Vacation Mode

Am I the only one who gets into vacation mode around the holiday season?  We don't get into all the festivities of celebrating Thanksgiving but we do have the big turkey day feast.  All this week, I've been so slack and unfocused.  I've kept up our scheduling but I've relaxed my teacher role a lot this week.  My focus is on all the prep work and feasting we'll do next week! lol  I really can't wait.

The kids are moving right along with their studies.  E(11) has moved on to decimals. He worked on Khan Academy this week to refresh his memory. (He started working with decimals last year, but eventually the teachers started teaching for the state exams so it wasn't a necessity for his grade level.)  He was so happy to finally be done with the fractions unit.  A lot of it was a repeat from last year but dividing fractions kicked his butt.  He stuck with it and made it through.  I expect this decimal unit to last throughout the month of December and then after the new year, we'll move on to ratios, percent and conversions.  What fun!
 

T(8) has finished her review of addition up to 4-digit numbers.  She struggled a bit with her math facts but she remembered the rules for carrying (regrouping) and borrowing.  Her next unit is multiplication.  We've discussed it previously so she's familiar with how it works.  She determined that it is just like skip counting.  We'll start the unit in December.

  

A(7) has just learned how to regroup 2-digit numbers!  I'm so proud of my baby.  She fought me so hard when I introduced this new skill!  Oh my goodness, that girl is tough!  She insisted it was too hard... she would never learn it... she didn't need to learn it.... I took the whole week to go through the problems in the first lesson.  It was about 25-30 problems.  We started with doing five a day using base tens rods.  By the third day she said she didn't need the rods.  Day 4 she was doing the problems on the whiteboard with my confirmation of a right answer.  On Friday, she was doing the remaining problems in the lesson by herself.  My girl!  She proclaimed she is now a pro at regrouping.  We'll do another lesson of problems and then we'll move on.  I'm not sure if we'll do larger numbers with regrouping or learn borrowing with subtraction.  Either way, it will begin in December.


Next week, is a short work week for us.  We'll do fun stuff on Monday & Tuesday and then take off the rest of the week to enjoy some much needed rest and family time.  Whatever your plans, have a fantastic time!!

Our Days in Pictures

This is not all of the pictures I've taken since September.  It is only a fraction.  It has been my intent to update weekly, biweekly, at least monthly.  You see how that has gone.  I promise to try to do better to document our journey.

Week One In The Books

In my last post I talked about how I wanted to homeschool for free.  Well, that was a difficult task.  I decided to buy a few workbooks for the 3 R's - reading, 'riting & 'rithmatic.  Everything else I am using free resources.

Thankfully our first week back was a short week.  We started back Tuesday, September 3.  Everyone was excited.  I made them pancakes for breakfast to help ring in the new school year.  Even the dog behaved.  Usually, he whines and whimpers for their attention.  He sat quietly until they showed him some love.

I tried a new subject - current events.  I wanted to pull articles for International, National and Local news.  I decided to use a country they were not familiar with but would be interested in. I chose Delhi.  All summer, my kids have been watching a movie called Delhi Safari on Netflix.  I figured it would be a great tie-in.  While they enjoyed seeing some of the places (Parliament) in real life photos, the lesson took too long.  They enjoyed coloring the flag, looking at the money and talking about the people, food and neighborhoods.

We did everything else on plan with a little push back and laziness.  It was expected so it didn't upset me too much.  It was a great start and we are moving forward in to the second week of school.

2013 Fall Planning

It is that time of the year... planning time.  Though, when are homeschooling moms not planning?  It seems we spend a bit of time planning the next school year throughout the current year.  As you know, we spent most of the 2012-2013 school year with K12's Virtual Academy.  We made the decision primarily based on financial necessity.  This year, we are not much better financially but our resolve to independently educated our children is stronger than ever.

Earlier this year, I discovered the wonderful resourcefulness of YouTube.  Now, I've watched many a YT video but never did I watch (or look for) homeschooling videos.  All it took was one video for me to get hooked.  (Don't ask which one because I couldn't tell ya!)  Most of the videos I was attracted to were the ones explaining how to homeschool on a budget.  And not just the average 'get books from the library' suggestions.  I was learning the who, what, where & why of creating your own homeschool curriculum for free or as close to free as possible.  I've discovered so many websites that provide free curriculum, resources for creating lesson plans, etc.  I've always known of free printable websites but for the first time since we began homeschooling officially in 2006, I've come to realize I can (and will) homeschool for free.

Now by "free" I mean I will not purchase a full curriculum from publishers (with the exception of science that we will begin in the Spring).  The majority of my lesson plans will be created via printables I find online, unit studies,  notebooking and lapbooks centered around living books.

I'm so excited to begin formulating a plan for each of my children.  I love to shop but I'm just as excited to see how little money I can spend this year! I'll keep you posted.  How's your planning coming along?

How Am I Smart? {Freebie Alert!} *Limited Time*

If you haven't heard yet, Great Homeschool Conventions is giving away a free e-book by Dr. Kathy Koch titled, "How Am I Smart? A Parent's Guide to Multiple Intelligences".  It's about behavior struggles, solutions to relationship conflicts and how we as parents can tap into our children's individual intelligence.

This free download expires Wednesday, July 31 at midnight EST.

What We've Been Up To

Since officially withdrawing from K12's Virtual Academy, we've been very relaxed with our school days.  Using the workbooks and other materials I was able to keep from k12, we continued with our work but without the pressure to complete it by a certain date.  No pressure to attend and pass testing.  No meetings with teachers to review what's expected by the end of the year.  A relief!  The kids enjoyed it as much as I did.

Following my district's school calendar, I chose May 17 as our last day of school.  Since then, we've done a bunch of fun stuff around the house.

Homework

I saw this on Instagram and got a little chuckle from it!

It's Official!

We are no longer schooling at home.  This morning I submitted my withdrawal notifications to the kids' homeroom teachers and mailed out my "Notice of Intent to Home School" letter to my local school district.  Surprisingly, I was a bit nervous about sending the withdrawal notices.  I think it's because I really didn't have any problems with the virtual academy.  The teachers were wonderful.  The field trips were exciting and fun for the kids.  We just prefer independent homeschooling.  So, with just under 3 months remaining in the school year, we took the leap and reclaimed our freedom.  Ha, and this was the day the girls were to take diagnostic testing! 

For the remainder of the school year, I will continue to use the K12 materials I am allowed to keep and download some assessments and learning coach guide sheets that are available online.  I need to jump on it tonight because I'm sure once the teachers file the paperwork, access will be denied promptly!

Realizations

We've come to realize we want need more flexibility than what "schooling at home" provides.  Now, I know I can plan our day and meet objectives without doing all the busy work, but good grief having everything planned out for me was one of the reasons I chose to go this route! 

Three different learning styles, three different grades has proven a great challenge for me.  A is struggling with Math, k12 style.  That means I have to teach the lesson differently than what k12's teacher's guide suggests.  Work!  My baby is worth it, of course, but I didn't plan for that.  Language Arts is "boring, just a bunch of reading", but she is learning a lot of different things.  T is doing well overall, but doesn't like to write (much like her sister, A) so getting her to complete a written assignment is like pulling your hair out, strand.by.strand.  We often complete such works orally. (so glad I don't have to submit work samples!) She's a competitive perfectionist which allows her to strive for 100% on everything she does, but also leads to a diva like meltdown if that goal is not achieved.  humph, now I have to send that into a room full of other kids to do a diagnostic test?!  I think not.  E is coasting.  He slacks off, procrastinates and excels all at the same time.  I often have to remind him he is to do his work on the computer, not watch videos or play games (even educational ones).  He is a typical 5th grader and my only child doing well with k12's virtual academy.

I realize that if I put my mind to it, I could have every one's work prepped for the week, assessments printed, materials available for use the night before.  I just didn't want to have to do all that while using a virtual academy.  I thought it would save me some time.  I wanted it to save me some time.  It's not.  There's a lot of busy work, that while I can skip some of it, some of it is essential to mastering the lesson.

I miss my freedom!  I don't like being required to attend teleconferences, outings and various testing locations.  I miss Black History lessons.  We initially moved those lessons to Saturdays so Dad can teach but the kids felt punished because they had to do "Saturday School".  So we incorporated Black/African historical facts into E's k12 U.S. history lessons and the girls listened in. 

All in all, this year was a huge learning experience.  I'm glad my kids were able to attend some of the outings (limited since we are a 1 car family).  I'm glad I am making this decision now to return to independent homeschooling for the next school year.  I have six months to purchase workbooks, print free resources, etc.  I just realized I need to get organized, too.  eek!