Homeschool Theater

If you are new to home schooling and haven’t a clue as to what to do about curriculum other than buying a set out of a catalog, there is a wealth of learning possibilities available to you. Many are free or low-cost. You just have to dig a little!

There are advantages to using boxed curriculum, if you have the money they require. If time is short or you really dislike planning, then a boxed set may be the way to go. On the other hand, if your budget is tight, there are many alternatives:

1. Your child is the one being home schooled so start here. What does he love to do? Read mysteries, skateboard, collect seashells, play with his dog, and draw? For each of his interests you will be able to find books to read, documentaries, clubs, lessons, web pages, or activities. Build a unit study or theme around one of those interests. You may be amazed at what your child will learn if it starts with something he is truly interested in.

2. Check with your home schooling support group to see if a lending library is available. Some groups keep books about the different styles of home schooling while others may have unit study kits or materials arranged by learning subject.

3. Use the public library. Every library system is different; you will have to investigate to see what your library offers. If your library is in a city or county system, you may be able to request items from other libraries to be delivered to your own branch for you to pick up. Some libraries offer science learning kits, toys or musical instruments, or have hired or volunteer guests do experiments or magic or present plays, etc. You will find DVDs of movies, lessons and documentaries, audio books, foreign language CD sets, etc. Most libraries sponsor book clubs.

4. Use the Internet. I love having our computer nearby as it is wonderful to be able to look something up as we are discussing a subject and a question arises. You will find tons of learning resources such as worksheets, coloring pages, online dictionary, thesaurus and calculators, lesson plans, educational games and skill practice. Moreover, so much of it is free! Your kids will be able to take classes online as well.

5. What resources will you find in your own community? Look for Girl or Boy Scouts, 4-H, YMCA sports, community classes, the Civil Air Patrol, government student council, Toastmasters, community gardens, Parks and Rec events and sports, extracurricular activities at your local school. There are clubs for aviation, writing, horses, the arts, radio-control racing, bird watching, dog sports, etc. Do you attend a church, synagogue or temple? Is anything available for your kids there?

6. Take a second look at the people in your life. Grandpa fishes and is a top-notch cook. Grandma plays lively music on her piano. Uncle Joe is an avid bird watcher, and Mrs. Garcia next door loves talking about Shakespeare. See what potential you may find!

7. Keep a daily journal about the activities your kids do, such as science experiments, buying their own meal at a fast-food restaurant, exchanging a roll of dimes at the bank or building a model of Stonehenge in the backyard. All of these involve learning!

Learning occurs anywhere in so many variations that you can create your own curriculum for your own home schooling kids.

To learn more about home schooling and the many options available to you, please visit our website at http://www.homeschooltheater.com. You can follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/homeschoolart.

Organizing Homeschool Supplies?

A very useful tool for organizing supplies in a busy household is the over-the-door pocket organizer. They are easy to find, in a wide price range, in different colors and sizes. Some will keep the contents out of sight, and in others the items will be visible. The pocket holders are excellent space savers when you have a number of small items that need storage but there is no room for a cabinet or bookshelf. My family has an organizer in nearly every room.

There is an organizer on the door of my husband’s office for his office supplies and one in the bathroom for toiletries. I keep my garden tools, knee pads, gloves, etc. in another.

My girls have a clear vinyl shoe organizer over their bedroom door. When they were younger, in the pockets they kept stored and on display their collection of fashion dolls. Now they have outgrown the dolls but not the organizer! Their little bean bag animals are the new occupants.

One of my favorite pocket organizer uses has been to keep track of our homeschool supplies. We keep this one on our pantry door. The pocket contents depend on what we are currently learning about. Sometimes they are filled with flashcards, or maps, or science tools. The pockets have been wonderful in keeping our viewfinder toy accessible and the discs organized by topic. Whenever I buy a set of discs relating to something we are currently learning, I have a space for it. Currently our pantry organizer is filled with pens, pencils, index cards, erasers, rubber bands, small notebooks, glue sticks and a paper punch.

What else can you use an over-the-door pocket organizer for? How about kid’s toys, such as Matchbox cars, action figures, trading cards, or doll clothes?

Science supplies, such as magnets, microscope slides, eye droppers, magnifying glass, beakers, test strips, or scale weights.

Math: small geoboards, rubber bands, manipulatives, flash cards, clock dial, play money. A clear organizer can also be used as a teaching tool to display one number card per pocket, such as for investigating place value or adding two-digit or larger numbers.

Art supplies, like paint brushes, watercolor trays, pencils, markers, acrylic paint tubes, packets of clay, and modeling tools.

Craft Supplies:magnets, pom poms, glue gun and gluesticks, feathers, seashells, pasta, strings, beads and buttons.

The organizer also makes a wonderful display holder for collections for your children’s current study: seashells, rocks, nature items, plastic animals or historical figures, or information booklets.

If you need to keep your homeschooling supplies in check, I recommend the over-the-door pocket organizer.

******
Michelle B. is a homeschooling parent in Arizona. We like the Homz Kidz 12-Pocket Over-the-Door Hanging Organizers

Setting up a special crafting zone for your homeschool material can be a wonderful boon to a child’s imaginative creativity and self-confidence, and a place to nurture family relationships. Why a special place? Rather than just getting started on a craft at the dining room table and Mom calls out that it is time to set the table for dinner, an unfinished piece can be left on a crafting table until it can be worked on later. Stray paint or crayon marks on the craft table are fine, as we don’t have to worry about them. And it is beneficial to have our supplies stored nearby, so we don’t have to run to the closet for paper, then to the kitchen drawer for a pair of scissors, and where is that box of crayons? Having a prepared crafting area means one can get crafting when the creative urge hits!

So, where will we put our crafting station? Although it is not required, one of the best places will be near a sink, such as the kitchen, or a laundry room or garage washbasin. Crafting frequently requires water for activities such as painting or papier mache, and of course some washing up. The floor will get messy, so carpeting is not a good idea. If the room is carpeted, spread out an old shower curtain liner or paint tarp, or cut a piece of vinyl flooring to lay over the rug.

The size of the room will dictate the size of the work surface. The larger, the better. It can be a card or kitchen table, a wooden work table or folding banquet table, a desk, a piece of thick plywood or particle board or a counter top cut to size over a pair of end tables, shelving units or filing cabinets or even sawhorses. During crafting sessions, the table can be covered in newspapers or, better yet, butcher paper or newsprint for a quick roll-it-up cleaning.

If space allows, a folding screen of some sort can be placed between the craft station, your homeschool material and the rest of the living space to keep a work-in-progress or a mound of craft supplies on the table out of view. Perhaps the screen can be used as a gallery of finished art.

Tissue paper has many crafting possibilities, such as collage, suncatchers, papier-mache, paper flowers, decoupage, and so on. It comes in many colors and designs, by the single-sheet or in quantity. Some tissue paper colors bleed, which means that when wetted by glue or water, the colors will run together. This can produce an artistic effect for your project, but if you need the colors to remain stable, look for paper that says “color-fast,” “non-bleeding”or “bleed-proof.”