Crazy, Un-socialized Homeschool Family and Proud of it

One of the first question you get asked as a homeschooling parent is, "So, How do your children get socialized?"or " Wont they be weird if they aren't around children their own age?"
I have always had patience with this question, as many people do not know or understand what goes into homeschooling a child. At first, I struggled to answer these questions or statements in a way that proved them otherwise.
Something my father always taught me was to be strong enough to defend yourself and your beliefs. To have a full understanding of why you believe what you believe and how to express it in a knowledgeable and fearless manor. Though I am sure he was referring to my faith, I am taking full advantage of the advice. Having that in mind I sat down with a pen and my notepad in efforts to remind myself of the positives of homeschooling and the benefits of socialization that a homeschooling child receives over public school students. If I gave you my whole list, you'd get tired of reading. So in effort not to be used as a method of sleep medication, I am listing the ones I feel that are the most noticeable reasons to me. :)

*My children participate in community sports(soccer, football, and basketball), their own grade level in a co-op, separate and combined clubs and church functions. Actually, they participate in more than most public school children because we have all day for activities and do not have to squeeze activities into a time period 4 hours between school ending and bed.They are not stuck in a house all day, deprived from life kids.
*No way in public school would you see a 3rd grader helping a preschooler do a game, learn a lesson, do a project or offer to keep one entertained while mom does a chore. And not often in home school do you see a 3rd grader who thinks its 'uncool' to be around kids of a lower grade.
*Bullying isn't part of our school routine. It, beyond the shadow of a doubt, isn't going to make my children socially inept to do with out it.
* My kids learn about airplanes and how to fly model airplanes from the old Vietnam Vet who lives alone. At the same time getting a history lesson from someone who lived it.
* My children learn gardening and how to get more suckers out of the girls at the bank from the elderly couple across the street. And how to make homemade chicken noodle soup to take to them when they are ill.
* My kids don't worry about wearing the perfect thing or trying to impress the popular clique. They are able to focus on their studies because who cares what their siblings think, right. They are not constantly confronted with on-going school based socialization, peer pressure and standardization.
* My kids do go beyond the kitchen table and into their community. They gain experience from opportunities like reading to younger kids at the local library, volunteering at a local nursing home, or handing out blankets and speaking to a homeless child or family.

What people fail to see is that children being around kids their own age all day, everyday is okay, but it is the experience with people of all other ages that will help them to grow in understanding of people as a whole. A child will not always be around their 'age group' for the rest of their life. Once they reach college and head into the workforce they will come in contact with people in all age groups, people from different 'times'. I have confidence that my children will be able to walk out in the world and not only be able to be able to fit in with their age group, but will be able to understand, interact, and handle situations with people, in general, no matter what age or year they graduated. I have had the joy of hearing the conversations my 9 year old has with our elderly neighbors or the folks at the nursing home. He is able to walk into situation and know how to have a proper dialect with any age group. You just cant learn that sitting in a room with 20-30 other kids of the same age. I might add that public school they get in trouble when they 'socialize' in class, so I in guess they do some double duty during their 20 minutes of recess. :)

Are my children odd? Yes, by the standardization of the non-homeschooling community. Yes, in a sense that they do not comply with the social mediocrity that is expected of them. Personally, I feel that is something to be proud of. They stand out because they are different from the norms of society. They have an individuality that has not become processed by social expectation, but by their own will to be who they are and who God wants them to be. If that is considered to be un-socialized, then watch out, we are a crazy, un-socialized, homeschool family and proud of it. Get over it! I am glad my children can be different from everyone else!

He is 4

On Saturday May 14th 2011 my 3rd son will be the big 4. I only blinked...really. He was only 1 yesterday...really!
My big guy is one of the funniest, smartest, loving, crazy, WII playing children I have ever known. I once wrote a post about him being near pretty close to a feral animal. Some of the statements in the post still remain true. However, I am happy to announce that he has grown out of many of them! I guess the extra prayers for sanity didn't bounce off the ceiling.

I will say that the last year of 3's has been incredibly, wonderfully INSANE. It has also been a blast and a learning experience. It still amazes me that after 2 other children I still learned something.
That being said, I am excited for his pink panther birthday and thank God that he has given me another year with this amazing little, curly head, ball of fire! I can't believe I will have my 3rd Kindergartner this time next year...ekkk!

Happy 4th birthday to to one of the greatest blessings in my life.

We love you so much Keegy-bops!! You are my joy, my comedian, and the one who can always brighten my day, when the day has gone wrong! You are so smart, loving and so courageous. My prayer for you is to use those God-given character traits to be a warrior for God, for those in need, and most importantly for yourself! Always love yourself because you are you and you are amazing!!!

Making Double Meals

I love pictures like the one above. It makes you think of how the '50's' era made being a house wife look so easy and enjoyable. Oh, how Mrs Cleaver and Mama Walton make me cringe. Though I wish times as a homeschooling housewife could be as easy as they were portrayed to be, they are not. So, why not find some easy techniques to make life easier. One way is making double meals.

When I sit down to make my menu for the week, I try to combine main ingredients so that I can create more than one meal at a time. This technique is a huge time saver for us. It really helps on those days when we have many things that unexpectedly come up!

Basically, as you are making dinner for the night, you will use the main ingredient to make a second (or third) meal to use for another lunch or dinner. Here is a double duo I made this week.

Main Ingredient: Chicken Breasts(Feeding 6)
You will need 9-10 chicken breast for these recipes. I simply used one of the bags of frozen breast from Walmart.

1. Bake chicken breast on a cookie sheet at 400 for about 20-25 minutes. Until cook completely through.
2. Cut half(4-5) of the chicken breasts into small bite size pieces.
3. Shred the remaining chicken breast. This is done best by allowing the chicken to cool and then using your fingers to tear the shreds.
4. Prepare you meals

Barb-Q Chicken Sandwiches:

• Put the shredded chicken into a bowl.
• Add your favorite barbecue sauce and mix well.
• Refrigerate to use for another meal.
• When ready to use: Warm chicken in a microwave safe container until heated well.
• Serve on a hamburger bun with fries, fruit, corn, potato salad, pasta salad, or cole slaw.

Enchilada Casserole:

You will need:

1 Package corn tortillas
1-1/2 lbs cooked, cut up chicken
2 cans enchilada sauce
1 C. sour cream
1 C shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stack the corn tortillas. Cut lengthwise, then width wise to form triangles. Loosen well
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients.
Pour into a well greased casserole or baking dish.
Cover with foil.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Serve with brown rice and corn.

The color of this dish is kind of drab, so I suggest adding some chopped green peppers or pimentos for color! Just add them in the mix before baking.

So there you have it. Just one small way to make your life a little bit simpler!

If you already use these recipes, what do you do differently?

This Weeks Muffin Recipe

Recently, I started making a new, from scratch muffin recipe every week for our breakfast(to go with smoothies). Since my family has enjoyed the new muffins so much, I wanted to share them with you so that your family can enjoy them too!!

Here is muffin 1: Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins

What you need:
1 C fresh raspberries
1- 3 oz packet of cream cheese
3 eggs
6 TBLS of butter
1 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 C. milk
2 C. flour
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
* Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin pans or line with 'cupcake' cups
*Beat together cream cheese with 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 egg, and 1/2 tsp vanilla until smooth. Put to side for later.
*In sauce pan combine milk, butter, and remaining vanilla. Stir over medium heat until butter melts.
*Cool mixture until warm to the touch. Then beat in remaining eggs, one at a time.
* In a bowl, combine baking powder, flour, salt and sugar. Add butter and milk mixture. Stir to blend.
*Fold in raspberries. Divide into muffin pans.
*Spoon 2 tsp of cream cheese mix on top of each muffin.
*Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.

Variations:
*The raspberries do tend to be kind of tart. Consider sprinkling some sugar on them and letting letting them sit for a few hours.
*Any type of berry, such as blackberries and strawberries, would work well with this recipe.

Please let me know if you tried any different variations to this recipe.

Our muffin for next week is an: Apple Muffins
Stop by and check out the recipe.

Anne Frank Lapbook

We started this Anne Frank lapbook as an assignment for Woman's History Month. The boys were not excited to learn about a girl, so I tried to find someone they could relate to. I considered Julia Childs since my oldest likes to cook. I researched some 'girls from the past' who were western villians or something boyish. In the end I decided on Anne Frank. Someone close to their age. After reading the book, we realized that Anne was a lot like my 7 year old, so he enjoyed that. I planned this lapbook out to be a 2 week project. However, we got into. Talking about Germany and Hitler and The White Rose Group. It was closer to a month of studies. Oh, and I definitely recommend the kids biography for this.

Before we start....Our lapbooks are never extravagant. They are basic. Just a hands on tool. I just don't have the time to deck these things out like the 'true' lapbookers!




This is our front cover. We did a small window with a picture of Anne in it.









Our inside cover has some small flip books that show information on Anne Frank. We listed things she liked to do, her family, Jewish traditions, and talked about the secret annex. Also, when and where she was born and died.

The 2nd page is a time line. The 1st shows the time line of Anne's life. The second shows the time line of the world during the same time.


Our 3rd page consisted of a Hitler and WWI flap book. It hit the boys when we talked about the fact that there are people today who still have the same mindset as Hitler did. It was hard for them to grasp. That was a bible/character lesson in itself, but we only discussed it enough for them to get the point!
We also talked about our ancestors from Germany. We learned who our first ancestor to come to America was, when he came, where he settled, and where he and his wife are buried. We also discussed what our last name was before they came to America and why it was changed.
Lastly, we discussed the White Rose group. After discussing this group I decided to add a character trait into this study.


Our character trait for this lapbook was Virtue.
We talked about a few characters of the Bible to understand the trait. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego, Stephen, and Joseph in Egypt.
We discussed different definitions of the word, synonyms, antonyms, bible verses that relate, and what they can do to show this trait in their daily lives.



I love studies like this one. You start out prepared to learn a selected material only to find out you have learned above and beyond what you expected to. There was so much more we could have thrown into this study, but I figure a month was enough time and we needed to move on :)
I am thankful that we jumped into this.

What has been your favorite lapbook that you and your kids have done?

A Day in the Life of a Homeschooling Mom of 4.

If you have been homeschooling for a while, it is very likely that you have heard these questions at one time or another. What do you do all day? When do you clean? When do you have you time to yourself? How long is your school day? What is your daily schedule like?

My favorite is, “How do you keep your sanity?” To be honest, I am not sure how or if I even do keep my sanity through out each day! However, I am able to rely on structure and a trillion prayers a day to make it work.

When I first started homeschooling I would have categorized myself in the over prepared bracket. I had our entire day laid out. I knew what time we would do each subject and for how long, what time we would play and eat, and allotted certain days for field trips and hands on learning. What I realized, very quickly I might add, is by doing this I often found to be disappointed in myself when my schedule wasn’t stuck to. When we weren’t able to move on to the next subject because we hadn’t completed the previous one or when a field trip went on a different day then our schedule allowed. This approach just was not realistic.

Now, I do not think that we could run with out a plan. Structure is very important in a chaotic household of 4 boys! So here is how our day is normally laid out. You will notice I use “between” time. This has really lowered the stress of our schedule. By leaving that leeway I do not feel rushed to finish something.

6:30- Mom time- During this time I will make coffee, throw in a load of laundry, take a run or do a quick workout, or do a Bible study and try to shower before the boys wake up.

7:30-My preschooler is normally up before everyone- So I use this time to do his flash cards for letters and letter sounds. He enjoys the one on one time with me without the going back and forth to his brothers.

Between 7:45-8:30- Boys wake up. They normally don’t sleep later then 8:45. For those women who start school at 5:30 in the morning-God bless you!

Between 7:45-9:30- Breakfast, make beds, get dressed, devotion or Bible study (I do this when they are eating so they do less talking because they have full mouths). Tidy up kitchen, living and dining areas.

No later then 10:00- Start school. Seem late? It’s rare that we actually start this late; again it gives me that leeway. We normally are full speed by 8:45ish

*Once we start school the times go away and we just go by assignments!!!!! Lunch is normally always the same time as well as dinner. So we work around that.

1^st- Calendar Time, Review Bible Verse, see what subjects are for that day.

2^nd- Multi-age studies

· Aplogia Astronomy(Monday/Wednesday)

· Any lap book or note booking pages we are working on together

· Lif Pac Art(Friday)

· The Story of The World History(Tuesday/Thursday)

3^rd- I normally squeeze my preschoolers ‘work’ in between helping the boys in group and individual lessons. In many cases the older boys enjoy doing some of the activities with him. This is not a forced activity and sometimes we will do it before dinner. Again, he enjoys the alone time with me.

4^th- Individual Studies: Everyday

· Math

· LA

· Reading- If they need to catch up. The boys enjoy reading before bed. It helps them to fall asleep.

5^th- Tidy school and toy areas

Break for Lunch- Between 12:00-1:30

Between finishing lunch and 5:00-

· Finish any work or projects that were not completed.

· Outdoor time/ Physical activity

· Practice instruments

· Free Time

· Clean rooms, put laundry away

Between 5:00-5:30- Dinner

After Dinner- We normally have club meetings or sports practice

That is our day. It may seem like a full day to have everyday, but some things do give on some days. We don’t always have clubs or sports, we sometimes work ahead a couple days in certain subjects in order to enjoy a day or two of field trips, and most importantly we are flexible.

So, just remember when you are trying to create a structure in your homeschooling day, be flexible and be realistic. Work isn’t always going to be completed, cleaning isn’t always going to be finished, and dishes might still be in the sink in the morning. But that’s okay! Breathe and pray and leave yourself leeway. Being less stressed will allow you to be a more patient(God willing), and relaxed teacher for your kiddos.

Preschool Curriculum

Hooked on Phonics: Beginning Reading with Bible Stories Ages 4-6

This set was not included in my original plans for next school year. I found it brand new at a used book store for $10(Brand new runs $30 or so) and thought I’d give it a whirl. I wanted to try it out to see if I wanted to include it in our lessons.

We have being doing the flash cards with the CD and a page from the workbook a few times a week. My son, who will be 4 in May, has already started to remember all of the sounds of the letters. This has been a remarkable program and we are very excited to continue with it for this coming school year. If I can find them for a reasonable cost, I will continue with this program for kindergarten. From my research, you can find this specific program used for $10-$15 on Amazon, EBay or Half Price Books online.

Fruit of the Tender Heart ( At teachmejoy.com)

This was my original plan for my preschooler.

Teach me Joy is a self-published early learning home school curriculum that has been brought to you by a seasoned teacher and homeschooling mom. Fruit for Tender Hearts is a home school program targeting students in K3-K5.

This is an inexpensive down loadable curriculum. It is running on sale right now for $15. To save ink, I plan to print a week or 2 at a time as we do them. This curriculum includes Bible, math, science, reading and LA for the entire year.

You can get a full description of this curriculum and other teach me joy curriculum at the Teach Me Joy website.

Calendar time: We do this at the beginning of everyday to learn how to use the calendar, learn days of the week, and months of the year and special days and holidays. It also refreshes counting skills. My older kids sit in on this too; they need to know the date to put it on the work for the day. We also use this time to go over our bible verse for that week



Reading

I created a reading list for my preschooler. However, I am sure that many more books will be added on to this list. He normally raids the library every time we go. The books on our list are just some of my old favorites, some of my older kids old favorites and also ones that my preschooler has enjoyed so far. You can view our reading list here.

My one goal for myself is not to force, but encourage my preschooler to do his ‘school’. Age 4 is a great age of fun and a time of learning through experience. By forcing him to do his work, it can discourage him. He will not consider it fun anymore. In most cases he asks to do his ‘work’ because his brothers are working on theirs and he wants to be a part of whatever they are doing. I am going to try to take full advantage of that.

Not forcing him do his work doesn’t mean he will get to do whatever he wants though. We still have a structure and schedule. He will have to choose some sort of activity. Blocks, trains, coloring. That’s a whole other post! “How to entertain your preschooler while you school your older children”.

Happy Preschooling!!