Multiplication Help

I've been thinking this week that I'm so glad I don't have to homeschool on my own.  I'm happy that there are people in the world who are putting curriculum together, or blogging about their unique teaching styles, or coming up with fun ways for kids to learn.  I'm very thankful to know that all the ideas I need are only a click away!

Case in point:  For the last year I've hated the fact that I'm stumped when it comes to teaching my boys the times tables.  Disciplined, consistent repetition of facts is NOT my strong suit.  I'm a go-with-the-flow chick (when I'm not Anxiety Girl), and it's difficult enough to get our regular work done every day with all of life's many distractions.  So, I put on my aforementioned Anxiety Girl cape and stressed about it forever, while trying out my own ways of practicing the facts that simply didn't work for me or my kids.

Then, I recently overheard a friend mention a music cd with multiplication songs on it, and that bit of info stuck with me.  After a little research, I discovered that there are many options for help with teaching the times tables.  There are games, video games, cds, and dvds of all kinds!  I should have thought of that before, but you just don't know what you don't know, ya know? 

The two dvds that I'm planning to buy are:

Link: Times Tales

Link: Schoolhouse Rock

(There's also regular Schoolhouse Rock, which we use for grammar reinforcement.)







I haven't decided on games, yet, but these look good: 

Link: Zoom

Link: Math Games

I haven't found too many online math games that my kids like.  But Learning Planet is fun, and Xtra Math isn't horrible.  If anyone has ideas for online math games, please email them or post in the comments section.  (Thank you!) 

Homeschooling is hard sometimes.  I say take every opportunity to make it easier on yourself, and more enjoyable for your kids.  YES, require them to work hard and meet higher standards, but if you can disguise that as FUN, all the better.  

We love workboxes!

"Workboxes" is a system of homeschooling which allows children to be more independent in their daily studies.  The originator of this system is Sue Patrick, and her ideas have become increasingly popular with homeschoolers across the U.S.  Because the full system is very detailed and in-depth, and requires a great amount of prep work for the teaching parent, it's not a good fit for our family.  However, there is one part we absolutely love!

This.  This is the part we love.

Above is a picture of our workbox "towers."  From left to right, they belong to Seth, Caleb, and Sarah.  In the close up pictures below, you can see that there are numbers stuck to the front of the drawers with Velcro.  When a child finishes his first drawer, he takes the number off the front of the drawer and puts it on the card that sits on top of the tower.  

This is the card that sits on top of Seth's tower.

The next set of pictures shows examples of what things are in the drawers.  The kids are not allowed to take a sticker off of a drawer, marking it "finished," until all books and supplies are back in the drawer. 

 

Below is a tower in progress.  When all the boxes are done, school is done for the day.  No more questions and worries about when we'll be done.  Now everyone knows!

Three down, three to go!

In order to keep the kids motivated to use the workboxes, I also have activity cards that say, "15 minutes on computer," "20 minutes on Wii Fit or Outdoor Challenge," and "Game of your choice with Mom."  Next week I will add other games and surprises for the kids.  My goal is to have a good balance of school work, chores, and fun stuff in our boxes.  So far, so good.

Best upside?  Besides the organization and independent work, the best upside is having everything we need for projects or crafts right in the drawer waiting for us.  No more searching around at the last minute for glue or an extra pair of scissors.  SO time-saving! 

Oh, and this serene homeschool moment is all thanks to workboxes...

 

And so are these happy munchkin faces...

Here's the down side... more prep work for Mom.  In order for this to work properly and be successful, I have to reload the boxes every afternoon or evening.  I can see now that I need to prep everything on the weekends so I can reload them quickly.  Otherwise, it's too time-consuming. 

The parts of the workbox system that we are leaving out include making "centers" (think Science Fair tri-fold displays) to teach concepts or info to the kids.  That would take more time, work, energy, and money than I'm willing or able to give at this time in life... or ever.  Maybe if I could come up with smaller-scale ideas...

Anyway, that's our current gig.  Thanks for reading... and leaving a comment... *hint hint*

Back to Co-op!

Today was the boys' first day back to co-op, and we were all ever so glad to be back!!  They were very happy to see their friends and to get to learn and play with them.  In art class they learned about pointillism and made their own pointillist butterfly pictures with tempera paint and Q-tips...
 

They actually drew and painted half of the butterflies, then folded the paper and pressed on it to make the other half.  Brilliant idea!
 
In Zoology class, the kids learned about insects.  They learned that insects have 3 main body parts, six legs, compound eyes, and an exoskeleton.  For an experiment, the kids tried to drown a cricket, but found out that crickets can close up all their air holes and survive after at least 5 minutes under water!  As a bonus, my kids got to bring home the experiment subjects as PETS!! 

The three containers above house three different crickets... Hopper, Hoppy, and Hoppy McHopperson.  The kids brought all three home in one jar, but decided they each needed to make their own habitats.  We looked up what crickets eat... which just happens to be everything (they're omnivorous)... and the kids put these together.  The only thing I did was punch the air holes and fill up little cricket-sized water bowls.  The dirt, grass, and paper clippings are providing nourishment for the little buggers.  The crickets seem to be doing well, but Caleb accidentally ripped one of the back legs off of his, so we're not sure how long it will survive.

I ended up filling in for another mom who was sick, so I stayed at co-op all day and taught two classes on conflict resolution for kids... based on The Young Peacemaker, by Corlette Sande.  I got to sit in a circle with two groups of around 12 kids and chat with them about different reasons and ways to make "a respectful appeal."  The kids are smart and funny... and silly (right up my alley)... and we had great discussions! 

Where was Sarah, you ask?  Well, little "Sarah May" spent the entire day alone with Grandma.  And there's no telling what kind of trouble those two got into!

"What happens at Grandma's STAYS at Grandma's!!" 

Giving up math...

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.  ~Elizabeth Stone

My oldest son (8.5) has always used Horizons math, and I've always sat with him. For the last three+ years, I have been his math teacher. Sure, we had lots of times filled with whining, complaining, tears, and discipline. But there were even more days when I could see that light bulb flicker on when he finally understood a difficult concept, when we would laugh over funny counting mistakes, and the many, many tickle breaks we took. Good memories, over all.

My son is excited that he gets to start Teaching Textbooks (TT) math on the computer next year. He loves to sit and do the samples online and he thinks it's going to be SO fun! I'm happy that he's excited, because really, it's about the learning. He loves to sit and watch those math courses on public television. I think it's so funny that he really enjoys seeing advanced math problems worked out when he doesn't really know what they are talking about, but it's fascinating to him. Sitting with mom doing math worksheets just isn't cutting it for him. So, next year things will change.

On the one hand, I'm happy that it looks like TT will fit him perfectly. Plus, I'll be teaching three next year, so to have my oldest almost completely independent with math is a relief. If things work out like I think they will, my middle child will also use TT the following year. Then I'll only have one child doing math worksheets with me. Again, part of me is relieved by that....

...but then there's mommy. Today mommy wants to sit and cry over the growing up of her little children. Mommy wants to keep doing daily math worksheets with each of her children until they're 50. She sees switching to Teaching Textbooks math as the first step out the door and wants to bring life to a screeching halt. I don't want to let go, I don't want to give up Math. It's the first step to giving up so many other things.

Wiping my tears and getting my emotions under control so I can be rational...

It's going to be okay. This isn't the first step... the first step to my child's independence happened the moment he was able to live outside the womb... and we've been taking little steps in that direction ever since. That's what the parent/child relationship is all about. We grow together, we teach each other about life and God, and at just the right time, he has to spread his wings and fly... even if mommy has to give him a little push... it must be done. And it's good. And the cycle starts all over in his own life as a brand new chapter in mine begins. And we get to teach each other about those things, too.

I'm laughing at myself now. All this over a little math? I mean, he's only 8 for goodness' sake! It's not like he's leaving tomorrow! Plus, I'm still going to have to check his work every day... not to mention all the other subjects I still have to teach him.. and my other two kids... for the next 15 years. The boy can't even do his own laundry, cook his own meals, or get to bed on time without my help. Get a grip, mommy.... it'll be a LONG time before you get a break.

Life and Language Arts

This week we are back to school after being off for the month of December.  Our holiday season was much more relaxed since we didn't have to worry about school in addition to everything else.  My house is a mess (as usual), and the Christmas decorations are still up ('til Saturday), but we are back on the ball with lessons, including a whole new plan for Language Arts for the rest of this school year.

We've used Sonlight for just about everything since the very beginning, but the last year or so, I haven't been happy with the Language Arts (LA) program.  It frustrates me for some reason, and the kids hate it.  I stuck to it this year because I really wanted to like it, but finally decided last week that we really must change.  I mean, why punish ourselves day after day?  So, for the rest of this year we are using grade-level LA workbooks that I bought at Barnes & Noble for just under $7 each... plus Explode the Code phonics and some of the creative writing prompts from Sonlight.  We'll use Sonlight's spelling, too, since that's what we have right now.  The current plan for next year is for Seth to use Switched-On Schoolhouse for LA3, and for Caleb to use Lifepac LA2.  I just really like a concrete, straightforward LA curriculum better than Sonlight's natural learning approach.  Of course, we're still using Sonlight for just about everything else, so I'm still a huge fan!

Have a beautiful day!

Brokpa, Bhutan

Beautiful Brokpa woman of Bhutan

This week, as we continue to study our book "From Akebu to Zapotec," by June Hathersmith, please join us in praying for the Brokpa (BROK-pa) people in Bhutan.  Bhutan is a small country in South Asia that lies between India and China, with the Great Himalaya mountain range on its northern border.

Yak... (pardon me.) 

The Brokpa people know all about shaggy mountain yaks, which make it possible for them to live in their very cold country.  Yaks provide wool, leather, meat, milk and cheese.  The Brokpas build their homes on very steep hills and herd their yaks on alpine pastures.  The country of Bhutan is 100% Buddhist, and the Brokpa people, who speak Brokkat, do not have the Bible in their own language.

For more information on this and other unreached people groups, please visit Joshua Project:  Bringing Definition to the Unfinished Task.

Our Homeschooling Groove

This year had the smoothest first week of all four previous years, and it has me wondering why.  I think it's a mixture of experience, a little added patience, and maybe a dash of wisdom tossed in.  Here's what I've learned that is helping make our 5th year the best so far!

My kids are only 8, 6, and 3.  Remembering this little fact, and treating each child according to his or her age, has really, really, really taken the pressure off of me and them!  Even my oldest needs me to see the humor in a math worksheet, and laugh with him over Language Arts material.  They need me to see the pure wonder of science, and to notice how interesting history can be.  They need ME to see it FIRST, and then show it to THEM.  They need me to be willing, and prepared, to do the "optional" activities that I always used to skip.  Tickle breaks must be taken daily, and it is a necessity to have at least a little fun and a measure of awe in everything we do.  Learning is about living, and vice versa.  It doesn't have to be dull and daily drudgery.

I am not a slave to the Instructor's Guide... or even to my own daily schedule.   Oh, this is a big one for me!  I have these horribly detailed schedules that I made up years ago to "keep myself in line."  I mean, every minute of the day, from 4:45am to 9:00pm, was work, work, work!  Keeping the house perfect at all times, doing every homeschooling lesson and activity scheduled without fail, and driving myself straight into the ground.  In reality, I was treating myself harshly because I didn't like who I was.  I couldn't keep it up, so my schedule only served to make me feel worse about myself.  All I saw in myself was laziness, mediocrity, and failure.  I struggled to change myself, but nothing helped that sinking feeling.  It wasn't until I let the Lord heal me from past brokenness, pain, and regrets that I finally saw the truth.  God made me, and He doesn't make mistakes.

I am partially laid-back (read "messy") and introverted, and partially ultra-organized and social.  I still make charts, lists, and schedules, but only to help me keep my thoughts in order and my life easier.  Those things are my TOOLS now, not my MASTERS... and I get a real rush from putting together a good plan!  (Sick, I know.)  Also, I have no bad feelings about chucking the schedule and taking a movie day... or a zoo day... or a lay-around-the-house day when needed.  Do you hear what I'm saying?  I enjoy my life now... weirdo contradictory messy perfectionist that I am!

Life is good.  No matter what happens, it's good to be alive... good to be happy (no longer depressed)... good to be free... good to have my needs met... good to be loved.  It's easy to take happiness and freedom for granted, but Lord, forgive us when we do!  After living through many years of depression and anxiety, it's good to be able to smile, from the inside out, and be happy.  

We should try to see all of life in the light of what Jesus has done for us.  I often feel weird for being so happy around people.  I don't have a lot of things to stress over or complain about.  I mean, sure, I have things that I'm praying about... money, homeschooling, friends, family members, and more... and who doesn't get into negativity once in a while?  But really, why worry?  God already has a plan.  I can be happy, at peace, and satisfied in the midst of all this because Jesus died to set me free... and I am free!

First week down... 35 to go!

We made it through our first week of homeschool, and I have to say, it wasn't torture!  That's GREAT progress!  Sure, we had our hiccups... whining, complaining, fit throwing... but this isn't about me.

Seriously, though, it was a pretty uneventful first week.  There were some "behavior training opportunities" (wink wink), but we got through them quickly.  We finished all of our work, and watched some great online videos of different animals... like different jellyfish and the Jesus Christ (Basilisk) lizard.  Thanks to our Usborne World of Animals book (which gave us the idea), we try to find videos that go with each daily science lesson.  That is a great addition to our homeschooling experience that we can all enjoy.

We're also using Usborne Science Activities: Volume One.  Last week we did some experiments with magnets, testing what will stick to magnets and what won't.  The kids made charts to record the results.  It was pretty fun.  

Thanks to our book "From Akebu to Zapotec," we found out that there are people groups in the world that do not have the Bible in their own languages.  I guess if I had thought about it, I would have assumed that there were.  Reading about specific groups that don't have the Bible was very sad.

The book we have is the 2nd book in a series.  It had to be written because the publication of the 1st book caused Christians to pray, and most of those people groups now have at least some portion of the Bible in their languages!

We are reading about one "Bibleless" people group each week--this week it was the Akebu people of Togo, West Africa--and spending some time praying for them.  Actually, the book comes with a cd, so we are listening to each story.  It gives my vocal chords a good break.  Love that!

Everything else is going well.  The kids are progressing in every area, and it feels like we've finally found our homeschooling groove.  The only thing that's falling through the cracks right now is Sarah's pk3 materials.  I find that if she's happily playing or whatever, I don't feel compelled to stop her in order to teach her something.  My opinion is that very young children need more free-play than sit-down learning and scheduled activities.  So at this point, I'm keeping her activities scheduled, but will only use them as needed to ward off boredom.

Alrighty, so week 2 is in full swing.  Today is Caleb's 6th birthday, so we are having a very light school day... more of a movie day, actually.  Planet 51 and G-Force are on the agenda.  We had donuts for breakfast at his request, and tonight's dinner will be at McDonald's play place, with cupcakes and presents following.  It's a good, sugary day. 

P.S.  I forgot to mention that housework is also falling through the cracks, but that's not really a new occurence.....