Tag Archives: reading instruction

When unschooled kids learn “all that stuff” people think they never learn

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11904712_10153120564753753_9182439994170434911_nAnd so it begins…

People always worry that unschooling won’t prepare kids for the real world.  How will they learn (insert any number of skills here).  It’s a scary place to be for parents–especially since unschooled kids often don’t learn things when their classroom-schooled age-peers learn these things.  Suddenly, there’s an overwhelming fear that they’ll be “behind” and at a disadvantage that will render their children unable to support themselves in society.

And that’s a really valid fear when you consider that we don’t have a lot of open role models who have been unschooled.  But let’s break it down and analyze it. Continue reading When unschooled kids learn “all that stuff” people think they never learn →

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So far, so tolerable

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And so the school year begins… fuh realz.  We are on roughly day 6 of having a daily public school class for the BigGuy and Girly is lagging behind.  Notsomuch in academics but just in “having things to do”.  So that is my next great endeavor… What to do with Girly? Continue reading So far, so tolerable →

She can read

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BigGuy taught himself to read by the age of 3–despite all of his other global developmental challenges.  He actually taught himself to sight-read; but since he knew all of his letters and letter sounds, I intervened and imposed phonics on him.  It wasn’t easy, but it was quick.

People used to tell me that I was so chill about homeschooling and my stock reply was “Well, he can read.  Come talk to me when Girly is 8 and not reading yet and let’s see how chill I am then.”  Because it seems like reading becomes the barometer of educational success and Girly is another story…

Continue reading She can read →

Transitioning from fiction to reality

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1510386_10152108528344743_883523461_nWhen you’re a new parent, rarely do you give a great deal of thought to things like Santa, the Easter Bunny or Elf on the Shelf and how those illusions will be shattered.  I mean, I guess if “finding out” was traumatic for you, that might cause you to think carefully about this.  I honestly don’t remember what shattered these illusions for me so I didn’t really think much about it.

Until I woke up one day and it REALLY bothered me that I was lying to my kids.  I’m not sure why this bothered me.  Everyone I knew did it.  Safety in numbers, right?  Because if we go down, we all go down together… I think parents live life by that mindset on a LOT of topics.  Like “How wrong could this be if everyone’s doing it?” and “Well, at least if this is wrong, there are SO many people doing it that I won’t be alone.”  But it did bother me.  I didn’t care how many other people were doing it.  Unfortunately, this thought came after my children were well indoctrinated in the fictitious…  Continue reading Transitioning from fiction to reality →

The schedule is coming together…

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So today, BigGuy went to his first Young Philosophers gathering and he really loved it.  And dude… I REALLY love that he loved it because THAT is what is going to make him THINK.  This week they read “Siddhartha and the Swan” and some other version of the same story.  Some of the questions included “What does it mean to be wise?” and then a list of challenges to their potential answers.  Holy moly–I’m thrilled.

Since the group meets 11:30am-1pm each Friday, last year the parents gathered on Friday afternoons to do local field trips since pretty much, the day is otherwise shot.  WOOT!  Love that!

I’m also really kind of looking forward to having this chunk of time available to take Girly to the library and just read with her.  ❤

I’m thinking that Fridays will go like this:

Mornings will start with usual routine of reading our “Character Building Day by Day”, getting dressed, eating, etc. and then BigGuy and I will discuss his review questions for Tapestry of Grace.  I think we’re breaking these up a bit over the course of the week so it’s not going to leave a ton to do on Friday.  I’m also going to go over and make sure all his other assigned work will be done.

Midday: Young Philosophers for BigGuy while Girly and I either explore nature or go to the library to read together and snuggle.

Afternoon: If there’s a field trip with the group–great.  If not, we’ll come home and do our weekly housecleaning since that will have to be done no matter what.

Evening: picking up our farm share.  We moved it to Fridays because Tuesdays were too insane.

I can’t lie that on one hand, I hate that this is the end of Papa’s vacation and I feel like it wasn’t a great one for him.  On the other hand, I’m really chomping at the bit to get into a routine already.  Especially since I feel like Girly is being “neglected” on the engagement front.

OH!  And I’m trying to dig out my Root’s & Shoots manual and PRAYING that it didn’t get thrown out (although I think it did).  😦  Doesn’t look like they produce a manual anymore.  (double 😦  )  I’d love Girly to be involved in something, but I’m not sure Girl Scouts is going to be “it”.   *sigh*

So unprepared… so much pain

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Yesterday I threw my back out in a way that I’m not sure I have ever thrown my back out.  It hasn’t responded to anything that has ever helped.  I honestly don’t know that I have ever had this much pain.  I can’t even walk standing upright.

Needless to say, I am in rare form today–and I’m really not liking myself at all right now.  At all.  At 11:01am.  I’m in tears as I’m typing this because I’m so disgusted with the things that have come out of my mouth this morning, in the tone and volume they have come out to people inside AND outside of my home.

I also tried to follow my Tapestry of Grace curriculum this morning (having forgotten to prepare this weekend) only to find myself clueless about his notebook (which was a central component since we are STILL attempting week 1 for the second week in a row–which is totally fine).  Apparently, all I needed to do was Google “Tapestry of Grace notebook setup” to find this neat little page called “First Steps to Set Up Tapestry“.   THAT would have been useful a week or two ago.   Ugh… on the up side, I think that between what I bought this weekend for BigGuy’s grammar & composition notebook plus what I already own (which is TOO. MUCH. CRAP) I should have what I need.

BigGuy and I did sit down and go over “how it’s gonna go down” in terms of the Tapestry of Grace stuff (heretofore referred to as TOG).  We agreed that we would do Critical Thinking Company’s Word Roots rather than vocabulary and we’re ditching the timeline thing.  So there’s that.  I sent him off to do his Math-U-See which resulted in trying to find his missing workbook which is still MIA.

Girly watched the LeapFrog video to learn her vowels.

This afternoon we’re going to watch a Netflix video about Ancient Egypt after we do a Character Building Day by Day story.  The first week was “kindness”, the second was “helpfulness” and I think this week we’ll do “cleanliness” since I am having a VERY hard time with my therapies and the cleanliness of the house is a huge PTSD trigger for me that we have been unable to really resolve.  This might be a good fit.