Showing posts with label homeschooling children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschooling children. Show all posts

Monday, January 30, 2012

Story time into sleep time.


I love our story time. We all sit around on a bed in our girls room and read. Those of us that read take turns. I, admittedly, am not the main reader here in the house though. My son loves to read aloud to us. We all don't mind. I will also confess, sometimes I doze off too. I can't help it. I can sit down all excited about reading our story and then have a difficult time keeping my eyes open. Even if I'm the one reading. It's a little comical if I do say so myself. My 3 yo DD will grab my face and say "wake up mommy". I love it. I love homeschooling my children.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Homeschool curriculums choices

There are so many curriculums to choose from. I know personally I use Sonlight curriculum which has a link featured on the right of the page. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I love it. It's literature based. There's usually some sort of report/essay due each week. Schedule included. The science we love...it's has an experiment each week. Hands on it what most children like. I can't imagine bothering to change curriculum because they flow so well from year to year. I'm starting 1st grade with my 3rd child this year and the curriculum is what I used for my now 7th grader. There are discounts for buying whole packages and other great amenities.

Christianbook has pretty much every curriculum listed on their website under the homeschool tab. Almost everyone I know who homeschools uses a different curriculum than the next. Most curriculum is geared towards different learning styles and/or teaching styles.

I hope your homeschooling inquiries can be answered. If I don't know the answer I can help find the answer. Blessings

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Back to the trenches!

My children and I are very excited to start school this year. We have cleaned up the school room that doubles as a playroom. It got out of hand in there since we had a lot of fun this summer.

We went to our local Black Moshannon State Park a few times and also to Delgrosso's. We went back to visit our favorite place with some of our favorite people in Va Beach, VA. We moved from there just over 4 years ago now and hadn't been back to visit for all this time.
We had a blast. Went to the beachfront one night. Two of my little ones enjoyed the waves for the first time and my son just didn't remember it at all, so it was like a first time for him. My oldest remembered the beach, but not a lot of the people. At church on Sunday she saw a lot of her friends and then she remembered them, but she was very shy towards them. Just a flourish of her personality that's popped out in the last 4 years.
We took time each day to dedicate to visiting old friends. Catching up after 4 years is hard. Thank goodness for Facebook otherwise we wouldn't have been in touch at all.
We saw our old house, it's being rented out now and drove by my childhood home. That was neat. I almost drove right past it for how tall the trees have grown. My dad and I planted them when I was 9 years old at 2 feet tall, now they're nigh on past 100ft.
Needless to say we had a lot of fun, made some memories to last a lifetime and took in all the nostalgia. We'll be doing that again.

Back to school! We just ordered my daughter's curriculum from Sonlight and we are excited to get our box in the mail. It's almost like Christmas to us. The children are up in the attic now taking it upon themselves to pull our the 1st and 5th grade curriculums. We turned in our affidavits of intent to homeschool. We have to part-time register my 2 oldest so they can take the testing with the school, play sports and music. Since we have to pay taxes we are utilizing the perks that would cost us extra money otherwise.

Tell us how your school year is gonna start and what about your summer adventures.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

What is your day in a nutshell...so far?


I have cleaned up, doing school with the children, can't find the clothespins, need bleach and more clothespins, found gift cards I lost at Christmas time, need Tylenol, had egg sandwich for breakfast, doing laundry (hence the clothespins need), wow...I'm sure there's some I left out! oh, I went to my first shift at work too, waiting on the second to come while doing all this other stuff. I'm perfectly okay with all of this too!
Oh, and holding a little one too, best part!
What part of being a homeschool mom or dad, stay-at-home mom or dad do you like best? I am completely overwhelmed at times, but I'll never say I'm not blessed to have all I have.




Greyson age 1

Monday, August 2, 2010

PA homeschooling educational requirements-may be different in other states.

In Elementary level they are required to learn: English, to include spelling, reading and writing
Arithmetic
Science
Geography
History of the US and your state
Civics
Safety Ed, including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and prevention of fires
Health and physiology
PE
Music
Art

In the Secondary Level:
English, to include language, literature, speech and composition
Science
Geography
Social Studies, to include Civics, World History, History of US and your state
Health
Safety Ed (fire safety etc)
Mathematics, to include General Math, Algebra, and Geometry
Art
Music
PE

also can include:
Economics
Biology
Chemistry
Foreign Languages
Trigonometry

Between 9th and 12th grade they have to have 4 years of English, 3 years of mathematics, 3 years of Science, 3 years of Social Studies, and 2 years of Arts and Humanities.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Am I doing enough?

When we're homeschooling our children we often have questions. "Are we doing enough?" is the biggest question most homeschooling parents have! Now I don't know what you're doing in your house, behind closed doors, but I'm sure if you're out seeking, you're doing your best.

There are general principles in schooling. Mostly, Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Science, and History. Your child's grade/age level is another facet in knowing what to teach them at what time. All curriculum out on the market, through Amazon or the source website themselves, have all those resources built in. You can use the whole of one, or mismatch according to what you like best and your child's learning style.

If you are reporting to your local PS (public school) they should provide you with a homeschool packet. They should provide you with all of their PS requirements and within the means of the law you have to comply or they can unfortunately tell you not to homeschool your child. HSLDA can provide you with inexpensive representation for any issues that might come your way in homeschooling. You can claim religious exemption (whether you're religious or not) and then you are free to teach your child however you want.

When reporting to the schools we have submit samples and affidavits and portfolios and all that stuff to prove they're learning what they're supposed to. In either way you choose to "report" your child's schooling you can take advantage of the PS's resources. You can take your child there to have testing, take certain classes, participate in music, sports and the like. Although if doing religious exemption they frown on that largely, it is a contradiction to utilize their resources and yet "ignore" their input otherwise. However, by law you have the right to use it because you're still paying the taxes even though your child doesn't go to their school. The logical reason why they don't like it is because they do not receive the money for your child and therefore have to absorb the expense themselves for your child's participation in their resources. Reporting to PS and showing the intent of having your child participate in certain resources provides them with state funding.

So are you doing enough? Is your child learning at their grade/age level? Are they struggling to keep up? Are they exceeding your expectations? Any of these could be a part of the dialogue that runs through your head. No one can tell you you're not doing enough without knowing you, your child or your situation. If you're doing your best and striving for them to be as on track, as any other child their age or situation, then you're doing enough.

When it comes to homeschooling our children, having their education and best interests at heart are the key.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Spring flings out of cabin fever

It's getting warm outside. The sun is shining more, the birds are singing, the flowers are coming up out of the ground. Time to take your homeschooler out for walks. Time to nature walk. Get a bird book. Each state has one. Barnes and Nobles has them. Not real cheap though. Usually you can find one cheaper through the Amazon link on Applemama. Get a book to help you identify flowers too. Lots of homeschool science curriculums have that included in your studies. In Sonlight Curriculum 3rd grade Science has them learning all about plants and animals. Great stuff.

I've been so ready for this nicer weather. Here in PA we've had a pretty bad winter. Although not as bad as others I've heard. We acquired another rabbit and duck today. Owning animals is a great opportunity to build your child's character in so many ways. They learn to care about another life other than their own and also learn to manage responsibilities.

Feel blessed and free that you have the right to homeschool. Germany and Sweden are fighting for their rights. They are being imprisoned for do so. We may have to answer to the public school system, we may have the ability to just write a letter of our intention to homeschool under religious exemption, but either way, we have the freedom to do so. There are no laws that say we cannot homeschool our children. I know Virginia is reviewing their laws of religious exemption. Pennsylvania is deliberating their laws on the same, but nothing is iron-clad that we can't claim it.

Call it a blessing to be able to homeschool. Our children are our legacies and we must do our best by them. If the public school system is not meeting the needs of your child then you have that option to homeschool. I know quite a few people who have wonderfully intelligent children who just aren't learning to their full potential in the public school. The public schools can only do but so much with the multiple learning styles they have in children. And not every teacher can cater to every learning style. A teacher is as good as their imagination. And who knows your child better than you do?

All about Applemama

I'm a homeschool mother of 4 wonderful children. My girls are 11, 4 and 2. My only son is 8 and full of energy. We live in rural PA, and have 8 chickens, 5 rabbits, 3 cats, 3 ducks, and one mouse.

We were married here 11 years ago and moved off to FL - then to VA - and now back here after my husband's job was uprooted and not transplanted. He found a job to work in his field (at least somewhat) and we are taking a wonderful opportunity to move back to where we met. We have old friends here and enjoy reconnecting with the church where we were married. We love it and are making many new friends.

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