Finding Something That Worked Better...

As I was searching for lessons, lesson plans, topics, videos, hands-on activities: ANYTHING that would keep him not only engaged in the lesson but also retain the knowledge I was working so hard to present to him; I stumbled across a lot of homeschool curriculum. Curriculums published not by major publishers, but by ordinary homeschool moms like myself. Textbooks, and workbooks created and put out that were in line with how I wished to teach.

I am a history buff- I love all things history- but haven't always. When I was in school, middle school, I distinctly remember hating, no loathing, history studies. Like everyone else, I thought they were so dry and boring. Date after date; useless name after useless name; locale after locale. None of it ever felt relevant to anything in my world. History was boring. Until I was in college. History was brought alive by professors that would incorporate psychology and literature into the history lesson. 

I am a collector of information. I am also a collector of context. I love to know how things, events, people are interconnected, related and intertwine. History was alive. And in my bumbling across all of the elements I incorporated, I bumbled across something beautiful, a classical education.  

I don't remember the details of how I found this methodology- but it was love at first explanation. It was exactly the kind of education that I wish I had gotten as a middle school student- especially where history was concerned. So I bought the curriculums and I was excited for the next year. 

Now it was just a matter of expressing the interest and desire to continue homeschooling. Once I did, everyone else was soon board. Apparently, my stumbling through seemed to be paying off, and he was actually making progress that was beyond my ability to see.

At that point, every subject was classically based- with the exception of math and language arts though. I had finally gotten the green light (and really had just needed it from myself and first hand experience), to purchase the curriculum I had dreamed of using for so many years.

For those you who may be wondering; what about what works for him?

See, that's the thing... in my stumbling through that first year- our adventures in homeschooling had shown me that he and I are SO MUCH ALIKE in our preferences where learning is concerned- nearly identical in fact. I knew that this would be a good fit for him too. And who knows, may be my yearning for knowledge and information would be satisfied too. 

Until next time.

Floundering

 That first year was a wild ride; and stressful to boot. At the last minute, the 11th hour, I was trying to figure out all the things: what should he be learning? what does he want to learn?

I had no idea, other than what I vaguely recall what I had learned in middle school. That was too many years ago. For many of those years that I had dreamed of being a homeschool mom, I had a certain curriculum in mind for the task. It was tried and true, I knew it well and that it was very good. There was just one challenge that had been put before me- to homeschool as cheaply as possible. Which to me, meant not buying the curriculum. And in my heard, that meant "for free". Now what.... 

Thank God for google and my local school district. In my foray into the jungle of what direction we should go, I looked at the website for school district we had just come out of, to see if they had any thing i could use as reference for the year. As it was, he was just going to be homeschooled for this one year- so I wanted to make sure he kept up with his peers, and didn't end up behind when he returned to attending school. And i was in luck, they had everything but links to the text books listed on their site. With my list of topics that he should be covering, I set out to find suitable lesson plans on the cheap. Some topics were easy to find, some were not. Many times, I could find a lesson plan that had been posted by a university, created by a student teacher, or teaching professor; which was so advantageous. For math, we started using a workbook, but quickly figured out that it was more for supplementation- not teaching or learning. Switching gears and having to go back to the drawing board on that one was an endeavor. We tried a few free apps on the ipad, but they were not advanced enough. I think it was about that time that I found education.com, and it was a bit of a life saver. Not only was there digital math exercises, worksheets and games he could play, but it also kept track of his progress. It wasn't free, mind you, but for $19 a year, it was so worth it. It helped so much. For math, we also used Khan Academy. It helped, but there were some holes in the effectiveness of it presentations, and it ended up just confusing the poor kid.

There were days that I felt lost, alone and totally clueless. Days when it felt like I was spending all of my time just trying to find suitable material. 

At the end of the year, though, he had improved on his multiplication tremendously. And learned a few things about the planets & outer space; improved his grammar, writing abilities and vocabulary. But I felt there had to be a better way...

Here's what we used..