The Homeschool Solutions Show

Latest Episodes:

HS 015: What I Learned This School Year by Alicia Hutchinson Aug 05, 2016

Show notes

It's been quite the school year, there's no question about that. We moved across the country, we hung out for five months with family, did school in their basement, house shopped on the weekend, then moved again to another state.

There were many times this year that I questioned everything, but now, looking back, I realize that it's all ok. Even in the craziest of school years, there's been lessons learned. Kids will learn, no matter what. It's like a train you can't stop. We can't stop–and we won't stop.

That's right, they learn no matter what.

When we moved to Minnesota at the beginning of April, school took an immediate halt. We didn't do our regular school for a good three weeks. I started to worry about this, as I had only planned on taking a week off and I was feeling like we were slipping farther and farther behind. But some things happened that I didn't see coming.

They didn't learn new math concepts or finish memorizing the prepositions, but they did learn other things.

Read more at http://www.aliciahutchinson.com/2015/05/what-ive-learned-this-school-year/.

HS 014: Three Ways I'm Bringing my Basket this School Year by Pam Barnhill Jul 29, 2016

Show notes

You know that awkward moment when your best friend asks you what you thought of her book? And you liked it, you really liked it, but the English teacher in you wants to ask, "Are you sure somebody didn't help you with this?"

Because it's just that good.

You talk to someone every single day — so much so that your husbands have their eye-rolling synchronized at your antics — and you just never really know what they are capable of do you?

That was me last summer when Sarah released the first edition of Teaching from Rest. My feelings were a combination of proud and awestruck, and I wasn't the least bit surprised when Classical Academic Press contacted her to publish the print version (though I may have squealed like I was).

That print version is on the shelves, and I am supposed to be writing a review. But now I've totally blown my objectivity and can't gush without you rolling your eyes, so instead I'm going to tell you a little-known secret about this book.

Lean closer.

Read the rest at https://edsnapshots.com/bringyourbasket/

HS 013: The Case for Creativity by Amber Kane Jul 22, 2016

Show notes

When I was a kid my two favorite things to make where, drawings of the Rice Krispie characters and to create paper balls. When I say paper balls, I don't mean that I just crumbled a piece of paper into a ball, that would be kind of lame, and not worth writing about. I mean that I soaked strips of paper in water, and carefully laid each piece over the last, forming a 3D paper ball.

While I continued to enjoy art and creating, my confidence in my ability waned, as it does for most students starting at around 3rd grade. I began to believe that I couldn't draw, and thus, I couldn't draw. It's funny how when we tell ourselves enough times that we can't do something, eventually it becomes true.

While in college, during my sophomore review, the nerve wracking time when you stand in front of a group of professors with your artwork, and they tell you if you're good enough to continue with your major. One of the professors commented that my drawings were a bit "grungy and messy." But she didn't stop there, she continued, why don't you pay attention to your style, and your voice as an artist, work to bring more of that into your work.

That advice always stayed with me. Because in that moment I knew two things, one, I'd passed and didn't have to change my major, and two I realized that I could have a voice as an artist, and I remembered that young girl that "invented" paper balls, and I went in search for her.

Read more at http://theunstandardizedstandard.com/2016/06/15/art-and-art-history-curriculum-done-for-you/

HS 012: Memorization's Role in Our Home by Tara Vos Jul 15, 2016

Show notes

The role of recitation and memorization has taken on a deeply personal role for me as a homeschool mom over the last several years. I first began to consider recitation while studying various homeschool methods as a new homeschool mom.

I could see the value of memorization in education, but it didn't feel like a good fit for my son. His memory was terrible. My daughter on the other hand remembered everything she heard or saw. I figured that memory was something you were either good at or you were not. I decided not to waste my son's time with recitation since he wasn't good at it.

Fast forward a few years down the road, and it wasn't just memorization that seemed to trip up my son. When he couldn't quite get a handle on reading we gave him time as many suggested. As time went on reading still wasn't happening. We discovered that he is dyslexic.

Listen or read more at https://taravos.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/memorizations-role-in-our-home/

HS 011: Why You Need a Prepared Curriculum by Pam Barnhill Jul 08, 2016

Show notes

Anytime you write a book there are bound to be misconceptions. Write a book on homeschool planning and there are SURE to be misconceptions.

After all, the Internet is filled will homeschooling moms, each one an expert on their own home and their own children — as well they should be! These moms have their own ideas of what works and what doesn't, and they are all exactly right for their families.

Which is why I wrote Plan Your Year: Homeschool Planning for Purpose and Peace with multiple disclaimers that my way is not the only way and there are thousands of way to plan. That is why I put in the samples folder, included the audio and all those links to blog articles, for the reader to see that others do it differently than I do and that is awesome.

Having said that, though, I am about to make a bold assertion and that is this: you need a prepared curriculum.

Listen to the rest or read it at http://edsnapshots.com/homeschool-planning-prepared-curriculum/

HS 010: What's Your Homeschool Personality by Mystie Winckler Jul 01, 2016

Show notes

I love the Myers-Briggs personality typing. Myers-Briggs – the personality system that gives you four letters – offers a vocabulary for talking about the different ways that people relate to each other and the world around them. It's been so helpful to me in learning how to understand and value other people's responses to ideas and situations – including my children's.

I've written before about how personality typing helps me understand my kids, and I've written a brief explanation of how the Myers-Briggs system works. Today I want to take this a step further and use the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Temperament Index) categories to help us understand our strengths and weaknesses as homeschool moms. I can't help myself. I'm an INTJ and so I love systems like this.

When we realize that we're trying to imitate a type totally opposite our own, we can realize why we feel defeated and beat up. Not only that, we can take a step back, value that other type's abilities, yet shift our own energies toward what will work for us.

When we know our own type and what that means for us, we can automatically filter out curriculums and opportunities that won't work for us. We don't have to try it and crash and burn first. We can see that it's not going to mesh. We also don't have to feel bad about what doesn't work for us, and we can better understand why something works for our friend when it doesn't work for us.

When we know our personality type we can also see where we need to outsource, where we need to get help, where we're going to have to budget recovery time and just what kind of recovery time we need. Recovery and refreshment plans for each personality type will be a post all it's own. :)

Today, let's look at how our personality types inform us of our homeschool style, strengths, and difficulties.

Listen or read the rest at http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2016/homeschool-personality

HS 009: How I'm Using Spiral Notebooks to Simplify Homeschooling by Sarah Mackenzie Jun 24, 2016

Show notes

I'm not feeling quite as fly-by-the-seat as I often do because I've got a new system for keeping track of school assignments, and it's rocking my world. I love finding ways to simplify homeschooling, and this method really takes the cake.

I'll tell you all about it, and then you have every right to say, "Of course, Sarah. Why haven't you done this all along?" like I said to myself when my friend first showed me how it's done. :)

Here's what happened.

Listen or read the rest at http://amongstlovelythings.com/spiral-notebooks/

HS 008: The Most Important Person in Your Homeschool Plan is Not Your Kid by Pam Barnhill Jun 17, 2016

Show notes

In this world there are two kinds of people. People who buy any old planner and just use it, and people who buy multiple planning products and never really use any of them.

There's quite possibly a need for a twelve-step program for that last group. The people in the last group aren't wishy-washy. Instead they are optimists. They are always sure that a better way has to be out there. So they keep searching.

I can fall into a similar trap in my homeschool planning. (Hello! Raise you hand if you've ever clicked "Buy" on a totally new math program on a cold, dark, tear-stained afternoon in mid-November. I can't be the only one.)

I keep searching and searching for the better way, the path of least resistance, the greener patch of grass, the silver bullet — any number of cliched phrases that will allow me to rest my weary homeschool mom body and my frazzled brain.

Read the rest at http://edsnapshots.com/homeschool-plan-for-you/

HS 007: Aligning Your Academic Year with the Calendar Year by Dawn Garrett Jun 10, 2016

Show notes

One of many options is the running of our Academic Year. Traditionally in the US, school runs fall to spring with summers off. This is a wonderful option, one which many homeschoolers follow for their Academic Year. I would like to present another option, which is to align your Academic Year with the calendar. http://ladydusk.blogspot.com/2015/11/aligning-your-academic-year-with.html

HS 006: Don't be a Curriculum Slave by Brandy Vencel Jun 03, 2016

Show notes

Do you know what a curriculum slave is? I'm sure you've met one before — perhaps you've been one before. (Or perhaps you're one now, in which case we'll try to help set you free in the course of this post.) A curriculum slave thinks the curriculum is her master, and she has to follow whatever the curriculum says — to the letter. The curriculum slave doesn't allow herself to think about what is best for her students — or even for herself as a teacher. Instead, she exists at the curriculum's beck and call, and when she doesn't fulfill its requirements, she beats herself up.

Listen to the rest...

http://www.teachingwithbob.com/2015/12/homeschool-curriculum-slave.html

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