Little Okie Homestead

Our real life homeschool is very laid back during this part of our year. We love being outside and enjoying time with friends. Warmer months it's always easier to have play dates and enjoy the pool in the hot afternoon. We are starting to get a little more structure into our days though. Our typical monring looks like this: Boys wake up naturally. Normally between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning.  Boys read or play quietly while Hubby gets out the door and Mommy gets breakfast. With a baby on the way I have to eat as quickly as I can in the morning.  Boys eat breakfast. They normally make themselves cereal as they are tired of the eggs and bacon that I normally make them and they enjoy the independence.  Everyone gets dressed and brushes teeth for the day. Morning chores come next. Goose normally picks up the living room, bathroom and our room. There's always something on the floor that needs to be put back where it belongs. He also helps me getting laundry start...

In homeschooling there are so many options... Classical Homeschooling Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Unschooling Unit Studies Montessori Then you start looking at all the different types of curriculums you can buy... Sonlight My Father's World Saxton Abeka Online Homeschools and Private Schools It can become so overwhelming! I went to school for teaching. I completed my associates degree in human services with an emphasis on early childhood education. I taught in all different age classrooms while getting my degree and had my own pre-kindergarten classroom for a year before I became a personal nanny. Then Monkey came along and I never returned to work. If anyone can homeschool especially at this age it should be me! I've taught this age before. The problem is I'm homeschooling because I don't want to send Monkey or Goose off to a traditional school that has class for 7 hours or more a day with homework. I don't want to simply do school at home ....

I have talked to many mom's that want to homeschool but feel inadequate to help their children thrive during their structured education years. I know how that feels because there are many moment in time where I question myself. So what I have come to believe is that if you teach your child to read and read well then they can learn anything! But how do you teach your child to read? Good question. I was thinking the same thing when Monkey was about 3 years old and I was dreading him getting to kindergarten age. Lucky for me I met another homeschooling mom that told me about Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons!  This book is amazingly easy to use. It has everything right there for you to read and then for your child to read. The first lessons start out slow and work there way up. But they work up pretty quickly but Monkey was pretty quick to catch on. But this doesn't always mean that when you start things will be smooth sailing. For us we had to try several differ...

Have you heard about common core? It is absolutely horrifying when you read about it and discover what the government is trying to teach our children. Now we are a homeschool family and this still affects us! It also affects many children that I care about and I really want to find out more about it and how to stop it! Our schools now have the power to collect data on our children while in school about everything in their lives and ours. They will not only  collect test scores but income levels, our children's posture and pages upon pages of other data that can not be related to raising the education level in our country. When you start reading things about common core it will scare you! Or it should! Please do your research! Start right now and help our next generation before it is too late! We need to stand and stop this now. I'm still new to my research but I'm so horrified that I have to share so you too can start looking into it. I know many of ...

So I'm super energized tonight even though I feel horrible! I have some kind of congestion cold going on which means little sleep for me on the couch so instead of sleeping I'm up and preparing lessons and activities  for the next week or so for Monkey. He is asking all sorts of questions about the mail man and how his letters are going to get to his cousins in Oklahoma so this is where I'm starting! We are going to study all about our community and the people that help us in our community. I'm so excited! I'm looking online for different activities and books to check out from the library. I'm going to get the number to the local fire department, police station, post office, and maybe more to set up field trips to and I will be inviting my wonderful mom's group with us. I could see this turning into a whole month of learning about this huge topic. I have to say this is what I'm excited for with choosing homeschooling over public school. I get to ...