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How To Get Excited About Starting Back to Homeschool
Summer is a double edged sword for homeschoolers. (Maybe for all schoolers, I don’t know.) On the one hand — FREEDOM. No schedule. No routine. No lesson plans. No math homework. Sleeping late. Staying up late. Eat lunch at 3 pm. Eat breakfast at 11 am. Have watermelon and corn on the cob for dinner. Eat popsicles for dinner. On the other hand — FREEDOM. Grouchy kids from lack of sleep. Messed up schedules from sleeping late. Saying yes to too many fun things because (FREEDOM). Not sitting down to regular family at-the-table dinners. No routine. Staying up late. So sometimes you kind of want (and need) that structure of…
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junior high invasion
I’m plotting and charting the course for school this year – because it’s already that time again. I loved our first year’s attempt at year round school. (And we never did really land on a better name for this type of schooling – although “balanced” sounds so nice and optimistic and ideal.) I made my planner’s cover page and snapped a photo of it and shared it on all the social medias like we do and a friend pointed out a little fact that made me drop my pen and tear out clumps of my hair. Do you see what she saw? It’s right there — in the numbers.…
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Cognitive Drawing: A Timberdoodle Review
I just want to do it all.
Grill. Master.
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South Carolina State Museum: Field Trip Review
Nearby South Carolina capital Columbia boasts several museums and family-friendly sites like the Riverbanks Zoo to draw the Greenville crowds south. The South Carolina State Museum is situated right in Columbia and the trip from Greenville over to Columbia is easy to navigate and the museum is a breeze to locate. Our family recently made the drive, along with a handful of other Upstate families, to spend a day exploring the museum and its many exhibits. As a homeschooling family in the middle of a year long study of Roman history, our primary draw to the museum on this trip was their featured exhibit – Julius Caesar: Roman Military Might and Machines.…
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Studying Longfellow: A Poetry Study Tutorial
We tend to choose a poet to study for a term (or a season, or a few weeks or month – whatever fits your routine). During that time I basically repeat this same general format, substituting a new poem for each session together. Generally – this style of poetry study would be done a few times each month – weekly or bi-weekly. I do this routine with my own kids individually, but it also the format I use to teach a small co-op of sorts that Jo and I do together weekly. Step One: Choose your poet. I chose Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Step Two: Gather your biographical information. (I used…
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Mobi Max Math Game: A Review
(Cheers and party emoticons, you guys – it’s my first Timberdoodle review. Thanks to Timberdoodle I have the opportunity to receive this math game at no cost in exchange for my honest review – with opinions all of my own. The opinions — that’s the easy part!) Math and I aren’t BFFs so when I see anything that can make math seem fun or attractive or appealing — I’ll give it a shot. The Mobi Max Game arrived in the mail and the first impressions were of its cool packaging. Eh. Maybe fun packaging shouldn’t matter – but we all know, it does. The whale is cute, has a hook for hanging…
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How to Create Family Nature Notes
Yearly traditions are fun. They are a kind of glue for a family. The holiday traditions — Christmas Eve pajamas and Books on the Bed. The quirky traditions — The Wildwood Snow Day Policy and Pizza & Red Kool-Aid Night. (This was a recent repeated celebration. It’s our family’s celebration of the first day Riley ever lived with us. And yes, it was actually what I served that six-year-old for dinner for her first meal at our home. It was before Pinterest, you guys. I was working full time. Shoot, it was before the iPhone. Whatever. I gave the entire family red dye (and I have once a year since…
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poetry and tea.
Last week I borrowed a homeschooling idea from a friend. Because that’s what we all do – right? Earlier in the week, I invited the kids to meet me on Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. at our kitchen table. They were invited to bring a stuffed friend, a happy heart and a poem to share. I wrote it on our family menu board. The Poet Tea. And then it was three o’clock and the table was set and the desserts were stacked on the high platter. The poetry books covered the table. Heavy on the Shel Silverstein. We all tried chamomile lavender tea with a dash of maple syrup. (The…
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school words from a wilde fox.
We are working on our math and Otto looks up at me, surprise in his bright blue eyes, “Mom. I actually like school.” I grin at this last scholar of mine and pat his growing little man back. We move on to a new-to-us program called Draw-Write-Now that I am thoroughly enjoying. Otto has learned to take special pride in his writing this year and I have been pleased to see how neat and tidy his first grade work has become. “Son, I love your penmanship,” I tell him as his pencil writes the sentence about the Cherokee tribe. “My penmanship?” he asks, perplexed. “You must mean my pencilmanship.”
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use our school plans. seriously.
I’ve decided to try the whole “balanced schedule” “year round school” adventure this go round. We started a few weeks ago, actually. (The kids and I called the first days our soft launch. Just a little testing of the waters.) As I was prepping for the year I kept running into the same problem I have run into in previous years. I could not find a planner that truly suited me. I used this one two years ago. It was pretty encouraging but I wasted two pages every single week because of the extra items they put in that I never used or found helpful. I couldn’t stand to waste…
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Dear Child,
five finds friday (avett. curl cream. views.)
friday afternoon thoughts.
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rainy poetry lessons
Each week for the past three years I’ve had this sweet opportunity to teach a bunch of kids that I love a little bit about something else that I love – words. Once upon a time, when I was a full time teacher in a different capacity, and I taught students at a traditional school, a fellow English teacher gave me this advice: Write when your students write. Try to do the assignment you have given them. This little exercise helps to challenge me to be a better writer and it gives me a heap of sympathy at how difficult it can be to turn thoughts into words on a…
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Don’t Homeschool at Home Only
You know what’s cool about homeschool? (Eating breakfast at 10 a.m. Not packing lunches. Reading a funny novel out loud together with your kids. Watching your daughter develop good writing habits. Wearing your pajamas to math class. Allowing your fourth grader to have the opportunity to give art lessons to his younger siblings.) Wait. That wasn’t where this post was supposed to go. I’m going to start again. You know what’s great about homeschool? You don’t have to always do school at home! The staff here at Wildwood loves irony like that. Sure, we are home probably more than we are not. But it’s fun to take school on the…
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Narnian Meals Morning and Night
This year we are reading our way through The Chronicles of Narnia. We are using a curriculum from the same Cadron Creek company that published our last year’s choice – Prairie Primer. It’s been a completely different journey thus far. For a lot of reasons I guess. I really like Narnia. I’m a fan of C.S. Lewis for certain. I have a confession to make, however. I have never actually read the entire series completely before. Not ever. I’ve read the first three or four books – some as a kid and some as a teacher – but never have I completed the entire series. Therefore – the incredible affection I…
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The National Gallery
Did I even mention the National Gallery of Art yesterday? I don’t think I did. Growing up, my parents never really talked about art. At least, not that I remember. I’ve come late to the Art Appreciation Game. But I married a good-looking artist and we’re raising a handful of creators so I am educating, learning and teaching. And I am realizing – I love art. It’s personal and subjective. And it’s really fun. My friend Hilary is a committed Andrew Wyeth fan. His art is highlighted at DC’s National Gallery. Man. It was incredible. Just like all of DC, we just scratched the surface of the museum. (And we…
