books, books and more books

As I said in my post on school supplies, if there is one thing homeschoolers have in great quantities, it is books. As a bibliophile, I don't mind this type of shopping in the least. However, to save money, I don't buy very many books at full price. According to the receipts I kept in the front pocket of my notebook, these are some of the resources I frequently utilize for buying books:

The Public Library - Our curriculum uses mostly classic literature. I can often find the books I need at the used book sale our public library holds each month.  The children's books (which many of the classics are listed under) sell for 25 cents each.  I keep a mental list of the books we need (though a physical list would keep me from buying duplicates) and can usually pick up a couple each month.

Year 6 books purchased for 25 cents each

Ebay - If I can remember to start looking early enough in the year, I make a "saved search" for some of the more obscure books we need for the coming year. These are out-of-print (OOP) books or books that are too costly to purchase new. It usually takes a few months to get them at a price I'm willing to pay, so I have to start my search early.

Amazon - You can, of course, buy new and used books at Amazon.com. It is very easy to do and I have been mostly happy with my used book purchases through their listings. There are many other online used book sellers - half.com; abebooks.com, thriftbooks.com, alibris.com, powells.com - but I try to keep it simple. We have also invested in a Kindle. Many of the classic books in Kindle format are available for free. One homeschooling mother has compiled a list of Ambleside Online books for Kindle that makes searching for these even easier.

Rainbow Resource Center - The is the go-to place for homeschool materials. Created by and run by a homeschooling family, their site is an amazing resource for parents and educators everywhere. Nearly everything they carry has been reviewed at length. The website also has pictures of the backs and insides of the books which is very helpful when trying to make decisions. Their prices are often cheaper than Amazon's listed price, so I comparison shop very closely to get the best deal possible.

Occasionally, I will buy directly from the publisher. This usually only happens if they do not offer their books at other online retailers or have specially priced packages.  I have purchased science curriculum from NOEO Science, history curriculum from Classical Home Education and, most recently, literature guides from Memoria Press.

Thoughts for the New Year

We began our new year of homeschool today. The schedules were made. All the new books were in place on the shelves. I still had a few things to print out last night, but I think we were ready to get started again. (Junebug was actually bored over the last week of our break.) I read a blog post recently over at Simple Mom that described this time of year as a second "new year".  The "Back to School" time does have a very similar feeling of expectation and remembrance that one gets at the turn of the calendar year in January.  The new year is always a time to assess our goals and progress, think about what went well in the past and check in with our dreams for the future. 

On this same note, I found in the first pocket of my homeschool notebook a few notes from a seminar I attended many years ago about setting goals for our homeschools. We were asked to write down our own thoughts on various headings. These were "big picture" goals.  It has been a few years since I wrote them down, surprisingly not much has changed. I guess we're more focused than it seems at times.  Have a look:

Education Goals:
Then: I want my children to maintain a love of learning, have a broad-based (liberal) education, be able to research/read about their interests, focus on basic skills in early years (reading, math and writing), spend time in nature, enjoy the arts (picture study, composer study, Shakespeare, music lessons).

Now: Our goals are still the same, overall. We are a family of geeks and enjoy learning all the time. Our curriculum is broad and diverse. We do need to increase our time out-of-doors. If only I lived in a more temperate climate!

Societal Goals:  
Then: I want to raise caring and compassionate people who are respectful of others, have good leadership skills, a concern for the environment and will be of service to others.

Now: Again, these goals have not changed. We are actively involved with Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts. I say it so often that it should be our family motto: "Be Helpful!"

Academic Goals  
Then: I want my children to find a career doing something they love, that gives their lives great meaning and has an impact on the world. College is optional.

Now: The only thing that I would add is that they be able to adequately support themselves and their families with their chosen career. Even though Physbrain (my husband) and I both have advanced degrees, we recognize the value of learning a trade and providing meaningful service to others. We also know many people who do not end up in a career that has anything to do with their academic degrees. Junebug currently wants to be a veterinarian and Legoboy a robotics engineer, so college is definitely in their futures...but that can always change.


Religious Goals 
Then: I hope that the children develop kindness and compassion, have gratitude, love an open-mind with regard to others.

Now: This is probably the area where we have changed the most. Over the last few years we have grown in our understanding of the Christian faith. Whereas all of the above goals were based on some intangible idea of "goodness", now we have a solid basis for our beliefs and morals. I pray that they continue to grow in their relationship with Jesus and learn to be true followers of Him.

Time Wasters 
Then: Though we stay on schedule most of the time, our days would be more productive with less time wasted on the computer, playing, arguing and fighting.

Now: Same, same, same. What do expect from a family of creative, independent, yet willful people headed by a computational engineer?

Housework  
Then:  The basics are done each day/week, but I wish I could get the children more involved with chores and be more organized.

Now: The children do take turns helping with laundry and dishes and are good about making their beds each day; however, they are both capable of contributing more to the household work than they do. Since our move last year, I do feel we're more organized. We have the space to store things that belong together in the same place and got rid of lots of unnecessary things. I am also still striving for simplicity in the home.

Time spent with Friends
Then: We meet with friends at the park and the library each week.

Now: I think we're good on the friends department. The children have several friends in the neighborhood as well as other homeschool friends that they get together with to play. They are also involved in various organized social activities, such as church classes, book clubs and scouts. I also have a book club that meets once a month. I would like to get together more often with my friends to do creative things like sewing and crafts.

School Supplies

I love shopping for school supplies. There is a special thrill in my heart when I pick up a brand new notebook or a box of fresh crayons. I think it is the anticipation of the learning that is to come, the thoughts to be shared, the pictures drawn that really gets me excited. As we get further and further into this life of homeschooling, however, I find that the number of traditional school supplies we need each year dwindles. We still have plenty left over and can reuse from year to year. This year I think I spent less than two dollars on some paper folders and pencil erasers. We didn't need crayons or pencils or glue or paper. No hand-sanitizer or book covers. No highlighters or kleenex. I was a bit disappointed!

What school supplies do homeschoolers need?  Of course we need the basics: notebooks, filler paper, post-it notes, index cards, tape, glue, 12" ruler and a yard/meter stick, pens, pencils, scissors, construction paper, three-hole punch, etc. But what else? A couple of years ago, this question came up  on one of the Yahoo Groups to which I subscribe. I jotted down a list and tucked it into the first pocket of my homeschool notebook. Here are the supplies that may not appear on any public school list:

• Book shelves - The one thing homeschoolers buy and borrow in mass quantities is books. All those books have to go somewhere. From built-ins to free standing, one can never have too many bookshelves. Our kitchen has a nice built-in desk with shelves where we keep most of our lesson books and basic supplies. Junebug also keeps some of her books in her room. There are more shelves in the living room and boxes of books are stored in the pantry.

•  A computer, color printer/copier, internet access - Though we limit the children's free-time on the computer, our day is not complete without looking up something on Google or Wikipedia or YouTube. This year Junebug will be typing her written narrations in a shared Google Documents file. With our copier/printer we can make copies of worksheets, print sheet music, art study pictures, or history time line figures.  Regular printer paper as well as card stock is very handy to have on hand.

•  White board and markers - From math to spelling to displaying art, our white board gets daily use. Even my husband uses it to jot down complex mathematical equations for his work or messages for me on his way out the door. Ours is magnetic, so handy for putting up art work, too.

• A good pencil sharpener - We have several plastic ones that seem to float around from place to place. When I go home next, I'm going to ask my Dad for the old-fashioned manual one we had when I was a child that we can attach to the wall or pick up this one at Office Depot.

•  Good art supplies - We have a boxes of broken crayons, markers and half-used watercolor sets that the children have access to at any time. Now that the children are also beginning more formal art instruction, however, we have been splurging on some good art supplies that stay separate from the every day. (I know there are some who think that children should be given the best from the very beginning, but I'd rather not give my three-year old free access to them.)

• Library cards & tote bags - Another essential item for every homeschooler. We do not check out as many books as we used to, but we still rely on our local library system for many books throughout the year.

• Globe and/or wall maps/educational posters - These are essential for understanding so many academic subjects from geography to history and literature to science. If you don't have room on the wall, some people have put them on display boards and slide them under the couch. We currently have the Period Table of the Elements in our kitchen as well as a poster of the U.S. Presidents.

• Stereo or speakers for mp3 player - For us, the computer in the kitchen serves us well. I will also be putting our composer study songs on a CD for the car.

• Clipboards -  We have three clipboards that get regular use in our house. One has scratch paper on it. Junebug and Legoboy each have one with their weekly schedules go on them. The clipboards are also handy for doing work in the car or outside.

•  Miscellaneous "Science" Equipment - hand lens, magnets, funnels, old measuring cups, spoons, string, and old bowl, etc. I used to have to track these down on a regular basis, but then started keeping them gathered together in a couple of boxes in the pantry.

There's No Place Like Home

We've begun watching a couple of neighbor boys after school several days a week. It is with great anticipation that we wait for the school bus to come around the corner each afternoon. We throw the door open and welcome them with open arms, offer them a snack and a place to rest. I realized this week that since we homeschool, my children and I are missing out on this joyful return each day. They are not away from home for eight hours with lots of other people around.  They are not confined to a desk or a line or a bus seat. A homemade snack, a hug and a "how was your day" is something that these neighbor boys look forward to each day and that my children take for granted.

Junebug and I were recently talking about the difference between "house" and "home". To her they were the same thing. I tried to explain the difference to her. A house is a generic term for a place to live, but home is familiar and specific. I told her that home is a safe place to which you retreat at the end of the day.  Home is where all your favorite things are. Home is warm and comforting. She looked at me blankly. Apparently, she does not have enough experience with being out in the world to understand this yet. Home is the place where my children do nearly everything!  It is just the place they always are...where we all are...together.

So they may miss out on this "welcome home" ritual every day, but that's okay with me.  One of the reasons we homeschool is that we don't want to separate life from learning. We are always learning and don't have to go to a special place to do it. We homeschool because it is real and challenging, without competition and pressure.  We homeschool because we can take breaks when we need to, sleep late when we need to, and not force ourselves to be on someone else's schedule. We homeschool for the freedom and the joy it brings our lives.  We have time to pursue our own interests, be creative, and play! We homeschool because it is good for our children and our family.

While I write this my older children are at their first day of homeschool choir co-op classes for the year. They attend this class once a week and carpool with another family, so I can stay home while Lovey naps. The house is quiet and smells of freshly baked cookies. As much as we enjoy being together most of the time, some time apart is good, too. I look forward to greeting them upon their return and hearing with all their exuberance and cheerfulness of their "day".  Perhaps we are not missing out on much after all.

Scheduling 101

One of the questions that new homeschoolers often ask, is "How do you schedule everything?" There are many approaches to making a schedule. Some homeschooling families find that having a very regimented schedule keeps them on track, with each subject being taught at a certain time. Others feel stifled by such structure and find a more free-flowing day a better fit for their family. I have tried both in the past and found that we did best somewhere in between: a daily schedule of events with lots of flexibility built in. But that was with just one school-aged child. What challenges would two bring?


In my homeschool notebook, on the back of the last page of the Five in a Row section is a page where I scribbled down my notes for our term 1 schedule last fall. It was my first year of doing a full routine of lessons with two children, Junebug (5th Grade) and Legoboy (1st Grade), while still meeting the needs of Lovey, age two.  It looks something like this:

 

(I know, the picture doesn't give you much information. Let me give you the guided tour.)

The left hand column are Legoboy's lessons from Year 1 - Ambleside Online. They included daily penmanship, phonics, math, poetry, Spanish and Bible. Throughout the week we also were to read from 9-10 other books that included literature, history and science. Charlotte Mason advocated doing "short lessons" with her pupils. These short lessons lasted between 5 to 15 minutes for her younger students.  In my experience, and hers, this is really about as long as you can expect a young child to pay careful attention. In the left margin I have calculated that it would take about 1 hour to do his daily lessons and then another hour (or so) to do the extra lessons. Ideally, these lessons were to be completed in the morning, freeing up our afternoons to do "extra" things, such as nature study and handicrafts.

The middle column are Junebug's lessons from Year 5 - Ambleside Online. In addition to the daily lessons of Year 1 (excluding phonics), Latin and musical instrument practice were added. She also had 8 additional subjects to be done throughout the week. I made note of how many times each week she would have to do each subject. Since she is older, each lesson could be expected to take 20-30 minutes to complete.  Again, these were to be her morning lessons.

The right hand column is a list of the "extra" weekly lessons that they were both expected to do: art, map/timeline, handicrafts, music appreciation/composer study, nature study, art appreciation/artist study. In addition, Junebug would have Grammar, Plutarch, Piano Lessons and Shakespeare. These activities would ideally be done in the afternoon.

Confused yet? I certainly was. Having two children to schedule really gave me trouble. The bottom of the page in my notebook is my attempt to organize all of this into a cohesive and simple format Monday - Friday. In the previous years, with only one set of lessons to deal with, I was able to organize the lessons into a nice schedule that became the rhythm for the day. Now, with two, I was at a loss on how to get it all fit in without running myself ragged. Could I possibly homeschool two children with no schedule, but rather just a list of daily and weekly subjects? Would it be too chaotic? Would we fall behind?  Being flexible and finding what works best for you are two of the joys (and challenges) of homeschooling. With a headache building and no better alternative in sight, I decided to try something different.

To save myself from reinventing the wheel, I found a pdf file on the AO-Member-Schedules Yahoo Group for Year 1 that had a check list of each week's lessons already formatted. I only had a few substitutions to make, so I decided to use it for Legoboy's lessons. And you know what? It worked out very well. When we had the time to do the lessons, I looked at the week's list, pulled out the books we needed/wanted to work on and checked them off when complete. Some days we did them in the morning, some days in the afternoon in the car while Junebug went to music co-op class, or at the kitchen table while Lovey was napping.

Junebug was mostly independent with her lessons. I created a file of all her lessons for the term, printed it out and let her work on things as she wanted. I made sure to set aside an hour or so each day to help her with math or Plutarch or Shakespeare. She took several breaks throughout the day to play with Legoboy or help with housework and finished by 3:00pm each afternoon. I missed spending time with her, but it really taught her to schedule her own time and find her own rhythm to the day. By the end of the last term she had gotten a bit behind, but was determined to finish up "on time". On her own, without any prompting from me, she made her own list of what she needed to complete by the end of the week and she did it! I was very proud.

Note: We finished our school "year" last week and  are currently on break from lessons. We will be starting Year 2 and Year 6 in just a couple of weeks. With only some slight tweaking, I am going to use the same system for scheduling this year, too.  No more complicated charts for me!

A Gentle Beginning

When starting out on this adventure of homeschooling I read many books about homeschooling. I subscribed to various catalogs and message boards and consumed all the wonderful  bits of advice that came from those pioneering families before me. Junebug started reading on her own at age 3.5. As a master's degree holding English major, this was a delight to me. We could read together and while away many a happy hour in the library or on the couch. Given our shared love of reading, I wanted a literature-based curriculum to begin our journey. I don't remember how I came across Five in a Row (FIAR), but it fit the bill perfectly.  We used FIAR for her pre-K year. It was fun and easy to do with her and a new baby in the house.

Five in a Row is a unit study type curriculum. Each week I would prepare a list of five activities from the FIAR book that we would do based on a classic children's story, one from each category: Social Studies, Language Arts, Art, Math and Science. There are several activities under each category, so it is easy to choose which would be most appealing for you and your child. I also made notes of the keywords for each topic. (I think there was an online chart/file that listed the subjects for each book along with a corresponding character study. If I still have the file, it would be on a computer back-up disc...somewhere!) I would then look up these keywords on the online card catalog and make a list of "go along" books to supplement our lessons. Armed with my notebook and lists, we would go to the library, walking if the weather were nice, enjoy some stories and social time with other families, gather our bag of books for the week and head home to snuggle on the couch, do crafts projects (usually during nap time) and explore the world.

Sample FIAR page from the notebook

In addition to library books, I extensively utilized Enchanted Learning for supplementing our lessons with printable books, diagrams and maps for each story. In addition to these maps, we used the story discs from the back of the  FIAR book. The story discs are pictures related to the story that you can copy, color, laminate and cut out for map work. We used velcro dots to adhere the disc to the proper location on a U.S. or World Map. Each day of the week, I would hand Junebug the story disc and she would have to locate the proper location for the story. The maps were hung up in her room so she had plenty of opportunity to look at them. Every once in a while we would remove the discs from the map and test ourselves to remember where each story disc should be placed.

One of the first books we read was Lentil by Robert McCloskey, a delightful story about a boy who loves music, but couldn't sing or whistle. He saves his money to buy a harmonica, teaches himself to play and ends up saving the day when the town sourpuss tries to ruin the homecoming of a local hero in a scheme that involves lemons. This is what we did:

Social Studies: Lentil is set in a small town in Ohio. We found Ohio on the map and placed the Lentil story disc there. I also helped her write the name OHIO for writing practice. She colored a picture of the state flag of Ohio from Enchanted Learning.

Language Arts: We talked about what makes for a good story: introduction, rising action, climax, denouement, resolution. (Yes, I realize she was four, but didn't I mention that I have a Master's in English?!) We then "wrote" a story together.

Art: I bought a cheap harmonica at a toy store and we listened to various music played on the harmonica, especially "She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain" which is featured in the book. The harmonica is actually a good musical "toy". It makes a pleasing sound and all of the children have enjoyed playing it.

Math: We made circles out of pla-doh and cut the circles into fractions.

Science: We read The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses by Joanna Cole and made a model of the mouth out of paper that I found online. We also tasted lemons and made lemonade.

While we used this curriculum for Junebug's PreK and later, very loosely, for Legoboy's K year, there are FIAR books that extend all the way to middle school appropriate chapter books. Many families use the books with a variety of age ranges and repeat the stories doing different activities each time. Many of the families who do FIAR also make lapbooks for each story that they read. This was another new concept to me. I liked the idea and we did a few of these. Here is the one from Lentil:

Lentil lapbook closed

Lentil lapbook opened

While I liked these, I found them to be too much "busy" work for us and they were quickly set aside. Instead I kept our work in a three-ringed binder with a section for each of the five topics. Looking back through the binder, I'm amazed at all that we did (and how organized I was.)

 

Overall, I really enjoyed the stories that we read using the FIAR curriculum. They introduced me to some wonderful children's authors who I had never heard of or had forgotten.  FIAR provided some structure to our days, gave us new experiences and ways of looking at other picture books. Junebug says that she remembers doing some of the books like Make Way for Ducklings and Peter Rabbit,and she recognized some of the crafts that she had done, but her memory of them was very vague. "It was six years ago!" she said as she turned back to her computer game.   I still recommend this curriculum to new homeschoolers, especially those who love to read and whose children love books. It is a gentle curriculum that is easy to use.

Welcome to The Notebook

This is the homeschooling notebook that I have been compiling since we  began homeschooling our eldest daughter, Junebug, when she was 4 - preK.  It is a large spiral notebook divided into sections where I have kept notes on curriculum, books, inspiration, conferences, etc. For the last few years, I have used the back section to make my lists for the coming year.  Come midsummer, I pull out the notebook and begin entering the list.  I spent several afternoons last month pouring over my notes from Ambleside Online and other sources to finalize the list for Junebug's sixth grade year.  (Yes, this will be our 8th year of homeschooling!) I turned the page to begin the list for Legoboy's second grade year only to discover that I was at the end of the notebook!  I knew that there were blank pages elsewhere in the notebook, somewhere between the Sonlight reading lists, science book recommendations, ancient history lessons and Charlotte Mason notes. I would have to search for them and find the right place to begin inserting the next year to come.

As I flipped through the pages, the pleasant memories of being at home with my children came flooding back. No, not all the days have been wonderful, but collectively, I wouldn't trade them for anything. Homeschooling mothers (and fathers) often talk about their "journey." Charlotte Mason, a  true pioneer and icon of home education says, "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life." And like life, homeschooling is a journey! There are maps and guided tours and suggestions abounding about the "best" way, but each family eventually makes their own way down that road, one year at a time, one child at a time: the bumpy gravel road year when you first start off, the country lane year of the new baby, the interstate highway of late elementary, those untraveled side roads, the blue highways, and the open road of the future. They are all here in our journey, too, recorded in the pages of my homeschool notebook. Let me share them with you.