With the possibility of Hurricane Isaac passing through and causing rain, wind and flooding along the coastline from Miami to Louisiana we've been battening down the hatches for potential external flying hazards. We should be perfectly fine here even if we lose power since we have a well and a generator and enough food for an apocalypse. It does mean, however, that I most likely won't get to skate this week since Tampa may or may not get hit hard depending on whether or not the American model or European model for storm tracking is correct.
Either way we've been getting lots more accomplished on the RV since the weather has finally been rain-free and beautiful for the last couple of days. I'm sure our days are limited though for this week which adds a bit of pressure to the mix. I'm not keen on pressure. Up next we need to install the carpet in the cockpit area.
Next week officially starts our full schedule of lessons for the kiddos. We've been in the swing of things for a month now but only in limited subjects: Reading, Cursive, Writing for the older boys, Music, Art, History and Mine Craft. Oh wait, Mine Craft isn't a subject! Although more time is spent on that game than on their lessons I fear. (Not for much longer...<insert maniacal laugh>mwuahaha)
On a related note, I'm a little miffed at Am@zon because I've been trying to purchase some of the free e-classics and free e-textbooks I've had on my wish list for school (some I already downloaded, some I was on the fence about) and now they are no longer free or they are in a format that can not be downloaded in the US. What!? Are you kidding me? We are really making an effort to conserve resources and adhere to weight limits. With limited access to libraries we can check out books from on the road (browsing will be unlimited) I was counting on finding suitable alternatives for the Kind!e. Boo, hiss Am@zon.
Showing posts with label road school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label road school. Show all posts
Monday, August 27, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Socializing the Kiddos
The first thing a non-homeschooler asks a homeschooler is "What about socialization??" (gasp!) And whenever I'm asked that I know in my head the answer, but I'm usually so busy or distracted with other things that it comes out all mixed up like I'm defending it as I go along. Or, if I'm having a bad day the comment may be more on the snarky side like "Of course public schools socialize better, just look at all the bullies and standardized testing that will help them succeed in the real world if one of their suicidal peers doesn't shoot them first." Yeah, probably shouldn't use that one too much.
All kidding aside, homeschooled children are more real-world socialized than those in a traditional school setting. I think the question that people are meaning to ask is usually "How will your kids meet new people?" But I'll get back to that, let's start with the definition of socialization.
so·cial·i·za·tion
[soh-shuh-luh-zey-shuhn]
noun
1. a continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position.
2. the act or process of making socialistic. the socialization of industry.
When you put 24 five year olds of varying backgrounds in a room together do you think that each child will seek out the most polite and respectful child to emulate their behavior or do you think they will pick the child that is doing something new to them or is gaining attention (positive or negative) from the adults and kids around them? You better believe that they are going to emulate the kids with the grossest, loudest or most demanding behaviors! These kids aren't "socialized" to society's standards yet, however we expect that putting them in the same setting is going to end up with positive results. The schools make an attempt at teaching positive behavior but with demands for higher test standards and shorter class days, character development is an afterthought.
Now to draw a parallel to the real world, how many of you have friends and co-workers that are all exactly the same age as you and have had exactly the same education as you? I would venture to guess NONE. But if I am mistaken I would love to hear all about it. It is more likely that you have wide variety of friends, co-workers, acquaintances and family that you choose to hang out with. The age ranges and backgrounds could be staggering! Yet, somehow, you all get along and enjoy each other's company. How can that be?? (insert sarcasm)
My best friend growing up was a year younger than me, not in the same grade, not even at the same school, but we were neighbors and spent practically every waking moment together. We live on opposite sides of the country now and have very different lifestyles and even though 6 months can slip away between phone calls we can pick up as if it was yesterday.
You don't need to have friends your same age. You just need to have one true friend that understands you and will support you for who you are.
When you put 24 five year olds of varying backgrounds in a room together do you think that each child will seek out the most polite and respectful child to emulate their behavior or do you think they will pick the child that is doing something new to them or is gaining attention (positive or negative) from the adults and kids around them? You better believe that they are going to emulate the kids with the grossest, loudest or most demanding behaviors! These kids aren't "socialized" to society's standards yet, however we expect that putting them in the same setting is going to end up with positive results. The schools make an attempt at teaching positive behavior but with demands for higher test standards and shorter class days, character development is an afterthought.
Now to draw a parallel to the real world, how many of you have friends and co-workers that are all exactly the same age as you and have had exactly the same education as you? I would venture to guess NONE. But if I am mistaken I would love to hear all about it. It is more likely that you have wide variety of friends, co-workers, acquaintances and family that you choose to hang out with. The age ranges and backgrounds could be staggering! Yet, somehow, you all get along and enjoy each other's company. How can that be?? (insert sarcasm)
My best friend growing up was a year younger than me, not in the same grade, not even at the same school, but we were neighbors and spent practically every waking moment together. We live on opposite sides of the country now and have very different lifestyles and even though 6 months can slip away between phone calls we can pick up as if it was yesterday.
You don't need to have friends your same age. You just need to have one true friend that understands you and will support you for who you are.
One of the drawbacks of having introverted children is that many extroverts would consider them anti-social. That's not the case at all. And to be honest, public school (and private school) did nothing positive to encourage them to "come out of their shell," in fact it tended to do the opposite since classroom teaching is developed for short attention spans. By the time my kids had observed the situation, made a decision to engage, the class had moved on to something else and the cycle started all over again. My daughter had the opposite problem. She was eager to jump in feet first without completely listening to what was required of her and then got royally bent out of joint when she'd have to redo her work according to the teacher's requirements. She was also easily distracted by the other 24 bodies in the class making a simple task take forever to complete.
I really find the second definition intriguing. The process of making socialistic. Isn't that exactly what our current president is getting lambasted for? His supposedly hidden socialist agenda. Yet, this is what is expected of our children.
Back to the intended question of "How will your kids meet new people?" My answer is simple, the same way you meet people everyday. When we homeschool out of a house you meet your neighbors who are out when kids are typically at school, like the little old lady with the lovely roses or the chatty neighbor who is raising chickens. When we go on field trips and really, nearly everything is a field trip! When we visit our own friends who love helping kids learn. When we volunteer at the Food Bank. When we participate in homeschool co-ops or go to playdates at the park. When we road school it will be meeting the people that are temporarily living next to you or the family you meet at the laundromat. When we visit National Parks it will be docents, volunteers or Park Rangers. We will also be visiting all our friends that we've left behind over the years including the kids' friends. I feel that having the ability to strike up a conversation with a stranger is a very important life skill to have. What if you need to ask directions, most likely that person will be a stranger. What if you need to pay for your groceries, another stranger. Get separated from the family in a big store, ask an employee for help, who is a stranger to you. Can't find a book in the library, ask the librarian, another stranger. Stranger Danger is dividing our nation and making everyone think the worst of everyone else. You have street smarts and instincts to help you discern a safe situation from a potentially life threatening one. And sadly, many of the potentially life threatening situations revolve around people who weren't strangers to the child. :( But its difficult for a child to develop instincts if their parents never give them the opportunity to be responsible for themselves and possibly make mistakes.
My kids will also be keeping in touch with their friends the same way we will, by face time, texting, phone calls, emails and letters (and for Mr. T, facebook as well). They will also be making new friends along the way.
So did I answer the question? Probably not and kudos to you if you read through to the end! (Aren't you glad you didn't ask me in person!?)
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Roadschooling Curriculum
I've only managed to pack 3 boxes to keep in storage, cleaned out the outgrown clothes in Divagirl's closet (4 paper bags full!), and start on the boys' closet. But I've made progress on next year's curriculum!
I must admit, I'm a planner. I get a thrill planning, organizing and researching.
Mr T will be in 9th grade, albeit an advanced Freshman. He'll be studying...
Core Subjects:
Math-Geometry and Trigonometry via khanacademy.com
Language Arts-Most of this will be correspondence through a private tutor
Science-Biology
Social Studies-US History & Biographies, US Geography, Current Events
Electives:
Foreign Language-French
Music-Acoustic Guitar
Art-Great Artists, Design Principles, Nature Study
Computers-Maya programming
Life Skills-Teen studies, finding oneself, Compassion
PE-This will be more of a daily activity including options such as circuit training, body weight exercises, hiking, swimming, biking, etc. depending on where we are and what's available to us.
Mr. S will be starting 6th grade and he'll be studying...
Core Subjects:
Math-Pre-Algebra via khanacademy.com
Language Arts-Some of this will be correspondence through a private tutor the rest will be First Language Lessons 3+, All About Spelling, and Wordly Wise 3000
Science-Biology
Social Studies-US History, US Geography, American Presidents
Electives:
Foreign Language-French
Music-Piano/Keyboard & Theory
Art-Great Artists, Design Principles, Nature Study
Computers-Keyboarding
Life Skills-Public speaking, Patience, Tolerance
PE-Same as above only he'll also be doing parkour and hip hop dancing.
Divagirl will technically be going into 1st grade however we are currently homeschooling Kindergarten and its been a lot of 2 steps forward one step back so we will be taking it slow and moving at a pace that she's comfortable with.
Core Subjects:
Math-Addition, Subtraction, Skip counting, Fractions, Time to quarter hour
Language Arts-First Language Lessons 1, All About Spelling, Cursive First, The Reading Lesson
Science-Animals, Nature, Anatomy, Sensory (similar to the biology subjects the boys will study but more hands on depending on what's around us)
Social Studies-US History, US Geography, American Presidents
Electives:
Foreign Language-French
Music-Piano/Keyboard & Theory
Art-Great Artists, Design Principles, Nature Study
Life Skills-Patience, Resourcefulness, Caring, Perseverance, Truthfulness, Organization, Helpfulness (I'm currently the leader of her Daisy Troop and we plan on staying a Daisy while we travel, which will help with the character study and life skills)
PE-Hiking, Running, Swimming, Biking, Jump Rope, Ballet...again, dependent on where we are.
There was some discussion about the foreign language. Mr. T wanted Japanese, Mr. S wanted French and Divagirl wanted Chinese. Later Mr. T denied wanting Japanese and Divagirl refused to learn Chinese so it was agreed that we'd learn French. I took 3 years of HS French and was fluent, *ahem* 25 years ago, so it would much easier for me if we all learned something I had a prayer at teaching. Perhaps the following year I'll be brave and offer another language. I am excited though, I ordered some resources that two-thirds of them can work through. Easy French Reader and Le Petit Prince (en francais) will be introduced when they are ready to decipher written word. For Divagirl I got Let's Learn French Coloring Book because she loves to color. She also loves Fancy Nancy so she knows a few French words already.
There's an art lesson book that looks promising called Art Lab for Kids but I'd like to see it in real life first before I commit. I am an artist by education but sometimes its much nicer to just turn your brain off and follow the directions, provided its a quality lesson. And considering I'll be home schooling 3 kids at 3 levels, a little brain "off" time would be nice.
The boys will be doing some of their Language Arts lessons via a private tutor. They happen to have a grandmother who has a Masters in English and Reading and she retired from teaching Junior High kids. Perfect!
I'm also planning a bunch of reading material but I haven't finalized my lists yet, partly due to format issues. Space will be a premium and I'd rather not have all of their books in print, so I'm trying to whittle the list down to include a multitude of eBooks. Basically their literature will consist of several classics, myths and books about the US or written by American authors. I'm sure that will be another post.
I must admit, I'm a planner. I get a thrill planning, organizing and researching.
Mr T will be in 9th grade, albeit an advanced Freshman. He'll be studying...
Core Subjects:
Math-Geometry and Trigonometry via khanacademy.com
Language Arts-Most of this will be correspondence through a private tutor
Science-Biology
Social Studies-US History & Biographies, US Geography, Current Events
Electives:
Foreign Language-French
Music-Acoustic Guitar
Art-Great Artists, Design Principles, Nature Study
Computers-Maya programming
Life Skills-Teen studies, finding oneself, Compassion
PE-This will be more of a daily activity including options such as circuit training, body weight exercises, hiking, swimming, biking, etc. depending on where we are and what's available to us.
Mr. S will be starting 6th grade and he'll be studying...
Core Subjects:
Math-Pre-Algebra via khanacademy.com
Language Arts-Some of this will be correspondence through a private tutor the rest will be First Language Lessons 3+, All About Spelling, and Wordly Wise 3000
Science-Biology
Social Studies-US History, US Geography, American Presidents
Electives:
Foreign Language-French
Music-Piano/Keyboard & Theory
Art-Great Artists, Design Principles, Nature Study
Computers-Keyboarding
Life Skills-Public speaking, Patience, Tolerance
PE-Same as above only he'll also be doing parkour and hip hop dancing.
Divagirl will technically be going into 1st grade however we are currently homeschooling Kindergarten and its been a lot of 2 steps forward one step back so we will be taking it slow and moving at a pace that she's comfortable with.
Core Subjects:
Math-Addition, Subtraction, Skip counting, Fractions, Time to quarter hour
Language Arts-First Language Lessons 1, All About Spelling, Cursive First, The Reading Lesson
Science-Animals, Nature, Anatomy, Sensory (similar to the biology subjects the boys will study but more hands on depending on what's around us)
Social Studies-US History, US Geography, American Presidents
Electives:
Foreign Language-French
Music-Piano/Keyboard & Theory
Art-Great Artists, Design Principles, Nature Study
Life Skills-Patience, Resourcefulness, Caring, Perseverance, Truthfulness, Organization, Helpfulness (I'm currently the leader of her Daisy Troop and we plan on staying a Daisy while we travel, which will help with the character study and life skills)
PE-Hiking, Running, Swimming, Biking, Jump Rope, Ballet...again, dependent on where we are.
There was some discussion about the foreign language. Mr. T wanted Japanese, Mr. S wanted French and Divagirl wanted Chinese. Later Mr. T denied wanting Japanese and Divagirl refused to learn Chinese so it was agreed that we'd learn French. I took 3 years of HS French and was fluent, *ahem* 25 years ago, so it would much easier for me if we all learned something I had a prayer at teaching. Perhaps the following year I'll be brave and offer another language. I am excited though, I ordered some resources that two-thirds of them can work through. Easy French Reader and Le Petit Prince (en francais) will be introduced when they are ready to decipher written word. For Divagirl I got Let's Learn French Coloring Book because she loves to color. She also loves Fancy Nancy so she knows a few French words already.
There's an art lesson book that looks promising called Art Lab for Kids but I'd like to see it in real life first before I commit. I am an artist by education but sometimes its much nicer to just turn your brain off and follow the directions, provided its a quality lesson. And considering I'll be home schooling 3 kids at 3 levels, a little brain "off" time would be nice.
The boys will be doing some of their Language Arts lessons via a private tutor. They happen to have a grandmother who has a Masters in English and Reading and she retired from teaching Junior High kids. Perfect!
I'm also planning a bunch of reading material but I haven't finalized my lists yet, partly due to format issues. Space will be a premium and I'd rather not have all of their books in print, so I'm trying to whittle the list down to include a multitude of eBooks. Basically their literature will consist of several classics, myths and books about the US or written by American authors. I'm sure that will be another post.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Road School Curriculum
Its been challenging to pare down our homeschooling materials to bring with us. Space and gross weight are limited so I need to be selective.
First Grade
Dolche sight words (whole word)
The Reading Lesson (phonetic)
Penmanship (copywork)
First Language Lessons Book 1
Math will be manipulatives, money and time covering patterns, metric system, skip counting, addition, subtraction, fractions, etc. Maybe Singapore Math if she masters the basics.
Science will be the human body, animals and earth science as it relates to America
Social Studies will include mythology, American history and geography plus familial relationships (genealogy)
Art Nature notebooks, sketching from life and crafts that relate to our studies
Music Appreciation, singing
Phys. Ed. will be running a muck, riding bikes, swimming, hiking, jump rope, ballet and other kid activities
Sixth Grade
First Language Lessons Book 3 (finish) & 4
The Writing Book
Big Words for Little Kids
Math-Learn Math Fast book 3 and khanacademy.org for mastery and supplementation plus metric system, verbal math
Science will be earth science, nutrition, physiology
American History & geography, world geography, mythology
Art Nature notebooks, sketching from life and crafts that relate to our studies
Music Appreciation, guitar
Phys. Ed. will be running a muck, riding bikes, swimming, hiking, break-dancing, parkour and other kid activities
Modern Foreign Language-French
Reading List: (mythology) Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan, Illustrated Book of Myths, The Odyssey (retold), The Illiad (retold), Anatopsis, Iris, Messenger, (American history) George Washington's Socks, Under Siege, Children of the Longhouse, Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express, Wintering Well, The Devil's Door, Gold Rush Runaway, The Green Coat, The Last Mission, The Art of Keeping Cool, A Boy at War, plus free choice books. These selections may change, I'd like to have the books relate to what happened in the parts of the country we are touring. That may be too optimistic. If anyone has any other suggestions I'd love to hear them.
Ninth Grade
Vocabulary 1100 Words You Need to Know
Writing
Current Events
SAT prep
Math khanacademy.org starting with Geometry and working through Trigonometry plus metric system
Earth Science, Biology, Anatomy and Physiology
Computer Programming/ Game Design
Art Nature notebooks, sketching from life, color study
Music Appreciation, guitar
Phys. Ed. will be running a muck, riding bikes, swimming, hiking, basketball and other kid activities
Modern Foreign Language-Japanese
American History and geography, mythology
Reading List: Suggested High School Reading List & Classics, Jane Goodall, Silent Spring, To the Ends of the Earth, Black Flower, The Fairest Portion of the Globe, The Killer Angels, The Odyssey, The Illiad, Life on the Mississippi, JFK and the Unspeakable, The Story of my Life (part 1), Frederick Douglass, The Oregon Trail, Huckleberry Finn, A Doll's House, Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, The Outsiders, Shades of Gray, Beloved, Invisible Man, plus or minus others I'm sure!
I'm sure this will change :)
First Grade
Dolche sight words (whole word)
The Reading Lesson (phonetic)
Penmanship (copywork)
First Language Lessons Book 1
Math will be manipulatives, money and time covering patterns, metric system, skip counting, addition, subtraction, fractions, etc. Maybe Singapore Math if she masters the basics.
Science will be the human body, animals and earth science as it relates to America
Social Studies will include mythology, American history and geography plus familial relationships (genealogy)
Art Nature notebooks, sketching from life and crafts that relate to our studies
Music Appreciation, singing
Phys. Ed. will be running a muck, riding bikes, swimming, hiking, jump rope, ballet and other kid activities
Sixth Grade
First Language Lessons Book 3 (finish) & 4
The Writing Book
Big Words for Little Kids
Math-Learn Math Fast book 3 and khanacademy.org for mastery and supplementation plus metric system, verbal math
Science will be earth science, nutrition, physiology
American History & geography, world geography, mythology
Art Nature notebooks, sketching from life and crafts that relate to our studies
Music Appreciation, guitar
Phys. Ed. will be running a muck, riding bikes, swimming, hiking, break-dancing, parkour and other kid activities
Modern Foreign Language-French
Reading List: (mythology) Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan, Illustrated Book of Myths, The Odyssey (retold), The Illiad (retold), Anatopsis, Iris, Messenger, (American history) George Washington's Socks, Under Siege, Children of the Longhouse, Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express, Wintering Well, The Devil's Door, Gold Rush Runaway, The Green Coat, The Last Mission, The Art of Keeping Cool, A Boy at War, plus free choice books. These selections may change, I'd like to have the books relate to what happened in the parts of the country we are touring. That may be too optimistic. If anyone has any other suggestions I'd love to hear them.
Ninth Grade
Vocabulary 1100 Words You Need to Know
Writing
Current Events
SAT prep
Math khanacademy.org starting with Geometry and working through Trigonometry plus metric system
Earth Science, Biology, Anatomy and Physiology
Computer Programming/ Game Design
Art Nature notebooks, sketching from life, color study
Music Appreciation, guitar
Phys. Ed. will be running a muck, riding bikes, swimming, hiking, basketball and other kid activities
Modern Foreign Language-Japanese
American History and geography, mythology
Reading List: Suggested High School Reading List & Classics, Jane Goodall, Silent Spring, To the Ends of the Earth, Black Flower, The Fairest Portion of the Globe, The Killer Angels, The Odyssey, The Illiad, Life on the Mississippi, JFK and the Unspeakable, The Story of my Life (part 1), Frederick Douglass, The Oregon Trail, Huckleberry Finn, A Doll's House, Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, The Outsiders, Shades of Gray, Beloved, Invisible Man, plus or minus others I'm sure!
I'm sure this will change :)
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Initial Plan
We don't really have a complete plan, but we have a tentative plan or rather a sketchy outline for our new lifestyle. We currently live in California and the highly-regulated-extremely-safe-family-friendly city in which we live does not allow one to keep a motorhome so we plan on having hubby and eldest take a cross-country road trip to Florida and keep the rig with relatives until the kids are out of school next June. At that time we'll all be ready to join our new home and have time to do renovations on it and chart our course. This first trip will happen at the end of the November.
Currently the rig is still at the mechanics getting inspected and road ready. We still need to make a trip to the DMV to transfer the title and pay the (absolutely exorbitant) sales tax within the next week.
What about the kids' education you ask?
All three kids are currently in public school and it takes everything in my power not to pull them out early and finish out the year homeschooling. But. I. Won't. I'm not new to homeschooling. Historically I've used it when I felt the schools were failing my kids. I taught eldest, Mr. T, who is very bright, for Pre-K, 1st and 2nd grades so he could work at a challenging pace. I taught Mr. S 3/4 of 4th grade because he was slipping through the cracks of WA schools. I enrolled him for a few months in CA school after we moved so he could make new friends. I haven't formally taught Divagirl yet but she's only just started Kindergarten, that's not to say we haven't done tons of informal teaching.
I plan on "road-schooling" all three year round with generous breaks when needed. I think that works out better in the long run so their brains don't turn to mush over the 3 month summer break.
Currently the rig is still at the mechanics getting inspected and road ready. We still need to make a trip to the DMV to transfer the title and pay the (absolutely exorbitant) sales tax within the next week.
What about the kids' education you ask?
All three kids are currently in public school and it takes everything in my power not to pull them out early and finish out the year homeschooling. But. I. Won't. I'm not new to homeschooling. Historically I've used it when I felt the schools were failing my kids. I taught eldest, Mr. T, who is very bright, for Pre-K, 1st and 2nd grades so he could work at a challenging pace. I taught Mr. S 3/4 of 4th grade because he was slipping through the cracks of WA schools. I enrolled him for a few months in CA school after we moved so he could make new friends. I haven't formally taught Divagirl yet but she's only just started Kindergarten, that's not to say we haven't done tons of informal teaching.
I plan on "road-schooling" all three year round with generous breaks when needed. I think that works out better in the long run so their brains don't turn to mush over the 3 month summer break.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Road Schooling
As I've mentioned before we'll be roadschooling the kiddos, which is really just a very mobile form of homeschooling.
The biggest challenge will be having enough room for all our materials and still keeping it simple (oh, and not exceeding our gross allowable weight).
This affords us an amazing opportunity to live, walk, and see historical sites and make our American history lessons come alive!
I've been sorting through the materials I have already and trying to simplify things due to the space constraints we will have imposed on us. I have lists on my phone and the computer that detail my ideas and the kids ideas on what they want to study. That's one of my favorite aspects of home schooling, letting the kids have input on things they want to learn. Our methods tend to fall into a classical, eclectic, secular, unschool approach with an emphasis on real-world experience. We teach everything that's mandated by the state we are registered in, but in addition to that we develop our kids minds so that they learn how to learn and can think for themselves while being resourceful and productive members of society.
I plan on posting individual curriculum lists for each kid (first grade, 6th grade and 9th grade).
The kids waffle between being excited about homeschooling again and being sad that they'll miss their friends. I won't miss the colds, bullying, drop-offs and pick-ups, early mornings, packed lunches, acquired bad habits, classroom volunteering, PTA meetings, expensive field trips, state mandated testing, and the peer pressure. I might miss the hour or two of free time I had that really only went to keeping the house clean. With only 200ish square feet of living space, I don't think I'll need 2 hours a day to keep our home clean.
The biggest challenge will be having enough room for all our materials and still keeping it simple (oh, and not exceeding our gross allowable weight).
This affords us an amazing opportunity to live, walk, and see historical sites and make our American history lessons come alive!
I've been sorting through the materials I have already and trying to simplify things due to the space constraints we will have imposed on us. I have lists on my phone and the computer that detail my ideas and the kids ideas on what they want to study. That's one of my favorite aspects of home schooling, letting the kids have input on things they want to learn. Our methods tend to fall into a classical, eclectic, secular, unschool approach with an emphasis on real-world experience. We teach everything that's mandated by the state we are registered in, but in addition to that we develop our kids minds so that they learn how to learn and can think for themselves while being resourceful and productive members of society.
I plan on posting individual curriculum lists for each kid (first grade, 6th grade and 9th grade).
The kids waffle between being excited about homeschooling again and being sad that they'll miss their friends. I won't miss the colds, bullying, drop-offs and pick-ups, early mornings, packed lunches, acquired bad habits, classroom volunteering, PTA meetings, expensive field trips, state mandated testing, and the peer pressure. I might miss the hour or two of free time I had that really only went to keeping the house clean. With only 200ish square feet of living space, I don't think I'll need 2 hours a day to keep our home clean.
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