If you’re looking for a creative way to use workboxes that teach your kids life skills and cut down on your to-do list, read my post today at the Homeschool Classroom. Parents that don’t homeschool might also like this idea!
Our Homeschool: Things to NOT do next year
June 8, 2009 By Filed Under: Homeschool, MamaMusings
Our year is wrapping up here, and I started making this list for myself. I decided to share it with you all. Maybe you have made some of these same mistakes, or maybe you will at least be encouraged that you are not as bad as I am! Here goes…
Things NOT to do next year!
- Sit the kids down on the first day of school and give them a syllabus for every subject. I will also not tell them what they will be doing for the entire year, all of the wonderful projects and notebooks I have planned since I will probably only get to half of them. I will also not go on and on…and on, about my ideas, calendar, scheduling, etc. Go with the flow is my new motto.
- Cry, “We’re so far behind!” It is my job as mom to motivate the girls a little if we need to move forward. I shouldn’t be adding to their stress by reminding them of how “behind” we might be.
- Text Eric during spelling tests. Apparently, “Teachers just don’t do that!” (Something else I’ve been told teachers don’t do: Say What the heck? really loudly while grading their student’s papers. I really am going to stop doing that.)
- Give Coco a “freebie” in her science crossword worksheet, spell it wrong, and wind up with her spending an hour trying to find words that don’t exist. Oops.
- Plan a unit study for every subject. In fact, I will try to erase the words Unit Study from my brain. I will, I will I will. Okay, I probably won’t. But I will rein in the ideas, and instead of feeling I have to use every idea that pops into my brain, I will just post them here for others to use!
- Behavior modification tricks like tickets, marble jars, etc. This was cute when I was teaching preschool, but it just really doesn’t fit into our life naturally. And that’s what I’d like our homeschool to grow to be, a natural part of our everyday life. Besides, I’m one of those moms that thinks my kids should listen to me “just because.” So all that stuff was just a distraction anyway.
- Sign up for every class, lesson, meeting, and group that has the word homeschool attached to it. Really.
- Feel guilty for taking Coco out of a school she loved and compensate for this by planning fun, fun, fun all the time, time, time. The real world has downtime. And I need mine.
- Schedule our day in 20 minute increments. All this does is make me feel guilty. And I am done with guilt!
- Spend my free time reading curriculum catalogs for even more great ideas to heap on my kids. In fact, I vow to go six whole months without even giving a thought to what we’ll use and do the next year. Okay, maybe vow is too strong a word…
So there they are, all my embarrassing mistakes for all to see. Most of them anyway. My girls would probably have many more ideas, but I’m not asking them 
Teacher Appreciation Day
April 17, 2009 By Filed Under: Homeschool, MamaMusings
I received an email today titled: Great gifts for teacher appreciation week!
I remembered all the parties I organized and gifts I bought, chipped in on, and planned for Coco’s teachers over the years. And of course I wondered if I can get in on this action now that I’m her teacher. Probably not. Yet, it gives me a great idea.
I think every homeschool mom or dad should plan a teacher appreciation day! Wait, you say, that’s what Mother’s Day is for! Well I say, who cares? One more day to celebrate me sounds great. I could sit around and wait for my husband and kids to express their appreciation for me, but let’s be honest. That might take years to happen. I don’t want to be holding my grandbaby when I hear for the first time how beneficial homeschooling has been.
I have decided to pick a day at random and write on my calendar…Teacher Appreciation Day. Having experienced this in the school system for many years, I know exactly what is required.
I will force my kids to write notes of appreciation to me and I am considering getting myself a Starbucks gift card. I will also collect all the cute photos I have from the year and make myself a scrapbook. Why not? I will cut some fresh flowers and deliver them to myself, and possibly hold a luncheon in my honor. I will accept it all graciously and maybe even shed a couple tears. A new coffee mug may also be in order.
For all of you moms who say you don’t do this for thanks…good for you! I however, could use a little boost to finish out this year and gear up for the next 12. And hey, our kids should learn how to say thanks, right?
I think every homeschool dad should do this for his wife, but chances are it won’t cross their minds. And even if it does cross their minds–thanks to a well-placed hint–how many dads could pull off this day as well as you could yourself?
You know your favorite coffee place, and the best photos to print. You know the prompting questions to get those letters of thanks flowing. You know whether you want a fast food burrito or a rack of lamb for lunch. You can treat yourself to a day of, well…you better than anyone else!
So get started. Pick a day and enjoy. I’m off to fantasize about having a room mom and teacher in-services.
A Good Week
April 2, 2009 By Filed Under: Homeschool
This has been one of those weeks. The kind where I think, Wow, I am really glad I homeschool my kids! I so often share frustrations and weaknesses to reveal God’s ongoing work in my life, and hopefully encourage you who may share the same struggles. Today, I want to share a couple little bright spots.
Yesterday, Soleil came up to me and plopped her Bible in my lap. “Can you read me Luke 14?” She said.
Well, sure. We read Luke 14, and she shared her thoughts with me afterwards. Why Luke 14? I don’t know. But the fact that my little girl can come up to me any time of day and ask for that, and that I can sit on my couch in the morning, reading God’s word is…awesome.
Then today, after a fun-filled park day, we went to get knitting needles and yarn for the girls. A young girl there at the park is teaching the other girls how to knit, and Ccoc and Soleil are very interested. Tonight, again on the couch, Coco patiently taught me the steps she’s learned so far.
“Just think, Mom,” she said. “If I wasn’t homeschooled I never would have learned how to knit.”
“True.” I smiled.
“Or have gotten interested in horseback riding and volleyball.”
“Yep. And Spanish.” I added. I played it cool, but I was beaming inside. This coming from my girl who was skeptical about homeschooling (to put it nicely) was a blessing indeed.
So, a good week. What can I say? I’m easy to please.
HomeKeeping Lessons for Kids
March 20, 2009 By Filed Under: Domestically Challenged?, Homeschool
Each week, I set aside a couple of hours to intentionally teach the girls some aspect of homemaking. While they learn from many tasks during the day, we all look forward to these times together that are especially fun.
Some “lessons” we’ve had include cooking, organizing, cleaning, table settings, menu planning, scrapbooking, and hospitality. Perhaps someday I will learn to sew and teach them that as well!
So that I don’t forget to include these fun lessons, I will note on Coco’s weekly assignment sheet which day we are having one. I usually take a short amount of time to prepare (even if only in my mind) and I always work it in with something we already have going on.
For instance, a couple weeks ago, we had friends coming over so I did a class on hospitality that day. Last week, we had banana bread on our menu, so I planned for this recipe to be their project. Then, I had the girls give two of their loaves away. That was a simple class on preparing food gifts for others.
Every once in a while, I will share some of our ideas for these little classes, and I will post them in the HomeKeeping category. Today, I want to share my basic, very loose outline.
First, I introduce our subject and talk about why it is important. I usually have a verse that goes along with our subject.
Then, I brainstorm with the girls. That is, I take the ideas they already have and add a few of my own. Sometimes we are just chatting in the kitchen while we get ingredients out, like who we could give a food gift to, or sometimes we’re sitting at the table, writing ideas on the whiteboard. I like this because we are all contributing ideas and the girls have lots of good ones! I also get to see what they’ve already learned over the years just by living life in our home, and that can be encouraging as a mom.
Next, we might do some research. Of course we don’t call it research! We look through books and magazines to find samples, ideas, and instructions and add them to Coco’s HomeKeeping book. She often works on this on her own time because she enjoys it so much. When Soleil gets older, I’ll have her keep one as well.
Finally, we put our skills to work. The most fun, by far, is the hands-on application of what we’ve just learned. We’ll cook, prepare a food basket, set a fancy table for dinner, go grocery shopping, or even clean their closet.
Lastly, we clean up! Following through with this step is important, and teaches responsibility. It’s also fun and goes faster when we’re all helping, while of course lightening the load for me.
All of these skills are things the girls will learn over time by being part of the family and household. Yet, by deciding to NOT multitask for a couple hours each week and dedicating that time to enrich their homemaking skills, we not only learn and have fun, we grow closer and bond over these projects.
Isn’t that what keeping a happy home is all about?
Do you have any ideas or requests for ideas on a particular homekeeping subject? Please share!
Story of One Skeptical Mom
March 16, 2009 By Filed Under: Homeschool
A few weeks ago, the woman who does our homeschool group newsletter asked me to write something encouraging for the parents. I thought I’d share it with you all. Here it is:
A year ago, I sat with my husband watching a reality show featuring a homeschool family. The kids were not only odd and socially inept. They were weird. And the parents? Definitely off their rockers. We laughed and felt sorry for these poor kids and felt glad our kids were happy, well-adjusted children.
A few months later, I began to feel as if God were leading us to homeschool our kids. It had never even occurred to me before, and everything in me resisted. I begged God to not make me do this. Anything but this! Homeschool kids are odd and socially inept. Remember that show, God? I don’t want my kids like that! And when the pressing on my heart didn’t go away…Why, God, why?
Slowly, God began to change my heart and at the same time, people came into our lives that were homeschoolers. Wonderful, godly, amazing people. Wacky, for sure, but in an awesome way.
I became close to two women at church who happened to be homeschooling their kids. Happy, well-adjusted kids, in fact. I got to see homeschool in action, and it looked…fun. I began to imagine teaching my kids at home, and for the first time, it didn’t seem weird.
After much prayer, my husband I agreed to take the leap. We would bring our kids home from school and start a new adventure. I still wasn’t sure why God wanted this, but we no longer had doubts that it was His will.
Within a couple of weeks, we met more families that were planning to homeschool the following year. As far as we knew, we had never known any homeschoolers. Yet, after sharing our decision with friends, we found out that some people we knew casually were homeschooled as kids or currently homeschooling. Suddenly, we were surrounded by homeschoolers!
God could have used many means to get our attention. When whispers to our heart were questioned, when coincidences like magazine articles were easily put aside, He used people – specifically homeschool families – to steer us to this decision.
I thank God now that He led us to this place, teaching our kids at home. I still ask why. Why didn’t I always do this? Why did I ever let someone else raise my kids for six hours a day? Any why on earth did I ever watch reality TV anyway?
To those of you who’ve been teaching your kids at home, please know this: Someone somewhere may take on this lifestyle because of what you’re doing today. God might just use you to convince a skeptical mom.
Sitting in my living room watching that show a year ago, I never would have guessed that over the next year, God would lead us to not only get rid of television in our home, but to homeschool our own kids.
Today, I am so in love with homeschool that I barely recognize that agonized mom begging God to not make her do this. I pray that one day God may use us to help another family.
