Homeschool Monday - Socialization and The Civil Air Patrol

Like every other homeschooling parent out there, I hear, a lot, that my child needs to socialize.  

Well, it was the lack of social skills from her peers that caused us to remove her from the public school system and homeschool her in the first place.  I'm sure everyone has a bully store, and probably more than one story.  In order for our child to learn good social skills, we involve her in all sorts of activities with people of all ages.  We have a teen group that gets together fairly often for fun and some community service.  She has a few friends that we make the effort to spend time with (that's how you know someone is really a friend, they make time in their life to see you).  She is involved in our church, and attends our Tuesday Morning prayer meeting (which means she gets to see all her "grandparents" lol).  This past Saturday she volunteered at the homeless shelter with our church, and she helps with the younger children during church.  

And now, she has joined The Civil Air Patrol...and is absolutely loving it!

She has made new friends there, from the ages of 13 all the way to early 20's.  The kids are great, and the parents are all involved.   One thing I have noticed with almost every homeschooled child I have ever met, they all know how to carry on a full and interesting conversations, with other kids, and with adults.  So if anyone asks you about socialization...you have much more to offer your child then you might think, things they will never learn in a public school setting.

Tell me, how many of you homeschool, or have thought about it?

Be blessed,

Debbi

Homeschool Monday - Time For Some Community Service

This past Friday, we had a fun Friday for school, but with the fun the kids did some work, they made blankets for our local Dove House.  This is a local facility that helps children and family dealing with abuse and the legal system.  As a foster parent, we have had dealing with The Dove House, and while the situations were awful, the people there were amazing and wonderful.

One of the worries I hear a lot when talking to other parents thinking about homeschooling is "socializing" their children.  The best part of homeschool socializing is you, as a parent, have a lot of influence in choosing the other teens your child hangs out with, and learns from.  And the other parents are cool too. :0)

We decided this year to add some community service projects to our social time, because we are always looking forward to college.  And there are so many opportunities for homeschool students to receive the same benefits as public school students without the hassle.  In fact, Hannah had her first visit to our local Civil Air Patrol, the Air Force auxiliary for youth.  After 3 meetings...if she chooses to join, she will get her uniform.  She is very excited, and so are we.

If you homeschool, what tips can you share?

Be blessed,

Debbi

Homeschool Monday - A Lesson Book Review - Here Is Where

There is no "real" summer vacation for teachers, even parent/teachers.  I recently received the book "Here is Where" by Andrew Carroll,

and I really, really enjoy this book.  I love history, and I love little know facts, and this book has both.  Andrew Carroll takes us with him on his trip to "discover America's great forgotten history".

 

Did you know that John Wilkes Booth's brother save the life of Abraham Lincoln's son?

 

Did you know a blind man invented cruise control?

 

Did you know that George Washington's wife's slave escaped to freedom and was never returned?

 

Did you know that Richard "Two Gun" Hart, who was a famous Prohibition agent in the '20s was Al Capone's older brother?

 

I didn't, and I am not even halfway finished with this book.  I just love how easy it is to read this book (each story has it's own chapter), and I have plans to incorporate this book into Hannah's history lessons next year.

 

Now let's meet the author...

 

Andrew Carroll is the executive director of the American Poetry & Literacy Project, a national nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that promotes literacy and encourages a greater public awareness of poetry. The author of several books, he lives in Washington, D.C. 
Marian Wright Edelman is the founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, as well as the author of theNew York Times #1 bestseller The Measure of Our Success.

 

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in American history, especially the little know facts that make our country the amazing place that it is today.

 

Be blessed,

Debbi

 

 

 "I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review."

Homeschool Monday - The Final Stretch

Well, we're in the final week of school.  Just reviewing our work and preparing for our EOG's.  (End of Grade testing).  Here in NC while our children have to be tested, you do not have to send in the results, just keep them on record.  The weird part of this is that in NC, the homeschooled children need to pass a national testing, while the public schooled kids do not, so the homeschooler is held to a higher standing.  That's ok with me.  That just means when my child enters the work force, she will be the boss. hahaha

Last Friday, our county homeschool group arranged a pool party at the local YMCA.  And yes, we HAD to go shopping for a new suit.  What a NIGHTMARE!  Why does society (or the fashion designers today) feel that young girls need to expose as much skin as possible?  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a fuddy duddy, but come on, get real, we are raising a generation of hoochy mommas and then wondering why the pregnancy rate for teens is rising.  Seriously?  Ugh.
Any way, we finally found one we both agreed on, sort of, and off we went to the party.  On the way there, it started to storm, so according to the Y policy, no swimming.  They did set us up in the gym with some bouncy houses.  But my group of middle schoolers were too cool for that.  (Except Hannah....lol).  I found the girls congregating in the doorway watching other young men play basketball.  Us mothers just watched them squirm and giggle, and so we giggled too.  Giggled for the girls, and giggled for our memories of when we were that age.  A long (long) time ago. hahaha

Now to decide on testing.  Here is an article from The North Carolinians for Home Education with tips on how to choose a test.
Since I order my testing supplies (and other curriculum) from Peidmont Education Services,  I did a comparison on the 3 EOG's they offer, and because we mostly directed our studies this year on math and language arts, I decided on the California Achievement Test.  I like that fact that 1) this is not Common Core aligned, 2) I can choose the subjects for testing, 3) I can test at home.
So, wish us luck.  Or should I say, wish Hannah luck. lol
Be blessed,
Debbi

Homeschool Monday, where we school - Time 4 Learning

When you start to investigate the possibility of homeschooling, and you start to read different blogs, you'll hear that you should have a designated spot and desks or cubbies or totes for every child.  That spot can be a separate room or a specific time at the table, but when you are trying to homeschool a child with ADHD and other challenges, take everything you read and throw it out the window!

At our home, space is at a premium.  In 4th grade, hubby happily made us a portable cubby.

It looked something like this.

image from My Very Educated Mother

Well, it didn't last long.  Hannah could not sit still very long in one place and she HATES paperwork.  So this year in 7th grade (she went back to public school for 5th and 6th and hated that even more) I found a great website where she does the great majority of her work, next to me, sitting on the sofa.

Time4Learning.

I really like this site, because they do all the work for me.  They set up the lessons, keep the records, and even provide a "recess" game area.  Now Hannah can do her work according to the ebb and flow of her inner clock, with minimal input from me.  So for $19.95 per month, it is well worth the price for me.  Here is an image of the main lesson page.

They cover Language Arts, Language Arts Extentions, Math, Social Studies (American History...I love it!), and 4 different Sciences.  They have just introduced an Art course also.

They have a Parent Log in page where you can adjust the lessons to your specific need.  So you don't need to use all the curriculum, or even do all the work in order.  They also have a Parent Forum where you can join other parent/teachers for support and tips.

And just so you know, I am not getting paid for this review.  I just want to encourge other parents looking for help teaching their children at home.  Until next time...

Be blessed,

Debbi

Homeschool Monday

Since homeschooling my daughter takes up so much of my time, I've decided to incorporate it into my blogging cyber life.  So every Monday I hope to share with you homeschooling tips, stories, and even some of Hannah's work.

Now you may be wondering why I, and many others, choose to homeschool.

My first reason is safety, because, no matter how many metal detectors and campus guards they place in every school, most of the violence and abuse comes from within the school.  From teachers, coaches, and other students.  Now I am NOT saying that every teacher, coach, or student, is violent, but it only takes one, and I won't have that one be my child.  We have dealt with bullies in grade school, and chose to homeschool for one year.  When Hannah moved up to middle school it was worse, after only 1 year, she asked us to homeschool her again.  And we were more than happy to oblige.  

There are several other reasons we chose to homeschool, one being the lack of "good" curriculum in the public schools.  They (most) schools no longer teach cursive or American History, and children are taught to memorize words but not taught phonics.  The new math?  Forget it!  And don't even get me started on Common Core. lol

OK, enough of my ranting, now on to some fun stuff.  Today we are studying the American Revolution, and what's better way than with a movie.  Hannah has been glued to the tv for the last few hours watching Mel Gibson in "The Patriot".   What an amazing movie, and to know what our forefathers went through so we may have freedom today humbles me.

So, do you homeschool?  Why or why not?  I would love to hear from you.

Be blessed,

Debbi

My life has been turned upside down!

Happy Monday everyone.  I'm glad to be here again, with only a few days since my last post. 

As you can probably figure out by my post title, I feel like I have been jogging uphill,

 in flip flops, 

in a mudslide. 

 And I am pooped!

We started homeschooling Hannah again this year, and the past 2+ weeks have been spent fine tuning her subjects.  While investigating what she needs to study for the end of grade testing (since I discovered so much that was not taught in the public schools) I discovered that here in North Carolina, the non-public,

non-traditional schools (i.e. home schools and private schools) have to pass the national standards, BUT the North Carolina public schools do not.  What's up with that?????  Talk about dumbing down our children.  But I'm glad, because when Hannah graduates, she will be smart enough to run the businesses that will hire our public school graduates. LOL.  

This past Saturday, she volunteered with our church at the local homeless shelter, and you can hear about it from her on her very own blog.  Hannah's Homeschooling Daze.

The second reason I am wore out is because my husband and I open our home to foster children.

Therapeutic foster children.

At-risk children.

The children that cannot live in a "normal" family situation, but do not meet the criteria for group homes (which I don't like anyway).

2 Thursdays ago, we got a call....there was an autistic 6 year old that needed a temporary home immediately, or he would be sleeping in the DSS offices.  How could we say no?

He is the cutest little boy, with the largest lungs, and strongest tantrums I have ever seen!  He does not communicate verbally, so we play a lot of 20 questions.  He also doesn't like to be told no, and will have 4 or more tantrums a day.  Complete with throwing himself on the floor, ground, cement, van floor, wherever.  

He is still in pull ups, and yesterday we had 4 showers, and 5 messed in pants.  And he sleeps at only 3-4 hour shifts.  So I only sleep when he sleeps.  As does everyone else in the house, due to the tantrums.  Unfortunately this is one child we know that we cannot help, and he will be moved to a hospital where he will live until he's an adult.  Such a shame.  I get very upset when I see or know pregnant women drink, smoke, or do any drugs.  Because I have seen firsthand the results of those choices.

And it makes me sad.

And tired.

Now it's time for my nap, while he's in school.

Be blessed,

Debbi