Today I was asked why we homeschool. I never quite feel that I fully answer this question when I am asked, there are so many reasons!
1. Learning at home means my kids never have to be the new kid. As a military family, they would be the new kids quite often. I really think this helps our transfer times (something that usually takes a total of six months form start to finish) much less stressful for them.
2. My kids have the freedom to move on or study more on a subject if needed because our learning is tailored to them. We also have an extra 5-6 months of time to spend on school since we don't have to take 2 week holidays twice a year, federal holidays, training days or summer vacation.
3. School shopping is fun! I love buying supplies and curriculum, trying new things. My kids play with educational toys and our house is full of them- more things that count as school supplies!
4. I get to chose what my kids learn. I do follow national standards but it is nice to be able to find individual curricula that actually works with my kids and still goes along with our families beliefs and morals. I personally do not homeschool for religious reasons so it is nice to find lessons that support secular homeschooling and I enjoy finding different secular resources.
5. The world is our classroom... literally!!!! We have homeschooled while living in three different countries, vacations are filled with learning and we have seen and done things some children only read in textbooks.
6. My kids' socialization is controlled. I am not a crazy mom who keeps my kids holed up in the house but friends do need to be approved of. Also, because I am home I am able to watch my kids and what they and their friends do so I can interject if there is anything questionable going on rather than find out through others parents, the principal or the police! I am happy that my kids get to be kids during their growing years- we talk about drugs, sex an other inappropriate behavior but I am happy that their chances of encountering these issues so young is very slim.
7. While we do have difficult days (or weeks sometimes!) I know that all of our hard work is well worth it. My kids are well adjusted and I love our happy moments that i would miss if they were gone 8 hours a day!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Multiplication!!!!!
I just couldn't be prouder of Squidward! The last few weeks, he has been memorizing his multiplication facts and he has them all down 0-12! I promised him something special for all of his hard work- maybe an ice cream night out this weekend :)
Every two schooldays, he would focus on one fact family. First he would make flashcards and using his "magic rocks" he would count out the answer. On the first day he would memorize the x's 0-5 and the second day finish them up with x's 6-12. Each day he would also play online math games and I would give him 2-minute multiplication drills to help him recall the answers quickly. He has been working on them since Christmas and I still can't believe he knows them all :)
What have you done to help your children memorize their multiplication facts?
Every two schooldays, he would focus on one fact family. First he would make flashcards and using his "magic rocks" he would count out the answer. On the first day he would memorize the x's 0-5 and the second day finish them up with x's 6-12. Each day he would also play online math games and I would give him 2-minute multiplication drills to help him recall the answers quickly. He has been working on them since Christmas and I still can't believe he knows them all :)
What have you done to help your children memorize their multiplication facts?
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Quiet Weekend
Saying goodbye to Dad never gets easier, no matter how many times we do it. The picture below is not from this deployment but I think it is one of the most descriptive ways of our feelings on these days.
We have had a quiet weekend. I have been keeping myself busy with making lesson plans, putting together homeschool portfolios and reading some books that I have been to busy to pick up lately. This week we are hitting Tokyo for a modeling job and might be going to Chinatown in Yokohama to celebrate the Chinese New Year!
We have had a quiet weekend. I have been keeping myself busy with making lesson plans, putting together homeschool portfolios and reading some books that I have been to busy to pick up lately. This week we are hitting Tokyo for a modeling job and might be going to Chinatown in Yokohama to celebrate the Chinese New Year!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Contractions
This week, Squidward is conquering contractions!
We have come across don't, won't and can't in The Magic Treehouse books he reads each day and he has started to use them in his notebook to replace "not" words. Last year he had a brief lesson on them and they had come back up in his language arts curriculum last week.
To help remember what all of the contractions meant, I had him make flashcards to practice and quiz himself. We also played a memory game where all of the cards were turned over and he had to find matches such as "do not" and "don't" I also found this great site full of contraction games that he enjoys to play.
I love that he is using contractions on his own in both his speech and writing!
We have come across don't, won't and can't in The Magic Treehouse books he reads each day and he has started to use them in his notebook to replace "not" words. Last year he had a brief lesson on them and they had come back up in his language arts curriculum last week.
To help remember what all of the contractions meant, I had him make flashcards to practice and quiz himself. We also played a memory game where all of the cards were turned over and he had to find matches such as "do not" and "don't" I also found this great site full of contraction games that he enjoys to play.
I love that he is using contractions on his own in both his speech and writing!
Commercials and Magazines!
Last week I attended a class about modeling in Japan. The Japanese love using Americans in ads, especially blond hair blue eyed kids so I sent out the kids' pictures to a few of the companies that the base prescreens. Within a week my inbox was full of offers! I mean I knew my kids were cute but I fully embrace that I may be partial to that opinion :)
Zombie Boy ended up getting hired for a print ad for Casio. The shooting date was for this Friday but unfortunately had to be pushed back. Squidward has an audition in Harajuku this evening! I still can't believe it! We have agreed to split any monies earned four ways- a majority of each payment will go straight in each kids' college fund, a small portion will be given to whoever did the work to pick a toy or gift out, a small portion will go to our Disneyland pot and each payment will reimburse me for our travel costs (those trains add up quick!) Everyone is excited to get to travel even more now and practice our Japanese :)
I promise to not go all Toddlers and Tiaras on my kids and keep everything at home in balance between family time, school time and *fame* :)
Zombie Boy ended up getting hired for a print ad for Casio. The shooting date was for this Friday but unfortunately had to be pushed back. Squidward has an audition in Harajuku this evening! I still can't believe it! We have agreed to split any monies earned four ways- a majority of each payment will go straight in each kids' college fund, a small portion will be given to whoever did the work to pick a toy or gift out, a small portion will go to our Disneyland pot and each payment will reimburse me for our travel costs (those trains add up quick!) Everyone is excited to get to travel even more now and practice our Japanese :)
I promise to not go all Toddlers and Tiaras on my kids and keep everything at home in balance between family time, school time and *fame* :)
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Homeschool Writing
Writing...... For some homeschool parents, this word sparks fear and hesitiation more than algebra, long division, phonics and chemistry experiements. Why? Because many kids just don't like to write. It is easy to teach math and science concepts because there are directions. If you follow the directions, you will reach the result you are looking for. Unfortunatley (or fortunatley for some), writing involves thinking, creatvity and patience. It is a skill that we continually improve and change each time we put a pencil on paper, even as adults.
Squidward is a kid who has never liked to write. He didn't mind the actual task of making letters on paper such as handwriting or copy work, he just hated sitting for an extended period of time and coming up with his own ideas or thoughts. This troubled me very much because he is my most creative child and I just couldn't understand why he didn't want to share that creativity on paper. He would be willing to talk about ideas but not write them.
In the beginning of our home school journey, we were signed up through a public distance learning school because I was very overwhelmed with the idea of coming up with an adequate curriculum that I could use to properly teach my children (I, of course. find this idea ridiculously hilarious now!) For two years, Sqidward learned how to write the same way public school kids learned and each assignment was sent into the teacher for grading which in return, she would grade and mail his assignments back full of red marks pointing out all of his errors. This discouraged him to the point of not wanting to write at all and I knew we had to change something. Last year I ended up finding as great writing curriculum so that Squidward could continue to learn about grammar and writing fundamentals in an eight week course but did not ask him to do anything further than that for the rest of the year and summer.
This year, I bought him a special notebook that only he writes in. I do not correct it at all. In the beginning we would come up with ideas and he would maybe write a sentance or two and draw a picture. He was very hesitant at first but then began to enjoy writing and reading his ideas and thoughts to me.
His writing went from this:
To this:
I am so proud of him. He works so hard on his notebook each day! We are to the point now where he is ok with me circling his mis spelled words so that he can add them to his word wall but other than that, my pen stay out of it. It is important for me to know what writing standards are for Aidan's grade but we are able to take more time when needed in a particular subject since we are home and learning all year long. I love that I had the freedom to recognize that Aidan needed less pushing in the writing area. The break and hands off approach seemed to help rebuild his confidence. I never want my kids to learn or do school because they "have" to, I want them to learn and do school because they WANT to. I try to cultivate their natural curiosity and imagination by homeschooling as I have found those areas of learning are not encouraged in public school.
Have you ever had a homeschooling instance where backing off on a subject or area helped more than anything?
Squidward is a kid who has never liked to write. He didn't mind the actual task of making letters on paper such as handwriting or copy work, he just hated sitting for an extended period of time and coming up with his own ideas or thoughts. This troubled me very much because he is my most creative child and I just couldn't understand why he didn't want to share that creativity on paper. He would be willing to talk about ideas but not write them.
In the beginning of our home school journey, we were signed up through a public distance learning school because I was very overwhelmed with the idea of coming up with an adequate curriculum that I could use to properly teach my children (I, of course. find this idea ridiculously hilarious now!) For two years, Sqidward learned how to write the same way public school kids learned and each assignment was sent into the teacher for grading which in return, she would grade and mail his assignments back full of red marks pointing out all of his errors. This discouraged him to the point of not wanting to write at all and I knew we had to change something. Last year I ended up finding as great writing curriculum so that Squidward could continue to learn about grammar and writing fundamentals in an eight week course but did not ask him to do anything further than that for the rest of the year and summer.
This year, I bought him a special notebook that only he writes in. I do not correct it at all. In the beginning we would come up with ideas and he would maybe write a sentance or two and draw a picture. He was very hesitant at first but then began to enjoy writing and reading his ideas and thoughts to me.
His writing went from this:
To this:
I am so proud of him. He works so hard on his notebook each day! We are to the point now where he is ok with me circling his mis spelled words so that he can add them to his word wall but other than that, my pen stay out of it. It is important for me to know what writing standards are for Aidan's grade but we are able to take more time when needed in a particular subject since we are home and learning all year long. I love that I had the freedom to recognize that Aidan needed less pushing in the writing area. The break and hands off approach seemed to help rebuild his confidence. I never want my kids to learn or do school because they "have" to, I want them to learn and do school because they WANT to. I try to cultivate their natural curiosity and imagination by homeschooling as I have found those areas of learning are not encouraged in public school.
Have you ever had a homeschooling instance where backing off on a subject or area helped more than anything?
Monday, January 9, 2012
Paintball for School?
Leave it to my intelligent teenager to convince me that paintballing could be counted toward home schooling....
Each week Zombie Boy has to write a small report to our learning consultant in Canada which highlights three learning objectives or activities that he accomplished within the past week. He had asked me if he could write about his day of paintballing with Josh because "he had learned a lot". Reluctantly, I agreed as long as he could come up with something useful besides just the fact that it was "fun" and cool". He ended up writing an entire paragraph about how to play and some of the tactics he used to get Josh but it was the very end of the paragraph that made me laugh because I knew he was just trying to satisfy my need for learning:
Each week Zombie Boy has to write a small report to our learning consultant in Canada which highlights three learning objectives or activities that he accomplished within the past week. He had asked me if he could write about his day of paintballing with Josh because "he had learned a lot". Reluctantly, I agreed as long as he could come up with something useful besides just the fact that it was "fun" and cool". He ended up writing an entire paragraph about how to play and some of the tactics he used to get Josh but it was the very end of the paragraph that made me laugh because I knew he was just trying to satisfy my need for learning:
I researched paintball and found out that long ago farmers used them to tell cows apart. If the cows got mixed up, they knew whose cow it was by the colour of the paint splat on their side. One day three brothers were marking their cows with paintballs and one accidentally mis-fired and hit his brother instead of the cow. Of course the brother fired back and the sport of paintball was born. If we had a cow, my mom would make me mark it in pink. No other cows would be pink, I guess. Maybe I should paintball my brother and sister so that I don't lose them or confuse them with any other little kids.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Standardized Testing
This is the first year that my kids will be participating in homeschool standardized tests. It is currently the topic of discussion on our local online homeschool group so I know I am not the only parent with the big "T" on my mind. I have been thinking about this topic for the past month or so trying to decide if I should follow through with testing or not. After weighing the pros and cons, I have decided that this year we will be participating. I don't have the need for my kids to be graded against their peers per say, but I do want to be sure that we are on the right track with national educational goals. If I see that they are low in an area, I can supplement or make some changes to our curriculum.
I am not against testing, just what it has become in the States. In the past, I have been against the idea of standardized testing in public schools because in our experience, the teachers were basically forced to teach the test. I also hate the idea that a school that has higher scores gets more funding... when I hear the words money and government used in the same sentence I cannot help but feel it is an unavoidable corrupt situation. This, yet again, is another reason why I love homeschooling. It is MY choice and I have the freedom to chose what i feel is best for my children.
We do have a few different options as Military home schoolers in Japan. I can either choose to go to our local DOD elementary and middle schools and request that my kids take the test with the rest of the students or I can order a standardized test online, administer it myself and then return it for grading. Brandon has not been to "school" in three years, Aidan only attended one semester of public school and Mia has never stepped foot in a classroom so I feel that I would be setting them up for failure by expecting them to sit quietly with 30 other kids for tests that would last the entire week. I have instead decided to give the California Achievement Test (CAT) myself and send it back to the U.S. to be graded. I am sure some may think that it would be easy to try to help my kids more than they should but if I were to do that then I would only be hurting my kids. If they are truly behind, then I want to know about it and if they are right on track then I want to know about that too!
This month we will be practicing testing skills. This means sitting still and quiet, how to fill in bubbles and comprehension of popular types of testing questions. I will also give them a few sample test questions so that they can see how test questions are worded and how to pick an answer. Proper preparation will help my kids feel more confident and less anxious during the week of our homeschool standardized testing week.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
My Not Resolutions
Did you make New Year's Resolutions this year? I didn't.
The whole idea of making goals that you know you are going to break is really bugs me. I get it- new year, new you- but why wait to change things you are unhappy for one day out of a year? I chose to not set goals this year, instead I try to be the person I want to be everyday.
Everyday I try to be patient with my kids, I try to make better food choices, I try to be accepting and loving to others, I try to be a good wife and not spend too much of my hard earned husband's money. Sure, there will be days that I yell at my kids, convince myself that cookies for breakfast are good for me and I know there are a few expensive online Lululemon shopping trips in my future but at least I won't feel I need to wait until next year to get it back together... and at least I will look good falling off the wagon in nice new stretchy pants :)
Here in Japan 2012 is the year of the DRAGON! Happy Dragon year, it looks like the next 12 months will be filled full of excitement!
The whole idea of making goals that you know you are going to break is really bugs me. I get it- new year, new you- but why wait to change things you are unhappy for one day out of a year? I chose to not set goals this year, instead I try to be the person I want to be everyday.
Everyday I try to be patient with my kids, I try to make better food choices, I try to be accepting and loving to others, I try to be a good wife and not spend too much of my hard earned husband's money. Sure, there will be days that I yell at my kids, convince myself that cookies for breakfast are good for me and I know there are a few expensive online Lululemon shopping trips in my future but at least I won't feel I need to wait until next year to get it back together... and at least I will look good falling off the wagon in nice new stretchy pants :)
Here in Japan 2012 is the year of the DRAGON! Happy Dragon year, it looks like the next 12 months will be filled full of excitement!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Holidays
Don't you just love the holidays? We had a very nice Christmas and New Year and I was so thankful to actually be together this year.
Josh was able to be home for Christmas Eve and Christmas again this year. Our last few years we have been lucky to be together on both days! We had planned to do Christmas in Disney this year and only give a few presents to the kids but we were still having some issues with PSD from our transfer so we decided on only a few good gifts. Thankfully a majority of the presents we were planning on giving had already been purchased prior to our transfer to Japan!
The holidays are over now and we are focusing on going back to school. I always wonder if other home schoolers take breaks during the holidays or just work straight through. Usually we work straight through- even during the summer but doing that allows us to take breaks as needed rather than being held to the public school system schedule. Due to our stressful move and the fact that we will be missing Josh for over half of the year, I thought it would be best to just take a rest to recharge all of our batteries. My children do not only learn Monday through Friday from the hours of 8:30-3:30 with pro days, week long holidays and exclusive learning only during the seasons of fall, winter and spring... we learn everyday during every hour! How about you?
Josh was able to be home for Christmas Eve and Christmas again this year. Our last few years we have been lucky to be together on both days! We had planned to do Christmas in Disney this year and only give a few presents to the kids but we were still having some issues with PSD from our transfer so we decided on only a few good gifts. Thankfully a majority of the presents we were planning on giving had already been purchased prior to our transfer to Japan!
The holidays are over now and we are focusing on going back to school. I always wonder if other home schoolers take breaks during the holidays or just work straight through. Usually we work straight through- even during the summer but doing that allows us to take breaks as needed rather than being held to the public school system schedule. Due to our stressful move and the fact that we will be missing Josh for over half of the year, I thought it would be best to just take a rest to recharge all of our batteries. My children do not only learn Monday through Friday from the hours of 8:30-3:30 with pro days, week long holidays and exclusive learning only during the seasons of fall, winter and spring... we learn everyday during every hour! How about you?
We are well
Just a quick update: We have arrived safe and well in Japan! This was quite a difficult transfer this go around with the added stresses of exporting horses back to the U.S., being hotel bound for months and us going overseas without The Chief while he stayed behind for school.
We are settled in our home and I am glad to say that I am ready to write again and share the past few months, look for future posts as I shamelessly catch up this month :)
We are settled in our home and I am glad to say that I am ready to write again and share the past few months, look for future posts as I shamelessly catch up this month :)
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