Did you know you were going to home school before you even had children?

Not me, I fought the idea of home schooling tooth and nail, and until I couldn’t fight it any longer. I’m an accidental home schooler. Part of being an accidental homeschooler meant that I was not home schooling as part of a lifestyle choice. I was not home schooling because it was a choice based on religious beliefs. It was purely a choice of my child needed something different than she was being offered in public school or private school. This posed problems that people who home school because of lifestyle, or religion, don’t face. I found that I was not only an accidental homeschooler but also a secular homeschooler. This is a growing segment of the home schooling population, and until very recently, a segment that was under represented in terms of curriculum choices. It was hard to find a place to settle, that wasn’t based on religion, and that didn’t require a full lifestyle commitment. In the process of trying to find out where we fit in, I discovered that Time4Learning was a perfect fit for us. That is not to say that Time4Learning couldn’t work for you if you choose home schooling for religious or lifestyle reasons. It just means that for those of us who choose to educate our children at home for other reasons, there is a place where we fit in. If you are also an accidental homeschooler, I hope that you, too, can find a place to belong at Time4Learning!

My son and I were sitting on a bench the other day, waiting for his sisters to come outside the building from their Girl Scout meeting.  He started looking for something to pass the time and ended up picking up nuts from the ground near a group of trees.  I was excited to see they were buckeyes!  What a neat learning opportunity!

The buckeye is the state tree of Ohio, and the nuts are very distinctive looking, dark brown with light brown centers.  They look like eyeballs!  (They’re poisonous though, so this is one nut you shouldn’t try to eat!)  So I used this as an opening to learning a little about the state of Ohio.  It’s always best to have the kids learn without knowing they’re learning, right?  We talked about the buckeye tree being the state tree, which led into a discussion of the state bird, state flower, etc.

There are some neat Ohio state games online too, to reinforce some of these ideas.  Games make learning fun! One of our Ohio homeschool groups did some neat craft projects with the buckeyes, and that really helped too.   So, no matter where you live, make it “buckeye season”, and find some inspiration in an unusual place to teach about your state too!

I have come across this conversation more than once in my homeschool groups…Is writing just as important anymore as it was when we grew up?  I have the worse penmanship ever.  My girls can write better than me!

In today’s world we type ( look at me now) everything just about.  Our mail is email or thoughts are blogged, twittered or a status on Facebook.  We have conversation through texting too.  Our kids today text and that is even different than  typing.  They are quick two fingers texting to their friends. 

I still think putting your thoughts to paper or may it be on a computer you still need to be able to form a sentence and paragraph.  We still need the writing mechanics for a solid foundation of putting the thought out there. Being able to type and use a keyboard is just as important because that is all we do now in today’s world. 

 I think the future is our children will sit back with their feet up and talk into the computer and it will type it for them.  I know that that is out there already, but I think it will be more so in the years to come.

We were at the doctor’s office, waiting to go back. Since the majority of our curriculum is online with Time4Learning, we needed portable school work.  My daughter and I were doing word ladders together. I read the clue, she gives me the answer, spells it, and I write it in.

The previous word was “mall” and the clue for the new word is, “tiny, add one letter”. S+mall= small, right? Seems simple enough. She answers…miniature. I reminded her of the hint. Diminutive? I point to “mall” and tell her to add a letter. Microscopic? Miniscule? She knew four other words that meant tiny. I’m proud of that fact. I’m proud of her vocabulary. This kind of knowledge, the importance of vocabulary , will serve her well in the future.   I was frustrated that she couldn’t come up with the word small, but I know that the words she did came up with were more advanced than the word the exercise asked for. I know that reading, word ladders, and many vocabulary skill building games that we play, have contributed to her growing and useful vocabulary. If you haven’t tried word games, you should, they are easy, fun, and you will be surprised at the number of words your child retains.  Truth be told, I think my own vocabulary benefits from  these games as well!

The decision to homeschool is hard enough, but then new homeschooling parents have to decide which curriculum, resources, and activities to use.  There are so many choices; it’s completely overwhelming!  For me, the big must-have was a clear, concise sense of organization and having everything I need in one spot.  We use Time4Learning because it gives the kids the education they need and it makes back to school as a homeschooling mom easy!

Everything you need is right there online, including the lessons themselves.  There are also printable worksheets,  educational games, and even an art curriculum.   The lesson plans are online too, which is a huge bonus to moms who want to be organized without spending a ton of time doing the organizing.

Time4Learning was the big red “EASY” button for my family’s homeschooling!