Organization and Second Thoughts

A big part of homeschooling, especially if you are teaching several subjects and kids, is organization.  I like to have things organized, since it helps me keep everything together.   I use plastic tubs to keep my curriculum organized.  I have all of my teacher's manuals and Darius' preschool book in one tub.  Samuel's workbooks are in a second tub and in a smaller tub, are the manipulatives and science kit.

Another way I've organized, is to have a homeschooling center in my kitchen.  As much as I would love to have a separate room to homeschool in, it isn't possible in a small three bedroom house with a family of five!  So, I've had to be creative.   I turned one wall of my kitchen into homeschooling central.  Josh mounted a whiteboard onto the wall and I hung up my place value chart.  The side of our cabinets sports our schedule and our ongoing weather project in science is posted above the whiteboard.  I also washed out an old chocolate milk mix container and covered in it fun wrapping paper to store my whiteboard markers and erasers.

I also titled this post "second thoughts", because there are days when I have second thoughts about homeschooling.   Today, for instance, was one of those days.  Samuel was in a bad mood, where little things set him off.  We battled all morning during school.  He would sit and refuse to work and I would respond by trying to motivate him.  Meanwhile, Eve was fussing all morning.  Somehow we made it through.  During this seemingly endless morning of struggles, the thought entered my mind of  "real" school.  I found myself wondering if he would act the same way with a "real" teacher in a classroom.   Luckily this was a fleeting thought and, with a little prayer, starting feeling confident once again my teaching abilities.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love teaching my children and I know that homeschooling is the right choice for us.  But it is interesting how Satan likes to use a hard moment to make you second guess your actions.    

Our afternoon has gone a lot better and I think Samuel and I are both glad about that!  Hopefully tomorrow will go a lot better than today.

In the Swing of Things

We have started our third week of homeschooling.   Last week was a little easier, since we knew what to expect.  Samuel has had two tests this week.  In his Phonics/Reading and Math curriculum there is a test or assessment after every ten lessons.  We have reached the first tests this week and he has done well on them.  He missed one on each test.  I'm proud of him!  

We are working on his perfectionist tendencies.  He likes to answer correctly and gets upset if he gets it wrong.  His greatest struggle concerning this, is in spelling.  At the beginning of the week, there is an assessment to see how many of the words he knows how to spell.  He gets upset if he doesn't know how to spell a word or spells it wrong.   Even though we talk about how it is okay to misspell the words, he still does not like it.  But he does work hard throughout the week to learn the correct spelling and it pays off at the end.  Last week he spelled all of his words correctly!

Some of you are wondering, how I manage to homeschool during the day with two younger children.  Darius is working through a preschool workbook,  which he works on while Samuel works on Phonics/Reading and Math.  I only have him work on 2 pages, so we can focus on the material he needs to learn.  (At the moment it is how to hold a pencil correctly, and form letters.)  When he finishes, he can play.  Darius also joins us in the afternoon for Science, Social Studies and Bible.  I usually copy the workbook pages so he can join us.  He is a little sponge.  Even though his attention span is shorter and he is still learning to write, he is learning the material very well.  

Eve, however, can be challenging.  In the morning,  I set up our blue booster seat at the table and she colors while the boys work.  She sure thinks she is big stuff!   When we continue school, after our morning break, it is harder to occupy her.  Darius likes to play with her, but usually she is at the table trying to grab books or I'm holding her as I am teaching Samuel.  It can get a little crazy, but we manage.  In the afternoon, we start school after she goes down for her nap.  It is easier, since Science includes games or manipulatives with small pieces.  

I like the flexibility of homeschooling.  We work on school every day, but we have the flexibility to focus on other things as they come up.  For instance, we had to leave town quickly last week to attend Josh's grandpa's funeral.  We 'missed' two days of school, but it wasn't a big deal, since we picked up where we left off.    We have also been talking about going to St. Louis for a few days, next month.  We can take those breaks in the middle of the year, when the public schools are in session, and not have to fight crowds at the zoo or museum.    

I am going to try to post pictures throughout the year as well.  The first one is of our set up this morning during school.  Enjoy!

New Homeschooling Year

I am going to try to blog again and blog once a week about our homeschooling experiences.   We started our new homeschool year last week.   Samuel is kindergarten age, but since we worked on kindergarten material last year, we are doing first grade this year.    The first week was an adjustment for us.  Samuel is learning more and so our day revolves around the kitchen table more than last year.  

Here is this year's schedule:
8:30 a.m.  Phonics/Reading
9:30 a.m.  Math
10:00 a.m.  Break
10:30 a.m.  Handwriting
11:00 a.m.  Spelling
11:30 a.m.  Break, then lunch
1:00 p.m.    Social Studies (M, W) or Science (T, Th)
1:30 p.m.    Bible

What I like about homeschooling is that if Samuel finishes his work in one subject early, we move on to the next.  There were several days last week when he finished Phonics/Reading and Math before 9:30 a.m.!   We also went on our first field trip last week as well.   The Ozark Empire Fair was going on, so we went on Saturday.  Josh had received two adult tickets from a fellow librarian and the kids were still free, so we didn't have to pay anything to attend.  We spent most of our time touring the livestock barns and talking about the animals we saw.  Pretty easy for a field trip!

My biggest stress for the year was going to be recording hours.  In the state of Missouri, you have to have 1,000 hours of instruction.  600 of those hours are in the "core" subjects (math, reading, grammar, science, social studies), with 400 of the 600 taught in the home.  I, technically do not have to start recording hours until Samuel is 7 years old.  But I wanted this year to be a trial run, so I would know how to do it next year.   Let me tell you, it was stressful last week trying to record exactly how many minutes each subject took and adding them up and recording them.  I wanted to pull my hair out!!   But after talking to a fellow homeschooling Mom and reading the statutes online and and explanation of them, I learned a new way.  The hours that are required are not clock hours they are more like credit hours.  One lesson is considered one "hour".  Talk about a relief!  This will make it so much easier to record hours, since I don't have to worry about exact minutes.  It will also help me not feel so stressed out and I can relax and have more fun teaching.

I am going to try to blog at least once a week this year.  I know I haven't been that great at it, but I really am going to try.  Hopefully I will be able to attach some pictures throughout the year as well.