Getting started homeschooling

    The very bascis of getting started is finding out your state laws, checking into your child's learning style, looking into your teaching style and what homeschool method you would like to use. Once you have these things figured out it makes it easier to search out curriculum geared toward those choices.

State laws:
Hslda has this map listed below and they will send a pdf of your state laws to you when you put your name and email address into their form.

HSLDA 




LEGEND
States requiring no notice: No state requirement for parents to initiate any contact.

States with low regulation: State requires parental notification only.

States with moderate regulation: State requires parents to send notification, test scores, and/or professional evaluation of student progress.

State with high regulation: State requires parents to send notification or achievement test scores and/or professional evaluation, plus other requirements (e.g. curriculum approval by the state, teacher qualification of parents, or home visits by state officials).

Bridgeway Academy has good summaries of laws and compares each states options to each other.

Child Learning Styles:
 There are 3 main learning styles, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

- Visual: Visual learning is a teaching and learning style in which ideas, concepts, data and other information are associated with images and techniques.
- Auditory: Auditory learning is a learning style in which a person learns through listening. An auditory learner depends on hearing and speaking as a main way of learning.^[1] Auditory learners must be able to hear what is being said in order to understand and may have difficulty with instructions that are written. They also use their listening and repeating skills to sort through the information that is sent to them.^[2]
- Kinesthetic: Kinesthetic learning (also known as tactile learning) is a learning style in which learning takes place by the student carrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or watching a demonstration. People with a kinesthetic learning style are also commonly known as "do-ers".

The first year we began homeschooling was in kindergarten and was quite difficult. She had just gaduated from headstart and I wasn't sure where she was or what she had or hadn't learned. I also didn't know her learning style. Our day consisted of mostly worksheets and a lot of pulling teeth. Come to find out she already knew what I was trying to teach her and worksheets are not her thing. I finally figured out that she is kinesthetic, which most kids this age tend to lean that way anyway. She may or may not change as she gets older. When I looked into curriculum for 1st grade I limited the worksheets and bought curriculum that had hands on projects. This year has been a whole lot better.

Here is a fun quiz you may want to try to help give an idea of your child's learning style.
 http://www.homeschoolviews.com/quiz/quiz-child.html


Teaching Styles: This is just a fun quiz, but it can give you an idea of how you may want to teach.


Homeschooling Methods: There are many different ways to homeschool. Below is a list of some popular methods used. A combination of the methods may also be used. Example I am a slightly school at home, electic mix.



School-at-Home

Unit Studies

"Relaxed" or "Eclectic" Homeschooling

Unschooling

Classical Homeschooling

The Charlotte Mason Method

The Waldorf Method

Montessori

Multiple Intelligences

DVD/Video Schooling

Internet Homeschooling

Curriculum:
Most of the curriculum I am familier with is christian/religious based because I was raised with it and now homeschool my daughter with it. There are other curriculums out there that are secular based but I am not familier with them. Please feel free to check into it yourself if what I have listed is not what you are looking for.

Abeka
Bob Jones
Apologia
Rod and Staff
Saxon
CBD (is not a curriculum but a store with a wide variety of curriculums including indpendant ones. Great if you are electic.)

I will continue to add tothis post whenever I find something new.

My Homeschool Planner

 

I decided for our homeschool adventure I would make my own planner instead of buying one, and now I want to share it with you.

 I took a 1 1/2 inch binder to start with. I bought two sets of dividers and printed most of my sheets off the internet.

 

This is the front of the binder. I found the cover here and

thank her so much for making these available.

 

The first section is my Me section. It is supposed to hold

my to do lists and daily schedule.

 

In all honesty I really don't use this too much.

I have an app on my phone that I use for my daily schedule.

 

I apologize for the polka dot dividers, this is what I had

at the moment. Hopefully next year I can get some new ones that can be seen.

This is my Calendar section. It holds the calendar and the attendance sheet. It also held

my husband's work schedule in it, but he now has a new job,

 and I've just wrote his new schedule into the calendar.

 

Here is the attendance record sheet to keep track of our days.

I found this sheet at Money Saving Mom.

 

Here is the calendar. I found this at Walmart and I absolutely love it.

It already has the holes to put it into the binder and the squares are large enough to

write several things down. No squished or itty bitty writing.

Here is my Daily/Weekly section.

It has our daily schedule, our weekly schedule, and our sheet for P.E.

 

This is my weekly schedule. I keep up with what needs to be done

on a day to day basis. Every week I fill out a new one.

This sheet was also found at Money Saving Mom.

This is my Curriculum section.

I have our course of study sheet, book lists, field trip ideas,

lessons planned out by subject, and future curriculum ideas.

This is my current subjects divided by subject instead of weekly lessons. I actually

do have this subdivided from the rest listed under curriculum.

Under this, each subject is planned out for the entire year. Each week I write, from here,

the lessons that need to be covered and write them onto the weekly sheet. If we don't complete something that week I can just write in the next week. I don't have to redo the entire years plan this way. The subject sheets have boxes to check just like the weekly sheets.

 

 

I actually need to rename this I think. Here is where I keep a copy of our state laws,

Tops info, Letter of Intent info and a copy of an example letter. When I labeled it I was thinking of end of the year test scores and any other testing that might be done. We just haven't done any of that yet.

And this is my Receipts section. I have a sheet protector in it and place all my receipts for all the supplies and books I get that year.

I like to have everything for that year at hand, so I dont have to go on a search for it if I need it for some reason.

At the end of the year I will be making a box to hold each years papers and receipts so that I can use the binder for the next year.

 

Here is the link for the Money Saving Mom printables:

http://moneysavingmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/homeschool-planner-final.pdf

 

Well there you have it. My own homeschool planner.

 



Noah's First (real) Haircut

   My son was born with a head full of hair.

 I've had to give him 'trims' 3 times since then.

Just look at all that hair.

This past week daddy needed a haircut and decided Noah was going to get his first real one also.

He was such a big boy too.

Doesn't he look so much older?

It's Been A Wild Ride!

   I am marking today as the end of my breastfeeding adventure. I started switching Noah to goat's milk about a month back. We had substituted every once in a while during the months I was breastfeeding, but I decided it was time to switch since he was eating a breakfast lunch and dinner. I breastfed for 10 months, compared to the barely 3 for Katelyn, and am very happy with this accomplishment. It has definiately been a wild ride.
   Today also marks the return of a very dear aunt (NOT!). You know who I mean. It's been about 19 months (counting the weeks postpartum) since I've had to deal with her. Such a nice 19 months. At least she's being nice on her first visit back. (mumbles under breath)

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

1 pack of sausage

boneless chicken breast

butter

2 1/2 cups uncooked rice

1 packet of Lipton onion soup mix

1 can of beef broth

1 can of chicken broth

seasoning

onion

   Cut up chicken and sausage. Season with just a little salt and I used a little Tony's. Saute onion, chicken, and sausage in butter. Cook rice in rice pot while browning chicken and sausage. Add other ingredients to chicken and sausage. When rice is done stir in with chicken and sausage.

Personal review: This was my first Jambalaya and although it's not the traditional cajun Jambalaya, it was oh my goodness good. Definitly going in the recipe book.

It's That Time Again!

  

Yep! People are mowing their grass, the flowers are budding, new little leaves are beginning to sprout, and the weather is beginning to warm up. At least  for the most part. So what does this mean. It's time for spring cleaning!!!

I can hear the moans, lol. Oh come on it's not that bad, at least not if you plan it out.

  Usually every spring I start with good intentions and I start off with a bang, then somewhere around the middle of the week I would start to fizzle out. Looking back I see that I really had no plan of action. This year, however, is different. This year, thanks to some great sites and blogs, I am planning a course of action.

   I made me an instruction sheet and a detailed spring clean check sheet based off two posts from The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking. Check them out here and here. I am planning on taking a week during spring break to do this, a day for each section. During this week the kids will be visiting maw maws and paw paws and other relatives. I know that if they are home it will be difficult to do this, especially with little man.
   I am also going to be writing down things that are needed to help organize the house. This is really needed in my kitchen and pantry.

   That is my plan. What are yours and what tips do you have for spring cleaning?

Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

 

6 chicken breasts, cut up

1lb. Velveeta cheese

1 can diced Ro-Tel tomatoes

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 small can tomato sauce

1 onion

1 stick butter

1can chicken broth

1lb spaghetti

Melt stick of butter. Saute onion in frying pan then add chicken and brown it.

In another pot, mix rest of the ingredients (except chicken broth and spaghetti) and simmer until until cheese is melted.

Boil spaghetti in chicken broth and water, then drain.

Mix all together and put in 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350* for 20 to 30 minutes.

Personal review:

  This is a favorite. You definitly have to have time to be in the kitchen for this, but depending on the size of your family (ours is 4) you may have a good amount of leftovers, which means no cooking for the  next day.