Kiddo has been doing a great job of getting his work done lately. I "borrowed" a friend's daily checklist (with her permission) and tweaked it to show Kiddo what he has to get done each day. He is in charge of marking off what has been completed and it is up to him to check with me to see if there is anything to do in each of the categories.
It's been nice to have him take some ownership and I think it motivates him to mark things off and see his list shrinking. Ooppss! I may have passed that list making gene down to him!!
We are scaling down as we will be integrating school when we go over the river and through the woods to grandma's house for Thanksgiving. We are making a couple of overnight stops there and back to historic areas of the country. Kiddo is excited because he will get to visit forts and complete work to earn Jr Ranger Badges at the national parks! He is so excited, I may have to develop patches for Math, Writing, etc.
That's the beauty of homeschooling in that everywhere and everything is a school room. In some cases, like our upcoming trip, it's easier and more defined as an educational experience. But, remember a trip to the grocery store can be just as informative or taking them to shop when they have to spend their own money is an even better "life lesson."
Tweaking (not to be confused with twerking - that's a whole different subject and I am not even sure what it is) and Flexibility are my two favorite words this year. That along with writing in my agenda with pencil has been, oh so FREEING!!! It's the little things that make this momma happy and it's why I homeschool!
My ramblings, rants, brags, observations and whatever else I encounter as we embark on our fourth year homeschooling our son. My blog title was inspired by those easy readers of old in the Dick & Jane series. If those books were easy then (maybe) this homeschooling thing won't be so hard either! LOL I'm not sure about my hypothesis! Join me on my journey and we can find out together.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Monday, November 11, 2013
Winding down....
Can't believe November is here!!! My kiddo celebrated his birthday a little over a week ago. We are trying to get our school work done. He and I both are a little distracted by all that is going on around us.
Daddy is still gone for extended periods of time but did come in town long enough to hang with us for Halloween and to celebrate Kiddo's birthday. It was hard to do school because we wanted to hang out with Daddy. But, Daddy still had work to do so we went back to our work too.
Now, the school year is winding down for Kiddo's outside classes. He takes a robotics/programming class and a STEM class that all end this week. I am looking forward to that as I can get some of our other work caught up and really focus on our studies. We can actually do our week long study in a week vs stretching it out over a week and one half to two weeks.
We are also looking forward to Thanksgiving. We're planning a little history tour complete with overnight stops on our way "across the river and through the woods to Grandma's house we go...." We will pull back from our regularly scheduled schooling and add in car-tripping with a fun flavor!
That's the beauty of homeschooling. Everything and every place can be a lesson -- and not just the grocery store!!! That's how this momma homeschools!
Daddy is still gone for extended periods of time but did come in town long enough to hang with us for Halloween and to celebrate Kiddo's birthday. It was hard to do school because we wanted to hang out with Daddy. But, Daddy still had work to do so we went back to our work too.
Now, the school year is winding down for Kiddo's outside classes. He takes a robotics/programming class and a STEM class that all end this week. I am looking forward to that as I can get some of our other work caught up and really focus on our studies. We can actually do our week long study in a week vs stretching it out over a week and one half to two weeks.
We are also looking forward to Thanksgiving. We're planning a little history tour complete with overnight stops on our way "across the river and through the woods to Grandma's house we go...." We will pull back from our regularly scheduled schooling and add in car-tripping with a fun flavor!
That's the beauty of homeschooling. Everything and every place can be a lesson -- and not just the grocery store!!! That's how this momma homeschools!
Monday, October 28, 2013
Less is sometimes ENOUGH
All is well and good in our little neck of the woods! Kiddo and I have been chugging along and just kind of taking it easy with a fewer less helpings of stress in our daily activities. Given the year we have been dealt thus far, with our "Principal" (aka Daddy) MIA from the organization due to outside pressures of "WORK" and the extended family drama that continues to smack repeatedly at our boundaries, we have taken a more relaxed approach to schooling.
That does not mean we don't school - as the very thought of not working on our curriculum makes my teeth itch. What it does mean is that we have slowed down and cut ourselves some slack. We do what we can do in the time allotted and finish the rest when we have time or in some cases (GASP!!!) - skip it all together.
Let me illustrate. According to the agenda book that I keep with my lesson plans and the things we get accomplished, we show that we are in our 11th week of school but in our MFW curriculum, we are only in week 7. Normally, these non-matching numbers would send me in a tailspin but given my new focus on school work and life balance, this works for us and to be honest, it's freeing!!
I decided that it's okay to skip some stuff and/or to take our time to really dive into some topics. It's much more beneficial if we can stay just a little longer on a topic that is especially interesting to my young scholar. Right now, the discussion of pyramids along with their form, function and general design have us a little captivated.
Plus, Kiddo is busy working on (well - needs to be working on) his year end project/presentation for his meteorology portion of his weekly STEM class. Plus, he is also knee-deep in the study of wildfires for his First Lego League team. So, he's learning A LOT of different things and applying many different skills even though it's not written in any of the curriculum I have purchased.
It does make the OCD Control Freak in me feel better when I look at the agenda and see all that we have accomplished each week even though we may not be moving quickly through our "core" products.
We have still managed to have a few field trips and time with our friends. Kiddo was telling me last night that he is very happy that he has had a chance to see his friends so much lately. Being the parent of an only child is hard at times in that I need to be cognizant of the fact that he needs more than ME and honestly, I need more than him. I have worked it out to make sure he interacts people almost every day. That may entail him being in a class, going to a church activity, having dinner with friends, park days, field trips and old-fashioned play dates! Wait- we're going to have to call them "hang-outs" or something since Kiddo reminded me that he is almost 10 and play date just sounds "too girly." Oh well! I guess he has a point.
That's where we are at this point in our journey and that is just how this momma continues to homeschool.
That does not mean we don't school - as the very thought of not working on our curriculum makes my teeth itch. What it does mean is that we have slowed down and cut ourselves some slack. We do what we can do in the time allotted and finish the rest when we have time or in some cases (GASP!!!) - skip it all together.
Let me illustrate. According to the agenda book that I keep with my lesson plans and the things we get accomplished, we show that we are in our 11th week of school but in our MFW curriculum, we are only in week 7. Normally, these non-matching numbers would send me in a tailspin but given my new focus on school work and life balance, this works for us and to be honest, it's freeing!!
I decided that it's okay to skip some stuff and/or to take our time to really dive into some topics. It's much more beneficial if we can stay just a little longer on a topic that is especially interesting to my young scholar. Right now, the discussion of pyramids along with their form, function and general design have us a little captivated.
Plus, Kiddo is busy working on (well - needs to be working on) his year end project/presentation for his meteorology portion of his weekly STEM class. Plus, he is also knee-deep in the study of wildfires for his First Lego League team. So, he's learning A LOT of different things and applying many different skills even though it's not written in any of the curriculum I have purchased.
It does make the OCD Control Freak in me feel better when I look at the agenda and see all that we have accomplished each week even though we may not be moving quickly through our "core" products.
We have still managed to have a few field trips and time with our friends. Kiddo was telling me last night that he is very happy that he has had a chance to see his friends so much lately. Being the parent of an only child is hard at times in that I need to be cognizant of the fact that he needs more than ME and honestly, I need more than him. I have worked it out to make sure he interacts people almost every day. That may entail him being in a class, going to a church activity, having dinner with friends, park days, field trips and old-fashioned play dates! Wait- we're going to have to call them "hang-outs" or something since Kiddo reminded me that he is almost 10 and play date just sounds "too girly." Oh well! I guess he has a point.
That's where we are at this point in our journey and that is just how this momma continues to homeschool.
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