All students love holiday festivities whether at school, in the community or at home.  Most of us love this time of year and being involved in these great activities.  So, what do you do for your holidays while you homeschool?  Do you integrate stories and legends into your homeschool curriculum or do you keep your education separate from your beliefs and traditions?

As a homeschool mom I don’t know quite how to separate the two but I don’t go out of my way to incorporate them together really.  We talk about our beliefs and traditions around holiday time.  This does tend to happen while we are completing our normal curriculum but we are so busy with normal curriculum that it is hard for me to break out of the routine and add extra things into the schedule.  I would love to hear from parents and teachers about how to mix the two.  I do love the fact that with homeschool we don’t have to hold back and keep our beliefs and traditions out of the curriculum.  It is really wonderful to incorporate the two into our daily lives and our school days.

If you have ideas or thoughts please share them.  I will add some ideas in my next post.  This is a great time of year and we are all looking for tips and tricks to be more efficient with our time, energy and especially our dollars.

So it’s that time of year again.  The curriculum is arriving or being put together, kids are excited, parents are probably excited and a bit overwhelmed.  A new year can be a great fresh start but there are always things that can make a new year go easier.

There are some great articles right now about how to be organized and how to get the most out of your educational experience.  One site has an article on getting started on homesschooling.

Another article talks about the supplies that we need for getting into our homeschool year.  There are great products out there.  If we plan ahead we can have what we need at our fingertips throughout the year.

Just like so many mothers there are countless things that I want to do with my children and want to help them achieve.  For instance, I want my sons to get their Eagle Scout award.  I also want them to get a few other church related rewards.  Not for the recognition but because I love the idea of helping them set goals, work toward something, and then really achieve the end result. 

I believe that a lot of moms have a problem because it is hard to let the child do all of the work and to not take over at least part of it.  We all want so much for our children but it is important to remember that they need to earn things for themselves.  I also feel that children need some prodding but it isn’t my job to take over all the drive for the Eagle Scout award (as one example).

There is a lady that our family knows that wants her son to get his Eagle Scout and she has been the main driving force for him to get it.  He whines, complains and drags his feet and she keeps him going but at the end of the day I wonder if she isn’t the one who really deserves the award, not the son.  She has put so much work into his award.  Not that I think it is bad to push our children because they cannot possibly have the wisdom to realize how good some programs are for them or how much some things will add to their lives.  I just don’t think we should do everything but show up for them.

Then, I run into the fact that I may have overloaded a few things.  It’s hard for me to keep up with all of it for four kids and then I wonder how they are fairing.  If you have read my blog for long you know that I do not believe in over scheduling children.  Hopefully we are not over scheduled but we have quite a few things going on all at once and today it is feeling quite overwhelming.

We had our first homeschool chess club meeting last Friday and it was a great success.  We had 16 children come and we had a few parents stay to learn how to play.  It was so much fun and the kids were really into it.  We are hoping that we will have continued success with getting kids out to play.

This week we are putting in a President, Vice President, Secretary and a few other leadership responsibilities so that the kids all learn more leadership skills.  We are hoping that in short order the kids are running the show, teaching each other, and becoming great leaders.

My challenge is that I am not very creative at finding ways for the kids to be leaders and gain these great skills that are so needed!  If anyone has any suggestions that would work in a chess club setting I would love to hear from you!

My in-laws decided to get their ham radio certification or license or whatever it is you need to have.  They now are good to go and have tons of equipment.  I have never been the least bit interested in such things.  My older brother is the type that loves this sort of thing and recently he decided to do the course.  He asked my boys (ages 11 and 10) if they would like to do it and take the test.  He even paid for their books.  So, they are excited (why, I have no idea, I just don’t get it) but that means that I have to somehow fit this into things so that they study the stuff regularly and the only way I know to do it is to put it into our daily curriculum.

The other alternative is to do it on Friday’s which my husband now has off of work because his company shortened the work week.  The strange thing is that since I found out he is going to have Friday’s off I have a long list of all the wonderful things that we can do with this day and the list has gotten so long that there is no way to fit it all in. 

Anyway, amateur radio here we come.  I am hoping that I can be consistent about it.  I’m also hoping that my older son can somehow gain a Scout merit badge for doing all this work.  My main worry is that I will lose interest and not prod them along.  I need to just buck up and be supportive.  Somehow I need to find out why it would be good for anyone to have this license and to get excited about it.  My in-laws got it to help with our church as a way to get information in times of crisis in case there are no other means to communicate.  I can see that but I doubt that any church is going to put a 10 year old in charge of such communication.  On top of which, we have no money to buy the pricey equipment that it takes to be part of this at home. 

Then it brings up the fear that you don’t know who your children could be communicating with.  There is always that crazy guy or gal that lives in the mountains with animals and preys on young children (yes, my imagination is vivid and scary).  My children are only allowed online with an adult in the room monitoring what goes on and they are never, never, never allowed in a chat room.  They are also not permitted to use a webcam.  I just think, better safe than sorry.  So, yes, this communicating with strangers around the country/world worries me.  I could talk myself out of this but I don’t want them to be kept from something that could be a hobby or useful down the road.

Any thoughts?

On November 4th my three oldest children were allowed to stay up with all of the adults that were at our home and watch all the election news.  They didn’t go to sleep until they had heard Obama’s speech.  It was such a good evening for them.  My family is very opinionated and yesterday we talked about hearing everyone’s opinion, educating ourselves and then making up our own minds.  This was a valuable lesson for the kids as they are prone to want to fit in and think like the adults. 

One thing that I loved about my family get together on election night was that everyone helps to explain things to the children.  It is great for the children to be taught by someone else, especially when they are really interested.  This election really had their attention.  Hopefully this helps to make them more community minded and to know that their vote matters so they better know what they are doing when they go to choose people to run the country.

Needless to say that put us to bed very late.  The kids are usually always in bed by 8 p.m. and are allowed to read quietly for a while before lights out.  The following morning though, we had to get up really early so that we could all be ready for a play at a local performing arts based high school.  They were doing a matinee of a Midsummer Night’s Dream for our group and we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity.  It is a little drive to get there and we had to drop the younger two off at their grandparent’s house.  The play was pretty good.  The kids thought it was funny.  I took them so that they could see what other kids do and to be exposed to some performing arts.  We do this quite often and they really enjoy it.

We got home way after lunch which meant that not a lot of technical school work got done but I figure it is no different than public school days having assemblies and other activities.

Friday we had a great homeschool Halloween party for our regional homeschool group.  We had a great turnout and so much fun!  This week, a local performing arts high school is doing special matinees for our group.  They are performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  I am so excited to go and share this with my children.  The best part is that my husband has Friday’s off now so he will be able to go with us. 

I made a huge mistake the first few years that I homeschooled and that was that I didn’t get involved in many community functions or homeschool groups.  My children love the social aspect and fun of these activities.  Not only did they have the activity on Friday and then the one on Wednesday but today they got to go to the nearby elementary school where the local Recreation Mobile comes once per week and gets the kids active and playing games.  My three oldest kids ages 11, 10 and 5 all love going to this and it is completely free.  I have probably blogged about this previously.  It is a gem!

It would have been wonderful if I would have had the foresight to take my kids to more of these things earlier on.  Our community has so much to offer families for little or no cost.  We are also lucky to have a few local homeschool groups that are just wonderful!  This coming Friday we even have a fall harvest activity with hay rides and other activities with one group.  It just doesn’t get any better. 

More than anything these functions give my children a chance to spend time with other children who share the same lifestyle.  They love to know that they are not the only homeschool family in the state.  They love to see that other kids love what they do too!  It isn’t easy for kids to be different from their peers.  This gives them a group with something in common.  Don’t we all need that at one time or another?  This is not to say that I don’t teach my kids to be individuals but I think that it does the heart good to have a good peer group.

Homeschool families have a unique opportunity in how they can deal with children or teens with behavior disorders.  A behavior disorder can be hard to diagnose but a lot of families get their diagnosis and decide to keep a child out of the public school system so that they can work around a child’s needs and help to nurture them well or at least learn to cope with their behavior disorder.

I have read a lot about behavior disorders lately and have been so enlightened.  I have been blessed so far that none of my children seem to show signs or symptoms of such a problem.  We would cope with it if this were to happen but it would not be easy.

So, dear readers, I ask:  Does your child or teen have a behavior disorder?  If so, how do you make things work during your homeschool day?  What do you do that works?  What have you done that didn’t work?  Please share!

Really I would love to hear from everyone on this issue.  My children are just like most American children these days.  They think that money grows on trees.  Yes, I believe that we have done a few things right.  The receive an allowance based on work that they do.  Not just everyday chores or things that are expected of them no matter what but for those things over and beyond.  This is about $5 per week for each child.  They have learned how fast it disappears when they shop and how the money does not go far if you do not shop wisely.  They have learned that ordering online without free shipping is the devil!  Still, I don’t know how to stress to them that the world is in a different place right now.

This is an especially hard conversation to have with children with the holidays fast approaching.  My family had decided that we would all ask for a Nintendo Wii and now, even if the we have the money on the day we want to buy it, I’m not sure it is the most wise decision to make when we aren’t sure what will become of my DH’s jobs.  How do we talk to them and help them through it without completely putting a burden on them.  I know that in our household the oldest child will stew and worry his head off.  He will also be judgemental and critical of anything he sees us do that he perceives as an error.  He has developed quite an attitude and loves to show it off at times (usually in front of guests).  Because we homeschool I am lucky that we have the time to invest in teaching him during this time of his life. 

My second child will stew and fret in his own way but it will show itself in his behavior.  He becomes unpredictable when there is stress.  He can be very impulsive and it worries me at times.  He is a sweet child and a good child.  He does not cause us stress.  I just know that he feels the worries and doesn’t really know what to do with the feelings that he is having.  He just doesn’t know how to cope and I need to help him develop skills for this.

My five year old is of the mind that if she wants it and asks Santa for it, why wouldn’t it come?

The only redeeming factor here is that the two year old would be thrilled with a blank piece of paper at Christmas!

So, Dear Readers, please help me with insight and wisdom.  How are you helping your child to realize that things are changing for all of us financially.  How do you not scare them so much as spur them on to want to become educated, well rounded financial savers who will be prepared for these times should they hit again in their lifetime?  Please chime in, I am desperate.

Have you ever gotten well into a homeschool year and all of a sudden come to the realization that you may have made some mistakes in your curriculum choices for certain subjects?  Possibly, you have bought a box curriculum and some or all of it is not working for a particular child or your family in general.  This can bring on a lot of anxiety.  I just want to tell you that it does not have to be the end of the world.  There are so many great choices for curriculum and so many options.  It wouldn’t even hurt to build your own for one year or just use your state standard guidelines to build your own curriculum and do so using the public library.  I know first hand that this can be done!

While curriculum costs a lot of money in most cases it can be hard to make the choice to switch when you are a few months into things.  I made this mistake once as well.  I stuck with a curriculum for my children that was not good for them or me.  I did this because it was free and we were financially strapped at the time.  I wish that I had been a bit more resourceful and energetic and made the switch.  It would have kept my kids from falling behind.  Convenience does not always rule!

If you are wonderful about different types of curriculum you will need to do your research.  Homeschool curriculum comes in many different shapes and sizes.  None of it is one size fits all.   Good luck in your journey.  I truly hope that you find what works best for your child because there is nothing that makes homeschooling more enjoyable that knowing you are doing right by your children!