Getting Help in our Homeschool

The weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders and the reason for that is, at this very moment, sitting at my kitchen table.  My biggest stress factor of the year is gone and my family is happier.  I highly recommend this cure for stress.

What is it?

A science tutor.

My two oldest are doing Physical Science this year.  This is the second year for one of them and this year wasn't proving to be much easier despite the change of curriculum.  My brain backfires when it comes to the higher sciences and maths.  By higher I mean sixth grade and beyond.  As soon as you begin mixing letters and numbers, my brain freezes.  When I see the Periodic Table of Elements, I go into a coma.

In addition to planning, preparing for, and teaching lessons for five other children, I was trying to find time to teach myself 9th grade science just so I could make a bit of sense while helping my kids.  I even employed the internet to help clarify our lessons, all to no avail.

Enter, our dear friend Katie.  She loves to teach.  She got through 9th grade science (more recently than I, I might add).  She's single.  She and my kids have known and loved each other for years.  She is creative and loves to do experiments.

Every week, for two hours, Katie sits at the kitchen table and reviews the previous week's assignments. The kids have to read a certain amount of pages, write down the main ideas, and answer the questions.  She explains and reviews for about an hour.  This is done conversationally and via games.  There's a lot of laughing along with a lot of learning going on.  She rewards the kids with candy or fun activities.  For another hour or so, they do experiments.  Today, in talking about calories, they will be making ice cream.  Trust me...I've never been THAT fun.

The kids have had at least 2 quizzes in the last 5 weeks.  My son received his first 100% of the year.  In the first session, Katie figured out exactly how each of my kids learn and has put that knowledge to use to benefit them.

My kids don't complain about science any more.  I don't have heart palpitations nor do I have such an overwhelming feeling of failure.  My responsibility now consists only of asking the kids if they've done their assignments and paying Katie every few weeks.  *sigh of great relief*

Are you struggling in a certain subject?  Seek out someone who has time and knowledge and a willingness to share both with you and your students.  It may cost a few dollars, but the success of your children and your relief will be invaluable.

Let me know what areas you get help in or if you're struggling to find help.  I would love to pray for you and your family!

New Site for Booksellers!

Funny.  I posted about Homeschool Classifieds the other day and I get an invitation in my e-mail inbox to be among the first to join another homeschool book selling site.  Ironically enough, the site is called sellhomeschoolbooks.com.  If not catchy, it's easy an address easily remembered!

Though I'm still getting a bit used to this site, it's really easy to use.  Posting is similar to e-bay, though much less complicated.  The best part is that it's FREE!!  Looks like you could use some options that would cost money. This leads me to believe that someday they may decide to charge for membership fees and other niceties on the site.  But, for now, I'm taking advantage of my free year.

Check it out.  Be one of the founding members.  Who knows what you might find there.

Planning!

I am so excited!  Last year I finally waded into the waters of Unit Studies.  I walked in carefully using a wonderful "beginner" program called "Learning Adventures."  This has been a great program for us as it has laid out very clearly our daily activities.  It is so detailed that I could just read from Dorian's notes if I wish (and on the days that I'm experiencing fried-brain, that is exactly what I do.)  However, now that I have gotten my feet wet and I see how to do a unit study, I am ready to take the plunge into developing my own unit study for next year!

I have been very happy with Learning Adventures, but so far, the author has not had the opportunity to continue the program through the Civil War - a subject in which my children are extremely interested.  I am also not completely satisfied with the grammar section of the study.  Therefore, I have done some searching.

My cousin's wife introduced us to Evan-Moor's History Pockets this year and has allowed us to borrow 3 of her books.  If you have never used these, they can be found here.  They are filled with information and lots of fun and EASY projects for the kids to really comprehend what they are learning.  I have supplemented  our study of the colonization of America with these pockets.  The book gives some starter information about the topic and it would be so easy to use that info as springboard into finding other books to dig deeper. 

As I was preparing some more pockets for my children to do in the next couple of days, I noticed on the back of the book that Evan-Moor also offers Literature Pockets.  I hurried to the computer, went to the Evan-Moor site and I have found a pluthera of educational supplies that will make it easy for me to create a customized curriculum for next year.  Each of my subjects may or may not relate to one another, but each subject will be a fun, hands-on, and educational unit. 

If you are looking for something more interesting to do with your students next year instead of the same ole workbooks, I highly recommend this site.  I understand that the information comes from a secular and evolutional world view, however, I see that as a teaching opportunity in itself.  I plan on using their "Daily Science" books, yet when we are confronted evolution, we will see what their belief is and search out and contrast the Creationist view. 

I am so excited about this new venture next year and the fact that I have months to plan for it!

Great Organizational Tool

I am a huge planner.  I know that if I don't plan, nothing will ever get done - especially in our homeschool.  I have purchased The Homeschoolers Journal, made my own Excel sheets, used Donna Young's printables to make my own notebook, etc., etc.  Each of these has been a blessing to me in different season's of my life.  I must say, I loved the Homeschooler's Journal, but I now have too many children to really make it work efficiently for me.  If you have just 2 or 3 children in school, you might want to look into that excellent resource.

However, I have recently discovered Homeschool Tracker Plus.  To date, this is the best method for me, by far.  I am into day10 of my $5 30-day trial and I think I'm going to spend the $45 more to purchase the program for keeps. 

Everything is in the computer, but I can print out assignment sheets made up directly from my lesson plans.  I type in the subjects with what I want to cover on certain days and...WHALAA!  

Well, with a 300-something page user's manual, maybe not quite so "whalaa!"  Getting to learn the program is probably the biggest draw-back.  I'm the type of person who learns by doing and it's taken me a few hours to really figure things out.  However, I can go to the site any time I want and watch how-to videos or look at a pdf file of the manual.  I would also recommend becoming a part of the discussion board.  I couldn't figure out how to edit the grading chart but after going back and forth with the creator of the program, we have it figured out.  What a HUGE help having someone there who knows the program and actually answers your questions almost immediately!

If you have several children or high school students, I would suggest you give this program a look-see.  Tell me what you think.  And, if you get a chance, tell them you heard about Homeschool Tracker Plus here at Teaching Mommy.