Today is the first day back to our regular Wednesday schedule in four months. I adore Wednesdays; the days are peaceful, quiet, and productive. They’re one of our sanity days at home, where we keep the home in homeschooling.
The kids do their morning chores and play time while they wait for me to be ready for the day and make breakfast. (Wednesdays are one of the few days I make breakfast instead of delegating to one of the kids.). Today it was whole wheat waffles and yogurt/strawberry/granola parfaits. And we sit and talk over breakfast and mint tea. Then everyone goes to their schoolwork.
Since the youngers finish their schoolwork in less than 45 minutes, they go off to play and be creative in their games or art work, while the olders finish up their reading and math. Today, my 11 year old struggled a bit with factoring fractions, as we had taken a break from it for a week, and she needed a refresher. So, she and I worked through some practice problems together and she got it again. She’s now done and curled up in the recliner, reading In Grandmas Attic.
My 9 year old hasn’t yet gotten to his math yet, because he’s absorbed in the new book I assigned him: In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. Since we are in baseball season, I pulled it off our Sonlight 3/4 shelf and assigned it to him. He is completely absorbed so we may need to forgo math today or do light math, ‘cuz it’s looking like he’s just going to read the book straight through. Can’t complain about that.
At my desk I have classical music playing because I’m working on magazine proofing today, and I can’t have music with lyrics in the background while I’m editing…makes it hard to focus. Later when I’m coding and doing analytical work I’ll switch over to KLOVE or KSBJ, but for now, it’s classical and all very relaxing and peaceful.
The youngers are now working at the art table. My 7 year old is reading an apology letter he wrote to his younger sister to make up for the fight they just had, while she is taping up a present she wants to give to someone.
My 11 year old has moved now to the computer and researching Roman Mythology for her Latin class and checking email. She just called me over to see some pictures of 3D art her friend sent her. In a couple hours she’ll be online with her friend in California for their weekly chat date.
And,the tissue paper has come out on the art table…I’m sure by the end of the day, I’ll have paper clipping all over the floor again, but the process of creating is so critical in my opinion, it’s worth the mess (besides…they are the ones who will be cleaning it up…:)
Our day will progress like this, until it’s time to leave for baseball practice. With the kids doing their schoolwork and playing, working on their projects, while I work on mine. I love days like this!
Ever get that panicked feeling that you aren’t homeschooling the right way or the best way?
I certainly do, every once in a while. And I’m pretty rooted in my methodology. I know what works for our family and what doesn’t.
But sometimes I start getting panicky… maybe I need to use a different method, maybe I should be unschooling more, maybe I should be more structured… and the doubts come in. For a time I might make a change, but then I come to my senses, usually pretty quickly, and everything goes right back to what works for our family.
If you sometimes suffer from this too, I recommend checking out this 4-step recovery program article by Diane Flynn Keith at Homefires.com. It’s worth the read.
In a recent discussion with another homeschool mom, I realized that she and I had opposite approaches to spending our homeschool dollars. She spends the majority of her homeschool budget on curriculum and I spend the majority of ours on classes, activities, and sports. So that led me to wondering about how different families spend their homeschooling dollars and the pros and cons of different approaches.
Our homeschool budget is loosely made up of the following categories. We use outside classes and activities to teach things I’m not strong in – languages, art, music, etc. So, over 70% of our homeschool budget goes towards those categories. I spend about $500/yr on curriculum, books, and supplies for four kids – trading the time and energy needed for using used, low-cost, or self-developed curriculum for cost savings, so I can spend our dollars in these other areas.
Where do you spend the majority of your Homeschool dollars?
Homeschool Budget Categories
Supplies
Curriculum/Books
Art Supplies (for lapbooks and craft projects)
Paper and Office supplies
Science experiment/project supplies
Auto (Gas & Toll fees for classes, activities, and field trips)
Memberships
HSLDA
Support Group
Museums
Academic Classes
Registration Fees
Latin
Spanish
Sign Language
Other Classes
Sewing
Lessons
Supplies
Art
Lessons
Supplies
Music
Instrument rental/purchase
Music Lessons
Recital fees/uniform
I’m not totally sure how my older two children learned to count to 20. It just happened. I’m sure we played games, counted together, and did the usual stuff. Wanting to play hide-n-seek with the big kids as a driving motivation for learning to count to 20 for both of them. And counting to 20 just came together pretty quickly for the olders when they were ready. But this isn’t so for my 6 year old.
Not only is he a visual-kinesthetic learner, he also has trouble remembering the names of things – like numbers and letters. He can remember amazing things, but the names of things (and people) are difficult for him. It takes a lot of repetition and many different methods to move names/labels into his long-term memory.
Knowing how long it took for him to memorize 1-10, I’ve been taking a more diverse approach to teaching him numbers 11-20. These are the only numbers that don’t follow a clean rhythm that directly correlates to numbers 1-10 and thus require a little more effort to learn. (For example, my 6 yo already can do 21-100, he just doesn’t have 11-20 memorized.)
But I was really missing having number tiles for ordering and matching. Letter tiles and alphabet Go Fish cards have been very good for helping him concrete letter and word-building concepts. So, I created some very simple 11-20 number tiles to use for matching games and tactile ordering games. I’m also going to use these for notebooking and lapbooking graphics.
Click to download a PDF version
If you’d like to use these as well, feel free to download them here (opens in a new window). Simply cut them out on the lines and store in an envelope.
If you have one available, a Xyron or similar sticker machine is a good way to laminate them or turn them into magnets or stickers. (I love my Xyron!) Otherwise, an office supply or teacher supply store may be able to laminate them for you. But it is also pretty inexpensive to just print a new sheet when you need them.
If you have other ideas or games for teaching numbers 11-20, I’d love to hear them. Please post a comment and share how any methods you’ve used. Thanks!
Sometimes I have to FIGHT to keep the home in homeschooling. I have to plan and preciously guard that home time.
If you’ve homeschooled for more than 6 months, you may understand what I’m talking about here. If you don’t homeschool, this is is the biggest fallacy about homeschooling… Homeschoolers don’t spend all their time at home!
In fact, there are so many opportunities that pull at our attention and time. In our house, just this year, we have speech therapy, cub scouts, sports, violin lessons, orchestra, tween girls, preschool group, art lessons, and Latin. And that doesn’t count all the errands, field trips, and everything we have to turn down that we might really want to do, but I have to say No to preserve my sanity.
I realized a few years ago that I must have at least one, preferably two days where we just don’t go anywhere, where we have no outside commitments. I adore summer months where we school, but don’t have activities…oh those days are great, because we get to stay home. There’s no drain from going from here to there.
But I digress… the point is sometimes, we just have to scheduleour days at home. And guard them. A few years ago, I came up with this system of making sure when I’m planning out the kids’ activities schedule that at least one day a week is at home, with no commitments. When you have a few minutes, check out part 2 for the details and free downloadable tools and samples
or similar sticker machine is a good way to laminate them or turn them into magnets or stickers. (I love my Xyron!) Otherwise, an office supply or teacher supply store may be able to laminate them for you. But it is also pretty inexpensive to just print a new sheet when you need them.
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