Homeschool 2008 – Reviewed

After just 2 weeks of schooling, I already have a review!!  Well, afterall, this is my first time trying to homeschool 2 children.  For other experienced homeschooler, its a piece of cake, for me, I’m still learning and struggling along the way.

What are the changes now…

I take away all the afternoon homeschool sessions, and replace it with cards, board games, chess, game time, etc with Mr E instead. Anyway he loves such games, so why not!

This is made possible because of the new children’s devotion guide that I have been using with Mr E since beginning of the year. The quiet time in the morning become the Bible part of our homeschool.  This saves me lots of time on lesson plan preparation, and gives me more time on other subjects, without sacrificing spiritual teaching.  I also do not want to overwhelm the children with too much Bible studies, so I thought the devotion is really sufficient.

We now have more time outdoor too!  Our outdoor cloud time left such a deep impression upon the children’s minds that they are consistently observing the clouds when we are out, especially my little Ms Z, who in turn, influence Mr E.

Basically, the changes mean the children, especially Mr E, has more learn through game time, as well as learn at the great outdoor time.  Something that I very much prefer too.

Homeschool Schedule 2008

While the church’s theme this year is “Year of Sabbath”, I’m finding my homeschool schedule so packed!!! Still working very hard to cut something… Meanwhile, this is what I have planned.

Ethan has officially dropped his nap, so besides the morning 1 hour schooling, I’m doing a 1 hour session with him in the afternoon.  I’m trying very hard to make sure he has time to play, afterall, this will probably be his last year before he starts his public schooling in 2009.

Zoe’s homeschool is only in the morning.

* Playdates are either on Monday, Wednesday or Friday.

Monday *

• Playdate

Tuesday

• am – EZ homeschool (Since E has a piano class, I’m trying to arrange something for Z too.)
• pm – Tuition my niece & nephew.  Opportunity for EZ to socialize with their cousins.

Wednesday

• am – EZ homeschool
• pm – E homeschool

Thursday

• am – EZ homeschool
• pm – E homeschool

Friday *

• am – EZ homeschool
• pm – E homeschool

Saturday

• am – E piano class
• pm – Tuition niece & nephew. Opportunity for EZ to socialize with their cousins.

Sunday

• Church
• Grandparents

“Home school”, now and than

Home school, cum my study ‘room’ used to be such (see background), occupying our living area:

Background : ‘School’ area at background

while our living area was being squeezed into our study.  Such arrangement is fine, till I have guests.  Living area was simply too cramp.  So, time to revamp!

Now, home school is back to the study.

Home ‘school’ cum my working space with all the walls being fully utilised

The ‘World Wall’ just beside the home school area

Bulletin board for each core subject is also better defined

 

While, I’m sure our guest will feel more comfy and spacious with the living area being back to where it should be.

Living area : Home sweet home!

休 息 是 为 了 要 走 更 长 的 路

This last weeks had not been just a time of casual homeschool, it was also a time for me to re-look my working style.  I know that if I continue to work the way I had been, I will be burn out. 

Reading

I was looking at other reading program.  I’m getting tired of RAZ’s phonics.  Its so lengthy, and a little boring.  Though Ethan enjoys the books, I can see that he is getting bored with the lessons. 

Dug out my The Reading Lesson, which a friend sold to me.  Found that in 20 lessons, it covers most of the things covered in RAZ phonics’ 68 lessons! Amazing!  It also comes with an interactive CD, a big plus since Ethan loves anything on PC.

Wonder why I didn’t use it earlier.

Conclusion: For the rest of this year, I will give The Reading Lesson a try.  At the same time, I will used RAZ’s books as a supplement.  I think RAZ will still be useful after we have completed The Reading Lesson cause by than, we will use their ‘Guided Reading’ lessons.

 

Math

Thanks to E, who shared this wonderful website: http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/seqlps/ 

It has the complete lesson plans, and all FREE!

So, in addition to Math covered in FIAR’s, I will do the lessons in this web fortnightly.  So I don’t need to plan so much for Math.

 

Lessons Plans

Though FIAR manuals did mention that we don’t need to cover all the suggested activities, I was too ambitious, and tried to cover too many things.  Used to plan A LOT, but only teach 60%, so wasted lots of effort doing research. 

Decided to focus on a key theme, thus, I streamlined the LP, and saved lots of time.  Now daily lessons look something like this:

Daily Plan

Each FIAR book complete over 2 weeks. Each week, there are 3 teaching days, and 2 being outing/playdates days.

(1) FIAR Lang OR Phonics (50-50)

(2) Chinese OR Bible Study (Bible once in 2 weeks)

(3) Science OR Math

(4) Arts OR Crafts OR Cookery

This has made planning so much simpler.  Tried out 1 theme, planning look manageable, will see how it works out on actual lesson days.

 

Lesson Days

Now that Zoe is older, I’m going to try having our school while Zoe is awake, so that I can have some time to do my planning when both siblings nap at the same time.  Else, the nightly planning is making me looks like a panda.  This will definitely save me LOTS of time at night.  Instead of sleeping at nearly 1am, I hope I can sleep by midnight.

Evelyn will definitely need to help a little to keep Zoe occupied while I’m teaching, but their nap time will enable her to do the house chores with peace.

 

Is this Final?

The only certainty is: changes are expected.

The children are growing, I’m a first time homeschooling mum.  There are still so many resources out there for me to explore.  So, let’s see how far this can take us.

 

Another Term Has Started

The school holiday had been a great breather and break, especially for me .  For Ethan, school holidays are quite ‘boring’, cos that means he has to find his own activities to do.

But this holiday, I noticed he was able to find things to occupy himself, much better than what he used to be.  At least he didn’t keep coming to me, begging me to give him things to do.

Today, school started AGAIN! Yay… But after nearly 3 weeks break, it took Ethan a bit of adjustment.  He was easily distracted, and very fidgetive.  I do think he will settle down after this week.

Due to changes in Zoe’s nap timing, I also make some changes to our daily home and schooling routine.  Zoe used to nap by 11:30am, so while waiting for me to get Zoe to nap, Ethan would have a snack.  Once Zoe napped, we would start school.

Now, Zoe nap around 1pm, so I decided to have early lunch for everybody, so that Ethan can have his school in the afternoon while Zoe naps.

This mean we have lots of time to ‘kill’ in the morning.  So for morning, we now do the ’activie’ and fun activities, eg, singing, games, crafts, while Zoe naps, we will do the lessons that need more focus, eg phonics.

I also bought a new world map.  This will be very helpful, especially since I plan to cover a country for every FIAR book covered.

Helper’s room will be better utilised for our display… Running out of place in the house for the various things that I need to pin up… sigh…

2nd half of 2006… Here we come…

Holiday!!!

Yes, I do need school holidays!!! (this is on top of my lazy days when I don’t teach )…
But we been plague by illnesses… First was Zoe, than Ethan with a cold cough that refuse to go, and latest me…
So school holidays became a “MC” time for us!!!  We have to spend most times at home, cos I noticed my children usually get more sick once they go out running…
Were we bored?!!! I think the kids are a little. But I have learnt to appreciate 2 things:
(1) Siblings
Ethan and Zoe may not be exactly playing together, but they are great companions for each other.  When Ethan plays with something, Zoe will join him, and when Zoe plays, Ethan will join her… so in a way, they keep each other pretty occupied…
Of course they fight, but thank God that my children’s temperaments are pretty manageable, so most times not much issue… Plus, with regards to playing together, I do have 2 ‘Golden Rules’ at home, which I believe has helped reduce sibling rivalry, fighting, etc, tremendously.  Will share on this again when I have more time to ‘blog’…
(2) Presence of another adult, ie, my domestic helper
When I don’t have a helper, my children used to come to me for EVERY single matter, now, at least, the attention is spread between my helper and me…
At times, they will ‘help’ my helper with chores, while other times, they will come look for me to ‘play’… It does give me a breather!
I now have glimpse of what my parent’s childhood days were like, when they used to live with grands, aunties, uncles, and many other relatives under 1 roof… No wonder those days families don’t need domestic helpers!

Handling Zoe

For the last few weeks, Zoe been quite a challenge while I homeschool Ethan.  She would either be whinny or clingy.  Very hard to settled her.

Finally tried out another routine to have a win-win solution. Hopefully this will work:

Outdoor activities before Zoe’s nap:

I used to start schooling after our breakfast, ie, about 9:30am.  For this last 2 weeks, we started to have outdoor playtime after or before breakfast, which dragged start of schooling to later, so that by the time we start, it will be near Zoe’s nap time.

Re-structure flow of lesson

Even if Zoe is not ready to nap, I will start activities that uses lesser concentrations from Ethan.  Egs are, crafts, action rhymes, pretend play.  For important lessons like Reading, Maths and Science, I do it during Zoe 1+ hour nap time, which is more than enough to cover the necessary.

This 2 ways seems to make lesson plan more pleasant and smooth for everybody.  Need to continue cranking my head to have a balance time with my 2 kids.

CNY break and preparations

Homeschool takes a break this week (& maybe next?)cos I have so many things to get ready for CNY.

1. 1st attempt at baking CNY cookie
2. Finish up sewing a set of new curtain for my children
3. Use balance cloth to sew pillow and bolster cases, and change the cotton fillings in old pillows.
4. CNY shopping & change notes
5. General tidying
6. Endless dinners (22th – mum, 27th – dad, 28th – in-laws)
7. and my most hated : nursing the flu that Ethan, Zoe and I caught.

Well, that’s me.   I usually can only get things done at the 11th hour.  And the CNY week is another busy week of visitation, plus gathering with El and gang… hmmm… wonder if I will need to skip HS for another week.  That’s the benefit of homeschooling, ie, we are at our own pace.  Relax… but hopefully will be able to gear up when all the busyness is over.

GONG XI GONG XI!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR !!

FROM ETHAN, ZOE AND THEIR ‘EZ MUM’

She enjoys it too

She enjoys the book too!

Zoe been ‘bugging’ me to read Ethan’s textbook.  Strange, even though the contents are all in black and white, Zoe simply loves it… Will be a bonus if she manage to pick up the high-frequency words in the book :)