Back to Homeschool Checklist

Hey y'all!  Even though we homeschool we still enjoy back-to-school shopping.  The excitement surrounding this shopping trip helps us all get get back into the groove of things after spending our days poolside during the summer.  We also tend to do family vacations or trips in July so August does end up having that back to school "feel."  We have a need to make sure items are replenished just like everyone else and we have our traditions that we love to jump start our fall schedule.  So here's our back-to-school list for our relaxed/unschooly family:

-Pencils
-Colored pencils
-Crayons
-3 Ring binder for each child
-White blank paper
-Construction paper
-Lined paper
-Clipboard for each child
-Glue sticks
-Tape
-Scissors (they seem to get missing every year...ha!)

So not many items...thank goodness...but enough to get everyone excited about our new year.  What's on your list?

Toodles!
Erika:)

Nesting and Final Summer Plans

Soooooo, I'm totally aware that pregnancy is not a homeschooling topic, but it is a part of our life right now and this little one will continue to shake up homeschool plans, I'm sure:).  So I'm nesting big time, but I'm also trying to balance relaxing and taking in every aspect of this last pregnancy.  I've cleaned and decluttered every nook and cranny of our home, watched a lot of dancing with my family, done a lot of pool days, started planning our fall homeschooling with a newborn, and made sure that books and crafts are available to the kiddos.  Other than that, I'm done...haha!  I simply cannot focus on anything else and guess what?  The kids are having a fabulous summer!  Now if I can make sure each girl gets her mommy and me date before little sister comes, we do a lemonade stand, and we make it to the water park I'll win mommy of the year in my kids eyes!  So those are my last three goals for the summer:).

Toodles!
Erika:)

Cleaning While Homeschooling

So this has been the topic of conversation on several of the mom pages I follow on Facebook and among the small homeschool community to which I belong lately.  Here are a few things I've learned along the way that have proved to be helpful:

1.  Work together.  I'm not sure why some of us have this view that kids should be able to do it on their own.  Every adult I've ever talked to likes to have support while cleaning.  Unless there's some big decluttering project I'm doing, cleaning is much more fun and gets done quicker if it's a family affair.  I know there are some people who love organizing and decorating as a hobby.  What I'm talking about here, is simply everyone chipping in at the same time for the everyday upkeep of the home.

2.  Setup 2-3 10 minute pickup times each day.  Some will turn their noses up at this, but I live by it.  My kiddos can leave out ongoing projects but they need to be placed somewhere none of us will kill our selves as we walk through each room...ha!  Other than that, we pick up everything else right after lunch, right before we leave for dance, and on our way up to bed.
*This where you can do daily floor sweeping from food dropping during meals and dishes.

3.  I have found that everything else really depends on your family dynamics and personality.  Some people like to do one big laundry day while others like to split it up.  Some clean the whole house...like cleaning cleaning as in wiping down stuff...on Saturdays while others do one room per day.  Whatever your family can do without feeling crazy...go with it!

4.  Remember to draw the line between the things you personally like to clean/organize and what the family will do together.  When I decide to rearrange a room I don't enlist anyone else to help unless they love doing it as well, want to pass off a service project for a Faith in God project, want to earn some extra money, or in the case of my husband...there's something I just can't lift alone.

Personally, as a homeschool mom, I feel as though one and two above can help any personality of mom who's trying to keep the house from being a total minefield. The other stuff...do what makes you happy and what won't kill the happiness in your family:).

Toodles!
Erika

Summer Schooling

Hello all!  

We finished our testing requirement in our state last week and now we're on to our summer schooling.  Honestly, this doesn't look that much different than what we do August-May.  The difference for us is the addition of lots of pool time, our reading is driven by summer book clubs in addition to interest reading, we focus on learning new home responsibilities (i.e. chores...I don't like that word though so I say responsibilities...hehe), and we also want to get to a point where summer is the time where we physically visit places we've studied.  My husband's work schedule is more flexible during the summer months so we're able to travel as a family, which is always more fun.  

Our short list for summer schooling:

-Trip: family camping 

-Book Club: Online with Jamie at Simple Homeschool's "Give Your Child the World" book club

-Responsibilities: Laundry

What does summer schooling look like for you guys?

Test Week and Memorial Day

It's test week!!!  But first, Happy Memorial Day.  No matter how you're spending your day, I hope everyone takes the day to remember those who lost their lives serving this country.  It is not lost on me the ultimate sacrifice these particular men and women made for this country.  

So here we are...test week.  One homeschool requirement in NC is that you administer one test per year for each child you homeschool that's compulsory age (7 years old).  Last year was my first year doing it and it was fine, but long.  I'm a former high school counselor so testing is not new to me, but I had forgotten how much of the test is actually read out loud to students at the elementary level.  This year here are some things I've learned/remembered that may help you:

1.  For the test I use (CAT) the complete battery (CB) and the survey (SV) are the same in that the same subjects are tested but they differ in length of each section.  Basically, the survey is 2 hours shorter than the complete battery.  I won't go into our personal choice.  You select what's best for you and your child.

2.  Take the whole week or two depending on what you've selected.  Take your time.  It helps with test fatigue on your child's part and reading fatigue on yours.  I'm not sure why I had forgotten this piece.

3.  Relax.  I had no problem with this last year, but I feel it should be thrown in here so that I don't forget.  The kiddos are learning and progressing and that's all that matters to my husband and I.  This test is a requirement, not a measure of our children's worth.  

Happy testing to week to us!!!  

Toodles!

Erika

Homeschool Goals

Good morning!

I'm the type of personality that can get carried away with planning.  I need to plan for some inner peace and calm, but there comes a point where I have to stop because then it can paralyze me.  It's such an interesting cycle!  Over the years I've done a lot of  homeschool research/planning and finally feel like I can stop and just do this thing called homeschooling...that is until something shifts in one of my children or life...ha!   Anywho, writing is very cathartic and if done right it can be helpful in the goal setting process.  So below I've listed out our overall homeschool goals.  My husband and I sat down and discussed these and we feel good about keeping this list in mind when making homeschool decisions for our family.  To be clear, we didn't involve our kids with this list, but we do keep our "fingers on the pulse" of what they specifically like to do and learn about.  This list serves more as a guide for me and my husband...oh let's be real...me...when I start getting wacko and outrageous with ideas and purchases I want to make...hehe!  The thing that was most important to me and my husband was that these goals mostly be gateways to other subjects and ideas.  The last 3 items on this list are the only ones that are specific and those are honestly areas that we feel are lost on a lot of kids these days.  To us, they are important to make sure we've given a good foundation in these areas while also still understanding that it's fine if our kids aren't geniuses in those areas.

Overall homeschool goals:

You have permission to be exactly who you are in our home

Love

Passion

Reading 

Awareness of the world (other countries- culturally and geographically) 

Cursive

50 States

Multiplication facts

So there you go!  This list keeps us in check and opens up doors, naturally, in other areas like writing, science, history, and even math...Life of Fred for the win!!!  My goal this year is to "work the plan" and go with the tangents instead of staying in plan mode. I think I'm off to a great start.  

Toodles!

Erika

Welcome and Mom "School"

Welcome guys!!!  I'm going to jump into this blogging thing and skip all the...sorry I've been MIA stuff...ha!  So much has happened in our lives since the last time I was here and I'm happy to say that while it has been very up and down, the one thing that has remained constant is our family love and commitment to homeschooling.  So some housekeeping...I'm on Facebook at Passionate Learning- Homeschool/Unschooling (clarification...I'm somewhere between relaxed and unschool).  I'm also on Instagram @passionatelearningnc as well.  I'll post my blog posts on Facebook and go live as well so you can get a better "feel" for my personality!  

Ok, enough with the housekeeping.  Let's get to the first topic...mom "schooling."  I hesitate to call it school, but I will waste time and not share if I waited for the perfect wording for everything. So, mom school is my effort to be the example to my children of life long learning and to be dedicated to self-care.  I'm pregnant with our 4th little girl and the first 4 months we're hard...really hard.  During this time, I pulled back from everything I could and did a lot of reflecting and I decided I would commit to take care of me and mom schooling was the answer.  So, what does that look like for me?  I've selected 6 books to finish this year, I've made a personal scripture plan for myself, and I've recommitted to my fitness goals.  Within these three areas there is time for me to be me everyday and it feels amazing!  The icing on the cake is that it shows my girls that although I love the season of giving a lot to them I have to fill my tank as well.  I know that this example will serve them tremendously in their lives as well.  I've already been nourished by my efforts and I'm so grateful the Lord saw fit to really show me the way in this area of my life.

Toodles,

Erika:)

Getting Ready for Homeschool!

So here we go...for real...except in NC it's not documented until your first child is 7, but anyway!  Mimi is not following most of her friends to public school this fall.  We have officially decided that home education is what we are choosing and we are all excited!!!  I have planned and planned and I cannot plan anymore!  After tons of research, personal stories, and prayer we truly do believe that we have time to introduce formal education (and I say that loosely) and we will be living a kind of eclectic/life learning/unschooling kind of school life.  Anyone reading this that may be confused, concerned, or worried...don't be.  I've done enough of that for you and a small community!  Typically, those worries stem from lack of information and I feel like if people would take a moment to ask the person that has lived the life or done the research they would see where they are coming from or at least respectfully walk away understanding that everyone is different and that's OK and what makes the world go round:).

All the girls have expressed their topics of interest to me and I've picked some I desire for them to learn about and we'll go from there!  We're all excited about Children's Museum trips, nature walks, new dance classes, lots of writing, reading, and craft time, and our co-op days.  Just this morning we've already had a newspaper and tickets to a magic show created.  I just LOVE it!!!

Well, there it is!  It's out in the atmosphere...again (for all my close friends that have been on this roller coaster where I've gone back and forth)...ha!

No matter where your babies are headed for school this fall it's a time of transition and excitement for all families.  I pray for all of our hearts as we decide how we will educate our children.  Enjoy it and be "in" it all the way whatever that looks like for you and your family.

Toodles!

Erika and the little girls

Bubbles is 3!!!

Bubbles is 3 now and we can't believe it!!!  Here are some of her favorites right now:

1.  Favorite songs - What Does the Fox Say and Rockstar

2.  Favorite food - Cupcapes!!!  Yes, that's how we say it around these parts:).

3.  Favorite stuffed animal - ChiChi

We have SO much fun with Bubbles and can't wait to see her grow this year as she does "school" with her sisters next year and starts her big girl dance class.

Silly Bubbles

I'm not really sure how we got such a spirited and imaginative little girl, but I couldn't imagine life without Bubbles!  On the way out the door today she asks me to put the goggles on her face and says,"I'm a worker and my name is Craylan."  Who is Craylan?!  

"Craylan" singing to Kidz Bop with toothpaste on her chin.

You (whoever might be out there) May Not Believe Me...

but...I'm blogging again!

So, I laughed at myself when I couldn't even remember my blog name...ha!  I am really trying to give this a "go" again.  So here goes nothing!  I WILL commit to this blog for the last time and truly stick with it because it's really fun when I do commit and as an "official" homeschooling family I can link up with other families easily.  I feel like I need to re-introduce myself so here are some things about me and the crew:

1.  We like to have fun!
2.  We homeschool:).
3.  We are a dance, music, and sport loving family.
4.  My goal with this blog is to share life and also share information with others as it relates to faith, family, and homeschooling.

Toodles!
Erika

 

The Power of a Hug

The power of touch is amazing!  You can say a lot with a hand shake, a gentle hand on the knee, or a big ole hug!  Hugs are huge for us in our house.   We give them when daddy comes home, we give them when someone is sad, and we even give them when we're mad.  Yes, when we're mad.  Those are the best and the worst!  The best because they put a smile on your face.  The worst because while in the middle of making your really good point (that's really not that great in the big picture), the magic of that hug has now softened you and makes you think before you speak.  So, I guess they are the best and the best during a disagreement...ha!  

Try it!  I dare you.  The hug was one of the best things we implemented into our lives when we were first married.  My mother-in-law gave us a gift bag of candy kisses and a poem about the power of the hug and I will never forget that simple, but powerful gift.  We use the hug with the discipline of our children and we use it to set the tone for any discussion we need to have as a couple.  Some of the hardest things we've needed to say to one another have been communicated while we were embraced.  It's lovely and it keeps us strong.  

So go ahead, hug.  It's pretty awesome:).

Erika

Speaking Positively About Your Kids

At the beginning of my motherhood adventure I had a conversation with a friend.  We were discussing how we would vow to speak positively about our children.  I have been around several mothers who get asked the question,” How are the kids?" Too often the response is something negative.  "Oh, the kids are driving me nuts with their bickering" or "Oh my goodness the baby kept me up all night." I'm not saying that mothers don't have a right and even a need to express frustrations.  However, I do feel as though I hear this type of response more often than a response of happiness.  The way we respond to the,” How are the kids?" question shapes how people view parenthood and I want to personally paint a picture of happiness.  Is parenthood hard?  Yes.  However, it is happiness and my life wouldn't be full without my husband and our girls.

It is so easy to get into a back-and-forth about the difficulties in parenting.  However, I feel as though speaking negatively about our children hurts our relationship with them.  It's important in any relationship to keep private matters private out of respect and love for one another.  So why would we treat our relationship with our children any differently?  Not only does it keep the negative at the front of our minds, but our children hear and internalize those words as well.

I love my children to pieces and I want them to know that I respect and care about them and their feelings.  One way I know I can do that is by praising who they are and not blabbing about what they do wrong.  Praising them fills my heart with love and compassion for them and I know it will go a long way in the relationship that I desire to have with my children.

How do you answer the question, “How are the kids?"

Erika

This is All I've Got Today

When I'm having one of those days...weeks...this is all I've got!  Elmer's Glue, construction paper, stickers, and scissors.  They are my lifesavers and I don't know what I would do without them...HA!

Erika

Where did last week go?!

So I missed posting on Monday because I've been in a little weather funk, but that's over now.  Although I LOVE fall, when the sky is dark during the day and it gets cooler it takes a little more to get going.  So I took a week to just "be" and do what had to be done and let go of what didn't have to be done:).  Which means I haven't been this overly planned homeschooling mom and I"M OK WITH THAT!!!  

Even though I needed a moment, I couldn't sit still for too long because I had Mimi's Wizard of Oz party that had to be planned (post to come).  So even though I was a bit "off" once Monday hit, I made sure I had the camera handy so I could capture the fun!

 Mimi's 4th birthday

 BFF at story time

 Loo reading to one of her friends

Birthday lunch with Grandmom

 

Wizard of Oz party

Conference:)

 Painting

 ...more painting 

Delivering cupcakes to Nana on her birthday

(Mimi is ALWAYS in first position...haha!)

Silly girls:)

(...or posing with the toe pop...ha!)

Whew!  I'm tired just looking back over the past week.  It was a blast and it just shows you how fast life goes by.  

Erika

Same blog...new name...AND new URL

So I've had my blog attached to an email I do not use anymore and I was just getting SO tired of logging out of my email, logging into the old one to update my blog, and having to comment on friend's blog as anonymous just to keep from having to log back into my new email.  So today I exported my blog and created a new blog under my Gmail account so that I could have an easier time blog hopping and checking email:).  So good-bye "What Up Holmes" and HELLLLOOOOO  "Dancing with Tiny Feet!"

I'm a little sad about this because I was pretty proud of that title, but it's just not as fitting anymore.  This blog, yes, is still about me and my family, but it is definitely more about me and the girls on our journey with homeschool with some sprinklings of other stuff thrown in there...sometimes.  So anyway, I could have left it the same, but I kind of like this new title too:).

Erika

One of THE best school days so far this year!

Today was my kind of school day.  It flowed nicely, I watched for cues that the kiddos were done with an activity, and we did music...LOTS of music which is always a great thing for us. 

Shadow shapes for definite success since they both know their shapes

 "The b's on the bus go b-b-b, b-b-b, b-b-b..." - This was my favorite random mommy-made-up-school-thing-in-the-car-one-day and now they ask for the song all the time!  We sang it and they found the bottle cap letter as we sang and put them back in their plastic baggie:).

 The girls LOVE candy corn so we did a roll and remove game with candy corn!!!  

 Then the whiteboard came out and I introduced them to the alligator that eats bigger numbers for meals!  They LOVED it!  They wanted to give him a body and legs too:).

Finally Dancin' Diva started singing Freshbeat Band songs so I put the CD in and we had a music/dance concert for an hour!!!

They were absolutely ADORABLE today and I had a blast chomping numbers and dancing with my girls:)

Erika

Homeschool Spirit Week

So last week was the first ever International Homeschool Spirit Week!  I thought it would be a fun way to do school that week and help me let go a bit:).  It was a fun time and I think we may do this sometimes to change things up!  Enjoy:)

School-away-from-home day

 Mixing the water form their water bottles with the dirt making mud!!!

Comfy Cozy Day!!!

I think we need at least two of these per week...haha!

 Crazy Sock Day...and winter day???  Haha!  Dancin' Diva found my stack of winter items I took out of storage:).

Mismatch Day

 Twin Day

Yay for spirit weeks!!!

Erika

Chill School Day

 So my intention is not to do school on Wednesdays because we visit with Grandmom.  However, we still hadn't read our library books from Friday.  So we had some school today, but because it wasn't planned everyone stayed calm and happy (something I'm trying to replicate so maybe I should stop planning???).

We read LOTS of books and the girls were too cute!  

So my kids love dry erase boards so I decided to bring it out and see what would happen.  I decided to have them erase letters, shapes, words, and numbers and they thought it was SO cool!

When they had their own time on the board DD decided to do some addition.  All on her own, by the way.  So we talked about the addition sign and equal sign.  However, I have to say I actually like her underlining method:).  She stated the problem out loud and then counted to get to the answer.  I left it alone after that since this was their free time.

This was just an adorable bonus picture after dinner.  From left to right it's Lil' Diva, Little Red Riding Hood, and a bad dinosaur turned good dinosaur that is now friends with Red.  I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!

Erika

School with some new concepts

Today we brought out some fun educational toys my sister-in-law handed down to us.  The names escape me at the moment, but they were pretty cool!   

 This one was perfect for SD to work with colors, sorting, and shape review

 DD got a kick out of replicating the movements of this directional puzzle.  It gave us plenty of opportunity to talk about directions throughout the rest of the day:).

 One of their favorites...Handwriting Without Tears!  They love this because of three things...the wood pieces, chalk and a wet paper towel...ha!  Often the wood pieces turn into drum sticks, wands, and whatever else they can think of and my kids have an obsession for wet paper towels.  I'm serious they could play with a wet paper towel for hours!  As for the chalk...what kid doesn't like playing with chalk?

This was one of my favorites of the day.  Count the House!  We would have gone all over the house, but Granddad came by to help look at our leaking ceiling:(.  So we kept it in the school room.  

 I am really into the living math with my girls instead of pushing them too soon into other math concepts.  I am hoping this will really give them a true foundation of what the numbers really are and what they mean instead

of just saying they can count to 100 by Kindergarten.  DD loved sticking the corresponding stickers in her notebook.  I also got a little addition in there when we miscounted and needed to add another sticker.  So instead of telling her I asked how many we needed to add to get the right amount and she was on top of it!  In that moment I was living my dream of how I would like education to happen in our home:).    

So although SD didn't really get into the sticker part she had a great time running around the room counting the different parts of the house/room.  For a moment I was preoccupied with her doing the stickers, but luckily I've been at this enough that I let it go:).  She was counting perfectly, playing with dolls in between, but would still count the next thing when I asked.  So I would say we had success for the day.

It was a fun school day and then we all headed off to dance class that afternoon.  Tomorrow we will be making an igloo on my bed and reading our library books from Friday.  I'm WAY excited!

Erika