Questions and Answers

Below are some questions that I have been asked over the years. I do not claim to be an expert on any of these topics. I simply like to share information that I have been given over the years. If you have a question you would like to see here, please let me know!

How Do I Choose A Curriculum?:

This is a question with no easy answer, I'm sorry to say. There are those that choose a curriculum based on their "teaching style" and there are those that choose a curriculum based on their student's "learning style". (See Cynthia Tobias' The Way They Learn). Others choose to use whatever their students were used to in whatever school they came from. The decision is clearly yours to make. Here are some things to consider:

• What are your goals for homeschooling?
• Are you trying to "bring school home" or homeschool your children?
• Why did you choose to homeschool?

If you are looking for something different, you might look at unit studies either in a pre-made form (i.e. Konos - KONOS, Five in a Row, Sonlight, Weaver), and others I may not be thinking of right this second.

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What Are Some Goals to Consider for MY SCHOOL?

I heard a long time ago that if you "don't know where you are going, you won't like where you end up!" This is so true. At least once a year my hubby and I get away to talk about where we want to "go" this year. We discuss the ups and downs of last year and how we think we could have done things differently.Next we discuss family goals: spiritual, extracurricular and practical skills. We discuss things like finding time to do a family devotional! (For us once a week is all we can manage around everyone's work schedules.)

Then, we get home and talk with our children (remembering that we have teens) about the decisions that we have made. For some things, we ask them to help make us accountable to one another. For other areas, we ask them for their input. When we are discussing goals with them, we talk about spiritual goals, extracurricular goals, academic goals, social goals and personal goals. We talk about what curriculum or approach we are going to use in their school. We talk about weaknesses we see in them and how we can all work together to make those weaknesses less of a problem. We talk about their spiritual goals (maybe more quiet time with the Lord) and how we can help each other meet those goals. We also discuss social goals. My children tend to be "homebodies" and need encouragement to be more social.

When you are talking about academics, think about each student's strengths. You really want to teach TO your child's strengths without ignoring his weaknesses. If he is weak in grammar, perhaps Daily Grams or Easy Grammar will help. If he is weak in writing, plan on increasing the direction in writing this year. Please remember that you will not "fix" everything in one year.

The key to all of this is communication and prayer. If you and your spouse are praying through these issues, the Lord will direct your paths. Then, when your children see you depending on Him for your leadership, they will trust your leadership even more.

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What do I do with my toddlers?

The advantage of homeschooling is that you get to have your whole family together. That has its blessings and its challenges. I try and do labor intensive things (math, phonics and dissections) during nap times or other times when the toddlers are more interested in doing something ELSE than in "helping" me or my other students. I believe in starting your toddlers first. Schedule time for your toddler to do "school" with you. It's also handy if you have some activities (coloring books), blocks, and toys that they play with ONLY during school time. It helps to have a child proof area where your toddlers can be encouraged (perhaps with a child fence) to stay. If you have several students, there is nothing wrong with having a time for each student to entertain the toddler while you work with another student. For read-aloud, I usually bring the toddlers along for as long as they can stand it. I also bring them along for some of the activities that I do. They can pretend (dramatize) being on a whaling ship too! (you just need to be more specific about what they can and can't do!) If you make your directions clear to toddlers, they "catch on" eventually. You would be amazed how much they learn just from being a "part" of the class!

Also, for more comments about toddlers that were written by the readers of the Homeschooler's Notebook, check out the Preschoolers Page.

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What penmanship program should I use?

Two of the most suggested programs that I have heard of are the Getty-Dubay Italic series and the Reason for Writing series. Each is different. The Italic series is a very pretty printing/manuscript that can eventually introduce your child to calligraphy. The Reason for Writing series takes scriptures and uses the traditional manuscript/cursive approach to handwriting. They practice certain things four days a week and then on the last day, they get to make a "banner" to put up with their very best printing. Both programs have received wonderful reports. It is more a question of which approach do YOU want to use. After all, it is YOUR SCHOOL!

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What about Math programs?

When I first got started there were nowhere near as many programs out there as there are now. I would advise you to use a curriculum with manipulatives and great teacher support. For your youngest, you may not need much more than Ruth Beechick's Three R's booklets, but you may want a more specific curriculum. As your students get older and the material gets more challenging, making sure that you can get answers to your questions (for example, Saxon has Solutions Manuals - not just answer pages - for their volumes beginning with Algebra ½). Math-U-See has a video to teach the teacher (which the older children can watch with you), as well as a teacher's manual and even has review sheets available for each level! These are just a couple of the maths that I have used.

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What are unit studies?

Unit studies incorporate all the different "subjects" encompassed around one particular topic. When we studied "Christopher Columbus", we studied ships (history) (because that is how he traveled) and we studied astronomy (science) (because that is how he navigated). We studied geography as we plotted his travels. We brought in some math as we discussed distances. We brought in health by discussing diet on the travels. We brought in literature by looking for poems about stars or sailing. We even learned a few words in Spanish because Columbus learned how to speak Portuguese and Spanish. We drew sketches of the three ships as well (arts and crafts). There were a number of different activities that we did that were all focused on Christopher Columbus but incorporating different subjects.

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How do I get my husband more involved?

Do you feel like your husband thinks that this is something that is YOUR project? I know I did. One thing that helps to get your dh (dear husband in e-mail talk) involved is to let him know specifically how he can help. I always assume my husband should KNOW what I need at any given time. That is usually a false thought! We talk before the school year about how I want him to help (i.e.: No, honey, telling me to put them in school after a tough day is not the help I need!) Then you need to make sure that you know how you can help him help you. Ask him if he would like some specific questions to ask the students at the dinner table. Let him share his giftings with your students. Even if it is not specifically about something that you are studying, it will build relationships between he and your children. That's a big part of why I am homeschooling to start with!

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Do I really teach the same thing to all my children?

I like Jessica Hulcy's (of KONOS fame) description of multilevel teaching. She describes it as a bus trip where all the students get on the bus at the same time, but each gets "off" the bus at their own level. A good example is when the students are studying the ear under the character trait of Attentiveness in Volume 1. The first grader is going to write or tell mom how the ear works. The 4th grader is going to do a report on the major causes of deafness. The 7th grader is going to do a research paper on the RAS (reticular activating system). Clearly they are all studying the same topic, but in this particular area (writing), they will be doing different activities. Other things they will be doing together (like building a crawl-through ear). In a more traditional program, each student would have their own science, history and writing books. In that situation, you might be teaching mollusks to one student while another would be working on electricity. People ask me how someone with a number of children can possibly do unit studies? I always wonder how they manage to teach all their children different things at different times. For ME, that approach is much more time intensive and complicated. However, we are all different and should use the curriculum that works best for OUR families!

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Do I Need A Timeline?

Timelines can be wonderful tools to help us "see" history. For example, we would place Helen Keller on the timeline after studying her life. This is a concrete way to learn an abstract concept. The students learn that mom and dad were not alive the same time as Daniel Boone and that Bible characters have a real place in history. I love my timeline. It truly helps put history into perspective! Some folks have come up with some very creative ways and places to mount their timelines. Here are some of the suggestions that have been posted on the support loop I used to moderate.

Thanks to Beth P. for compiling these comments regarding timelines from the KonosSupport list at ONELIST.(note, this particular list no longer exists - nor does "Onelist".) I have taken the liberty of editing out last names and and addresses for the sake of privacy, but basically the thread remains!

From Sandy: I plan on using KONOS next year (although as soon as my book gets here I may just punt what we are doing now! I am really excited to start using KONOS). Anyway, I too,don't have a lot of wall space, and while I don't mind our home looking like a school, my hubby doesn't. There's an alternative this site While this still takes up wall space, it gave me an idea to incorporate into a 3 ring notebook as someone else has suggested. We have a scanner, as well a clip art to use for various stuff. Haven't done it yet. May not be as simple to do as it is to imagine in my head!

The foam board is around 3 ft long. You do have to shorten some of the lines, but you know what time frame you don't have a lot of stuff for, so.....pick those lines to shorten. You take the two boards and place the "right" sides together. Then tape (I use "nasty" tape) the outside edge of one side. Then you can open your board, and apply your lines. I have found that rubber cement seems to help the figures stick the best! (Of course, I have a lot of little kids that want to pick at my t/l when it is out at book fairs on display). That's how I do it. I've never tried the science project boards. You should be able to slip either of these behind the couch to keep dad happy during non school times! LOL

For a larger, more detailed photo of Lynn's timeline, click here!

From Mindy: Here's our timeline picture! It has been a really neat visual aid for us because we can see that history "turned a corner" when Jesus came!

For a larger, more detailed photo of Mindy's timeline, click here!

From Christina: An idea that was passed along to me was to use Velcro on the backs of the figures and the time line instead of tape. It makes it reusable and more mobile.

From Linda: When putting your timelines on the wall, on foam core board, or on the science fair project boards, leave lots of space around the time of Christ, and from the 1600's to the 1900's, especially the 1800's & 1900's. There are just lots of people to put up there.

I bought 4 sheets of blue foam core board. I folded them, in pairs, blue sides together and taped them, short sides together, with wide sticky tape. On board one I have from the year 2099BC to 700 BC. I have 7 rows of strips. One strip overlaps the other by 4 inches. (1800 BC overlaps 1799 BC) Year 2099 is in the lower left hand corner and 700 BC is in the top right hand corner. Board 2: Jesus is in the center middle of this board. I've left a blue strip down the center to differentiate between BC & AD. I also shortened the strips so I would have a 2 inch wide blue strip down the middle. So I cut off after 299 BC and used rubber cement to put it on top of the strip so it would fit. On the other side of Jesus is the first 1 - 799 AD in descending order. (down the side) There are 8 strips on these boards. Board 3: I cut the strips much smaller for 800 ad to 1399 so that 6 of them fit in 3 rows (plenty roomy) and then one strip of 1400's and one strip of 1500's again cut to fit. This board has 4 strips on it. If I did over again, I'd also fit the 1600's on the board to give lots of room for the next centuries. Board 4: The 1700-s go across one row and there is a row and a half for the 1800's and 1900's, cut to fit. This board gets really crowded. The beauty of this timeline is that it folds up and fits behind or under the couch; next to the desk; or behind the bookcase. The disadvantage is that it doesn't have room for the days of creation or the AD & BC signs. And Christ does not show up as the center of time because there is so much more recorded history since the invention of the printing press. Hope this helps.

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How much time do I need to prepare?

As with all areas of home schooling, I will tell you that it is YOUR SCHOOL and your actual time may be more or less than mine. I have put a lot of time into gathering materials, organizing co-op days, and doing projects on some units. For some other units or other days, I have used what I have in my house and just picked the activities that I had materials for at that time. Either way is fine if it is helpful for YOUR family. I encourage you to not get overwhelmed with trying to finish a lot of "units" or trying to do every activity in each unit. Homeschooling with unit studies is a style of learning that lets you take advantage of those teachable moments in the some great places for children (i.e. at the zoo or the park, or at the museum). Your prep time will depend on what you are studying and what time and energy and excitement you are willing to put into a unit. It may take more time to prepare a unit than it does to open up a workbook and make your student do a page or two, but in my case, that would have been more work than doing my units! Not to mention the fact that my children's love of learning makes any extra time I might spend well worth it!

NOW, after that disclaimer, I will tell you that I spend about 1 hour a week planning my specific lesson plans IF (and this is critical) I have spent approximately 3 hours during the summer doing the long range planning for that unit. Longer or more involved units might take longer, less involved units (with younger children) might take considerably less. This is my experience. It takes longer when you are first learning and finding a system that works for you, but gets much quicker after you get a few units "under your belt".

What are some advantages of a co-op?

Co-opping gives you an opportunity to share resources (including children!), craft materials (sometimes buying in bulk is better), and expenses for units. It also gives you a chance to share talents, support (emotional and prayer support), as well as more role models for your students. When the Lord puts your co-op together, you will be surprised that others will want to take over doing the activities that you KNOW you would not do if they were not there!

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What are some disadvantages of a co-op?

When you co-op with other families, it limits the flexibility you may have to adjust or change your units "as you go". If you don't confirm some things early on in the co-op (i.e. discipline issues, money issues, unexpected illnesses and assignments between co-op days) it can be less than a positive experience.

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