What a Day of Homeschooling Looks Like for Us

We start our morning at 5:20 a.m.

Tristen and I get dressed, eat breakfast, and take our vitamins and supplements.  Tristen starts his chores, and we head out the door to be at Seminary by 6:30.  This is a church class for kids in High School where we study scripture.  Here we practice social skills, answering questions, making eye contact, and paying attention in general.  Tristen gets stickers and after he gets five  he earns a special cookie.

 

We start our first class at 8:00, so when we get home from seminary, I do prep for the day and the kids get their chores done.  They do things like sweeping, vacuuming, dishes, dusting, dishes, bathrooms, feeding and watering pets, and personal hygiene.

The State of Texas guidelines for homeschooling is very vague.  You can obtain a curriculum from any source; used books, workbooks and/or computer or video screen; teach reading, spelling, grammar, math and a study of good citizenship.

 

To ensure a study of good citizenship, the boys participate in the Boy Scout program through our church.  We also have discussions during different units in our Social/Life Skills class.

 

Social Skills:  We watch videos on proper social interaction.  We talk about properly responding when someone talks to you.  We bake/prepare food and make personal care products.  The unit we are on now, we are tackling sensory obstacles by using Essential Oils, dry brushing while listening to various composers.  We made booklets about the benefits of "super-foods" and home-remedies.

 

Reading:  Tristen has been using the "Ask Me" book series which is mostly about science.  It takes us four days to read and discuss the book.  If he gets excited about a topic and wants to learn more, we go to the Internet to learn more.  On Friday, he does a worksheet with questions from the book that I grade as a quiz. 

During Tristen's reading time, he needs me one-on-one, so I have Tanner do the 8th grade curriculum from Time4Learning.com Language Arts and LA Extensions on the computer.

 

P.E.:  I use the Texas Learning Essentials to guide me in building a curriculum that benefits both of my children.  They do 30 minutes of a workout on the treadmill every day.  While exercising, they watch educational shows about health and wellness.  Then, they do chiropractic neck and spine exercises to better keep them aligned. 

 

Math:  Tanner is able to continue with the Time4Learning website in the Honors Algebra program.  He is very independent with few questions.  He does lessons, worksheets, quizzes and tests.  I go over his grades and we re-do lessons together if he did not understand the material.

For Tristen, Math is a strong point, but he is still not at grade level.  Some things he gets extremely easily and does without assistance.  Other concepts are too difficult and I help him though.  We have used Khan Academy online, and Elementary Advantage Advanced Math for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders, and because it is at his level, and he is able to be tested and get a C or above unassisted.  We also do money skills every Friday.

 

Social Studies:  I had a hard time finding an appropriate program for Tristen he could do independently.  Much of what he read he did not understand or retain.  Tanner, using the Time4Learning program, was having the same trouble at his grade level.  I decided to combine them and teach this class myself, using the text, worksheets, quizzes and tests from the website, but I modify them for Tristen and explain more in discussion form for Tanner.  Both of their attitudes have changed and they are now enjoying our discussions about the history of the country and are much more cooperative.  Tristen surprises me everyday with how much he understands!

 

Language Arts:  Tristen works on journaling, spelling words, building sentences, typing and writing his comic book.

 

Reading for Tanner:  Tanner struggled a lot in public school with reading.  He was not very cooperative in homeschool either, until I had him read to me aloud.  Now he is excited about sharing his book with me, making connections and predictions.  He is becoming a more fluent reader and he is not so afraid of reading.

 

Science:  We use a few different computer programs and learn together as a team.  Texas Learning standards have 8th graders doing a lot of experiments, so that is our focus.  The boys love science and enjoy the hands on interaction.

 

We end our school day at 12:20 for a couple of very important reasons. 

1.  It does not take as much time to teach a subject to two students as you would need to teach a whole class.  Being one on one enables us to move on more quickly when I am sure they have a concept, rather than spending a lot of time waiting for everyone to "get it".

 

2.  It is difficult for kids with special needs to spend much more than a half hour on a subject at a time.  I know this from my experience as a paraprofessional and from teaching Tristen this past 15 years.  Tanner also has a very hard time staying on task and is much more focused with a shorter time frame.

 

3. When Tanner was in a public Montessori school last year, they did all their work in the mornings and the afternoons were "free time".  This is a common practice, and because of this, I feel our school day is appropriate.

 

4.  Many times children with disabilities spend their days with little to no expectations.  They go from one place to the next without having to do any work or have academic accountability.  Tristen is learning much more than he ever has and is expected to stay on task and learn rather than to sit and daydream.

 

We hold classes the same days and have vacation the same days as the public schools.  What you may not know about public school, is that they can have a late start or early release and still count that day as a full day of school.  We, of course, do not do early release days as they do here in town. 

There is also "free" time to be considered in public school, such as lunch and recess.  That is counted as part of the school day, including assemblies, field trips, morning meeting, PBIS activities where they learn the school rules, centers and story time (for young children),  music, art, classroom parties for holidays, etc.  There is arguably time "wasted" in school that we do not have to account for in our homeschool program.

 

The kids are exhausted and in bed by 8:30pm.

 

This is just a short list of what we have been accomplishing in the past 9 weeks.  I am so happy to see my children happy and learning, without the bullying and politics in a public school setting.