Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

Tina Robertson

Deschool – Get off the Public School Treadmill!

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

Deschool get off the public school treadmill is about freedom. Also, you’ll love more tips on my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter.

When teaching my new homeschooler workshops in person, I tried to use the term deschool right away so that new homeschoolers or those that are thinking about homeschooling have time to wrap their mind around the concept.

Though there are many facets about deschooling that you will want to embrace over the course of your journey, I want to put it down in layman’s terms for the new homeschoolers.

Deschool - Get Off the Public School Treadmill @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Running and burning energy but not really traveling anywhere is what it is like to be on a treadmill.

Are Deschooling and Unschooling Two Very Different Terms

Deschooling is about getting off that public school treadmill and transitioning to a new life.

For some homeschoolers it may include some rest time.

For others it may be defining what their family educational goals are.

Each family will have different goals during their deschooling period.

Have you ever done a toxin cleanse?  I love the feeling afterwards because I have a new pep in my step.

Deschooling is a period of time to shove back from rigid thinking and adjust the pep in your step to a new way of life.

That is how some homeschoolers define this time period.

More Resources for Why My Kids Are Homeschooled

This time period allows you to re-train your mind and body and to make drastic life changes.

You want to make changes that will be permanent and to start fresh and motivated.

Letting go of preconceived ideas and notions of what education is suppose to look like and defining what you want your children to learn is what deschooling is about too.

It is a time to adopt your definition of education, to discover that you may want to be more self-educated than to be handed curricula, to join home school support groups, to meet and incorporate new homeschooling friends into your lives and the ability and power to say no to labels.

Say NO to Uniform Standards Set for the Masses

Furthermore, it could include saying no to standards by the state.

Why spend so much time trying to figure out where your child is SUPPOSE to be and what other children his age are doing? 

Forget what everybody else is doing.

Spend your time and energy focusing on where your child is NOW and move forward!

Deschooling is knowing that we have homeschool freedom but it’s also utilizing that freedom to suit our family.

Some think deschooling means doing nothing. It might for some. 

And we don’t want to be critical of those families who may need physical rest now.

The rigors of getting up early to catch a bus, having long school days complicated with an enormous amount of homework is physically draining. 

The truth of it is that we really don’t know what another homeschool family has been through.

For all of us it does mean transitioning to a new lifestyle.

Think about huge transitions in your life up until this point. 

When we transition to a different lifestyle whether that significant change was having a baby or switching careers, our schedules changed.

We allowed ourselves time to adjust to a new schedule and we let go of ideas and goals that at the time seem realistic.

We now see that some of our ideas may have been idealistic.

It is quite common for even seasoned veterans to not have taken a period of deschooling and they may be headed down burnout road.

The Power of REST

Deschooling can be a period of few week to a few months depending on the level of stress your family experienced.

Take time to deschool and get off the public school treadmill.

One of the very best books to bring reality back to our lives, renew your passion for homeschooling or just to propel you forward on the road to homeschooling is Deschooling Gently.

Not only is it a great read, but the encouragement you receive from it will last years.

Have you let go? How is your deschooling coming? What activities and goals are you including to deschool?

Why the Hectic Pace in Homeschool? What’s the Rush Girl?

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

Why the Hectic Pace in Homeschooling @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

What’s the rush? Why the hectic pace in homeschool?

Homeschool curriculum options have literally exploded in the market.  Instead of simplifying homeschool it seems like the huge amount of curriculum choices have complicated homeschooling.

We are constantly bombarded with more deadlines, stress and a growing list of of homeschool subjects.

Pressure to perform has mounted. Constantly expecting too much from our children and ourselves is not good.

We can’t slow down the hectic pace of this world when it comes to educating our children, but we can make changes in our everyday journey.

Is Your Homeschool Teaching a Trickle or Torrential flood?

One thing we have control over is the pace we set each day for our school.

The pace we set in teaching our children made me think about a point we learned in science.

When there is a quick down pour, rain runs off  the ground because it’s too fast and the ground doesn’t have time to soak it up.  Digging down the surface a bit, you can see that the ground is still dry.

However, when there is a soft, gentle, rain that trickles slowly throughout the day, the ground soaks up the water and nourishes the plants.  The slow trickle saturates the ground.

Do you tend to flood your children with lots of information and busy work or is your day of teaching more like a soft gentle trickle so that your children can soak up what you are teaching?

 Realistic Tips that Work

Besides understanding that a constant hurried pace is not good for you physically, here are some doable tips that will help to reduce the stress in your day.

Routine is vital.

Routine is a habit and instead of stressing each day about how to start the day, there is no pausing for thought, we just do it.

Progress and routine are inextricably linked.

Progress reduces stress and helps to slow pace down but it only comes if a routine is formed.  Routine can be  anything but hum drum if we allow a gentle unfolding of our day that suits our family.

Organization (the realistic kind) is a must.

I have said it many times throughout the years and that is as homeschoolers the way we organize has to be different.

We can’t follow the organizational tips given by many well-meaning books and blogs of stay at home moms who do not wear the teacher hat or who don’t share learning and living spaces.  Those kinds of tips makes  the already overwhelmed unorganized homeschooler run the other way from organizational tips that will breathe calm into her day.

Organization takes on a different meaning as homeschoolers.

When time is wasted fumbling for lesson plans, kids don’t have a place to put away their papers or books or when kids don’t understand their morning routine, this starts our day off at a hurried pace.  We seem to spend the whole  day trying to catch up.

Equally important to choosing curriculum is choosing a plan of action.  Take as much time writing down how you want your day to flow and where to put away your homeschool things as you do mulling over curriculum choices.

Homeschooling and life blend together the longer you homeschool.

When you have a plan for cooking and laundry as much as you do for chemistry and language arts, then you have balance in your day.  Tension starts to subside.

Breaks should be meaningful.

I love walking and physical exercise has always been a time for me to rejuvenate and be re-energized for the day.

Stepping away from the chaos and doing something physical always has helped me to put things back in the right priority.

If I am stressing that I am not doing enough, then I ask myself why? Is it because life happened like a sickness in our family that went through all five of us or was it because I was helping one of the boys deal with a lot of hormones?  Then we need to bless and release it because that is part of school.

If I am stressing because I planned too lightly then learn from that lesson and move on.

Dwelling on things that we can’t control brings stress.  Stress breeds chaos and an inability to cope.  It’s a vicious cycle and will consume our time if we don’t break it.

Constant reminders are needed about why we are homeschooling and how an unhurried pace year after year infuses our children with a massive amount of knowledge that has time to saturate not only their minds, but their hearts.

Too, plan for the unexpected by preparing your mind for things that will come up and cause stress.

There is a cost for trying to do too much.

Take a look at your pace. Does it need to change before you hit burnout?

Also, look at these helpful tips:

Hugs and love ya,

3 Reasons Hands-on Geography is Important in Middle and High School Homeschool

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

It’s easy enough to understand the importance of hands-on geography in the younger years, but it is equally important to understand why hands-on geography is important in middle and high school. Also, look at my page homeschool middle school and how to homeschool high school page for more fun tips. Too, look at my page Homeschool Geography for hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

Having one child who rolls his eyes at the mere mention of hands-on and prefers taking a hands-off approach and another child who fails to comprehend anything unless it’s hands-on, I want to share tips on why it’s important to keep homeschool geography hands-on.

3 Reasons Hands-on Geography is Important in Middle and High School Homeschool @ Tiina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Hands-on geography requires participation or collaboration.

The tendency when teaching this age group is to assign a boring text, drill and kill and then move on.

Geography is a subject that is fascinating because it is not only about describing the earth, but it includes pictures, maps, diagrams and it includes a description of life here on earth.

It is a subject that is overflowing with possibilities because to some extent it also includes man’s interaction with the resources of the earth.

With all of these facets to study about geography, collaboration gives the middle and high school student the teaching reins.

Hands-on geography requires active and not passive participation or studying in isolation.

My sons have taken the teaching reins as we have studied North Star Geography.  That is one reason too why we didn’t just crack open the curriculum and study the first page.

When my boys studied together, they skipped around to hone in on a part of geography that interested them first.

Guess what? You can do this when studying geography because geography covers so many topics.  You can have several trails in geography and decide which topics interests you.

homeschool high schoolgeography north star geography @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Contrary to what some people may think, hands-on learning shifts the focus of learning to the responsibility of your child.

Middle and high school years are about teaching them more independence and project learning is one of the best ways to do that.

That is one reason we use North Star Geography because it has projects that foster independent learning skills.

Geography Bundle

I will continue to use North Star Geography, which is for middle and high school kids, with Tiny now that Mr. Awesome 2015 is about ready to graduate.

Our middle and high school students just don’t know geography.

Just because a child is in middle or high school doesn’t mean his learning style has changed.  We are in a visual world and visual learners are valued now more than ever.

Too, the conventional method of throwing a map to outline at the student and a textbook to read is not working.  More and more students, including homeschoolers are graduating with little to no knowledge of geography.

Visual learners who learn best through hands-on still need projects and activities at the high school level. Rote memorization does not work for all kids.  We need to abandon the notion that hands-on geography is not for mature learners.

We want to avoid turning out middle and high school students who are geography illiterate and conventional methods are not working.  Returning to what did work in the elementary grades which was hands-on learning without doing babyish projects is key to helping our upper grade kids make meaningful connections.

Hands-on geography instills a greater awareness and fellow feeling for other cultures and historical activities.

When we studied about the American Civil War, geography took on another whole meaning when we tied it to our family roots where our ancestors fought in the battles.

It is one thing to read about history and geography in a dry text book and another to visit the physical area and walk the grounds.

Connecting geography with a physical location helps a middle and high school student to develop higher critical thinking skills.

For example, after studying together and creating maps of the battlefields during the American Civil War it lead to discussions about whether or not man learned anything about history from that bloody war?

At the high school level, my boys have formed strong opinions about the war and I am able to pass on our family values.  If they studied this in isolation, they might not have reached some of the same conclusions.

Middle and high school should be a time for activities and projects that are selective and purposeful.

It’s true that many times I didn’t insist that my son who preferred a hands-off approach to join us, however, many times I did insist and not give him a choice.

Our high school kids still need guidance, direction and interaction with us. They are preparing for adulthood, which means they are not ready yet.

I am so grateful that North Star Geography sees the value of hands-on learning in the upper grades and I will continue to use it with Tiny for the next couple of years.

When I asked both of my oldest sons what they remembered about geography, it never was about a book, but it is always about a hands-on project we worked on together.

Also, you may like to read:

Hugs and love ya,

How Far Out to Homeschool Lesson Plan

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

There are a few tips and tricks to know how far out to homeschool lesson plan. Also, look at my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter.

Whether you use boxed curriculum or put together your own homeschool lesson plans, there is some level of planning involved.

After I started putting together most of my own curriculum, I realized soon enough that I had to lesson plan.

Wanting to be prepared for the what if something happened scenario, I jumped and planned for the whole year.

How Far Out to Homeschool Lesson Plan @ Tiina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Yes, I spent hours and hours poring over all my curriculum and plotting my course. I had written my plans for the whole year.

Homeschool Lesson Planning

I was prepared, feeling super competent and I kicked off my homeschool year with a tenacity that I won’t easily forget.

Then, 10 days into my smokin’ hot full homeschoool year scheduled plan all of my kids got sick.

We took off one week and then two weeks from school. And the other thing I won’t easily forget was how utterly stressed and defeated I felt a few short weeks into the year. I was already behind and stressed out.

The worst thing was I brought it all on myself.

My lesson planning journal looked like one great big huge mess as I started marking off and changing dates. (Btw, this is how my idea of an undated planner was born.)

How Far Out to Lesson Plan Is Too Much?

I learned a very valuable lesson that I want you to learn from and that is planning for the year was too far out.

Because I did not have a classroom and have to produce lesson plans for year, I learned that lesson planning should stay in sync with my family’s need.

Public school teachers are going to have class regardless if a child is sick or absent, but that is not the case with learning at home.

Again, I had failed to step back and think what would work best not only for my family, but for me as the teacher.

I was still modeling public school thinking when I had plan for the whole year.

How Far Out to Lesson Plan is Too Little?

After I learned that valuable lesson, the next thing I did was to rewrite my lesson plans for the week.

Failure again.

Though I had good intentions to plan for the next week, the week simply got away from me and before I knew it, it was Sunday and the next school week was upon me with no plan.

If you have been attempting lesson planning, you know that it can be downright exhausting exploring a system that will work for you.

Though it may seem like you have prepared for the year well by lesson planning for a year, I would never encourage you to do that.

Another very important point that I didn’t even grasp until I was a few more years into homeschooling was how fast kids can move up in levels.

They can quickly grasp one point and how slow they can be to comprehend another.

When Homeschool Lesson Planning is Just Right

So it brought me full circle back to one of the reasons I started homeschooling, which is to go at my child’s pace.

After I weighed all of this, I realized that I had to plan far out enough so that when life happens, I still have a plan, but not so far ahead that I can’t change my plans or toss them all together if my children were behind or if they jumped ahead.

I found a comfortable pace which is to plan about 2 weeks to one month ahead.

I stuck closer to a 30 day schedule.  Like my menu planning, I found a comfortable pace of 30 days gave me the whole month to plan for the next month.

I didn’t feel so pressured knowing I could take my time planning for the next month.

Too, if one week or so was hectic or I simply wasn’t in the mood to be the teacher, I still had several more weeks to plan for the next month.

Also, it was easier to change on a dime when my kids were ready to move ahead a level because I didn’t have months and months planned.

With a 30 day lesson plan, my mood not only changed about lesson planning but about teaching.

Homeschool Lesson Planning Just Right

I wasn’t constantly panting trying to keep up, but I could easily prepare my materials for the next month and gather hands-on supplies.

Another tip to planning is to realize that planning generally is not the same thing as planning each day.

I do encourage you to generally plug in themes or topics you want to cover each month for the year because this gives you a framework to start building your daily lesson plans on.

Don’t follow the methods used by public school teachers, who have to have lesson plans for a year.

Don’t plan for 30 kids, but just for your kids.

Take advantage of the flexibility of homeschooling by planning only 2 weeks to 30 days ahead so that you change when you need to, but have a fall back plan when life happens.

How far out have you been lesson planning?

Look at these other helps and tips!

Hugs and love ya,

Homeschool Grad 2015 – Proud Homeschool Momma

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

{Warning: Proud homeschool daddy and momma here with lots of happy tears. Viewing these pictures can be a bit icky to look over as all I have going through my mind is that this is the last time for Mr. Awesome’s  “last day of school pictures”. See, I already have tears!}

Homeschool Grad 2015 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Mr. Awesome 2 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Such a good looking homeschool graduate.

Mr. Awesome 3 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Forget my flat hair as Ecuadorean weather can’t be predicted and we had rain, but somehow that didn’t matter as we hired a professional photographer and went dashing all over Cuenca for photos.Mr. Awesome 4 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

And of course there is no shortage for beautiful places here to take memorable graduation pictures.

Mr. Awesome 5 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusToo, somehow things turn out just like they should be despite all my worrying.

Mr. Awesome 7 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I always say this to you, which is that each kid is different, but somehow I forget my own advice.

Mr. Awesome 8 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Mr. Awesome didn’t want the official cap and gown photo. I had looked all over everywhere here to find one.  But I forgot one simple thing, just ask him.

He didn’t want a cap and gown or photo like Mr. Senior 2013 did.

Like the rain that day (unplanned), it somehow fit perfectly with what happened in our homeschool journey as we had a day of reflecting.

Mr. Awesome 9 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Somehow things just turn out better and like they should even when unplanned things happen.

Mr. Awesome 10 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

As a mom and especially at such a momentous time as graduation, you want it memorable for your child.

Mr. Awesome 11 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusWhere one kid may want to celebrate one way, the next kid wants to do certain other things like taking traditional pictures here in South America.

Mr. Awesome 12 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

So he embraced  the life that we are living right now.

Mr. Awesome 13 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

And spent the day savoring the surroundings we do have which are truly unique.

Mr. Awesome 15 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus And where Mr. Senior 2013 was a bit more traditional, Mr. Awesome 2015 is not.

As a mom I just embraced it for the day and it was his day.

Mr. Awesome 16 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

This dad and grad picture is priceless because it’s one Mr. Awesome wanted.

Mr. Awesome 17 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

And yes, he wanted this one too of proud mom and grad.

Mr. Awesome 18 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Despite the rain,  bit of cold weather and wet, Mr. Awesome 2015 is just who he is, the sweet baby that didn’t worry about reading or all that academic stuff, but turned out embracing it all in his time.

Finding the right dose of humor and easygoingness was the key to homeschooling this son.

Mr. Awesome 19 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Congratulations Trever, mom loves you and we are all so proud of you!

Hope you enjoyed this special day of family photos and I can’t wait to share pictures of our party!

Hugs and love ya

Tina Signature 2015c

If you want to see the pictures of my first homeschool graduate Mr. Senior 2013 look at my 10 Days of Planning a Homeschool High School Graduation.