Tag Archives: homeschooling

Us!

Well, we’re off. This is the 4th day of our first week of official Homeschooling.  Behind the scenes we’re still nailing down exactly what that means and which style works best for us. Though I have a really good idea that we lean towards the style of Unschooling.  Seriously though, if you’re thinking about Homeschooling, just do what feels right to you and what works best for your family because if you get caught up in the many different styles it can be a bit overwhelming, just look:

Unit Studies
Charlotte Mason
Classical Education
Delayed Instruction
Eclectic Homeschooling
Montessori Homeschooling
Waldorf Homeschooling
Enki Homeschooling
The Moore Formula
Thomas Jefferson Education
Holistic and Alternative Homeschooling
Unschooling / Self-Directed Learning
Independent Research / Self-Directed Learning
School-at-Home / Public e-School
Distance Learning as an Umbrella/Cover School
Distance Learning for Gifted Enrichment
Cyber Schools / Online Academies

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!  What I’m learning is that PFman and I first need to what’s called Deschool. See, all we know is the traditional, socially excepted way to school your kids, we each had 12+ years of it.  So it’s a bit daunting to take your kids out of school.  You wonder if you’re doing the right thing, etc. even though we both know we are.  Reading a lot of Sandra Dodd these days & I’ve just found John Holt as well, more reading.  Addy is spending a lot of time doing one of her favorite things,  Arts & Crafts.  She helped bake cookies yesterday & made a beaded necklace with a friend of mine. They both learned how to make sushi too!  We’ve been to MOSI, Gavin is learning Lightroom, he loves computers, we’ve discussed hurricanes & earthquakes since mema & pop pop, in NY, have dealt with or will be dealing with both recently!  Crazy!

So, I’d say we’re on our way. I’ve found a couple of Home/Unschooling groups in Manatee/Sarasota counties and we’re moving to the country in three weeks!  Yay!  Here we come veggie growing, chicken raising, canning, pickling and running around, laying down blankets in our 2 acre pasture.  We’ll really be able to enjoy those stars!

Peace out!

How much can happen in one month? So much. School has come to an end and we finally mailed out the Letter of Intent to Home School to the Superintendent. So it’s official now. We’ve been to Key West and camping at the top of Black Rock Mountain in north Georgia, so much fun! The kids have been attending camp so far this summer, science and art camps and next week we’re off on our month long adventure to NY and Northern CA. The kids and I are taking off next Friday morning on a short road trip to Yonkers, NY. We’ll stop over in Savannah, GA and Virginia Beach, VA. On the 14th, PFman and I fly to N. CA to celebrate our 15th anniversary, kid-less while they’re with my parents:-)! Our anniversary is actually Dec. 1, but we have to take advantage of them being with mema and pop-pop. We’ll spend time in each Big Sur, Guenerville and Sonoma and I’m hoping to make the 5-hour trek to the Redwood Forest:-). I’ll be returning with the kiddos and my niece via the Blue Ridge Parkway with stops in four campgrounds. So the month of July is accounted for, we can’t wait.

What else has been happening? Well, we are slowly decreasing our dependency on plastic, Yay! I recently completed both watching and reading the No Impact Man. Very inspirational, a must read! Our tenants are moving out of our little house and upon our return we will begin to slowly move in, cleansing as we go. By that I mean getting rid of a ton of STUFF. I’m still on the path to minimalism with the biggest results happening with the move. We’re having a HUGE yard sale the last week of August! It all must go, so excited to simplify!

And on an accumulating note, we adopted a kitten. Thank you to Pet Pal Animal Shelter for Harry our little gray fluff ball with BIG personality!

Hoopin' at Ginnie Springs, a life experience!

I mentioned a while back that this fall we have decided to begin homeschooling the kids, both of them. They would be entering 3rd and 5th in August. We have thought about this since we were pregnant with Gavin, he’s turning 10 in June. It’s not been the right time until now. We do love the school they’re in, it’s not about that, however I do feel that a lot of time is wasted in Public school, we will get a lot more done in a much shorter amount of time with homeschooling. Anyway, I’ve been putting off digging in to figure out curriculum, how much, what kind, how little – I’ve wanted to focus on this school year, my business and the details of selling our home, etc. but with this school year winding down in a few weeks, it’s time!

I actually noticed that the math worksheets my son is receiving in class are from a homeschooling website, www.homeschoolmath.net. They have the greatest worksheets! I know the first year will be trial/error, finding out what works best for all of us. We travel a lot and always make the kids take journals with them, write about their experiences, what they learned. When we return home we give them a quiz and we forever talk about things we learned to keep it fresh and unforgotten, for all of us! All that said, I’m a little overwhelmed feeling I should be a bit more prepared, but the other side of me says it will all come. There are many resources here in Pinellas County and I’ve joined some forums/groups and know others who have home-schooled and those that still do, so this calms me.

I would love to hear any experiences from others, please share! Did you use curriculum, how much, did you un-school, etc?
Thanks:-)!