that important. Just pick something and use it.
2. Defending homeschooling: I don't care what my neighbors think, what my friends think, what my parents think, what my siblings think, what my in-laws think, and most importantly what strangers think. I am not going to have any more of THOSE conversations trying to convince someone that I am doing the right thing by homeschooling. I will encourage homeschooling for people who are looking
into it, but I am a grown woman and don't need to answer to anyone as to how I am raising my kids, and those people who are all up in my business.... They're just going to have to deal with it.
3. A pristine home: It is not going to happen. You can't have people in the home 24 hours 7 days a week and have it look like a model home. I've tried cleaning obsessively. I've tried having a cleaning service. I've tried bribery and threats. Now I'm just waiting them out. The youngest goes to college next year. My house will be clean again.
4. Teaching Teenagers an actual lesson: Once they hit middle school and decide that mom is a flaming idiot, having them sit through a lesson as you read the book and try to impart knowledge to them is not going to work... especially when they can read the same book themselves. It is more likely that you are just slowing them down anyway. I did manage to "teach" them American History for two months because I wanted to add more information on slavery and the Civil war to the curriculum and do it in a way that would guard them emotionally. (I had to explain this to them to get buy-in). But as soon as those units were done, I was summarily excused and sent on my way. It is far better to teach a love for learning and help them to teach themselves before they are 13.
5. Scheduling: It amazes my how some homeschooling parents have a full day, week, and month's schedule planned out to the minute, including lunch and snack times. I tried that once and it made me and the kids CRAZY. Sometimes subjects just take longer, sometimes they take no time at all, and sometimes they need to spend 45 minutes in the bathroom. So instead of planning out our days, I give a rough beginning and ending time, and a checklist of what needs to be done. I'm much more relaxed that way, and they still feel a level of accountability.
FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
homeschool planning
Counting the hours
I looked back over my last post and thought
"Oh my gosh, this year is going to crush my daughter!" That's too much work!
Then on a yahoo group the question came up about how many hours the kids homeschool or are required to homeschool by law... so we did the math:
In GA we are required to have an equivalent of 4.5 hours a day and 180 days. That is 810 hours.
For academics, my daughter is doing about 600 working hours @ approx 20 hours a week. She is working on 6 half credits and two whole credits, a total of 5 credits, so she is also meeting Carnigie requirements
(120 hours per credit hour) for assigning credits.
Her arts program takes about another 12 hours a week. At home practice and piano and voice lessons take about another 6 hours a week, so that would be 18 hours a week totaling just over 550 hours. That gives her 1150 hours.
It's a lot more than is required in my state, but not so much more than is required in other states. (1000 hours is a common number with 600 hours being in core subjects.)
Yes, this is a lot of work at about 38 hours a week, but she greatly enjoys the second half of it, and doesn't hate the academics either.
I also have to remind myself that public school high schoolers get 35 hours a week in school and another 10 hours of so homework and then they add on other extracurricular stuff.
I think I feel better.
Have you calculated how many hours your kids do school work each year? Inquiring minds want to know.
FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com
"Oh my gosh, this year is going to crush my daughter!" That's too much work!
Then on a yahoo group the question came up about how many hours the kids homeschool or are required to homeschool by law... so we did the math:
In GA we are required to have an equivalent of 4.5 hours a day and 180 days. That is 810 hours.
For academics, my daughter is doing about 600 working hours @ approx 20 hours a week. She is working on 6 half credits and two whole credits, a total of 5 credits, so she is also meeting Carnigie requirements
(120 hours per credit hour) for assigning credits.
Her arts program takes about another 12 hours a week. At home practice and piano and voice lessons take about another 6 hours a week, so that would be 18 hours a week totaling just over 550 hours. That gives her 1150 hours.
It's a lot more than is required in my state, but not so much more than is required in other states. (1000 hours is a common number with 600 hours being in core subjects.)
Yes, this is a lot of work at about 38 hours a week, but she greatly enjoys the second half of it, and doesn't hate the academics either.
I also have to remind myself that public school high schoolers get 35 hours a week in school and another 10 hours of so homework and then they add on other extracurricular stuff.
I think I feel better.
Have you calculated how many hours your kids do school work each year? Inquiring minds want to know.
FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
curriculum, homeschool planning
We just got home from this years "school" meeting. We went over rules, regulations, dress codes, cell phone rules during class, and all that good stuff. We found out about all the new things that the homeschool program is rolling out. (Don't you hate it how things always get cooler and better just as you are done?... It reminds me of how mad I still get when I see the super-cool strollers that weren't available when my kids were babies.) But they all grow up and things change.
The most exciting news was Drama Club.. of course! The fall play is undecided (almost decided) but it won't be held at our usual venue. Instead, the kids will bring the play to the community. They may do a nursing home, a school, a community theater, a major theater, or all of the above... who knows. The second play will be a full school play... I won't say what it is just yet, but it will have kids of every age from
elementary through high. It's going to be huge!
With that said, the entire school year is finally layed out before us. My daughter will complete a heap of academics plus another heap of arts stuff.
Academically she is working on:
.5 Credit Government
.5 Credit of Economics
.5 Credit Health
.5 Credit Spanish
Speaking of Arts:
A new school year and a roving play
We just got home from this years "school" meeting. We went over rules, regulations, dress codes, cell phone rules during class, and all that good stuff. We found out about all the new things that the homeschool program is rolling out. (Don't you hate it how things always get cooler and better just as you are done?... It reminds me of how mad I still get when I see the super-cool strollers that weren't available when my kids were babies.) But they all grow up and things change.
The most exciting news was Drama Club.. of course! The fall play is undecided (almost decided) but it won't be held at our usual venue. Instead, the kids will bring the play to the community. They may do a nursing home, a school, a community theater, a major theater, or all of the above... who knows. The second play will be a full school play... I won't say what it is just yet, but it will have kids of every age from
elementary through high. It's going to be huge!
With that said, the entire school year is finally layed out before us. My daughter will complete a heap of academics plus another heap of arts stuff.
Academically she is working on:
.5 Credit Government
.5 Credit of Economics
.5 Credit Health
.5 Credit Spanish
.5 Credit Business Math (and possible college credits)
.5 Personal Finance
1 Credit Physical Science
1 Credit Language Arts (and possible college credits)
This is kind of a hodge-podge clean-up of neglected subjects. I realize this may look like a lot but most of these are half credits and can be completed quickly. The plan is to split the year into quarters and work on a few subjects at a time, leaving the final quarter to finish her Senior program for her arts program. She works on these 3.5 days a week.
Drama Club
Multiple Choruses
Voice
Assistant Directing the middle school play
Art
Acting 4
Piano
Senior project and graduation presentation (20 minute show)
These are all the equivalent of 1/2 credit each and she only spends about 1.5 days a week on these subjects, plus home practice time. Ok.. make that 2 days a week.
The good news with such a workload (which my son is also realizing) is that college is doing to be a cake walk because they will have a much lighter workload than the combination of homeschooling high school plus doing the fine arts program.
Oh, and probably the biggest news:
May 18. My baby graduates high school on May 18. Sigh. It will be here before we know it.
Friday, February 10, 2012
curriculum, homeschool planning, video
Homeschool update video Feb 2012
Thought it as time I did a homeschool update video.
Items discussed:
FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
MY BUSINESS WEBSITE
Items discussed:
- My son will graduate this year.
- My daughter will graduate next year.
- Planning for my daughter's senior year.
- Curriculum overview for next year.
FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
MY BUSINESS WEBSITE
Friday, July 1, 2011
homeschool planning, journal
Ready for a New School Year
It is July, and it is time to get going with the new school year.
Daughter is getting a jump on Geometry to have enough of it under her belt in time for the PSAT.
Son is finishing his art portfolio to get his college applications out.
I have posted and updated our book and program choices for the year.
For daughter, I decided to assign her reading. Normally, I choose every other book for her to make sure she gets a good dose of classics. However, I looked at a 100 books list that you should read before college and realized that she's only read about half with 2 years to go. Then I realized that I owned Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces and it contained many of the books that I wanted her to read, so that's that. She must read the full anthology, and since she can put away 100 pages a day normally, she will be finished with it by Christmas. Then she can read whatever she ants.
For son, I am waiting to hear from the college who is waiting for his last ACT test scores... they are held up for some reason. If they don't accept him (GA state schools hold homeschoolers to a higher standard) then we he can take the dual enrollment classes online at a private college.
I am hoping to have everything finalized soon.
FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
MY BUSINESS WEBSITE
WalletPop Contributor
Brighthub Contributor
Daughter is getting a jump on Geometry to have enough of it under her belt in time for the PSAT.
Son is finishing his art portfolio to get his college applications out.
I have posted and updated our book and program choices for the year.
For daughter, I decided to assign her reading. Normally, I choose every other book for her to make sure she gets a good dose of classics. However, I looked at a 100 books list that you should read before college and realized that she's only read about half with 2 years to go. Then I realized that I owned Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces and it contained many of the books that I wanted her to read, so that's that. She must read the full anthology, and since she can put away 100 pages a day normally, she will be finished with it by Christmas. Then she can read whatever she ants.
For son, I am waiting to hear from the college who is waiting for his last ACT test scores... they are held up for some reason. If they don't accept him (GA state schools hold homeschoolers to a higher standard) then we he can take the dual enrollment classes online at a private college.
I am hoping to have everything finalized soon.
FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
MY BUSINESS WEBSITE
WalletPop Contributor
Brighthub Contributor
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)