Life, Homeschooling, Rambling

[fairjennet]

It was a supremely ordinary day today, but a rather nice one. It was full of mom things. I cleaned the house, went to Wal-Mart for groceries, praised crayon drawings, raced the kiddo to the mailbox, and even took him to Target to buy a toy. The trip to the toy aisle reminded me so much of what it was like to be a little kid. I remember bargaining future chores for toy money just like the kiddo did today, and I remember my own mom sighing and saying, "Are you sure you really want this toy? Are you sure you don't want to save your money until you can get something better? It's a whole month of taking out the trash with no allowance..." I felt so much like her when I repeated that little speech. I don't remember my mom very well, so I just love those flashes of memory.

This evening, I cooked dinner and wrote lesson plans. I discovered the best activities over at the BBC school website. This one fits in perfectly with the unit on ancient India in the kiddo's history book. The whole BBC school site is amazing. All I can say is that the Brits must have a better educational system altogether. These activities are designed to fit in with their national curriculum, and the little snippets of curriculum standards they include make me want to download the whole "Key Stages" document. It makes so much more sense than the "Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills." Apparently, Texans are supposed to be essentially confused.

Anyway, we're having fun with his Social Studies/Language Arts stuff. This week was Robin Hood, reviewing European geography, and introducing encyclopedia use. (Funny how much more he liked King Arthur, the little snob! :D )Next week is reading Ananzi stories, writing poems, and a review of African geography. After that we get to do ancient India, more geography review, and then tigers with the encyclopedia. Then on to ancient Greece!

Homeschooling has always been exhausting, and I'm starting to realize how unprepared I am to be a teacher. Sure, I can teach the stuff--it's not rocket science--but I find myself wishing I had studied early childhood education. There must be some sort of secret to making sure everything is taught the way it's supposed to be taught. I don't want to teach him the way I was taught in public school; I want him to be interested. Yet, I also know that we need to cover a bunch of stuff that isn't very interesting--at least it isn't very interesting to me. I'm trying really hard to get Larry to take over the math and science. He actually gets excited about it, and I'm just sitting there saying, "Are you done with your worksheet yet?" *hee* Maybe we should just move to England and stick the kiddo in a public school.

Comments

[phyncke.livejournal.com]

You know that lesson plans are available online, right? That can be a really helpful tool for teaching at home. Really creative lessons and such.

I would expect home schooling would be hard. But go you! If you need any help...I was a teacher in a former life. Let me know. Active lessons are best.

Worksheets are death in math. You need manipulatives. What grade is he in?

[fairjennet.livejournal.com]

Yep, yep, I use online lesson plans all the time. Lots of great ideas there, though I usually have to tweak things around quite a bit. He reads and thinks way above his grade level, but writes, draws, and etc. somewhere below that, so finding something challenging and interesting that still encourages him to work on those other skills takes some invention.

Uh...I don't know what grade to say that he's in exactly. He uses a first grade science book and a second grade social studies book (we started those subjects late), but I try to find challenging activities to go along with each section of those books. He uses a third grade grammar/writing book and a third grade phonics book, but he zips through that stuff so fast that that I'm about to start him on chapter books written for fifth graders. He's about to finish his second grade math book; third grade is basic multiplication and division. He's a...a first through fifth grader? He's about to turn 8 yrs. old.

And thanks, homeschooling is hard, but it's totally worth it. I may just take you up on your offer one night when I'm banging my head against the wall. If nothing else, doing this has taught me that teachers are the most awesome people in the world. No idea how you managed to teach thirty plus kids at once and still keep your sanity intact!

Also, I know what you mean about worksheets. You have to use them though, don't you? We used marbles and the whiteboard when he started learning to add and subtract three digit numbers with regrouping, but after he got the hang of it, I thought he needed the practice of worksheets. There's really no way to learn it except by doing it again and again. I don't know...maybe we ought to go slower, break up the bookwork with more activities. Hm.

Anyway, wow, this is a long reply. Shutting up now. And thanks!

[phyncke.livejournal.com]

Activities are great and yayus you said lots. Means you're excited about it. *hugs* Anytime you want help I am game. I think it is great. I hope there are other parents you are in with too...so you do field trips together and stuff. I have heard about people setting up group activities together with their home school stuff.

Ya ya. Great!

[fairjennet.livejournal.com]

Ha, yep, I talk lots. And yeah, I've been looking for a group. So far they all seem to be uber religious though...
That's what I get for living in Texas.