Christmas Books- The Night Before Christmas

As much as I love books, I realized I was lacking a critical book- The Night Before Christmas! How could it be? I realized that despite all the stories we read together, I have not shared this classic poem with my children. I went on a hunt to find a beautifully illustrated edition of the poem to share this year for Christmas. On December 1, I let the children open their new book. The book I chose was one illustrated by Charles Santore. 

I like that the pictures have a classic feel. The only thing I don’t like about this book is the beautiful double page spread where the sleigh is about to come to the house because the pages fold out and are four pages wide. As a result, the book becomes hard to hold, but the picture is so beautiful!

We have other books we read every year like The Littlest Angel and A Christmas Carol as well as a binder of stories we read each night. Little One was trying to open the advent story binder a few nights ago.

What is your favorite Christmas book? Find out what other Schoolhouse Review Crew members read at Christmas by clicking the button below (link live on December 18). 

How do you do it? Schooling More than One Grade at a Time.

When people find out I homeschool, they often respond with something like, “Oh, I could never do that!” or “I know someone who homeschools” or “I don’t have the patience” and sometimes “I wish I could homeschool.” When they find out that I have four children and am expecting number five, they say, “How do you do teach them all?”

I have always figured that the great founders of the United States were schooled in a one room schoolhouse with many grades. If those 18 year old young women with barely more education than their pupils could do it than there must be a way! In talking with other families with many grades, I have found that no one teaches 7-11 subjects 4+ different times per day with each subject tailored to each grade level the way a public school would today. Every family is going to be different, but I will share what works for my family.
In my home I break up things that must be done individually- learning to read and math and those that can be done together- history, science, art, music, exercise, language, read-aloud books, devotional, scriptures, etc. As you can see, almost everything can be done together. I generally teach to the oldest but explain concepts to the youngest. I ask questions to make sure that all students are understanding. Whatever work I ask to be completed is then done according to the level of the child. For example, I might have a notebooking page on the parts of a flower. Tiger will be off and running and do it himself. Butterfly will do it but ask me how to spell certain words- most of which I will probably have already written on the white board so she can refer to them. Then I take Pumpkin Pie and ask her to orally tell me what she remembers and I write it down for her. I will have her copy a few words. In this way, the bulk of the teaching is done collectively but each child can work to his or her own level.

We always start our day with group time where we cover all our together subjects. After group time, we have individual learning time. During individual learning time I take children aside to work with them on math or reading or something they need help with. Often Strawberry sits on my lap or next to me looking at books or playing with toys while I do this.

Speaking of Strawberry, what on earth do I do with her while I am teaching the older ones!? I bring her along. She either helps us, sits on my lap, plays with special school time toys, colors, or looks at books. Sometimes I hand her math manipulatives that she never gets to play with except during school. When Pumpkin Pie was 2, she sat smack dab in the middle of the dining table during school time playing with the math manipulatives. This kept her happy and out of everyone’s work so I let her stay in the middle of the table. Whatever works!

Checkout what the other Schoolhouse Crew members do with their large families.

Too Many Choices! Which ones have I picked?

All homeschoolers know that there are many choices for curriculum available. I have tried many and looked through even more. So, what will I be doing/using this year?
First I will be using my library card. My local library is my biggest source for homeschool materials. Just this past week my girls decided they wanted to learn about snails. I popped on the library website, reserved a handful (or three) of books about snails and picked them up a few days later. Some of those books are ones I would have never thought of or found without the library search function. Above, Butterfly is devouring a book I found while looking for books about snails. She read it at breakfast, lunch, in the car, quiet time, etc. until she had it memorized.
I always have 50-100 books out of the library at a time covering all subjects from history to science to literature. I also love to check out audio books that I can play in the car while we drive both on CD or as an mp3 download. Ebooks have also recently become a great friend as well. Many of the classics are now public domain and I can get them on my kindle now.
I have my core curriculum materials, but these will be supplemented with anything I find that is great- games, books, etc. Some of them will come from Crew Reviews that I have yet to be picked for and some will come from things I stumble upon.
For our group time, I will be using a few resources. We will continue our journey through time using Story of the World Volume 3 and This Week in History for history (review will be coming mid-August). For science, we are continuing our study of Botany using Apologia Botany and the notebooks. 
Tiger will continue to work on Art of Problem Solving pre-Algebra and Alcumus, Small Basic computer programming,  IXL which I reviewed here, various logic books from the Critical Thinking Company, Institute for Excellence in Writing, Piano,
Butterfly will be continuing with Math U See Gamma as well as IXL, art, and stories for language arts subjects as well as projects she is interested in.
Pumpkin Pie will continue learning to read and write as well as continue in her math studies with IXL and Math U See Alpha.
Strawberry will be in the midst of it all with her puzzles, books, and crayons.
Our extracurricular activities will also continue with karate, piano for Tiger and art for Butterfly as well as a co-op once a week.

A Method to my Madness

This week the Schoolhouse Review Crew is doing a Back to Homeschool Blog Hop. Come hop along with us as we talk about getting back to homeschool.

As I have mentioned before, I set out to be a classical homeschooler. Over time, my style has evolved. I have included unit studies, child-led studies, and exploration. I have used classes and parent-led groups as well. Over time, I became a more eclectic homeschooler than I originally thought I would be when I set out to homeschool my children.

I don’t think it matters what method is used though. Every family will do what works for them. I think that what matters is the philosophy behind the education. This philosophy will shape the way whatever method chosen is used. While I may have evolved into an eclectic homeschooler, I have also evolved in my philosophy. Rather than a philosophy of teach the children all the things they need to get through each grade and compete with their peers, I focus on the grand picture. I have adopted a Leadership Education philosophy.

Leadership Education believes that all people on earth have a mission in life. It is our responsibility as parents to help our children prepare for and live the mission which God has placed them on this earth for. It is also our responsibility as a citizen of the world to live and prepare for our own missions, knowing that parenthood is our primary mission but God has other missions for us to do as well. In order to prepare, each person must acquire a great education. This education is achieved through hard work and dedication on the part of the student. Education is the responsibility of the student- teaching is the responsibility of the teacher/mentor/parent/etc.

How do I use this philosophy to influence my method?

School is no longer defined as a check list of subjects covered on a given day. School has evolved into a lifestyle. Someone asked my husband when Tiger did school. My husband answered he was always in school and never in school. Just today Pumpkin Pie asked me if we would ever have summer break like many other children. Once I explained why we didn’t have Summer vacation, she was thrilled. Tiger lamented that he had a burning desire to spend more time learning and wanted to also take advantage of some of the time his public schooled friends were home and available to play. He recognizes now that learning time doesn’t need to take a break for the calendar. He was not upset about spending time for learning. He was trying to figure out how to feel satisfied and fulfilled with his learning each day and balance some play time in too. Wow! What a grown up thing to be working on.

In the past, we have take summer breaks to some extent. This never sat entirely well with me, but now I understand why. We are not just teaching our children through a grade. We are teaching them to love learning and to learn something new each day. Even if our day is filled with a park day with our homeschooling friends there are lessons being learned. For example, last Friday at park day, the children observed and explored a large nest of caterpillars which had fallen from a tree. The week before it was snails which prompted a trip to the library for many books about snails.

So if I don't have a checklist, what do I do?

As I plan our days, I now look at how my end goals for my children will be accomplished. I no longer look at each grade level to determine curriculum choices. Instead, I discuss with my husband as well as Tiger and to a lesser extent my girls what topics need to be covered. I don’t discuss with the girls as much because they are currently working on Core Phase and early Love of Learning phases while Tiger is slowly transitioning to Scholar.  This means that the amount of input they have into their materials is proportional to their level of maturity. I present materials and topics which I know will be important for their futures. I spend time working with the girls on math, reading, spelling, handwriting, and reading lots and lots of classics. I provide Tiger with resources for math, computer programming, science, writing, and lots and lots of classics. I provide all the children with history and science as well as expose them to great art, music, etc. where possible. I also allow time for those things which they are passionate about. For example, Tiger is passionate about piano and science and math. He spends a lot of time on these areas of learning. He dreams of being an engineer and he finds peace and grounding in his piano playing. I have sought out a mentor for his piano to help him achieve his goals. Butterfly loves art. I am not able to mentor her in art (my idea of drawing a person is a stick man), so I have found a teacher who can mentor her and encourage her in her creativity.
I also teach my children to look towards their missions and to learn new things every day.

This year I will be focusing on teaching my children to plan their days and set goals. We have mentor meetings once a week to set goals for their education. A goal for Pumpkin Pie might be to read 10 Bob books this week. A goal that Tiger is currently working on is to read 15 books in the month of July in an effort to complete 100 books by the end of this year. These books are not simple picture books but classics, biographies, and non-fiction. I work with them to help them achieve their goals.

For more information on Leadership Education or Thomas Jefferson Education, I recommend http://www.tjed.org/about-tjed/ as well as looking through the blog on that website. To really understand the philosophy, I recommend reading A Thomas Jefferson Education, A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion, and Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning.  

Road Trips- AAAAAHHHH

Summer is the time for road trips and vacations and big field trips. Several times I have driven 2000 miles round trip with all 4 children by myself. Many think I am brave- I just figure we wouldn't go if I didn't do it so I better figure out a system. And I have!

The most important thing to a long car trip with young children is NO VIDEOS! What!? How can I say no videos? Doesn't everyone have a DVD player in the car to keep the kids occupied? Isn't that the only way to do it?

In my experience, no- it breads misbehavior, unrest, and irritation. One time we went on a long trip and Dad borrowed a portable DVD player from work. We didn't pull it out until the last half of the first leg and boy did it backfire! Up until that point, the children were happy. Then they couldn't agree which video. After the video ended they were bored. They could no longer amuse themselves and they wanted more movies but not the ones we had available... needless to say, it was the worst car trip we have ever taken!

So, if no videos, then what!?

I love audiobooks. I bought several Sansa Clips for about $30 from Amazon. I then loaded them up with books specific to each child. I also had a collection of audiobooks we all might like on my ipod. I got the books from Story Nory, Librivox, and the library.

I also make a bag of activities. I always pack some colored pencils for each child, an eraser, pencil sharpener with case, paper, some activity books, etc. One summer I got 4 Polly Pocket dolls and some clothes from a friend. I put them in a little Tupperware. Those 4 dolls kept my 4 and 6 year old occupied for hours. I also always get a couple of games (usually with magnetic pieces) to keep them occupied.  The ones I like are like this:

Mud Puppies has several different ones.

I also love games like Rush Hour and Chocolate Fix from ThinkFun.

In addition to these toys, we bring books. Plenty of good books. Thankfully my kids can all read in the car- which is something I have never been able to do! 

What about the littlest- for the under 3s, it is a little more difficult. I station a child that can help the little one. I bring a couple of new toys (not expensive), a couple favorite toys, as well as a couple new books and a couple favorite books. It seems to work. With a 2+, I might even bring some paper and something to color with. Magna Doodles are a favorite as well.

So now that I have them occupied, how do I handle food, water, and fighting?

Food and drink: I bring a cup for each child. This cup is NOT for drinking from though. Since most car seats have cup holders these days, it makes a clean place to put a few snacks. For snacks I bring non-messy ones. Dad doesn't like any food in the car and I don't like crumbs/sticky all over the car so I do my best. Some favorites are banana chips, freeze dried fruit, crackers (crumbs that can be vacuumed!), and apple slices. Apple slices can be a mess if you don't cut them up small enough. For water, ever child has a stainless steel water bottle that I refill as needed at stops. I keep a gallon or two of water extra in the trunk.
I do bring a couple special snacks that are for a park stop like applesauce or granola bars. I might also bring a couple juice boxes for the park as a treat. Lunch is usually eaten at a park somewhere but occasionally we will stop at somewhere like Baja Fresh.

Potty time- with 4 children, especially one who is under 4, I can't just drive and stop every 2 hrs for a potty break. Sometimes on the routes I take there is no bathroom to be had. I have a solution!  I have a tiny baby bjorn potty that I keep in my car at all times. I then use plastic diaper bags to line it with. I usually buy them at Target. There is a dispenser you can also get, but I just use the bags and tear them off. Then I tie the bags off and dispose of them appropriately.

Fighting is bound to happen when there are 5 people locked in a very small space. I have zero tolerance for it. The moment someone starts fighting, I find a safe place to pull over. I then sit quietly and wait. I sometimes start reading a book.The first couple of times I did this, one of the older ones would ask why we were stopped. I calmly explained that because there was fighting I could not drive. Fighting in the car is unsafe because I can't concentrate on the road. Now I just wait until the children are quiet and calm and remind them that I won't drive if they are fighting. If necessary, I point out the time lost fighting. Sometimes they get quiet and I am reading a book. I will finish reading my chapter before I continue. Now if I even begin to pull over, they stop and will apologize and ask me not to pull over. I made it 1000 miles pulling over once last summer! I even do the pull over routine at home.

Other things I bring and do:

I bring bubbles so if I stop at a park the kids can chase bubbles. This is especially for the littlest ones, but even the big kids like to chase bubbles.

I also take my ipod touch so I can find parks/ restaurants, etc if needed. I bring my Science Center membership so I can get the family into museums we have never been to. There is almost always at least one or two we want to hit somewhere on our route.

Other Crew mates are talking about Summer Field Trips too. Click the button to find out about their adventures.

For the Record...

Over the years the kids have learned a lot... but I am not the best at keeping formal records. I get to the end of the year and look back. I  know that they have accomplished a lot, since I can look at their current place and see what they learned since the last year. Unfortunately,  I can't remember what exactly we did and when. This is part of why I am resolved to blog more... to help me keep records of the stuff we do. But in addition to that, I have been working on more record keeping at home. With Butterfly and Pumpkin Pie, I have not settled on a good way of keeping formal records yet. I do keep their completed work in a box... but nothing written down from week to week.

I tried downloading a planner and filling it in with my plans and then checking off what was done. That has always lasted for the first 6 weeks or so...

For the past 2 months I have been working with Tiger on record keeping. As he gets older, it is more and more important that we keep a record of what he has read and what he learns. It also helps me see where we need to focus more time. Also, the way I have developed to keep his records gives him some accountability too.

Together we sat down and discussed what he thought he needed to cover. I  told him a minimum amount of time he would need to spend time every day. How he divides that time is up to him. He created target goals of how much of each thing he should do each day. Once he had created target goals, we totaled them up and they were more than my minimum. We also talked about how sometimes he spends 2-3 times longer than "allocated" on a given day, not to worry about it. It is ok to only hit each thing 2-3 times per week so he can really get involved in his studies.

At the bottom of the page, I write down various books read, special projects, and more details to justify what was written above. We do it together. We are still missing some of what he is doing, because the more freedom I have given him to learn from among the materials I provide, the longer he spends in learning time each day. It is not uncommon for him to spend 6-8 hours in uninterrupted learning time. When he gets less than 3-4 hours of uninterrupted time, he gets quite testy and insists he needs more time to study. Considering he is a 10 year old boy and 6 months ago he was whining about "doing school," I am amazed.

As I look over the last couple weeks, I notice he hasn't done any spelling. While I have not been too worried since he spells near perfectly most of the time, I decided to get out his spelling book and quiz him. I picked every hard word I could find and sure enough, he knew all the words I asked him! I guess spelling is not necessary right now. Oh well. I also notice as I look at his list that writing is not on it. We beta tested a writing program which was fabulous, but he really struggles with WANTING to write. He got a bit burnt out so we didn't put it on the list. He is now asking me to help him with writing so we are hand writing that in the blank lines below the block of subjects that are pre-printed.

Some weeks are one subject heavy and some weeks are more balanced. The week Tiger was in a math competition, he spent 3+ hours a day on math. He will also go over the last couple of weeks of records and take note of what he has not been covering. He will then make sure to hit those things on a given day. It is really wonderful to see him taking ownership of his education.

What do you use for record keeping?
Other members of the TOS Crew also answered this question. You can read about their ideas here.

Inspiration in Many Places

As I have been led down the road towards the Leadership Education philosophy, I ponder the question Who (or what) Inspires Me? on a regular basis. That was the question that was posed for the Blog Cruise this week...

According to Webster's 1828 Dictionary, inspiration  means:

The infusion of ideas into the mind by the Holy Spirit; the conveying into the minds of men, ideas, notices or monitions by extraordinary or supernatural influence; or the communication of the divine will to the understanding by suggestions or impressions on the mind, which leave no room to doubt the reality of their supernatural origin.

I love this definition! In my life, I have found inspiration in many places. The obvious places are in the scriptures or on my knees or singing hymns, but there are many not so obvious places and people too.

One not-so obvious place is in nature. I find that nature continually reminds me of God, the ultimate source of inspiration. I love to smell the ocean, see the new flowers, harvest berries or leaves for food or medicine, watch a stunning sunset, or gaze at the world freshly blanketed white with snow before the roads or people wake and disturb the soft billows of fluff. Each time I do these things, I turn my mind and heart to the Lord and feel gratitude for life and the beauty of the earth.

As I took the kids to the park to play on the first really nice day of Spring this year, I was thinking about this very thing. I took the following picture in a small alcove of trees on the outskirts of the park. In this alcove, my children love to play. It is a child's ultimate hideaway. The only exception is the nettles and possible brambles that lurk nearby.

As the children played I found myself marveling at the inspiration for science lessons that were just there around me. I gathered the children around and we identified some herbs and their uses. The plant pictured above is the Stinging Nettle or Urtica dioica. We harvest it in the spring and it is our traditional Easter dinner (we are vegetarian so no ham or lamb for our family). Nettles are really only available in the early spring where we live. They spring up and are ready to harvest about the time that Easter comes each year. To me, nettles,  daffodils and tulips symbolize the re-awakening of the plant. They inspire me to look forward to the beauty of the changing seasons that are coming throughout the next year. Nettles are also cleansing to the blood, just as Jesus cleanses us from sin.

I find that classic books inspire me. There are so many books that have inspired me but I will only list two recent ones. The girls and I just finished reading A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I love that book. Sarah Crewe is an inspiration to me of long suffering and enduring to the end. She also inspires me to be charitable. When she is hungry and cold and happens upon enough money to purchase 6 hot buns, fulfilling the dream she was having when she finds the coin, she gives 5 of them to a beggar girl outside the bakery. The selflessness of one so small is inspiring to me. Nathanial Bowditch in Carry on Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham inspires me to keep learning no matter what the challenges.

Karate inspires me. Every time I take my shoes off at the door of the dojo, I leave the world behind to turn inward and focus on improving myself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Karate training helps me focus on the essential and release the non-essential. In other words, when we are at the dojo, the essential is being in the moment with your training. If your mind is focused elsewhere, you might harm your partner or injure yourself. Every time I have a tough day and I leave that behind at the door, I learn and reinforce in myself that I can move past the small stuff and really focus on what matters. In my home I may have to deal with inappropriate behavior, but I don't need to hold on to it. Once it is dealt with, I can let it go because what matters most is relationships and people.

My children inspire me. They remind me that we are all children of God and that he has sent us here for a purpose. They inspire me to want to be the best mother I can be and to improve myself each day. 

Other homeschoolers inspire me. I find that as I listen to their stories and really try to understand them I find that the Lord whispers pieces to me that I can take and use to help my family in our homeschooling journey. I am so grateful that I belong to a book discussion group with other homeschooling moms with a similar philosophy and desire to serve God by educating their families in the way He directs them to. These moms all believe that as mothers we have been given a divine stewardship over our children and that because of that stewardship, we are entitled to inspiration from the Lord to know the best way to educate our children for each of our children individually within our families. They also believe so deeply in this stewardship that they respect and honor and support the other mothers doing things just a little differently and rejoice in the process.

If I had to pick one person though, I think I would have to pick my sister Katie. She inspires me and has for many many years. She is selfless, thoughtful, and dedicated to the Lord. She is cheerful, kind, and has a passion for helping others. She wants everyone to succeed and to fulfill the mission that God gave them to do. She lives every day full of life and love and has a smile that is contagious. Even when she was pregnant and coming down with the flu, was caring for me and my 1 week old new baby and her son and all of my three older kids were sick, she still had a smile on her face and tried to make the best of it. She lives 1000 miles away and I miss her!  I love being around her and soaking in her positive energy. She inspires me to want to be a better person and daughter of God.

For more sources of inspiration, take a moment and sail on our Blog Cruise. (Link goes live April 17th)

Into April and Still Burn-proof

I remember back in the days when I was in school and in college, April and May sunny days were the WORST. We would sit in class and gaze out the window at the sunny sky and the bright green grass and it was so hard to pay attention, especially if it was warm and there was no air conditioning to help cool the air in the classroom! Back then we called it Spring Fever.

Many parents and kids also seem to get the fever come spring and homeschooling moms begin to feel burnout towards the end of the school year. After homeschooling for five years, this year I think I have figured out a few things. I am headed into April with a smile on my face and new excitement every day rather than being tired. Here are a few things I have done a little differently:

Focus on structuring Time NOT Content. In other words, rather than focusing on finishing pages 98 and 99 in Math and page 110 in spelling and reading chapter 35 in history followed by 5 books... I am structuring our TIME. I say for the next ___ amount of time we will read about the colonization of Virginia. We then have the time to leisurely read through as many or as few books as we want and discuss them. If I don't finish Story of the World in 1 year, then I will just keep going. There is no deadline since everyday is an opportunity to learn.

Focus on routines including a routine of family work. I am still working on solidifying some parts, but I am getting there.By making sure that the family work gets done, then I don't feel like I am never catching up and I can keep moving forward.

If it is a sunny day, take school outside if you can! Go on a field trip to the park with some books to read out loud and have school under a tree with a picnic lunch. Living in the Pacific North-wet we don't have a ton of gorgeous days in the spring, but we do take advantage of them.

Don't over schedule. Leaving time for the family and family activities helps keep enthusiasm up. We all need down time and if we are going going going all the time, we get sick of it. A day at home is a good thing.

Eat well. I find that when we eat the most fruits and veggies is when we are the happiest and have the most fun.

Don't stagnate your own inspirations. Take a specific amount of time each day to pray, study scriptures, and other inspiring works. By continuing to do your own studies, read inspiring books, and continue to grow yourself, you can help lessen the burn-out. Each of us has a mission in life and we need to live it. As a homeschooling mother, my primary responsibility is to the teaching and raising of my family, but God has given me a work to do and I always need to be in pursuit of that work. In order to live up to my full potential, I must continue to feed my own brain, even if it is only 1 page out of an inspiring book or an audiobook while I wash the dishes.

Relish the joys and drop the subject on the frustrations. Today I had a perfect illustration of this principle. I was trying to convince Strawberry to take a trip to the potty. She has been potty-learned for about 9 months, but I still have to make sure to take her every couple hours or we will have accidents. She didn't want to take a trip to the potty and was getting into a stubborn 2.5 year old battle. Rather than getting frustrated, I began to play with her, tickling her while I carried her. She giggled so much, she forgot about the battle. I thought about how I love hearing her giggle. It sure was one of the highlights of the day! 

For more tips on ways to avoid burn-out, check out what other crew members do.
 

Living a Life of Science

But what about science? I remember when I was in school, we almost never did science. Science was something older kids got to do that we didn't get to until junior and senior high. Not in my home! Science is all around us from cooking, to soap making, to cleaning a bathroom, to a box of wires, batteries, and buzzers. In our home, we live science with the help of a few resources.

For "formal" science, I really like what I have seen from Apologia. We are currently using the elementary Botany book. I love the activities and depth of information conveyed even to the elementary age students.This year we have built a light hut and grown plants and dissected tulips as part of our experiments. We have also grown beans in various places to see how light effects the germination and growth of the plants.

The library is full of fabulous books. We often check out books from the library but I also have a few core books. I  love the Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of Science and the new Time Book of Science Experiments.  We also have various books by Janice VanCleave. The cub scout manuals also have ideas for science experiments.

In addition to books, I keep acquiring science kit! Thames and Kosmos is one of my favorite brands but the rather inexpensive Science Wiz kits from Norman and Globus are a hit here too. For $15-$20, all the materials and hours of exploration on a topic are included. Tiger loved the electricity and inventions boxes. Later he constructed a door alarm with the materials so any time someone opened his bedroom door he would know.

The internet is full of science resources Instructables.com and Pinterest have become two of my favorites. I am amazed at the experiments people explain on pinterest!. Just yesterday I found an pin about ants eating colored sugar water and how their abdomens were changing colors. While I don't think I will set this experiment up, it is a cool thing to look at!

What resources do you use? Please share with me as I am always on the hunt for more science resources. While you are at it, check out what other TOS Crew members have to say about science resources. (This link goes live March 13).

Keeping costs down

I try not so spend a whole lot on curriculum and materials. With 4 children, that gets expensive. I want to provide really high materials though, so here are a few things I do:

1. We use a lot of books in our schooling. I have rule though- I almost never buy something unless I check it out first and if I love it so much that I would continue to check it out over and over again from the library I will buy it. This helps me cut down on clutter and makes sure we only bring high quality in. Yes, stuff that doesn't make my quality cut does come in, but I try to send it packing as soon as possible. I think for me the most important free resource is the library. We belong to an amazing library system and because the town I live in straddles the county line, I have access to another library system too. Mostly I use the larger system as many of the books I want are available.

2. When we go on road trips, I am vehemently opposed to screens in the car. I have found that 1 movie in the car leads to antsy crabby children whereas audiobooks, workbooks, and a few small puzzle type toys leads to harmony and mostly happy children, even when I drive 1000 by myself with all four. I need lots of audiobooks though. For the last car trip I took, I purchased several inexpensive Sansa Clip mp3 players and loaded audiobooks for each child as well as loaded my ipod with books I thought everyone might like. I use the Overdrive downloads from my library as well as Librivox and Story Nory. Librivox has public domain books on audio. Story Nory has some classics and some proprietary stories. Both resources are free.

3. I recently bought a Kindle and have discovered the joys of Project Gutenberg. I have loaded my own books to read, but also some for the children. Various fairy tales have been quite intriguing for my children. The best part, is that the kindle packs easily so I can read to my children or myself in many places.You don't have to have a kindle to enjoy Project Gutenberg though. You can use it for many different ereaders as well as on the computer. Some Charlotte Mason homeschoolers I know will print the reading assignments for their children off of Project Gutenberg and just give the required pages each day.

4. I don't allow much computer time for my children because I believe that computers are adult tools and shouldn't be used as toys. I do allow occasional educational games though during free time on a very limited basis and love some of the games I have found for math fact drilling. I found Timez Attack to be a fun game. At the time when we used it, they only had the multiplication version but apparently there is a division and addition/subtraction one now too. There is a free version available. I also really like Multiplication.com as well as a similar site that use other operations called Fun 4 the Brain.

For other ideas of inexpensive or free resources, check out the blog cruise from The TOS Homeschool Crew. Please note that the link below won't go live until Tuesday 21st.

Measuring Success

When the TOS Crew Blog Cruise posed the question of how to measure success, I initially thought there is no way I am answering that. This topic is too big and too broad and I am not sure I even know. But then I realized that I needed to write so I could clarify in my mind. In the past I have sometimes gotten to the end of the school year and felt personally unsuccessful, even though my children made great forward progress, because we did not finish a given book or maybe we are still using the same book for the 3rd year... Sometimes I feel like I fell short because my own personal type A personality of checking off all the done items didn't get satisfied. When I take a step back I begin to see a different picture though. I hope this post will help me clarify for myself  what success is and how it is measured.

What is success? Does that mean I can check off every box of accomplishments that the state says that a child of a given age will learn? Does that mean my child has finished a book and moved on to the next? Does that mean a test score is high? Does that mean someone else notices that my child is "on track" or "ahead" of  his or her peers? I am not so sure any of those are a good measure of success.

According to those measures, I was successful in school growing up. I was a straight A student even in a prep school which required HOURS of homework and effort. I was accepted into every secondary school and college I ever applied to. I did decent on my ACT exams. I graduated Magna Cum Laude (in the top 3 in my major) from an excellent school. I took AP classes in high school and was a quintessential overachiever.Now, several years out of school I don't know that I can say that was success. I learned some things, but much of what I put in during those years was put in, remembered long enough to put it back on the test, and dumped in the trash on my way out. It was only the things I found most interesting that were retained. Either that or they were drilled to the point that no one would ever forget!

Following graduation, I had my first child and then my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I started school again after Tiger was born. This time it was for a Masters of Herbology- something I became passionate about. I worked hard and used what I learned. I enjoyed almost all of the coursework and even if I don't remember every detail of every plant, I do know where to look to remember. It took me years to finish and still I continue to study it even though I graduated. Is that success? I think it is much closer.

Measuring success is so difficult in the world of homeschooling because every child is different and every family situation is different. I suppose it is kind of like a child learning to talk. If we "measure success" with a 1-2 year old talking then we will record every word they say, each and every change they make in their pronunciation and each and every attempt at a new word. How exhausting! I have had a couple of really late talkers. Twice I have had a child who didn't speak a single word until after 21 months.  By many measurements this would be classified as a speech disorder. One of those children is now 28 months and still learning, although she has complexity in her speech and word choices, she is still not fully talking.  My other daughter is now 5 1/2. It is this 5 1/2 yr old I am referring to in the following story.

If I had measured Pumpkin Pie's success like many feel we should measure academic success, I would have been panicked that they were not succeeding and growing fast enough. As the mother, I looked to my child. I noticed that she was communicating very effectively with signs, body language, and responding effectively to my language. She didn't have any hearing problems and I knew that she would one day talk. Sure enough she did. A year later, she was talking so well that no one believed  she was not even 3 and furthermore they didn't believe she had only been talking for less than a year. Surely one so adept at language was an early talker. Nope. This child was observing before speaking. I expect that Strawberry will do the same.

To me, success is measured by looking at my child and evaluating how he or she is doing based on where he or she has been. Are these children moving forward in their skills? Are they striving to try new things? Are they stretching ever so slightly as they learn new things? For some children, that will mean huge success measured by the public school standards. For example, Tiger, who won't be 10 until March is chronologically a 4th grader. He is working on pre-Algebra though. By many standards, this is huge success. This has not been due to me pushing him along but rather it is due to his love of all things numeric. As long as he is still enjoying numbers and moving forward he is successful for him. He has a mission in life to fulfill and I imagine that numbers might play into that mission, but in the meantime, I keep providing him with the next step and encouraging him to climb. I also have to be aware that this child, although advanced is emotionally his age. This means that I have to be prepared for emotional walls that have and do occasionally fly up and halt progress in something. I have to remind myself that it is ok and that when he is ready, that wall will crumble and he will rush through again. I have seen it happen before when he was 7 and got towards the end of 4th grade math. He sort of understood fractions and decimals but all the tricky rules with fractions were too much for him emotionally. He spent nearly 2 years stuck and then one day it clicked and he flew through the rest of elementary math in a few short months.

Butterfly asked me to teach her to read but then wanted NOTHING to do with reading. Try as I might, she wouldn't let me teach her to read. She let me teach her the letter sounds but that was all. She wouldn't read out loud and she was not going to sit for a reading lesson! She found a Dick and Jane book and spent 2 hours a day on her bed with that book. Every once in a while she would ask me what a word said, but that was all. I think after a month or so she came to me and said she had finished the book! A month or so later she brought me Swimmy and proclaimed she could read it. And sure enough, she read it without any hesitation!

Pumpkin Pie is chronologically in K. She is the third of 4 and has realized that she has lots of people to read to her. On the one hand, she wants to read, but on the other hand, she doesn't because she is scared if she learns to read, no one will read to her. She is very slowly making progress, but each new word she learns is a victory and progress. She will learn to read in her own time. I am confident in this. In the mean time, I will keep reading excellent literature, fascinating stories, and helping her read the words in the scriptures, just as I have done with my other children. Who knows, she might surprise me like Butterfly did and one day proclaim she can read.

I suppose that in my home success will have to be measured by watching the children. Are they engaged? Are they excited about the new things they have discovered? Are they making progress in their own way?Are they contributing to the family and helping build an eternal family with love and healthy relationships? These are evaluated daily.

If I can help guide my children to always remember the Lord, love the Gospel, love one another and be best friends with each other, create lasting positive family memories, teach them to read and write and do arithmetic, think for themselves, and guide them to follow the path that the Lord has in store for them, then I suppose I would consider that success. Unfortunately, I can take steps towards that success today but the measurement won't be until much further down the road.

For today I can only measure each day. Rather than looking at the whole year after the fact, which often leads to forgetting all the successes and triumphs, I will need to look at each day. Did we do our devotional? Were the kids engaged during our group school time? Did they get excited about something? How engaged were they in their free learning time? Did we get our chores done? Did our day have a good routine and rhythm? Do they look forward to tomorrow's learning time? If I can answer yes to most of these questions, then I think I will have had success for the day. If not, there is always tomorrow and I can succeed tomorrow.

So in the end I suppose success is the incremental evaluations that we make on our road to the eventual. If we are always striving for improvement, and we regularly see it, then we are seeing success. 

 Check out what other members of the TOS Crew have to say about measuring success!