Why We Don't Homeschool In the Morning...Repost

I was thinking this morning about how nice our days are and then that made me think about when I first started...don't even want to tell you how long ago but let's just say Bush and not George W. (dubbya) was in office.  

What I found was that EVERY so called "expert" or homeschooling mom would tell you (and still do)  is what I like the call "The Homeschool Mom Protocol":  get breakfast, do chores and then start school and be done by noon or 1 (lunch time).  I tried this...really...for years I tried this.  And every morning SUCKED!  I started thinking that if I had to fight like this to get crap done I'd rather send the kids to school and if you know me, that's pretty bad since I'm a HUGE proponent of homeschooling.  

And then....



I decided to not do anything but let the kids play first thing in the morning.....
    ......And our life began to look like what I thought homeschooling could be. 



Then I got wild.....and I started asking the kids what they wanted for breakfast instead of me dictating what they were going to have.  We made out a list of things they liked to eat and what days they wanted them (for my sake)..........and mornings got even better!  No fighting about not wanting oatmeal~

And if that worked......I asked them what they liked for dinner and we made a weekly chart for it.  My cravat on this was it had to be easy or in a crockpot.....and our nights started becoming better.  Daddy's started coming home to a happy house.

now we were on a roll.....we decided that they would do some math and english before lunch and then.....
 .....before dinner they'd do Science and Social Studies and more joy prevailed!


my point???

Stop looking to the "experts" to tell you how YOU need to run YOUR house.  If the kids are running around the house madly first thing in the morning, maybe you need to do afternoon school or even Gasp!!!  evening school!  Maybe you do all your work after dinner!!  Just reading that for some of you may seem like a relief and for others you are cringing right now.    If your kids are full of energy, maybe break everything into small pieces like,  just this one and now run around and come back for the next one or give me the answer while your jumping rope!  But either way...ask your kids what THEY would like to do.  How would it feel if your husband told you exactly how to vacuum or grocery shop or some other thing?  Wouldn't that be annoying?  You bet it would!  So why not let the kids tell you what they may like to do.  What's it going to hurt?  Probably nothing so why fight over it?? Seriously!

Better a dry crust eaten in peace than a house filled with feasting--and conflict.

                                                                            NLT  Prov. 17:1

A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate.
                                                                           NLT Prov. 15:17


Now go!  Find your families' joy!

Easy Peasy Homeschool Review

We've use EP several times and I've enjoyed and been frustrated using EP so I thought I'd write a post about the pros and cons and ways to get around some of the problems I see coming up regularly about using EP.  Before we get to that though let me say that the woman who did this deserves a shout out because she continues to have it FOR FREE so here's her story and the donate button is on the top. DONATE!  Doesn't matter if it's just a buck.   They are a missionary family so donate...okay off to the pros and cons.

Pros:

1. FREE!!!  Seriously this is worth it just for this.
2.  Scheduled.   Nothing for you to figure out...just do the next day.  Doesn't matter if you've missed some days you just march on.   
3.  Uses free resources.  This is closely related to #1.  It's a pain when other curriculum has history and science that require all kinds of stuff you have to pay for.
4. Online.  For some this may not be a bonus BUT you can take this anywhere there is an internet connection...including grandma's house or McDonalds.  Or if you're really tech savvy just use your phone and tether or hotspot your laptop...walla!  homeschool at the park!

Cons:

1.  Difficult to place.  Even with their placement test (on the How To Use tab) you'll find it  hard to place them accurately.
2. Large disparity between LA & early grades Math as compared to other curriculum.  The author has  her kids reading quite advanced books, probably about 2 grades ahead BUT early math (before end of 3rd level) is almost a grade behind. Once you're in about 5th grade math EP switches to Kahn Academy so it levels out.  But Kahn Academy is Common Core so you decide. 
3.  Expects a child to be writing well by 2nd grade
4. The science & history..if you don't like a portion you're stuck ie.. don't want wars(program year 4), Ancients(program level 1) lapbooks (program level 2) or animals (program level  2), world geography (program level  3).  It's too advanced for prior to Third or maybe even Fourth grade if you ask me.
5. No way to tell if they are doing the work unless you quiz them (or have them leave tabs open so you can see)
6. Might be difficult for first time homeschooler to figure out
7. Doesn't run well on tablets..most games don't work properly or you will need a keyboard
8. Very rarely will you be able to use it's levels (ie. 1, 2, 3) as is.  Therefore you'll have to set up your own schedule using LA, Reading, Math and I've found that when you use the individual components (reading, math, science etc)  things get lost in the shuffle from the Levels.  Meaning you loose typing, logic and other things that were scheduled in the original Level.
9. Maybe a little TOO easy peasy for some things.  Meaning some days it doesn't seem    like much to do while other days can be really overwhelming.  But like I said earlier the science, history, reading and writing seems advanced. Now I know it sounds like I just contradicted myself but once you use it you'll kinda know what I'm talking about.

All of the cons can still be overcome because...it's FREE! FREE! FREE!  And here's my plug to DONATE...one more time

Fixes:

1. Have your child leave tabs open to see if they played the games and what the score was.  You can screen shot it and put it into programs like Onenote or Evernote.
2. Check written work. Honestly this seems obvious but with lots of kids things can get lost in the shuffle.
3. Have a text to speech program (already available on macs) for children who can't read well.  Yes it can sound robotic but here's my shout out to Macs because it does a great job...even on the poetry!    SpeakIt! for  the Chrome browser works pretty good for PC's.  This is especially great for dyslexic kids!  
4. If writing is an issue just have the child dictate and you scribe or highlight (with a highlight pen) and have them use what they said for copywork.
5.  You can skip stuff you don't like in science and history (or anything else)...you're in charge not the curriculum.  The bonus here is there is no guilt because you didn't pay tons of $$$ for something that isn't working.  Ask me how I know this.... 
6. Use the simple planner and write what level the kids stuff is at on the top (or bottom) so you know where they are suppose to be. ie...Math - 3, LA - 2, Reading - 1.
7. To find something fast on the page use control-F or command-F (macs)  which should pop up a little thing that allows you to search quickly for something.
8. Print your week ahead of time.  I use my highlighter and mark a dot on the simple   planner for the days the kids need printouts.  These are what the * (asterisk) next to the day is about.  
9. Easy Peasy doesn't have tests so it can be hard to assess what your kids are retaining.  Here are some Ideas to make it easier.  Please be relaxed about quizing your kids.  Homeschooling is not a race for knowledge but about relationships...so don't kill your relationship by over quizzing...On to quizzing and testing.  The obvious is look at the vocabulary words and ask if they remember what they are.  Open some of the science or history and look for what is being taught and simply ask them to teach you about it :0)  You can't teach what you don't know!  Have them draw or write about a topic they learned or even have them act it out if applicable. 
10. This isn't a fix but MAKE SURE you have the recommended ad blocker and your youtube is set to safety mode!  The safety mode is at the very bottom of the youtube screen.
11. This is my personal opinion but here goes....it goes without saying that if your kid is on the internet you need to have them protected.  So use K9 for browsing and keep your kid's screen in public view.  I have seen WAY too many sad stories about kids on the internet so better to be safe then sorry.

   

Here's a great quote by homeschool pioneer Dr. Raymond Moore


"Teaching is inspiring a student rather than filling him with facts.  It is responding to him rather than demanding of him.  It is motivating him to explore his own rather than controlling his explorations.  It is inducing him to think, rather than repeating others' thoughts.  Teaching is leading others to be like you-and more.  It is finding lessons in everything you see, hear, smell, taste and touch and bringing them together to give deeper meaning and fulfillment to life.

Home Style Teaching
Dr. Raymond & Dorothy Moore
Pg 16

Recipe For Genius

“[Homeschooling]...recipe for genius: More of family and less of school, more of parents and less of peers, more creative freedom and less formal lessons.”

― Raymond S. Moore, School Can Wait

equal parts homeschool, service & work

Inquisikids!

Well you know that I LOVE me some Mathtacular and now I love Inquisikids!  What else can a busy homeschool mom say when you're kids BEG to watch Justin explain the skin that is
on water. LOL

Better Late Than Early Interview - Dr. Raymond Moore

Here's a replay from the early 80's of an interview with the late Dr. Raymond Moore a pioneer of homeschooling and considered by most to be the "grandfather" of the homeschooling movement and Dr. James Dobson....

enjoy!