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Homeschool: Setting Up Your Classroom
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Setting up your classroom (or workspace) for teaching your children is vital in ensuring that your homeschool efforts and goals are achieved. Your classroom can be anything from a spare bedroom to the kitchen table to a separate building on your property. When you are using a living space that has a dual purpose, such as the dining room, it can be difficult to set that space up as solely a classroom.That is one of the problems we ran into since we use a combination of he living room and dining room.
My solution was a simple one. One wall in our dining room serves as a sort of visual board. I use it to display the kids artwork and to put up maps, etc that I may need for the lessons that week. So this space is constantly changing and evolving. To make it more pleasant looking, especially when we have company, the “board space” is actually a large hutch. In the top part where the doors are, my husband took the doors out and attached cork board. I have a flat surface for books, etc and shelving underneath to store materials.
In the living room I made no changes because we use the TV area the most. I can hook up my iPad and our TV becomes a chalkboard. The biggest thing we did was give me an office space so I could grade papers , plan lessons, etc. This space has allowed me to focus on my teaching as well as my work.
Take the time to plan your space and set it up the way YOU want it.
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May 10, 2012
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Homeschool Project: Tornado in a Jar
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This is a simple and easy science project to do with your homeschooled children. It requires very little equipment or work.
What you will need:
- Jar with lid
- Water
- Vinegar
- Clear liquid dish soap (yellow will also work but not any other color)
How to Make Your Tornado:
- Fill the jar 3/4 full of water.
- Put in one teaspoon of vinegar and one teaspoon of dish soap.
- Close the lid and twist the jar to swirl the water and see a vortex like a tornado form in the center of the jar.
You can make debris by adding glitter if you like. As you can see from my picture it is simple,the hard part was getting the picture as the tornado only lasts for a few seconds.
Here’s what your children should learn from this project:
The swirling winds of a tornado are called a vortex. As you twist the jar, the water inside up against the glass is pulled along due to its friction again the glass walls. The fluid toward the inside takes longer to get moving thus creating a vortex. Eventually both the glass jar and the fluid are spinning as you rotate the bottle so that when you stop rotating the jar, the fluid inside keeps spinning. Both air and water are fluids which means that they move in similar ways.
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May 7, 2012
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Homeschool: What Your PreK Student Should Know
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Gone are the days when your PreK student just learns their ABCs or 123s. They have to learn a lot and let me tell you after a little research I found one public school that had everything they should know at the end of the year and it was eight pages long. Can you imagine, eight pages of information! Here are the ten most basic things that you should work on with your PreK student this year, be sure you check with your district as to what your child should know as these are loose guidelines:
- Writing(They should be able to write some letters and their name)
- Letter Recognition (Recognize their name and some letters)
- Beginning Sounds( Know the sounds each letter makes)
- Number Recognition and Counting (Can count to at least 20 and recognize some numbers)
- Shapes and Colors (Know and recognize basic colors and shapes)
- Fine Motor Skills ( Improving these will help when they better to write because it will help holding a pencil)
- Cutting (This is big for me personally because to this day I can’t cut a straight line)
- Reading Readiness
- Attention and Following Directions
- Social Skills ( Basic things such as sharing, waiting their turn, not hitting, etc)
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May 4, 2012
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Cinco de Mayo
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Cinco de Mayo, Spanish for 5th of May, is on Saturday and you don’t have to be Latino to have fun with your family. Some family friendly activities that are popular with my children include:
MEXICO (to the tune of Bingo)
At night there’s mariachi
And the sun shines hot all day-O!
M – E – X-I – C – O,
M – E – X-I – C – O,
M – E – X-I – C – O,
Let’s all clap for Mexico!
Papel picado (punched paper)
- You need tissue paper (whatever colors you want)
scissors
string
scotch tape - Directions:
- Fold tissue paper a number of times.
- It should be folded edge to edge, not corner to corner.
- For younger children, don’t fold too many times or it will be difficult for them to cut.
- Cut shapes from the paper, but don’t cut off any corners (you want the rectangular shape of the tissue paper to remain)
- Unfold
- Edges may be straight, scalloped, zig-zagged or fringed.
- Fold over the top 1/4 inch of the papel cortado over a long piece of string and tape to make a pocket
- Add additional sheets to form a long decorative streamer
Pinatas are always fun, and you can always cook up some Mexican food with your kids. We will making tortillas!
- tissue paper (I cut store bought sheets into 4 pieces — each about 8×10 inches)
- scissors
- string
- scotch tape
Directions:
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May 3, 2012
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Homeschool Series: Teaching Approaches
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There are several different approaches that you can use in homeschooling your children. There are, however four main approaches that are most widely used:
Traditional: just like school with graded papers, text books, 12 years of study.
Classical (includes Principle): More literature oriented where children are taught in three stages. Principle is Christian oriented.
Unit Study: takes a theme or topic and goes more deeply into it over a period of time. All subject are blended around a theme or project.
Living Books: centered around making the subject come to life so to speak and a little free-form.
Relaxed/Unschooling: very unstructured, free flowing,you decide ow things go.
We use the Relaxed/Unschooling Method because it works for us. I can teach at the grocery store if I choose to and even though I have a planner that is filled with daily plans if something comes up or we decide we need a field trip, we change the daily plan. The main thing is to pick one that works for you and your children. My suggestion is to start off with the Traditional Approach and then change it as you find your flow and learn more about how your children learn.
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April 30, 2012
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Homeschool Series: State Laws
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Each state has very different laws concerning homeschooling. It is very easy to get lost in all of the laws. There is however a site that offers you a little help. Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is a nonprofit advocacy organization. They will help you navigate the waters. If you are new to homeschooling or a veteran they can help in all areas.
You can join for a fee and they offer monthly, yearly, and lifetime plans. You can ask questions, find out what laws are passing in your state, what laws you need to know about if you are moving to another state, and so much more. I am a lifetime member and have found them to be a very invaluable source. When I first started homeschooling I had no idea what I was doing and HSLDA helped me feel empowered with knowledge. The other thing that I loved at the time was that I could purchase supplies that I needed.
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April 26, 2012
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Homeschool Series: Planning
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Once you have decided to homeschool you may be your planning. Planning for homeschooling sounds much harder than it actually is. You need to decide first and foremost what subject your child(ren) will take for the school year. Make a list of those subjects along with the goals you want your child to reach for the year.
Next beginning finding the books you will need for the year. Depending on the method you will use and the subjects you will teach you can find these books at your local bookstore and online. Make sure you are comfortable with the books, go into the store and do more than just skim them. Remember that YOU are responsible for making sure your child learns so if a book bores you it may bore them as well.
Now begin setting up your planner. You can use any sort of m=planner and method you want.I use an excel program and list the subject across the top with each day’s lesson listed below for the week. If you aren’t sure which you want to use buy an teacher’s planner and use it until you get into your own groove. A teacher’s planner or even a homeschool themed planner will help you with your daily flow. You will find that it becomes an essential part of your homeschool efforts. You can look at lessons you have planned and work in field trips or even use trips to the grocery store to teach.
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April 23, 2012
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Introduction to Homeschool
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Choosing to homeschool your children is a decision that you should not take lightly. Google homeschool and you will find ton of information. So much so you may end up with information overload. There are many benefits to homeschooling such as you control the lessons your children learn. As I begin to share with you the various methods, ideas, and plans for homeschooling that works for us I want to first share with you the five things to consider before you decide to homeschool:
- Time -Homeschooling takes up a lot of the day. If you are thinking it’s just an hour with some books you are wrong.
- Financial strain- The homeschooling parent cannot work a full time job and in most cases no job at all so there may only be one income.
- Socialization – Your children will have to spend time with other kids. There are groups to help with this.
- Household organization - All the housework still has to be done, meals still have to be cooked, and so on. Will you be able to get it all done?
- Why others began – Find out why others homeschool.
If homeschooling is your choice then the first thing you need to do is contact your local school district. Every school and state requires different things. Find out what your requirements will be.
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September 16, 2011
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Bullied kids often have academic problems
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Its not surprising, but I’m not sure if schools are quite yet taking bullying seriously enough. Black and Latino students are most severely affected.
Its an important point for parents to keep in mind too. Not just to talk to your school about what efforts they making to reduce bullying but also, if your child’s grades seem to be worse than what you think they are capable of, it might be a good idea to try and sit down and talk with them to see if there is any chance that they may be victims of bullies.
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September 15, 2011
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Structured homescooling works!
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The Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science shows that kids who are homeschooled using either a curriculum or some other structure do just as well or better than kids in public schools.
Kids homeschooled in an unstructured manner however did significantly lower on assessment tests. Read more here: Structured homeschooling gets an A+
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