It’s back to homeschool supplies shopping time. Here is my 2020 haul!
I also recommend things I did not buy because I have them already: rubber bands, brads, safety pins, rulers, sketch pads, dixon ticonderoga 144 pack of pencils, composition books for writing, a computer, a printer, printer paper, ink for printer, scissors, gluesticks, calculators, paper clips, laminator, plastic sleeves for binders, pencil cases, compass, protractor…
I did not want you to be left confused. I feel like explaining things that are difficult for some people to understand. I decided to do this in the form of a Q &A, but ask and answer the question myself. The questions people have asked of me.
Q: Do you take a summer break, or do you homeschool year-round?
A: Niether and Both. We do relaxed homeschooling and tidal wave homeschooling, a form of education which means that we are like the tide coming in and going out.
We try to do as best we can to get to where I consider to be “at grade level” in each subject for each child. We do not ever stop working on this, but we are also not always concernd about this.
We have ebbs and flows. Sometimes, with much effort, we learn a whole bunch and progress a lot in a period of time (this sometimes looks like an accelerated school for the gifted or early college, and sometimes looks like a 1900 one-room schoolhouse). At other times, we are more like unschoolers. Sometimes, we have a day that looks like montessori school. Sometimes, we have a field trip day. When people visit or we visit others, we have a day completely dedicated to only socializing. When we visited Grandma Preece or when Uncle Steven came over, we dropped all of our concerns and cares, and just visited. The kids learn plenty by visiting and socializing with others.
Q: Homeschoolers do not have to start school when the public schools begin. Isn’t that right?
A: This has a long answer, too. We do not have to, but because of classes we signed up for, we do.
We enroll in some classes not led by me but by teachers my husband and I chose or hired. One of these is free and it is The Church Seminary Program. (Oh, did you catch that? I almost used the acronym). Early Morning Seminary this year begins the same day public school begins in my area. This means that although we do not really care when homeschool begins or ends, I can choose a day when I can say something officially begins. It is the day Seminary begins.
The hired teachers and has also chosen certain dates to begin their classes, vacation days and end dates. Likewise, many homeschool parents join “co-ops,” which are groups of homeschoolers who get together and do learning together. These co-ops have a set schedule. A co-op has a start date, vacation dates and end dates, too.
I would not want to have the first day of homeschool for the kids which have teachers who’ve given them start-dates, and not have this for the younger 4. After all, the younger 4 are so looking forward to “doing homeschool” officially again. Their siblings are officially starting and so are their neighborhood friends and cousins.
This would be when I to the part called “get the kids ready for the first day of school (by clothes shopping at the back to school clothing sales) as a mom” and the part where I do “put in full-time hours of preparation of the homeschool room, planning and getting ready for homeschool to officially begin on August 27, like a paid public school teacher,” at the same time. (The second part includes getting in on back to school curriculum and supplies sales).
Speed Tour of my Recently Cleaned and Re-Organized Homeschool Room
Of course, many teacher moms do this. They get their own gets ready and sent off, and they also go to the school all day for a couple weeks to get their public school classroom ready.
This “Photographer Mom” is prepared to do “First Day of Homeschool 2018” photos next week!
It’s just a little different. I do not get paid and I do not have to get someone to tend the kids while I go off to work. They are here and I am here, which means I do the prep work and they wish I wouldn’t because it means I am not giving them the attention they would like. It is hard on the kids here, as they are eager to “officially start school” again, and frustrated that their mom is working on prepping and pretty much just letting them “fend for themselves” (except the littlest, who at least gets fed by mom and gets a lot of attention because he demands it).
I hope this helps everyone to understand my world so that they are not confused. There are so many different ways to homeschool. Sometimes, there are jokes or memes on the internet that give one impression, and the people who do not know that all homeschools are different get so upset when things are not the way a youtube video says they are.
This one is a funny one by “It’s a Southern Thing.”
Tell me, are the others exaggerated? Yeah. So do you think the homeschool mom one is? Think about it. I am a homeschool mom and I still laughed at it. I was not upset by the inaccuracy. I know it’s all exaggerated and it is a joke. It’s very funny. If you like it, subscribe, because all of their videos are just as humorous!
For the record, homeschool moms and kids do get dressed in day clothing because they are very busy. We get dressed for the same reasons that you get dressed during the summer. Also, homeschool moms usually put together or join in on a “Not Back to School” park day or party on the first day of local public school. We all know when school starts, including those who do unschooling! We all look forward to getting the museums and parks back to uncrowded. We love it when school starts and are very aware!
I am most like the photographer mom, by the way. I am very sentimental, an artist and a graphic designer, after all! So, yeah, homeschool moms are all different, too, and we have personalities that are all different from the personalities of other homeschool moms. We love our variety and differences!
It is time again to clean the homeschool room in preparation for a new acadmeic year. About a week ago, I did a complete overhaul on the contents of the cabinets and the bookshelves. Here is a video I made around Christmas time:
Cleaning the Homeschool Room of a Large Homeschooling Family
I used to have cabinets divided by purpose or subject. I have 4 cabinets. Now I have each cabinet made for 2 of us. One is for my husband and I, and each of the others for sets of two kids. I now have the bookshelf in there with 4 shelves, each dedicated to one of the four oldest kids. I think this will work better. I still have to clean more, though.
I have a favor to ask of you.
2) Please read my comment on her post.
3) Please tell me what to do as a homeschool mom. I am lost and do not know what to do.
Thanks!
This is the wall I feel is being built to enhance control at the expense of liberty.
I am so excited about these math books for this coming academic year! They look awesome!
As a homeschool mom, I feel solid like a smooth, old mountain now. I do not feel as I did when I was newer to homeschooling. Then, I felt an excitement from the newness and the riskiness of it all. I was rebelling against society’s “normal.” Now, I plug away, doing much of the same day after day, week after week and year after year. I feel the compounding of years of experience and learning. I feel like my older children have a strong, good foundation from many years of steady work on my part, my husband’s part, and their parts. I feel a love and partnership with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and The Holy Ghost.
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I do not feel anxious or worried that my children will not turn out fine. I feel a smooth, soft joy and a love for them which I feel will help me accept whatever life they choose and whatever they become. I do not worry about test scores. They will be taking the ACT and GED tests, but I plan to be pleased with them even if they possibly take a long time to pass the GED and get a score on the ACT which would get them into our local Weber State University. They are great people. They are prepared enough for life for their ages. I am pleased and happy.
I homeschool many children. We have a large homeschooling family. Our style is Relaxed Homeschooling. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Here is a quick video to watch for motivation to clean your homeschool areas of the house or homeschool room. Enjoy and get energized! If you like it, please sign up to receive my posts (which are not very frequent) in your E-mail box when they come out. If you are a WordPress blogger, please subscribe to my posts on WordPress Reader. Thanks!
Enjoy this very short video!
Motivation For You! Watch me Clean My Homeschool Room
Related posts
Housecleaning is Part of Homeschooling
Does Your Family Do Housework on the Sabbath?
Classroom Set-Up: Back to Relaxed Mormon Homeschool
Just Start Cleaning and Ask them to Help
Making Space for a Better Homeschool
Here is my video on YouTube about teaching little kids to read and write with the Montessori Method and with Preschool Prep Co. mini books. Enjoy!
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It is that time of year again. School teachers and Homeschool moms are very busy right now. It is time to plan for the upcoming academic year of 2017-18. It will be another new and exciting academic year for all of us. It is a very exciting time of year. It is a time to start fresh and look forward to newness and think of how things will be different this year. There is always a hope that each year will be better, easier. There is a great aspiration to have a better set-up which will make finding things easier, which will make us able to do things we do repeatedly and often, more efficiently, and which will make everyone feel in the mood to enjoy togetherness, make friends (or become closer as a family), learn and do school work.
I am well aware that public school and charter school teachers are getting ready as well as homeschool moms like me. My parents were public school teachers until they retired, and I know they were starting to prepare for the new academic year at this time. In my local school district, the first teacher contract day is in a week and a day. Generally, my mom and dad worked at least 3-4 days not on their contract, before the school year began. It is likely that this coming Monday, many Weber County School District teachers will show up at their school, unlock their classroom which has rested from teacher eyes all summer, and will sigh, stare at the walls and cabinets and wonder where they will start in setting up their classrooms.
I remember all those years helping my mom and dad set up. Even for me, as a child and as an adult, it was exciting. I loved making sure all the new pencils were sharpened, and that every desk had a name label, a spelling book, a math book, a science book, a language arts book and a social studies book, along with a new pencil, a new ruler and a new box of pencils. Now I am a homeschool mom teaching my large family of children preschool through tenth this year. I have purchased many school supplies. I have yet to purchase more needed supplies, but for the most part, I have the supplies. We have one table in the homsechool room, so I do not set books there or put name labels on for the kids. I put books and supplies in the homeschool cabinets, lined up and organized nicely, ready for what we will be studying this year.
I have switched out the science focus. Although I hired out for science, I have science books in the homeschool room for when I say that today, I want them to pick a non-fiction science, geography or history book and read it, or when, for language arts, I want them to use non-fiction books to do a research report.
When my public school teacher parents were getting ready for the new year, there was much de-junking and organizing. There wasn’t recycling. They only had garbage cans, but much went into the trash. My homeschool room has to be newly de-junked and papers filed and put away or recycled. I have one full box of school papers my mom gave me and one full blue bin of papers I put in the bin from all the years of homeschooling combined. I have to go through them. Don Aslett called it “the paper tiger” in his book about de-cluttering the office. A homeschool room is very much like an office, but we do have a separate room for the office. It is needed for my homeschool file cabinet, homeschool workbooks I photocopy, my computer and pur 4-in-1 machine which photocopies, scans and prints.
I am also making plans for creating more for other teachers to use in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. All of you who are reading this and who have created any tool for a teacher to use (public school teachers, charter school teachers and homeschool teachers) may wish to open a Teachers Pay Teachers store and sell the tools they have made. You can sign up here. It is free to start, (although you will make more money per item if you have a paid annual plan).
Teachers pay teachers referral link
Kayse Morris: Teachers Pay Teachers, for beginners (How to make it look good so it will
Just make what you need for your own family or classroom
Suggested Blogposts:
Whole House Home Ed Organization
Homeschool Dailies
LDS Homeschooling
Transgenderism and Homosexuality in Utah Schools Starting with 2017-18
Humanism is a Religion
I believe long titles are cool. How could I possibly shorten that?
Someone just replied to a post stating that they wish it were “opt in” to what you want taught to your children rather than “opt out.” I replied that her wish has already come true. The laws in Utah already make it that way! I homeschool my kids because I decided not to opt in to anything. Some moms homeschool their kids, but can legally do something called dual enrollment. They can decide into which classes in Junior High or High School their children will enroll. They can decide in elementary school, which subjects their children can learn in the public school. The rest, they teach at home through homeschooling.
For example, if in the elementary years, I want to have my kids in homeschool, but I want them to go to elementary school for science, I can do that. The teacher can let me know on what days and at what time science is taught and I can take my child to the school just for science. In Junior High, if I wanted my child in just choir and orchestra, I could put my child in just those classes.
So, crazy amazing as it is, homeschooling is not as bad as people think. You just have to sign an affadavit that is stamped by a notary public and turn it into your school district, which says you will be responsible for the educatin of your child(ren) who are named on the affadavit.
If the parent does not want their child in public school for a class but wants someone else to teach it, they can hire a teacher or tutor. In homeschooling facebook groups, ther are abundant invitations to enroll in classes taught by others by paying a fee. They are in many countiesm so sometimes, a parent will drive their child to another county for a class. Children who are homeschooled are not limited in socialization like people think. They are exposed to many different people in diverse locations, who have diverse religions and different cultural backgrounds! The parent and the child together get to choose the teachers and classes, though!
Utah SB (Senate Bill) 196 of 2017 Session, Passed into Law by Governor Herbert
Link to copy and paste, to share: https://le.utah.gov/~2017/bills/static/SB0196.html
This coming fall in Utah, it will be legal for the kid to be exposed to the advocacy and teaching of and about homosexuality within marriage, and about transgenderism at any age. This will be something Equality Utah will be very willing to teach on behalf of the teachers who do not want to teach it themselves. This can be taught with any subject: health, the family curriculum, P.E., music, art, math, science, language arts or social studies. Their may be math story problems which mention homosexuality. Grammar can be taught with homosexuality and transgenderism mentioned in the sentences to be worked with.
In short, this fall, I do not recommend public school if you are against your child learning these things from others. I teach my kids about transgenderism and homosexuality. They are very aware it exists and know how to be kind to everyone. I can teach it myself. I do not need to trust the public schools, which will trust Equality Utah with it. If your child is in a public school in Utah and you feel you have no choice, pray that your child will have a Christian teacher who will teach your child about it. That is the best you can possibly get!
In Utah, I bet it will be done as it has been done in other states. Sexuality, Homosexuality within marriage and transgenderism will likely be taught in Health class and in school-wide assemblies via large films created by Equality Utah, after which Equality Utah members will have a discussion and will lead a Q and A session with the youth. They may have already been arranging these assemblies wi school princlipals over the summer months. It may be possible to find out from the school, when these assemblies will happen. Then you can either not send your child that day or you can make sure to talk to your child on that very day right afterit happens and discuss what they learned with them, from a Christian perspective.
Here is a link to the bill passed in the 2017 session and allowed into law by Governor Herbert. It passed because Equality Utah sued the Utah State Board of Education and said they would drop the suit if it passed. Utah SBof E. was convinced they could not afford the risk of letting it go to the Supreme Court (under President Trump’s very Christian Republican administration). Cowards, I say! I am very upset. I knew about and fought this bill by calling many ward members locally, on the phone. Most of them had already taken to heart Equality Utah’s propoganda about suicidal bullied transgender and homosexual kids. I say this is propoganda because they even stated themselves in the speeches given when the bill was presented in committee, that they have no proof that suicides are caused by transgenders or homosexuals being bullied. In fact, they do not even have proof that those who committed suicide were transgender or homosexual persons. They just want to use all the suicides and claim they were all homosexual or transgender people and bullied.
I think the suicides could be caused by all the pressure in the schools from testing. I think the Common Core is a big factor in suicides committed by school children. I think another factor is that mentions of God or Jesus not being allowed in pubic schools. God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost are the best suicide preventions! People need Christianity because they need a good reason to live. Knowing that they are children of God and God loves them really is a big deal!
Relaxed Homeschool Utah 