School takes place in our kitchen, on the run, and out in the “real world.” Sometimes it’s magical, sometimes it’s maddening. One thing is for sure though- It changes every day.
When a stranger or acquaintance asks one of my kids if they are on summer break yet I can count on my kid to break out the puppy dog eyes. They will most likely respond with a pitiful “We don’t get a summer break. We’re homeschoolers.” Ha. Technically you could say we do year round school.
I have a love hate with technology for my children. I see the potential for technology to literally teach them anything they want to know. Technology can connect them to the world in a way that wasn’t possible to imagine when I was a super awkward cool 12 years old walking around with my Discman. With a little internet safety savvy that big wide world/technology connection can continue being a positive!
A fixed mindset implies that you are born with a fixed amount of talent and intelligence. Whatever you can do today is pretty much what you will able to do in the future. Kinda’ depressing, am I right? A growth mindset implies that most skills and knowledge can be learned over time through perseverance and practice. Keep trying and you’ll get it! This collection of growth mindset books for kids help to teach a growth mindset through fun stories.
Last year this time I was just beginning to think about wrapping up our first homeschool year. Here in the state of Ohio we must notify the state each year of our intent to homeschool. At the end of said year we can either choose a homeschool evaluation or have our student take a standardized test. I chose to have my four kid’s work evaluated by a local licensed teacher and here’s how that went down. (Hint, there’s a lot of hand wringing and pukey stomach stuff involved.)
My memories of middle school and high school basically subsist of trying not to draw attention to myself. While I was figuring out what was going on around me my go to strategy was to fly under the radar. Who wants to be different? (It wasn’t me.)
When we first started homeschooling and people asked which school my four kids attended I would kind of mumble the words “We’re homeschoolers” under my breath. Saying they didn’t go to school and sit in a classroom all day just seemed weird. Two years later and I’ve come to adore the label of “weird homeschooler.” As proud as I am of our families educational choices it is nice when my kids can see our lifestyle reflected in the books they read. I set out on a mission to uncover some children’s books that feature homeschoolers.
When we began homeschooling the idea of planning the entire education for four little people was a little overwhelming. Okay, overwhelming may be an understatement in my case. My public school trained brain was having a hard time believing that one person could be in charge of such an undertaking. I set off in search of a “homeschool plan” that was achievable and would give my kids what they needed.
We’ve been homeschoolers for almost two years. We’re no longer trying this lifestyle on for size. It’s a thing at our house.
Although we are only on our second year of homeschooling we are on our third homeschool writing curriculum. I’m not sure that we’ve found the perfect fit even yet. History programs; we’ve seen two. You get the idea….what we do is fluid. (That’s fancy talk for I change my mind. A lot.)