Our World

Our World

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Security Within My Home While Learning

If you have any knowledge of TJED, then you most likely have heard of the Seven Keys of Great Teaching.  Well, there is an eighth key which just makes absolute sense and goes with the others.  This key is Secure, Not Stressed.  When first starting this homeschooling adventure I was worried.  Let's admit it, most of us are and not because we believe we are making a mistake.  It is because we are worried what others might think and listening to those non supporting little voices in our head shouting out all of the reasons that we should not.  You heard the voices, right?  I knew that I was not stressed out anymore when I was able to answer to someone that I homeschooled because I can and it fits with everything I believe in.  Short and simple.  That is really all anyone needs to know.  Yes, I am always going to make changes according to my children's needs, but I know that I will be guided into doing so. 

I am so grateful for the area that I live in, because my family does not feel out of place and our family and friends have chosen many types of schooling for their children.  Some are public schooled, some are private schooled and others belong to charter schools.  Those who homeschool either belong to a charter or do not.  How awesome to me that we all have made choices and no one puts anyone else down.  After all, we are all doing what we feel is best for our children and our family. 

Morning time is something that I enjoy, because my children and I are working along side each other contributing to doing daily morning chores and eating breakfast together.  A wonderful blessing for me.  Right after we always have spiritual thoughts for the day and then we start reading about animals.  One of the topics that my children and I are so fascinated by is Heavenly Father's creatures and there are so many.  Also, science in general is something that my son enjoys learning about and I am happy to learn with him.  My kids have four magazine subscriptions that we get to learn from.  I am also the mom who knows the value of these and in our family and they are considered classics for us.  To keep our magazines in great condition, we put them in sheet protectors inside big binders.  Such a great tip to know!  We also use our library to check out books and science kits that always include experiments.  Like I mentioned before, I absolutely enjoy our morning time.

Today is one of our math days.  We set up time specifically for math a few days a week.  Now, we also learn about math on other days, but it is not part of our structured time on those days.  It just happens to flow into our day.  We use Singapore Math as it was given to us free of charge and  it happens to work well with my son.  He is a visual child and he likes using this curriculum.  The only thing I would say with curriculum is that technically you do not need it, but if it works well with your family then by all means use it!  We read a lot of books about math topics on our math days as well as the rest of our week.  I love the Math is CATegorical series, Sir Cumference series, and many more.  They are great classics for us and all of my children enjoy reading them.  Think about the kitchen, so much math and science goes on in there as well.  We definitely use this great space with teaching both of these subjects in our home.  Math journals are also fun for kids!  My son has one and he jots down what notes that he would like to have from the books that we read.  I think having a journal for any subject is a fabulous thing if it seems fit with your child.


Feeling Secure, Not Stressed in knowing that what you are doing is right for your family!

Math and Science can be made fun within your home! 

Caleb enjoyed reading this book.
 On the Scale, a Weighty Tale!













2 comments:

  1. it's so nice to be so comfortable to know what you are doing is the right thing and having the support you need is the icing on the cake!

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  2. Yes it is! And you have my support of course!!

    ReplyDelete