Little Moments that Change the World

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I’m finding more and more that flexibility is the key to truly creating an environment that is conducive to educating my children. I truly don’t know how public school teachers are able to teach large groups and stay on task. My little ones have so many questions and we end up deviating from my lesson plans just about every day. I have ended up delving deeper into topics I had no idea my children would be so interested in.

Lately, my kids have been super interested in the religions around the world. Each religion started in one region, and spread across the globe. Hinduism is the topic of conversation right now, and we are learning about the many different gods and their purposes in the lives of the Hindu people. It’s fascinating to watch my kids devour information on people around the world and begin to understand the reasons why we are different and yet so much the same.

About three weeks ago we were covering the reality of poverty around the world. My children have never faced a night of going hungry, and I wanted them to understand just how wonderful a blessing it is to have an abundance of food. I didn’t think the video I chose would have the intense impact on my children that it ended up having. Seeing the conditions many people live in, both within the United States and around the world, had my children in tears. I had not intended to put them into a state of total despair, but that’s where we ended up.

My daughter looked at me as soon as the video was over, and with tears streaming down her face she declared that we must somehow make a difference in these children’s lives. We have decided, as a family, to put aside more money each month to donate to those in need. One way my kids have helped make this possible is by slowing down on the amount of food that is wasted in our home. Their commitment to change has had an enormous impact on our budget. I was amazed at their commitment and ability to make such a huge dent in our weekly finances.

Again, this was one of our many tangents in education. We spent hours researching what poverty looks like and how we can help make the lives of those who struggle just a little less difficult. I’m so incredibly thankful to have the time and opportunity to work with my sweet children as they learn about the world around them. Who could have possibly known that a lesson on cultures could take us down the path that would lead my children to a place of empathy and love? I want them to believe that one person can make a difference, and it is a priceless experience to watch them pursue their plan to make the world a better place. Such a sweet moment as a mother and as a teacher.

Art Is Back!

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I haven’t been as good at getting art classes into our curriculum the last two years, and this horrible downward spiral needed to end. I know that providing time and tools for the kids to let their imaginations and creativity run wild is an important aspect to developing individuality and dreams. I have felt myself descend into a more rigid academic pattern, and as our school days got longer I let go of some of the most important classes…art being one.

One of the reasons we homeschool is to have the time to search out answers to questions the kids have and to pursue individual interests. I really needed someone else to come into my home and help me organize an art program that would push and inspire my children to continue developing artistically. I stumbled upon a really well done program that is accessed online. Thrive Art is broken down into three levels of classes and each level has six lessons. The program is $300 total, and you can go back to review lessons at any time–once you purchase their curriculum. The kids have completed two of the lessons, and I think we will make it through the entire program by the end of the school year.

I love teaching my kids, but art is not my forte. I needed help, and was thrilled to find a program that was created by artists and meant for kids. There are times I feel my inadequacies pounding on the front door, and I am so glad to have such amazing support systems available for when I just can’t quite give my kids what they need.

Homeschooling is a journey that is constantly changing. The plan I had for my children when we first started hardly resembles the plan we now have in place. If someone would have told me four years ago that I would be teaching my kids at the breakneck speed we have been moving at, I would have called them crazy. But my kids just dive in and we moved from four hour days to seven hour days before I knew what hit me. I’m so glad we have homeschooling networks and friends to remind me that academics are not all my kids need. This class is our first step in yet another twist in our homeschooling journey.

Another Year Of Homeschooling

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Choosing curriculum, each year, proves to be more than a little overwhelming. My first year I made the mistake of walking into a giant homeschooling expo in the Phoenix conference center…by myself. My first mistake, I should have had some backup. By about the third isle of brightly colored books and every conceivable workbook, I was ready to curl up in the fetal position and cry.

My second mistake was going to the expo needing to purchase materials. After wandering around that conference center for five hours, I went ahead and made my decisions. I purchased everything and had it shipped to my home. What I should have done was pay a little extra, and gone to a bookstore for homeschoolers to have the privilege of choosing my materials with the option of returning anything I was less than pleased with.

The expo was filled with books and binders from floor to ceiling, and every single sales person claimed their materials were the best on the market. I could not get a single sales rep to give me one downside to their program. I’m a big fan of companies who are willing to admit to the pitfalls of their products. I tend to be more trusting if there is an acknowledgement of possible buyer’s remorse.

I am only in my fourth year of homeschooling my kids, so I have not had to make these decisions for very long. The first two years I struggled to cut away from public education and opted for an online version of the brick and mortar schooling my children were used to. The second year of online public schooling was torture and we opted out of that insanity. I have kids in every phase of the schooling experience. We have had to find a high school, middle school, and elementary school options for the kids.

 

We are utilizing BJU Press for the following courses for both 6th and 3rd grade.

Heritage Studies

Science

Reading

English

Spelling

Evan-Moor has some wonderful writing and editing course work. We are using their materials for both 6th and 3rd grade for the following courses.

Vocabulary

Writing

Language Fundamentals

Paragraph Editing

I was sad when I heard the public schools were starting to do away with handwriting curriculum. I have two boys, and they both need to practice their handwriting, or they will only be eligible for work positions that require prescription writing. We have done Writing Without Tears for two years. I’ve only cried twice.

Saxon Math is the program of choice in our home for both my 3rd and 6th grader. It has a strong building block methodology. The new material is taught and then tested over and over. I still believe that repetition is the master key to most learning. And Saxon has that down.

We have been reading Story of the World, by Susan Wise Bauer, for the last two years and will continue again this year. She lays out the history of earth from the beginning through modern day. It is a chronological layout of the big and important wars and times of great peace that shaped the world we now live in. I have a feeling the kids are going to want to go back and reread all four books once we get through round one. It is a favorite in our home.

If I could go back and give myself some advice four short years ago, it would be to go to Mardel Book Store, or one of a number of other homeschooling supply stores to make my purchases. Those stores are happy to tell customers what others have said about each program carried by the supplier. They will tell you the good, bad and ugly of each education style. They will also accept returns on items you are not thrilled with—just keep your receipt.

 

 

Driveway Art

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I recently found some seriously amazing sidewalk chalk paint at Sam’s Club and could hardly wait to get the kids outside. Unfortunately, the weather boasted a high of 34 for a week before we finally hit the low 60s, and I was able to take my “cold weather resistant” children outside.

The three kids took over the driveway and created a “coral reef meets space odyssey” mural.  I think it’s interesting to let kids loose with their imaginations. My only stipulations were that they use all the paint in the little cans, and no “potty humor” painting. As much as I appreciate a good bodily function joke, I don’t think my neighbors would enjoy the presentation of these splayed across my driveway. The kiddos agreed to my rules, and took over.

I let the kids have at it, and watched as they brought our driveway to life. Their little conversations melted my heart. With three kids at home all the time, you would think that there might be a bit more contention. These kids constantly amaze me with the obvious love and respect they show each other. There was sharing, team work, and a final product that really made our driveway come alive. I just noticed there is rain in the forecast for next Thursday. I’m hoping the report is wrong, because I am not ready to say goodbye to my driveway art.

I am seriously considering letting them take their work to one wall in the house. That way I can keep their work displayed come rain or shine, but I need to get my hubby on board first.

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Hands-On Activities

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I absolutely love all hands-on teaching methods, and this is one of my favorites from the last two weeks. My 5th grader is learning about some of the most important advancements made in the world of transportation. I am blown away by all the educational materials available to my children. We can jump online or head over to the library and find an insane amount of supplemental materials for each topic. I had no idea the Wright brothers ran a bicycle shop full-time and made planes in the winter when the shop was slow. This is just one of the fun facts we learned while researching some of the amazing inventions and inventors from America’s past.

My son was particularly interested in Henry Ford and his amazing Model T. We talked all about the advancements made in production, and why this car made such a huge impact on the world of motor vehicles. The Model T was the first affordable car for the general population, and it was the beginning of a total shift in how we would mass produce the enormous number of items used by today’s consumer. There is clearly a down side to the mass market mentality, but we tried to focus on the upside of this new production method.

In order to show my kids just how much of an impact an assembly line can have on production, I challenged each of my three kids to produce as many candy cars as they could in just one minute. Each of the kids did their best to run around the kitchen and grab all the items they needed to create one car at a time. The outcome was one sloppy car from only one child. The other two were not able to create one single finished product in 60 seconds. Then each child chose their jobs, and we created an assembly line to produce the tiny candy cars. The kids were able to pump out three completed cars and one half finished product in just 60 seconds. It was a real learning moment for each of them. The amount of time and energy needed to complete this challenge diminished significantly when they implemented the “assembly line” mentality. I’m sure they could have pounded out a few more if we would have had access to a moving assembly line, but that was not to be… I hope they never forget Henry Ford and his moving assembly line.

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Homeschooling Away From Home

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One of the great advantages to homeschooling is the ability we have to take this show on the road. When we travel, so does our school. On our last trip, I think half of our car was packed with school supplies. My husband never complains about all the books he has to pack into our family car, but he always makes at least one comment about the number of shoes I claim are necessary for any getaway.

I know all our “school stuff” took up a good portion of our hotel room. I had crates of books, workbooks, paper, and other miscellaneous supplies all packed into our little hotel room for the entire trip. We sacrificed one corner of the hotel room to the two little kids’ supplies, and the coveted desk to my high schooler and all his materials. The only person who seemed a bit disconcerted with my stash was the sweet woman from housekeeping who somehow ended up with our room for a solid two weeks. But luckily she developed a cleaning method that included turning a blind eye to the piles of papers and books.

For the entire two weeks we got up early in the morning and completed an entire day of school well before noon. It was awesome. My kids were able to spend time with their cousins and not worry about falling behind in school. In fact, my oldest got so far ahead we were a little concerned we would run out of class materials before the two weeks were up. In hindsight, I think he figured out how to pace himself so that he could take a couple of days off–out of “necessity”.

I know that I say this all the time, but I am so thankful to live in a country where I am able to home school my children. As we sneak up on the launch date of my first book, I am looking at taking my kids on the road for a couple of months. Right now they seem to be completely excited about the potential this adventure holds. I will dig up information on all the interesting sights, museums, and educational experiences we can do as a family while we are on the road. It will be epic.

Making Math Simple

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I took on “summer homeschooling” this year.  There has never been a time in the history of my children’s lives when they have had to do summer school, but this year I decided to rock their worlds with an infusion of education.  I took it relatively easy on my kiddos.  Five days a week I have them read, do a handwriting lesson, and a math lesson.  All in all, it is about 70 minutes of work per kid each day of the work week.  I have enjoyed watching them progress instead of the typical regression I see over the summer months.  I was pleasantly surprised by their reactions to the math program I chose.  Each one of my kids seems to actually enjoy doing math.  This is a new reaction for my three little ones.  In the past, math has been a little bit of a struggle, but not with this program.

My kiddos and I have spent the last month and a half working on Saxon Math.  I have never found a program with such straight forward information.  I am thankful this particular program was put together with the concept that math is a series of steps, unchanging steps, that have to be learned and then practiced until they are memorized.  I was becoming accustomed to programs that devoted time and energy to teaching fifteen different paths to the right answer.  For most kids, this is a really difficult teaching method.  Learning a bunch of different tactics places the child in the position of needing to keep track of all possible problem solving methods, and know when and how to implement each one.  I have tried to keep an eye on the statistical data regarding the math test scores of American children.  At best, the data appears to point towards stagnant scores.  So, while some would argue that the scores have not fallen- they surely are not on the rise.

Saxon Math takes the student back to good old fashioned memorization.  My second grader is doing flash cards 15 minutes per day.  It does my heart good to see her beginning to understand new concepts, while forming a foundation of mathematical equations she can pull right from memory.  I have always advocated for memorization in math.  I have seen it disappear, reappear, and it is now fading out again.  Thank you Saxon!  We need more programs that refrain from attempting to reinvent the wheel.

Another aspect of this program that I love is the way it is taught in short bursts, of new concepts, and has an amazing quantity of practice work for the student.  The lessons are set up the way all lesson plans should be organized.  There is a short time dedicated to instructing the student regarding the new materials, and then the student is given about 30 problems to complete.  I love watching my kids learn, practice, and master new skills.

I am not saying that my kids are thrilled that I am forcing them to learn while their peers have what my children refer to as a “real summer”.  But I am thrilled that my kiddos are not fighting me when it comes to our summer school program.  There is no push back and my ten-year-old actually said he is glad he is still learning and not forgetting his math.  WHAT?!?!  I count that as a big fat win!

Curriculum for Homeschooling

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Today is a momentous occasion for the Harris Family.  We have decided to make some serious changes in our homeschooling curriculum, and it was not without a lot of thought and research.  I have been wanting to utilize some programs I’ve been looking into for about two years, but was too afraid to completely sever the ties to the public school system.  Evidently, I am a woman who requires small step by step movement.

I am thrilled to be utilizing the Susan Wise Bauer history curriculum.  I have read rave reviews on this text and could not be more excited to watch my littlest one begin to learn history in chronological order.  I know this sounds like a concept to most of us, but that is the way kiddos learn the best.  Provide the full story, start to finish, and they are most likely to remember and make connections that are applicable in everyday life.  I could not possibly be more excited for this program.

We are also completely overjoyed to begin using Saxon math.  This is a time tested approach to learning and mastering mathematical concepts.  I have been watching the math in American public schools evolve over the last couple of years, and I am not seeing positive statistical growth in the development and learning in the arithmetic arena.  This program slowly builds one concept upon the next with tests and assignments that provide an enormous amount of practice material in each lesson.  I am so excited for this portion of our program that I can’t wait until fall.  We are starting math in two weeks.  My kids are actually excited too…  CRAZY!

The rest of our homeschooling curriculum is an eclectic mix of what fits the tastes of our kids.  This year, for the boys, art will be stop animation.  We purchased the Stopmotion Explosion animation kit, complete with camera, animation software, and a 290 page book on story boarding, script writing, and basic how to advice.  I am so excited to see what they create.

Art for my youngest will be a combination of art history and drawing classes.  She is the resident illustrator in this family.  She writes her own stories and then illustrates the text with beautiful artwork that compliments her natural writing abilities.  I am amazed at the talent inside this little seven-year-old child.

English is the Bob Jones homeschooling curriculum.  This is a new series for me, and I am excited to see how it goes.  Reading, writing, grammar, spelling and vocabulary are all pulled from slightly different programs.  It is hard for me to stick with just one homeschooling curriculum, because there are so many out there and so many different learning styles within my own household.

My oldest is somehow at the age where he will be starting high school.  I sincerely have no idea how this happened.  It feels like he was just born, and yet here we are starting ninth grade.  He will be attending the online homeschooling program BYU has created.  While BYU is a Mormon university, the homeschooling curriculum for high school  is secular and available to anyone interested in applying.  I am excited to have him fill out the application this week and submit it to the university.  He will be capable of applying for university programs after completion of this application process.  It comes complete with a student written essay on their academic goals and plans.  I love it.

This is all so exciting, and I am getting started on all the lesson plans next week.  I have to stay focused on this year’s school work and finish up the last couple of chapters in our current program.  But I am so excited for this next year’s homeschooling curriculum.