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Mixing It Up: How to Combine Homeschool Approaches (Without Losing Your Mind)

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Mixing It Up How to Combine Homeschool Approaches (Without Losing Your Mind) @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Get off the curriculum hunt and get back to understanding just your child. It sounded sane enough and it was because it was my mother’s advice. Today, in mixing it up: how to combine homeschool approaches (without losing your mind) is not about loving or leaving a homeschool approach, but how to combine your favorite ideas from each one.

When You’re Not a Curriculum Expert

It can be painful to make a decision that you thought was the best for your family. It was for me. Not only was it painful to leave my loved classical approach, but it can have you questioning your ability to teach your kids.

Finding balance is not easy and like others, I made some knee jerk decisions about curriculum with my classical approach and then found myself coming back to some of the things I loved about it. Look at my post, How to Use a Boxed Curriculum Without Giving Up Your Homeschool Approach.

Look at these things that I learned and that I hope will help you to avoid the same insane trip I made.

Analyzing a few of these things before I dropped my homeschool approach would have saved me  needless stress.

Forget What Type of Homeschooler You *Think* You Are.

I know, we all like to say that we are classical, unit study homeschooler or unschooler or whatever type, but I learned that choosing an approach right away is not what is most important.

What is important is analyzing which parts of a homeschool approach will work for your family.

By labeling yourself right away or identifying right away with a group, you think you may have to follow all of the parts of a particular approach.

That is what I did. Because I wanted strong readers, I felt the only way to do that was with a classical approach.

That brings me to the second point, which is to identify the teaching idea or suggestion that makes you excited about teaching.

Examine EACH part of a Homeschool Approach.

Research in great detail about what you do like about the approach you are drawn to.

Again, I did this wrong. I read in generalities about the different homeschool approaches and then I chose a homeschool approach instead analyzing the pieces first.

It reminds me of a point that Susan Wise Bauer said when teaching reading and that is to teach pieces to whole.

Teaching is much the same when you are trying to determine a starting point. What am I talking about?

Look at these fine points that I wanted to teach though I didn’t know how to bundle them up, so to speak, as a homeschool approach.

  • Having a love for learning lifelong was important.
  • Being able to teach not only rigorous academics, but a Biblical view was important.
  • Having lifelong readers was important.
  • Hands-on learning is important, especially for wiggly boys.
  • Learning as much together as we could.

Comparing what is the mainstay points of each homeschool approach with your goals allows you to see the strong points and the not so good points about each approach.

It Only Matters How Your Kids Learn.

Another vital point to mixing homeschool approaches is to read about, become an expert in and learn the best points of each homeschool approach that works for your kids. This was a fantastic point made by my mother.

Again, this is a huge area I made a mistake in. Not only did I overwhelm myself in trying to understand all the approaches, my focus first should of been on how my kids learn.

That is the reason I had to let go of doing classical homeschooling because it is not hands-on focused.

Mix It All Up and Determine Which Approach Has More of Your Checklist.

Then next because you need a starting point for curriculum, one homeschool approach needs to be your dominant approach.

It helps to narrow your focus not only for curriculum, but about following homeschool blogs and reading books that give you tips on how best to teach the homeschool approach you chose.

For example, look at this list below that helped me to see that a unit study approach was a much better choice for my family.

  • Though reading and history are two favorite luvs of my mine, my goal is to have my sons to introduced to a well rounded list of literature. I know the classical approach is primarily history focus. So I crossed out that part about the classical approach. The unit study approach allowed us to read what we are learning about or our topic and it is a much more better fit for my kids.
  • When it comes to history, the classical approach about covering history in order makes complete sense to me and my kids. So we followed the classical approach when studying history.
  • I love the hands-on approach to unschooling because thought it’s not my learning style, most children thrive, including mine, with a large dose of hands-on activities. However, I prefer a much more predictable start and end to my day and do not leave it completely up to my kids (child lead learning) to find out what they want to learn about. We need more organization, but I take the hands-on aspect of this approach.
  • The relaxed approach of unschooling also appeals to us because it is opposite of my personality. I other words, I don’t leave it up to me to make the complete decision because my teaching style in the beginning tended to be strict and austere. (ugly, I know, but it’s true.) I followed how my boys learned with a relaxed approach and that dictated taking that piece from this approach.
  • Another concept that appealed to us that I did not find in the classical approach or the unschooling approach was learning until mastery. Unit study is a mastery learning approach. My children could learn until their appetite was satisfied and some subjects have very little review or repeat the next year because of how in depth your child go when learning a topic.

When I learned, albeit the hard way, that mixing a homeschool approach should start first with understanding the way my kids learn best and not what just appealed to me and letting go of my ideal homeschooling (i.e. fantasy), it allowed me to follow my homeschool dreams.

Knowing where to begin is key.

Are you struggling with your homeschool approach?

102 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum is one of my favorite resources in helping you to determine learning styles and understanding homeschool approaches.

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

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Homeschool Co-ops Turned Private Schools

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Homeschool Co-ops Turned Private School @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Newer homeschool families seem to now outnumber those of us that have homeschooled for 10 years or more. That is a good trend.

What is the Offspring of Two Types of School?

However, there is another shift or trend that has gained momentum and that is hybrid homeschool co-ops, which are popping up and growing in popularity. Have homeschool co-ops turned private schools?

Using the term hybrid homeschool co-op reminds me of the fact that homeschool co-ops (if you can call them that now) are taking what has worked for homeschooling for years and morphing them into mini private schools.

Back 10 or more years ago, the line between a homeschool co-op and a mini private school was clearly defined.

Too, it is important that new homeschool families don’t bring with them their ideas of what they think homeschool co-ops should be.

Embracing homeschooling is about valuing the principles of education that have not just worked for years for homeschoolers, but that breeds creative and independent learners. That sets us apart from a public school robot like mentality.

Look at my article, The Great Homeschool Hoax – Public School At Home, which helps to separate the two very different educational approaches.


Are homeschool co-ops really changing because of the times or because more and more families do not understand the roots of homeschool co-ops? Are homeschool co-ops really not for some families because they have only experienced a hybrid homeschool co-op? I don’t know.

What I do know is that there are foundational pegs that are inextricably linked to homeschool co-ops and the successful co-ops may have a bit more guidelines because they can grow quicker, but co-ops never took the place of home.

There are fundamental facts, which are the live blood of any healthy co-op and they are important to understand as the homeschool movement should always improve without compromising the most sacred and essential elements.

Look at these 5 points that are worth taking note of when measuring your homeschool co-op.

1.Enrichment is Essential.

Homeschool co-ops have always been about enrichment, making friends and otherwise learning subjects that may not be easy to learn at home or that may have gotten monotonous. Enrichment looks different for each family.

For example, families that cover the basics or 3 r’s may look for ways to expand how they learn science, art, geography and history with others.

Other families have children that struggle with writing or math and a homeschool co-op class can shore up the weakness of a child.

2.Multi-level vs. Split level classes.

Another negative feature that has cropped up in the last ten years is only offering split level classes.

Not only do split level classes stress a family with multiple children who may want to attend co-op classes, which may be on different days, but it separates siblings.

Homeschool co-ops are flexible enough that as their core group of kids grow older, leaders adjust to suit the needs of teens like preparing them for adulthood, but it has never been the only criteria.

Are the ways of the one room school house to be abandoned now because homeschool co-ops want to group kids by grade level?

3.Model curriculum (or is that one size fits all).

Isn’t a model curriculum used by a homeschool co-op from year to year with the same age group the very reason most of us left a pubic or private school setting?

Why trade what we left behind for a smaller group setting?

Curriculum is suppose to help each child grow at their unique pace and not in sync with a one size fits all mentality.

4.High Cost.

Homeschool co-ops have been an extension of parenting and a community spirit has existed in homeschool co-ops.

They were not a way to add extra income or substitute for a one family income.

However, a lot of homeschool families are a one income family and keeping costs down, but the fun factor high has always been the standard for price setting.

While it can cost for a place to hold the co-op and materials fee exist, and members should rightly pay to cover those expenses, leaders of the past have tried to keep the classes affordable.

5.Small Group Can Equal More Wow.

The other way to measure a co-op is by how large it is. Homeschool co-ops normally grow fast if they are successful and the members’ needs are being met. Word spreads fast among eager homeschoolers.

However, in the beginning, homeschoolers of the past have also joined homeschool co-ops so that their children have friends. Keeping a homeschool co-op small allows kids to have time to make friends.

Parents wanted like-minded friends as well. So big does not necessarily mean better.

Is a co-op trying to grow “chain stores”, uhmmm I meant co-ops, or have parents united together to use their collective experiences to enrich their children?

What is the Purpose of Homeschooling?

When a homeschool co-op steps over to invade the time spent at home, and every class is taught by somebody else, then why are you homeschooling?

Though a small private school can be a fit for some families, a majority of the teaching is taken out of your hands and placed in the hands of a “professional”. That is very opposite of what is homeschooling

Homeschool co-ops should enhance and improve your homeschool journey, but when a homeschool co-op meets 3 and 4 times a week, time at home learning together is diminished.

And lastly, a homeschool co-op should fill a need you have and each co-op should be weighed against that.

If you want to get a bird’s eye view of the differences in how terms are used in the homeschool world look at Homeschool Co-ops, Support Groups and Regional Groups. How Does It All Fit?

Do you find that your homeschool co-op is taking over your homeschool journey and life or enhancing it?

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

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Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


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Top 5 Tips for Homeschooling Parents

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Best Parenting Tips @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusLet’s face it. Parenting is hard enough, but then you decide to homeschool. Knowing which hat to wear, the teacher hat or parent hat seems more like a juggling act than educating a child.

By the way, this blog hop is organized by The Jenny Evolution, where bloggers have connected to share their top parenting tips of the year. Be sure to click the image above to visit all the other articles shared on each blog.

Look at these top 5 tips for homeschooling parents that I rounded up from 2015 that I hope will help to smooth the homeschool path for you.

3 Wrong Ways to Homeschool a Hotheaded Child @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

My article, 3 Wrong Ways to Homeschool a Hotheaded Child really resonated with you. Avoid my same parenting mistake.

Here is my excerpt from my article that you need to scoot by and read:

When I started homeschooling my first son, Mr. Senior 2013, he was the perfect child to school or least I thought so.  Along came Mr. Awesome and I was humbled because all of the sudden I had a hotheaded and stubborn child on my hands or least I thought so.

Then this next article goes directly to the decision you have to make to homeschool your children as the homeschooling parent.

But the Little Dear Doesn't Want to Homeschool

You’d be surprised at how homeschooling parents feel with this article, But the Little Dear Doesn’t Want to Homeschool.

Fake It Til You Make It

Here is my excerpt from my article that you need to scoot by and read:

“In my workshop, I hear the statement often “but the little dear doesn’t want to homeschool”. Okay, maybe not quite like that, but you get the idea. And it’s not from just parents of preteens and teens, but from parents who have very young children, as young as 5 years old.”

What is the alarming truth behind who makes the decision to homeschool? It goes directly to parenting!

Treasure-the-Moments-of-Homeschooling-Testosterone-Armed-Teen-Boys.png

Then, I received a lot of emails and feedback about this next article, which is Treasure the Moments of Homeschooling Testosterone Armed Teen Boys.

It’s tough to  homeschool boys, who can think completely different than I do much less parent them.

Geography BundleThey learn differently, handle their emotions differently than girls and you have to be ready to teach and parent outside the box.

Real Life Parenting Tips

Here is my excerpt from my article that you need to scoot by and read:

“I don’t want to sound cliché, but I treasure the moments of homeschooling testosterone armed teen boys.  Thinking back when all the boys were real young, my sis came over to my house one day with her girls, which are about the same age as my boys to discuss how we could join forces to homeschool our kids together. 

When we looked up, my boys were outside in the yard with tree branches fighting and her girls were inside coloring pages, inside the lines no doubt.”

Patience, Confidence, Knowing all the Answers – NOT Required to Homeschool @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then many things are required of us as homeschooling parents, but Patience, Confidence, Knowing ALL the Right Answers is NOT Required to Homeschool.

Here is my excerpt from my article that you need to scoot by and read:

“If somebody had told me that prior to starting homeschooling I needed patience, confidence and all the answers to every subject, I would not have plunged into homeschooling.”

3-homeschooling-myths-debunked.png

Then, this next post, 3 Homeschooling Myths Debunked, you loved because it goes directly to facing head on some of the critics of homeschooling because we do spend a lot of time together as a family.

“Taking time to debunk popular homeschooling myths helps to avoid mommy guilt.  Confronting head-on homeschooling myths that I have both encountered and that I hear from homeschoolers that I’ve helped through my New Bee program also deepens my dedication to homeschooling.  It gives me a chance to ponder, because I know there is always room for improvement in both my parenting and homeschooling skills.”

Also, don’t forget to go through our New Bee Homeschool Program for more great homeschooling parent tips!

New-Bee-Homeschooler-Program-Tinas-Dynamic-Homeschool-Plus.jpg

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

Be sure to follow BOTH of my Pinterest Accounts to grab more homeschooling parenting tips!

Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

 

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Homeschooling – Beginnings are Usually Scary, Endings are Usually Sad, but It’s What’s In the Middle that Counts!

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 Homeschooling - Because Beginnings are usually scary, endings are usually sad, but it's what's in the middle that counts @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Homeschooling – Beginnings are Usually Scary, Endings are Usually Sad, but It’s What’s In the Middle that Counts!

On the street I grew up on, my family got close to a neighbor or family that had a set of twin boys.

The twin boys were younger than me and my sister and we came to view them as “little brothers”.  As the boys grew up, they both became pilots.

We went on some of their first flights in a little 4 seat Cessna as we flew to La Grange,which was another small city nearby. We thought we were cool as we went to grab a steak and fly back home that same evening. (By the way, it was the cutest small plane ever. okay. okay.)

I loved those times as a young girl and have fond memories of our exciting times as we entered young adulthood. But I was equally impressed at all the knowledge and information that went into getting that piece of machinery up in the air.

Did you know the twin pilots had a huge list of items they had on a checklist to check off every time before they even lifted up?

In Search of a Homeschool Adventure?

Without doing that every time, there could be a terrible accident. Not one detail could be overlooked.

Too, the “routine” wasn’t left up to memory.

They had a physical clipboard with their checklist on it and checked off each part as they walked around the plane checking every part of it.

It made taking off less scary.

Homeschooling is scary on take off too and the beginnings remind me of my first air plane ride.

Check out these two tips as you get ready to begin.

EMBRACE THE ADVENTURE.

Any adventure worth taking will have risks.

I hinted about this when I shared When Homeschooling is Not an Overnight Success (Is it Worth the Risk?), but I also want you to understand that risk taking without planning is not necessary when beginning to homeschool.

Though sheer passion will not overcome all tragedies, it is the fuel needed to boost your beginnings.

Just remember though that there simply is no need to have to leap before you look because so many other homeschoolers have gone before you.

The time is long gone when folks did not hear about homeschooling. Too, there are many homeschool bloggers for just about any topic you can think about.

Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power” and that couldn’t be more true when beginning to homeschool.

Knowing that an abundance of information exists on the homeschool how-tos, I want to remind you to embrace the adventure.

Homeschool without inhibition. Don’t let fear hold you back from stepping out and trying another homeschool approach.

Grab my 31 Day Free Homeschool Boot Camp to start your adventure.

CHECKLISTS ABOUND GALORE –  GRAB ONE, TWO, OR . . .

Checklists are not only important, but vital or essential to homeschool success.

What type of checklists would you want?

Like the checklists that ensured our safety when taking off and landing, checklists serve as a guide to help you in your adventure.

Because the Middle Is What Matters.

After taking off in the Cessna airplane, it was the breath taking aerial views of the Lone Star State and time we had flying in the air that made our trip memorable.

I soon forget the jitters I had in the beginning of our airplane ride and only remember the trip and the beautiful night sky and not the checklists.

Homeschooling has been much the same way. Beginnings are not only scary, but almost paralyzing. It fades into the background as you get up and running.

Freedom to Have Fun

After you take much energy to get your homeschool up and running, it will be what you do during your journey that your children will fondly remember.

Sure, we all are going to mess up our children at one time or another and it’s almost unavoidable. We’re not perfect parents.

However, mistakes just mean that you get a do-over and you’ll do your due diligence next time to get it right.

And try to remember, that endings are normally sad because life changes and kids do grow up! Make the middle count.

Are you ready to take off? When are you going to start homeschooling?

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

Are You Following My New Homeschoolers Must Haves Board On Pinterest. It will make your beginnings less scarier.

Follow Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s board New Homeschoolers Must-Haves on Pinterest.

 

Should I be Teaching Spelling to my Homeschooled High Schooler?

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Should I be Teaching Spelling to my Homeschooled High Schooler @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Now that two of my sons have graduated, I have tweaked my thinking about spelling several times throughout the years and want to share a few tidbits of my experience.

I have been asked, “Should I be teaching spelling to my homeschooled high schooler?” Well, it depends.

I know, maybe not the exact answer you wanted to hear. But then again, we are homeschooling to teach to each child’s strengths and weaknesses and that same mindset goes for teaching high school spelling.

Should We Do Away with Grade Levels in Spelling?

First, I think it’s important that as homeschool moms of high schoolers that we abandon spelling mold thinking.

Though teaching and mastering advanced levels of spelling is ideal at the elementary grades, sometimes a teen just needs more time.

One mindset that we need to not be swayed by as moms of teens is that spelling should only be taught at the elementary grades.

Too, it’s important that we teach our teens to do a self-analysis of their spelling strength or weakness.

High school teens need to learn to not follow what is considered the norm for teen learners either.

For example, one of my boys told me he would just use spell checker when typing. Maybe so.

But as I have learned through the years, as I graded their essays; learning how to spell correctly is inextricably tied to advanced vocabulary skills and writing skills.

High school years are where the most basic of skills really count as teens get ready to emerge into the adult world.

We can’t tout on one hand that a teen can only use spell checker and on the other hand that we want extensive writing practice in the high school years. It can be a partnership. Embracing technology cannot cost our highschool students to use it.

In my case, I had a teen that couldn’t even get close to the right word when using spell checker and that is how it works. So it was of no use to him at certain times.

What are we to do as moms who want to prepare our teens for the adult world where spelling counts?

Look at these 3 tips that helped me.

Don’t grab a spelling program so quickly.

With some families I helped through my New Bee Homeschooler program and that was the same in my case was that my teen had a few spelling rules causing the problems.

In my case, my teen had problems with the ie/ei rules. Also, he was confused with their, there, and they’re.

Knowing this, he kept a notebook and when he had problems with a word when writing, he would note that word in his notebook.

Instead of him feeling defeated and thinking he needed a spelling program, he honed his problems and focused on those areas only.

Too, he felt like he could keep making progress and this gave him a sense of accomplishment with spelling.

I didn’t want him to be an adult and hate spelling. I did, however, want him to tackle his weak areas with the same positive attitude he tackles other things that he doesn’t do as well.

Copywork is great for high school too.

Something else I did was to have him pick a book of his choice and do some quick copywork.

His choice was within reason though because it had to be a book with good literary quality. This gave him a break from writing like it use to when he was a little boy, but it still provided a model proper spelling, use of apostrophes and punctuation.

Just a few well written sentences each day was a nice change to the day and reinforced correct spelling in addition to the reading he did each day.

Keep the focus on writing.

Another reason I chose to not use a formal spelling program was because there are only so many hours a high school teen has in the day and time needs to be doled out wisely.

With more time to practice writing and not worrying about having to do “another subject”, my son could actually focus on spelling more because he could use it in its natural context.

At the high school level, learning spelling separately did not help my son as much as increasing his reading and writing.

Too, for a teen who wants to make his own choices about what he wants to read and write about, this was a perfect solution. He could increase his spelling skill and write about what interesed him.

Holding him responsible for errors by making him correct his spelling mistakes then in his draft was key at the high school level.

When I was teaching him how to write and teaching him beginning composition in the younger grades, I didn’t hold him responsible for spelling errors.

I don’t regret doing that because if had I held him responsible for spelling errors then too, it would have completely quashed any passion for writing. The focus in the earlier grades was on fostering a love of writing.

He loves creative writing to this day and so I know my method of handling spelling errors worked for his age at the time.

The bottom line is that you simply cannot work on every skill in the younger grade and expect your child to be a master of them all.

Some skills can wait to high school to hone.

Besides with the age or maturity of high school, my son could both laugh at himself when he made a spelling mistake and didn’t view spelling as another nonsense and useless subject to learn.

One book I did use and let the boys use as a reference for their independent learning was The ABC’s and All Their Tricks: The Complete Reference Book of Phonics and Spelling.

Both of them seemed to like it and used it as a reference when they didn’t search on line.

If you feel like your teen would benefit from a spelling program, then discuss it with him and use one. Remember, if it’s a subject they struggle with, then we need to forget what the rest of the world thinks is the norm and do what is best for our child.

However, most of the time I have found that normally a few rules or sounds cause the spelling confusion and with a heightened sense of awareness, a teen can usually correct the problems.

Does your high school teen struggle with spelling?

What tricks have you pulled out of your hat?

Hugs and love ya,

 

Also, check out:

When a Homeschooled Sophomore Struggles
How a Homeschool Mom Grades a High School Essay

Follow Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s board Homeschool Middle & High School on Pinterest.