Xtrodinary Homeschool Progress- tell me how we are doing!!!
This is our first year homeschooling and I can honestly say I am not sure how I feel about it yet. I know Devdan is loving the freedom and lack of structure. I am still trying to convince myself that it is okay if we spend time doing a puzzle instead of practicing our sight words. A few days ago Dhara and I put together a puzzle and glued it with puzzle glue. Now puzzles are all the rage in this house. I know our nearest Dollar Store has quite the collection of puzzles so I loaded up the 4 kids and off we went. That experience within itself is another post, lol! This Dollar Store has some great teaching tools so I picked up a few extra items.
What are some fun educational things you do with your home schoolers???
Devdan picked out this one for his first puzzle.
I helped him a little but mostly just talked him through organized thinking and grouping to make the task seem not so overwhelming. He did great!
I never knew this amazing product existed! It's so easy to use!!!
These are a major Dollar Store score!!!! Phases of the butterfly transition!
Learning a little about the world. We did some comparison here.
Houston is 627 square miles with a little more than 2 million people and Mexico City is 573 square miles with over 21 million people!!!!!!!! craaaaazy!!!!
Learning to tell time.
Compound words
We have been trying some easy science and it doesn't get any easier than this. The celery experiment is done by placing a stalk of celery in each color water and seeing what happens. Devdan's prediction is that the celery will turn the color of the water it is in.
From this mom to all you moms out there... The struggle is real. This little girl would not let me put her down. It took 3 times longer to write this post because she is clingy whiny today.
Teaching and raising kids is always a struggle and we tend to question what we re doing and where are we going. But everything is definitely worth it in the end. The kids are happier and are more eager to learn. Their education will be more rounded and solid too. Take a breather. You're doing fine.
Thanks so much!!!!!!! I think the biggest worry is missing something important and them resenting me when they get older.
My sons have thanked me for taking the time and effort to home school them They are no continuing the new family tradition of home schooling with my grandkids. You'll soon have the hang of it...
That's so cool! I hope to instill some good values in them!
Nice puzzles and you are fine. Personally I skipped teaching sight words and taught phonics instead.
Yes, we are doing phonics as well.. I think its going to take me a bit to get out of the needing to teach phase for myself.. And just enjoy learning by doing and exploration.
It is a big adjustment, when I first started home schooling I went crazy overboard with materials. As time went long I realized that all the crap is just that crap, and learning doesn't fit into a certain box. You will do great at this, I am sure. A little secret kids naturally want to learn, it is Public School and the teaching to pass a test and not true learning that kills a child's desire to learn. Learning through play helps keep that want to learn desire on fire.
Love it! I'm definitely going to scout out DG for homeschooling resources. So encouraging to other homeschool mom's to post ideas like this. Thanks for sharing :)
I know!!! I definitely didn't expect to find such great resources at the Dollar Store but early in the year when we started I found a ton of useful stuff! And puzzles, man such a forgotten past time!!!!! I am glad my kids enjoy doing simple activities like puzzles because they do have quite a bit of screen time for leisure and academics. So, it is nice to have these activities available to get them off the screen and more hands on. We do a lot of artistic stuff too, all from the Dollar Store!
Thanks so much for commenting!!!!
Dollar Tree is good too at least for younger age resources.
One of the major joys of homeschooling is the flexibility in time and every place can be part of their education and a lesson to go with it. Trip to the store can be about figuring the distance and the cost of gas as well as a time lesson. So don't over worry about if they will resent you, it is not going to happen, blessed is the words my grand daughters told me because when they did go into a school they were bumped up 2 grades and out shined many of those, each was asked who taught them and both told their teachers the books taught us the lessons but grandmama taught them to use their brains and how to figure out the solutions!
I really enjoy hearing stories like this because I feel like it gives me hope. I know I am a good teacher, I have been teaching them since they were born. All of our kids knew some level of sign language and all of them are extremely articulate with a vast vocabulary and we do try to teach them to think for themselves. I guess the stigma of "homeschooling" is something I will just overcome with time. My son was extremely bored in Kinder and I know he is much more stimulated now that he controls his learning. I like seeing the joy and fulfillment in him when he is allowed to take control of what he learns. He is more interested and engaged. I am so thankful for you mamas out there who pave the way for us newbies and give us encouragement and something to look up to. So, thank you so very much!!!!!
I prefer a home schooled kid over a public school where they are not taught to learn but socialize. I have not met 1 in 40 years that was not articulate and could hold their own in a room full of adults and stay engaging and better informed than any of their counter parts in public school. Never ever under estimate the power that you are teaching by home schooling and it is something to carry with pride that you are and not shuffling them off to become idiots who can't function in real life.
I feel envious of this kid because he has a great mom.LOl
I wish him a beautiful life.
Oh wow, that's so sweet! Thank you! I was certainly unsure of this journey but I think I will gain confidence the longer we do it and we will both be glad we did in the end. I tell him all the time that it is our journey together and not my choice. He actually had the choice to go to school or home school and he is the one who chose to home school. He is doing very well. I am a lucky mom!
That's beautiful. This will make him able to make the right decisions in the future when he becomes a man.
. I'm a teacher and I'm interested in the child's psychological education. You must leave the child free, but you must stay with him for guidance only.