Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

Tina Robertson

20 First Day of Homeschool Celebrations

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

20 First Day of Homeschool Celebrations @Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

When the boys were real young, our first day of homeschool celebrations were simple.

Banana pancakes and french toast were some of their favorite breakfasts, so we celebrated with a special breakfast.

Homeschool Celebrations

As they got older, first day of homeschool celebrations became more involved.

Look at some of these ways to kick off your first day of homeschool and add some fun too:

1. Cook a special breakfast.
2. Go to the museum.
3. Spend the day at the beach.
4. Spend the day creating crafts.
5. Spend the day reading aloud.

6. Play board games all day.
7. Go to story time.
8. Go to the movies with other teens.
9. Spend the day at the pool.
10. Lounge at the library all day.

11. Go out for pizza.
12. Go out for ice cream.
13. Plan a field trip with your group (one of my very favorite because we all felt like we were playing hooky and we involved others).
14. Go ice skating (perfect because it’s indoors and you can stay cool. We loved this).
15. Bake cookies.

16. Camp out for a night.
17. Start a nature journal.
18. Start off with art lessons outside (we did this and so much fun).
19. Start off with archery lessons (we did this one year also and the boys still remember).
20. Start off with a meal you would eat during a history period (we did this too and loved it).

Remember, there is plenty of time to hit the books.

Make the first day of school memorable each year by celebrating it.

Do you have any special traditions for homeschool that you celebrate?

Hugs and love ya,

Also, check out:
Patience, Confidence, Knowing ALL the Right Answers NOT Required to Homeschool
Homeschool Organization – Free Morning Routine Flip Cards for the Littles
6 Ways to Organize Your Homeschooled Teen

Get Organized – Rev Up for the New Homeschool Year

| 11 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

The secret to getting organized for the new homeschool year in next to no time is preparation.

Thinking now about long and short term storage options, you can set up a simple system that will save you precious time during the hectic pace of the new homeschool year.

Get Organized - Rev Up for the New Homeschool Year @Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Long Term Homeschool Storage Options

1. Free cloud storage and portable devices.

You may think it goes without saying, but storing as much as possible on free cloud storage or portable storage devices is a great reminder.

Print off the list of your e books or what is in the cloud and keep it in your planner. Having the list of your materials at your finger tips will help you avoid constantly accessing on line free storage or plugging in your portable devices when lesson planning.

If you have been homeschooling for a while, it may take some time to scan paperwork onto your computer. However, it is well worth the time instead of digging through boxes.

You are the only one to know whether you want to save an original piece of artwork or that creative essay that you thought would never happen.

2. Tubby mom.

Whether you are new to homeschooling or in my case last year when I was getting ready for a big move overseas and didn’t know my storage options, huge plastic tubs or totes are perfectly acceptable for storage.

If you are new to homeschooling, it is hard to know what you want to save and what to pitch in the beginning.

Keep all the paperwork and pieces of arts and crafts in large tubs and when you have a system, then pitch what you don’t want.

Try to avoid throwing all the school work together in the tub in the beginning.

A simple system for organizing within a tub like using notebooks, binders or even small boxes does not create mounds of work to sort later if you change your storage system.

3. Over sized 3 Ring Binders. (5 inch)

If you have the space for it, over sized 3 ring binders are one of my favorite organizing tools.

Though they can be expensive, the binders I purchased have held up well through the years.

Using 3 ring binders to organize for homeschool @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I have not only used them to store paperwork long term, but I use them for my huge recipe book.

Adding page protectors to the binder to keep precious keep sake paperwork in prevents it from being dog eared and over handled.

It takes time to add the page protectors, but I also like to be able to flip through the pages when I want without handling the kids school work too much through the years.

4. In the box options.

Depending on how much you have to store, you may be able to use shoe boxes and huge diaper boxes that were meant for the trash.

It doesn’t take much work to make the boxes pop with some color by covering them with beautiful bright colored fabric and you have some swoon worthy storage.

If you are not feeling too crafty then store bought options overflow too.

Short Term Homeschool Storage Options

Teaching your children from the beginning to put away their books and paperwork each day will not only lighten your workload, but it is an important organizing skill to teach your kids.

1. Humble Plastic Drawer  – Not So Humble

Plastic drawers are some of my favorite ways for the boys to be sure they put away their supplies.

Each year, I measure my biggest or longest book, which normally is a high school book and make sure the drawers fit.

I have had good success with well made drawers at the Container Store though they are more expensive.

2. Slim 3 Ring Binders & Folders.

Slim color coordinating binders or folders for each kid or color coordinating by subject gives them a tool that is not too hard to handle.

Having tools that are handy and within arm’s reach will help your child to be organized on a daily basis.

3. Hanging Up Storage.

Take advantage of walls, closets and doors to add more hanging store.

I used hanging storage for games, flashcards, crafts and things used on a daily like supplies and headsets.

I love the beginning of the new school year because it means I can hoard get all new organizing tools that I am excited about and that are swoon worthy too. It makes me feel like I can justify the cost too because I normally can use the organizing tools longer than a year.

Do you have anything new you are adding to your learning space this year?

Hugs and love ya,

Want some more organized homeschooling ideas to drool over? Check out:
DIY Homeschool Organizing with Duct Tape
Homeschool Organization – {Storage, Spaces, & Learning Places}

 

3 Sanity Saving Tips for Your First Week of Homeschooling

| 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

3 Sanity Saving Tips for Your First Week of Homeschooling @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusIf this is your first year of homeschooling, you are in for a wild adventure.

Homeschooling is the only call to duty where you can feel utterly triumphant and drastically defeated in the same day.

Homeschooling can have just as many downs as ups and in the same moment.  So, it is important to arm yourself with three sanity-saving tips in your first week of homeschooling.

Participation over Progress.

Minimizing lesson planning and maximing interaction with your children by discussing with them what they want to learn for the new homeschool year sets your homeschool up for success.

When children have control of their education, they become owners of it.

Conversations about what your children’s goals are, even if your children are young, sets the pace for independent learning from the very beginning.

Avoiding a spoon-fed mentality, which can be the norm in public school will minimize your workload over the long haul.

From the beginning, meaningful conversations become a way to tap into what interests your children and more importantly it gives them ownership of their education.

I am the Boss of You.

One year I remember helping a new bee who was having trouble with her first grader.

Getting my mind prepared for some kind of academic problem she was having, I was surprised when the new bee mentioned that her first grader was telling her constantly, “You’re-not-the-boss-of-me.”

Just one year in public school in Kindergarten and the first grader did not view his mom as the authority when teaching him.

When authority is not respected, homeschooling gets tough to say the least because kids grow up quickly.

Character building is inextricably linked with academics.

Building respect for your authority as the parent helps your child to see that though you allow as much free choice as possible, you ultimately are the one in charge.

Progress can’t made when a child is constantly whining, complaining or questioning every decision you make.

List Your Non-negotiables

In your first or second year it is normal to have a mile long list of homeschooling goals.

Write them all out, but also have a separate list of one to three goals, which are achievable and reachable.

Reaching one to three goals becomes your foundation of your homeschool, but it also becomes your list of non-negotiables for the year.

Progress year to year is not made with mile high goals, but with tiny measured steps that turn into huge leaps each year.

Gear up for the new homeschool year by slowing down to engage your child in meaningful conversation about his choices for the day, balance your child’s growing need for independence while maintaining the authority in your day and building your homeschool foundation with a few well-chosen non-negotiables.

Have you implemented a plan for the new homeschool year?

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

Also check out:
Beginning Homeschool in Middle School – 3 Questions Worth Asking
Top 10 Tips to Get a New Homeschool Year Rolling

5 Advantages to Creating Your Own Homeschool Unit Study

| 12 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

5 Advantages to Creating Your Own Homeschool Unit Study @Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusBeing hooked on well-laid out lesson plans, I never thought I would be a homeschool unit study convert.

Planning seemed like a lot of time, which you know we all have very little of. And of course the other biggie you hear about in unit studies is the fear of missing something when teaching them.

Put to sleep the great missing something myth because no matter how long we teach, there is always something we will miss. Check out Am I Doing Enough When Homeschooling and Gauging Homeschool Progress – Masters of their Material to grab some tips.

Today, I want to share 5 advantages to creating your own homeschool unit study.

(1) Focus On Your Children’s Needs and Goals

Designing a unit study for the exact needs of your child is a huge advantage that stacks heavy against other homeschool approaches.

One of the supposedly negatives about the time that it takes to design a unit study can be a strength when it is suited to fit your children’s needs.

Check Out Books That Make Planning Unit Studies Eazy Peazy

(2) No Missing Books, Curriculum or Outdated Resources

The world of education can be a fast moving wheel and even the most well-staffed company can be hard pressed to keep their curriculum up to date with current resources.

Choosing current homeschool resources, library books and hands-on activities you find ensures that your unit study will run smoothly because all of your products are current.

(3) Lower Grade Unit Studies Are a Jumping Off Point for Higher Grade Planning

When I look back over my unit studies from the lower grades, I know I planned them with my children in mind.

When it comes to homeschooling middle and high school grades, previously taught unit studies become an unexpected advantage because they serve as a foundation or introduction to high grade unit studies.

When a child makes a connection to previously learned material it is meaningful.

Unlike subject areas where you are not sure what a child learned, your own well-laid out and planned unit studies are unique to your children. The bottom line is that you know what you taught them and can expand on those subjects in the upper grades.

(4) Learning Together as a Family is Easiest When Using Unit Studies

Like a lot of new homeschoolers, I started off with separate subjects for each of my kids. Insanity sets in and we learn that by having less curriculum, we can not only teach different ages together, but we cover content whether it’s science or history in more depth.

Teaching children together but on different levels not only fosters family togetherness, but forges a close bond between siblings.

(5) Challenges Learners Along With Encouraging Independent Learning

It is no secret in the homeschool world that we not only homeschool our special needs children who have unique abilities, but we have many advanced and gifted learners too.  Even special needs children can be advanced in some areas.

Because of uneven development in children, unit studies can challenge a learner at his level.

Project based learning is encouraged by unit studies because each child can delve into what interest him about the topic you have chosen to cover with your children.

Though you may be on one unit study topic, each child has the flexibility to learn as much or as little as he wants to.

Research skills are developed when using unit studies instead of following a spoon fed mentality.

Unit studies are hard work but the pay off through the years makes designing unit studies worthwhile to pursue.

There is no need to guess how to start one.  Do you want to create one now?

Look at my series of 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies By Creating One Together.

Began small by creating a simple unit study and it will grow into a comprehensive course of study.

Do you design your unit studies or use laid out unit studies?

Hugs and you know I love ya,

 

 Check Out Books That Make Planning Unit Studies Eazy Peazy

 

How a Homeschool Mom Grades a High School Essay

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

When the boys were in younger grades, I felt so confident grading their writing papers.

Confidence is suppose to soar with use, right? But when it came time to grade my first highschooler’s essay, confidence lacked.  Like anything else, inexperience makes you feel less prepared.

How a Homeschool Mom Grades a High School Essay @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusOn the other hand, having homeschooled my first high schooler from the beginning, I knew that I had a unique advantage knowing my son’s strengths and weaknesses and could use that information to help me form a grading standard.

Compulsory vs. Freedom

The thinking that a teen gets to choose topics all the time was the first thing I left behind.

For the most part, I did my best to be a reasonable teacher to my teen, which meant he got to choose the topics he wanted to write about. I learned early on that the very mention of some writing topics, especially controversial ones made for eager writers.

Mr. Senior 2013 wrote most high school essays on things he wanted to write about which were about topics like injustice, the life of writers he admired and a few other frivolous topics he found fascinating.

However, I also am reminded to not abandon my homeschooling goals in high school, which means that I want to form my son’s worldview and Biblical view. That is done through research and expressing his creative thoughts in written word. So some topics were mandatory to write about.

His last essay was mandatory for a completed grade. My instructions called for him to break down each verse of 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 that talks about the meaning of love.

Not only was it important to grade him on his creative words, but it was important to me to fill his mind with something worthy of remembering since it was the last time.

Give your teen freedom with his high school essays but don’t give up guidance.

Completing a mandatory high school essay is the first part of my grade.

Forget Grading Like a Public School Teacher.

The next thing I had to learn was to not grade like a public school teacher.

No, I don’t mean to not use some of the same standards, but to not directly attack my son’s writing by all the red marks.

Homeschool Writing in Early Grades @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusI did that in my son’s younger years and regret it.

Though my oldest son is not as sensitive as my younger sons, I could see that my red marks and my writing on his page took some of the fun out of the process.

What I did learn early in my homeschool years was to write notes in the margin or at the bottom of the paper. I still practiced this in high school.

Writing in Early Years of Homeschooling @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

(Learn from my mistake and leave behind all the red pens and red marks that we think we need to do on writing. Writing notes at the bottom of their page was a keeper for communicating to my sons.)

The example above is how I did it when Mr. Senior 2013 was in the younger grades.

I followed this same example on high school essays.

Specificity counts.

This is one area where my strength for detail can be utilized for high school. Teens are just like us. They want to know specifically what you liked about their writing.

As home educators we are very specific about what we don’t like about our teen’s writing. Praise should be equally vocal.

As I mentioned, the last essay assignment I assigned for Mr. Senior 2013 was about love and how it is shown. He not only gave his opinion of why it is the strongest motivator in the universe but he supported it with Biblical facts and things he had real life experience with.

I specifically praised him for supporting his writing with solid facts.

Developing Clear Writing.

Then the next part I look for in my son’s writing is to determine how clear he expressed his thoughts.  Developing clear writing is not something we achieve.

Expressing thoughts through writing is a developed art.  It is not achieved in high school, but I do expect my teen to use what he has been taught through the years like supporting his facts, illustrations, topic sentences and sticking to his topic.

Secondary: Spelling and Sentence Structure

Try to remember that we are nurturing writers instead of spellers.  You know I love spelling and grammar, but writing is about expression, communication and breathing life into our artfully contrived words.

Don’t stifle it by counting off more for the mechanics of writing than for expression.  Clearly cut writing that moves you is worth more than grammar and mechanics errors.

Homeschool Mom Grades a High School Essay

Grading a high school essay is not only a satisfying job but a unique privilege.

All the instructions you have been given your child for years turns now into a beautiful masterpiece.

Don’t give up your homeschool goals when you grade high school essays.

What writing topics our high school teens fill their minds with as they get ready to finish their tutoring with you is just as important as you adopting traditional standards for grading.

What are you afraid of most when grading high school essays?

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

Also, check out:
Should We Give Grades to Our Middle & High School Homeschooled Kids
9th Grade Homeschool High School – Avoid the Sock It to Them Attitude

Linking up @these awesome places:
Thoughtful Spot|Making Your Home Sing Monday|Mom 2 Mom|Mommy Monday|Good Morning Mondays|Tuesday Talk|