There I was minding my own business writing some of my personal ramblings to share with the world and I was tagged in a blog by another blogger. OK so now what?! After a little research I am able to finish the task put toward me. Thank you Garden Tenders for the tag. So the task is to answer some questions about homeschooling...so without further adieu:
1. One homeschooling book you have enjoyed: What book? I did not get a book when this was laid on our hearts. I did, however, get Learning Coach Guides from WAVA to help me explain the lessons but I have no book on homeschooling.
2. One resource I wouldn't be without: Honestly I think that would be my sense of humor or the Internet but really my sense of humor helps more than the Internet at this point.
3. One resource I wish I had never bought: Well I have bought no resources at this point in time. We have resources which were sent to us through WAVA and all of the resources we have already had, but we have not purchased anything.
4. One resource I enjoyed last year: This is our first year with home based education for our kids so there is nothing to base this question on honestly...but I will say I miss the peace and quiet from last year.
5. One resource I will be using next year: Next year I hope to be feeling as positive about homeschooling as I am right now, minus the peace and quiet thing, but I will be using other mom's advice and thoughts again. Sometimes I just love to read what the other moms are saying about their own days with the kiddos, makes me realize I am not alone on this wild ride.
6. One resource I would like to buy: Ask me again in June. With the availability of so many resources online it is hard to determine what to buy, what to download, or what to ignore for now.
7. One resource I wish existed: A clone of myself to clean the house. Thank Heaven and the Powers that be my hubby is available to help with many chores in the house or some lessons so I can do chores or even breathe.
8. One home school catalog I enjoy: CATALOG!!! Who has time for a catalog? Between the kids, the hubby, the house, and my own schooling I am lucky I have time to read the mail.
9. One home school website I use regularly: WAVA and Facebook Yep you read me correctly, Facebook. I have made wonderful home school or virtual academy families on Facebook and they have been THE BEST resources in the world.
10. This said to tag other homeschoolers but I honestly do not know many home school blogs, sorry. If you have any to recommend for me to read please post in comments.
Now I know there are a few of you out there reading this and laughing and even more that do not feel sorry for me since this is a choice I made. Please laugh at me and my adventure but never think you need to feel sorry for me, I am loving this more than you can dream of. The greatest joy we have experienced has been the chance to have the kids home for school. All those 90 degree days we schooled in the morning, lake in the middle of the day, and schooled again in the evening when it was cooler. No two days are the same!
Showing posts with label WAVA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WAVA. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
First Week of Homeschooling
WOW!!! We have completed the first week of our homeschooling adventure and what a week it has been. We have some ups and downs as well as the normal confusion following any school break. I can see certain subjects that my oldest child has missed in his education since he was a late reader needing extra help on a regular basis. So we struggle a bit with grammar but he has figured out quickly to do it quickly and get it out of the way and on with better subjects. I think he is really liking the options.
My dear darling daughter on the other hand sometimes seems to have the attention span of a gnat. My oh my...we had a lesson where she decided to play around more than actually work so I told her that I really do not care how long it takes her to finish the lesson she will only get 1 hours worth of credit for it. She looked at me like I have grown 2 heads. By the end of the day when brother had been finished for an hour and she was still working, maybe that did the trick.
Couple of other points came to focus when reading the wording in their lessons, it is not the same that they are used to so we hit a challenge. After a bit of rereading I explained that when you see that word this is what they want to know. This came up once for both of the kids but in different subjects.
On a better note Science is a hit with both kids, as is US History. My son also discovered that he loves the vocabulary. The vocab unit is on prefixes of uni-, bi-, mono-, he had no idea these were based on Latin and Greek words and then how many different words you can make with these prefixes. I love seeing the excitement in him for learning. He has also discovered Literature and he is loving the reading as well as the discussion questions afterwards. WOW...what a change!
This has been an awesome week and none of us can wait to see what next week has to bring.
My dear darling daughter on the other hand sometimes seems to have the attention span of a gnat. My oh my...we had a lesson where she decided to play around more than actually work so I told her that I really do not care how long it takes her to finish the lesson she will only get 1 hours worth of credit for it. She looked at me like I have grown 2 heads. By the end of the day when brother had been finished for an hour and she was still working, maybe that did the trick.
Couple of other points came to focus when reading the wording in their lessons, it is not the same that they are used to so we hit a challenge. After a bit of rereading I explained that when you see that word this is what they want to know. This came up once for both of the kids but in different subjects.
On a better note Science is a hit with both kids, as is US History. My son also discovered that he loves the vocabulary. The vocab unit is on prefixes of uni-, bi-, mono-, he had no idea these were based on Latin and Greek words and then how many different words you can make with these prefixes. I love seeing the excitement in him for learning. He has also discovered Literature and he is loving the reading as well as the discussion questions afterwards. WOW...what a change!
This has been an awesome week and none of us can wait to see what next week has to bring.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Homeschooling
So I have recently heard that I am not homeschooling my children since they are enrolled in a public school virtual academy. I have to say, I beg a difference with those statements.
I have chosen to teach my children at home for their benefit not for my own. I also believe there is A LOT of great teachers and great schools throughout the public school system and I believe that we have moved to one of those districts. My 7th grader is easily distracted and needs a bit more one-on-one attention. My 5th grader, on the other hand, needs to feel successful and get a little "push" now and then. For these reasons we have decided to give home-based schooling a chance.
We are using WAVA-Washington Virtual Academy, which provides the k12 curriculum. I feel fortunate I did not have to find and purchase the variety of subjects which were sent to us. For every subject there is a teaching or learning coach guide and a students guide, not much different from a brick and mortar school. We will be having lessons in math, language arts, literature, spelling for the 5th grader, history, science, art as well as PE (lessons are my job here), not to mention the study island site they will be working in once a week, as well as a success skills once a week. That is a lot of subjects as well as the ton of materials we received.
I have spent the last 2 weeks finding all the bookshelves we will be needing as well as purchasing the basics of school supplies to set up our class space. We now have tables, chairs, computers, and everything we need to get started. I get to plan our field trips to many places of interest as well as a few fun places. We can take our schooling with us to the doctors office. I can even use a trip to the grocery store as educational.
I will probably miss the days of taking the kids to school and being free to run errands alone as well as the first day of school breakfast out that hubby and I would enjoy, but I am only limited by my own thoughts and ideas as long as we are making appropriate progress we are good to go. We have the benefit of a certified teacher for additional questions as well as to touch base with weekly, a homeroom teacher.
School starts on Tuesday and we have chores to get done before then.
I have chosen to teach my children at home for their benefit not for my own. I also believe there is A LOT of great teachers and great schools throughout the public school system and I believe that we have moved to one of those districts. My 7th grader is easily distracted and needs a bit more one-on-one attention. My 5th grader, on the other hand, needs to feel successful and get a little "push" now and then. For these reasons we have decided to give home-based schooling a chance.
We are using WAVA-Washington Virtual Academy, which provides the k12 curriculum. I feel fortunate I did not have to find and purchase the variety of subjects which were sent to us. For every subject there is a teaching or learning coach guide and a students guide, not much different from a brick and mortar school. We will be having lessons in math, language arts, literature, spelling for the 5th grader, history, science, art as well as PE (lessons are my job here), not to mention the study island site they will be working in once a week, as well as a success skills once a week. That is a lot of subjects as well as the ton of materials we received.
I have spent the last 2 weeks finding all the bookshelves we will be needing as well as purchasing the basics of school supplies to set up our class space. We now have tables, chairs, computers, and everything we need to get started. I get to plan our field trips to many places of interest as well as a few fun places. We can take our schooling with us to the doctors office. I can even use a trip to the grocery store as educational.
I will probably miss the days of taking the kids to school and being free to run errands alone as well as the first day of school breakfast out that hubby and I would enjoy, but I am only limited by my own thoughts and ideas as long as we are making appropriate progress we are good to go. We have the benefit of a certified teacher for additional questions as well as to touch base with weekly, a homeroom teacher.
School starts on Tuesday and we have chores to get done before then.
These are the shelves of books and materials we received.
Here is my darling daughter admiring the globe she found at a garage sale.
She is sitting in her chair at one of the school tables we found at the state surplus sale.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)