This past week our preschool activities have been curtailed quite a bit by the simple fact that we're getting ready to move, and we're trying to balance all that goes with that (and oh my heavens I detest moving) with the car being dropped off, and David's new promotion at work which gives him long and somewhat irregular hours right now.
But we have done some things. We've gone on a few long walks to collect stuff, and made a few visits and received visitors. Samuel has done puzzles and heard stories, and we're working on fine motor skills right now.
A few things we've done are...
*With a pair of tongs, picked up horse chestnuts and placed them one at a time into an egg carton. Then tried the same with acorns.
*Using a spoon, scooped beans, and then barley, from one bowl to another.
*helped around the house by sweeping, unloading the dryer (all by himself), wiping up his own spills, etc.
*worked on potty training and putting on and taking off his own shoes.
*sat for a 'long' story of several pages.
*listened to lots of music.
We also reinforced some previous lessons such as...
*We don't touch strange dogs.
*We hold a hand or the stroller while out walking.
*No hitting.
Plans for the rest of the week include...
*practice 'sewing' with homemade lacing cards.
*making gingerbread people.
It's a mistake to think of these 'down-time' seasons in our lives as ones that don't hold chances and opportunities for learning.
Showing posts with label homeschooling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschooling. Show all posts
Monday, October 8, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
A Homeschool Recap and New Books
So, we're still getting used to homeschooling but I'm feeling a lot more confident about my abilities these days. What changed? Well, one of the first things I did was start to contact mothers who were veteran homeschoolers, especially a friend of mine who has taught her own children for around 15 years and has (to me, at least) done it all. She's tried the curriculums, the extra classes, the angst, the homeschooling groups, the online support, etc. etc. And her children are lovely examples of what concerted homeschool effort can produce, so I arranged a coffee date and picked her brain for an hour. After asking every question I could think of, I felt a little bit more prepared to venture into this unknown territory, and significantly more confident about my abilities to teach my child.
I've also started a homeschool binder, which is hopefully going to help me to keep track of what we've done, when we've done it, and how it all went.
The first week, if you remember, we were going to study pinecones. Although it went very well, I think, it also ended up being very different from what I'd expected. In hindsight, I don't know what I thought would happen, but the reality was...it just sort of 'fit' into our lives rather than being a separate school time. Perhaps this is more of an indication of Samuel's age than anything else.
What we did: We went for a walk and collected pinecones. While we were out we talked about how pinecones come from pine trees. I used the word 'coniferous', and I don't entirely know why. There was mention of cones not being found under leafy trees. We spent the next several days playing with the cones, looking at them, discussing their colours, sizes, etc. We talked about how seeds are in the cone, which cones were open and which were closed. The cones were THE toy of the week. We painted using pine needles instead of brushes, and we started reading a few books about trees in general. (Our picks were listed in the Currently Reading section of the blog, but as a recap, we read The Kids Canadian Tree Book, Have You Seen Leaves, Things You Find In The Woods, and Leaf Man from the library, and Little Mouse On The Prairie from our own library.)
Week 2 was going to be Farm Animals. We did make a field trip to a working dairy farm where Samuel got to see calves, dairy cows, pigs, dogs, roosters and chickens, and to collect his own eggs. It was a great trip and he really enjoyed it. We reinforced the trip by reading The New Baby Calf, a pick from our own collection. Samuel used a lot of imaginative play this week in having fun with his toy barn and animals. We also continued our exploration of fall by reading Fresh Fall Leaves, another personal collection read, and re-reading several of the books from last week.
Week 3 is this week. We're looking at leaves now, and also including a bit about Thanksgiving. We went for a walk to collect leaves and discussed what colours they were. Once we were back home we looked at Leaf Man and compared our leaves to the pictures. Then we drew pictures of our leaves. We've added Thanks For Thanksgiving to our reading list and I have returned our week 1 books to the library. I made a run by myself to the library to spend some time in the stacks taking a peek at what sort of Thanksgiving books there are, and there aren't a lot. It's a little overwhelming to see the gaps in our public library because it makes me realize more and more how much I will be relying on our own personal collection.
In terms of reference books, right now I'm looking through the following for ideas (all of these titles are from our personal collection right now, I haven't started using the library as a reference resource to any great extent yet):
Definately going to use some of the ideas in here to make fall-themed crafts. The main ones I'm thinking of are a leaf-shaped salt-dough garland and a recycled tray bird feeder. I also like the animal-shaped sponges and may make a few of those myself to tuck into Sam and Clara's stockings.
Still a bit advanced for anything Samuel could do or think about at this point, but two useful books for me to look through just for ideas.
Apparantly a 'classic' in the world of books about reading to children. I've been dipping into it when I can and am looking forward to getting into the treasury of titles for different ages listed in the back of the book. Reading aloud is very, very important to us, and I hope this author can help us be the best at it that we can be.
Some other titles that are in my 'to read' pile but that I haven't gotten to yet:
I'm really hopeful for this second one, especially the parts about making devotionals easy. And a quick flip through gave me an idea for preschool 'fishing poles' that I think Samuel would really like.
I like the sound of this one.
Anyway, that's where we are right now.
I've also started a homeschool binder, which is hopefully going to help me to keep track of what we've done, when we've done it, and how it all went.
The first week, if you remember, we were going to study pinecones. Although it went very well, I think, it also ended up being very different from what I'd expected. In hindsight, I don't know what I thought would happen, but the reality was...it just sort of 'fit' into our lives rather than being a separate school time. Perhaps this is more of an indication of Samuel's age than anything else.
What we did: We went for a walk and collected pinecones. While we were out we talked about how pinecones come from pine trees. I used the word 'coniferous', and I don't entirely know why. There was mention of cones not being found under leafy trees. We spent the next several days playing with the cones, looking at them, discussing their colours, sizes, etc. We talked about how seeds are in the cone, which cones were open and which were closed. The cones were THE toy of the week. We painted using pine needles instead of brushes, and we started reading a few books about trees in general. (Our picks were listed in the Currently Reading section of the blog, but as a recap, we read The Kids Canadian Tree Book, Have You Seen Leaves, Things You Find In The Woods, and Leaf Man from the library, and Little Mouse On The Prairie from our own library.)
Week 2 was going to be Farm Animals. We did make a field trip to a working dairy farm where Samuel got to see calves, dairy cows, pigs, dogs, roosters and chickens, and to collect his own eggs. It was a great trip and he really enjoyed it. We reinforced the trip by reading The New Baby Calf, a pick from our own collection. Samuel used a lot of imaginative play this week in having fun with his toy barn and animals. We also continued our exploration of fall by reading Fresh Fall Leaves, another personal collection read, and re-reading several of the books from last week.
Week 3 is this week. We're looking at leaves now, and also including a bit about Thanksgiving. We went for a walk to collect leaves and discussed what colours they were. Once we were back home we looked at Leaf Man and compared our leaves to the pictures. Then we drew pictures of our leaves. We've added Thanks For Thanksgiving to our reading list and I have returned our week 1 books to the library. I made a run by myself to the library to spend some time in the stacks taking a peek at what sort of Thanksgiving books there are, and there aren't a lot. It's a little overwhelming to see the gaps in our public library because it makes me realize more and more how much I will be relying on our own personal collection.
In terms of reference books, right now I'm looking through the following for ideas (all of these titles are from our personal collection right now, I haven't started using the library as a reference resource to any great extent yet):
 |
| Photo source |
 |
| Photo source |
 |
| Photo source |
 |
| Author's website |
Some other titles that are in my 'to read' pile but that I haven't gotten to yet:
 |
| Photo source |
 |
| Photo source |
 |
| Photo source |
Anyway, that's where we are right now.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Thinking about starting preschool
I'm not trying to push things here, but Samuel clearly needs something a bit more structured in terms of activities. I feel as though our usual laissez-faire, come as you are method of child entertainment isn't as exciting for him as it used to be!
I'm starting to collect some resources for a homeschool version of preschool. He's two, but it seems to me that most of the elements of preschool are pretty age-flexible. Colours, shapes, animals...he's already doing this just with a lot less interesting crafts!
So, does anyone else do preschool at home? What do you do? How long every day?
I'm starting to collect some resources for a homeschool version of preschool. He's two, but it seems to me that most of the elements of preschool are pretty age-flexible. Colours, shapes, animals...he's already doing this just with a lot less interesting crafts!
So, does anyone else do preschool at home? What do you do? How long every day?
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Preschooling At Home
I'm such a huge fan of homeschooling, and homeschoolers, and the homeschooled...etc., etc. Let me tell you my top three reasons why:
1) Parents who homeschool are involved in their children's lives in an intimate way. They have the opportunity to see all of those milestones that they might otherwise miss. They can cultivate a synergistic relationship between home/school. It isn't all home, and then all school. It's both! And then the natural progression from that is a blurring of the line between home and school, and that can mean almost anything, anything at all, can be used as a learning, growing, wonderful opportunity. I like that. Okay so that's sort of two reasons, not one.
2) Children who are homeschooled get to realize very early on that the traditional classroom environment is an artificially constructed one. At no other point in your life will you ever be stuck, for 8 solid hours a day, with 29 children the same age as you and one adult. That is make-believe and what's more, it doesn't help children to grow up and become adults. They don't learn how to converse with adults, they aren't exposed to any great degree to opinions other than the ones currently owned by the classroom majority, and they are easy prey for bullies and the ignorant.
3) Homeschooling shows seriously how heavily you take the weight of parenthood. This one is more of a personal belief, I think, whereas the other two points are less so. Certainly my parents cared deeply for my sister and I, and yet we went through the public system. Also, I know of some homeschooling parents who clearly did not take their responsibilities seriously at all, and slacked, to their child's detriment. But when done right, homeschooling brings into focus those things on which you and your family place the heaviest weight.
So it probably comes as no big surprise that David and I have always thought we would homeschool Samuel 'when the time came'. That time was clearly 'sometime in the future' and would 'be dealt with when we got to it'. Etc. Then we started to realize that maybe, for our family, homeschooling would be second best to a private Christian school. We played around with that idea for a while, eventually sort-of-kinda rejecting it. Then we thought about private alternative non-Christian education, such as Montessori for a while, but not very seriously. And then we went back to hammering out what homeschool would look like for us. And the closer we've gotten to a time when Samuel might actually GO to school, the less certain we've become!
I've found out a few things about myself in the process though. Firstly, I am not an unschooler. Unschooling is child-led learning taken to the maximum degree, and that is not me. I need a plan, even if we don't always follow it, and although I'm all about letting Samuel explore his interests, I really doubt that I'd thrive as an educator in an environment where my main role is facilitator.
Second, I need to buy a curriculum. Not necessarily because I need advice on how to teach something, but because I really need to know what to teach and when. I've been writing down homeschooling ideas in a folder on the computer whenever I come across one I like, and they're everywhere, all over the map. Neat ideas to teach homonyms, Bible verses, measurements...except that I can't figure out how they'd fit together, how we'd transition from one to another, or even what age to introduce them! Oh, I have ideas, but the foundation beneath those ideas...well, I think a curriculum would provide that.
Third, David wants, and needs, to be involved in this. I think that's wonderful, but it is unexpected. When I imagined homeschooling I never imagined teaching in tandem with someone else, but I have to admit it makes sense. David has strengths that I don't have, he will have opportunities that I won't have to teach, and tandem teaching also presents a more united parental front. It isn't Mom the teacher, it's Mom and Dad, my teachers. When David goes on visitation to a nursing home, the opportunity is there for Samuel to join him and maybe complete a service project or even just practice his conversation skills. It's an opportunity that I wouldn't necessarily provide for him.
There are things that have made me nervous, as well. How will we manage if I need to work, either inside or outside the home? How would we work around David's schedule? What about multiple grades if there is more than one child? How do we handle classes that neither of us excels at teaching? What if I'M bored with the lessons? Can we afford/do we need expensive science lab equipment? Will Samuel fit in with other children his age if he's homeschooled, and should that even factor into our decision? The list goes on, and David and I have slowly, slowly begun to answer those questions together.
But the time for deciding is getting closer. Children in this province are going into kindergarten at age 4, and there are very few children aged 3 who are not in a preschool program. Samuel is only 15 months old, but already I've been pressured to 'put him in care', and I know it's only a matter of time before the pressure will switch from day care to preschool. If we don't put him into preschool we will be in the vast minority, and there will be questions, and although I'm not afraid of questions I like to be prepared with answers to them whenever possible.
And as a result to this, I've been doing a lot of research into preschool programs, all of which are, of course, way above Samuel's current level of understanding and so it's difficult for me to evaluate them based on where he may or may not be anywhere from 9-21 months from now. There are a few clear leaders so far, and because my evaluation of the programs can't involve where Samuel is, it's forced me to think about where I want him to be, and work backwards. At the age of four I want him to know what? At three? At two?
This is probably going to end up teaching me as much as it teaches him.
1) Parents who homeschool are involved in their children's lives in an intimate way. They have the opportunity to see all of those milestones that they might otherwise miss. They can cultivate a synergistic relationship between home/school. It isn't all home, and then all school. It's both! And then the natural progression from that is a blurring of the line between home and school, and that can mean almost anything, anything at all, can be used as a learning, growing, wonderful opportunity. I like that. Okay so that's sort of two reasons, not one.
2) Children who are homeschooled get to realize very early on that the traditional classroom environment is an artificially constructed one. At no other point in your life will you ever be stuck, for 8 solid hours a day, with 29 children the same age as you and one adult. That is make-believe and what's more, it doesn't help children to grow up and become adults. They don't learn how to converse with adults, they aren't exposed to any great degree to opinions other than the ones currently owned by the classroom majority, and they are easy prey for bullies and the ignorant.
3) Homeschooling shows seriously how heavily you take the weight of parenthood. This one is more of a personal belief, I think, whereas the other two points are less so. Certainly my parents cared deeply for my sister and I, and yet we went through the public system. Also, I know of some homeschooling parents who clearly did not take their responsibilities seriously at all, and slacked, to their child's detriment. But when done right, homeschooling brings into focus those things on which you and your family place the heaviest weight.
So it probably comes as no big surprise that David and I have always thought we would homeschool Samuel 'when the time came'. That time was clearly 'sometime in the future' and would 'be dealt with when we got to it'. Etc. Then we started to realize that maybe, for our family, homeschooling would be second best to a private Christian school. We played around with that idea for a while, eventually sort-of-kinda rejecting it. Then we thought about private alternative non-Christian education, such as Montessori for a while, but not very seriously. And then we went back to hammering out what homeschool would look like for us. And the closer we've gotten to a time when Samuel might actually GO to school, the less certain we've become!
I've found out a few things about myself in the process though. Firstly, I am not an unschooler. Unschooling is child-led learning taken to the maximum degree, and that is not me. I need a plan, even if we don't always follow it, and although I'm all about letting Samuel explore his interests, I really doubt that I'd thrive as an educator in an environment where my main role is facilitator.
Second, I need to buy a curriculum. Not necessarily because I need advice on how to teach something, but because I really need to know what to teach and when. I've been writing down homeschooling ideas in a folder on the computer whenever I come across one I like, and they're everywhere, all over the map. Neat ideas to teach homonyms, Bible verses, measurements...except that I can't figure out how they'd fit together, how we'd transition from one to another, or even what age to introduce them! Oh, I have ideas, but the foundation beneath those ideas...well, I think a curriculum would provide that.
Third, David wants, and needs, to be involved in this. I think that's wonderful, but it is unexpected. When I imagined homeschooling I never imagined teaching in tandem with someone else, but I have to admit it makes sense. David has strengths that I don't have, he will have opportunities that I won't have to teach, and tandem teaching also presents a more united parental front. It isn't Mom the teacher, it's Mom and Dad, my teachers. When David goes on visitation to a nursing home, the opportunity is there for Samuel to join him and maybe complete a service project or even just practice his conversation skills. It's an opportunity that I wouldn't necessarily provide for him.
There are things that have made me nervous, as well. How will we manage if I need to work, either inside or outside the home? How would we work around David's schedule? What about multiple grades if there is more than one child? How do we handle classes that neither of us excels at teaching? What if I'M bored with the lessons? Can we afford/do we need expensive science lab equipment? Will Samuel fit in with other children his age if he's homeschooled, and should that even factor into our decision? The list goes on, and David and I have slowly, slowly begun to answer those questions together.
But the time for deciding is getting closer. Children in this province are going into kindergarten at age 4, and there are very few children aged 3 who are not in a preschool program. Samuel is only 15 months old, but already I've been pressured to 'put him in care', and I know it's only a matter of time before the pressure will switch from day care to preschool. If we don't put him into preschool we will be in the vast minority, and there will be questions, and although I'm not afraid of questions I like to be prepared with answers to them whenever possible.
And as a result to this, I've been doing a lot of research into preschool programs, all of which are, of course, way above Samuel's current level of understanding and so it's difficult for me to evaluate them based on where he may or may not be anywhere from 9-21 months from now. There are a few clear leaders so far, and because my evaluation of the programs can't involve where Samuel is, it's forced me to think about where I want him to be, and work backwards. At the age of four I want him to know what? At three? At two?
This is probably going to end up teaching me as much as it teaches him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)