The Monthly Chat

November, 2009

Printable bits of wisdom, ideas, and reflections for your friends and
homeschool group, from the users of HomeschoolClassifieds.com
Opinions expressed are those of the individual authors.
Š1997-2009 HomeschoolClassifieds.com, Knoxville, TN

Organization/time management
One Day at a Time

I have found that writing lesson plans for my younger children only one day at a time works so much better than the future planning I used to do. I would write lesson plans sometimes two weeks in advance. This created three horrendous problems for me:

1) I would forget my train of thought I developed during the planning time by the time we got to the lessons; 2) I would lose the excitement I generated in reading and planning; and 3) (and this was the worst) if we got behind at all, it created a colossal burden of guilt and stress on me, and consequently, the rest of the family. Seeing those assignments written there, staring at me accusatorily just stole all my joy. My OCD tendencies mandated that I go back and back and back to the page where the incomplete work was assigned until we got it done. In the meantime, this put us farther and farther behind until I was juggling pages back and forth more than I was teaching or having fun. It was impossible for me to let go of things, even if I should have, once they were written in The Plan Book. With my new system, if we don't get something done one day, I don't terrorize my children until they get it done even if they have to miss meals and stay up until midnight to do it, and I don't have to carry things over to following days ad infinitum, and if we want to move along and skip something I had thought we might do, then it's OK for me. I know that I can either strike a line through it, or move it to the next day. We can peacefully and joyfully move through the day with much more freedom to take advantage of spontaneous opportunities, and much less tension, just deciding it's quitting time when we've had enough school for the day.

mamasheep

Other
Home Schooling

If after very careful thought, this includes prayer, you decide to home school remember to make it "tailor-made" for each child.
Just keep going when the circumstances get tough!
Walk by faith and not sight.
Study to show you know the material you're teaching.
Keep careful records!
Use a timer and don't overdo!

padraic13

Other
Learning with Game Playing

Several years ago, one of my children had trouble adding columns of numbers. I taught him how to play Rummy 500 and made him keep score. Not only did he become proficient in adding columns of numbers, he learned critical thinking skills while having a grand time. We played Rummy almost every night for an entire summer.

Since that time, I have come to use many games for teaching or reinforcing important skills. Some, like Scrabble and Rummy Roots, are obvious. Others, you may not think about. I taught my four year old to play the card game War. He learned number recognition and numerical order as well as how to take turns and lose graciously.

Currently, we are playing a game using Base Ten Blocks, to teach place value. You place a pile of centimeter cubes and a pile of '10 rods' in the middle of the table. Each player takes turns rolling a die and collecting the number of cubes represented on the die. When a player has ten or more cubes, he turns in ten cubes for a '10 rod.' The object is to collect ten '10 rods,' being the first player to 100. You must roll the exact number though, to reach 100, without going over.

One last point, don't be afraid to use a commercial board game but make up your own rules according to what skill you are learning or the ages of the children. We make up all kinds of games using Scrabble tiles.

cjalex

Other
A wonderful resource for books

I love the website www.Bookmooch.com. A free site where you may post books you are willing to give away and "mooch" books you would like to have for no fee. They use a point system to avoid abuse. I have found many supplemental reading books for History or English lessons here.
The site is easy to navigate and use. You may enter books by simply typing in the ISBN number. Search engines help you locate what you want, and add it to your wish list to notify you when it becomes available.

srndive

Homeschool helps
Stay Regular

The best advice I can give other homeschool moms, and moms in general, is to stay regular in three areas: prayer, rest, and geting away.

We must stay regular in prayer-this means daily. God is the source of our strength, and many times we run out of the strength we need to homeschool our children because we try to do it ourselves. He knows how to reach each child, and how to teach each child. It is in daily prayer that we get instructions for each day.

Second, we must stay regular in rest. As part of our homeschool day, we had a rest time every day. During this rest time, each of us would go to our rooms and read, sleep, or daydream. I had to make myself not do housework during this time! God used this to restore, refresh, and renew me. My husband appreciated the difference rest time made in me!

Last, we must stay regular in getting away time. So many times we neglect ourselves, our interests, and our needs. God wants us to enjoy life, too! Do you like to go to museums, take pictures, go to lunch? Regularly-even if it's once a month-schedule time for yourself, and maybe another mom, and get away! Not only will you enjoy it, you will have a fresher perspective on your homeschooling!

raye

Organization/time management
Lesson Plans for Multiples

AFter years of juggling in frustration multiple lesson plan books for my multiple gradel level children, I now have a system that works well for us.

My 14yo has his own plan book, which I use to write his assignments a week at a time. This allows him to plan his time and take some responsibility for getting it all done without Mother "needling" him. He doesn't feel his manhood is challenged every time I tell him he needs to do this page, or read that book, or write this paragraph. (All my sons started Mother-withdrawal at age 14, which I believe is proper and biblical.)

For my three youngers (12, 10, and 7), we do history, geography, and group read alouds together. The two youngest do science together. I get all these assignments written on a single 2-page spread which I downloaded from donnayoung.org. It gives me 2 columns for each child to write individual assignments for the day, and then a wide space to the right of the page to write all the things we do together.

Things go so much more smoothly with only one book to have to locate and consult when we need to know the next thing to do.

mamasheep

Finance/Econ
Getting the Most From This Site

I've been selling on this site for 2 years and really like it. I've recommended it to many friends and fellow homeschoolers. I enjoy passing on things I no longer need to others for much less than buying new. One thing that bothers me is all the times someone does not respond to an email. I'm left wondering if they got it or not. I've inquired about books to buy and received no answer and somebody lost a sale. I've answered inquiries about items I'm selling and never got a response and am left wondering if this person changed their mind, or never got my email for some reason. I think we should be polite enough to respond in some way to those who contact us, even if it's to say no thanks. Also be sure you aren't being too quick with the delete button and that you are checking your suspected spam file for answers to inquiries.

katsep13

Other
Power

2Co 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

It is only when I look to God for strength that I am able to be the best mother, wife and teacher that I can be. If I try in my weakness to do it, I end up losing my temper and frustrating my kids. This is my homeschooling verse.

natnkat

Reference: general
Remember to Breathe!

One of the most importatant parts of homeschooling is to remember to take time to breathe! If you let yourself get stressed out and overworked, then it shows in your kids and their education. If mom is calm & relaxed, even when things go wrong, then the kids will be secure and learning will come easier to them.

katiebug_1976