How to Begin Homeschooling, Part Three, Add-Ons

Add-On's to Your Curriculum

Ok, so another big crazy everyone has a different opinion topic. Should you use add-on's to your curriculum? And if so should you use them from the same supplier that you get your main curriculum?

Ok, my opinion is as always, YOU know what's best for YOU and your family. That being said. Add-on's are wonderful! They help hammer in a point, get the extra help on a subject a child is struggling with, and sometimes they're just downright fun! My family uses workbooks, math manipulative's, writing tablets, among other odds and ends I pick up during the year. Do we use what ABeka (our chosen curriculum supplier for text books) offers? Nope. Why not? Well, there's the cost factor at the top of the list but also the fact that there's so many wonderful products out there to chose from.

We'll start with math. What is a math manipulative? It is whatever you can use to count with or show another mathematical theory with. So, when teaching the children to count, add, subtract, multiply, or divide I pretty much just use objects around the house. We use cereal, buttons, toys. Move them into groups or put them into small containers. Whatever is on hand is what gets used. The plus? This doesn't cost anything extra (and when using cereal after they're done counting them or whatever they're working on they get to eat them). Teaching time? Use your kitchen clock, or make clocks with paper plates and paper hands with a good old fashioned brass brad to hold the hands to the plate. Draw funny faces on those plates and the kids will remember, or teach your schedule by gluing or drawing what you do at the times of day you do them at. Upcycle/recycle those old plastic Easter eggs, split them in half and write the analog time on one and the digital on the other half and have the child match them. The opportunities and options are endless!!!

Those little white containers are actually empty (cleaned) single serve Pringles containers.

Workbooks. Hmm. Well, I absolutely love Mead brand workbooks. I've been using them since ECJ was about four years old (almost 8 years now) and they have comprehensive ones that cover a bit of all subjects from pre-k through second grade. They're fun and colorful as well as affordable and can be found not only online but usually at most retail stores. This year when I went shopping I was unable to find the Preschool one, so I bought School Zone and we'll be using Peanut's Mead book from last year that she didn't finish. I've never used School Zone before but it looks good, so I'll do a review on it after we've been using it for a month or two.

Peanut's School Zone work book.
ECJ and YCJ's Complet Curriculum Books for this year.

I also bought a Flash Kids, Harcourt Family Learning, Complete Curriculum book for each Cracker Jack this year. I had bought one for ECJ last year and although he wasn't all excited about it (they're big books and last year his was pink) he did learn a lot from it. They cover math and Language Arts including Reading, Spelling, and Writing. I've gotten them for as little as $10 but they usually cost around $20. These books have an answer key in the back, a test prep section, and practice tests ( I think four of them). I suppose this could be used as a complete math and language arts curriculum on it's own and not just an add on if you wanted to because they are that complete. So far I've found them from Kindergarten to grade 6. 

ABC flashcards I bought at the dollar store this year.

I also usually buy a writing tablet or workbook for each child. Sometimes the extra writing is necessary, especially for the younger children. This year I haven't bought any of the children one. Peanut is still learning her letters, ECJ has to write a lot for me weekly and I believe that's enough practice for him, and YCJ is focusing on her reading this year although I may purchase her a writing tablet if I think she needs one. And I may even use one later in the year from ABeka for Peanut that is also part of the beginning of their phonics lessons.

Some people would call our daily binders an add-on. Ok, don't freak out. I'll explain. A little over a year ago I stumbled on a blog that talked about their Daily Learning Notebook ( http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/ ) and I liked the idea. While I don't use her whole idea and I don't use all of her free printables I did take the idea and run with it. I came up with what I call our daily binders and it looks something like this: (before it's all put together)

A lot of the printed pages shown here are from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

I call this an add-on because it is NOT something you have to do. But it focuses our thoughts on school each morning. It gets our brain juices flowing. I use a good deal of her free printables and her ideas, throw in some bible quotes to work on with the kids, a reading list or experiment log. ECJ also has a section of his for creative writing. We do them every morning as a family.

I know many people who add on a lot of other things like word walls, sight words, geography walls, etc. etc. There's nothing wrong with that. Again, it's what works best for your family. And I may add a few sight words this year, then again I may not. ECJ had no problem with them in public school, YCJ hated them because she doesn't learn that way, and Peanut may or may not be ready for any of it this year. We'll wait and see...

So, do you need to use add-on's? Nope. Why do people use them then? Well, some of them are just fun. Some of them help the kids. Some of them we feel the kids need even if they really don't. Just like everything else with homeschooling it's really all up to you to make the choice to use them or not.

Monday please look for my Day in the life post for the blog hop ( http://www.ihomeschoolnetwork.com/5th-annual-not-back-to-school-blog-hop/ ) .

Tuesday I will be posting Part 4 on How to Begin Homeschooling, Lesson Planning. I'll try to get part 5 out on Wednesday and that one's on scheduling your day. I will continue past part 5 if I can think of some more helpful information or anyone has some suggestions.

How to Begin Homeschooling, Part Two, Curriculum

How to Pick a Curriculum

Ok, so, you've read Part one right? You've done your research into your state's laws. If you needed to send off a letter of intent you've done so, or at least gotten one prepared. Now, your staring at your computer screen at a giant list of what seems to be an endless choice of curriculum. What do you do?

Breath. First thing is first. What can you afford to do? What is your budget? No, don't get mad at me for bringing money into this! We all know we all want what's best for our kids, but that doesn't mean we should go broke doing it. Think about it, you could buy the most expensive curriculum set out there, resign your family to eating noodles and spam for the rest of the year and find out in two weeks you all hate the curriculum. Not worth it. 

Figure out what you can spend. If you want a certain set of books but can't afford a whole package of teachers aides and lesson plans can you buy the text books separately, if so are you willing to make your own lesson plans and grade the lessons without those aides? (This is what I do by the way) Do you want to go with an online school choice, where it's pretty much all done for you? Most of the online choices have a monthly payment plan. 

I haven't used all of the curriculum out there. However we've tried a couple of them. I've researched a lot of them. And I'll give a quick rundown of what I know here and what our experience was with each of them. (Please note that I was not paid for any of these reviews.)

When we first decided that we were going to homeschool I looked into the public school (gasp) aspect of the K-12 program. Unfortunately, they were willing to take my daughter but not my son due to us not having a valid copy of his birth certificate at the time and then they wouldn't be able to start my daughter until six weeks into the official school year. Needless to say I was not very impressed. This was the public school aspect of this program, there is a private aspect of this program I am not sure what their tuition is currently.

Next I chose to go with www.time4learning.com for the Cracker Jacks. Although I wasn't too impressed with the lessons up front the price was reasonable and I didn't have to do a lot of planning (I wasn't really confident that I could become the teacher that they'd need). Within weeks we knew it wasn't going to work for us. ECJ was bored out of his mind, the lessons were too repetitive, History and Science required notes to be taken offline for the quizzes given online or he'd never pass. YCJ was frustrated because the math was "baby-ish" and the English was the same story over and over again for a whole week. I had them stick with it for about four months before I pulled the plug, I should have done it sooner. I should state here that the site gives you a free 30 day trial and just because our family didn't like it doesn't mean that your family won't.

Peanut we'd started on www.abcmouse.com and she loved it but wanted to spend more time playing with her virtual hamster than doing her lessons. We stopped hers at the same time we stopped her sibling's. This year we're going to let her do it again, but only as a supplement and only because she's asked us repeatedly. (It costs about $80 a year so it's not horrible.) This site also gives you a free 30 day trial.

If you've read my previous posts you'll know that we now use ABeka books ( http://www.abeka.com/ ). I chose these because they are pretty reasonable on price (most text books are around $15 or less), they are Christian based, and they've been around a long time. Also, I can purchase just the text books which makes it rather affordable for me. This year the text books cost me $213.85 total for all three children. I have found no reason to complain about these texts, they are comprehensive, entertaining, colorful, and informative. I showed them to one of my non-homeschool friends and she was very impressed, her children's school doesn't teach a lot of the skills shown in them. ABeka offers many options from what I'm doing to a full on accredited program.

These are some books from last year.

I've looked into Seton Home study ( http://www.setonhome.org/curriculum/ ) program books and although I like the look of their material (and although I am Catholic) the cost is a little more prohibitive for my family. 

We, and some of the homeschool and non-homeschool families we know, use Easy Peasy Homeschool ( www.allinonehomeschool.com ) as either a full curriculum or a supplement. The woman who put this together did so for her children and made it available for FREE for the whole world and did a wonderful job of it.

We also make use of Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org , for extra math practice and some of their science and history lessons. This site is also FREE and we know many people who use this as either a math curriculum complete or a supplement (even if their children aren't homeschooled). 

And these are only the one's that I've either personally tried or seriously looked into. It's just the tip of the homeschool curriculum ice burg folks. Scary I know. But what you need to keep in mind, what you must know, what you have to prepare yourself for ***drum roll please*** the first thing you try probably won't work. What works for others may not work for your family. And only YOU know what works for your family. So, if you begin with one set of curriculum and it doesn't work and you move on don't feel too bad, almost everyone does it... it's OK really it is. 

You don't have to buy brand new either. Garage sales, co-ops, craigslist, all these things are fine. Look up homeschool buyers book lists e-mail lists online you'll find several, people just like you who might have something they're not using gently used that they're selling for a reduced price. 

Find something that you think will peak your interest, or your children's interest, and start with that if you can. Or something that's in line with your values. Heck, there's many many homeschoolers out there that don't even use curriculum. Do what's best for YOUR family and you'll be doing what's RIGHT for your children.

Part three will be about curriculum add-on's like math manipulative's and workbooks, and I'll try to have that out to you sometime on Saturday. Part four will be on lesson planning and I'm hoping to have that out on Tuesday. 

Monday please look for my Day in the life post for the blog hop ( http://www.ihomeschoolnetwork.com/5th-annual-not-back-to-school-blog-hop/ ) .

And sometime in the future of next week there will be Our Homeschool Experience and a part five to how to begin homeschooling. If you have questions on anything feel free to contact me and I'll try to help you out.

How to Begin Homeschooling, Part One, Laws

Quick Start to Homeschooling


It's recently come to my attention that A LOT of people out there are interested in how you start homeschooling. Some of them do not even want to homeschool, they are just interested in how you start.

First, I believe it's important to let everyone know that it IS legal to homeschool. Each state has their own rules and regulations regarding how you go about homeschooling, but no where in the United States of America is it illegal for you to teach your children at home. 

** I am NOT a lawyer and do not pretend to be one, I am just a homeschooler that knows a few steps you need to follow so that you won't get into trouble on accident.**

Once you've decided to homeschool your children you need to find out what the rules and laws are for your state. You can do this by googling "state name home school laws" or you can go to http://www.easyfunschool.com/homeschooling-by-state.html and find your state. This site has wonderful information not only just on what you need to do legally but some lesson ideas. If you do go to the site I listed, please know that they may not have the most up to date information available and it may be in your best interest to google your state laws anyway. Also, a good place to start out is by going to HSLDA (http://www.hslda.org/) there is a ton of good information there and they are up to date about things. Also, for a small yearly fee, you can become a member and should a problem crop up they'll help you. You do NOT need to become a member to look at information on their site.

Let's use Michigan as an example (we're currently in Michigan).  In Michigan I am not required to let anyone know that I am going to homeschool my children, although it is considered a nice thing to do. If my children were in a public, private, or charter school I would need to go to the school and withdrawal them while informing them that I intend to homeschool the children, which I could do either verbally or with a letter of intent. There is no set form for a letter of intent, it's simply a type-written formal letter that states that you intend to homeschool your children from a certain date on. (The site I listed above does state that there is a letter that must be sent in annually but when I looked up our state laws there is not.) Some states, Kentucky is one of them, require a yearly letter of intent to be sent to the county or local school board. That information will be listed on your state's board of education page.

Michigan has few other requirements. Until high school you only have to worry about teaching English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Reading, and do a unit on Michigan History. You do not have to participate in the state standardized tests nor do you need to keep attendance or grades. There is also no set number of days that your child need attend school. Other states, Kentucky included, require a certain amount of days or hours per day or a combination of both. Some require that you keep a grade and/or record book, or a transcript. There are some that require teaching degrees unless you intend to claim religious right. Just as each state is unique in it's geography and history, they are also unique in their laws and regulations.

I will note here that although we live in Michigan currently we are also residents of Kentucky. As such I follow both Kentucky and Michigan regulations. I send in my letter of intent to my Kentucky county representative at the school board office and follow all of their other regulations. I make sure that my children do a unit on Michigan each year. We spend a good portion of our year in both states and to make sure neither gets upset with us I follow both states rules.

Let's hop to it!!!

So, you've decided to homeschool. You've looked up your local laws. You've decided you're still going to homeschool. What's next? 

There's a million plus ways to answer that question. If you're a religious family do you add in a structured religious lesson? Do you just add a morning prayer before lessons? What curriculum do you chose? Do you need to pay attention to your children's learning styles? What is a learning style? What in the world did you get yourself into?!?!?!

Breath. There is so much information out there you're going to overload. YOU know your children and your home best. YOU know if your children would respond to a formal religious lesson plan, or would do better with a prayer, or forgo the religion and school mix all together. You could look into a bunch of books about homeschooling and learning styles, there's a lot of good ones out there, honestly you'll figure it all out with or without them. As for curriculum the chances are in favor of you going through at least a couple before you find what works for you. 

I could talk about this forever but it would make for a really long read. So, we'll call this part one. Part two will be about choosing a curriculum that's right for your family and I'll try to have that to you Friday.

**Upcoming posts: How to Begin Homeschooling Part 2, Curriculum. Our Homeschool Experience, and A Day in the Life

Our Homeschool Journey

The summer of 2012 was when I officially decided to homeschool our children. Oh, I'd done the Elder Cracker Jack's preschool at home many years before as I was unwilling to pay the price the local preschool was asking and I'd toyed with the idea of homeschooling all of them full time off and on through the years. But, it was last summer that the decision was finally made... well... final. I had started seriously considering it at the end of the 2010-2011 school year when the Younger Cracker Jack was in Kindergarten at a local public school and being violently bullied *(if an adult had been doing such things to another adult as was being done by this child to my daughter they would have been arrested and put in jail for assault amongst other charges)* and she came home crying on several occasions asking to be homeschooled. Prior to that I had not even discussed the issue with the children.

The next school year was an odd journey for us from public, to private, back to public schooling that culminated in the decision to homeschool about halfway through a summer reading program. The Elder Cracker Jack had always had problems with bullies due to his size, good grades, and general goofiness. The Younger Cracker Jack never did get bullied near as badly as she did at the end of her Kindergarten year but she also never forgot it and it colored the rest of her "regular" school experiences. And as for Peanut, we'd had wonderful experiences with the Early Head Start Program in one city we'd lived in and less than stellar when we'd moved, I wasn't willing to chance her getting lost in the system.

One of the deciding factors was the results of the summer reading program that I had enrolled the Cracker Jack's in at their public school. What was supposed to be a program to help get the Younger Cracker Jack up to speed with her reading for the start of second grade ended up being more like a glorified summer latch-key program where if you could memorize a few words you were given free books. They did not focus on reading at all, it was fun and games, field trips, art projects ... and once a week they got to pick out a few books to bring home. Of course I didn't find this out until the middle of the program. I was highly upset. My daughter's comprehension is wonderful but she has issues reading and I had been expecting help with those issues, had in fact been given assurances by her first grade teachers that the program would help with them. I did allow the children to finish the program, but only because they were enjoying themselves so much.

I began looking into what I could do to homeschool. I also had a small idea at the time that we would be moving south for at least a few months due to some family issues and so I needed to find a way to do this without adding a lot of things to what we were bringing (as this was a temporary move we were staying in our camper). I found many wonderful options. Once we'd decided that we were definitely going to homeschool we informed the children, but we didn't know what they would be doing yet.

The children were very excited about homeschooling and when we went on our summer camping trip that year to the Seven Lakes Michigan State Camp Ground they made sure to tell all the new friends that they made all about the fact that they were going to be homeschool campers. They were going to learn everything, everywhere, and boy were their parents the coolest parents ever!!

Weeellll.... For the next couple of weeks they sure believed that. And when I settled on a curriculum I believed would work for us they were ecstatic. Had mom really said that they were going to be learning at home, camping all the time, and getting to "play" on the computer every day too?!?!?!? Not exactly. But to those  three that's sure what it had sounded like. I had chosen Time4Learning.com for the Cracker Jack's core subjects and ABCMouse.com for Peanut's. Both programs are actually really good. And they worked out well for us for approximately four months. Both keep records for you, do all of your planning, are fun and interactive.

After the first two months the Elder Cracker Jack began to get frustrated. For History and Science he had to take notes offline while he was reading online to be able to study for the quick quizzes. The Math lessons were too repetitive for him, and moving him up a level just didn't help. And he'd had to wait a whole month to use their art section (part of how they had it set up at least when we were using this program). During those first two months we didn't really do a lot of field trips or art projects, and because all three children were using the same computer and I was using it at night they always felt rushed. 

In November we landed in Paducah, Kentucky. This picture was taken in front of a portion of a real train on display before the city's mural wall along their historic water front area.  This was taken on one of our first days there. I had decided that the children needed a couple of fun days as we had been schooling every single day for weeks. That plaque is in front of the train engine. 

And here's a shot of the mural wall and the waterfront. These are places we visited many many times while we were in Paducah, Kentucky. The wall goes on for about a mile and each mural is beautiful and unique. And watching the barges on the watcher is calming, entertaining, and educational all at the same time. It is definitely one of our favorite places of the city.

It was towards the middle of November that I really began to decide that the online schooling method just wasn't right for our family. At least not with our situation. There was a monthly cost to both school sites, the fact that I only had the one computer, I paid for my Internet service each month, and ECJ was not being challenged enough. I added in nature walks about that time. Spent many hours researching curriculum well into the nights every night. Talked to my husband and my children. Prayed. 

On the morning after our only real snowfall I made a decision. We'd be using ABeka books for Language Arts and Arithmetic. We took the day off from our lessons and went down to the waterfront to see how it looked in the snow. I told the kids we'd be stopping the online school for a little while and I'd be getting them a few text books. I would be doing their Science by using nature and we would see what we could learn. "What about History?" ECJ asked. Well, we'd found out that YCJ hadn't even known that Native Americans were real right before Thanksgiving. My answer was obvious to me, "We're going to learn about Native Americans, everything we can find out about them. How they lived, where they lived, what they ate, what the children learned, oh just everything!"  Once again the children became excited about homeschool.

About a week after I ordered the books they arrived and we began again in earnest. Elder Cracker Jack wasn't really sure he liked this new method of homeschooling, especially since Peanut insisted he needed her babies to help him. And I'm not sure he really welcomed mom's intrusion into his lesson by asking for a quick picture.

Younger Cracker Jack was just beginning to learn to crochet and had taught herself to chain stitch using her finger because the needle was too difficult to master right away. She really enjoyed doing this while her brother was toiling away attempting to finish his lesson, which he was quick to point out took longer than when he'd been doing them online.

It took about a month to settle into our new routine. And during that whole month they weren't really sure they liked the whole text book "thing". When asked if they'd rather go back to schooling online they always answered "NO" because it had been too frustrating. The blessing and curse of switching curriculum and styles during winter and while staying in a camper is that we were able to adapt rather quickly to the way our days now looked. 

On one of our late winter/ early spring nature walks we found the first flowers. 

The children took this to mean that God was saying the worst of it was over and we were on the right path. They enjoyed the rest of the official school year. And are happy to be continuing to homeschool this year. My husband still has his moments where he thinks they may be missing something at a more "regular" school environment, but he's agreed that for this next school year at least they'll be homeschoolers full time. 

Personally, I continue to pray for guidance every night that I am doing what is right for my children, that He show me how to teach them what they need to learn, and that He let me see if and when it's ever time to send the children back into a different school environment. As of now I have no plans to return them to public school or private school. We'll be doing a few extra curricular outside of the home to help teach things I have proven inadequate (such as swimming) to teach, and will be joining a local support group for larger field trips and a wider variety base in which the children can make new friends.

He is watching.

*Upcoming posts: How to begin homeschooling, Our homeschool experience, and A Day in the life

Just a fun day...

Today we all just had a fun day. One of our close family friends came over with her children and we all went down to the community pool. We've been waiting most of the summer for them to finish the remodel of the pool, it was original to our little community so that made it about as old as I am. The concrete bottom and edges had been crumbling. The contractors did a beautiful job, but took much longer than expected and the county took a couple weeks to approve the finished product. But now it's done and open, the weather has warmed back up, and it was time to get our toes wet.

Here's the Elder Cracker Jack and one of the J's horsing around in the brand new re-finished pool. I believe the J had just splashed ECJ's back with that freezing cold water! They spent most of the time we were there goofing around with each other. And, indeed, palled around almost the whole day.

And the Younger Cracker Jack was just getting into the pool for the first time this afternoon, I don't believe she was entirely sure she was going to enjoy an afternoon at the pool, she was excited about it but she still can't swim and so is very unsure of herself. Or it may have been the cold water temperature, it was in the mid 80s today but it's been chilly for over a week.

Peanut really REALLY didn't like the idea of getting into the cold water and the glare off of the water wasn't helping her see one little bit. She did eventually get in, and even get off of the steps. I am very proud of her for having found out that she can touch the bottom of the pool (securely holding on to both the rail and either mommy's hand or Aunt J's).

One of the J boys warming up after a quick dip in the pool. And because he did it...

After a few hours swimming and splashing at the pool we all came back to the house for snacks and to ride bikes, skateboards, and the like. After a while three of the children went inside while the Younger Cracker Jack and one of the J's went into the side yard and built this wonderful nest out of dried and fresh grass. Aunt J made the comment about it being a wonderful example of un-schooling. Neither of us un-school our children, I homeschool and her children are switching from a charter school to public this year, but we had been talking about un-schooling earlier in the day and imaginations and this is a perfect example of both.

This was a wonderful and imaginative day. The adults got to spend a great couple of hours socializing which we do not get to do enough as we're usually so caught up in every day life that things seem to just slip by. The children spent some time with some of their best friends doing some of the things they love. Tonight I know for sure that at least three out of the five children present today (one of the J boys is camping with his Papa) are sleeping well ... The Elder Cracker Jack went to bed late tonight because he snuck a few extra minutes of TV time with Dad after his sisters went to bed.

If you'd like to read more about the J boys you can look them up at "Aunt J's" blog at: 
http://learninglifewith3sons.blogspot.com/

** "Aunt J" is part of the name my kids call my friend so I chose to use this abbreviation here in my blog. The use of the "J boys" is a play on how she name's her boys in her blog posts.*

Meet the Peanut and Cracker Jacks

 Meet Peanut and Cracker Jacks!!!!

 It's Student Photo Week at the Blog Hop! So, you guessed it!!!! You get to meet the Peanut and Cracker Jacks! Since I already talk about them a lot and show their pictures to anyone who'll look at them I figured I'd use this opportunity to give everyone a  small biography on each of them as well.

 Here's Peanut! At four years old, 41 pounds, and 41 inches tall she's a little bundle of TNT when she wants to be. And she's got her father wrapped around her little finger, that's him you see peaking out from behind her. Her favorite color is pink, she is absolutely in love with Strawberry Shortcake, her collection of baby dolls can rival any store shelf, and she has a tendency to ask for cheese sandwiches for breakfast. Trying to get her to hold still for anything longer than half an hour is like pulling teeth without anestetic, unless of course it's a Strawberry Shortcake movie or her Sesame Street learning computer game ... then you might get 45 minutes. She was just diagnosed this month with ADD and what could best be described at this point as Oppositional Defiance Disorder, or ODD (although her doctor does not want to put a label on it at the moment, he has just stated that ODD would be the closest diagnosis he's willing to give at this time before further observation and testing). These are on top of her Early Childhood Developmental Delay (ECDD) and being legally blind without her glasses. However, just like every other child she is who she is - she is not her disabilities. She did ABeka's nursery school level last year and is progressing this year to a mix of their preschool level, school zone work books, and my own letter of the day curriculum. Although she will be five next month she is not quite ready for Kindergarten yet. However, if she does progress more quickly than we are currently anticipating we are prepared to move her on up to the Kindergarten level. This is one of the things that we love about homeschooling. Also on her agenda this year are swimming lessons and some story times down at our local library.

This is the Younger Cracker Jack. She's eight this year and only about fifteen pounds heavier than her little sister. She's our belated hippy child, nature lover, protester, bleeding heart, activist... you name it she wants to save it. She has several favorite colors because as she says "it's unfair to pick just one". However, she does have just one favorite animal ... the penguin. She has a collection of them which began back when she was about two and a half on a trip to the Detroit Zoo. She does like all animals however, and if she had it her way our house would be a zoo, rescue, and wildlife refuge all wrapped into one. She's gotten to the stage where although she still does like her toys she's more into the "grown-up" things like nail polish and music disks. This year she's working on ABeka's third grade level lessons. On her agenda this year is swimming lessons, catechism, and doing every crochet project in her crochet pattern book and then selling some items she makes to make money to help out the endangered species of the penguins.

And last, but not least, is the Elder Cracker Jack. At eleven years old, only ten pounds heavier than the other cracker jack, and only a couple inches taller he's a big bang in a compact package. He's often mistaken for someone much younger than he is simply due to his size. He's done all kinds of schooling - homeschool, public school, private school, back to public school, online school, back to homeschooling. He prefers homeschooling for many reasons the top two being that he's not bullied and that at home he doesn't have to take his ADHD medication. He spent many years in many different learning environments being bullied due to his size, his "goofiness", and his intelligence (or in other words for being a "nerd"). He says, "At home I can be myself. I like getting all A's and no one cares if I have to hum and bounce and move all around to get my work done. No one says I have to take pills to make me a zombie at home just so I don't bother anyone else." A few years ago when we were discussing his ADHD with him and we asked him if he knew what it was he'd said "something something high definition" and so now every time he's a little too wild we just look at him and tell him to turn down his high definition and he knows that he needs to calm down (he now knows the true definition of ADHD but still likes his own version better). He has many interests which include, but aren't limited to: pandas, Harry Potter, reading, robots, science, math, track, martial arts, hiking, nature, biology, etc. This year he'll be working on ABeka's sixth grade level lessons, however we are prepared to move him onto seventh grade level around Christmas if this does not prove challenging enough (especially in English and Arithmetic). 

Well, there they are. Peanut and Cracker Jacks. We don't officially start the "new" year until the first week of September, but we never stop schooling either just relax a little more during the summer months. Look for us next week on the hop for the "A Day In The Life Of..."

Let's Hop To It!!!!

Our Classroom Home

So, this week is "Student Photo Week" at the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop on www.ihomeschoolnetwork.com and I've decided to participate. We do not have a homeschool classroom per say, our whole home is our classroom as well as the whole outdoors. We do have learning "stations" in the home, but it's more a wherever things are most comfortable and what works for the kids best.

*Please excuse the state of some of the rooms, we are in the process of remodelling our home.*

This is our dining room table where we meet each morning. Breakfast, religion, morning binders, bible study, English, and Arithmetic are all done here. Although, once we move on to our core lessons the Elder Cracker Jack moves into his room for the privacy and so that he doesn't disturb his sisters (he has ADHD and moves around a lot while doing his work). Behind the one chair you can just see the top of one of our boxes of craft supplies, it's resting on three built in drawers that are in an alcove behind the table. Those drawers hold most of our text books and supplies. Eventually there will be a couple built in book shelves there, a cupboard, and a television shelf.

This is the Elder Cracker Jack's desk nook, it's built into a corner of his room. The old television there is not plugged in but is helping to block a window facing into our screened in front porch.Those books under his desk are mostly part of my collection of fiction novels, I just haven't moved them out from under there yet. The little green desk lamp is a Michigan State Spartin's desk lamp, it's his favorite college. He plans on going to State if he chooses not to become a preacher, he also follows all their sports. This is where he does most of his school work and some of his reading. Most of his reading he usually does laying on his bed, but he asked me not to share a picture of that.

The dining room and kitchen are ajoined, and this works well at lunch because at least twice a week the Cracker Jack's make everyone lunch and I can supervise everyone from a central location. We also eat lunch at the dining room table and it makes it easier for me to quiz the Elder Cracker Jack on his lessons if I'm straightening up the kitchen while he's eating lunch there.

This is our screened in front porch.

This is where we do most of our art projects during good weather, also the girls do a lot of their history and science work here. Of course we're in Michigan right now so soon the good weather will be gone for a while and those three subjects will once again be done mostly at our dining room table. We do have a third small yellow chair that the Elder Cracker Jack brings in when he choses to join the girls. And as you can see we sometimes have a few tools in the area when it's not being used. We tend to use this more in the afternoon than at any other time.

This is my desk, which is right in the living room that touches both the dining and kitchen. The Elder Cracker Jack is working on his typing by talking to long distance family members on the computer while the girls are visiting with the family bird (Fancy Bird). Usually the computer is just my area, it's where I do some work and keep most of our files, grade books, and lesson plans. However, sometimes one of the Cracker Jack's will ask permission to watch or do something online and a couple times a week Peanut uses the computer for her pre-school learning games.

This is the view from our sliding glass door. With this for inspiration we take a lot of nature walks to see what we can find, if we can track a deer, and to just enjoy nature. But, the field that deer is in is currently in full bloom just now so we don't walk through there out of respect for the neighbor farmer. We see these beauties a couple of times a day there's a whole herd of them that like that field.
We do "school" just about everywhere we go. If we're traveling, camping, visiting family. Each day holds something new to learn.