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What I Gave Up to Homeschool (and what I got in return)

October 22, 2015 | 14 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Bitterness or resenting homeschooling after you have made the choice to homeschool is an easy trap to fall into.

There is much hype about homeschooling. Though some of it’s true, some of it is not.

Making wise choices for your family is about being realistic too when it comes to homeschooling.

The homeschooling lifestyle can either fall like a ton of bricks into your lap and not really be a choice you contemplated or you may be like some who planned to homeschool before the birth of their child.

Whatever the case, what you give up to homeschool matters because having a realistic picture of homeschooling can quell homeschooling doubts. How does that happen?

Look at these things that you will face or may have already faced so far in your journey.

What I Gave Up to Homeschool

Addressing them now helps you to weigh your choice in advance.

■Being homebound.

Yes. I feel at the beginning of my journey that I was more homebound.

At the end anything always gives you a better vantage point.

So now, I don’t have kids that are 4 years old, 2 years old and newborn any longer.

What I realize now is that regardless of whether I homeschooled or not, I was at home more because of the ages of my children.

I may have given up some of my freedom, but what I gained by not just being home, but using my time to nurture my sons’ relationship with me and their father and spiritual training have far outweighed anything I felt like I gave up to be at home.

It was hard to feel that way when I washed baby clothes every day, picked up after toddlers and had one sleepless night afer the other.

But, I would NOT give up one moment of it to watch EVERY precious educational step they took.

■ Giving up my hobbies or interests.

Yes, I gave up some of what I wanted to do as far as personal things. My brain is always ticking for another creative visual project, but I had to learn to curb it so that I could stay focused on what my sons needed for the day.

Back in the day, scrapbooking was the craze and I saw it as a benefit to organizing all of the photos I would have through the years.

Guess what? I have only a partially done scrapbook for my first son and fast forward 16+ years of homeschooling, I have thousands and thousands of photos that need to be organized.

On the other hand, I also have thousands and thousands of moments of tender time with my sons.

Two of my sons are finished with homeschooling and as I look at the men they have become, I don’t have to have a photo to look at to see the strong and spiritual men they are becoming.

Oh sure, I would love to organize all those photos, but then again I would have missed the moments of homeschooling.

Instead of fretting over what I couldn’t do, I used my ticking bomb brain to create over 40+ free homeschool unit studies and lapbooks for my sons (and your kids too) and a 7 Step Homeschool Planner for me and you.

I wouldn’t trade that for anything!

■Traveling. Giving up my freedom to travel.

Scrapbooking seems so shallow by comparison to the legal job I enjoyed.

As a certified paralegal, I enjoyed traveling to different places, receiving continuing education and stay in beautiful hotels and places.

Did I mention I loved the aspect of dressing up each day? It made me feel good.

Though my hair may now do just as well up in a hair clip and my latest apparel are comfortable capris and a cutesy top, I never would have imagined that as homeschoolers we would have traveled to the Amazon Rain Forest for a “field trip” or lived abroad.

I still don’t give up dressing for the day when I can and I will never give up my makeup or big jewelry. The homeschooling community just accepted me as I am.

Though I miss the days of my career and reading legal briefs (I am weird that way, I love all that fine print), I savored the moments when I read my sons’ essays and topics that piqued their interests.

Though I will probably never help pick a jury out or negotiate with an attorney, I chose homeschool co-op leaders like Kelley and Cynthia.

They are not only awesome and strong homeschool leaders, but spiritual women who influenced my sons during their school time and ultimately life. I will never be able to repay them for their positive influence on my sons.

Negotiating with an attorney for one of my clients seemed easier by comparison than consulting with the other homeschool leaders for planning field trips and co-ops for our large homeschooling group.

These are three things I gave up to homeschool, but what I got in return not only outweighed what I have given up, but has surpassed it.

It was easy to forget, though I thought I knew it, but reward comes at the end.

Tiny payoffs during the year are just that – small. However, they were always enough to keep me going and not regretting the homeschool lifestyle I chose.

What have you have given up so far to homeschool?

You’ll also love to read these articles:

Hugs and love ya,

Edible Skin Project and Free Homeschool Human Body Unit Study

October 21, 2015 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

This edible skin project is the next fun hands-on for our human body unit study. Also I have this Human Body Crafts page for more fun ideas.

Right away, I will tell you we had more fun though a flop (or we at least thought so) with our edible skin project for our homeschool unit study human body.

Edible Skin Project and Free Homeschool Human Body Unit Study

You know I tout that I do my best to use what we have here in the house. Sometimes it turns out well and other times not so good.

Too, some things we don’t have in the house because well they don’t exist here in Cuenca or at least the part we live at here in Ecuador.

Things like ready made icings I can’t find.

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body. Hands-on Activity 5. Edible Skin + Skin and Major Body Systems Minibook @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

The human body lapbook was free for a limited time.

So for this project I had the heavenly dulce de leche in the house.

By the way, have you ever heard of it?

It is basically translated sweet milk and it is made by caramelizing sugar in milk.

This heavenly stuff though takes hours to make home made, is sold readily on the store shelves here and was the closest thing I had to icing for our edible skin project today.

Edible Skin Project @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus 1

Edible Skin Project @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus 2

Look at what we grabbed and had made:

■ jello. We actually have to make this and though normally it doesn’t matter how thick it is when we eat it, it did this time.
■marshmallows (tiny ones work good too, but they don’t have them here)
■gummy worms
■ dulce de leche (a fruit roll up would have worked better or an icing, but then again we don’t have that here either in Ecuador.)
■few toothpicks

So Tiny took about 6 of the marshmallows and laid them out. We pushed a few toothpicks through them to hold them together.

Going good so far.

Edible Skin Project @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus 3

Edible Skin Project @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus 4

Then we took our not so solid jello and layered on top, then the fun mess started.

Tiny tried to plow through like a trooper by adding the dulce de leche, but our edible skin was looking more like an explosion by a five year old.

Edible Skin Project @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus 5

Tiny was intent on finishing it and added a few gummy worms for hair follicles.

Of course, he had to look over it for a while. We both lost it laughing, but thought it was the most delicious flop we had tasted in a while.

I have the next two minibooks for the heart lapbook.

More Human Body Crafts

I am just about ready to show you where we placed them on the lapbook. It’s almost completed.

Grab all of the lapbook printables and hands-on activities below.

What is blood hands on activity and free blood components minibook for a human body homeschool unit study @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus featured — Making Blood + Free What Are the Components of Blood Minibook

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body. Hands-on Activity 5. Edible Skin + Skin and Major Body Systems Minibook @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus Featured — Making Blood + Free What Are the Components of Blood Minibook

5 Ways to Handle Off Days When Homeschooling

October 20, 2015 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have had many days where I was waiting for my latest cup of Jo or tea to kick in so I felt awake and ready to homeschool.

Though I was tempted to add another shot of caffeine to my latest brew, I figure out quickly that I was just having an off ~~year~~ day.

5 Ways to Handle Off Days When Homeschooling @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Of course, if you were to ask me that day, I probably would have embellished my bad day to say that the whole year was off.

Today, in sharing 5 ways to handle off days when homeschooling, I want to share ways I faced the wimp-itis monster for the day.

Just Say No!

■ Go back to bed.

Okay, maybe you can’t do this completely because of the sweet kids. But sometimes an off day in homeschooling is a signal that you just need more rest.

When I am completely unreasonable, I have figured out that I just need some down time. At least get some rest for the day and sometimes that means just saying no to school for the day.

■ Start the day slower.

My normal time to begin school when the kids were little was about 8:00 a.m. because my household was young and everybody was up by 5:00 a.m.

Now that we have hit the middle and high school years, we start school about 9:00 a.m.

I have figured out that starting school even an hour later helps me to still have a productive day and to figure out if I am having an off day because I am tired or just over planned.

■ Toss Out Your Homeschool Approach – Temporarily

One year when I had many off days, it was because I tried to forge ahead using a homeschool approach I was adamant about using.

A few of my off days, I tried using a topic or unit study approach along with hands-on ideas sprinkled in. My day came alive with the new approach.

Check out my article, 5 Signs that You Need to Switch Your Homeschool Approach.

Temporarily trying something new for the day was the twist I needed to see that my homeschool approach wasn’t a match for my boys.

Give yourself permission to try a homeschool approach that you have been mulling over. Doing it temporary lets you know if it’s a fit for your family or not.

■ Head Outdoors

Many days, I needed to get away from the house though I loved being there every day.

Many of us homeschoolers like the comfort of our homes because we can learn in a relaxed way.

But the change of scenery gives you a new energy for the day even though you may not think you need it.

If the weather is unbearably hot, look for something to do indoors like rock climbing, ice skating or hit the library.

It doesn’t have to cost a lot when you feel off.

If the weather is glorious and dreamy, my favorite is to take a nature walk and have the kids collect their nature bounties.

Use what they collected to teach science the next day. We had snake skins, feathers, bark, tons of flowers and all kinds of leaves.

■ Meet up with other homeschoolers. Excitement is contagious.

I always say if it was left up to me, I may never leave the comfort of my home.

But my boys love being with other homeschoolers and when it’s all said and done at the end of the activity together, I felt the same way too.

I find that when I’m tired or can’t figure out what is off about the day, I call just a few homeschooling friends and spring an unplanned field trip on them. Live wild (well for me anyway because it was unplanned) when you homeschool because the years pass by fast.

From Drudgery to Dynamic Homeschool Day

Having an off day in homeschool doesn’t have to be a waste, but can be a lesson for the day.

I would have never switched my approach to homeschool unless I gave myself permission to tiptoe over into another approach and try it.

An off day created an outlet for me to try something new that eventually became a permanent part of our homeschool and an approach I treasure to this day.

Embrace off days when homeschooling, you never know what might unfurl.

Winter Homeschooling Activities and Free Downloads. 5 Days of Look Alive. Day 5 – Free Teacher Guides Bliss

October 19, 2015 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

5 Days of Look Alive Winter Homeschooling. Day 5. Free Teacher Guides @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

If you missed any days, grab them below:

Day 1. Look to the Sea.

Day 2. Look to the Sky.

Day 3. Look to Pokemon.

Day 4.Look to Free Unit Studies

Moving on along through our series: Look Alive:Winter Homeschooling Ideas & Downloads, Day 5 is Look to Free Teacher Guides.

If there is anything that will get me pumped about homeschooling during the long cold winter days is the thought of planning.

I love to plan anytime of the year. These free teacher’s guides I rounded up are about a variety of subjects and have tidbits of cool facts in each one.

Some of them are from a museum and they talk about tours, but the rest of the pages have great background information on each topic.

Sometimes you don’t want to plan a unit study, you just want to cover something different for the day and these free guides are the perfect bite size pieces.

The first set of guides are at the Field Museum.

Look at a few of the subjects they have:

Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics.
George Washington Carver.
Plants of the World.
Maps: Finding Our Place in the World.
Nature Unleashed: Inside Natural Disasters.

There are four pages of great freebie awesomeness to look through and a variety of grades. Be sure to download what you want in case it ever goes away.

Then this next site, SunSentinel, is equally awesome and has so many freebies I can’t count them.

Look at a few of the things they have and take your time downloading the overflowing amount of freebies.

ARTS

Opera – It’s for Everyone! Grades 6-Adult
Degas in Bronze-Grades 6-Adult

CHARACTER EDUCATION

Power of You – Grades 8-12
Your Character Your Choice! It’s Up to You

SCIENCE

Amazing Orchids-Grades 3-5
LegoLand, 4-5
STEAM – Grades 9-12

Then I love this whole page of resources to learn about the winter for the upper grades (6 to 12th). I always strive to maintain the fun and hands-on ideas even in the upper grade.

Look at at just a few of the things on this super page.

From the site:

Lesson Plans

Storm Clouds
Students in grades 6-12 use CERES cloud data and a weather map to explore cloud coverage during a winter storm.

Getting Physical: The Physics and Other Science Behind Winter Olympic Sports
Students in grades 6-12 research, write, and perform sportscasts that explain the physics behind their favorite sports in these cross-curricular activities.

Glacier National Park: “Hibernation-Migration Fascination”
Students in grades 7-12/ compare two different types of hibernation — the hibernation of bears and marmots.

ICS — Energy ( PDF, 901 KB, 21 pgs.)
In this module, students in grades 9-12 investigate how energy absorption and water affect temperature.

Physics and Biomechanics
A learning module for grades 11-12 that uses the sports of luge and figure skating to teach four basic mechanical concepts: linear kinematics, linear dynamics, projectile motion, and conservation of angular momentum.

Games & Activities

Don’t Be Too Flaky
Students measure the relative densities of water, ice, and snow. Data can be submitted to the website and displayed with data from around the world.

I hope you have enjoyed this 5 days series of winter homeschooling and now we have enough activities to keep us planning through the long cold winter days.

Are you ready for winter? Grab the other ideas below!

5 Days of Look Alive Winter Homeschooling. Day 1 Look to the Sea. @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus featured

Hugs and love ya,

Free 2016 and 2017 Year Calendars

October 18, 2015 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

2016 Year Calendar Pink Powder @ Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus

When I first started sharing my free 7 Step Homeschool Planner, I had two goals I visioned. One was creating a unique homeschool planner where each page was unique and the second one was where a mom could build her own planner to suit her family’s needs for that year.

I feel like I only partly met my first goal because I wanted my calendars for each year to be unique.

For many years, I have used plain calendars that I created because I was focused on being sure the rest of my forms got created first.

Free 2016 and 2017 Year Calendars

I didn’t have time to make unique calendars for each year and I use to get caught off guard.

I am excited that this year, I can start sharing unique yearly calendars for the physical year. I have been creating yearly academic calendars, but had put the yearly calendars on simmer until I had time to make them like I wanted to.

Remember, these pages I am sharing today are JUST calendars. This means you can print off plenty of them and place them throughout your planner for reference.

These calendars are NOT for noting your appointments on or even for tracking your school year. I have created separate documents for those processes.

Look here at my 2 page at a glance appointment keepers which are created bigger for you to note appointments.

And then look here at Step 5a for choosing year round schedules that help you to plan your school year.

2017 Year Calendar Grapevine @ Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I hope like the two calendars I am sharing today. If you prefer plain black and white, I have them on page for Step. 2. Choose Calendars/Appointment Keepers

Me? I am always swooning for anything in color and am glad I got to get a couple of the calendars for the next years completed.

Hugs and love ya,

Linking up @ these awesome places:

Sundays Best|Motivation Monday|Mommy Monday|

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