The Happy Housewife™ :: Home Schooling
homeschool tips, printables, curriculum reviews, and more
Add these Thanksgiving themed books to your library list this month and come back tomorrow for the Thanksgiving unit study pinboard.
You can download a printable checklist here:
If You Were At The First Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving, Curious George tabbed board book
P Is for Pilgrim: A Thanksgiving Alphabet (Alphabet Books)
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie (Picture Puffins)
What are you reading this month?
This year we switched from Story of the World to Veritas History for my elementary kids. I switched mainly because I wanted a biblical based history and while we have used and loved Mystery of History in the past, I couldn’t resist all the wonderful supplemental books used in the Veritas history curriculum.
Other than missing the awesome CD recordings from Story of the World, I like Veritas much better. My kids love the flash cards and I have been able to use this program with my five to eleven year old with some minor adjustments.
Flash cards are the key to the Veritas History curriculum, without them you cannot teach the lesson. The flash cards have an illustration on the front and a short lesson summary on the back. On the back of the card is also your “key.” The key tells you which supplemental readings are used in that lesson.
Here’s what our typical weekly lesson looks like using the Veritas history program.
Monday: Read flash card summary, talk about the art on the front of the flash card, read from one resource.
Tuesday: Review summary from flash cards, one activity from the lesson book.
Wednesday: Read from another supplemental resource, finish activity (if necessary).
Thursday: Activity and/or review.
Friday: Finish up any work, oldest child takes the quiz while younger children go over the quiz orally.
I highly recommend buying the CD version of the activity book if you are using this for more than one child. It makes printing off the materials so easy. Instead of having to make copies of each activity I put in the CD and print what we need for the day.
The only problem I had with ordering this curriculum is that it was hard to determine what supplements were needed and which ones you could do without. I searched on the web but was unable to find a comprehensive list of these materials, based on importance.
If you are considering using Veritas History (2nd grade Ancient History) here is a list of supplemental reading materials in order of frequency. I’ve starred the books that Veritas deems “important” to the series. (The Children’s Illustrated Bible and the Greenleaf Guides while referenced frequently are not as important as other supplemental books)
Used in more than 10 lessons
*
*
*Used in 5-10 lessons
*
*
*
*Used in 1-4 lessons
*
* *
So far I’m very happy with Veritas Press Ancient History and have found that it can be easily adapted to teach kids on different levels. My kids look forward to their daily history lesson and so far seem to be retaining what we have learned.
*2013 UPDATE*: We are still happily using Veritas History and continue to enjoy each day’s history lesson. Also, one of my lovely readers sent me a link that shows the recommended supplemental reading books with their frequency of use and importance in obtaining! It has it for all the grades – perfect! Thank you, Elizabeth!
Not too long ago, I wrote a review for Life of Fred math curriculum. I said that it started at about 5th grade and went on through college level mathematics. I now have a son using the Geometry book, a son using the Beginning Algebra book, and a daughter using the Fractions book that leads into Pre-Algebra. Well, I’m delighted to add that I now have two more sons using a Life of Fred math book and loving it. Life of Fred now starts with Apples as the beginning of a new Elementary series for younger learners. I am starting with my two kids that know how to read but aren’t old enough for the other Life of Fred books. So far, so good, and when we opened the package containing our new Life of Fred book my younger boys were so excited.
In fact, I don’t think this 18 chapter book is going to last more than a few days. Samuel, 6, went through 3 chapters the first day, including the “Your Turn to Play” which is like the assignment. He says the part where he gets to do stuff is his favorite. Nathanael, 8, wasn’t quite as excited but he likes the story and decided to keep up with his younger brother.
I like that the concepts are presented in such a clear manner, yet the author does not point out what is being learned like your typical math book. There is no “drill and kill”. This works for us. I can always find worksheets to do a hundred problems just like the one they missed. However, we can practice things like that separately. Life of Fred is perfect for us, because everyone in our family loves to read, loves to think for themselves, and loves to know WHY something is the way it is. We also have a wacky sense of humor that just seems to be right in sync with Fred. Even my older kids who are familiar with Fred want to read the new books.
What I am excited about now is the other 11 books in the elementary series (only 4 are out now, 4 out by the end of October and the remaining 4 by Easter next year) and how my younger children will start out with Fred and what I feel is a firm base of math knowledge from the beginning. They will start with what they’ve learned just from being in our home from games, kitchen activities, counting with Mom, and puzzles, and be able to really understand the basics before moving on.
This series is also inexpensive, just like the junior high, high school and college series, and while I haven’t seen them all, I like what I see so far! With Life of Fred, you can see sample pages, read testimonials, and even email the author about anything you want.
Check out Life of Fred here!
Tabitha (wife to Tom, homeschooling mom to 8 kids ages 14 to 1, learning something new all the time)
Isn’t this clever?
It’s a travel soap container! I bought new crayons for my kids this year and the Crayola box has already fallen apart. I need look for these travel cases next time I’m at the store.
Visit the Shady Tree Diary to find other creative uses for soap boxes.
Aren’t these fabric bookshelves cute? I found them on Pinterest but I can’t find the tutorial anywhere. If you know how to make these please share!
Here’s a list of what we’ve been reading this week.
Photo credit: The Boo and the Boy
Two of my children have had a very difficult time learning how to read due to learning disabilities. For one child, these difficulties left him very discouraged and he never really liked school because it was always such a struggle.
One day after researching reading helps on the internet my husband came across the website Study Dog. I was a bit skeptical because I didn’t think a computer program could teach a child to read, but at that point I was ready to do anything.
I was surprised when my child who never liked school asked daily to use Study Dog. Not only did he love using the program, his reading did improve.
Over the years I had forgotten about Study Dog and when they contacted me a few weeks ago I was excited to use their program again with my other reluctant reader. Study Dog’s lessons are for Pre-K to 1st grade, but if you have an older child who needs remedial help I would recommend it for them as well.
What I like about Study Dog is that parents can log in and track their child’s progress. I also like that children take a pretest before they begin the program so the lessons are tailored to their reading ability. It isn’t a one size fits all approach.
If you are interested in learning more about Study Dog, and seeing if it might work for your reader you can sign up for a free trial.
The folks at Study Dog have offered a 6 month subscription for one of my readers so if you’d like a chance to win leave a comment. The giveaway ends September 26, 2011.
My kids would be thrilled to learn about genetics with this edible DNA strand.
You find the lesson plans and instructions on the Genetic Science Learning Center website.
As the school year begins for almost every child in America it is important to ask yourself, “Why do I homeschool my kids?”
We homeschool for a several reasons, but the article Back to (the Wrong) School by Seth Godin sums up nicely one of the main reasons we homeschool.
As we get ready for the 93rd year of universal public education, here’s the question every parent and taxpayer needs to wrestle with: Are we going to applaud, push or even permit our schools (including most of the private ones) to continue the safe but ultimately doomed strategy of churning out predictable, testable and mediocre factory-workers?
The bottom line is that the system is broken. As a homeschooler we’ve chosen to flee the system rather than try to fix it and many people think that is the wrong solution. I have seven reasons why I think my solution is better.
As homeschoolers let us not fall into the trap of trying to replicate the public school experience at home. No matter what teaching method or curriculum you use remember that it isn’t about the standardized tests or sitting still for eight hours every day. Let’s not strive to give our children a good education.
As homeschoolers we have a unique opportunity to give our children an educational experience unlike any they would receive at a public or private school.
You have an opportunity to change the world.
Don’t waste it.
Paper shapes are a great way to keep your toddler busy while learning their colors and shapes! These take a bit of time to make, but once you are finished they last for a long time.
They are very simple to make, just cut shapes out of construction paper. If you are a scrapbooker I’m sure you have lots of tools that make shape cutting very easy.
Cora plays with the shapes while I sit close by working with the other children. My older kids love helping Cora identify shapes and colors. We’ve only used them a few times with Cora and she already knows most of the colors and all her shapes.
You can also have your toddler sort by color, shape, or even make patterns.
Bigger kids can use these shapes to create works of art. A large piece of felt is a great background for construction paper shape art. We reuse our shapes over and over, but you could have your kids glue them in different designs on a piece of paper.
I store my shapes in a manilla envelope.
Have you ever attended a homeschool curriculum fair and been totally overwhelmed by all the choices? Twenty-five years ago homeschool families had only a few options, today we have hundreds. While it is a blessing to have so many great products available, it can also make it almost impossible to find the right books for your children.
Choosing curriculum can be extremely difficult even for the experience homeschooler. Thankfully when I started homeschooling I didn’t even realize there were choices available. A friend gave me her old curriculum and for the first year we used it. When I realized there were options I had already gotten my feet wet and wasn’t totally overwhelmed by the process.
Here are a few of my tips for choosing the right homeschool curriculum for your child.
If you’ve been to a homeschool convention you’ve seen this, it’s the popular booth. There is a line a mile long to purchase this new and amazing curriculum. Everyone is using it so it must be great, right? Wrong. It could be great, it could be amazing, it could be the best thing since sliced bread, but it might not be the best curriculum for your family.
Just because all your homeschooling friends are using it doesn’t mean you have to use it too. At most homeschool conventions you can look through the curriculum before you purchase it. On Amazon and ChristianBook.com you can view sample pages. If you go to the publisher’s website there are usually sample lessons available to download. I would encourage you to look through the book before you buy it.
It might be great, but not for your family.
Something I have learned over the years is not to get caught up in a curriculum that doesn’t fit your family’s lifestyle. When my children were younger I purchased a popular unit study curriculum. While I loved this curriculum, it wasn’t conducive for a family with a toddler, newborn, a 80 hr a week shift working husband, and a child with severe learning disabilities. I tried to make it work for two years because it was so great. The truth is, it is a great curriculum, but it wasn’t a great curriculum for our family’s busy season.
By the time I realized it wasn’t working for our family I was ready to quit homeschooling. I was stressed out, tired, and overwhelmed. Switching to traditional textbooks during that busy season made all the difference in the world for my family.
Children learn differently and what works for one child might not work for another. If you aren’t familiar with the different learning styles Diana Waring has a great article explaing the four learning styles, Thinker, Feeler, Sensor, Intuitor. Your child’s learning style can make a difference in what curriculum works for them.
If you have a large family, tight budget, or both, finances can factor into your curriculum decision. While I don’t think money should be the sole factor in determining your child’s curriculum I do think it can sway the decision. If you are looking to save money consider buying curriculum that is nonconsumable. If your children do not write in their books you will be able to reuse them for another child or sell them to help pay for next year’s curriculum.
Several publishers offer a 30-day money back guarantee on their curriculum. You can buy it and see if it works for your family, if it isn’t a good fit you can return it for a full refund (minus shipping). If the publisher does not offer a money back option, check with your local homeschool group to see if any other family has a copy you can borrow for a few weeks. Often it only takes a four or five lessons to determine if the curriculum is right for your child.
Sometimes we need a different perspective to help make the decision. This year I really wanted to research a certain curriculum. I was very excited about spending hours at their booth at our homeschool convention. When I mentioned this to my husband he very kindly shared why he didn’t think it would work for our family.
He was right. I didn’t have the time to put into making this curriculum work for our family. While my husband is not involved in our homeschool on a daily basis, he does know our schedule and the kids well enough to know when something might not be a good fit.
Obviously curriculum choice does play a part in your child’s home education, but the longer I homeschool the more I’m convinced it isn’t the main thing. Yes, my kids are allergic to Saxon math and Bob Jones science is a little dry, but the years we used them my kids still learned. Don’t spend too much time agonizing over curriculum choices.
It is unfortunate that as homeschoolers we tend to define ourselves by our curriculum choices.
Don’t do it! Using a certain curriculum does not make you smarter, more loving, more dedicated, more organized, more creative, or more disciplined than someone who uses a different curriculum.
As someone who has tried most of the curriculum available to homeschool families I know first-hand that your child can succeed with almost any curriculum. Your dedication and your child’s enthusiasm are much more important than whether you use Bob Jones, Apologia, or Tapestry.
You know your child better than anyone and you have the ability to find the curriculum that is best for you and your child. If you make a mistake, it’s no big deal! Find something else and continue educating your child.
Curriculum does not educate your child, you do. Keep that in mind and choosing curriculum won’t seem so overwhelming.
If you are looking for more information about homeschool curriculum check out my Homeschool Curriculum Roundup. New reviews are added every month!
