Homeschooling 101- part 1
Congratulations! You are homeschooling! Since we had a bit of a primer due to this pandemic, I am not sure I really went into how I began homeschooling my son. But, I am somewhat experienced as well as brand new since I never homeschooled my daughter.
I noticed some of my homeschooling and daycare friends were asked many questions. One being, how do you do it. I have seen many different methods. Here is how to accomplish homeschooling:
1. Figure out what needs to be established for the child to be able to make it into the next grade.
This is where I put Pinterest to work. I had to learn for my son what would he learn if he was in Kindergarten. It did not matter to me that he was 2 years old. He also seemed quite fond of wanting to learn more so I gave him that while his interest was still there.
2. What kind of mom or dad are you?
I found out that structure doesn't really work for me because I get extremely upset if we don't do everything. So, most days I wing it. In my home, there are plenty of opportunities to learn out of any situation so I used it as a learning tool for my son. We did everything from flashcards, to be messy, to experiments. He even got to use his tablet and my computer for learning.
3. It does not have to be all day!
We broke his learning "lessons" into 15 minutes before we stopped and did something fun like color or painting. Concentrated learning took only about 3 hours out of the day before outdoor play and mealtime.
4. Listen to the kid.
If they are fighting you on doing anything- stop and come back to it later. This is most likely why I did not have a lesson plan.
5. Make it fun!
I am not sure where the counting bears are but my son loved those things! We used them with grouping by size and color as well as counting. Now that he is older, we still did some learning while he was in school which was funny when we got to the online e-learning stuff he was flying through it but it was not interesting either.
Yes, I am on all planes here. My son began with homeschooling and when we had baby #2 I stopped and put him in school. It was not the best thing as he was highly advanced from the other kids and got into problems. So, I advise you if you are going to put your kid back into school to make sure you have some established rules on how to behave.
My daughter is something totally new right now because I am learning that each child does not learn the same. She has never had homeschooling with me as she went from grandma's house to home daycare to regular daycare. She is good at adjusting to situations but I am not sure where to begin on her learning. So far, I have realized that she is shy unlike her gregarious brother who was working with sign language at 3, counts in English, Spanish, and Mandarin and can do his colors in all those as well. She picks up here and there but because she does not want to show anyone what she knows she is quiet. She has the interest to read but does not want you to read to her. She can read to herself.
Here are some materials I gathered along the way!
The Happy Homeschooler
I love to say I am in high places- this is a fresh and new book written by a fellow author who gathered her information on homeschooling from her own notes and from others. So far, it is a great read.
http://chicagolandhomeschoolnetwork.com/co-ops/
This is for co-op homeschooling where you rotate children and homeschool. I have never been into this as I never discovered the community here. I am sure this is going to take off fast this year as I am sensing many will not send their kids to school this coming up this school year.
https://www.homeschool.com/
Pretty self-explanatory
So, this is part 1- I plan on adding more information such as materials (Target $1 bin!) and other things you think you might need and things that you may not need. Good luck and let me know how things are going in the comments. Oh, one more thing- we consider ourselves to be "un-schoolers".
Back in 2017, when he was a homeschooled boy!
I noticed some of my homeschooling and daycare friends were asked many questions. One being, how do you do it. I have seen many different methods. Here is how to accomplish homeschooling:
1. Figure out what needs to be established for the child to be able to make it into the next grade.
This is where I put Pinterest to work. I had to learn for my son what would he learn if he was in Kindergarten. It did not matter to me that he was 2 years old. He also seemed quite fond of wanting to learn more so I gave him that while his interest was still there.
2. What kind of mom or dad are you?
I found out that structure doesn't really work for me because I get extremely upset if we don't do everything. So, most days I wing it. In my home, there are plenty of opportunities to learn out of any situation so I used it as a learning tool for my son. We did everything from flashcards, to be messy, to experiments. He even got to use his tablet and my computer for learning.
3. It does not have to be all day!
We broke his learning "lessons" into 15 minutes before we stopped and did something fun like color or painting. Concentrated learning took only about 3 hours out of the day before outdoor play and mealtime.
4. Listen to the kid.
If they are fighting you on doing anything- stop and come back to it later. This is most likely why I did not have a lesson plan.
5. Make it fun!
I am not sure where the counting bears are but my son loved those things! We used them with grouping by size and color as well as counting. Now that he is older, we still did some learning while he was in school which was funny when we got to the online e-learning stuff he was flying through it but it was not interesting either.
Yes, I am on all planes here. My son began with homeschooling and when we had baby #2 I stopped and put him in school. It was not the best thing as he was highly advanced from the other kids and got into problems. So, I advise you if you are going to put your kid back into school to make sure you have some established rules on how to behave.
My daughter is something totally new right now because I am learning that each child does not learn the same. She has never had homeschooling with me as she went from grandma's house to home daycare to regular daycare. She is good at adjusting to situations but I am not sure where to begin on her learning. So far, I have realized that she is shy unlike her gregarious brother who was working with sign language at 3, counts in English, Spanish, and Mandarin and can do his colors in all those as well. She picks up here and there but because she does not want to show anyone what she knows she is quiet. She has the interest to read but does not want you to read to her. She can read to herself.
Here are some materials I gathered along the way!
The Happy Homeschooler
I love to say I am in high places- this is a fresh and new book written by a fellow author who gathered her information on homeschooling from her own notes and from others. So far, it is a great read.
http://chicagolandhomeschoolnetwork.com/co-ops/
This is for co-op homeschooling where you rotate children and homeschool. I have never been into this as I never discovered the community here. I am sure this is going to take off fast this year as I am sensing many will not send their kids to school this coming up this school year.
https://www.homeschool.com/
Pretty self-explanatory
So, this is part 1- I plan on adding more information such as materials (Target $1 bin!) and other things you think you might need and things that you may not need. Good luck and let me know how things are going in the comments. Oh, one more thing- we consider ourselves to be "un-schoolers".
Go forth and learn,
Eclectic Lotus
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