Many families tell us that they would love to homeschool their children. But they work full-time jobs and assume it’s impossible. Fear not! You can homeschool your children, even when working full time. I’ll explain how.
Homeschooling is easier for remote workers or work-from-home parents. But if you work away from the home, it can seem more challenging. However, “Weekend Homeschool” and/or “Evening Homeschool” is the answer.
Average daily “time requirements” for “teaching” your child range from 1 hour per day (younger children) to 3 or 4 hours per day (older children or teens). Yet, the older your children are, the more capable they are of directing their own learning, with guidance and input from parents. So it’s not necessary to sit with older kids for 3 or 4 solid hours each day – unless you want to, of course.
One of the simplest ways to homeschool, when working full time, is to discuss lessons or activities with your children in the mornings or evenings. Include an easy-to-follow guideline of what your children are to focus on that day. They can refer to the guideline throughout the day.
On weekends, you can become involved in more hands-on learning activities, science experiments, family field trips, and reviewing any lessons that were challenging or needing extra attention. Allow plenty of freedom and flexibility for engaging in the lessons, topics, and activities during the week.
Other options include the possibility of working 1 or 2 days at home and doing more homeschool projects on those days. Or perhaps you can take your child to work with you a couple days a week. Or have your child’s caretaker oversee the homeschool lessons during the week, then make the most of fun learning activities on weekends.
Always discuss the learning activities or lessons at the end of each day. One of the best times for this is during your evening meal or as you take walks together at the end of the day. Discuss the favorite parts of the day’s activities and what your children learned that day. Ask them what they might have had difficulties with. And ask them what they’d like to learn about tomorrow.
Jot down the activities and lessons in your logbook or on our log sheets (download here: Weekly Planner Log link.)
To start homeschooling this week, take a field trip to your library. Let your children pick out any books that interest them. They’ll be transported to new worlds and learn something new from each book.
Here’s recent books that parents and kids have found interesting and educational:
Younger kids:
1. Backyard Build by Jonathan Litton
2. Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda
3. Copycat by Christy Hale
4. Emile and the Field by Kevin Young
5. Frances in the Country by Liz Garton Scanlon
Older kids:
1. Artificial Intelligence by Dinah Williams
2. Northwind by Gary Paulsen
3. Rover's Story by Jasmine Warga
4. Unstoppable Us by Yuval Noah Harari
5. Wisdom of Trees by Lita Judge
To start homeschooling today, see our previous blog posts, such as:
* Hands-On Math Activities blog post
* 500+ Science Activities post
* Social Studies, History, and Geography
* Weekly Homeschool Activities posts
* Click the Labels, below, or the Labels on previous posts.
Visit us weekly for new learning activities and ideas!
Sign up for our Weekly Newsletter, too! See the Subscribe space at right.
Happy Homeschooling!
Showing posts with label start homeschooling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label start homeschooling. Show all posts
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Monday, July 25, 2022
Start Homeschooling, Educational Goals, Curriculum, Unschooling, + Homeschool Forms
Today's post covers How to Start Homeschooling, plus Educational Goals, Homeschool Curriculum, Lesson Plans, Unschooling, and Homeschool Forms.
As you prepare for the upcoming homeschool year, revisit – or create – a list of your educational goals for your children. If you didn’t reach all your homeschool goals last year, simply move them to this year’s list of goals.
Educational goals for your child might include:
* Developing a love of learning
* Enhancing curiosity in special interests or topics
* Finding joy in daily activities or hobbies
* Managing time and responsibilities better
* Volunteering in the community
Educational objectives and outcomes could include:
* Reading classic literature or books by favorite authors
* Trying more advanced science experiments and recording results
* Applying mental math skills or logic for solving problems
* Researching famous people or current events
* Focusing on daily life skills to increase abilities and self-confidence
From these goals and objectives, you can begin planning a curriculum (the knowledge and skills you’d like your child to acquire) along with creating lesson plans (the activities or studies that support or complement your curriculum).
Curriculum Plans
When planning a curriculum, consider your children’s wishes and input on what they’d like to learn in the coming year. Children will often surprise you with the wonderful ideas and learning suggestions they come up with! Together, you and your children can create a curriculum that is fun, interesting, and challenging to ensure a well-rounded education.
To create a curriculum, think about your educational goals, philosophies, or ambitions for your child. Then determine the objectives or plans needed to achieve those goals. These are explained more fully here:
• Educational philosophies center on what you believe your children should learn in order to achieve happiness and success in their lives. This can include morals and values, respect and responsibility, manners and kindness toward others, faith and spirituality, a love for learning, and a love for life.
• Educational aims or ambitions for your children could include life skills and self-reliance; critical thinking and reasoning skills; creative thinking skills; the ability to work well with others; to enjoy one’s work, life, and career; to show love and respect for one’s family; to be a responsible and upstanding citizen; and to contribute to one’s community.
• Learning goals and objectives should support your educational philosophies and aims for your child. For instance:
* Learning self-discipline and self-control is critical to a happy family life and career.
* Proper manners, social skills, and speaking skills are important when working with others or when contributing to the community.
* Good reading, math, science, or technology skills are imperative to all areas of one’s life, from daily living to getting ahead in one’s career.
* Artistic and creative skills add joy and meaning to one’s life.
* Healthy habits and life skills contribute to a long, productive life.
Write a Curriculum
Once you’ve determined your family’s philosophies, as well as your ambitions for your child’s education and the goals or objectives to support those ambitions, you can begin designing the curriculum. But don’t forget to consider your children’s interests and learning styles!
To write your curriculum, you’ll want to list your educational philosophies, goals, and objectives (see the Homeschool Forms link here), and keep them in a special folder labeled “Curriculum.” On the days when you forget where you are headed with your child’s education, reviewing the list of goals and objectives will be a great help!
A curriculum outline for Grade 5 Social Studies, for instance, could include:
* United States history
* Discovery of America and early settlements
* Colonial and pioneer life in America
* American Revolution and independence
* Westward movement
* Geography of United States
* Industrial Revolution
* Natural resources
* Cultural resources and relationships
Lessons and activities you do with your children will be based on the topics noted on a simple curriculum outline, similar to the above outline.
As you continue determining subject areas your child will study (i.e., Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, Science, Technology, Arts and Music, Health, and Life Skills), you’ll want to slant them toward the goals and aims that you have listed for your child’s education.
For instance, a goal for your child might be having a good, healthy life. Therefore, in studying the human body in Science, you might want to:
* Emphasize lessons on health and nutrition
* Focus on the way the body functions
* Learn how the bones and muscles work in tandem
* Determine how blood carries nutrients and oxygen to all parts of the body
* Research the respiratory and digestive systems
* Point out how proper nutrition, exercise, and healthy habits help the body function as it was designed to function.
As you can see, once you have your goals established for your child (for example, being a healthy individual), you’ll be able to focus on the objectives that you want the lessons to convey (in this case, how to achieve and maintain a healthy body).
Children master skills at varying ages and rates. Keep in mind that your child might read well at age 6, but another might struggle with reading at age 8. Or one child might grasp the relation between fractions and decimals at age 8, while another might not grasp the concept until age 10. One child might write well in cursive at age 9; another may not display attractive penmanship until age 12 or later. So, consider your child’s unique skills and abilities when setting educational goals and objectives.
Less Formal Curriculum
Designing a curriculum might seem like a lot of work. Yet, most parents already have an idea of the educational goals or ambitions for their children, even if they haven’t written them down in a formal outline.
Most parents are already in tune with their children’s interests, abilities, and learning styles, so it might not be necessary to document the objectives of each lesson. You might not need to go into detail regarding the studies or activities that will complement your child’s learning goals.
Unschooling
Unschooling is a nice option for many families. In an unschooling environment, the curriculum tends to accommodate the children’s curiosity and their interest-led activities. Don’t worry! When children are interested in a topic, they will learn! Plus, they’ll retain what they learn for a longer period of time.
If you need to present evidence of the “curriculum” you use for your “unschooled homeschool,” you can illustrate how your children’s interests and activities (such as their hobbies, experiments, creative projects, talents, discussions or books read) accomplish the goals and philosophies your family believes in – even in an unschooling environment.
Convey the unschooled curriculum with photos or short videos showing daily or weekly activities, projects, or experiments. Your child can create artwork or build models or sculptures depicting various projects. Perhaps, together, you can build a bookcase or shelves to hold the projects, sculptures, art, experiments, and displays, then take photos or brief videos of that, too. This serves as proof of continuous learning, regardless of your family’s style of home education.
To record activities in a logbook, you may use our Weekly Planner Log Book forms. The log sheets can be viewed and printed via this Weekly Planner Log link. You may use the log sheets to plan your days and weeks in advance, or to easily jot down the activities and learning events at the end of the day.
Create Lesson Plans
Lesson plans are the activities or studies that complement and carry out the intent of the curriculum and educational goals for your children.
For instance, one of your goals might be for your child to play an active part in your community as a caring, concerned individual. Therefore, you might want to create a lesson plan for Social Studies that has the objective of interacting with others for the good of the community.
Lesson plans, for this objective, could include researching the history of volunteerism in communities. Examples could include Benjamin Franklin, who helped to establish the first volunteer fire department, or Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross through volunteering her services. Your children could read biographies of these people, as well as books on how to volunteer. Then they could write or share their thoughts and ideas on how they could help others in your community.
Other parts of the lesson plan could include drawing posters of volunteers, visiting the headquarters of local volunteer associations, and taking an active part in community volunteer programs, such as canned food drives, clothing or toy collections, animal shelter assistance, or visiting with the elderly in nursing homes. Be sure to take photos or videos documenting these activities, too.
In our next post, we’ll cover Lessons Plans in more detail. Stay tuned!
For the Homeschool Forms mentioned here:
Homeschool forms for recording your Educational Goals and Objectives are available for viewing and printing at this link:
Weekly Planner Log sheets for recording daily/weekly lesson plans or learning activities can be viewed and printed at this link:
Or contact us at EVHomeschooling@gmail.com to receive the forms via email.
Note: Some material published here include excerpts from my book, The Everything Guide to Homeschooling, by Sherri Linsenbach, available online or in libraries and bookstores.
Happy homeschooling!
As you prepare for the upcoming homeschool year, revisit – or create – a list of your educational goals for your children. If you didn’t reach all your homeschool goals last year, simply move them to this year’s list of goals.
Educational goals for your child might include:
* Developing a love of learning
* Enhancing curiosity in special interests or topics
* Finding joy in daily activities or hobbies
* Managing time and responsibilities better
* Volunteering in the community
Educational objectives and outcomes could include:
* Reading classic literature or books by favorite authors
* Trying more advanced science experiments and recording results
* Applying mental math skills or logic for solving problems
* Researching famous people or current events
* Focusing on daily life skills to increase abilities and self-confidence
From these goals and objectives, you can begin planning a curriculum (the knowledge and skills you’d like your child to acquire) along with creating lesson plans (the activities or studies that support or complement your curriculum).
Curriculum Plans
When planning a curriculum, consider your children’s wishes and input on what they’d like to learn in the coming year. Children will often surprise you with the wonderful ideas and learning suggestions they come up with! Together, you and your children can create a curriculum that is fun, interesting, and challenging to ensure a well-rounded education.
To create a curriculum, think about your educational goals, philosophies, or ambitions for your child. Then determine the objectives or plans needed to achieve those goals. These are explained more fully here:
• Educational philosophies center on what you believe your children should learn in order to achieve happiness and success in their lives. This can include morals and values, respect and responsibility, manners and kindness toward others, faith and spirituality, a love for learning, and a love for life.
• Educational aims or ambitions for your children could include life skills and self-reliance; critical thinking and reasoning skills; creative thinking skills; the ability to work well with others; to enjoy one’s work, life, and career; to show love and respect for one’s family; to be a responsible and upstanding citizen; and to contribute to one’s community.
• Learning goals and objectives should support your educational philosophies and aims for your child. For instance:
* Learning self-discipline and self-control is critical to a happy family life and career.
* Proper manners, social skills, and speaking skills are important when working with others or when contributing to the community.
* Good reading, math, science, or technology skills are imperative to all areas of one’s life, from daily living to getting ahead in one’s career.
* Artistic and creative skills add joy and meaning to one’s life.
* Healthy habits and life skills contribute to a long, productive life.
Write a Curriculum
Once you’ve determined your family’s philosophies, as well as your ambitions for your child’s education and the goals or objectives to support those ambitions, you can begin designing the curriculum. But don’t forget to consider your children’s interests and learning styles!
To write your curriculum, you’ll want to list your educational philosophies, goals, and objectives (see the Homeschool Forms link here), and keep them in a special folder labeled “Curriculum.” On the days when you forget where you are headed with your child’s education, reviewing the list of goals and objectives will be a great help!
A curriculum outline for Grade 5 Social Studies, for instance, could include:
* United States history
* Discovery of America and early settlements
* Colonial and pioneer life in America
* American Revolution and independence
* Westward movement
* Geography of United States
* Industrial Revolution
* Natural resources
* Cultural resources and relationships
Lessons and activities you do with your children will be based on the topics noted on a simple curriculum outline, similar to the above outline.
As you continue determining subject areas your child will study (i.e., Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, Science, Technology, Arts and Music, Health, and Life Skills), you’ll want to slant them toward the goals and aims that you have listed for your child’s education.
For instance, a goal for your child might be having a good, healthy life. Therefore, in studying the human body in Science, you might want to:
* Emphasize lessons on health and nutrition
* Focus on the way the body functions
* Learn how the bones and muscles work in tandem
* Determine how blood carries nutrients and oxygen to all parts of the body
* Research the respiratory and digestive systems
* Point out how proper nutrition, exercise, and healthy habits help the body function as it was designed to function.
As you can see, once you have your goals established for your child (for example, being a healthy individual), you’ll be able to focus on the objectives that you want the lessons to convey (in this case, how to achieve and maintain a healthy body).
Children master skills at varying ages and rates. Keep in mind that your child might read well at age 6, but another might struggle with reading at age 8. Or one child might grasp the relation between fractions and decimals at age 8, while another might not grasp the concept until age 10. One child might write well in cursive at age 9; another may not display attractive penmanship until age 12 or later. So, consider your child’s unique skills and abilities when setting educational goals and objectives.
Less Formal Curriculum
Designing a curriculum might seem like a lot of work. Yet, most parents already have an idea of the educational goals or ambitions for their children, even if they haven’t written them down in a formal outline.
Most parents are already in tune with their children’s interests, abilities, and learning styles, so it might not be necessary to document the objectives of each lesson. You might not need to go into detail regarding the studies or activities that will complement your child’s learning goals.
Unschooling
Unschooling is a nice option for many families. In an unschooling environment, the curriculum tends to accommodate the children’s curiosity and their interest-led activities. Don’t worry! When children are interested in a topic, they will learn! Plus, they’ll retain what they learn for a longer period of time.
If you need to present evidence of the “curriculum” you use for your “unschooled homeschool,” you can illustrate how your children’s interests and activities (such as their hobbies, experiments, creative projects, talents, discussions or books read) accomplish the goals and philosophies your family believes in – even in an unschooling environment.
Convey the unschooled curriculum with photos or short videos showing daily or weekly activities, projects, or experiments. Your child can create artwork or build models or sculptures depicting various projects. Perhaps, together, you can build a bookcase or shelves to hold the projects, sculptures, art, experiments, and displays, then take photos or brief videos of that, too. This serves as proof of continuous learning, regardless of your family’s style of home education.
To record activities in a logbook, you may use our Weekly Planner Log Book forms. The log sheets can be viewed and printed via this Weekly Planner Log link. You may use the log sheets to plan your days and weeks in advance, or to easily jot down the activities and learning events at the end of the day.
Create Lesson Plans
Lesson plans are the activities or studies that complement and carry out the intent of the curriculum and educational goals for your children.
For instance, one of your goals might be for your child to play an active part in your community as a caring, concerned individual. Therefore, you might want to create a lesson plan for Social Studies that has the objective of interacting with others for the good of the community.
Lesson plans, for this objective, could include researching the history of volunteerism in communities. Examples could include Benjamin Franklin, who helped to establish the first volunteer fire department, or Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross through volunteering her services. Your children could read biographies of these people, as well as books on how to volunteer. Then they could write or share their thoughts and ideas on how they could help others in your community.
Other parts of the lesson plan could include drawing posters of volunteers, visiting the headquarters of local volunteer associations, and taking an active part in community volunteer programs, such as canned food drives, clothing or toy collections, animal shelter assistance, or visiting with the elderly in nursing homes. Be sure to take photos or videos documenting these activities, too.
In our next post, we’ll cover Lessons Plans in more detail. Stay tuned!
For the Homeschool Forms mentioned here:
Homeschool forms for recording your Educational Goals and Objectives are available for viewing and printing at this link:
Weekly Planner Log sheets for recording daily/weekly lesson plans or learning activities can be viewed and printed at this link:
Or contact us at EVHomeschooling@gmail.com to receive the forms via email.
Note: Some material published here include excerpts from my book, The Everything Guide to Homeschooling, by Sherri Linsenbach, available online or in libraries and bookstores.
Happy homeschooling!
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Mid-Year Homeschool or Second Semester Homeschooling
Second Semester Homeschool or Mid-Year Homeschooling
You can begin homeschooling your children at any time of the year. Many families prefer to make the transition during the semester break.
Here are some helpful ideas to make the transition go smoothly:
• Check state laws by contacting your state's homeschool association or the homeschool division of your state's department of education.
• Allow plenty of time for your children to decompress, to reconnect with the normal rhythms of family life, and to "find themselves" again.
• Don't stress over what "to teach" or be intimidated by Common Core Standards. The Standards only pertain to public schools. Your homeschool need not be governed by Common Core Standards. If you want to follow the Standards for English and Math, you may read them on the CoreStandards.org website. (Note: State standards have been around since the beginning of public schools and continually evolve or are changed.)
• Discuss your children's interests, then take a field trip to your local library. Check out armloads of books, DVDs, and educational games that relate to your child's current interests.
• Observe your child's best learning style, i.e., visual, auditory, tactile, or kinesthetic learning styles. Incorporate specific activities that best support or supplement your child's unique ways of garnering, processing, and absorbing information.
• Start a scrapbook at the beginning of your homeschool and allow children to be as creative with it as they want to be. Encourage them to add to the scrapbook regularly. This will become a type of "portfolio" or "record" of your child's daily or weekly homeschool experiences.
• For daily and weekly homeschooling, see our Home page at EverythingHomeschooling.com.
Happy homeschooling!
You can begin homeschooling your children at any time of the year. Many families prefer to make the transition during the semester break.
Here are some helpful ideas to make the transition go smoothly:
• Check state laws by contacting your state's homeschool association or the homeschool division of your state's department of education.
• Allow plenty of time for your children to decompress, to reconnect with the normal rhythms of family life, and to "find themselves" again.
• Don't stress over what "to teach" or be intimidated by Common Core Standards. The Standards only pertain to public schools. Your homeschool need not be governed by Common Core Standards. If you want to follow the Standards for English and Math, you may read them on the CoreStandards.org website. (Note: State standards have been around since the beginning of public schools and continually evolve or are changed.)
• Discuss your children's interests, then take a field trip to your local library. Check out armloads of books, DVDs, and educational games that relate to your child's current interests.
• Observe your child's best learning style, i.e., visual, auditory, tactile, or kinesthetic learning styles. Incorporate specific activities that best support or supplement your child's unique ways of garnering, processing, and absorbing information.
• Start a scrapbook at the beginning of your homeschool and allow children to be as creative with it as they want to be. Encourage them to add to the scrapbook regularly. This will become a type of "portfolio" or "record" of your child's daily or weekly homeschool experiences.
• For daily and weekly homeschooling, see our Home page at EverythingHomeschooling.com.
Happy homeschooling!
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Interesting, Successful Homeschooling: Midway through the School Year
Midway through the school year, some families take the first steps to homeschooling their children. Other, veteran homeschool families seek new ideas to explore. Here are some helpful points to keep in mind as you proceed through the coming months.
Yes, You Can Homeschool
If you’re a new homeschool family, you’ll want to double-check your state’s homeschool requirements. The best way to do this is to contact your state homeschool association. They can explain exactly what your state might require.
Homeschooling is legal in all U.S. states, and compliance is much easier than you might imagine. If you need help in locating your state’s homeschool support group, contact me, Sherri Linsenbach, at EverythingHomeschooling.com and I’ll help you.
When you’ve determined your state’s homeschool requirements, you might begin worrying about a curriculum or doubting your abilities to “teach” your child or children. Don’t worry! If you can love and raise your child, you can also homeschool your child.
Not “School at Home”
Some people confuse “homeschooling” with “school at home.” But homeschooling is not “school at home.” The term “homeschooling” has simply become the most-used word to describe learning in a more comfortable, more logical, more interesting environment, whether it’s at home or on the road.
Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that you’ll be teaching at home as if you’re in a school classroom, or that you’ll need textbooks or need to give tests or quizzes every week or so. Trying to do these things will often lead to an unhappy or frustrating experience, resulting in reduced learning.
Curriculum?
Before you start worrying about a curriculum or about your ability to “teach,” sit down with your family and have a discussion with your children. What would they like to learn? What new or different things would they like to try? What goals do you and your children have for learning, for new experiences, for hobbies, for careers, for a happy, interesting life?
Don’t be surprised if your children “don’t know” what they’d like to learn or try. They’ve been programmed to have few choices when it comes to education and learning.
The curriculum they’ve been following in school has been a generic, one-size-fits-all program. Therefore, you’ll want to help your children get back in touch with themselves and with their own interests, desires, and goals. As you do this, “curriculum” ideas will naturally unfold before you.
Discussions and Interaction
Daily discussions and interaction with your children are a critically important part of education. Through discussions and interaction, each person can share his or her ideas, opinions, experiences, emotions, brainstorms, creativity, inventions, experiments, projects completed, books read, movies seen, topics researched and explored. The list is endless.
As you and your children connect with each other on a daily basis, you will gain new, inspirational insight into them and into their abilities to think, reason, create, design, solve, and much more! Through daily interactions and discussions, you’ll see that testing is not required to evaluate or assess your child’s learning. Their accomplishments and successes will speak for themselves and be quite obvious to you.
Goals as Homeschoolers
Whether you are a new homeschool family or a veteran homeschool family, there are times when we need to remind ourselves that what we’re doing is for our children – and not for some other entity or someone else's standards. Our main goal as homeschoolers is to provide the best foundation possible for our children – educational, moral, social, civic – so that they can achieve their goals, dreams, and true happiness in their lives and careers.
For homeschool help, ideas, tips, or questions, contact me at EverythingHomeschooling.com. Enjoy your homeschool adventures in the coming months!
Happy homeschooling!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Plan Homeschool Lessons & Homeschool Lesson Plans
Use These 5 Tips to Plan Your Homeschool Lessons:
1. As you go about your day, think of topics that you and your children would like to learn more about.
2. Keep several small notebooks handy for jotting down learning ideas as they come to you throughout the day.
3. Briefly search book websites, such as Amazon.com, to find books to complement your topics of interest. For History lessons, for instance, you'll find "The Civil War for Kids" or "The American Revolution for Kids." For Science experiments, try "Science in Seconds for Kids" or "150 Captivating Chemistry Experiments." Note the book titles on your "Library List" and take a field trip to your local library this week to pick up the books.
4. With your ideas and books in-hand, spend a comfy afternoon relaxing, sipping tea or hot chocolate, and jotting down homeschool lessons for the coming week. Use each book's table of contents and the index for lesson plan ideas, including reading and writing activities, hands-on projects and art-related projects, plus math and reasoning exercises, all gleaned from the books you've selected.
5. Follow this format with every topic or idea that comes to mind, and you'll have plenty of homeschool lessons and activities for each month.
Or, Use the Homeschool Lesson Plans Already Created for You and Your Children:
1. See our Home page at EverythingHomeschooling.com.
2. Click your child's grade level and follow the "Weekly Homeschool Lessons" outlined for you.
3. If you'd prefer to follow the "Free Homeschool Lessons" and "Free Creative Writing Lessons," you may click on those, instead of the Weekly Lessons.
4. Print the "Weekly Planner Log" and "Reading Log" Sheets from our "Homeschool Forms" page, and fill them out with the "Weekly Lessons" and "Books to Read" Suggestions.
5. Do lots of fun Hands-On Activities and Experiments to complement the Weekly Lessons. Keep the Log Sheets, your child's completed projects, and photos of projects in your child's portfolio or homeschool binder or box.
Happy homeschooling!
1. As you go about your day, think of topics that you and your children would like to learn more about.
2. Keep several small notebooks handy for jotting down learning ideas as they come to you throughout the day.
3. Briefly search book websites, such as Amazon.com, to find books to complement your topics of interest. For History lessons, for instance, you'll find "The Civil War for Kids" or "The American Revolution for Kids." For Science experiments, try "Science in Seconds for Kids" or "150 Captivating Chemistry Experiments." Note the book titles on your "Library List" and take a field trip to your local library this week to pick up the books.
4. With your ideas and books in-hand, spend a comfy afternoon relaxing, sipping tea or hot chocolate, and jotting down homeschool lessons for the coming week. Use each book's table of contents and the index for lesson plan ideas, including reading and writing activities, hands-on projects and art-related projects, plus math and reasoning exercises, all gleaned from the books you've selected.
5. Follow this format with every topic or idea that comes to mind, and you'll have plenty of homeschool lessons and activities for each month.
Or, Use the Homeschool Lesson Plans Already Created for You and Your Children:
1. See our Home page at EverythingHomeschooling.com.
2. Click your child's grade level and follow the "Weekly Homeschool Lessons" outlined for you.
3. If you'd prefer to follow the "Free Homeschool Lessons" and "Free Creative Writing Lessons," you may click on those, instead of the Weekly Lessons.
4. Print the "Weekly Planner Log" and "Reading Log" Sheets from our "Homeschool Forms" page, and fill them out with the "Weekly Lessons" and "Books to Read" Suggestions.
5. Do lots of fun Hands-On Activities and Experiments to complement the Weekly Lessons. Keep the Log Sheets, your child's completed projects, and photos of projects in your child's portfolio or homeschool binder or box.
Happy homeschooling!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
How to Start Homeschooling
We've had some questions lately from parents who'd like to know where to start homeschooling.
When starting to homeschool your children -- the best place to start is WITH your children. Discuss what THEY want to learn, what they want to do, regardless of their age.
Remember that "homeschooling" is not "school at home." Rather, it is a natural part of living and learning each day. When families try to "school-at-home," both parents and children often end up disappointed, confused, or frustrated. That's why we are here for you.
Flexibility, variety, and fun ways of learning ARE the KEYS to successful home education.
If you're just starting out, it's helpful to check your state's homeschool regulations and see what they require. The state laws often sound intimidating, but generally they're quite simple to comply with. If you have questions about your state laws, please e-mail us.
In many cases, homeschool families keep a homeschool portfolio, which can include homeschool records. Our "Homeschool Forms" page includes printable Weekly Planner Sheets, Reading Logs, and other forms for our subscribers. For "Homeschool Forms" see EverythingHomeschooling.com. You may use the Forms if you are unschooling, deschooling, homeschooling, or eclectic-schooling.
To use our Weekly Lessons, see our Home page.
Go as far as your children would like to go with the activities -- and, most importantly, let them branch off into any other directions. That's the beauty of homeschooling -- pursuing amazing paths and new adventures sparked by one small idea.
Do the Weekly Challenges, the Hands-On Activities, the Daily Activities, Daily Writing Prompts, Field Trips, Unit Studies -- described on our Home page and designed to provide ideas and inspiration that are interesting, enjoyable, and educational. Write down the activities your children do on the Weekly Planner Sheets from our "Homeschool Forms" page. (Older children can write down the activities they do each day or each week, to save you time.)
The main goal of our site is "Click and Do." It's simple for working parents, single parents, stay-at-home parents. We provide hundreds of educational activities throughout each year.
Simply "Click and Do" the activities, and allow your children to learn, to explore, and to pursue the activities and special interests, or follow new ideas, as well. Help guide them along the exciting paths that inspire or enthuse them.
Feel free to e-mail us with your questions. Our contact information is on our Home page.
Happy Homeschooling!
When starting to homeschool your children -- the best place to start is WITH your children. Discuss what THEY want to learn, what they want to do, regardless of their age.
Remember that "homeschooling" is not "school at home." Rather, it is a natural part of living and learning each day. When families try to "school-at-home," both parents and children often end up disappointed, confused, or frustrated. That's why we are here for you.
Flexibility, variety, and fun ways of learning ARE the KEYS to successful home education.
If you're just starting out, it's helpful to check your state's homeschool regulations and see what they require. The state laws often sound intimidating, but generally they're quite simple to comply with. If you have questions about your state laws, please e-mail us.
In many cases, homeschool families keep a homeschool portfolio, which can include homeschool records. Our "Homeschool Forms" page includes printable Weekly Planner Sheets, Reading Logs, and other forms for our subscribers. For "Homeschool Forms" see EverythingHomeschooling.com. You may use the Forms if you are unschooling, deschooling, homeschooling, or eclectic-schooling.
To use our Weekly Lessons, see our Home page.
Go as far as your children would like to go with the activities -- and, most importantly, let them branch off into any other directions. That's the beauty of homeschooling -- pursuing amazing paths and new adventures sparked by one small idea.
Do the Weekly Challenges, the Hands-On Activities, the Daily Activities, Daily Writing Prompts, Field Trips, Unit Studies -- described on our Home page and designed to provide ideas and inspiration that are interesting, enjoyable, and educational. Write down the activities your children do on the Weekly Planner Sheets from our "Homeschool Forms" page. (Older children can write down the activities they do each day or each week, to save you time.)
The main goal of our site is "Click and Do." It's simple for working parents, single parents, stay-at-home parents. We provide hundreds of educational activities throughout each year.
Simply "Click and Do" the activities, and allow your children to learn, to explore, and to pursue the activities and special interests, or follow new ideas, as well. Help guide them along the exciting paths that inspire or enthuse them.
Feel free to e-mail us with your questions. Our contact information is on our Home page.
Happy Homeschooling!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Start Homeschooling + Homeschool Activities + Unschooling Ideas
During the Christmas break, many families once again consider homeschooling. Here's a few things to keep in mind:
One of the first things you'll want to do is give your children some "down time" to decompress and to relax, after being in the school environment. There's no need to jump right into lessons today, or this week, or even next week. Just relax and enjoy being together.
Have lots of interesting discussions with your children, find out what their current interests are, and basically reconnect with who they are today. Ask for their ideas on things they'd like to learn, hobbies they'd like to try, things they'd like to build or create, etc.
Many children have lost the ability to think for themselves, after being in school. So allow them the freedom to relax for a while, to think for themselves, and to consider all the possibilities and opportunities now open to them, as a result of homeschooling.
Always keep in mind that homeschooling is not "school at home." Homeschooling is simply living and learning each day, in ways that are interesting for your child and fit your child's individual learning styles and goals. Yes, there will need to be some structure and organization to your days eventually, but focus on the above, first.
Other things, such as cursive writing and multiplication tables, can and will be learned in time. But, first, redeveloping a real interest and joy in learning is important for the child who has been in a school environment.
For lots of homeschool activities, homeschool lessons, unschooling ideas, and homeschool information, please visit us at EverythingHomeschooling.com.
Happy homeschooling!
One of the first things you'll want to do is give your children some "down time" to decompress and to relax, after being in the school environment. There's no need to jump right into lessons today, or this week, or even next week. Just relax and enjoy being together.
Have lots of interesting discussions with your children, find out what their current interests are, and basically reconnect with who they are today. Ask for their ideas on things they'd like to learn, hobbies they'd like to try, things they'd like to build or create, etc.
Many children have lost the ability to think for themselves, after being in school. So allow them the freedom to relax for a while, to think for themselves, and to consider all the possibilities and opportunities now open to them, as a result of homeschooling.
Always keep in mind that homeschooling is not "school at home." Homeschooling is simply living and learning each day, in ways that are interesting for your child and fit your child's individual learning styles and goals. Yes, there will need to be some structure and organization to your days eventually, but focus on the above, first.
Other things, such as cursive writing and multiplication tables, can and will be learned in time. But, first, redeveloping a real interest and joy in learning is important for the child who has been in a school environment.
For lots of homeschool activities, homeschool lessons, unschooling ideas, and homeschool information, please visit us at EverythingHomeschooling.com.
Happy homeschooling!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Remove Child from School
About six weeks into the school year, I begin getting e-mails from parents who want to remove their child from school.
"My son is having problems in school. Can I take him out?"
"My daughter is being harassed in school. Can I withdraw her from school?"
Yes, and yes. No child HAS to go to a certain school. Every child CAN be educated at home.
So that you'll know your homeschool laws, check with your state's Department of Education. Don't rely upon information from your school or from the local school district. Call your state's Department of Education and request to speak with the Homeschool Department. (Every state Department of Education has a Homeschool Division.)
Armed with the information you receive from them, write a letter to your son's or daughter's school and explain that you are withdrawing them from school. There is no need to explain why, or to get into a lengthy discussion at your child's school, or try to "defend" your decision. At the same time, if you need to submit an "Intent to Homeschool" notice to your school's superintendent, you can do so. (The homeschool information you receive from the Dept. of Ed. will tell you if a Notice needs to be filed or not.)
Caution: If you start feeling overwhelmed by the legalese contained in the packet of homeschool information you receive from the State, don't let it bother you. Call your local homeschool support group, and they will explain what you need to do. It's truly much simpler than it sounds!
Once you have removed your child from the school system, the fun begins! And so does the learning! You'll be amazed at how much enthusiasm your child will begin showing for learning!
But FIRST, he or she will need to "decompress." This is a very important step that falls between the removal of your child from school and the beginning of the homeschool adventure.
Children are "conditioned" to function in a certain manner in school settings. When they are taken out of school, they need time to get used to NOT going to school. They need time to begin viewing their home as a place where their education will continue. They need to get a feel for how their days will play out in their home. They need a couple weeks -- sometimes more -- to get used to their new routine.
Don't worry. Your child won't "fall behind" during this decompression time. Many homeschoolers finish their homeschool year in half the time of a regular school year!
So go ahead, find out your state laws and withdraw your child from school. Then let the fun and learning begin!
If you need help or guidance, just contact us at EverythingHomeschooling.com.
Happy homeschooling!
"My son is having problems in school. Can I take him out?"
"My daughter is being harassed in school. Can I withdraw her from school?"
Yes, and yes. No child HAS to go to a certain school. Every child CAN be educated at home.
So that you'll know your homeschool laws, check with your state's Department of Education. Don't rely upon information from your school or from the local school district. Call your state's Department of Education and request to speak with the Homeschool Department. (Every state Department of Education has a Homeschool Division.)
Armed with the information you receive from them, write a letter to your son's or daughter's school and explain that you are withdrawing them from school. There is no need to explain why, or to get into a lengthy discussion at your child's school, or try to "defend" your decision. At the same time, if you need to submit an "Intent to Homeschool" notice to your school's superintendent, you can do so. (The homeschool information you receive from the Dept. of Ed. will tell you if a Notice needs to be filed or not.)
Caution: If you start feeling overwhelmed by the legalese contained in the packet of homeschool information you receive from the State, don't let it bother you. Call your local homeschool support group, and they will explain what you need to do. It's truly much simpler than it sounds!
Once you have removed your child from the school system, the fun begins! And so does the learning! You'll be amazed at how much enthusiasm your child will begin showing for learning!
But FIRST, he or she will need to "decompress." This is a very important step that falls between the removal of your child from school and the beginning of the homeschool adventure.
Children are "conditioned" to function in a certain manner in school settings. When they are taken out of school, they need time to get used to NOT going to school. They need time to begin viewing their home as a place where their education will continue. They need to get a feel for how their days will play out in their home. They need a couple weeks -- sometimes more -- to get used to their new routine.
Don't worry. Your child won't "fall behind" during this decompression time. Many homeschoolers finish their homeschool year in half the time of a regular school year!
So go ahead, find out your state laws and withdraw your child from school. Then let the fun and learning begin!
If you need help or guidance, just contact us at EverythingHomeschooling.com.
Happy homeschooling!
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