Freebie Alert - Reading Games for the Kids

More Free Homeschooling resources! My 4 yr old is learning to read so this is great for us. My 6 year loves to read the stories and work on her memory skills.
You can sign up HERE for FREE!

Guest post from Family on Bikes

There are few topics more likely to arouse passion in parents than the education of their children. Parents throughout the world want the exact same things for their offspring. We all want them to be healthy, happy, and successful - although our definition of those things may vary. We expect our children’s education to provide what they will need to achieve those goals – even though we approach that education in millions of different ways.

I think we can all agree there is no one right way to educate a child. Each child and each parent is a unique human being with our own strengths and weaknesses and interests and needs. We bring all of that to the table when we plan an educational program – each program is a one-of-a-kind program, even if that program happens in public school. Or on the road.

My husband and I opted to provide a very different kind of educational program for our twin sons – a radically out-of-the-box program. Our sons spent four years riding bicycles 27,000 miles throughout North, Central, and South America. Yep – it was THAT out of the box!

My husband and I – both long-time school teachers – made the decision to take our sons out of school in order to travel our country on two wheels. We spent the boys’ third grade year cycling through nineteen US states and five Mexican states. We took advantage of our experiences to help our sons learn about their world.

By the time we returned home a year later, all four of us knew we weren’t done exploring the world on bikes. After the boys finished Grade 4, we hopped on bikes again – this time to ride from Alaska to Argentina. It took us three years to ride 17,300 miles through fifteen countries – it was three years of magic. And learning.

The beauty of roadschooling is that learning is built into our lives so naturally. As we travel through various countries, we are constantly exposed to new traditions, foods, and cultures. Learning about those cultures comes naturally – it’s not about doing research reports on Wikipedia.

It’s about eating lomo saltado in a roadside restaurant in Peru and drinking mate through a straw from a gourd in Argentina. It’s about spraying foam at passers-by during Carnival or hiking to a religious artifact for a pilgrimage in Ecuador. It’s attending classes with school kids in Honduras and Peru and scuba diving with turtles in the Galapagos Islands.

While roadschooling, we naturally learned about the Olmecan, Mayan, and Incan peoples – and our sons naturally learned to compare and contrast the various ruins. They learned the differences between llamas, alpacas, guanaco, and vicuña when they cycled past them. They can tell you with certainty that the Andean Mountains are very different from the Rockies – they’ve pedaled up and over both chains.

For our family, roadschooling was a great option. Is it the only or the best way to educate a child? Heck no! But it worked wonders for us – and is easier than many may think. (But that’s another blog post…)

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Family of four cycled 17,300 miles through 15 countries from Alaska to Argentina!
 www.familyonbikes.com

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Time for the homeschooling mommy and daddy

Suddenly Homeschooling: A Quick-Start 
Guide to Legally Homeschool in 2 Weeks

Guest Post by Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau
Few people in the world are as busy as homeschooling parents. Between schooling and lesson plans, outside lessons and activities, scheduling and record-keeping, not to mention staying up-to-date with teaching materials and homeschooling methodologies, the days sometimes never seem to end. Add to this larger-than-average families spending longer-than-usual amounts of time at home and it is easy to see why homeschooling parents face constant activity and virtually no down-time – pretty much ever.

While it’s par for the course (and most families wouldn’t have it any other way) homeschooling schedules leave little precious time for moms and dads to spend together. As the first several years of homeschooling blur by, and the next several years are met with greater challenges as children grow and work levels deepen, best laid plans to make time for mom and dad are often pushed aside.

It isn’t that homeschooling parents don’t want time together, it’s just that it never seems, well… possible. Not without giving up something important for the kids, that is.

And therein is the problem.

Though the duties and responsibilities of homeschooling parents are serious and their importance cannot be overstated, putting attention on the marriage is important, too. Placing a greater emphasis on homeschooling and less on the marriage may begin to cause strain, resentment, and in some cases even be quite disastrous over time.

So how can busy homeschooling parents carve out time for themselves when there seems to be little time for a shower or a hot meal, let alone a night out?

The solution is one of changing priorities. And while it may seem counter-productive at first, it is actually quite the opposite. Just canceling one class or postponing a single play-date can easily clear an afternoon or evening calendar. Ask family or friends to watch the kids, and suddenly an uninterrupted 2-3 hour time block becomes a reality. In the long run, the occasional missed activity has little bearing on ultimate homeschooling success for the children. On the other hand, it can go a long way toward maintaining the health of a marriage, which ultimately trickles back down into the family and the children anyway.

Even smaller chunks of time alone with a spouse will do. A simple cup of coffee shared during a 15-minute break or an after-dinner stroll around the yard once the children are tucked in are better than nothing at all. Once parents begin to get in to the mindset of finding extra time for one another, it becomes easier to spot opportunities like these. Plus, because time is so limited, both parties will begin to plan time together more creatively and enjoy those moments even more.
Somewhere down the road, when the children are grown and formal homeschooling has finally ended, moms and dads will be glad they invested this meaningful time with one another. The constant nurturing of the relationship during the busiest years will guarantee many future years of happiness once mom and dad finally have time off for themselves! 

Marie-Claire Moreau, Ed.D.

Author, homeschooler, teacher, mom

Suddenly Homeschooling (Wyatt-MacKenzie, 2011)

www.quickstarthomeschool.com

Homeschool PE Curriculum Review & Giveaway

This month, our family has had the opportunity to try out the homeschool PE curriculum provided by Family Time Fitness. Family Time Fitness emails subscribers a set of 20 new lesson plans each month. Each day's lesson plan begins with a series off warm-up exercises, followed by physical activities and game play, wrapped up with a series of cool-down exercises. Each day is full of fun, whole-body games and exercises.

We found the activities to be fun, and I really liked that the activities are flexible enough where we can do them inside, outside, or take a trip to the park for a special treat. I also appreciated that you didn't need any fancy, expensive equipment. We had everything, except for jump ropes, which I was able to pick up cheaply at Wal-Mart. 

When you first begin the lessons, you are provided with a physical assessment test, and I'm looking forward to see how far the girls have come along.

The curriculum includes video demos for each activity and exercise as well as daily activity email reminders and fitness/nutrition tips. The Core Physical Fitness Curriculum Level 1 includes 260 lesson plans (that's 52 weeks of 5 days worth of lessons). For just $9/month for 12 months, or a $77 one-time fee, you have access to the Core Level 1 curriculum for life. 

Family Time Fitness is giving away a free subscription to one lucky family here at Taking Time for Mommy. So, if you'd like to be entered in the drawing, leave a comment below with your contact information. Also, see below to see how you can obtain extra entries! 

Mandatory Entry - Comment below and tell us you want it! 
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Giveaway will end May 25 th at 11:59pm. The winners will be chosen by random.org and emailed. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me or respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway open to U.S  Residents 18+ 

Disclosure - I received a free membership to FamilyTimeFitness to try in exchange for my honest opinion. No other compensation was received.

Science Experiment: Ice Cream

Video 1: Ice Cream Science Experiment Instructions

Squishy Ice Cream Materials:

1/2 c. full-cream milk

1T sugar

1t vanilla

1 large zip-lock bag

1 small zip-lock bag

2c crushed ice

6T salt

Steps:

1. Mix the milk, sugar, and vanilla in the small bag, seal and shake!
2. Mix the ice and salt in the bigger bag.
3. Put the small bag inside the big bag.
4. Squish them together for 10 min or so.
5. Eat!

Video 2: Ice Cream Science Experiment Results

Our results:

We used almond milk rather than cow's milk. It was delicious! We only had to squish the ice cream for about 7 minutes. It was so cold, we wrapped the bags in dish towels to protect our hands.

Related educational resources:

• The Phase Changes of Water Song (Video)
• Freezing Point Depression and Colligative Properties
• Freezing Physics
• Water Cycle Rap

This is the book we used. While this blog does accept books from publishers in exchange for our honest opinion, I purchased this book myself. :-)

Climb, Swing & Snuggle Reading Readiness Involves the Whole Body

Guest post by Laura Grace Weldon

Today’s children sit more than ever. Babies spend countless hours confined in car seats and carriers

rather than crawling, toddling, or being carried. As they get older, their days are often heavily scheduled

between educational activities and organized events. Most children today have twenty-five percent less time for free play than they did a generation ago, and that’s before factoring in distractions like TV or video games. Left to their own devices, children move. They hold hands and whirl in a circle till they fall down laughing. They climb, dig and run. They beg to take part in interesting tasks with adults. They snuggle. Stifling these full body needs actually impairs their ability to learn.

    We know that our little ones walk and talk on their own timetables. No rewards or punishments are necessary to “teach” them. Yet children are expected to read, write, and spell starting at five and six years old as if they develop the same way at the same time. In fact, academics are pushed on preschoolers with the assumption this will make them better students. This approach is not only unnecessary. It may be contributing to problems such as “learning disorders” and “attention deficits.”

    Literacy isn’t easy. It requires children to decode shapes (the alphabet) into sounds and words, to remember these words correctly in written and spoken form, and to understand their meaning. Allowing reading to develop naturally or teaching it later tends to create eager, lifelong readers. In contrast, teaching children to read early, between four and seven years, is often stressful. Why? Children pushed to read young tend to rely on right brain processes because that area matures more quickly. These early readers are likely to guess at unknown words using clues such as appearance, context, beginning and ending letters. Their main tactic is memorizing sight words. These are valuable methods but not a balanced approach to reading. Such children may quickly tire after reading short passages or read smoothly but have difficulty deriving meaning from what they read. The procedure they use to decode words can make the content hard to comprehend. These reading problems can persist.

    However children benefit when they learn to read naturally or are taught later. That’s because, as the left brain matures and the pathway between both hemispheres develops, it becomes easier for them to sound out words, to visualize meanings and mentally tinker with abstractions. They memorize short sight words but sound out longer words, an approach that is less taxing. As they incorporate more words into their reading vocabulary they more easily picture and understand what they are reading.

     In order for children to read, write, and spell, they must be developmentally ready. Some are ready at the age of four or five, some not for many more years. This readiness includes complex neurological pathways and kinesthetic awareness. Such readiness isn’t created by workbooks or computer programs.It’s the result of brain maturation as well as rich experiences found in bodily sensation and movement.

     These experiences happen as children play and work. This includes expansive movements such as climbing, jumping, digging, swimming, playing hopscotch and catch, riding bikes, sweeping, running. It also includes fine movements such as chopping vegetables, drawing, building, using scissors, and playing in sand. And it includes the essential growth that comes from snuggling, listening to stories, singing, trying new tastes, playing rhyming and clapping

games, enjoying make believe. Children are drawn to such experiences. Without them, they won’t have a strong foundation for learning.

     These activities stimulate the child’s brain to develop new neural pathways. Such activities also build confidence, smooth sensory processing, and create a bank of direct experience that helps the child visualize abstract concepts. Well- intended adults may think a good use of a rainy afternoon is a long car ride to an educational exhibit. A young child is likely to derive more developmental value (and fun) from stomping in puddles and digging in mud followed by play time in the tub.

    There are many other factors contributing to reading readiness. Perhaps most important is a supportive family life where reading and conversation are an enjoyable part of each day. But it helps to remember that young children want to participate in the purposeful work of making meals, fixing what’s broken, and planting the garden. They also need free time without the built-in entertainment of specialized toys, television, or video games so they can explore,

pretend, and play games. These direct experiences prepare children for the magic found when shapes become words, words become stories, and they become readers.

     Laura Grace Weldon is author of Free Range Learning. It advocates for the child’s right to learn naturally and demonstrates how to enfold this approach into daily life. It incorporates ancient knowledge as well as current research, highlighting wisdom shared by over 100 families from around the world.

     In this useful book readers will discover a wealth of inspiring ideas for connecting with nature, reinvigorating their communities and sustaining the love of learning. If you need one volume about educating the whole child, Free Range Learning is that book.

You can purchase Free Range Learning: How Homeschooling Changes Everything HERE

Homeschooling & Socialization

Benefits of Public School Social Interaction [Hard to read? Click Image to View Larger Cartoon]

Homeschooling parents constantly are asked the question, "what about socialization?" So, what does "socialization" look like for homeschoolers? Well, here's what our kids are doing this week...

Monday - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class 

Tuesday - 2 hour "Discover a Bug" program at the library followed by 1 hour group guitar lesson

Wednesday - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class

Thursday - Friends are coming over to play

Friday - Park day with other homeschoolers, followed by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class

Saturday - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class

... those are just the times we have scheduled this week that involve other people. Other activities we have scheduled over the next month are Science Club, Writing Club, dentist appointments (they'll have to talk to the dentist, right?), Book Club, more park days, Photography Club, and Social Studies Club.

Throughout the week they'll talk to their friends on the phone, through email and Facebook. They'll interact with people of all ages while we're out at the store. They might even be invited or invite their friends out to the movies.

Life involves other people. Homeschooling doesn't prevent socialization. Public school and homeschooling are educational options. Neither one guarantees your children will learn social skills or have positive social experiences.

I don't believe homeschooling is for everyone, but "socialization" should definitely not be a reason to choose to put your children in public school. 

What's your opinion on Homeschooling & Socialization?

Three Things I’ve learned my First Year Home schooling

This is our first official year home schooling and it has certainly been a year of trials and errors. A few tears and a lot of frustration too. Here are some things we learned.

1. What works for one family may not work for us – I’ve always known we were going to home school but dredging through all of the different styles and curriculum was a daunting task. Everyone had advice, which was appreciated but at times it could be confusing. I ended up frustrated, especially when what we were doing wasn’t working out for us. I had aggravated girls and they had a stressed out mommy. It took me a while to realize that I had to do what was right for my family and there was no ‘right’ way to home school.

2. I’m home schooling two children with different needs – My
daughters are only two years apart. They are the best of friends and have so much fun together. I thought ‘Yeah, this is going to be easy!’ Well, I thought wrong. They are on completely different levels and learn completely differently. They even like to do school work at different times of the day. It has taken some flexibility on my part but now I have two very happy home schooled girls.


3. I had to remember why were home schooling to begin with – It came down to flexibility, we like to come and go as we please. Our family business’ busy season is the summer and we take our holiday in the winter. Meaning some times we can be more involved in the home schooling community than others. There are so many wonderful programs in our area for home schoolers that I started to feel guilty about what I could attend. It came down to just doing what works best for our family. I’ve let the guilt go!


I have a feeling that next year will be a lot easier on us. We found our rhythm and schooling styles. The girls are learning what they want to learn, not only what a schoolbook says they should be learning.

Silence is Golden

Image - Getty Images

I got to church a little early last Sunday, and I noticed something. It was loud. The service hadn’t begun, but I was sitting in the sanctuary, seeking to prepare myself for worship. But there was so much talking going on around me—not the quiet tones I recall from my childhood, but loud, conversational chatting. This wasn’t the first time I’d seen this kind of thing; I’ve been to many, many churches, and I’ve noticed that the ‘holy silence’ I remember from my childhood has all but disappeared.

And it isn’t just in church, either. Silence has left our lives almost completely. Remember when libraries were so quiet that you could hear someone breathing two stacks over? We fill all of our waking hours with noise—music, talk, what we sometimes call background noise. It’s almost as though we’re afraid of the quiet.

As people, and especially, I think, as moms, we need some silent space. From the time we wake up in the morning until we go to bed at night, we’re constantly moving, interacting and resolving. If we don’t have that little bit of time when no one is talking, we just might lose it.

I think most mothers would agree with this, but the big question is, how do we find that quiet space?

For some people, getting up in the morning before the rest of the family is up and moving makes all the difference. It can give them the strength and humor to get through the day. For others of us, we’re not morning people. The idea of waking up early is kind of painful. There is of course the option of staying up late—getting everyone to bed and then finding that elusive peace and quiet. The downside there is that often by the time everyone falls asleep, we moms are ready for bed, too.

For homeschooling mothers, the options are fewer. We don’t have the school hours during which our children might be away from home, so we have to work just a little harder to carve out that time. Creativity is key! If you need a last minute item for dinner, why not run out yourself once your husband gets home? When you’re in the car, don’t turn on the radio or make phone calls; simple savor the peace. Or try to combine one-on-one time with a child who needs a ride to a lesson or play date, if someone else is at home to watch other kids, you can get in some uninterrupted chat time with the one who rides along, and then steal your own quiet on the way home or during the lesson.

If you can’t find your own silence on a regular basis, you need to take a few hours over the weekend. In the very worst case, you might savor the peace while you wash dishes or vacuum. Turn off the television, the radio and the MP3. Don’t make that phone call. Instead, take the opportunity to listen to your own thoughts. . .daydream just a little. . .and enjoy the moment.

Tawdra Kandle is stay-at-home, homeschooling mom of four children who range in age from 9 years to almost 21 years. She and her husband of over 22 years live in central Florida, where he is in seminary. Tawdra spends most of her precious free time writing and reading, and she loves to travel. She is also a resident writer for Taking Time for Mommy. View more of her Articles HERE

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Homeschooling.Part 4

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Homeschooling. . .

. . .But Were Afraid to Ask. . .
Part 4: Am I Out Here on My Own?


As I said a few articles back, when we began our homeschooling journey, by and large we were on our own. We knew of a few other families who were educating their kids at home or who had done so in the past. But there really wasn’t anyone to show us the way or give advice. For quite a while, I felt as though we were out on our own.

I had read one older, somewhat dated book about a homeschooling family. It made me feel a little better, but it didn’t give me any ideas about how to begin, how to explain what we were doing to others or how to deal with hard days.

The Internet was around at that time, but we weren’t using it the way we do now. It took me a few years to find our nearest homechool support group, and even then, it covered such a large geographical area that frequently their activities were too far away for us. Our area also suffered from a frequent homeschool group malaise: we had one very conservative Christian group, and we had one strictly secular group. The former was exclusive to believers; the other billed itself as inclusive, but actually was not very tolerant of anyone who disagreed with its fairly liberal view.

Fortunately for us, homeschooling can sometimes be like the chicken pox: it tends to spread between families. Before too long, several families whom we knew had decided to begin homeschooling, too, and we had an informal homeschool social group.

Beyond that, I discovered that most larger curriculums were developing online support groups. When I begin to post on those boards, I met incredible homeschooling moms from around the world. . .some of whom became my closest friends.

Since moving to Florida, we’ve become part of several local homeschooling groups. Some of them are more socially oriented, while others exist to organize field trips and learning co-ops.

So what’s the benefit of being involved in a homeschooling support group? First of all, there’s the dreaded “s” word: socialization—not only for the child but for the parents. It’s good for kids to spend time around other children who are being homeschooled, who understand the unique benefits and keep roughly the same hours. And it’s a relief for moms and dads to be able to talk with other parents who share the passion for home education.

It’s also helpful to have a group that can act as a sounding board. Everyone is going to have questions or decisions to make at one point or another, and getting some input from parents who have already been through that process is enormously important. Homeschool groups are wonderful places to get curriculum ideas, as well as links to valuable Internet sites. Of course, most groups also have all the local legal requirements and can give heads-ups on upcoming legislation that pertains to homeschoolers.

And on those days when we’re ready to toss in the towel and send the kids back to public school, or when we’ve heard one too many snide comment from the cashier at the grocery store (“Oh, you homeschool? I think children who aren’t in school turn out weird.”), or when our husband has come home, looked at the messy house and asked archly, “What do you do all day?”, homeschool groups are a precious resource. Sometimes just venting about what has happened to other people who understand is a relief.

I love homeschooling. I don’t know that I’ve found anything about it I don’t like. But by its very nature, it can be a lonely adventure. Why should we be out here on our own when we don’t have to be? Find a homeschool group. If you can’t find any local groups with whom you are comfortable, try some of the national or international groups.

You don’t have to go it alone!

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Homeschooling...Part 3

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Homeschooling. . .
. . .But Were Afraid to Ask

Part 3: What’s Your Style?

My husband and I were having dinner with a younger couple a few weeks ago, and as often happens, the topic of homeschooling came up. Their children are still pretty young, but I could tell they were curious about the possibilities.

“Do you have desks and a chalkboard? Do you have to follow the school district’s curriculum? Or do you let the kids choose what they study?”

I spent the next few minutes sketching out the wide variety of homeschooling styles.

There are as many ways to homeschool as there are reasons to do it. The spectrum ranges from school at home families to unschoolers, with many people falling in between.

Some families prefer to re-create the school environment within their homes. They will arrange desks and chairs, sometimes hang chalkboards and maps and stick to a strict schedule. I’ve known some parents who require their children to get up and dress early in the morning, put their books in backpacks, leave the house and return to ‘school’. For them, this separates the ‘home’ from the ‘school’. Many of these children use a very structured curriculum that isn’t unlike that found in public school districts.

At the opposite end of the homeschooling rainbow are the unschoolers. Families who fall into this category tend to be fairly unscheduled. The world is their schoolroom. Some unschoolers practice ‘delight led learning’, wherein the direction of study is determined by a child’s interest. For example, if my son wakes up one morning fascinated with gorillas, we might begin with a trip to the library to find books about gorillas, followed up by a visit to a local zoo. We might stay on this track of study for as long as my son is interested.

Of course, there are benefits and drawbacks to each style extreme. More structured families offer their children consistency and routine, but it’s also possible for parents and/or students to become overwhelmed or burnt out. Unschoolers tend to be more relaxed and laid back, but sometimes the kids lack the basic concepts in subjects that require more discipline.

Most homeschoolers fall somewhere between these two extremes. We might refer to ourselves as eclectic homeschoolers. In my family, for instance, we do maintain a schoolroom. It’s a book-shelf lined room that also houses our daughter’s piano and the sewing machine. We have a whiteboard hanging alongside a large computer monitor that I use when teaching certain subjects. But this room is used more as a library—the place where the schoolbooks are stored, where I keep my homeschooling materials—than it is anything else (although we do meet there at least once a week to do our French and history lessons and frequently one child or another will use it as a quiet studying spot).

Our math lessons are very structured. Math is one of those subjects where order is really required. For younger kids, we do employ ‘delight led learning’ in science; young children are endlessly inquisitive, and harnessing that curiosity can create a lifelong love of learning.

One of the wonderful aspects of homeschooling is the choice and variety each family has when planning its journey. And it’s possible that each year could be different; our style has evolved from when our kids were younger. Our goal in the early years is to inspire a will and desire to learn and give them the tools for learning. As they grow and mature, we concentrate more on specific courses of study.

If you’re just beginning your homeschooling journey, experiment! Try out some different styles. See what works best for your family and where you are in life. Remember that you can always adjust and make changes as you go along. . .flexibility is one of the hallmarks of homeschooling!

Tawdra Kandle is stay-at-home, homeschooling mom of four children who range in age from 9 years to almost 21 years. She and her husband of over 22 years live in central Florida, where he is in seminary. Tawdra spends most of her precious free time writing and reading, and she loves to travel.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Homeschooling. .Part2

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Homeschooling. . .
. . .But Were Afraid to Ask

Part 2: How?

In Part One of this series, I discussed my own reasons for homeschooling—the Why? If you’re considering this lifestyle—and it truly is a lifestyle!—you may be wondering how to make it happen.

Each state has laws governing how parents go about this process. When I lived in New Jersey, we were only responsible for informing our local school district that we intended to educate our kids at home. Other states have far more involved procedures, and it’s always a good idea to be familiar with the laws in your own state and community. A local homeschool support group would have those requirements posted.

But beyond that, what’s the best way to ease your child out of public school and into the homeschooing routine? That all depends on your family. We’ve tried it a number of ways; with two daughters, we simply did not send them to school at the end of the summer. With another, we pulled her out shortly before Christmas break. Your situation will dictate how you handle it. If there is something urgent that is causing you to consider homeschooling—such as an unsafe environment or mid-year relocation—you may have to do it in the middle of school term. If this is the case, it’s important to reassure the child that she hasn’t done anything wrong to precipitate this change. Inasmuch as you can, share with her why you’ve made this decision, and be positive. Kids pick up and reflect their parents’ emotion and moods, and your feeling that you’ve made a good decision will go a long way to helping your child happily anticipate this new lifestyle.

Many parents recommend making the break over the summer, and I agree that it’s wonderful if you can do this. It gives you entire summer to work on planning your homeschooling schedule, choosing curriculum and building up positive expectations within your family.

Research is so important! Spend as much time as you can reading about homeschooling styles, and think about which one might best match your own family. Investigate curriculum: will you go with a complete package that covers all the topics, will you pick and choose among the hundreds of options, or will you do your own thing, supplementing with the library? All are valid choices! And take it from me: no matter what you decide on, you’ll change your mind on something at some point over your homeschooling journey.

You won’t really know what works with your own child until you put it into practice, so try not to invest too much money into any program until you’ve tried it for a while.

My own first year began with one school-aged child at home and ended with two. I was a genuine rookie, and the Internet was really in its infancy, too! I did my research at the library—God bless our wonderful librarians. I didn’t know anything about support groups, and I think I knew one other family who was homeschooling, too. I chose some topics and some workbooks and off we went. When my oldest daughter joined us at mid-year, my husband found a college-level textbook for her to use for math. It wasn’t until that summer that I began investigating “real” curriculum.

I attended our state’s annual homeschool convention, and believe me, my eyes were opened! I didn’t know how much was out there, and I was a little bit like a kid in a candy shop. I poured over all the catalogs that summer and agonized over which choice was best for the three girls I would be educating at home come September. Part of the issue was the age range: I would have an 8th grader, a 5th grader and 1st grader.

We finally decided on a fairly comprehensive program that would include language arts, reading, history, geography, science and math. We were all thrilled when boxes of books arrived, and we couldn’t wait to get started.

It was an excellent program. . .but not for us. The first problem was time. Because of the age groups of my children, I had to purchase three separate grade levels (frequently, children who are closer in age can use the same level). This meant I was teaching three complete packages, beginning at 8 AM and not ending until 5 PM, with a short lunch break. This curriculum was heavy into read-alouds, and I was frequently without a voice by the end of the day. I also had two babies at home and often was juggling feedings with reading.

It was a lesson learned. I realized that the most important first rule of homeschooing is Know Thy Own Child. Why was I homeschooling? Because I know my children better than anyone else could. So why didn’t I remember that when choosing a plan? When we implemented our own way of doing things, everyone relaxed and suddenly, it was fun again. My children were coming to me, eager to share what they were learning on their own. Together we marveled over what we discovered together. We found the joy again.

So the lesson here? Take it slow. Borrow what you can from friends before you invest time and money. Ask questions from other homeschoolers who have been at it longer than you, and take into account those families’ similarities and differences to your own.

But above all, trust yourself. Remember that this is a process, and you’re learning as much as your kids are! Relax, smile and find the joy!
Tawdra Kandle is stay-at-home, homeschooling mom of four children who range in age from 9 years to almost 21 years. She and her husband of over 22 years live in central Florida, where he is in seminary. Tawdra spends most of her precious free time writing and reading, and she loves to travel.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Homeschooling. . . . . .But Were Afraid to Ask. . . Part 1: Why Do You Do It?

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Homeschooling. . . . . .But Were Afraid to Ask. . .
Part 1: Why Do You Do It? I was watching television this morning, and there was a commercial where an adorable little boy made his busy mother a sandwich for lunch before he climbed onto the bus to go to school. The mom watched her little sandwich maker board the bus and ride away, but I was the one with tears in my eyes. I found myself thinking, “How can she bear to watch him ride away from her?” This is probably the most basic answer to the question I am frequently asked about homeschooling: why do you do it? There are as many answers to this question as there are homeschooling families. And honestly, my reasons are complicated. I was introduced to the concept of home education when my oldest daughter was 2. After attending a seminar on our Army post, I was excited about the idea. But life and family opposition intervened, and it would be ten years before I seriously entertained the idea again. By the time we made the bold move to pull our children from public school, our oldest was twelve years old, and the justification for homeschooling had changed slightly. Sure, the basic rationale remained: no one knows my kids the way I do, and consequently no one can teach them as well as I can. But during those years in the school system, we’d also learned enough to understand that there were more reasons to homeschool than we’d ever guessed. So while I can’t speak to why other families choose to teach their children at home, I can tell you why we do. First and foremost, I love my children. I’ll qualify that by saying that it doesn’t mean parents who don’t homeschool don’t love their children. I’m only saying that my love for them is the primary reason I do this. I never held them back from doing anything they wanted to do, but I hated each and every minute that the school system kept them away from me—hated missing all that precious time. When all the other parents were yahooing in joy at the end of summer, I was in a deep funk. I was depressed at losing the company of the people I enjoyed the most! And then some other things crept in, too. My children are all wildly independent, gifted and smart. While some teachers appreciated this, others were simply. . .putting in their time. Excellent behavior and considered school work meant nothing to them. It was discouraging. And at the same time, I began to see a disturbing trend in our schools. Where once the parents had been eagerly welcome in the schools, increasingly we were being asked not to “interfere”. I heard teachers telling students that they didn’t need to share everything that happened in the classroom with their parents. One teacher actually told me that what happened during school hours really wasn’t any of the parents’ business. I came from an extended family of teachers, and I always respected the profession. I was blessed to have some wonderful educators in my life. But this was crossing the line. There were some specific issues that caused us to make the final decision. In the long run, they don’t mean very much. What mattered was that we brought our children home, and it has been the best decision for our family. The closeness, time and irreplaceable memories make it more than worth it. So when someone asks me why we chose to homeschool, I don’t offer political, religious or social reasons. I say simply, “It’s the best choice for my family. It’s made me a better mom than I was when they were in school, and I know I’ll never regret one moment I spent with my kids.” And that’s the absolute truth.
Tawdra Kandle is stay-at-home, homeschooling mom of four children who range in age from 9 years to almost 21 years. She and her husband of over 22 years live in central Florida, where he is in seminary. Tawdra spends most of her precious free time writing and reading, and she loves to travel.