Greg found this white board for free and when we fed the missionaries one night, they helped him to hang it up. We love it!!
We cleared out our dining room and made it a school room. We put the Plan of Salvation on the white board so we could tie our lessons into it easier. I keep the Story that we read from the Friend open on the board so the boys can see what we talked about that morning during their day.
We set up a long folding table for the boys to share. They each have a side. I also write things on "their side" of the white board for them.On the table we keep everyday school books and papers; a caddy with crayons, markers, scissors, glue and pencils and stickers for my to use while grading (I also sit at the table facing the boys when I need to be close to them while they work); we keep a tissue box and plenty of hand sanitizer handy; their scriptures and scripture journals (which are always left out and not in the school book pile).
It helps to have an artist in the house - Greg drew this "place value barn" for Josh. It was so cool. Liv thought the animals were all dogs and would point and bark each time she saw the drawing. :)
FYI, for school, we love:
Schoolhouse Rock DVD
Google Earth (we are marking temples in the lands we study so we can literally see how the temples "dot the earth")
Math U See blocks
Now, I know that most families don't have a formal room. That is okay! We chose to do this because I needed the structure and we wanted to keep the "formal education" feel for the boys. Homeschooling will doubtfully be a permanenet thing for our family. One day the boys will go back to public school and I want them to be prepared to sit at a desk with other students.
Keep in mind that we do not sit all day. This is homeschool, after all. :)
4 comments:
I didn't know you had decided to homeschool. Why?
Wellll, Greg's reasons were different than mine, but together we felt it was time to bring them home.
Greg had become concerned about the boys' safety at school. We had a few incidents this past year that really scared Greg.
I had become concerned with the environment found in Calvin's classroom. I wanted to "re-ground" the boys in gospel priciples and how those are not just "Sunday-only talk", but an actual part of our life. I wanted to teach lessons parallel to gospel doctrine so that they could see that everything is connected in some way. Example: We will learn that George Washington is on the same time line as Adam and Eve, on the same timeline as Joseph Smith, and on the same time line as Great-Grandpa Kleven.
Sooo, basically we are not seperating church and state and we are keeping the boys safe at the same time. lol :)
Please know that we loved the teachers our boys have had and we didn't find fault with the curriculum they taught. Our area is simply changing.
Anyway, I am finding very mixed reaction to our decision to homeschool this year. Either people are highly critical or very supportive. There is little middle ground. I don't care either way how others feel and I don't feel the need to justify or explain our choice as soon as people find out we are homeschooling.
I am fine to tell others when asked. ;) I am in a happy place. ha ha.
It does help that we made this a serious matter of study prayer and who can argue with that? We scoured church talks, conference addresses and even the Lectures on Faith and used what we found to begin our decision.
I have also found that some homeschool parents are very . . . anti public school and are ready to pounce on other moms who send their kids away each day. Yikes!
I totally believe that each parent has the right to make their own choice. What is right for my familiy may not be right for another.
So, if you were looking for a simple answer, sorry. If you wanted more, let me know. ha ha!
Gee, Jill...why did you decide to homeschool!?! haha Love ya!
Looks like fun! What does O do all day? Need more toys? :)
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