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Sticking to Your Homeschool Budget
07/10/2019

Homeschoolers, as a rule, are a thrifty lot.  We educate children on a homeschool budget that is about 1% of a public school’s budget.  Of course,

  • Our teacher and principal don’t get paid, but we don’t get subsidized curricula.
  • Many of us teach class at the dining room table, but we buy ALL our own supplies, including computers and lab equipment.
  • We don’t have to guarantee safety for hundreds of students, but no one is likely to break in (besides the legos and Polly Pocket dolls strewn down the front hall are effective land mines).
  • We don’t have to transport students from their homes to schools and back again; but we play taxi to each and every activity our children are in, although some are lucky enough to carpool.
  • We generally don’t have anyone giving us direction or choosing what we teach, AND we like it that way.

    Image courtesy of cooldesign / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

    Image courtesy of cooldesign / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Yep, us homeschoolers are always looking for a deal.  Used bookstores, garage sales, swap meets, online auctions.  You name it, we’re all over it.  In ten years, I have used all of the above, and have settled into an approach to corraling my homeschool books.

1. I reuse lots of stuff.  Obviously, with five kids, I have a large collection of books, particularly teacher’s manuals.  However, I am careful to follow copyright laws, which vary from publisher to publisher.  Some are very lenient, letting you copy pages to use for multiple students.  Others are very strict, only allowing the use of the material by one member of the family, ever.  I shy away from these publishers, for obvious reasons.  While some homeschoolers may find it unreasonable to follow copyright laws due to their own budgetary concerns, I feel convicted to set an honest examply for my children.  If I can’t afford a curriculum or can’t reuse it, I find something else to use.  Thankfully, there are lots to choose from these days.

2. I buy used.

  • Half Price Books: I went to just about every Half Price Books in our area looking for my ninth grader’s Biology book this summer.  I didn’t find it, but I found a good chunk of other books we needed.  I easily saved close to $100 by buying used this year.
  • Used Book Fairs: In the past, I have also attended local used book fairs hosted by homeschooling groups.  These tend to be hit or miss, but I usually find enough to justify the time spent.  Plus, it’s fun to run into people I only see a few times a year.
  • Online auctions: I also have used online auctions and homeschool chat boards, but not so much anymore.  Unless I know exactly what I need, like the next level of MathUSee, I stopped buying these used online.  I have gotten stuck several times with something I didn’t need, usually because I didn’t carefully check the product.  Some of my friends have been cheated by dishonest dealers.  Not often, but it happens.
  • Email friends: Start a needs/wish list and send it to all your homeschool friends, and have them forward it to their friends.  Someone might have what you need sitting on a bookshelf but didn’t even think about selling it.

3. I borrow from friends.  I don’t do this a lot because I’m always afraid something will happen to the item I’ve borrowed, and I’ll have to replace it.  If I’m going to buy it, I’d rather buy it for me…not someone else.

4. I buy new.  When all other avenues have been exhausted, I suck it up and buy new.  I probably buy about half our curriculum new, as a matter of fact.  Some items are only available from the publisher, and I’m fine with that.  I want to support companies that I like.  I’ve got a good 13 years left of homeschooling, and the last thing I want is to have to change horse midstream because my favorite publisher went out of business.  Other items are available from different vendors, and I shop them for best prices and shipping.  Always check the shipping fees because they can add up pretty quickly, which is why I chose some different books this year.  It streamlined my orders and saved quite a bit in shipping costs.

Of course, my homeschool budget might not (never does) accommodate all that I think I have to have.  When that happens, I just make sure my basics are covered, and pray for the extras.  Overall, my children are getting a quality education and learning all the major things.  The details of the Roman Empire don’t change much among different history books.  2 + 2 still equals 4, no matter what math you use.  No curriculum is worth taking a second mortgage out.  Take a deep breath and keep swimming.

What are your homeschool budget saver techniques?  Come on, everyone has a favorite frugal tip.

Georganne

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Christian Living  / Family Life  / Home School  / Parenting

Start a Schedule to Save Your Sanity
06/17/2019

It’s pretty common these days to feel driven by life instead of being in the driver’s seat.  I might not mind being Miss Daisy if someone like Morgan Freeman were my driver, but alas my problem lies with over-commitment, not age.  I have been a big fan of scheduling since I started homeschooling.  A schedule has saved my sanity and kept me on track when the day threatened to overwhelm me.

Rather than micro-schedule every 15 minutes, I use a block schedule.  Morning routines, such as dressing and breakfast, have to be completed by 8 a.m.  Teenagers can really push that deadline.  Not to mention, unexpected emergencies, like vehicles that won’t start, a cat that puked on the carpet overnight, or a busted water pipe. Every pushback from someone or something causes my schedule to lag, and by the end of the day, well let’s just say things are not on course.  Be that as it may, I am setting two boundaries to start correcting my careening schedule. 

First, I am getting up on time.  That might seem logical, but nothing is as it seems.  The stress of being overwhelmed makes me want to pull the covers over my head some mornings, but I am forcing myself up by 6 a.m. to get a jump on things before the children start rolling out of bed. 

Image courtesy of graur codrin/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In addition to getting up on time, I resolve to actually do something besides move from the bed to the couch. Ha! If I get moving first thing in the morning, the momentum tends to build. If I take too long to start, it might be noon before I’ve actually done anything worthwhile.

Second, I am going to bed by 10 p.m.  Late night work sessions are sometimes necessary, but since I’m not a natural night owl, staying up too late makes me feel more out of control.  I keep thinking if I get one more thing done, then tomorrow will be better.  But it isn’t, because I’m tired from going to bed too late.  So, a set bedtime is my answer.  What’s been done is done, and tomorrow is another day.

Early to rise and early to bed bookends my day.  It’s a start, and you can begin to fill in the middle from there.

How do you organize your day?

Georganne

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Family Life  / Home School  / Parenting

My Definition of Homeschool Leans Toward The ‘Life Is School’ Philosophy
08/22/2017

Many people debate the definition of homeschool.  Is it school at home?  Is it school outside of a government building?  Is it school at all?

I, personally, prefer to call it lifeschool.  We learn as we live.  That learning takes place in the context of family, and we take advantage of opportunities, such as teaching preschool dance or taking a field trip on a whim, as they become available.

Our definition of homeschool fits whatever we're doing.

At the zoo, we give the monkeys a run for their money.

We keep a schedule to fit as much of it in as we can, but we are not dictated by an 8 to 4 school day.  Our choice of companions is not restricted to any one category.  We might have lunch with the elderly at my dad’s assisted living home.  We might meet a dozen kids of various ages at the park after co-op.  We might stop in to see a handicapped friend and bring her coffee.

School is life. And life is school.

I lump plain old home in with homeschool because the two aren’t always very distinct around our house.

My daughters have daily chores.  I call that home economics.

We play games, like Trouble, and they have to add the numbers on the dice.  Math in everyday life.

They have to write thank you notes for birthday gifts.  We have a lot of things wrapped up in that one – writing, language arts, handwriting.

We drive 500 miles to visit family.  Geography and history are knocked out because we often stop at a Civil War Memorial park for a break along the way.

She’s watercoloring a page in a French coloring book. Yes, that’s a marinade brush. Nothing is sacred.

We paint (art) and do puzzles (logic) and go to the park (PE) and argue about who put up the dishes last (debate).

We certainly use books for school, but I try to tie all that in with real life.

When my work schedule is crazy busy, and I don’t have the time to sit down with them to “do the school books”, then I look at the other things we do.  I try, but am not always successful, to not stress about finishing every last page of each workbook.  I am a list-checker.  They won’t fail an entire grade because we didn’t do the fifth review of contractions or double-digit multiplication, I tell myself.  Over.  And Over.  I’ve lived a good life without knowing much of anything about the Chinese dynasties.  It is possible to be a productive adult whether or not you know every river and land mass in the world.  I think all of these things are interesting and important, but not the standard by which anyone will be judged intelligent or successful.

There might be a back-to-school season for the stores, but schooling, itself, isn’t defined by the seasons.

We usually start a grade level in early August because it is so stinking hot here that you can actually melt walking from the house to the car.  If we can’t be outside, let’s make the most of being inside.  Our late fall and spring is less schoolish because the temperatures are comfortable and inviting of doing outdoorsy things. Hikes in the park. The zoo with friends. A day trip to a nearby city for Homeschool Day at a museum.

My ultimate schedule is to school 9 weeks on and 1 week off.  That doesn’t always happen when family emergencies throw a few wrenches in our plans.  But for all our interruptions, we still usually finish our grade levels by the middle of May.  We take a couple of months off to regroup and then start again.

We still school during the time off, but in more of an unschooling way.  No workbooks, but more activities that we don’t get to do during our school schedule.  Lots of reading.  A few trips.  Some extra activities.  Life.

So, that’s our homeschool.  We’re a family first, and I keep telling my kids (and myself) that’s what is most important.

How do you define your homeschool?

Georganne

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Family Life  / Home School  / Parenting

Bad Homeschool Days Are Inevitable
08/10/2017

Let’s talk about homeschool and real life. There are going to be bad homeschool days, sooner rather than later, where you wonder what in the world is going on and why you ever thought this was a good idea. Anyway you dice it, raising kids, in general, and homeschooling them, in particular, is hard.

Remember, homeschooling is a marathon, not a sprint. You won’t win because someone else lost.

You’ll win because you just keep going.  And going.  And going.

Get back up every single time you think you cannot take it anymore.

Know you have at least one person in your corner who gave you this because He knows you can do it.  God.  If you don’t have Him, God help you.

I don’t have any magical formula for avoiding bad homeschool days, short of hypnotizing the kids or myself.  It’s tempting, but not advisable.

I don’t have any sure-fire cure for bad attitudes, laziness, or brain farts.  Sadly, they are unavoidable.

I don’t have a secret for painlessly teaching fractions, sentence structure, or spelling.  Especially spelling.  Everybody has their kryptonite.

I don’t have a perfect schedule that gets everything done in a day.  My to-do list has a lot of past-dues on it.

I don’t have a crystal ball that sees into the future to tell me everything will be all peachy-keen tomorrow or the day after.  There are no guarantees.  If life is a rose garden, don’t forget there are thorns, too.

If one thing goes wrong, five more will follow.  Not being fatalistic, just telling it like it happens.

Bad homeschool days are not the end of the world.

New books are exciting. The new wears off quickly, though.

After all that bad news, let me tell you a little good news.

It would not necessarily be any better if you did it differently.  The grass might be greener on the other side because their sewer is leaking; they’re spending a fortune on yard maintenance; or they painted the dirt and planted plastic flowers.

Here is what I do know, in no particular order:

  1. Coffee helps.  A lot.
  2. A good diet helps even more.
  3. Adequate sleep is more precious than gold.
  4. Exercise boosts the oxygen to your thick brain and theirs.
  5. Smoke breaks.  Not the tobacco kind; the letting-off-steam kind.
  6. Laughter is the best medicine.  Use it often and liberally.
  7. Change it if it’s broke.
  8. Leave it alone if it ain’t.
  9. Take the high road in conflicts.  Then, lock yourself in the bathroom and cry, bang your head against the wall, text your husband, whatever helps.
  10. Prayer.  Use it more often and more liberally than laughter.  Rant and rave all you want.  When you’re done; the kids won’t even know you were mad.  Except for the dent in the wall.
  11. Deep breathing exercises aren’t just for childbirth.
  12. Smile when you feel like crying.
  13. Speak softly when you want to scream.
  14. Learn to count to 100, at least, before responding.
  15. Pick your friends and activities wisely.  All open doors do not have welcome mats.
  16. Schedule down-time and know when to step back.  Even God rested on the seventh day.
  17. Be grateful for what you do have.  Stop whining about what you don’t.  You’d be surprised how little you actually need when you shift your focus.
  18. Step outside your comfort zone.  You’ll see how small your box was.
  19. Realize you’re not perfect, and no one else is, either.
  20. Do your best.  Then do it again.
  21. Don’t get wrapped around the axle over everything.  Let go.
  22. When you’re overwhelmed, schedule the important stuff, like showers and meals and a few basic subjects.  Let the rest go for a day or two.
  23. Love your kids.
  24. Love your husband.
  25. Love God.

Come to think of it.  This is good advice for just life.  Remember, homeschooling is an extension of life.  Not the other way around. Bad homeschool days are no worse than bad hair days. They happen from time to time, but they’re not fatal.

Georganne

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Family Life  / Home School

The Secret to Homeschooling Success
08/07/2017

Today is Day 1 of Homeschool 2017 at our house. My thirteenth year of homeschooling. I’ve graduated one child, and have four more to go. You won’t hear me brag about any of mine being geniuses. But so far, everyone can read, write complete sentences, and do basic math. They have some general idea of geography and have read more than a few classic authors, like Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Robert Lewis Stevenson, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. My oldest has a part-time job and is starting community college classes part-time. Overall, I’d say we have done pretty well in the homeschooling success department.

We’re not crushing it, like Spelling Bee champions or National Merit scholars, but I think everyone will go on to lead happy, grounded, productive lives. They will be employable and enjoyable. That should be the ultimate success by normal people’s standards.

You  might think after all these years, I consider myself an expert, but I don’t. I’m not sure what makes you an expert on anything. All the education in the world without experience just means you’re a literate idiot. And all the experience in one area without an understanding of how anything else works makes you myopic – i.e. can’t see the forest for the trees.

However, I know one secret for homeschooling success. This is THE key everyone who homeschools NEEDS to know. Are you ready?

There is no secret.

Like Po in Kung Fu Panda 2, the secret is that there is no secret. Shocking! What does that mean?

It means that every family is unique. Every person is unique. There is no one secret that will work for every single homeschool.

There is no perfect curriculum. There is no do-it-all schedule. No one else is doing it any better than you can do it, regardless of how much they brag on Facebook.

Sure, I know families who have graduated children early or won full college scholarships or finished high school with enough dual credits to skip two years of college. That’s all great. But if mine don’t do that, we are not failures.

We have different priorities, different goals, different abilities, different opportunities, and different schedules. Different is good and healthy.

This belief that there is some secret to homeschooling success we’re missing all comes down to comparison. Used rightly, comparison is a good thing. It’s perfectly fine to ask questions of other homeschoolers, especially ones who have graduated children and have faced similar challenges. It’s normal to consider alternatives when one approach isn’t working. It’s advisable to seek help when you hit a brick wall.

But it is NOT OK to jump on every bandwagon that comes along thinking that it will be the answer to all your problems. One way of teaching is not superior to another, like phonics vs. sight reading. Some kids do well with one way over the other, but neither is the absolutely only way to teach reading.

One curriculum is not going to magically teach your child everything they will ever need to know, like Sonlight vs. Abeka vs. Alpha Omega. They all have different approaches, and they are all good. It’s your job, as the homeschooling parent, to pick the one that best fits your unique situation. But what works for Kasey Know-It-All may not be your answer. Be adult enough to deal with it and find something else. No excuses. No apologies.

Schedules are great. I love schedules, but I can’t follow a single schedule to save my life. Why? Because my life is not like anyone else I know. I work part-time. Not just blogging, but I have a real network support business. I am on call for several businesses, and I often have to drop what I’m doing to answer calls and deal with problems. I also work away from home one or two days a week. That makes our schedule fluid, at best. We do what we can when we can, and when we have an interruption, we pick it back up later.  Yeah, it gets a little crazy and stressful, but we get it all done.

So, remember as you start your school this year, There Is No Secret!

Weeeelllll, there might be one secret.

Homeschooling success is all about perseverance.Homeschooling success boils down to one thing: Perseverance.

Yep, there’s no shortcut to educating children. You keep getting up every day and doing just about the same things over and over and over again. It’s like Groundhog Day. All. The. Time. It’s not brilliant curriculum. Or charismatic teaching. Or inspiring field trips.

It’s making breakfast. Having Bible time. Diagramming sentences. Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing numbers to infinity and beyond. Reading the same beginner readers for however many children you have. I can quote The Little Red Hen in my sleep. It’s like counting sheep but with chicks, a pig, a dog, and a cat.

Again, don’t believe your Facebook and Instagram friends who post pictures of their perfect projects and splendid field trips. I promise they have days where everyone is crying at the same time and a one page assignment takes three hours. People who don’t admit their problems need therapy. Just saying.

With thirteen years behind me and ten years in front of me, I will say that homeschooling is worth the price I’ve paid. That price is more than money. It is tears and fears and frustrations and doubts and arguments. But the love I have for my children and for teaching them every day is worth the price.

Today is the first day of a new homeschooling year, and I’m starting it with high hopes but realistic expectations. I know it will involve bad attitudes and difficult days. Homeschooling success is what you make of it. I resolve to persevere. I’ll get up every day and do it again. Will you?

Georganne

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Christian Living  / Family Life  / Home School

Kids Cooking Could Be The Best Idea EVER
07/25/2017

Summer is starting to wind down around here. We have two more weeks before we dig out the books and start my 14th year of homeschooling. That number makes me slightly queasy. I’ve graduated one child, but I have four more to go. That means 11 more years. Now, I’m definitely queasy.

You know something that helps me keep all the irons in the fire? Kids cooking. I made the best decision ever when my oldest was about 11. I signed her up for an online cooking class. Every week we watched a video together, printed out the recipe, and made an entire meal. Together.

And now? She’s a great cook! She cooks dinners, lunches, and desserts. She’s a really great dessert chef. Need cookies for a meeting tomorrow? Bam! She bakes them. She’s even made a little money on the side baking for friends’ parties.

Now, sure, I could have taught her to cook all by myself without a video course, but here’s the thing. We would have been cooking my way. While I know my way is the highway, that doesn’t mean I could effectively translate it all to her without just pushing her out of the way and doing it myself. Ha!

The video course we took started out with basics, like measuring flour, and proceeded to cooking eggs, quiche, burgers, and even roasting a chicken. Yep, I can call ahead and have dinner waiting when I get home. Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Better than a restaurant!

Jealous? Don’t be. Because you can do it, too! The video course that we took all those years ago is sadly retired, but Katie at Kitchen Stewardship has produced an outstanding video series for kids. Kids Cook Real Food is a self-paced course that you can take with your children.

This post contains affiliate links, in which case I may earn a commission on your purchase, but the purchase will, in no way, affect your price. I appreciate you supporting my site.

If you’re not ready for your child to take over the kitchen with a whole meal, that’s fine. Katie’s course still teaches younger children how to become helpers in the kitchen. Yeah, like she teaches them how to cut vegetables. I know giving a child a knife is heat-attack inducing, but my kids could peel carrots and potatoes by the time they were five. There’s really not much chance of them cutting off a finger with a vegetable peeler. And enlisting their help early makes working in the kitchen a fun game. It invests them in dinner time, so they are often eager to eat what they’ve helped prepare.

Let’s look at the pros for kids cooking:

  • fewer fights over eating a meal,
  • help preparing a meal,
  • time spent together making memories, and
  • imparting real life skills they will use the rest of their lives (a future spouse will think you’re the best mother-in-law ever!).

The series is divided into three parts: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. They will start out learning how to measure ingredients, making a salad, and blending spice mixes. Then, they’ll move on to making homemade salad dressings, cooking rice, and browning ground beef. We’re getting crazy here! Before long, they’re sautéing vegetables, crushing garlic, and making a cheese sauce. Can you believe it?

There are eight weeks of classes taught for three different age levels. More than 30 kitchen skills with more than 45 videos are taught throughout the series. This is a VERY in-depth series.

I seriously can’t think of any reasons to not teach your kids to cook. Sure, the kitchen may be a bit messier, but think of this as an investment. One day, you will have worked yourself out of a job. Personally, I’m looking forward to sitting on the couch and yelling into the kitchen demanding to know when dinner will be ready.

If you’re wondering what to do with the rest of the summer because it’s so stinking hot, then this is a great activity to kill some time until school starts.

Or, if you’re a homeschooler like me, you can work this course into your curriculum. Real life skills is the best class ever!

In addition to the cooking class, Katie offers a Knife Skills class. Sooner or later, everyone has to learn to handle a knife. Most of us do it by trial and error. Instead of learning the hard way, this course teaches knife safety and quick and effective ways to dice up veggies. Knife skills is on sale right now for $7! Hurry over and snag it right now!

Hope the rest of your summer is spectacular! Let me know what you have planned!

Georganne

P.S. I’m working on a monthly newsletter that will only go out to my mailing list. Sign up now to avoid missing an issue. Add your name and email to the box in the upper right corner.

 

 

 

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Home School

Take The Bite Out of Homeschool Planning with Homeschool Tracker
07/07/2017

I interrupt our regularly scheduled do-nothing-related-to-school summer routine to bring you an important service announcement. Namely, homeschool planning. I know. Those voices in my head again. This time it’s like the music from the movie, Jaws. Homeschool starts in August at our house. The shark is coming to get me.

You need something to help calm the chaos of curriculum. If you use just one curriculum that comes with its own set of daily instructions, you can skip this. I’m not talking to you. I, on the other hand, am a little schizophrenic when it comes to curriculum. We use Abeka for language arts, MathUSee for math (obviously), a smidge of Mystery of History, and a smattering of various other programs for other subjects.

I may also be looking at busting some things up this year. If graduating a child does anything for you, it assures you that everything you thought was perfect was not. My oldest, aka guinea pig, is quite capable, but I’m seeing where I could have done things differently to help her overcome some struggles and fill in some gaps. But if I re-schooled her five more times, I’d probably think the same thing. It’s not possible to be perfect. But the fact that I have a delightfully funny, polite, kind, and loyal young adult full of common sense (mostly) with a desire to do great things is what I’ll call a win.

So, when you think you’ll never cover it all, don’t fret. You won’t. And you’re not failing. Life has a way of filling in gaps, one way or another.

Anyway, back to homeschool planning. I have a Ninja tool that I have been using for probably eight years or so. You put in all your curriculum plans, and it spits out a daily schedule to follow. Now, what makes this all the more fantabulous is that you can re-use the plans for subsequent children, copy to include additional children, and reschedule when your weeks and months somehow do not result in completed assignments. So, I enter curriculum plans once and never have to write them down again. For FIVE children! Hallelujah!

Do you have any idea how much time this saves me? While I might initially spend several hours per subject to set up daily tasks for the school year, with the next child I will only spend 30 minutes rescheduling what is already entered.

Of course, I often change the plans, but again, it’s a matter of retyping my notes. NO erasing. NO trying to remember how I did it last time. Oh. My. Word. I can enter it and forget it. Which is good, because I’ll forget it no matter what.

This post contains affiliate links, in which case I may earn a commission on your purchase, but will, in no way, affect your price. I appreciate you supporting my site.

Homeschool Tracker makes homeschool planning a breeze.What is this brilliant piece of wonderfulness, you ask? Homeschool Tracker. The program was created in 2002 as a program to help with homeschool planning and record keeping. I originally started using it as a free desktop program. It worked well enough for my young children, at that time. But once we got to high school, I bought the paid version. Not only does it print out a daily task report for who does what in each subject, but it also tracks grades and creates report cards and transcripts.

The paid version is web-based, which means you access it through a Internet browser, such as Chrome. You can login from any computer.

It is super easy to use. I’m not saying there aren’t some quirks to making sure you have everything entered and scheduled correctly, but that’s normal for using a database program. What comes out is only as good as how it was put in. To help the new user get up to speed, Homeschool Tracker has training videos. Their frequently asked questions page covers a number of common questions and problems, and their technical support is responsive to those who need something more in depth.

Homeschool Tracker has three subscription choices. A monthly charge of $8 is good if you want to test drive it without a long-term commitment. The yearly subscription is $65, a savings of $31 over the monthly charge. I opted for the two year subscription of $119 for a total savings of $73. I don’t mind paying for months we’re not schooling, like during the summer, because I still have access to my data and can plan for the upcoming year as I have time, instead of cramming it in the week before we start.

Okay, so I still do some cramming, but I also set aside time during the summer to plan for special projects. And since so much is re-used, the cramming isn’t stressful. I’m only scheduling the already-entered lesson plans. Again, so much relief.

If you’re a homeschooling-freaky mama, like me, check out Homeschool Tracker to make your homeschool planning for the upcoming school year a breeze. It will change your life.

What Ninja homeschooling hacks do you have? Please share in the comments. We can all use fresh ideas.

Georganne

P.S. If you don’t homeschool, I bet you know someone who does. We’re, like, everywhere these days. Share the post with them, and they’ll thank you forever.

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Home School

Interrupting Summer For A Word About Homeschool Planning
06/21/2017

While we’re officially on summer break from homeschool, that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking ahead to how I want to plan for the next school year. Is homeschool planning ever very far away from the mind of the homeschool mom? No. It’s not. Sometimes, it’s like voices in my head. Not like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, you understand. More like Marmee in Little Women.

This post may contain affiliate links, in which case I may earn a commission on your purchase but will, in no way, affect your price. I appreciate you supporting my site.

One thing that I am mulling over is how to effectively incorporate more self-directed learning by using multimedia. That’s a fancy way of saying how do I use the TV to teach without falling into using it as a babysitter. Not that I’ve ever done that. Nope. Not me.

I have used movies and videos to support subjects, like history. We have the Liberty Kids video series, and my kids still love watching it. I’m not saying everything in it is historically accurate, but it’s a fun series about young America during the Revolutionary War. We’ve also watched the John Adams HBO mini-series while having our own tea party, pretending to be at court with King Louis XVI. Not that it takes much to inspire us to impromptu tea parties.

Up until now, we’ve had to rely on our own DVD collection or rented DVDs for our homeschool planning. Living outside town severely restricts our Internet access. No unlimited data plans on satellite. You’ll never believe how much data a streaming movie takes until you’re choking on that data overage charge. Yikes!

But just recently I hit the jackpot with my wireless carrier and have unlimited data through my phone. Hallelujah! We can watch movies we don’t own! We can do virtual field trips!

  • Machu Picchu in Peru.
  • Mt. Everest in Nepal.
  • The Catherine Palace in Russia.

Here we come!! No passport, hiking boots, oxygen tanks, or foreign language guides required.

One resource for media-directed learning that I like is Pureflix.com. This family-friendly video-streaming source offers a mix of family-friendly & wholesome entertainment which includes movies for all ages, kid’s animated titles, documentaries, how-to’s, hobbies, educational, health & fitness, sports, outdoors and travel plus many inspirational and devotional titles. Did you catch “family-friendly”? Did you know that such a thing still existed?

Not having to block categories or preview movies takes a load off my already full plate. Not to mention, the homeschool titles available, such as Drive-Thru History with David Stotts. I checked other streaming services and haven’t found the American series. Pureflix.com has the whole set.

We are big documentary lovers. Pureflix.com has many documentaries I’ve not seen before, such as biographies of famous people, like John Wesley and Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as people I’ve never heard of, such as Samuel Morris, a missionary in Africa. There’s a short documentary about the Medal of Honor, describing how it is awarded and what it means. Plus tons more.

So, as I’m beginning to think about starting homeschool planning for the fall, I know I want to include more media-rich material because all learning doesn’t come from a book. We love to read, but media brings sight and sound to learning. Now that we have some flexibility with our Internet connection, resources like Pure Flix’s homeschool curriculum will come in handy to expand our homeschooling. I almost can’t wait to start school again. Almost.

See the graphic below for more information. Pureflix.com is offering a free month with registrations now. The service works with Amazon Fire, Chromecast, Google Play, Roku, Apple iOS, and other streaming services.

Now that I’ve shattered your dreams of a summer free of homeschool planning, tell me what new plans you are considering for your next school year.

Georganne

P.S. I heard about Pureflix.com and their free trial program, but I am not receiving any compensation for my review. I performed an honest review of their offerings and was impressed with what I found. As always, you are free to make your own decisions.

Pureflix.com offers family and homeschool-friendly streaming.

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Christian Living  / Family Life  / Home School  / Parenting

Testing My Resolution to Do Less
03/03/2014

I expounded on my resolution to do less this year instead of more, but I have met my first resistance. The decision to re-up for another year of homeschool co-op looms on our horizon.  I thought I had a pretty good case to not return when I examined a few realistic facts.

Fact #1: Expenses

It costs us about $15 per trip to co-op. Gas ain’t cheap, people.

Fact #2: Inconvenience

The co-op we have been members of for five years is an hour away. We have to leave the house by 7:30 to get there on time. We get out of classes at 12:30. Then, we eat lunch, run a few errands, and drive an hour home. To say we are tired at the end of that day is an understatement.

Fact #3: Credits

Now that I have a high schooler, I consider what translates into credits for graduation or at least contributes to usefulness in some other way. This year has not helped us much, mostly because of said high schooler’s choice to coast through a class, leaving her short a credit I had hoped to use this year. I could fudge her participation since technically she hasn’t missed any classes, but my standard for a credit is higher than that. Woe to her.

Pinning the Beard on the Redneck is a legitimate game found nowhere else by in my highly esteemed co-op class.

Pinning the Beard on the Redneck is a legitimate game found nowhere else by in my highly esteemed co-op class.

However, my resolve is being sorely tested by other factors of less measurability, but nonetheless importance to me/us.

Factor #1: Friends

Five years in the trenches with 50 or so other homeschooling families builds some pretty good friendships. My girls have friends. I have friends. Never discount the importance of friends.

Factor #2: Credits

The class schedule at our co-op changes each year based on who wants to teach what. The proposed schedule for next year is a good one. Probably the best one we have had in five years. My high schooler can take a study skills class, which she sorely needs, and a geography class for credit. I won’t make the mistake of letting her coast again. The work will get done, mark my word. My junior high student can take a writing class (IEW), Texas history, and an art class. She’s my budding artist, so I never discount the importance of an art class in her lineup. She’s also my reluctant writer, so a good writing class is always a good thing.

Factor #3: Desire

We like our co-op. We like the people. We like the day of the week it meets. We like just about everything about it except the distance. We knew that would be a challenge when we moved. We thought we would be able to transition to something closer to home, but that hasn’t happened. I’m not sure we want to give up this co-op when we still have the ability to go there, regardless of the inconvenience.

Of course, I’m not really adding anything new. I’ll help teach a few classes, but I won’t be head teacher like I did for two classes this year. We hope to have a newer vehicle by next year, which might make the drive more comfortable/less expensive, but we don’t know that for sure. That’s the problem with decisions. We don’t really know how life will change to make a good decision bad or a bad decision good. This is one of those times when you just wish God used a blinking neon sign to tell you what to do.

What about you?? Got any hard decisions to make?

Georganne

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Christian Living  / Family Life  / Home School  / Parenting

Not Normal #2: Do Less, Not More
01/14/2014

I am a habitual over-committer.  I can always find more to do until I make the Mad Hatter look like he’s on tranquilizers.

Of course, when you look at just my normal life, you would think I have a reason to be busy.  I mean, I have five kids.  Just keeping them all alive is almost a full-time job some days.

If one isn’t

  • falling off her sister’s back (and breaking her elbow), or
  • driving a jeep (toy, not full-size) over a sister’s foot, or
  • performing a WWF move (which they’ve never seen in person),

Then one is

  • failing a hearing test and requiring multiple ENT appointments to determine she’s almost deaf and needs months of therapy to recover a portion of her hearing, or
  • fainting from a migraine while visiting a friend at a nursing home while her dad is out of the country, or
  • suffering from severe eczema that covers 80% of her body, including her face, and doesn’t respond to any known lotion or medication.

And that doesn’t count the times I want to return them to the hospital for a full refund.

Parenting is hard work.  No doubt about it.

Texas State Capitol

A family vacation doubles as a historical field trip.

Not only do I have five kids, I homeschool four of them.  That means I’m with them approximately 8,000 hours a year.  And not just in the same general vicinity, but in the very proximity of their person about 6-8 hours of the day while I teach them things like fractions and algebraic equations and the names of the countries on seven continents (North America is easy, but just try Africa or Asia for grins) and the difference between b and d.  And I cycle through each grade FIVE times. Just imagine doing sixth grade over and over and over and over and over.  Let’s just say my natural hair color has been missing for quite a few years.

In addition to this 40-hour a week job, I am self-employed.  I work one day a week at client offices, another half-day remotely, in addition to being on call for various issues seven days a week.  I don’t often get weekend or evening calls, but I sometimes do.

About now, I have approached crazy-woman status.  There is so little time and energy left at this point, that you would think I’d never entertain the thought to add something else to my schedule.  You would be wrong.  I am just crazy enough to add in teaching co-op classes, blogging, planting a garden, cooking from scratch, caring for an elderly parent, and more.  Much more some days.

Therefore, one of my NOT normal resolutions for this year is to do less, not more.  I don’t intend to abdicate my parental responsibilities or ship my kids off to public school or feed my family frozen dinners or quit my job.  But I do intend to work smarter, not harder.

  1. I can combine some of our subjects to streamline our school time.  If we all study birds or the ocean or anatomy at the same time, we can cut a good 30 minutes of individual science studies.  We can also do a fun group project each semester, like painting birdhouses.  Same goes for geography and Bible, etc.
  2. Cooking from scratch is not only healthier, it’s more economical.  Many hands make light work, so my girls can all help to various degrees, and even prepare a whole meal for easier recipes, like soups.  Double recipes make double meals.  Brownie points for Home Economics.
  3. I can help reduce our overall budge to require less extra income, thus allowing us to pay off more bills and save more money.  I may never completely stop working, but my stress level will be greatly reduced if I’m not responsible for as much overhead.
  4. I can stop to enjoy the 8,000 hours a year of my time with my family.  The years will pass quickly, and one day all of this chaos will be over.  I’m afraid a quiet home will not be as serene as it sounds.  I plan to laugh, tickle, kiss, hug, chase, photograph, talk to, read to, fight with, feed, and many more everyday, mundane activities.  Such real-life interaction gives me and my family the love and security to weather life’s storms.
  5. I’m not going to worry about everything that doesn’t get done.  I do what I can when I can.  The rest can work itself out.  No guilt.

In the world of over-commitment, less is more.  How about you?  What can you do less of?

Georganne

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Christian Living  / Family Life  / Finding Our Way to Simple  / Home School  / Parenting




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