Home Ed Tracking

BEFORE Pete damaged his knee, I was well on the way to working out our new home ed tracking... in fact, that's what I spent many hours of the time they were at camp, doing! Inspired by The Paper Maid I was working on the system that I want to have up and running ASAP. To avoid as many academic bumps as possible with the arrival of our next blessing in early September

Aside from printing out the first page in a 'not quite complete' format I hadn't gotten around to completing the last subject column needed or printing out a final copy and binding it with a binder I have on loan.

So with today not having to take Pete to work and the older 2 being at holiday club, I took the time to finish it off and here it is...

I cut down a 'manilla' folder for the front and back covers

and inside, one page does 4 weeks for one child

I now have everything scheduled from now till the end of the year. Next steps are to do all photocopying and book binding that I need to do, to go with it. Our nephews are about to join us for the next few days so I might not be able to get to that till after the weekend... or maybe they'll all be so busy playing together that I will have the time??

George Washington Carver

This is the 3rd book in this series that we've read as a read-aloud. I have enjoyed them all, as have the children. Being a biography, they get a little tough for me to read towards the end because, well... the person always dies. Makes me teary every time!

ISBN: 9781883002787

We all learnt a lot... about racism, death, human cruelty, gardening, saving, choices, needs and more. A great way to glean a little bit of history. We just read along slowly, one chapter a day over maybe 4 days a week. This book had 16 chapters so it took us a bit under a month. I'd like to go a bit faster and am aiming for 5 days a week for our next few books. It's not the only reading that happens around here... bible reading, shared chapter read-alouds, personal reading in free time, quiet time reading... not to mention sneaky reading when something else is meant to be being done!

Home Ed Support

It's so nice to gather with like minded home school families. That to encourage and be encouraged. To share the ups and downs with others that 'get it'.

Each Friday we get together with a few other families for a couple of hours play time for the children and a couple of hours chatter for us mums. It's lovely to see the children develop these friendships; good to be close by to help them develop in as healthy a way as possible.

Once a month I have the opportunity to meet of an evening with other home ed mums... we start by chatting curriculum and learning styles as they relate to us... and end up chatting about all other things... there has been a number of times when an innocent hubby has come into the room only to be soon blushing and on his way out again LOL

And from time to time we travel to Ballarat to visit with my lovely friend Marion and her children. There's much fun to be had with their family of 9, and I do miss our time there when there are some months between visits. We often stay overnight which is such a blessing - nothing quite like late night conversations with a girlfriend!!

There are other great links I have... a number of our 'family friends', such as our friends in Ballarat, home educate too and are just a part of normal family life now. It hasn't always been that way, it's a God-given answer to prayer

If you don't have support links like these in your life as you home educate, may I encourage you to keep looking, to reach out to others, to pray for the opportunity. To take hold of it when the opportunity arises.

Sometimes we don't need this support ourselves but we can forget that others need us as they journey the home education road themselves - don't deprive them of your encouragement and learned wisdom even if you think you have none to give. You could be just the answer to prayer that God wants to give them!

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No Spend Month... and a road trip (unrelated!)

We need to buy a new car! We don't all fit in our current car and have been on the lookout for a while. We almost found what we needed but our mechanic said that repair work hadn't been done well after an accident and so not to touch it... sad, because it was mechanically sound!
Pete's off to look at another this afternoon... priced beyond what we can afford, even at a streeeetch but if it's a good car we'll make an offer but are prepared to walk away. We can't bargain with more than we have!!!

Either way... it's now a NO SPEND month. The grocery budget has been cut from $650 for the month, down to $250, I've dropped the home ed allowance altogether, entertainment which sits at a low $40 has been scrapped and so on.

Thankfully we have a reasonably well stocked pantry and freezer, along with many pumpkins from our summer harvest. The well stocked pantry includes about 13kg of basmati rice LOL... so we could be seeing a bit of that!

The hardest bit for me was choosing to ditch my home ed allowance... I know it will be made up down the track and there's nothing I need urgently (that's next month LOL) but I'm so used to having it there. And tonight there is our monthly home ed gathering where I often see some great books I'd like us to own. Aah well, onto the list they will go.

So, for the road trip... which is only related to the no spend month in that the car I'll be driving for said road trip is why we're having a no spend month.

I'm thinking October - probably just myself and the children - up to 2 weeks away, but WHERE? Where to go? What to do and see? I've driven loads... like 1/3+ of a non stop trip to Queensland, to Sydney multiple times just sharing the drive with hubby and so on. I'd probably want to go no further than 10-12 hours from Melbourne and with a couple of overnight's on the way. It'd be cool to do the trip with someone else but I don't like my chances of anyone in my immediate circle of friends joining us; till we leave though, I'll keep hoping. Also, the thing that scares me most is accommodation costs so if you've some cheap (and safe!!) ideas, throw them my way. If my dad were still alive, he'd know enough people all over that we could borrow plenty of lounge room floors or church halls.. in fact, he'd probably come along for the trip!

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Not For Loan

How cute are these stickers?! These arrived this week from Vistaprint, ordered after I figured out that I don't want to loan out all of our home ed materials that may grab the attention of others. For a variety of reasons.
- I've got a miminum of 4 children to educate, we'll wear out out items soon enough without additional help and it's pretty awful to loan something to someone and it's visibly aged by the time it's returned. Happens a little too often. Any time I've borrowed a book from someone and had this happen, I've actually purchased the book and given the new one in it's place. Not everyone is as careful as this though.
- Too many have no hesitation in copying things that are not allowed to be copied... cd's, dvd's, paper curriculum's etc. I don't want to aid others in breaking laws, and so things that have a much higher risk of being copied are no longer for loan from our house.
- Items that were hard for me to get in the first place. For example, we are enjoying 'The Tale of Jeremy Vole' as a read aloud and it's also a part of the Grade 3 English curriculum we'll be using for all children. It is no longer in print and I could only find 2 second hand copies when I tracked one of them down for us. Having this item lost or not returned would be a PAIN... so this afternoon, I'll be popping a 'Not for loan' sticker on it.

Why the stickers? It saves me having to remember or keep a list and it's a whole lot easier to explain than appearing to be applying random 'borrowing rules' as someone browses our bookshelves.

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Home Education Budgeting

I've often wondered what other people spend on home education and those around me IRL seem to be quite random with it, no set figure or plan other than 'as little as possible' or 'whatever I need to'. Glad that works for them... neither would for me LOL

I have a budget of $200 a month - most of those that know this, before I've now shared it with the world, are a bit gob smacked by it and indicate they think it a great & generous amount. I'd guess though, that it's about what they're possibly spending themselves and they're just not as aware of it.

So where does $200 go every month and super fast at that?

A year's maths materials for Melinda (8yo) will cost me $208, so there is one month gone. In the last 6months, I've already had a similar outlay 3 times (approx. $150 each time as I already had a reusable part, which this time I need to get a duplicate of)
Thankfully from now on Melinda is the only one I need to outlay for at that cost and once a year should be plenty. It buys the teacher book, test book & dvd as well as the student work book. For each of the other children I'll only need the to get the student workbooks each year at about $60 per child per year.

Swimming - yes, all activities have to fit into the budget as well... and so they are well thought out. Most I know don't count the activities i.e. gym, ballet, music lessons etc as part of their home education expenses.
I've chosen swimming to focus on, because I believe it to be an important life skill and the lack of can have life and death issues as well as social issues. Things like ballet are nice but not something I could fit into the budget along with swimming, piano and curriculum! Swimming costs approx $200 a term for two children (no rebate available as I mention below). That's up to 1/4 of the year's budget! We won't be doing it this next term as a new baby will take priority but I hope it can be managed for the remaining 2 terms of the year - the children love it and seem to be doing really well.

Our English curriculum (Language Arts) costs about $100 for teacher and student books but then only about $40-50 for the student books which is all I'll need for the children that follow. After this initial lay out, I've added in 'optional but recommended' books - about 10 I think for the grade 2 level and only 4-5 for the grade 3 level. With clever use of booko these don't cost a whole lot. And remember, in Australia, we get the educational tax rebate of 50% on all books, curriculum, computers, stationary, internet etc so any of these extra books end up costing me even less.

We use Apologia science - again, about $40 for a year's curriculum, when bought carefully regardless of number of children, and 50% of that comes back to me at tax time too.

Books books books. I love books. And this is why it's good my budget is capped LOL

I want my children to be influenced by great books. Godly books. One can't readily access these without owning them. Even recently I went to the picture book shelf and put all the godly books on one side and the secular books on the other. I was devastated to see that less than 10% of books that are influencing my 1-5 year old's, point them toward God and to God's way of doing life. We're now working to rectify that!!!

Thankfully internet access doesn't have to fit into my monthly budget, but I'm sure glad I get the 50% back on it at tax time. It's not part of our home ed budget because we'd have it anyway - even if we were childless!

Tax time is around the corner and you know what? I've already 'spent' the rebate in my head. A lump sum of $500-$750 is the best time of year for me to be spending on computers don't you think? So this year the rebate will go towards a new laptop for the older 2 children to share. The bonus being that in the following year, I can claim 50% of that back too LOL

So why have a home ed budget?

FREEDOM

I don't need to run each and every item past hubby! The budget as a whole was run through with him in the first place and he trusts me with our children's education needs - and LOVES browsing the home ed shelves for something to read himself *grin*

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Art Success!

With bubs due in only 15 weeks, I'm trying to keep things simple and one of the ways I decided to do this, was with Art.

The children now each have their own art bags with a visual art diary, paints and art pencils -and.... Ta Da: Their own 'How to Draw' book each.

On Friday, they each did their first lesson with it and I have to say, I am pretty impressed with the results.

It's not JUST a drawing instruction book - it includes water colour, collage and a couple of other art styles. The best bit is that it is all hands OFF for me... I just need to keep the camera handy!

This is Melinda's (8.5yo) Giraffe from 'How to Draw Animals'

and Nathaniel's (7yo) Diplodocus from 'How to Draw Dinosaurs'

One great thing about them having different books is that they work on their own project without comparing their results as they would if both pictures were 'meant to be the same' IYKWIM.

Once they finish these books, they can swap, and start over!

I bought these books sight unseen and was happy.

Once I got them I was excited.

And now I am seeing them in use I am so thrilled - they are more than I had hoped for!

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Thinking of tweaking the plan again...?

Let me know what you think please - am I on the right track? why/why not?

Our home ed not-so-scheduled-schedule is working well. Very well. So there's no reason in that department to change it.

However...
I'd like a more relaxed day, at home, in the week.
Wednesday is pretty relaxed, but I spend it at my sisters - ALL day.

I'm thinking of trashing the current Friday program and putting the Science lesson on to the Thursday. Art would then go to Friday.

Friday would then be a day for catch up - if needed. And otherwise a day for art/crafting. Melinda's latch hook, my sewing, pottering around the garden, baking if desired. More of a 'fun being at home' day. Friday is also the day we go to the market every 2-3 weeks.

I think we can afford to do this, because at the rate the kids are going through their bookwork, they will be done in just 2-3 terms if I do keep Friday as a bookwork day.

I'd like to be able to set up the sewing machine from time to time and just work on one project without packing up mid project, and not be fussed about where bookwork is up to for the day, or if they've spent the day playing Lego inside or a bunch of outside play adventures...

Weekends don't lend themselves to this sort of day for us... for a bunch of reasons... they just don't.

Is this worth pursuing? or might it backfire?

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2011 Home Education Plans

I thought you might like to see how we're working our home ed this year. The kids and I are loving how it is working out.

These plans were first worked on at the end of last year and we had about 3 weeks of a 'practice run' with the then current curriculum. Once the new curriculum arrived and we began it just after Christmas I got a better idea of how it was going to work for us and what needed tweaking.

So last week we had off 'book work' because of daily swimming lessons and I spent my weekend home ed planning time (a weekly essential here) tweaking the schedule.

These 4 pages should give you an idea of how I fit it all together. Timothy doesn't get any record keeping yet, at 2.5 he has a life of ease.... for him it's all eat, play, sleep - even when he's helping out with housework he thinks it's play time. Sweetness!

I'm pretty sure that if you click on the pictures, it will bring it up larger - easier to read if you want to see the detail.

Everything we want to cover, my scheduling then followed

The Weekly Schedule - on the kitchen cupboard and in my home ed binder so I can keep track of where we're up to

Melinda's record keeping. At the moment I'm working on 6 of these being a term's work and we have 5 terms in our year. There's a whole lot more learning that goes on that doesn't get recorded on these sheets of course!

Nathaniel's record keeping - same as Melinda but for his work - we just cross it off as we go. 15min on each is enough. Sometimes this work will get done in a week, sometimes 4 days and sometimes 2 weeks depending on what else life throws at us.

History, Read-Aloud's, Spanish, Piano practice etc aren't on this schedule but happen/will happen. History and Read-Aloud's are both read on the go or in the evenings with Dad. Spanish happens in the gaps of life or when I'm tied up - they don't need me for it.

I'd love to see your home ed schedule too - so once you've blogged it, add the link here and comment below.
Be sure to use the link to the scheduling post and not just to your blog home page!

Tuesday Art

Only now getting around to posting last week's art! Last week got a little too nutty... more about that once I figure out how to download photo's off my mobile :o)

We talked about shapes... positive shapes and negative shapes and then made these posters to illustrate the positive and negative of each shape created. I had already done mine as an illustration of the sort of thing they were aiming for. It was really interesting seeing them choosing a shape and then trying to get it to show up with the piece of paper folded in half. They done plenty of cutting with paper folded... 'snow flakes' and the like... but not too fussed about the particular shape at the end. There were some good thinking skills at work here too - good practice!

Left, me ~ Middle Nj (7) ~ Right Melinda (8)

Also... more recently - like yesterday... I finally got around to making the cover for MY home ed binder... I kept losing it with other 'look alike' binders... not anymore

The middle section is what I call my 'home ed gripe' and I've had it on my kitchen wall for quite a while now. It's a good reminder for me and also has kept others a little more quiet on 'testing' the kids at every opportunity - bliss!

...and now I need to get organised for this afternoon's art!!

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If at first I don't succeed

then I will try try again!

Well that's my version now. The original 'if at first you don't succeed, try try again has been stuck in my head since about grade 3? It was a line in our class play 'Mud Black and the Seven Tallies'.... I'm off track already here! Oops!

One final term before the end of the year and I really really want to do much better with our 'formal' learning each day. Although I've been a homeschooling mum since Melinda was born more than 8 years ago... it's only now we're really getting into it with both Melinda and Nj. So, I am very much a beginner still!

and being the most disorganised person in the world (okay, not quite, but almost!) doesn't help at all :o(

So this week I need to plan out our final term... there will be about 10 weeks to work with.

To get me started I've worked out some goals

1. 2 x 'Go and Do's'....  Scienceworks? Native gardens in Cranbourne? Melbourne Museum?
2. 5 x swimming on Saturday's with Dad while Timothy sleeps to give me some planning time
3. Lots of reading aloud by Nj... daily?
4. Science 2 x week - anatomy... including anatomy models (Nj is so keen to get more into this)

5.MathUSee - work through the earlier books to find out where the children should start 'mostly on their own'
6. Project book of anatomy work
7. Have the children see project books from other homeschoolers to give them an idea of what we're aiming for
8. Start every day with bible time!!
9. For my own education - buy and read a couple of Charlotte Mason books that I've had my eye on for a while

We'll do more than this, but these things are the "must do's" that I am aiming for and will give me something solid to work my plan around.

I also want to make an achievable plan this time. One where I should be expecting to get everything done, rather than thinking up front that 'what doesn't get done, doesn't get done'.

I am very much looking forward to getting stuck into the planning and then into the term :o)

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What a week!

It's been quite a successful and 'blessing filled' week...

Sunday was Girls and Boys Brigade Parade Service at church
Here's Melinda almost ready to go.


We then had a lovely new friend and her children back for lunch... it's extra nice when you find 'easy to get along with' people!

We have gotten much bookwork done with home ed... slowly starting to catch up! Our new maths curriculum arrived - we're moving from 'Easy Learn Maths' to 'Math-U-See'... I'll explain 'why' in another post. In a week or two we will begin the new work. I need to unpack some tools to use with it first - they're in a box around here somewhere!!

I'm pretty impressed with Melinda's writing (8yo) (we're not moving to cursive for a few years yet) I will admit I do push the 'neat' thing in our house. Adults with barely legible printing & writing drive me NUTS!!

(in the picture, the ants are carrying a pen - I had thought it was an airplane!)

Wednesday we had some of our favourite people drop by - my friend Marion and their 7 children - it's so wonderful to open the back door and see the yard dotted with children happily playing together. They live a couple of hours away so it's something that can take some planning! We'll be headed their way in the next week-ish (If she lets me!!)

Thursday I had an old/new friend stop by and we got chatting about kids, behaviour, parenting etc... again so nice to chat with people who have God in their lives!

...and then Today!

This morning we were once again productive with bookwork and so had a free afternoon. The children and I drove out to Sassafras in The Dandenongs to find old fashioned FUDGE... we found it!

We also found this

Nathaniel does a lovely girl - don't you think?

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Out the window!

When I googled for pictures that fit 'out the window' this one came up - and a whole bunch of 'huh?' ones that just don't fit the phrase at all! Where did the phrase come from anyway?

So!... I have come to realise over this last week of attempting to get back into some sort of routine, that all of life has 'gone out the window' with all our moving dramas. NOTHING is working well.
This means I am starting from scratch. Sigh.
So start from scratch I will.

Next week Pete is taking the kids to visit Grandma down at the beach for 2 days. I was going to be unpacking. Thinking it through I have come to the conclusion that I am better off doing some serious planning/organising etc for this time

Mostly school stuff
Followed by daily jobs/routines
Followed by food/meal management

Note to self: The printer is showing low on black ink... I'd better buy the replacement before I am without car otherwise I can guarantee it will run out on the first page printed on the first morning they are away

What I'd like to know is
-Do you have routines/schedules and if so, how well do you stick to them?-How often do you take the time to review and shake them up?
-If you don't, are you getting as much done as you'd like to/could?

I feel like I am wanting this


but starting with this

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Lost! A True Tale From The Bush

Thanks to Sarah We've just started reading 'Lost! A True Tale From The Bush'. If I remember correctly, Sarah picked up her copy in an op shop for about 50c and after looking up the book online I decided it would be great to read to the children as part of our work on Australia this year. I wasn't keen to spend $30 on it but was given the idea to ask my library to get it in (I didn't like my chances of finding it in an op shop LOL)
It arrived and we picked it up last week. I didn't start it right away as we were finishing up another book, but immediately I was impressed with the quality of the book - this is no ordinary children's book. The quality is that of 'coffee table' books...I'm starting to think that I'd be happy to pay $30 for it... maybe one day!
After starting to read it with the children today I can tell you this:
-It is well written and holds the children's attention
-The art work is interesting; different from most children's books around today, and the children have been pouring over it
-It is set in the 1860's and the end of each chapter shares a double page of what life was like in this time
-Another couple of days and we'll have finished reading it, as it's pretty quick to read even though it has over 100 pages
-Worth owning? YES!
For all the other info on the story itself click the picture above and have a browse yourself - it's worth your time!

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Monday Art

Here's last week's project: The bottom one is Nj's, the next one up is Melinda's and the one at the top that you can only see half of is mine that I did as as the example while they were watching.

This week I nabbed another idea (I think both came from the same art blog) and we did a version of 'Robots'
Again, I did an example with them watching and then left them to work on their own.

Example


Nathaniel


Melinda

and guess who woke early from his nap and discovered us with paint?

Master Timothy
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Sovereign Hill - A Living Museum

Photo's at last from our trip last week! We're looking forward to returning later in the year for another visit







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Homeschool Freebies

If you're not familiar with 'Freebie of the day' then now is the time!

They've a great selection this week - and I'm quite fussy, I don't download everything they have on offer, far from it.

Today especially is worth a look. It is a publication of home school feedback from over 200 home schooled graduates. Today only remember!

Subscribe to them and you get a weekly email letting you know what freebies are coming in the week - and this week I'm really glad I have that reference as it will stop me missing out on some great publications :o)

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Get in line! ;o)

We're reading George Muller at the moment - as a 'read aloud'. We're about 1/2 way through and have had it less than a week.
I have to admit that by Friday night I couldn't wait... so I took it to bed and finished it off for myself! Now I'll be re-reading as I continue to share it with the children.

We had wonderful fellowship over lunch on Sunday with dear friends and had a great discussion on faith and God's provision... this book came up and was brought out. Paul asked to read it so it's promised to him once I finish reading it to the children.

In the meantime Pete decided it sounded good too... so sure enough, Sunday night he's reading it in bed!!!

We highly recommend it and are happy to loan it out - but you'll need to get in the queue!!

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Finding Our Rhythm

At last we seem to be finding our rhythm. The schedule has been tweaked accordingly!

I've found that if we don't start the day with bible/prayer and some form of PE then there is not enough focus in our bookwork. Or anything else for that matter.

I love it when I learn things like this!

Today this looks like:
-basic housework
-PE games (10-15min)
-Bible and prayer (30min)
-snack
-nap
then we have friends coming for a couple of hours and bookwork will happen when they leave.

The PE activities grabs and channels their focus, I then put it to use for the most important thing, our family worship time of bible and prayer.

The whole day, house, family etc seems to function much much better when I run the day like this. I'll be deliberately aiming for this each day now and I'm looking forward to the continued benefits

In My Kitchen