Home » Posts tagged 'homeschooling'
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!
Homeschooling and Public schooling are so vastly different. One thing homeschooling has on public schooling is, there is no prison-like, prison-inmate-style mob rule democracy environment in homeschooling. People should not be worried about homeschool socialization. Instead, people should be worried about public school socialization, what it is and what it means. Public school socialization makes many people go crazy. It makes kids not want to go to school. I do not blame them.
I remember distinctly the day when, in the beginning of 4th grade, a 5th grade friend of mine told me that I would be in this public school system for 8 more years, and that did not include what I would probably do after that, which would be college. I remember thinking how it was like prison, because we had to stay in that place all day, for most of the year, every year, for many, many, many more years. I remember that I could not wait to get this prison-like torture over with and be free. I was also very sad about how many hears I had left of it. The truth is, a person does not get freedom from the system. When a person is in this society, they are locked into the same social hierarchy system they were locked into in their public school years. The only way to break this system is to rebel against it by homeschooling. The homeschooling movement will save society if it is ever to be saved at all.
This is such a great article. I did read John Taylor Gatto’s book, also. I do agree with all of this article and all of his book. There are the school hierarchies. I went to public school and they existed then. There are the cliques, the people like those in the movie, “Mean Girls,” and a Caste-system style pecking order. They hold up well because everyone feels a need to fall into line. Those at the bottom are kind and good people, more likely to forgive others and apologize, so they do, keeping their place as those at the bottom who apologize apto and forgive those above them.
This was such a great article that I had to put it in my blog. Enjoy!
Math Homeschool
I prefer that my kids learn math in this order:
-First, that they master general math, including the memorization of times tables, division tables and knowing how to subtract and add well, very quickly; They learn that math is fun.
-Second, that they master real world math they will need as children; They learn that they need math for life
-Third, that they master mental math (doing math in their heads so they can figure things quickly without using paper)
-Fourth, that they master any math skills they will need to function successfully as adults
-Fifth, Pre-Algebra with no calculator
-Sixth, Algebra with no calculator
-Seventh, Plane Geometry and Trigonometry with no calculator
-Eighth, Using Math with science, for physics chemistry, etc., with a calculator as needed
-Ninth, Algebra II: Using a calculator for graphing and more complex algebra
-Tenth, Pre-Calculus, Statistics or Personal Finance (a choice)
-Eleventh, ACT math: pass the ACT with a score of 26 in math (not absolutely necessary)
-Thelfth, Pass the GED math test
-Thirteenth, complete University Graduation Requirements for math
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!
The first thing I did a couple of years ago was take him in for an eye exam. He needed glasses for far-sightedness, which means things are blurry when up-close. This gave him trouble with worksheets and reading. When that was figured out, his reading improved a huge step, but something was still not right.
Having a few other children whom I had taught or helped teach to read, I knew this was not the same. He was struggling with things my other children had not struggled with. Researching online, I came to an educated guess that he is dyslexic. I also came to the conclusion that dyslexia does not make it impossible to learn to read. It just makes its instruction take more time and patience.
Today he read about 6 pages in “Frolic and Do-Funny” and all of the other books in the photo completely. I have been having him read to me every day for about an hour. I stop when I can tell he is getting tired of it and worn out (which is easy to tell). I am happy that he is getting faster at reading, makes mistakes less often and recognizes more words. It has been hard work but it is becoming worth it now.
I love the joy on his face now as he can enjoy the stories more readily now because he is reading faster and more smoothly. I know we still have a long way to go to get him reading as well as his siblings, but that is okay. It is now becoming a more enjoyable journey. I love sitting with him and having him read to me!
I saw many strategies for dyslexic reading instruction online. I think the best method is simply love, patience and time. It is having the child read to you every day while you love your child. It is knowing that it is okay that your child has been told that word 300 times and still does not recognize it yet. It is telling your child what the word is in a calm voice yet again because you know that dyslexia is hard and you are okay with your child taking his or her time learning that word.
We did a compromise thing with allowances. It is half unconditional parenting and half Dave Ramsey! We love Dave Ramsey’s teachings! The 100% allowance every 2 weeks is one quarter per year of age for each child. My husband lets me decide whether each child gets 100%, 75%, 50%, 25% or nothing. I have never gone down to nothing because none of the chilldren have done that poorly.
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I decide based upon honesty, obedience and kindness to family members. Because I homeschool, obedience includes doing the homeschool assignments given them. Obedience includes doing the housework asked of them during the two weeks. Some of my kids nearly always get 100%. We decided not to make a big deal of the money they are losing. I need too work on that. I have been reminding them during the two weeks, of the allowance money. This is not what we originally agreed upon.
I have gone to a lighter load already. My kids now do one assigned pencil drawing (art) assignment and a chore on Friday. Other than that, Friday is an unschooling style day. During the week, my kids do (in this order) one “spelling workout” lesson (4 pgs. long, including vocabulary, grammar and one paragraph of writing), 2 pages of “handwriting without tears” workbook, one worksheet of math in a binder I created for each child (from multiple sources), a half hour of reading non-fiction science book of choice, a half hour of reading non-fiction history book of choice, a half hour of reading fiction book of choice, a chore, and a half hour to two hours of interest-based learning (depending upon age).
This gives them more choices and they love it. Their spelling, vocabulary and writing skills are great. They are learning math every day. They get to learn the history and science that peaks their interest that day. I have a huge library of non-fiction books in all subjects and levels which I picked myself (and I am very picky) for them to read. I have a huge variety of fiction books for all levels and interests for them to choose from.
We are constantly adding to our library, which makes the kids excited to see the new books. Sometimes, with their own money (the older they are, the more they generally earn), they buy books they are interested in.
As for the “boring” and “gave too much work,” I negotiate with my kids and change things up about every couple months. Last time, I took away some spelling (they used to do 2 lessons a day) and added the reading non-fiction (because my son wanted science in, and less spelling.
I also spend about two hours a week helping my eldest and about the same, teaching kids how to read and having then read to me (for the younger ones).
I have a large family. I have a large family for a Utah Mormon (not just for a city-dwelling New-York City resident or Hollywood movie star, because their definitino of a large family is not mine). I am vegan. I have been pregnant and breatfeeding for what feels like half of my life. I am 40. I wake up early, not to excercise, but to take my daughter to her early morning homeschool seminary class.
I try hard to eat right. I just barely skim the surface of having a habit of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner on time. I try to eat healthy foods, but it is tough to find time to prepare something healthy when our lives are so busy.
I try to find time to exercise. I just cannot find it. O.k., so I know where it is. It is right there when my husband gets home, gives me the chance to go to the gym, and I hear my preschooler bawling at the top of his lungs about his hunger, my husband says to ignore him, and I make him something to eat, following which my husband leaves and my was-gonna-be-tending-while-I-went-to-the-gym son throws a fit, begging me to let off on the homeschool assignments for the week so that he can play on the wii. The screaming, throwing things and bawling from the torture of the immensity of the assignments is so great that I do not go to the gym. I stay home and my husband gets back and tries go help us through the rough patch. Then I make a vegan dinner for only myself and am too exhausted (and it is too late at night) to go to the gym.
This is just one day in the life of the Utah Mormon Vegan Homeschool Mom with a Large Family who is trying to lose 30 lbs. and thus reach a healthy weight. I tell you, I am sick to death of all the blog posts and youtube videos I find with women who have 2 kids and send them to school during the day, then tell me how they lost all the baby weight in 6 weeks. am also sick of all the “you need animal protein” lies out there, written by weight-loss gurus who are not vegan!
“Thou shalt not covet” the women who lose baby weight in under a year. Seriously, the toughest commandment out there. Arghhhhh!
I seriously cannot be the only one! I hate feeling alone. I do not expect to find someone just exactly in my situation, but a bunch of groupies close to it would be nice. A support group would help immensely. There have to be vegan homeschool moms out there with large families, and who also large bellies like mine that have not gone away when the baby is a preschooler!
If you are one and have found this post, please comment. I need a support network of women who know what I am going through! Advice about exercise would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Relaxed Homeschool Utah 