Coffee anyone ?

[Bruce]

Well I guess you have to keep busy somehow whiling away the months and years before you will actually be schooling kids

There are lots of methods from "create your own" to correspondence. Most likely you'll have to prove to the local school system that what you are doing meets the requirements. Clearly easier when you can just say "I'm using the Oak Meadow courses" since they will likely already know they meet the standards.

As far as "filling the day" I think one of the things that homeschoolers like is that you don't HAVE to fill the day. If the kid "gets it" there isn't any reason to beat a dead horse for an hour. If they are having trouble grasping something else, you can cover it as long and as often as necessary.

 

[Cecilia's-herd]

As far as "filling the day" I think one of the things that homeschoolers like is that you don't HAVE to fill the day. If the kid "gets it" there isn't any reason to beat a dead horse for an hour. If they are having trouble grasping something else, you can cover it as long and as often as necessary.

That sounds amazing!

 

[Alaskan]

I was awake at 4 AM too. What is wrong with us? We should be sleeping! I have finished my coffee. Got a Dr appointment this morning for lab work, then back next week for results and check up. I've only been to a Dr twice in the past 10 years, time to check me out. Get knees x-rayed and see if anything is going on with the rest of me.

I have 5 old gel batteries in the truck, Auto Zone will give me a $10 in store credit for them. No salvage yard wanted them, because they only want the lead-acid type. At least I don't have to pay to get rid of them. I'll give the credit to Robert, he helps me so much. Then to Goodwill to drop off a bunch of stuff that is in my way. Then I'll have space to drag out MORE stuff and keep, burn or get rid of.

Then on to the used book store, to see if they will give me anything for some books or just take them off my hands. Turn around, go to Home Depot for paint and supplies. Go to Sam's Club to buy a full and twin sized mattress, then home and unload. Next week I'll go to the "new" house , paint bedrooms, set up full bunkbed in one bedroom and twin in another. Spend 2 days painting, then come home.

At 4:20 I have a vet appointment to put Paris, my 13 year old Great Pyrenees, down. She is down in her back end, I can't watch her flop around, trying to get up and drag herself around. She was doing ok, not good, but ok, and she just went downhill. It's time. It will be very hard, BJ was her favorite, she loved him above all else. Paris hasn't understood why her Daddy no longer feeds and cares for her. BJ passed away 1 month ago today. Today Paris will join him and be buried in the woods next to Joe, my heart horse. Too much damned sadness and grief around here.

What colors are you painting the rooms?

I love color, but I know this is supposed to be a rental or sold or some such.... so will you just stick with dover white?

 

[Alaskan]

@promiseacres You homeschool? Can you help me out? How do you fill the day with learning? Do you use any online resources?

My kids have been/are being all homeschooled.

You first need to see what the rules are in your state. The rules for homeschooling vary WILDLY from one state to the next.

I love homeschooling. Where kids have issues you just keep trying different approaches or repeating material until they get it. Where they excell you zoom ahead.

I homeschool for a bunch of reasons, one of them being that I do not agree with how they organize and teach some subjects. So... I organized and taught how I thought was best.

Start researching parenting, but don't read the popular fluff, find scientific papers on learning and read those. And no, I can't tell you where to go and what to read. I did all of that research a great many years back.

But it boiled down to be very careful as to word choices, how you complement, always be consistent, if you say no it must mean no and you must follow through.

And then all of the language learning stuff. Reading out loud, lots of rhyming, clapping syllables. And there was research at the time that said that starting out with ONLY capital letters helped to reduce dyslexia.

Also the various thoughts on the best ways to learn math are fascinating.

I would suggest you do a great deal of research first, and go from there. Decide what you agree with, and build a learning plan from there.

Also remember that each kid is different and might need a completely different learning approach.

How I taught when I was teaching 5 tiny kids is way different from how I teach now. I am now teaching 2, grade 8 and 10. I do have a 12th grader, but he finished all required classes except for history and English, so is doing very little school this semester... mostly working.

With tiny kids it is way more fun. I would start the day with chores, animal feeding and wood hauling. If that didn't make them tired enough they would have to run in the hallway, or do jumping jacks. Once tired we would sit and do school. About every 20 to 40 minutes another bunch of jumping jacks (tired kids learn better and are more obedient). Then it was "cooking class" while we all cooked together for lunch. Eat. After that super tiny would sleep and the non-sleepers would do messy stuff like science experiments or painting. Then outdoor walk with learning. Water cycle, botany, foraging, weather, whatever. Then indoor quiet resting while I read history or classic books out loud incorporating morals, good character, critical thinking, philosophy, geography, etc. Maybe an hour or 2 where they play with toys or read.. Then we cook together again, eat, then they clean the kitchen while I put my feet up watching them, keeping them on task.

I think electronics with little kids is a rabbit hole of doom.

 

[Cecilia's-herd]

I think electronics with little kids is a rabbit hole of doom

Electronics are for Mama and Mommy to look for materials, not babies.

 

[Bruce]

I think electronics with little kids is a rabbit hole of doom.

I agree. You see one year olds glued to a cell phone these days!!!! "Oh, but it is educational stuff!" Um, yeah, right.

Parents want a little "quiet time"? give the kids a computer of whatever nature and let them veg. Yeah, no good.

 

[Alaskan]

I agree. You see one year olds glued to a cell phone these days!!!! "Oh, but it is educational stuff!" Um, yeah, right.

Parents want a little "quiet time"? give the kids a computer of whatever nature and let them veg. Yeah, no good.

Agreed.

When I needed quiet the kids had to do laps around the house while I had my feet up in the livingroom.

So they were outside, I was inside.

Rules were that they had to stay together, and they had to be fast so I knew they were safe (so they were never out of sight for long, livingroom windows could see about half the lap).

 

[Cecilia's-herd]

Parents want a little "quiet time"?

Can I ask an embarrassing question?

What do you do when you want a little parent “alone time”?

 

[Baymule]

What colors are you painting the rooms?

I love color, but I know this is supposed to be a rental or sold or some such.... so will you just stick with dover white?

Light pale gray. Got 5 gallon bucket of Behr interior with primer, expensive. But it should last through me and at least the first renter, LOL Ceilings and trim white.

 

[Baymule]

I woke up at 3 AM. This is getting ridiculous.