Hi Everyone:)
I am back from Durham NC-got home late last night and just finished unpacking and getting the kids ready to go with "dad" for the weekend while I work work work:)
I am so hardcore "homeschool planning" right now, it's kind of funny:) I have a copy writing account that is collecting dust, a cake to bake and decorate for a friend, and several doubles in my current schedule....All I can think about, however, is homeschooling.
Last month we lost our homeschool group of five years. I had started it, it was my baby, but I trusted the wrong person with my livelihood and they acted in a completely immature, unprofessional and conniving fashion and ruined something that had been really really good for a LONG time. At first I was devastated-mostly because of the time and effort invested over five years, and the fact that people would hurt children on purpose with selfish actions. Within a day, though, doors had opened for new opportunities, and by the fourth or fifth day, I couldn't believe the quality of our new life! Had I known that losing my group would lead to such freedom, such creativity, such plain "NON STRESS", I would have spent my time more wisely over the last few years. I would have invested MORE into our own lessons and life, and less into the lives of people who were pretty obviously using me. From this realization, I have bursted back into my over excited homeschool mom costume and it's like we are just getting a fresh new start!:) I am so happy, and my kids are thriving-totally thriving!
I am deep into planning for this year, efforts to get organized-like searching for a planning form or a new idea, have led me to great new sites and many new ideas!!! My challenge, of course, is to focus on a few great ones and not get lost in the masses:)
We have "notebooked" in the past, "lapbooked" as well. I like the notebooking better, but I haven't explored it very closely and haven't had a huge chance to actually see how it could work for us. My kids are varied ages and levels, and the creative aspect of the process can easily distract me from the whole picture of notebooking. I am so curious to learn how this approach of schooling has worked for their family...I'd love opinions from others who may be reading this:) I joined a few notebooking and form share yahoo groups for support, ideas and motivation:)
I have also re-discovered the Core Knowledge site. This site, along with the book series, was our first homeschool approach. The site offered little but a "What Your ~ Should Know" outline for each grade, with promises of a great future of added lessonplans. I hadn't been back in years, and today realized the the promises were kept! The lessonplan section is quite awesome! I saved each of my children's grade levels (save the whole link) to my desktop in their personal file for future referance.
I am having such a blast surfing the net for personal homeschool quest-I had gotten away from being excited about new HS ideas for awhile...Life happens;)
Another cool site that I stumbled upon last night is http://www.awesomelibrary.org/ .This site calls for more exploration and I can't wait to settle in and do just that. There seems to be TONS here for use:)
I have some rambling thoughts about homeschooling...Do most HS Moms constantly explore new options and ideas? Is it better the find something the works and stick with it for awhile, or is it ok to have changes during the year/s? I started out with a unit studies approach when my kids were preschoolers...Themes were based on the Core Knowledge scopes. Our first unit was on Rain forests...I got a little carried away;) As I added more children to the school day, I found a need for more structure and discovered The Well Trained Mind, which quickly became my homeschool bible. I still use curriculum ans theory gleaned from that incredible book, and with that, we have settled into a comfort zone for the last years. This year finds us more settled then in recent years, and with children that get their basic studies done rather independently. I feel that we now own more of our time, and that our personal interests and skills can really start to bloom within our homeschool lifestyle.
I have met many homeschool moms, all very different, but most enjoy searching out and discovering new "stuff". I have personally seen moms so wrapped up in the pretty "stuff" that they can barely dig themselves out from the UPS boxes long enough to do lessons:) I have seen moms change their philosophies and styles overnight for months at a time, and the "learning" seemed to drop off while mom researched and planned...I have hit that plateau as well-which is what has kept me so close to our basic plan for so long. I want to shake it up, but not too much:)
As a homeschool parent, do you embrace many changes or do you try to maintain a more settled and structured, constant approach? What has been your new discovery for this year-what will you drop, add or try? How are you implementing this into your lifestyle? Do your children help you decide what you want to do, use, try, as you plan for a new year? I am curious as to how others approach new years, new ideas....
Off to get ready for work and hopefully surf a little longer:)
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