Homeschooling Means a Willingness to Change

I've been thinking, based on this homeschool year and previous years, how I want to handle next school year. I know that we will continue to homeschool. We made that commitment a long time ago, so there's no question about that. But I am considering making some pretty major changes to what we're doing--at least with my 16-year-old son.

I've been homeschooling now for about 16 years. I started when my oldest child was only 2 with an intensive home program for her. (She's autistic, and I had to begin really early teaching her since she didn't pick up on things like most kids do.) I guess I always thought that one day I would get this all figured out and not have to keep making changes from year to year! The longer I homeschool, though, the more I realize that homeschooling often means being willing to make changes. After all, one of the reasons most of us homeschool is so we can do what's best for each of our children, right?

The idea of changing things up a lot is still a little bit scary, even after all these years! But I see some areas that my son needs to improve on before graduating, and that means I have two short years to help him. So I'm making plans now to be sure he learns what he needs to know (or at least as much as possible) before his homeschooling years are over.

First of all, I've realized that my son just doesn't have the life skills he will need in the future. I've made him help in the house some, but I haven't required nearly what I should have for him to learn how to really take care of himself. He needs to know how to cook at least basic meals, clean the kitchen, do laundry, shop for groceries, take care of basic home repair jobs and car repairs, and so many other things! These sound like simple tasks because we moms know how to do them all with ease, but my son isn't skilled at any of these!

Second, we are really going to have to concentrate on writing skills. Writing is my son's least favorite thing to do! He doesn't simply dislike writing, he loathes it! We've used several really good writing programs over our school years, and he has enjoyed them for a while and then (barely) tolerated them after getting tired of them. I know he has learned some things about writing and can be a good writer when he wants to. The problem, though, is that he needs to practice his writing until it becomes second nature to him. He won't have unlimited time to write a research paper in college. He may have to do writing projects for his job one day, and he won't have unlimited time there either. He also tends to use bad spelling and questionable grammar when he writes. It's not because he hasn't learned to use correct spelling and grammar. It's just that he doesn't want to put that much effort into his writing. He needs to get past that.

Third, he needs to catch up some on math. He is about 2 years behind where he "should" be in math. Again, we have used some wonderful math programs over his school years, but the problem has been his attitude toward math. He has always resisted doing math. Always! For that reason, I haven't ever pushed him as hard as I needed to in that subject. I'm not saying we homeschooling moms need to force our kids to do millions of math problems each day until they're completely miserable, but I haven't required from him what I should have in this area. His resistance caused me to give up sometimes (or at least to lower my expectations), and I need to be sure has has the basic math skills he'll need in life. 

Fourth, he needs to learn to make money, save money, and spend wisely. I guess this could be a part of the "life skills" I mentioned earlier. I want him to learn about finances, how to handle his money well, and how to save money and stay out of debt. When my husband and I got married, we had both worked part-time jobs for years while we went to high school and full time jobs while we went to college. We had no idea, though, how to handle our money wisely. We suffered because of that for many years after we were married. We did the best we could with the knowledge we had, but we had simply never learned anything about how to handle our finances, so we made some huge mistakes during those first few years of marriage when things were financially difficult for us. I don't want that to happen to my son. 

I think what I've decided to do this fall when we begin our new school year is to concentrate on the things I've listed here while still having him do his basic classes independently like he's been doing. He doesn't need my help (well..maybe on rare occasions) with history, Bible, literature, and other similar classes. He does well on his own, and I simply monitor his progress and make him accountable for his work. I think, though, that I will have to take more one-on-one time with him in the areas I listed above. I need to make sure he really learns the skills he'll need to live life when he's not under my roof any more.

The truth is that I knew very little about any of the topics I listed here. When I got married, I had no idea how to cook (although I'd had tons of experience cleaning the kitchen!). I knew how to fold, hang, and put away laundry, but I knew very little about sorting it and washing and drying it. I knew almost nothing about money and finances. And there wasn't a big emphasis on writing back when I was in school, so I never had much instruction on that. As far as math is concerned, I did know the basics and have done decently well with that. I definitely could have used more teaching on math as far as it relates to money and finances, though.

I guess what I'm saying is that, I've given my son 10 years (11 if you count kindergarten) of good academic instruction in most subjects. For these last couple of years, though, instead of continuing in our familiar routine, we're going to make more changes to make sure he knows what he needs to know (as much as any parent or teacher can, anyway) to live his life. It's kind of a scary thing to change things up after homeschooling for so many years, but like I said, part of homeschooling is a willingness to make the needed changes as we go along.

So what about you? Do you feel like (at least for now) that your children are doing well and are learning what they need to know? Or are you looking at making some changes next school year? Either way, I hope you have a wonderful summer break (if you take one) and a successful school year this fall. It will be here before we know it!

High School Prep Genius Review

I have to begin this review by saying that I wish had known about this resource from College Prep Genius a few years ago! My son is finishing 10th grade this year, so it's definitely not too late to put in place the ideas and information in this book, but it would have been easier if I'd had it if before he started 9th grade. If you have a child or children who will soon be entering the junior high or high school years, you might want to consider getting a copy of this resource, High School Prep Genius. (I don't usually try to talk folks into buying a particular resource in my reviews, but in this case, I really do think this book is worth buying. So please forgive me for being pushy!) 

I received a copy of High School Prep Genius: An Academic Guide to Excellence to use and review for the Schoolhouse Review Crew, and I'm so glad I did! I am beginning to really feel the pressure of getting my 10th grader ready for college. He only has 2 more years of homeschooling before it will be time for him to either get a job or start college. Even though he hasn't made a definite decision about what he wants to do, I want him to be ready for college if he chooses to attend. I really feel like this book is a practical, reasonable guide for getting him ready for that. And even if he doesn't go to college, it will be good to know that he is well prepared for life.

This book is divided into 5 sections. There is an Introduction, Foundation for Personal Success, Foundation for Academic Success, Foundation for Future Success, and an Appendix. 

The introduction contains lots of great info and forms to go along with it. It tells how to use the book, explains how to make a College and Career Notebook, gives a timeline of information to use before the student begins high school, and gives 9th-12th grade student timelines. I was really surprised at how much great info was found just in the introduction! 

The Foundation for Person Success section includes information about things like personal development, building on your interests, making healthy choices, and financial independence. I really enjoyed this section! I do need to mention, though, that you might want to take a look at the "Own Your Beliefs" section before having your student read it. 

The next section, Foundation for Academic Success, covers things like effective studying and organization. I think most high school students (especially boys!) could use help in these areas. 

Foundation for Future Success, section 4, gives information about setting goals, college and/or career information, standardized testing, paying for college, and so on.

Even the Appendix at the end contains great info! You can find out about building a homeschool transcript, strategies for reducing test anxiety, and admissions terminology. 

The book is made to be read by the parent and student together. If that's not possible, the student can read the book and then have the parent read it. Both parent and student need to read the book to get the most out of it, but I think it's absolutely worth the time. I can't say that my son was thrilled to read it and do the student sections, but I believe it did him some good and caused him to think about some things he otherwise might not have ever thought about or realized he needed to consider as far as getting ready for college. 

This resource sells for $29.95. I think it's a good idea to read it when your student is around 7th or 8th grade if possible, but it can still be useful even if you have a student finishing 9th or 10th grade. 

If you'd like to read reviews of other Schoolhouse Review Crew team members, you can do that by clicking the button below.

Spanish for You! Review

I have always wanted to learn to speak Spanish, but I've never taken the time to do it.  My children and I were recently given the opportunity to use and review a Spanish curriculum called Spanish for You!, and we decided to try it out together. :) The curriculum can actually be done independently if you have a child who is old enough and responsible enough to do it, but I've found that it's best for me to work along with my 10-year-old daughter at this point.

There are lesson packages available for different themes. The theme we are doing is "estaciones," which means "seasons." You can see the table of contents for estaciones here. There is also a package using the theme "fiestas," which means "celebrations." You can see the table of content for fiestas here. There are even a couple of trial packages available if you'd like to try out the curriculum before buying the entire curriculum. The theme for the trial curriculum is "viajes," or "travel." (Viajes will be available some time in June as a full package.)

Spanish for You! is available for students from about 3rd to 8th grades. As with most curriculums, though, it could be adapted and used with students who are a little younger or older than those grade levels. The materials are divided into levels for use with grades 3-4, 5-6, or 7-8. Again, though, it is reasonable to combine grade levels here as well. I'm doing the curriculum with my 5th grader. If I had wanted to do it with both her and her older brother, though, I could have used the 7th-8th grade level for teaching both of them at the same time. (Or her brother might have been happy to do an "easier" level along with her!)

I have to say that this curriculum is fun to use! And because the lessons are relatively short, I've found that my daughter stays interested in each lesson until it's finished. Most lessons take from 10 or 15 minutes to around 30 minutes depending on what we have to do each day.

1.  In general, new vocabulary is introduced at the beginning of the lesson using vocabulary cards/pictures.

2.  Then we listen to downloads of both native and non-native speakers saying the new words so that my daughter and I can hear how the words are supposed to sound. I've never used a Spanish curriculum before that provided both native and non-native Spanish speakers, and I love that this curriculum includes both! Not being native Spanish speakers ourselves, it's hard for us to try to sound exactly like a native speaker sounds. It has been a huge encouragement to my daughter to hear how a non-native speaker sounds because she can come much closer to "copying" the non-native speaker. I never would have thought about how much something so simple would encourage her, but it does!

3.  After that, we do a worksheet. My daughter happens to love doing worksheets. I think it allows her to see on paper what she's learning or has learned, and that's encouraging to her. The worksheets might include some writing and/or drawing. She enjoys them, and they don't usually take long to do.

4.  After that, we enjoy playing some of the games that are suggested. There are extra games on the Spanish for You! website too, so you don't have to do the same games over and over.

The main thing to keep in mind while doing these lessons is simply to follow the lesson guide in order. The lessons are already all "mapped out" for you, so that makes it easy to follow along. Also, the worksheets are now organized in folders by grades to make it easier to find exactly what you need. Audio files have been reorganized into lessons so they are easy to find as well. And the non-native audio file has been divided into 2 parts so that it downloads faster. All of these little things together make the lessons very easy to teach. And the parent/teacher does NOT need to know any Spanish to be able to teach these lessons. In fact, my daughter knows more Spanish than I do, so she finds it particularly enjoyable to do the lessons along with me!

While my daughter enjoys Spanish for You! because it's fun, I enjoy it even more because it's not too expensive! The complete program (24 to 30 weeks of instruction depending upon your child's age/grade level) costs $64.95. That includes all available grade levels (3rd-8th grade). If you would rather buy just two grade levels (sets come for grades 3-4, 5-6, 7-8), you can buy everything you need for $39.95. The lesson guide calls for 4 days a week of using the program. Of course you are free to do 5 days a week if you like. You'll just move through the materials a little faster.

If you'd like to look at reviews of the "fiestas" package or see more reviews of the "estaciones" package, you can do that by clicking the button below. If you want to purchase a themed package, you can do that here.

Papa's Pearls Book Review

As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's Schoolhouse Review Crew, I recently received a book called Papa's Pearls: A Father's Gift of Love and Wisdom to His Children and Grandchildren to read and review. This book was written by a daughter, Diane Flynn Keith, about her father, Carol Joseph Flynn, whom the children called Papa. The book contains chapter after chapter of bits of information that Mr. Flynn shared with his children and grandchildren throughout his life. All of the information is practical and useful for just about anyone--young or old.

One of my favorite things about this book is that Mr. Flynn sounds like a person who was always cheerful and optimistic. He worked hard and encouraged his children and grandchildren to work hard, but he never did it in a "woe is me" kind of way. He seemed to know that hard work was necessary and that it only made sense to do it happily. 

Another thing that stood out to me is that Mr. Flynn started telling his words of advice and inspiration to his children and grandchildren from the time they were very young. I tend to think that my children are too young to understand a lot about the world and the value of a good education and hard work (especially at younger ages), yet Mr. Flynn obviously realized that that wasn't the case.

I was a bit curious as I read the book about whether Mr. Flynn was a Christian. The book tells about how he was a trouble-maker in his early years but later decided not to waste his life that way. After that, though, his attitude was always so positive and optimistic. As I continued reading, the book did mention his belief in God and church attendance. I don't think the book would be useful, however, as a Christian tool since there's not much emphasis on that. It is definitely full of good examples, though, of positive attitudes and good advice as well as a great attitude toward work.

I feel like I should include a mention of two curse words that are included in the book. If you want your children to read the book (or if you want to read it to them) it's something you need to keep in mind. I usually suggest that parents read a book like this first anyway just to be sure if you want your children to read it independently or not. 

Over all, I very much enjoyed this book. The advice and wisdom along with lots of real-life examples really helped to illustrate how people can benefit from putting his advice into practice. It was also a lot of fun to read! I think it's a good read for adults, older children, and teens. 

If you're interested in buying this book for yourself or to give away, you can buy it directly from the author. A signed copy is $21.97 including shipping. 

You can read more reviews of this book by other Crew members by clicking the button below.