Do You Have an Interesting Story
or a Sage Word of Advice?
This site is mostly about me sharing the advice and tips that I've discovered while homeschooling our boys.
But now, it's your turn.
I would love to hear about your best and your worst experiences, your most interesting information on homeschooling,
your top tips... anything about homeschooling that you'd love to share. Go to the bottom of this page to contribute your stories.
Tracie's Story
I have been a stay at home mom for my twos boys, ages 7 and 4. we are just finishing up our 3rd year of homeschooling. I second the recomendation of one of the other ladies who said that they use My Father's World curriculum. We have enjoyed that, too. This year, we studied early American History. We built a teepee from some tree brances (we are blessed with a lot of trees on our property!) and an old cream-colored sheet. BTW--Goodwill/thrift stores are great places to find cheap materials for hands on learning and creative play.
My oldest son is very hands on and visual. Doing Math with things like jellybeans is fun and engaging. We just started Rosetta Stone for Spanish. I have them act out their Spanish words for practice. example: I'll say "corre" and they run, "come" and they pretend to eat something, etc. Thanks for letting me share my two cents worth! :)
Louise's Story
from New Zealand
Thank-you for this website. I am getting ready for the new year of homeschooling determined to homeschool in a way that better suits my son
(8). I really struggled all last year with his lack of focus, how hard it was for him to learn anything at all (and how quickly he then forgot
it!), how anything he perceived as a little difficult was met with tears and anger on his behalf. If I was not working right alongside him, it
seemed he got nothing done at all and it was such a drain on me. I am committed to working with him to the best of his ability but have come to
realise i am going to have to significantly change the way I work with him ...
I need him to be enthusiatic about his work and patient with his
minimal and slow progress. So I am going to try and really shake things up for him with alot more energy and vibrant life in his lessons. It's
not easy to do this when there are sisters homeschooling, a toddler and a baby but I definitely don't want a repeat of last years agonising
mornings. Thank-you for the knowledge that boys are different and I can support that and work with it!
Victoria's Story
My son has A.D.D. by diagnosis but I believe he's just a boy who doesn't fit into the boring made for girls setting of traditional classroom teaching. One thing a friend told me she does with her Autistic son really hit home with me. 30 minutes a day their son gets 100% uninteruppted time. He can sit next to mom or dad( suggested to switch parent every other day) or on their lap. Mom or dad cannot talk at all. Just LISTEN. You will be amazed how much you have missed and how wonderful he feels that someone focused on just him! Try it for a month and see for yourself!
Missy's Story
Hi Michelle
I found your website through CBD review - THANKS!!!
My children are second generation homeschoolers so we are at an advantage of knowing the traditional system of schooling doesn't work. (My father was "dumbed down" by the public school system for being a typical boy) My two boys still constantly amaze me with their energy and hands-on abilities!
Since my 2nd grader thinks he can't read, I started writing my own stories about my two boys living in the wild west. They love it! He easily reads them to me, and we laugh at my illustrations since I am not an artist.
Thanks to the mother who shared her story of having a son write chapters for himself. I can't wait to have my son try it!
We take several short breaks, and use a lot of hands-on (not writing) activities. Heart of Dakota and Apologia Science cirriculums are at the top of our list for boys.
I have a daughter who also benefits from lessons in this manner.
Thanks for the website. I will be returning often.
Kate's Story
Hi Michelle
I just stumbled upon your website and I am LOVING it so far! I homeschool our three boys ages 13,7, and 4. It is truly an
adventure! We are a very active family and my boys rarely sit still during class time. We spend most of our time on the floor during school
hours.
We use My Father's World Curriculum and just love it! My boys really enjoy history and MFW has a strong emphasis on history from a
biblical perspective.
We also use Singapore math and I find it very engaging and appealing. Great step by step instructions too.
The best advice I can give to any parent, homeschooling or otherwise, is READ, READ, READ! I read aloud to all of my children daily. I read
to them for around 1 hour per day...and YES they actually listen the entire time! My second piece of advice is to pray together. And don't be
afraid to admit your own faults and short comings. Be honest and you can all learn to pray for each other and realize it is a day by day walk
with the Lord and each of us will stumble at times.
Keep up the great work! I am always thankful for those who are willing to put in the time to create a really great curriculum and save the
rest of us the time it would take to plan it out ourselves.
Fiona's Story
from Australia
Great web site. It gave me some useful tips.
Here's a few suggestions which I found helped my boy learn words and enjoy his learning.
1) Write sight words on a paper bag. Blow up the paper bag and tie with string. The child says the sight word on the bag before jumping on
the bag to pop it. My boy loved the sound of the bag popping and learned his sight words quickly.
2) Write sight words on paper plate, and the child reads the word before checking for a surprise under the paper plate.
3) Put a word on a frisbee and the child says the word before throwing it. Then use two frisbee's for 2 words.
4) Make a homemade pinata. If the child reads a word correctly, he gets to hit the pinata. He practises his words till the pinata
breaks.
5) The child has a sling shot or rubber band on a stick. The child must hit the word (on a wall) with a rubber band. They like the target
practice.
6) Using a water pistol, get the child to squirt the word with water. The word should be written on the ground in chalk and the child must
say the word before wetting it.
Shauna's Story
from Massachusetts
Hello Michelle!
I stumbled across your wonderful website after entering "+boys +energy
+noise" into a search engine in a quest for fellowship!
I homeschool our 3 boys, 3, 5, and 6.5, and am often laid low by their sheer
exuberance. They are *truly* sweet, loving, gentle children, yet I often
feel guilty for not being able to match their unique level of vitality.
Fostering close family bonds was my primary reason for choosing to
homeschool, and having come from a family of
crafting/reading/recorder-playing girls, I am always baffled as to what is
appealing to my sons--- When left to their own devices, they zoom around
(and around and around) the house in a tight pack, re-arranging what I once
thought to be permanently situated furniture, all in order to properly set
up their next big adventure, full of peril and disaster!! I can only watch
in wonder!
I appreciate your effort in supporting Mothers in nurturing our sons in ways
they can appreciate and benefit most from. I look forward to gathering more
ideas from your newsletters.
For what it's worth, there are a couple of things we do here that seem to be
working well. After realizing the sheer boredom of single workbook-type
language instruction, I decided to try having my oldest write a chapter
book. It is an on-going adventure story starring all three boys and their
favorite cousins. Each chapter is usually 5 or 6 sentences explaining the
exciting, scary, or absurd situation the explorers find themselves in and
what they plan to do about it! Occasionally, a chapter is accompanied by an
illustration. He has been writing his story for 5 months now and has 42
chapters! Twice a week, we make spelling, punctuation and penmanship edits
and then use his story as a copy book. He then has a "draft" copy and his
"good" copy. It's fun and interesting for us to look back, and see both the
free-form continuity and the overall progress of his writing and penmanship
skills, and he never complains about the boring content of the copywork- In
fact, he feels proud!
Additionally, my children both love
Miquon Math
with Cuisenaire rods, and
playing 4 Way Countdown
from Cadaco. It gives great practice in recognizing
number families and relationships among the four basic operations.
Hopefully these ideas can help others find joy in educating their sons...I
apologize for being so wordy!!
Thank you for your fantastic site....
Shauna Cain in Massachusetts
Dear Shauna,
Thank-you SO MUCH for sharing your story. I can't wait to get it posted - I
think it'll really be helpful to people. I especially loved your idea about
your son writing the chapter book. My boys LOVE to write stories, and I'm
sure they would be thrilled to do their handwriting, spelling, grammar, etc
in this way!!!
If you think of anything else you'd like to share, I'd love to hear it. And
don't apologize for being wordy... it was very interesting! Just the right
amount of words. :)
Take care and I hope to hear from you again,
Michelle
So... what's YOUR story?!?
If you've been homeschooling your sons and adore it as much as we do, please share your stories with us! I'd love to
try them on our sons and I'm sure others who visit this site will thank you, too!
