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5 Signs That You Need to Switch Your Homeschool Approach

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

Sharing 5 signs that you need to switch your homeschool approach, maybe I will spare you my same stubbornness struggle.

5 Signs to Switch Your Homeschool Approach

Switching from a strictly classical approach to a more unit study approach with an eclectic twist was not easy for me. However, there were tell-tale signs.

Unless you have a public school teacher background (I did not) when you first started homeschooling, you probably were unaware of a homeschool approach. I wasn’t even able to define the term.

First, being able to define a homeschool approach helps to sort through what will work for your family and what will not.

5 Signs That You Need to Switch Your Homeschool Approach
A simple definition for homeschool approach would be the techniques, style, manner, and beliefs as to how you will educate your child.

1.You now understand that you may have chosen your current homeschool approach by default not choice.

Being able to understand and articulate that simple, but powerful definition of a homeschool approach was my first prompt in realizing now that I had homeschooled a few years, I needed to research more carefully the best way to teach my children.

When I started homeschooling I almost felt like I chose a homeschool approach by what I call default.  Classical approach was the homeschool approach my brain was drawn to; it made sense to me.  By default because I was the teacher, I chose that homeschool approach for my children.

2. Regardless of your teaching preference, your children learn better with another style.

My second sign was that although the classical approach worked most of the time for my oldest son, my middle son learned best by more hands-on activities.  I truly was not going to leave any child behind.

3. When you’re losing your homeschool joy because you want something to be successful.

The next sign was one that was real important to me and that was that all of us, including myself, were losing the joy of learning.

Although the definition of homeschool approach in its simplest form means your individual style of teaching, it has to be something you enjoy doing each day too.

Losing a bit of my joy in teaching, I knew the classical approach wasn’t exactly a perfect fit for my teaching style.

Constant moans when we got ready to homeschool played a part too.

You know they weren’t the normal I-am-not-in-a-mood-today-for-school moans, but major moans. The I hate to read now were words spoken in my house. 

My heart was heavy because my push and my drive for a heavy language arts focus was stealing our joy.

Although I can’t all together blame the classical approach because I could have added balance, it certainly started feeling like a noose around my neck.

I could easily move past not having such a great day teaching, but young children don’t have the same ability to reason that sometimes things are temporary.

4. Your day is getting longer and longer because you’ve been focused on following the curriculum instead of the lead of your children.

Another negative sign was that I started making our days go longer and longer, which is beyond anything that I preach tout for teaching kids in the younger years

5. Knowing that when we added in something else other than what our curriculum called for, my kids were more engaged. In our case, it was hand-on activities.

Also, we were finding delight when we took time out of our reading and writing.

For instance, we added a volcano activity, outside geography hunt in the yard or made a themed history meal. They were indicators that we needed more hands-on activities.

Careful Stubborn teacher that I was, it still took me another two years before I changed.

Also, I knew that I had to adopt a homeschool approach that fit my whole family and not just suited me as the teacher.

The good thing about homeschool definitions that you adopt is that they can be expanded.

Now, my expanded definition of homeschool approach would be this:

A homeschool approach would be the techniques, style, manner, and beliefs as to how you will educate your child AND it is the way a teacher nurtures a love of learning recognizing and accepting how a child learns best.

You’ll also love these other tips:

5 Signs That You Need to Switch Your Homeschool Approach

Do you have any of these symptoms signs?

5 Signs That You Need To Switch Your Homeschool Approach @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus.

Hugs and love ya,

Homeschooling Middle School Doesn’t Always Mean Middle Way

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

Arriving at the middle school years can be a time of mixed emotions for both mom and child.  But homeschooling middle school doesn’t always mean middle way in our journey.  It is only natural though that middle school weigh heavy on the mind because it is a midpoint. Also, look at my page homeschool middle school for more fun tips.

3 Smart Strategies to Middle School Homeschool

Having gone through these grades twice now with my oldest sons, there are several things that helps me to stay grounded.

  • It’s about discovering your child’s individuality. 

Curriculum will come and go, but this is the time to focus on who your child will become.  It was hard for me to look at my boys then to picture the men they will become but it happens.

Middle grades are a time for discovering the strengths and weaknesses of your child’s character.  Middle school kids want to know how they fit in the world and they need time to explore a whole host of activities.  Whether you think they are behind or ahead in academics has nothing to do with their changing emotional and social needs.

Homeschooling Why Middle School Doesn't Always Mean Middle Way in Homeschooling

Self-discovery may come through field trips, attending classes without other siblings, or even volunteering for community service projects.  It may even come through an activity they enjoy doing alone.  Bottom line is that it is about discovering who they are and how they will contribute to this world.

I think it is one of the hardest times to homeschool too.  Because the kids are feeling the tug of adulthood but don’t have the skills like driving or the experience at planning to fulfill them, it is very discouraging at times.

It requires extra work on our part because it requires extra time.  Add in the time demands of a toddler or younger siblings to a middle schooler’s unique needs and it can be quite stressful.

Finding another homeschool mom you can trade off with in driving your child to his classes, hosting a co-op on a subject your child likes with only one other family at your house and driving them to classes every other week are things I have done to feed their need for adventure and discovery.

During those grades I have also found that my sons were ahead in subjects and lagged behind in others.

With both of my older sons, it has never meant either that we were exactly middle way in our journey or in academics.

  • Re-evaluate the academics. 

This is the time too that I have to switch from my teacher hat to supervisor hat.  Like us, our middle school kids want the same freedom to pursue subjects that interests them.  Without giving up the parental guidance, we need to throttle back the control.

It’s important for them to understand that though they have more input in their academics now, it doesn’t mean that you are willing to negotiate the core subjects.

You have to be willing though to let them try a new math program (approved by you of course) or writing program.  Negotiating how they approach core subjects, times about when they do them or where they do them shows you are willing to let go of control.

Many times I gave my sons a couple of choices in curriculum that I had weeded through at some of the conventions.  Some of the programs were ahead in some subjects, on target in others and a few for lower grades.

My oldest son was very decisive at that age about which math and writing program he wanted to stick with.  My second son, not so much.  So I made the choice for my second son and he was completely fine with it.

The point I am making is that both of my sons had a choice about academics because I wanted to show my willingness to be reasonable as this journey eventually becomes their education.

Too, some kids are very advanced in middle grades and are already capable of doing high school level work.  I always let me sons move ahead where needed and simmer on other subjects as they needed to.

  • Letting go of the best homeschool approach – your approach.

Ouch, this next suggestion of being willing to let go of a homeschool approach that you have followed for many years is a touchy one.

However, being willing to switch your homeschool method or approach that has been working for you as the teacher is crucial to surviving middle school.  Try to avoid micromanaging your children because it stifles any efforts for self-independence.  Clear accountability works better and is of more value because in real life, that is when they are adults, nobody runs behind us to remind us.  We learn by reaping the benefits or consequences of bad decisions.

I’m right there with you too because this is kind of scary for us as moms when we have been use to taking all control for their education up to this time.  I had to learn differently too because my sons now learned differently.  If you want your children to be independent learners then your method of teaching has to follow what works best for them.

When I started homeschooling and my children were young, the classical approach to homeschooling fit my idea of what my husband and I thought homeschooling should look like.  It still does in many ways.

Along the way though I learned that I didn’t have to be so dogmatic about it but that I could embrace many strengths from each homeschool approach.

Having boys and knowing they learn best by hands-on allows me to mostly choose resources that fit our unit study method.

I have not given up any of my homeschool goals but have partnered with my sons in embracing their homeschool approach that becomes more clear during the middle school grades.

I have found that the middle school years are an exciting time as my sons emerge.  It is a good place to be if you stay flexible and realize that the many different approaches to homeschooling exist because we have many different types of learners.  Embrace it, don’t run from it.   And change for goodness sake if you need to because it will mean the difference between making the most of middle school or having a collision midway.

I will be sharing some resources in upcoming posts that worked good for us too during the middle school grades.

Are you willing to let go of the middle school struggle and seize these exciting years?

Hugs and love ya,

2012Tinasignature DIY Homeschool Organizing With Duct Tape

Ocean Unit Study Lapbook Covers

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

Normally, I don’t share the lapbook covers and decorative clip art pieces for the lapbooks so early in our unit study.  But today I am sharing the ocean unit study lapbook cover choices because excitement has set in around here.

FINALLY, after months and months (and did I say months, okay, about 8 months) of decluttering and selling just about all of my stuff like a wild woman on Craigs List (I might have to share my pro tips one day), our house was officially listed this morning.  And tomorrow, we have our first showing!  I am beside myself.  I am trying to be laid back about all of it because I am over the top tickled if we sell it in a few months.

staged house

We were ready to list our house a few weeks ago, but we had to interview realtors.  Then, because some of the last big pieces of furniture sold quickly, it left our house a bit bare.  Along with the realtor, we decided we better bring in a company for “staging”.

Of course there is no way with my family size that I could ever have just that few pieces of things to sit on, but again this is just for “staging”.

So we had more strange people in our house and she brought in totes of accessories, because I sold just about all mine.

 

 

Oh well, I just wanted to show you a few of the final pictures which have made me so completely exhausted but exhilarated feeling over the last few months.

Because I am not sure how fast our house will sell, I want to share my printables with you sooner even if we aren’t ready for them yet in our unit study.

Ocean Lapbook Cover Collage

I went ahead and took a picture to show you what I mean when I call the downloads, decorative pieces.  Though you can use them anywhere, even in notebooking, I normally create them size wise to fit on the outside file folder of the lapbook cover.   I have some new followers here that are new to the method to my madness, so a picture helps.

Too, like I do for most of my lapbooks, I try to give your child a few choices in covers.  The cover above is for the kid that is not interested in coloring right now.

I have a few of them too sometimes. Though this time Tiny decided he wanted to color something.

So with the donations I get for the lapbooks, I buy clip art for the unit study and share the coloring pages with you.

Carp Fish

I purchased this picture of carp for some general coloring when studying about geography and rivers.

When Tiny saw it, that was what he wanted to color and he did.  It sparked a huge debate around here because Tiny had his mind set on coloring it for this unit study.

After I questioned him about whether carp are found in the ocean or not, it ignited a huge flurry of research, which I loved of course.

That is the part of learning that I enjoy about unit studies.  Sometimes the best parts of learning a unit study is the part you stumble upon.

You can download the pages below and yes, including the carp. It is a valuable piece of information he learned about what carp need to survive.

Ocean Lapbook Cover 1 Ocean Lapbook Cover 2

Download Ocean Lapbook Color Cover Here.

Download Ocean Lapbook COLOR IT Cover Here.

Ocean Lapbook Cover Coloring 3

Download carp fish coloring here.

Hopefully things don’t move too fast over here in selling my house, but then again I’m ready!

Hugs and love ya,

2012Tinasignature

 

When We Used Story of the World as our History Spine

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

When we used The Story of the World as our history spine in the younger years, it was one right choice I made for us.

Although loving history, my knowledge included only the history of the United States and it was pretty lame at that.

Because the The Story of the World came out around the time my oldest son was in the early grades and because I had read numerous good reviews, I used it. 

It ended up being a perfect fit for all of my sons.  We did begin with Volume 1 and worked our way through Volume 4, which is the whole series.

When we used The Story of the World as our History Spine

It is hard to find history programs for very young children that are presented in a story format and that make teaching history to young children easy. That is one thing I appreciated about the format.

I think it’s a must to have not only the story book, but the Teacher’s Manual which has the activity pages in them or purchase the activity pages separately for each kid.

STORY OF THE WORLD AS A HISTORY SPINE

The teacher’s manual not only has questions that help you to review the story but it has the answers right there too.  No flipping to another section to find the answers  That is a huge tiny pet peeve of mine about teacher’s manual.

Also, there are plenty of resources listed and choices for extra reading for a variety of ages.

It is a multi-age resource, which is a great find too if you are teaching more than one child.

If you are new to homeschooling or if you don’t have a huge background in history, The Story of the World  makes teaching history painless. It would make a great addition to your curriculum too even if your kids are a bit older. 

If your oldest kid is beginning middle school, I think this curriculum is still doable to teach all your kids if you have that circumstance.

Volume 4 is targeted for grades 4 to 8.  So if you have children in that age range and want to use this, just remember that Volume 1 was written for 1st to 4th grade.  I don’t see any harm in using it for your kids if they are older and can tolerate a bit of the language written in the earlier volumes for younger children.  It sure helps the teacher mom along.

The Story of the World is just an introduction to history and I think it does a fantastic job of hooking your children on history along with the maps and activities laid out in the program.  It helped us to form in our minds some major pivotal history points that the boys still refer to today.

It has slight Christian content, but we always added more.  I have said before I appreciate that fact about curriculum sometimes because we can cover Bible subjects at our pace.

Overall, The Story of the World is a keeper for us because of the ease of use, story format, use for multiple ages, teacher helps and having everything laid out.

On to more history spines we used through the years in my upcoming posts.

Hugs and love ya,

Want to read more?

Review of What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization by BrimWood Press.

How to Use a History Spine to Build Your Study of History

When we used Notgrass World History as our History Spine

8 Ways to Teach Homeschool History Other Than Chronologically

Should Homeschool History Be Covered in Chronological Order?

Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 1

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

Teaching handwriting when homeschooling the early years. After the topic of teaching a child how to read, there is probably no other topic that can worry a parent more than writing. Also, look at my page Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum and The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter for more tips.

Having taught all three of my sons from the beginning how to write, I am eager to share what worked, what was fun and oh yes, what was flat out dumb too.

Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 1

Instead of jumping right into the ideas though, I think it’s important for you to understand some basic background information about the process of writing that I learned the hard way.

Picture Books Library Lists

Educating yourself about the process too will help you to avoid confusion as you talk about it with others, research options and generally try to educate yourself about this beautiful and intricate developmental process. 

Do You Make this Mistake in Teaching Penmanship

It is hard to appreciate this process too unless you stand back and take a panoramic view.

Handwriting must not be confused with composition. They are two different skills which are talked about as if they are one. They are not.

As your child grows older, handwriting could be a tool that either burdens or beautifies a budding writer’s creative process.

Composing thoughts becomes a life-long skill, but there is a very small window of time for you to seize the opportunity to teach him how to write. 

Eventually, a writer uses both the physical act of pushing a pen and the mental act of arranging thoughts in a well-laid out system. 

In the earliest stages, it’s all about the physical act.

Then there is much information floating around about whether we should teach our kids print first, cursive first or if we even need to teach handwriting. 

How to approach a very basic but important skill almost seems like a guessing game when teaching it. 

In this series, I’m sharing tidbits about those topics so you can make an informed decision of how you are going to teach handwriting.

Don’t “Fix” What Children Like to Do Naturally

What I have learned in teaching my sons and helping many other new homeschoolers along the way is that we need to trust the natural bent our children have to pick up a tool, and yes to even use their fingers to scribble.

I have never forgotten what I read by John Holt.  It resounded with me as I have had what seemed like major highs where I could accomplish any task after teaching my first son his  letters and having tears pour down my cheeks too when I felt defeated.

John Holt said, “The infants at home were bold adventurers. 

It soon became clear to me that children are by nature and from birth very curious about the world around them, and very energetic, resourceful, and competent in exploring it, finding out about it, and mastering. In short, much more eager to learn, and much better at learning, than most adults.

Babies are not blobs, but true scientists.”

Understand first that your child has a craving to communicate through scribbles. 

Teaching Handwriting When Homeschooling the Early Years Part 1

Unless there is a developmental delay, your job will be to guide him to the next stage.

Don’t make this harder than it has to be.  Like childbirth and I’m going there today, you simply assisted your body, so to  speak, at the time of delivery. 

No amount of worrying was going to speed up the process as if you were in control of it.  Of course complications and delays are quite different, but again I want you to know that you just need to be prepared.

When it comes to penmanship, your children will present signs of being ready.

More Homeschool Writing Tips and Curriculum

Will you be ready?

Coming up in some other posts, I will be sharing some signs and signals of writing readiness by your children, ways for you to plan (and not worry) about the penmanship process, pre-writing activities, and other ways to gently guide your pre-writer through this process.

Here are the other posts in this series to see how the process unfolds:

Hugs and love ya,