< Previous10 | The Utah Homeschooler computer or friend time until everything on their chart is done. Some times they focus well and are done by noon; other times we have to carry their unfinished work over to the next day. One of the benefits of using charts is that my kids tend to take more ownership of their education. I don’t always have to be the one to tell them what to do next. Also, using charts has allowed me to focus on my other responsibilities as a mom and homemaker. If I was busy with the little ones or in the middle of doing dishes, the kids were still able to work on other things until I was ready to give them the help they needed. A final perk of using charts is that when you get to the end of the week and feel like you got nothing accomplished, you can look at their charts and see all the things that got checked off. Even if there are items that didn’t get done, you can see all the things that you did do. Sometimes that is all you need to remind yourself that you are doing a great job! Just Enough Routine Though overall our day is not planned, we do start our day together and at generally the same time (around 9:00 or 9:30 am). Each year I determine what activities we include in our “Start our Day.” This is generally a song, prayer, memorization, and a look at current events. Then I add on a few other things to accompany any focus we have for the year. I try to keep this time to 30-45 minutes, as the kids lose interest if it gets long. One year, our focus was world history and geography, so we included a little geography trivia and a short story from around the world. Then we did our history lesson together before sending them off to do their own thing. At lunchtime, we sometimes also add an activity that we do together. In different years we watched a US history movie or documentary (we broke it up over several days if it was long), a student news program, or an episode of American Ride over our lunch. Some other ideas for these times are read- alouds, board games, sing-a-longs, and poetry tea time. This is what has worked for us, but you may find that doing things as part of your bedtime routine might work, or even not doing anything together at all. Planning I don’t do a lot in the way of lesson plans. I just look at how much needs to be done to cover the material and then I figure out how often it needs to be done each day or week to cover the material by the end of the school year. For daily subjects like math, I usually plan on only four days per week, even though we actually do homeschool Monday through Friday. That way, if we have an interruption like sick days or field trips, I don’t need to worry about getting behind or catching up. And if we finish math early in the year, the kids are very happy. Generally, we just do a lesson a day, and we stay on top of it. We structure our year by doing roughly six weeks of school, followed by a week off. I have found if we try to go any longer without a break, we all go nuts. We take a week off for Top: Learning doesn’t have to take place at a desk or table. Most of our school work took place on the couch. Bottom: Going on field trips means making memories together as a family. Opposite: Older kids can help teach their younger siblings... or help them avoid doing their work. It is all good. Thanksgiving and two to three weeks off for Christmas, but generally do school on Monday holidays, like Columbus Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and President’s Day. Curriculum The availability of homeschool curriculum has exploded in recent years. There is so much out there that it is hard to know what will work for your family. A word of caution: I have found that the more “curriculum” you use, the more high maintenance your homeschool will become. I believe that, as a general rule, learning can be a more natural “way-of-life” type of experience. Curriculum tends to be more structured and time consuming, so while I do use it, I am cautious and try to limit it to meeting specific academic goals or needs. I didn’t use a formal reading curriculum with my older kids. I just went to the library and checked out easy readers as they were ready for them. Then came my youngest. We had been working on his alphabet for years and he still didn’t get it—at all! I decided that this was a time to invest in a curriculum specific for kids who struggle with learning to read. I am so thankful I did. While the progress was still slow, he made consistent progress with this need being met. Before you spend a ton of money on curriculum, I recommend that you do as much research as you can to see if it will work for your needs. Try to find a copy and look through it, read or watch reviews, take advantage of free trials, and ask your kids what they would like out of a curriculum. If a curriculum isn’t working for you, don’t hesitate to change. Don’t be afraid to pick and choose what parts you use—it is okay to skip things. Don’t get tied up in knots by your curriculum. Let the curriculum work for you. One year I spent ALL summer planning out our history studies for the upcoming school year. The first day I brought out the textbook, my daughter proclaimed that she would not do that book. After some consideration, I decided that this wasn’t a battle worth fighting. Instead, I used the list of recommended literature that went along with the curriculum and checked out all of the picture books that went along with each chapter in the text. We covered the same material but without the fight. As a side note, about three years later I asked what she wanted to do for history, and she requested that very curriculum she had earlier refused. So I did eventually put that text book to good use. Fitting It All In We are very eclectic. This means I don’t stick to a specific curriculum for all my kids every year. Every year is different as I review what each child needs and how we can best help them. Over the years, I have used many different options. I always begin with the basics—math, reading, writing, science and history. Sometimes these are broken down into subcategories. For example, one year my son’s language arts included reading lessons, word review, spelling, and reading with Mom. Grammar is extremely repetitive, so we Don’t get tied up in knots by your curriculum. Let the curriculum work for you. You Got This! | 1112 | The Utah Homeschooler only cover that every two to three years. Some years we do more for history; some years we do less. One year for science, my youngest just watched science cartoons, as we were focusing on improving his reading fluency and I didn’t want to overwhelm his schedule. My older kids had an intensive writing program one year, so they went lighter on writing the next year. Leave Time for the Good Stuff One thing that is important is to not plan so much into your day that there is no time or energy left for self-led interests. I try to stick to 8-12 tasks per day, depending on the age of the child and the length of time it takes them to complete the tasks. Invest your time and money in activities that interest your kids. I have hosted many clubs and classes over the years to allow my kids to focus on their interests. We have had science clubs, robotics teams, art classes, book clubs, etc. You don’t have to be an expert to learn together. One year, my daughter was twelve and wanted to teach preschool. We put the word out among our neighbors and she created a class of ten little boys (including my two youngest) who came to our house once a week for a couple of hours. It was a great learning experience for her, and the boys had a blast having their sister as their teacher. What About High School? While I do use more curriculum during the high school years, I still don’t tend to use a formal curriculum for every subject. When making my schedules for my high school kids, I look at each subject and determine what would be the best way to address that subject. I also consider how to best use their schooling to introduce them to study skills and methods of learning that would be useful in college and throughout their lives (like test taking, essay writing, etc.) My goal for the high school years is to give my kids a broad overview of all the standard college-prep subjects, while still leaving plenty of time for them to delve deeper into the subjects that specifically interest them. For this reason, I have rarely used high school as a time to earn early college credits. I feel like these classes demand a lot of time. Unless the student is wanting to take classes for a specific reason or because of a specific interest, early college classes tend to eat into the time that I would like to use for exposure to the broader selection of subjects. Getting into College Most colleges love homeschool applicants and present a path for homeschoolers to apply on their website. I find that we parents stress a lot more than we need to about whether our kids will get into a college and if they will do well. My homeschool was pretty relaxed, and all my kids who applied got into a college of their choice. They all got wonderful grades and did well in the college setting. In my experience, homeschoolers are much better prepared to own their educational pursuits and balance Top: You don’t have to know everything about every subject. Here my son is using a solutions manual to walk him through his higher math lessons. Homeschool curriculum is designed with the assumption that parents are not familiar with the subject matter. Bottom: Enlisting help from friends or family is another way to learn a subject that you, as the parent, aren’t equipped to teach.their time. Even if they may have gaps in their structured learning, they have developed the skills needed to quickly compensate. I made extensive transcripts for my oldest, and 10+ years later, no one has ever looked at them. The colleges my kids applied to either do not require them or have a spot to submit non-accredited coursework. It is, however, a good idea to have a brief, informal record of what classes were covered and of any extracurricular, leadership, and service done during the high school years. This comes in handy when filling out admission and scholarship applications. Definitely look into what is required by the colleges to which your student is considering applying. Some do require homeschool transcripts, grades, and minimum test scores. It’s Worth It! While homeschooling may seem like an overwhelming task, it is totally doable and rewarding. There will be ups and downs. If you feel a burnout coming on, don’t be afraid to take a break. Get outside and do something fun with the kids. Beware of January and February! They come every year, and they can make you question your resolve like crazy. Knowing that those are hard months helps you be prepared to throw in a few fun field trips or other activities to break the monotony. I feel like our family was profoundly blessed to be able to homeschool. I firmly believe that it was the best thing we could have done for our kids. They grew up so fast, and I am glad that I chose to take advantage of spending the time that I was able to with my kids while they were young. All but one of my kids are now adults and have moved on. I have three who have graduated from college and one who begins at BYU next semester. The past 20+ years has been a period of great times with a lot of learning and growth. I look back with joy at the time we were able to spend together. • Left: Making lapbooks, scrapbooks and taking a lot of pictures is a great way to preserve your homeschool memories and look back on all you have learned and done together. Right: Homeschooling takes less time and allows for your kids to have time to explore their own personal interests. Joining a robotics team was a great introduction to computer programming. He ended up getting his BS degree in Computer Programming at BYU. As you begin your own journey, I wish your family the best of all that homeschooling has to offer. Have fun learning and growing together. You got this! You Got This! | 13Janet We were getting ready to move, and my children and I were cleaning out a storage shed. I had been standing on a chair, lifting my arm up high to wipe the top shelf of a closet. I was not tall enough to actually see what was on the shelf, but I had my cloth and I was wiping it down. Suddenly, I saw something white flutter down off that shelf. Immediately, I began screaming, stamping my feet up and down on the chair, and hyperventilating: “Oh! Oh!” My kids froze, confused. On the floor, I finally saw the culprit: a single sheet of white paper towel. My brain quickly caught up. There was no mouse. But my body had already reacted as if there had been an actual mouse. To me, the danger was real. Why? That winter we had experienced a “mouse invasion” at our house. Mice were everywhere, even scurrying across the floor while I was trying to cook. I lived in constant fear of a mouse brushing across my feet. Even after the problem was solved, my body still remembered. When I was startled, to my subconscious mind, the paper towel was a mouse. My reaction was not logical, but it was very real. “I thought it was a mouse,” I said. My children burst into laughter. I laughed with them, but this provided the perfect teaching opportunity. Our emotions are real. Emotions live in our bodies. When something reminds us of a stressful or frightening event, our brain and body can (and do) respond automatically. This is not a sign of weakness; it’s simply how human memory and emotion are wired. 14 | The Utah Homeschooler Teaching our childreN HeartTheof it Janet Summit is a homeschooling mom of ten grown children. She teaches classes on conflict resolution and Peace through Principles. Aneladee Milne is a licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and homeschooling mom of six grown children. by Janet Summit, LMT & Aneladee Milne, CMHC Learning From Our Own Responses As homeschooling parents, one of the most powerful lessons we can teach our children is not found in a textbook. It’s found in how we respond to life. Our experiences shape our emotional responses, and often those responses come quickly, even before our rational brain has had a chance to weigh in. If we don’t understand our own emotional patterns, it becomes difficult to guide our children through theirs. ABOUT EMOTIONSThe Heart of It: Teaching Our Children About Emotions | 15 Aneladee For parents, this matters deeply. If we don’t take time to recognize our own emotional patterns, we risk modeling confusion—or even shame—around emotions for our children. Our children need to know: • Emotions are real. Even if they don’t make sense on the surface, emotions are signals from the body that something feels important. • We are not guilty for our emotions. Feeling fear, anger, or sadness is not wrong. It is normal and healthy to experience emotions. • We are responsible for our actions. Just because we feel angry doesn’t mean we can hit. Just because we feel afraid doesn’t mean we have to run. We can pause, calm our body, and choose wisely. • The body gives clues. A racing heart, sweaty palms, or stamping feet can be early warning signs that we need to slow down before reacting. As homeschooling parents, we have a unique opportunity to model emotional awareness. When you notice yourself having a strong reaction, name it out loud: “Wow, my body just got scared! I need to take a breath!” This simple practice teaches children that emotions are not something to hide, but something to feel, understand, and manage. By showing our children that we can acknowledge, calm, and redirect our emotional responses, we give them tools to navigate their own big feelings. This is as important as any math or reading lesson. After all, one day your child may also mistake a paper towel for a mouse. If they know how to laugh, breathe, and choose their next step wisely, you’ve taught them something far more valuable than just identifying rodents. •This issue’s writing challenge asked students to take a closer look at the funny little phrases we toss around every day—idioms. We don’t usually stop to think about what they would mean if we took them literally… but what if we did? This month’s winners imagined a world where pigs fly, cats and dogs literally fall from the sky, and kicking a bucket will really get you killed. Some entries described sudden chaos, while others painted worlds where these wild twists were simply part of everyday life. Our contest was judged by a retired school teacher, who considered the following for each entry: • Ideas: Does the piece explore the idiom in a creative, literal way? Is the concept original, imaginative, and well thought out? • Organization: Are things described in an order that makes sense? Is there enough context for the reader to understand what’s happening, even if it’s just a single moment? • Word Choice: Are vivid, sensory, and specific words used to bring the literal version of the idiom to life? Can the reader picture what’s happening? • Voice: Does the writing have a clear and engaging tone? Is the voice consistent and appropriate for the scene being described? • Conventions: Is the writing polished with correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation? Does it follow the word limit and contest rules? /’w rd,smiTH/: a craftsperson who works words /’w rd,smiTH/: a craftsperson who works words into usable forms; a skilled user of wordsinto usable forms; a skilled user of words e e WORDSMITHS 16 | The Utah Homeschooler Congratulations to all the winners, and a heartfelt thank-you to everyone who submitted their work. It’s so fun to see what creative ideas you come up with! Be sure to check out p. 22 for details on our next writing contest. We can’t wait to see what you’ll write next. You’ll notice that the winning pieces aren’t presented in order this time, so keep an eye out for the award badges to see which story earned first, second, and third place in each age group. Think of it as a little treasure hunt while you read. Now open your umbrella, watch your step, and get ready to see what happens when common sayings don’t just say something silly—they make it real.national idiom day in uzbekistan by TEd A, age 13 One day, two children were in a room, watching their father come home carrying a large bag. “Hi, Pops,” cried one. “What’s in the bag?” asked the other. “Oh, nothing much,” said the father. “Can we open it?” asked the other child. “Oh no! You must certainly not open it! Now I’m going upstairs for a bit, so you both be good. And remember, don’t open the bag.” “So, should we open it?” asked the first one. “Well, duh,” said the other. The first child walked over and opened the bag, releasing a 50-foot-tall cat monster, which quickly gobbled him up. “Brother, no!” yelled the other child, as he too was eaten. “Hey kids, I’m back!” said the father as he walked downstairs. “Aaah!” said the father again. “Somebody let the cat out of the bag!” ...and it massively devoured him. Burp! went the cat monster. Meanwhile, a child was kicking a bucket. He kept kicking it until it ended up in the street. A car came speeding along and hit the child, killing him instantly. “Well,” observed a bystander, “that kid really did kick the bucket.” Later that day, a woman was in the grocery store examining a bag of onions. She looked at the price tag where she saw a rather odd picture of an alien making the peace sign. “What’s that got to do with the price of onions?” she wondered. Across town, a guy woke up from his nap. He couldn’t seem to figure out what this sticky green trap could be when he suddenly heard voices outside talking about eating a giant pickle. “Am I inside a giant pickle?” he thought to himself. “Hey, let’s eat it,” said a voice outside. “Yeah! Great idea,” said another. “No!” said the man, but he was devoured along with the pickle. Hmm. It seems that he really was in a pickle. Finally, two guys wanted to trade Pokémon cards but they couldn’t figure out what would be a fair trade. The only thing they thought would be a fair trade was their eyeballs. So, they each popped out an eyeball and swapped them. Unfortunately, their new eyes quickly fell out and rolled away, leaving them half blind for the rest of their lives. I guess it wasn’t a fair trade after all, and so it went, an eye for an eye. It was a long day. I wonder what tomorrow will be like! Wordsmiths: Writing Contest Winners | 17Raining Cats and Dogs by Curtis O, Age 7 One day I was sitting on the couch when I heard a noise. Thud...thud...thud. You hardly ever get this noise. So I went to the door and opened it. I saw cats and dogs were running all over town! I looked up. I saw a storm cloud but it definitely was not raining! That’s when it hit me! It was raining cats and dogs! This was enough to surprise me. I went to the back yard to play. On the way there I saw a husky puppy. I ran to catch it. I got it just in time. (If you couldn’t tell so far I am absolutely crazy about huskies) I went inside to ask my mom to sew dog toys. I spent the rest of the day training my dog. After dinner I went to bed. It was hard to sleep. In the morning my puppy was still there but the rest of the cats and dogs weren’t there. I still have it to this day. Raining cats and dogs by elora H, AGE 9 I was sitting in my chair, sipping tea and listening to the rain patter against the window. Outside, lightning and thunder rumbled. The rain just got harder and harder. Then I heard a thud on the window. I looked up and saw a small dog staring into my eyes. I was so surprised my tea sloshed out of my cup onto the rug. And right behind the dog, I saw cats and I saw more dogs just falling from the sky. Oh no! It’s raining cats and dogs! I looked out the window. Cats were wrestling with the dogs. Dogs were jumping up in the air and just kept coming Will they ever stop? I thought to myself. Then the door rattled and all of the sudden my house was filled with cats and dogs. They were every- where they shouldn’t be, in the cupboards, on my bed. The dogs were all playfully jumping and running around. So were some of the cats, but the other cats that weren’t doing that were curled up sleeping everywhere. They were filling my house top to bottom and I was covered in cats and dogs. Then I looked out the window. I think the storm was slowing down and after it completely stopped, I let all of the cats and all of the dogs out of my house except for a white cat and a gray dog which I kept as pets. 18 | The Utah HomeschoolerWordsmiths: Writing Contest Winners | 19 raining cats and dogs BY RYAN O, AGE 9 I still remember it. I’m telling you it was definitely real. Real as it could be. I was walking down the sidewalk and some storm clouds blew in. And then it started to rain, but this wasn’t snow or rain or hail. This was cats and dogs! I couldn’t believe it! Imagine that! Cats and dogs coming down every where! Dogs on the rooftop! Cats in the trees! Cats and dogs every where! This had never happened before. I even got to keep some. I got a black cat and a brown, black, and orange cat—Blackie and Mixie. And I still have them to remind me of that day. Raining cats and dogs by Francinca J, age 9 “It’s raining cats and dogs,” said my sibling. “Mom, can I go outside and find a cat or dog to be a pet?” I asked. “Sure, when pigs fly,” answered my mom. “But Mom, I want to get a pet,” I said. “Hey mom, I see a pig flying!” I said, pointing to a purple pig with wings. I ran outside to get a pet. I saw a lot of hay in the way of getting a cute kitten. I hit the hay as hard as I could, and it flew all over the place. I quickly ran over to the kitten. I grabbed the kitten and ran into the house, but suddenly, the house collapsed, and I was under the weather. I quickly held my horses, even though they were so heavy. “Cat got your tongue?” asked my mom. “Yeah, my new kitten stole my tongue,” I responded.Next >