{HOMESCHOOLING MY HOMERS...}
It's taken me forever and a decade to begin writing this post. Probally because it's taken me forever and a decade to finally get a grasp on this homeschool life. It's been a pretty challenging five months. Five months of planning-not-planning, teaching-not-teaching, curriculumning-not-curriculumning...LoL!!! A lot was up in the air. What curriculumn would I follow? What skills would be prodominent in this little homeschool of ours? And then, of course having to deal with feelings of inadequacy and threating to throw in the towel every-single-night. The funny thing is that none of my issues have anything to do with the kids. While I was over here spending five whole months striaght trippin'. My babies were over there learning. Go figure.
Moving forward, I am not completely certain what I will or will not do in our homeschool. But, I do know a few things for sure. I am pretty sure that following a planned curriculum won't quite work for me. What I am fond of is having a set collection of learning resources that will be my go-to's for explaination, instruction & reinforcement. In addition, I am very greatful for the long list of awesome homeschoolers, bloggers, teachers and mommies that I have grown to love and look to for insight and direction when I get a little crazy (basically, every other day).
Im not really sure enough to give you a full play-by-play of how we do things but I can give a quick overview. I rely heavily on electronics, and Im ecstatic about it. Both of my boys have iPads and each of their iPads are configured based on their individual "learning paths". I plan on going into detail what their iPads are loaded with but in the meantime these are the MAJOR apps that we school by... Learn with Homer (lol), Brain Pop Jr., ABC Mouse, & Agnitus. We love them all deeply and Ill explain further sometime soon. We also use Netflix for playing programs like The Magic School Bus, Leap Frog and Sid the Science Kid. As far as physical work, we love the Brain Quest curriculum workbooks, Super Kids Academy Home Bible Study for bible & love finding awesome resources through places like Teachers Pay Teachers, other homeschooling or teacher blogs and I have just started to make a few preschool packs to go along with my themes during the month.
I tried teaching every subject everyday. Im talking...Bible... Reading... Writing... Math... Science... Art... Social Studies... Music ... I know, I know #teamtoomuch. I now know that thats not hot!!! So we are on to Bible, Reading/Writing Math Art everyday, with our four electives being science, social studies, music, and language that we choose from at random. That has been working out so much better. :)
As for the money deal, this stuff can get expensive. I have given myself a budget. a 50 buck a month buget which includes the subscriptions to Agnitus & Brain Pop Jr. I budget to help me keep track but to BDH and I, the investment is well worth it.
I have really just begun getting into a nice groove with homeschooling and am enjoying "figuring things out". Anyone else out there schooling at home? If so, what are your go tos?
From Syreena, With Love