Socialization…
When we decided to homeschool, the number one question we’d get would be about ‘what about socialization’. I always just laughed off the question because I felt the question assumed that regular schooling was a good method for socialization (but that’s for another day.)
Now that we’ve been doing this for nearly two years I thought I’d look back at the opportunities for social engagement my kids have had:
- Boy Scouts / Brownies
- Sports – Soccer, Basketball, Track
- Homeschool Co-op classes one day a week
- Science Museum Homeschool Classes (monthly)
- Young Mensan monthly events
- Chess Tournaments
- Tap Dance, Choir, Cello
We are very careful not to over-schedule our kids so this list does not occur all at once nor do we do every event that comes our way. But the point is that there are many opportunities to interact and we feel lucky to be able to take advantage of many of these opportunities, some of which we wouldn’t have if we weren’t homeschooling.
Everyone has to answer that question their own way but I’m curious to hear how you’ve answered (or if you’ve even been asked that.) My standard answer to people who I feel are asking legitimately and not being rude is to say “we have found ample opportunities to socialize, some of which we couldn’t do if we were not homeschooling; so it works really well for us.”
Book Reading Lists
We are going to implement a new feature soon to myhomeschoolplan.com. It’s the number one request on our suggestions page, Reading Lists. I’d like to start a discussion here on what that means to you all.
- Would you like one list total, or one for each child? (I’m thinking one for each child.)
- Have the list be text (like this bulleted list here) or actually link back to amazon.com
- Do you want to tag the books by subject or course? (I’m thinking for the reading lists, no, that’s not the purpose, but I could be wrong.)
- Do you want to use simply for books you’ve read, or do you want to treat like amazon’s wish list where you indicate, ‘I’d like to read’ or ‘I’ve read’?
- Lastly (and this would be a later phase) would you like to be able to share this list with others, and view others’ lists? That way, if you were wondering “what are other 8 year old girls reading” you could see. (and it would be up to you of course if you wanted to share that.)
You can email us or reply in the comments with your thoughts. Any and all responses are appreciated, you all help make this a better product.
Timelines
One of the things we do at homeschool that I love is our history lessons. Jennifer has done an amazing job of balancing the depth levels across our three kids’ ages while yet having them go through the same time period together.
To that end, as we begin a new era, she pulls out a lengthy roll of paper (picture someone rolling out a red carpet and you get the idea). Each child gets a marker and can put in the dates/events of importance. This allows our oldest to go in depth and focus on dates of battles (his interest) while my daughter can focus on inventions.
The other thing that comes out of this is the layering of what was going on around the world. Many books do this in their timelines now as well, but with our size paper roll, we can really play with this, so we can see what is going on in Roman times in Western Europe, North America, and China, for example, in one view.
Give it a try, it’s a low cost way to get your children working together yet at their own pace/depth.
Review: Life of Fred Math books
My wife has graciously agreed to guest post again, and she writes this week on the “Life of Fred” math series. She writes:
All three of our children weren’t as fond of math as other subjects. That doesn’t mean that they were not good at it, but they did not think they were. They would much rather have read a book than do math, actually they would rather have done anything than math.
I heard a recommendation that the Life of Fred math books were good for children who love to read and dislike math. So I figured that I would try them. After all, what we were doing wasn’t working at all. When I first picked up one of the books, I was surprised because it didn’t look like a math book. Stanley F. Schmidt, the author of the books, uses humor and fun pictures throughout the books. Each book is divided into chapters (lessons) that tell Fred’s story and how Fred needs mathematics. In the early books, there are problems that they need to complete in every chapter and at the end of every four or five chapters they have to pass a bridge to move on. In later books, they have “cities” to work through at the end of each chapter in addition to the problems in the chapter. Each concept is clear and easy for my children to understand on their own without any help. The books also explain the why behind many of the math concepts being taught. So my children have a great grasp of the material when they are finished.
When I handed my children their first Life of Fred book, they actually asked me if they could do another chapter. More math? What had happened to my children? I wasn’t sure what to think, but I told them yes! Now as they are doing math, I hear them laughing. And they call me over to them, not because they need help, but because they want to share something funny that Fred did or said with me. We have completed Fractions, Decimals and Percents, and Beginning Algebra. We are getting ready for Advanced Algebra. After that we have Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, and Statistics. So we won’t run out of math anytime soon! Sometimes, they even choose Life of Fred over a good book.
Website for Life of Fred math books: http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html