School Time

More and more often this is what my mornings are looking like.

Practice with patterns today.

Elias joined in today too.

He drew all the little rocks at the bottom.

The aftermath of a 2-year-old with markers.

Prayer Request

    I am quickly becoming a Homeschool Mom. Though I am thoroughly looking forward to enjoying this new lifestyle it will be a very challenging adjustment for me. It requires me to improve my self-discipline in the areas of organization (of school, home, and time) and laziness. Yes, I said it, I am naturally a lazy, unorganized person, and this just will not do for a Homeschool Mom. I work on it constantly, but as with any flaws they return easily.

    Also, I am quickly finding that my style of homeschool is going to make my social calendar a lot fuller than I am used to. As an introvert that struggles with depression I cannot handle too many outings without loosing control of my emotions. Over the past couple of years I have had a strict rule that I may have only 1 scheduled outing on my calendar per week(+church =2). Of course there are occasional unscheduled events for which I say “yes” if I feel up to it, and “no” if its gonna make me crash. Its a rule that has done very well for me. Here's the problem, one kid in piano lessons and I have no room for anything else. No art classes, no sports, no doctor's appointments, no coffee dates, no farmer's market, no youth group, no Bible study, nothing. Of course this is ridiculous, so somehow, I'm going to have to get past it. Stretch my abilities, find new coping methods and find a new limit. Of course I will always need a limit, but obviously it must be more than before.

    Please pray that God will grant me the ability to change, and the wisdom to know how much.   

MACHS Conference

The Manitoba Association of Christian Home Schoolers puts on a conference in Winnipeg every year. Last year, while trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I was soon to be a teacher, I decided to go. It was not what I'd expected, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was incredibly encouraging, as long as I didn't buy into the fear and panic of the other newbie moms.

It wasn't hard to spot the new homeschool moms in the crowd, they were the ones who looked like they were going through childbirth all over again. Most of them seemed to have put off the planning stage too long, content to just cross that bridge when they came to it. Now they found themselves knee deep in homeschooling and all the criticism that comes with it, without a plan. Feeling like they didn't have a clue what they were doing, or how to respond to the unrelenting questioning of the homeschool sceptics.

This is exactly what I was afraid of. I was already experiencing some of the scrutiny that comes along with homeschooling, and I was terrified of the onslaught that was to come. After all, if it was this bad already, when he was only 3, how bad would it be later when he "should" be starting kindergarten? I decided to check out the MACHS conference mainly for the Curriculum Hall. At least I could get some sort of an idea of what curriculum I would use.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the conference extremely informative, very encouraging, and not boring. They have a different guest speaker each year, along with smaller sessions that you can attend, and a large Curriculum Hall. There are a lot of programs to choose from at the Curriculum Hall. After I got there, I was so thankful that I'd gone the year before I really needed to make any plans. I didn't feel the stress like the moms I was talking about earlier. I was able to just soak it in, sitting through the sessions, listening to the questions and answers of new homeschoolers as well as the veterans, browsing curriculum, and just generally observing Manitoba's homeschoolers. It was wonderful.


I came home with very little books (spent very little$, yay!), but I did come home with a few gems.

Gem # 1 -> 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy

Gem # 2 -> Rod and Staff Preschool ABC series.


With the two of these combined, I know had a plan, and the first year's books. With that sorted out, I found myself much less worried about starting to homeschool. 


Now that I've given you a good run down of last year's conference experience, there's not a whole lot to say about this year. The one major difference was that after last year's conference we decided that I would be good for Jesse to come too whenever possible. It wasn't easy, but he did make it work this year. I think he was just as grateful and pleasantly surprised this year as I was last year. Plus, it made for a nice little two day get away for us. :)


We spent a little more money on books this year, but still not lot. I will post book reviews later on anything that I think is worth it. 

Whether you're just considering homeschooling, or you've been doing it for years; I highly recommend attending next years conference.

http://www.machs.mb.ca/

100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum

This book is not perfect; it will eventually become outdated. However there are some wonderful things to learn about yourself and your kids within these pages. The book is not just about curricula; it also talks about learning styles, and teaching styles. Well worth the read if you're even just considering homeschooling.

ISBN 10: 0805431381 / 0-8054-3138-1 
ISBN 13: 9780805431384
Publisher: B & H Books
Publication Date: 2005
Binding: Softcover

Selecting the right curriculum can be a time consuming, heart wrenching task for any family that chooses home education. Now, homeschooling guru Cathy Duffy makes choosing the right resources for your child easy!

Cathy guides you through the process, offering her "Top Picks" from each subject area, narrowing down to a manageable number of choices. Parents no longer need to sort through the entire universe of products before they can find something suitable.

In 100 Top Picks, Cathy narrows the focus and simplifies the curriculum selection process with questionnaires and charts. She walks her readers through the process of figuring out their preferences in terms of a philosophy of education, learning styles, and goal setting.

A major feature of 100 Top Picks is the charts showing the 100 Top Picks in relation to educational approaches, learning styles, and practical features such as prep time needed; design for independent, one-on-one, or group learning; and ease of use for the teacher.

Complete reviews of each of the Top Picks provide parents the information they need to make the best choices for each of their children.

100 Top Picks gives parents just the right balance of guidance and choices so they make well-informed choices in their curriculum purchases.

Rod and Staff Preschool ABC series

• Adventures with Books
• Bible Pictures to Color and Bible Stories to Read
• Counting with Numbers
• Do It Carefully
• Everywhere We Go
• Finding the Answers
• &
• Going on Eagerly
• Hearing and Helping
• Inside and Outside

At last year's MACHS conference my mission was to find Liam some small, simple workbooks that would introduce him to school without too much pressure or difficulty. I wanted to teach him to want to do school. 

These little workbooks were quite possibly the cheapest thing at the curriculum hall, but they were just right for Liam. They're nice and small with simple pictures, and simple instructions. I don't know about other kids, but I've discovered that Liam is very easily distracted by too many extras on workbook pages. If there's too much colour or too many bold pictures on a workbook page, he just can't focus. These books have none of that. They're all black and white line drawings, and there are no extra pictures; only pictures that pertain to the work at hand.

The books are sold is two sets. A through F, and G, H, I. They are intended to be done in alphabetical order, but its not necessary. A, B, C, and D can quite easily be done interchangeably, and E is intended to be review. F is intended to be a little more difficult, and should probably be done last. 

We haven't started G, H, I yet, but by the look of them, I think we will do those ones in order.

Rod and Staff also has a preschool series for 3 to 4-year-olds, but it is very basic. In my opinion its not worth it. At that stage, just give them colouring books and craft supplies. 

After the preschool series Rod and Staff skips right to Grade 1. From what I can tell, the Grade 1 program is focused on learning to read, and it looks like it could be a good program. However, we will not be finding out. There are just too many books and too much money involved. The rest of the curriculum, from what I've seen, seems to be more suited to girls, and/or kids that learn well in the traditional school room setting. It looks decent, but not for our boys. 

In short, I think the Rod and Staff Preschool ABC series is amazing, but that's pretty much the only Rod and Staff curriculum that I'm a fan of.