Friday, January 26, 2018

Homeschool Book Club



We are very fortunate to have a wonderful group on Meetup.com that we are part of ... but unfortunately we are way out on the geographical outskirt of the group. This means that we see all these wonderful group events posted, but for us to attend most of them would require a one hour or more drive each way.

There are some of us down here on the outskirts, but we just don't have the critical mass. So I decided that I needed to either quit this group this year, or make an effort to host more events in this area. In the summer it was easy, as I could host playground meet-ups.

I tried one event with a high dollar cost, and was pretty burned by folks not able to come because of a traffic problem.

But then we had a book club meeting, in a coffee shop. Most of the others no-showed on us, but we still had a great time with the one other person who did show up. I thought this was great! We read a book for our homeschool, and had fun talking about it with another homeschool family. I'll try this again!

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Staying in Control of the Home School

 Homeschooling can be a little chaotic in the best of times, and when I'm also working a full-time job and managing a little hobby farm and being an active citizen, etc. .... Well sometimes the question is "how much of the schoolwork can we get done in this waiting room right now?"


 Starting off the new year I put together a new Life Management Binder for myself, and one of my tabs is definitely "School". I took time during the break to make collage pages for each area of my life, envisioning what I want out of them. I'm envisioning a homeschool that runs smoothly enough to be the very best of what I hope for in education: inspiring, socially responsible, life changing, sustainable, and resilient. 

 And, perhaps most of all, I just need to feel a sense of CONTROL. For some that is a bad word ... that might be exactly why some folks homeschool in the first place, to get away from all the Control and Authority. But the opposite ... total chaos .... I find to be very bad for my mental health. And I think it's important for my children that they have two parents who are taking good care of themselves!


The binder is working out well for keeping this balance, so far. I use homeschoolmanager.com to track assignments and to create weekly check lists, and I print two copies (one for the kid, one for me to keep in my binder). I also have all the quarterly syllabi and other organizational documents in my binder. Then, when I want to check on what the kids need to do still in any given day, we sit down together and go through the checklist marking things off. Since we are working at home, in the car, at the office, and all sorts of other places, a portable system was a must.

It's only a tiny glimmer of control, but it's enough to keep me sane. ;)

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

A Free Racial Justice Education Game



I want to recommend that homeschooling families check out the excellent (and Free!) work being shared as The Road to Racial Justice Game. http://www.roadtoracialjustice.org

It is most appropriate for ages 13 and up, according to the authors, but my 12 year old was ready for it. I used the game in my Unitarian Universalist congregational setting, but as a homeschooler I think homeschooling families could also make good use of this material.