Did you know that the five day blog hop for The Schoolhouse crew is happening this week?   Amazing eh, and I'm not even home to help celebrate it.  :)   And visit blogs and all that lovely stuff.  I am really really hoping that a friend of mine will link up my posts for me while I am away, but time will tell eh?

Anyways, the set up is this:

• Monday - Curriculum
• Tuesday -  Planning
• Wednesday - Home Management
• Thursday - Traditions
• Friday - Encouragement

and since today is Monday today we'll talk about curriculum.

I have to admit, with the mirade of curriculum options that are out there, it can be mind-boggling and worrisome to pick the right curriculum for your family.    Will you do a free one?  An expensive one?  Patch things together?   Buy a program that is relatively complete and just work your way through it?    Is price indicative of quality?   Is free, in the end of it all worth it?   Should one do Charlotte Mason, classical, unschooling or ????   So many options, it's hard to pin it down.  

What is a home educating family supposed to do as they try to do right by their children?

Some steps that might help you.

1. Know your children.  Study them.  How do they best learn?   If your child LOVES working on the computer, look into computer based programs.  If they devour books consider a program that has lots of reading in it.   Like to do worksheets?  Some children THRIVE on them.  Hands on?  Lapbooks, experiments, building, creating... just work with it.

2. Budget.   Break down what you can afford to spend.   If one program meets all your requirements but is a bit costly can you do something cheaper in another area?   Can you wait for a sale?   Can you, if you are a blogger, contact the company and see if you can get the product in exchange for a fair and honest review?  Can you share the resource with another family and split the cost?

3. Research research research.   Discover the pros and cons.  Read reviews.  Ask questions of the vendors.    Look at samples.   Do the free viewing if you can.  Take the placement tests.  Consider if it fits with the paradigm of how YOU do school.   For instance if it says you must do a program five days a week but you only school four, can you make it fit without a lot of struggle?

4. Weigh out the pros and cons.   Sometimes it is helpful when considering two curricula to list out the pros and cons side by side. To really see how they compare.  

5. Know your schooling philosophy.  Some families will make out a mission statement for schooling, others will have their philosophy internalized, but if you know your philosophy it will help you determine if it fits.   For instance, if you want to do purely secular approach, you won't want to pick a curricula filled with faith tie-ins, if you want a creationist approach you won't pick a curricula that is heavily pro-evolution.   If mastery approach appeals to you for doing math, looking at a spiral approach would be a no-go.     If you know, at the very minimum, in your head what mindsest fits with your family, it helps in making curricula decisions.

6. Mistakes happen.   Be aware.  You'll do your research, sampling, question asking and get your curriculum home and go .... oh shoot... I didn't realize it involved this or that your children hate it or it's method of doing things doesn't work for you.   What do you do?  Toss it?   If bad enough, seriously, just sell it and move on.   Rework it?  Most curricula, especially the non-computer based ones, can be reworked or have something added to it to make it bearable.   Ignore sections.. sometimes that is all you need to do.   Figure out what part of the program REALLY isn't working and leave it out.   And there are times when you just have to bear down and work through it, it's just the way it is.   Life has moments like that.  :)

Anyways, 6 things that might help you as you approach the new year.  :)

IF you would like to read others thoughts on this broad topic of curricula, click on the image below.  :)   Have a great day!

Money and homeschooling.. it can be such a hard topic to deal with you know?   People LOVE free, but the question is .. is free always worth it?   
On the flip side.. are those high priced curriculum always worth it to?  
How does one determine what they should spend?  Where they shall put their dollars?   Not always easy decisions to make.

So here's what I can tell you.

You will make mistakes.  Really you will.

• You will buy something and it disappears into the shelves in your house and you will forget about it.
• You will buy something and realize it doesn't fit with how you do school.
• You will do what I have done and accidentally buy two of the same item without realizing it until you organize your shelves and say... "oh that was dumb".

You will also do what I have done:

• Buy something on sale and realize it was JUST THE THING you needed.
  
• You will have someone tell you about a program that didn't work for them but stimulates your thinking and before you know it, you get that program from that person and it's exactly what you needed.    Buying it cheaper than it would have cost new
  
• You will bless others with items just as you have been blessed.  Because in the homeschool community I find that people give things away freely so often.
  

This is how you make your budget work.
By realizing that mistakes will happen but so will blessings.   You will balance the good with the not so good.  You will research and hunt and discover and celebrate the good with your young, and persevere through the bad with them (or find a better home for it). 

And you will learn. 

This is why you are doing that right?   To Learn.   So go ahead learn.  Let your children see you working it all through, and they too will learn about budgeting. 

It will all work out in the end.

To that end, let me tell you about a sale that starts today and runs through til the 8th.  It's a sale that is featuring products put together by Canadians, it covers a whole range of topics from history to science, french and rabbits, chocolate and timelines.   A bit of something to please anyone looking to learn more about my beloved country of Canada and more.  :)   Cost?  $27 a savings of almost $150 off the list price.

Lisa, over at Canadian Homeschooling has issued a challenge.  Can we take 20 days to organize our homeschooling?

Week one: Supplies!  

I thought it would be fun to do a post walking you through how I organize our homeschooling.  Week by week.

The picture below shows how I USED TO organize our supplies.  I still use the same containers but I've switched things around a bit.  I used to put them up on a cupboard behind our table but two weeks before Christmas we started to renovate our living/dining room area so while hubby painted I worked on the bookroom so as to make room for dining room rejects and I actually get my CURIO cupboard OUT of the bookroom.  Took a lot of doing.  :)

Needless to say our pens/markers etc drawers needed to make a move.  :)

So, anyways, that's where I had them last year.   Now that I've moved them they are next to his table/computer.   Immediately to the right of this is his table.    If he turns his chair around he is sitting next to me at the big table where we do our joint work.  

These drawers hold our rulers scissors, pencils, erasers, shapeners etc.
Our papers on top are cardstock which my son uses to make his many papercraft figures, we also use the cardstock for doing unit studies and lapbook type studies.

Stencils, markers, special crayons for our daily activities board.   Pens and pencil crayons next door.

Tape and crafting blades are on the opposite side of room.  I've had the tape in these drawers for a VERY long time and it amazes me that my boys repeatedly ask "where's the tape?"     Does make me smile and shake my head at them.  Smiles are good right?  :)

I am thrilled that I've managed to contain our glue into one container.   The fact that I often have to track down the drawer is a completely different story.     Glue gun sticks and a crafty boy means the drawer travels.  Currently residing in my lad's room.  :)

So come join the challenge.   It's up on Facebook HERE.   If you are Canadian you can join in on the challenge and enter a draw HERE.

If you have organized your writing supplies... and tape and rulers and what not... let me know.  Link up in the comments and I'll come visit and tell you want a marvellous job you have done.  Deal?   :)  

Books books and more books.  There are so many books that one can choose to drawn inspiration from.   I love to read, and I'll admit, that I tend to read fiction more than non-fiction... I just LOVE a good story, but there are times when I like to read some non-fiction.  I have a book of quotes that it's fun to browse through (yeah, I know I'm weird that way).   I read dictionary words with my boy regularly (though not for the past month since life has been a bit nuts).   I happen to LOVE idea books so today I'm going to talk about some idea books that I have.

Getting There is a bit of an unusual book.   It's a faith book about teaching your children what is important BUT it is not a particularly Christian book.   It draws quotes from a variety of materials both religious and non-religious.     Nine Chapters covering such topics Follow Your Heart, Finding our Way, Happy to be Here and such like.  These chapters cover such topics as Heart, Home, Gratitiude, Attitude, and Share.   

If you read this book from a faith perspective you'll need to work past the "higher consciousness ideas" and focus on what you can use to help drawn your children into a greater awareness of what is indeed most important in life.   Lots of quotes, different activities, just kinda of a neat little book.

This book I've had for a while and really don't plan to use this year other than for blogging.    It's called : Math for the Very Young.    Yes  I know, I know... my 10 year old can't exactly be classified as among the very young...but if a lad is struggling with a concept in math, sometimes it's good to break it down into it's very simple component parts.. to remind him of the basics so he can teach himself what he already knows and from that click in the new knowledge.  All math builds upon itself, it's just a matter of seeing the pieces.

Now if you DO have a very young child that you want to gently teach some math concepts to.....this is a most excellent book for you to check out.   Seriously.   Tons of ideas in this book for teaching children patterning, geometry, figures, and more.  It has games, crafts and rhymes.   Just a neat little book that I hope to pass on to someone with young children in at the end of the school season.  :)

The Everything Homeschooling Book.   Links, links and more links are in this book.  :)  This book covers it all in snippet form with links provided to increase your knowledge base.   From homeschool expectations through types of learning styles, and types of homeschooling.  Laying out a schedule, record keeping and more.  23 chapters worth of ideas, ideas and MORE ideas.   :)   It's just lovely.   :)

Unplugged Play by Bobbi Conner....tons of ideas in this book on ways to play with your children.  Group play, solo play, indoor, outdoor, balls, paper, fun all over the place.    Would you have thought of making a game for toddlers using crumpled coloured paper and a box?   I didn't.  :)  Or playing scoop ball with a balls and scoops.   Great ideas for children aged 1 - 10 years of age. 

Teaching Science Through Discovery.    I have the seventh edition of this book.   Lots of to-do's, lots of "ask questions" of who, what, where, how etc.    Use questions to help children discover why something might happen.    This book is chock full of ideas.   All kinds of things to do or use if you child asks "mom, why does ______ Happen?"   Pull together a simple experiment and help them answer the question for themselves.

The TOS Crew will be doing a blog roll of great reads for parents/homschoolers.   Stop back on January 8th to learn what other books folks suggest you read.  :)

I have to tell you... my son was NOT an early reader. 

There were reasons for this... having holes in his ears affected his hearing and he had a hard time figuring out what the right sounds were for different letters.  Teaching phonics with him was such a no go as it just didn't work for him.   Logic of English was a review we did last year that worked really really well for my boy.   It helped him to figure out what letters are shaped like in your mouth and what the vibrations feel like.   Why that helped him connect with the sounds I don't know, but it was such a God-send because once he made that connection he started to read.

BUT what to read.   I got a lot of "mom, I don't like that book.   Mom, that doesn't interest me.  Mom, this one is too hard to read."    I kept encouraging him, telling him it was just a matter of finding what intrigued him and was at the right level for him to read ... even if he couldn't read all the words (making a point of letting him see how sometimes even "I" don't know all the words but I can figure out meaning using a dictionary or using the context of the story to help me) he would be able to enjoy the story.

I mandated 20 minutes reading every single day.  I didn't care what, just that he read.  We started and stopped a lot of books.  Discouragement set in until... we hit upon Calvin and Hobbes.   A boy and his cat.  Living life, getting into trouble, laughter ensued.   We got the entire series for him and he read it over and over again.. you could just see his confidence growing.

From Calvin and Hobbes we moved to Garfield to Snoopy to a book I started him on called Deltora Quest.   His goal was to finish the second book before I managed to do so.   In fun I kept threatening to steal it on him, but he finished it before I did.  From there he moved on to Mouseheart, and Andi Undercover and Fish Finelli and now he's starting into one of the Redwall books. 

I can't say how very delighted his dad and I are to have a reader in our house.  It's so very nice.  :)

My lad and continue to read together.    I find it interesting that as much as my lad likes to read fiction books, it's the non-fiction books that he reads or that I read with him that inspire the most comments and questions from him.

Take for instance the book: Natural Gas Power.  This book is part of the harnessing Energy Series.    It's not what you call an "easy reading book".  It uses technical language (while explaining what the words mean) but one really learns what is all involved in using natural gas.   We learned the history, the uses, the shipping and more.    "But mom, why?" was a frequent question.  OR "(statement of clarification).. would I be correct in that mom?"  OR "MOM!  That's neat!"

I LOVE how non-fiction books bring out those questions in him.   AND it's particularly neat when I see him internalize that information and I see it come out in the stories he plays out with his toys.   Just LOVE IT.

Another book we've been reading lately is from Smithsonian called Endless Explorations Readers Level Four.   Learning about predators, world wonders, natural disasters, space exploration, Ocean Habitats and Flight.     It's a rather neat book with fact cards, quizzes and gorgeous pictures.    Just perfect to read together or for a lad to read on his own.     It has interesting tidbits of information scattered throughout... like did you know the Spanish Flu of 1918 affected 1/5 of the world's population and was found on almost every continent?   (of course now I am curious about which continents it wasn't found on... )  :)

Reading non-fiction books is a great addition to my boys reading.   It's good to have him reading and asking questions... some of it as I read to him, part of it as he reads to me, or as he reads on his own and brings his questions to me.  Seeing the confidence in him grow is amazing.   And I love it.  :)

Raincoast books can be found at the following links:
www.raincoast.com
https://twitter.com/raincoastbooks
https://www.facebook.com/raincoastbooks
https://instagram.com/raincoastbooks/
https://www.pinterest.com/raincoastbooks/
http://raincoastbooks.tumblr.com/
https://plus.google.com/+raincoastbooks/

A couple days ago I posted what who the winners were in the TOS blue ribbon awards.

I thought I would take the time today to tell you who the winners were in our household.  :) 

StarToaster is our overall winner.

We haven't quite finished this program yet due to busy schedules and other priorities, but my son returns to it determined to finish it off.  :)

Caring for Orphs while practicing math, memory retention, logic and vocab skills.  It's all good stuff for children.

We've also made favourites of the following. 
IEW.  Writing skills that are easy for a lad to complete.  Grammar taught using a story.  It's a good fit.
Cursive Logic.  My lad is getting better with his letters, though he still struggles with what some of the written letters really are.   It's a struggle at times, but it's become a daily activity to work through.

Even though my son struggled with doing his first official study guide, it was a good experience overall for him.   Stone Fox Study Guide that we did from Progeny Press worked well at helping him look at the book more deeply.  At the end though he HATED the book Stone Fox because the dog died...and my soft-hearted boy just really struggled with that aspect of the book.  Knowing it was based on a true story helped him with the processing of it all.

Next up was Brookdale House with their Drawing around the world: Europe study.  Though the set up of the study itself wasn't a great fit, the opening up of opportunities for learning about the countries of Europe...Being spurred on to cook, watch videos and such is such a great fit and we're having so much fun doing so. 

Brinkman Adventures brought us Christian Stories that made us think, sometimes laugh, and definitely share.  

Visual Learning Systems and SmartKidz Media are both programs we enjoyed using, it's sometimes difficult to remember to work them into our schooling though.

For math we worked with Great parents academy and Stinky Kids Math.  My son's comment when asked to choose which he liked most was "I kinda liked both mom".  We haven't continued with GPA Math since as we progressed through the program I found that he was too often skipping the practice part and saying the tests were too easy so we moved to a workbook approach.  Stinky Kid we continue to use.

The game Wonky continues to be a huge favourite in our household and beyond.   It frequently travels with us and I am so glad that USAopoly was one of our review products this year.   Wonky is a great game.

So I hope you've enjoyed my walk through this years reviews (at least the most memorable ones for us).    Hopefully within them you find some treasures of your own.

Dear Homeschool Mom.

As I type this letter I want to talk about things that I wish someone had talked to me about when I first started homeschooling.

1. Curriculum ain't all that.  :)    It isn't REALLY.  BUT it can certainly be helpful.  :)    Curriculum is merely an aid in teaching our children.   It can help to shape minds, teach important concepts and save us time.

It can also lock us into a set pattern or way of doing things that may not prove beneficial and you know what... THAT'S okay!   Sometimes curriculums are just not a good fit.    It provides an opportunity to do one of a few things... rework that curriculum into something usable, find a new home for the non-working curriculum and then find a new curriculum, or fight your way through what you have at hand.

2. It's okay to take a day away from school....and not worry about turning it into a field trip or a hands on learning day or a.. whatever you think you SHOULD make it.   Just take your day.  I did this recently when I had a whole whack of outdoor work to do and a single sunny day in which to get it done.  :)       I worked hard, the lad pitched in here and there, and we had a productive day.... just not a schooling day.     And you know what?   Today he did his schooling and didn't complain a whit about doing it until he ran into a snag and then figured a way out of the snag (of his own doing too!).  :)   I was so pleased with him for figuring it out on his own and not needing me to help him.  :)

3.   It's okay to be different from those around you.      Seems a simple thing to say isn't it?   But it's hard.  When everyone around you schools using workbooks and hands on experiments and whatever else, it can be hard to school in your own way.  It's hard not to compare your way with another persons, or for people to query what you are doing and why.  It's a part of who we are.

But I want you to rest assured.  You know your child(ren) best.   If you love them, and watch them, and pray over them... God will guide your path in the training and raising of them.    Train them up in the way they should go.   And let the rest be.  

Next week many students will be heading back to school.  For some that means taking the school bus, walking, riding or biking to a brick and mortar building filled with other students and a variety of teachers from good to well... learning yet to be good.  :)

Others will be signing into private schools, charter schools, online schools etc.

Still others will be crowding around a kitchen table asking their mom what they'll be doing today.   These children, like mine, are schooled at home.

Just as I am eclectic in my approach to schooling there are a many different ways that children can be educated at home.

Next week many students will be heading back to school.  For some that means taking the school bus, walking, riding or biking to a brick and mortar building filled with other students and a variety of teachers from good to well... learning yet to be good.  :)
Others will be signing into private schools, charter schools, online schools etc.

Still others will be crowding around a kitchen table asking their mom what they'll be doing today.   These children, like mine, are schooled at home.

Just as I am eclectic in my approach to schooling there are a many different ways that children can be educated at home.

 Consideration number one.

HOW will you educate your children at home?  WHO will do the educating?

• Will mom or dad be the primary educator?   Often this is mom as Dad will hold down a full time job, but I've seen parents share the duty and even know of a fellow who is the primary educator.
  
• Will you hire a tutor?   Do you need someone to teach a subject in a different manner to help your child understand the subject matter?
  
• Will you become part of a larger group and school via the computer and classes through an over arching institution?   Parents role is merely to ensure their students complete the work requirements asked for.

How will this look in your home?

Consideration number two

How will you pay for your curriculum?

• Do the free route?   There is LOTS of free stuff available for schooling your children.    Some places to start are Ambleside, Easy Peasy, and many others.   If you browse through the links I have on various pages you'll find tons of freebies.
• Take on a part-time job to pay for what you want/need (I have a part-time job)
  
• Create a strict budget
• Find creative ways to get good curriculum more cheaply or free.   (for instance I do curriculum reviews).

Curriculum isn't cheap.  How have you figured your way through the finances?

Consideration Number Three

How will you set up your day?  Month?  Year?

• 9-3 like a typical school?  Sept-June?
  
• Splitting up your day... a bit in the morning, bit in the evening depending on teacher availability?
• four hours (we generally do school 9-1 or 10-2)
• year round varying the intensity depending on time of year and subject?
• In the afternoon/evening to accommodate the night owls in your family?
• something completely unique to your family?

When do you figure your school time in?

Consideration Number Four

What type of homeschooling will you do?

• Will you choose a method and stick to it?
• Will you pick and choose from a variety of methods and weave your way through the various curriculums?
• Will you ignore the methods and just let your children learn as they will, just providing lots of opportunities and then following their interests as they learn their way through life? 
  
• Will you try different methods until you figure out what works best regardless of the philosophical views of the material at hand?

What is your primary method of schooling?

Consideration Number Five

Where will you "Do" school?

• Many parents use the kitchen table
• Others set up a school room
• Some homes are small, space at a premium so floors and couches become the school room
• yet more will find themselves inside and outside and all around the house?

Where do YOU do school?   I'd love to hear.

It's that time of year when homeschooling bloggers are making lists of what they plan to do for the school year.  I've not done this before and I'm feeling uncertain about doing so as it seems like a commitment to do so right?   And we change things around here speedily if there is need to do so.  

BUT life is nothing but flexible right?

HISTORY:
1. Story of the world (reading chapters)   We are currently 3/4's of the way through the second book.
2. Chronicles of church history (reading chapters)   Have finished the first in this five book series.
3. Canada diaries (reading chapters).     We've read several of these and thoroughly enjoy them.  Also do the Princess diaries...wondering if there is a Prince diary as well... 
4. Veritas Press.  On-line history course.    We are finishing off our middle ages course and are soon to start our explorers course.

Why so many different books?   Because we like to read and it means we can skip one and not feel like we are missing anything.  :)   Could we read through the books faster if we just read them one at a time?   For sure...but what if we get bored then?

Geography:
I have to admit, I"m really hit and miss with geography and I'm really not sure what I'm going to do with this.   It does it covered, but we really don't do anything in depth.  I'm considering doing a couple of different things.   A child's geography  started this for a review and didn't finish it as it's an ebook which means it's really easy for me to forget that it exists.   Lisa has done an explore Canada ebook that we might take a month to go throw as well.

Math:
GPA worked well for us last year, but the further we got into the course the more I heard "Mom, can I skip this?  I know this."   So I"m looking into alternatives.  I've ordered Jump Math books for the lad.  Not sure when they will arrive so until then we'll be working through Stinky Kid Math.   Stay tuned for an upcoming review.  So far the words I'm hearing are "MOM!   I don't get this!!!"   This means he's being challenged and that's not a bad thing.  :)

Language Arts:
IEW-  institute for excellence in writing.   Did this as a review this year, we have a fair bit to finish yet, so will finish working through the course.   We'll also do some work with Logic of English.   A current review we are working through is SuperTeachers.  Love this website and will continue to make use of it.

Science:
Science is very boy based and nature oriented.   That will continue as well as adding in studies of gears, chemistry kits, videos, books and all sorts of things.   Nothing specifically planned for this subject area.

Other stuff:
Music: going to work through Gena's new ebook on20th century composers.
Art: working on water colours this year.   Hoping to find good books in the library
Archaelogy: found areally neat curriculum for my co-op class.  My lad is intrigued... so.. we'll be doing a unit on archaelogy.
Tinkers Time: I'll use schoolhouseteachers.com as well as finding stuff on Pinterest.. Doing some of the things on this board.
Cursive: continuing to work through Cursive Logic.
Bible: Will continue to do much the same as last year.... doing devotions together.   Might also do some stick figure bible work.

Interspersed in the midst of all this will be various "social study" type information, unit studies, page a day books, and TONS of reading.   Reading is good for the soul and good for learning.   So continue it we shall.

We'll see how it all goes.   We'll be doing a four week on, one week off rotation with time off for vacation, holidays and what not.     Hopefully it will all work.  :)

My posts this week can be found at the following links, if you'd like to follow along.  :)

Monday:  Keeping your cool during the back to school rush
Tuesday: Where will your reading journey take you?
Wednesday:  Those hard to teach subjects.
Thursday:
Friday: