Teacher’s Lesson Plans

It is essential for a homeschooling mom to keep lesson plans. Lesson plan sheets are available online or lesson plan books can be purchased at most teacher supply stores. Write up at least two to four weeks of lesson plans at a time. Write in pencil, because sometimes the kids get ahead or behind in studies. Write up as much or as little as you need to best teach the subject. Use the edges of the lesson plan book to jot down notes about library books needed or field trip ideas.  This lesson plan book should be the “brains” of the teacher so use it to its best ability.

Kids’ Lesson Plans

Create a workable lesson plan system for the kids to follow. When children reach third grade they are usually ready to follow a pre-written lesson plan page. Choose an easy to read lesson plan sheet for the child. There are many free printable lesson plan sheets available online. The lesson plan sheet need not be too detailed nor even have all subjects listed for the younger children. As the child gets older, their lesson plan sheets can be more detailed with more subjects added.  The child can simply follow the daily assignment written on the lesson plan. This stream lines the teacher’s role and gives the child a bit of independence in their learning.

Daily Schedule

Type up a daily schedule and post it in the area where the kids do their school work. Everyone should understand what time school starts, when lunch is scheduled and what time they are expected to finish school. After school activities can be listed, too and even dinner time can be written on this daily schedule. A daily schedule will benefit the entire family. This schedule will help the children to pace themselves as they work. It will also make the entire day flow smoother.

Buy Extra School items

Purchase extra school items even if they’re not needed immediately.  Have lots of folders, markers, glue sticks, paper, pens and other items available for unexpected assignments. Store the extra school items in a cupboard or pantry for future use. Try to think of items that might be needed at some point during the school year and buy it on sale. This saves time and money.

Homeschooling is a popular method of educating children. It requires good organization skills for the best possible learning atmosphere. An organized daily schedule will be a great asset to both the teacher and the children during the day and throughout the school year.

Frustration levels are difficult and each child is individualized in where theirs begins, ends and how much space is in between.  It is partly an age thing as younger children get tired and so frustrated more easily.  Knowing your child works best.  I am about to share my experience with my son and the strategies that helped me.  Don’t get frustrated if they don’t work for your child.  Every child is unique and you’ll find what works best.  Sadly, the best thing you can do is be patient and remember that the school experience is new for your child.  Not everything will come easily and it might be difficult for your child to cope with certain things.  Trial and error will teach you as much as your child and aid in your success.

My experience with my son.

Yes, my son does get frustrated.  He has since he was smaller and continues to do so.  When he was small, Phonics and Handwriting were huge weaknesses.  To this day his father calls his writing illegible and he hates to read.  Perhaps he’d be well suited as a doctor with his handwriting?  Most learning comes easily and naturally to my son.  He was able to sit up, stand, walk, and speak at a very young age.  His diction was clear even as a toddler and friends were amazed that they could hold a conversation with him when he could barely walk.  He was often good at remembering things and math came as simply as learning to recite his ABC’s.  Phonics was a different story.  It didn’t come easily to him and so he easily became frustrated.  He expected everything to be simple and for him, this wasn’t.  He HATED Phonics with a passion.  I tried doing it first to get it out of the way and found that it soured him for the entire rest of the day and all the rest of his classes for that day.  Waiting until the last class of the day was just as bad because he dreaded it the whole day and kept trying to make other classes take longer so we’d run out of time or to try to convince me to skip it and do more of another class he liked better.  He would get frustrated, have small tantrums, refuse to cooperate, etc.  Some days I would lose patience too. 
Working it Out
What worked for us was a combination of patience, sympathy, rewards and determination.  I tried to be patient with his unwillingness and discuss the problem with him.  After many discussions, I found it boiled down to the fact that he felt frustrated that I was teaching him things, he was having trouble learning them, and felt resentment because he thought I was making fun of him for not knowing how to read.  When I would correct him, he thought I was doing it to show he was wrong not because I wanted him to get it right.  He felt as though he would never get it right and I’d forever be correcting his pronunciation and sounding out skills.  Wanting to be a sympathetic parent, I tried a different approach.  I told him that for one day he would be the Phonics teacher.  I had him go over with me the things he’d learned pointing out the letters and asking me to sound them out.  I had to be careful to sound them out slowly the way someone learning would sound.  It helped him to hear how they should sound without the pressure of having to repeat it and sound it out right himself.  I deliberately sounded some of the ones he knew wrong so that he could correct me.  He enjoyed being the one “in power” for a bit and it helped ease the stress.  He frequently wanted to trade places and be the teacher after that which I allowed at times for reviews so that he could feel more in control of the subject that gave him trouble. 
That was about the time that we started adding the stickers.  I bought a poster board that we taped to the side of the filing cabinet.  Every successful Phonics lesson earned him a sticker.  I would let him pick one and he’d stick it on the poster board.  Every 10 stickers earned him a prize.  I’d use a marker to “X” off the stickers to show he’d collected the prize for them.  When one poster board was full, we’d replace it with another.  Before long we’d adjusted it to a sticker for each successful class and had a list of prices for prizes just like a store.  I utilized www.orientaltrading.com to get a bunch of inexpensive prizes as well as Party City, Walmart, and Toys R Us for the larger prizes.  At the time he was crazy for Rescue Heroes and badly wanted a command center.  I bought him the one he wanted and told him he could earn it through school.  I priced it at 150 stickers.  It took him a few months since he’d trade in a few stickers for a smaller prize while saving for the bigger one but finally he got it and had not only the toy he wanted but the pride of having earned it. 
Some days even the prizes weren’t incentive enough.  On occasion I would skip the class that day and make it up later but once he discovered that was an option, he tried to make Phonics a difficult class more often in hopes of always skipping it.  That’s where the determination came in.  Unfortunately, there will be days where you go through a lesson with an uncooperative child and waste that hour of your life (because you’ll have to repeat the lesson later for the child to get the sense of it).  At times showing the child that no matter what he/she does, the lesson will happen is the only way to get the child to accept that they are going to have to do it, like it or not.  You’ll need to use your own discretion as to when to use each one.

Again the strategies that worked for me:

1.  Rewards (worked the best and most often – something as simple as I’ll let you watch an episode of your favorite TV show over lunch break if you cooperate for the morning can lead to an enjoyable morning of school work)

2.  Patience (is always necessary and don’t feel bad when you run out, it happens to all of us – take a deep breath, count to ten, take a 5 minute break to get a cup of coffee sometimes that’s all it takes to get it back and be able to cope again)

3.  Sympathy  (This is really hard for your child.  There’s a lot of work.  Everything is new.  It’s not all fun.  Hugs, kisses, a story, just listening to your child’s point of view will all help the child’s emotions even if they don’t help with the class at the moment.  Don’t be afraid to make fun of the class or the lesson that is causing the problem.  “Stupid Phonics!  Why do I need to learn the difference in sound between “ch” and “sh” anyway?  Who cares if I read a ben-ch as ben-sh.”  Sometimes the laughter such a comment will evoke can be all it takes to make learning fun again)

4.  Determination (school is necessary.  Like it or not, we all have to do it and sometimes it boils down to doing the work when we don’t want to.)

Don’t worry if your child gets frustrated or forgets.  Repetition will eventually do its job as it has with so many children before him/her.  Turn hard problems into a game.  Flash cards can be easily made with index cards and provide a fun amusement while learning addition and subtraction.  Watch how quickly the hard problems become easy after having gone over them a few times. 

Like all the best things in life, Charter School takes a lot of effort but isn’t your child worth it?

Maths games and challenges that will keep all children (and adults) entertained.  This site is aimed at children between nursery and age eleven but I have seen adults quite hooked on it.  This is a definite favourite in my classroom and the children enjoy revisiting lessons at home and reinforcing their learning.

E2BN Gallery

In this media savy world, we want the children to be able to appropriate and manipulate videos and images.  We feel naturally nervous when asking young children to search for images and it’s nice to have somewhere that you know is pornography and violence free.  The E2BN gallery is checked, not by a computer algorithm, but by an administrator.  There are banks of videos, images and audio and a lot of it is linked to the QCA schemes of work that many schools in the United Kingdom teach to.   

Myths and Legends

Do you enjoy story telling or just hearing stories?  Myths and Legends is a treasuretrove of stories from around the British Isles and the world.  The site really comes alive when you use the built in Story Creator to make your own Myth or Legend.  Stories can then be made available (after checking) for the world to enjoy.  The children in my classes have often got so involved in their story creation that they have saved their work online and continued creating at home!

Artisancam

Another free site but this time we have a focus on Art and artists, both past and present.  Like the Myths and Legends site, Artisancam allows children to not only investigate but also to create their own work online.

Wonderville

Wonderville is amazing.  Have you ever dreamed of having your own hoverboard?  Really, no?  Zip around Wonderville and discover all sorts of interesting science facts.  I have been using this with children for several years now and still I keep finding new areas and activities that I hadn’t known existed.

Let’s open with a small info: The home school way is gaining a lot of popularity, during the years, among people all over the world. It become the best alternative to a formal school cause it is more flexible, better way to learn, and it even coast less. Some people claim that it is even safer cause today there are a lot of violent cases at the Public school.

Home school have other names: Home – Schooling, Home Education and Home Learning..

All of this name related to one idea - Children get the education at home. Mostly by their parents, but in most of the countries the parents don’t have this major time to spent on their kids, and they have to work most of the day, so they hire a Specialist Teacher to educate their kids at home. 

I think that this way is a very good way to educate your kids, but it has a big problem, a kid that learning at home don’t go out much and don’t meet friends.

This days it is become a big problem any way cause kids almost don’t play any more since the On-Line games and the Face-book and ICQ technology, so the only way to meet is at school and if the kid will stay at home he will not see other kids..

So to summaries i think it is healthier way cause your kids learn alone and not in a big class so he learn more, he get a lot of attention, he will not get beat by a bullies, and he will near in his own time. Don’t forget to go out to play with hem or let him meet the neighbor so he will make some friends to play with

“Time4Learning is a new approach that takes advantage of today’s technology. It’s a convenient, online home education program that combines learning with fun educational teaching games.”

The Time4Learning site has an AMAZING Language Arts program. It is packed with interactive areas and fun, quirky characters that draw in students and teach difficult concepts like simile and prefixes.

The math program was a little less well done. There were a few lessons that had great energy and a fun approach but most were monotone and downright boring. During one lesson, my 5th grader had a hard time focusing because the tone of voice and repetitive nature of the lesson tuned him right out. There is also another issue with learning the material. If your student does not understand the concept being taught, the site only offers the ability to redo the same lesson. To me that is limiting as far as teaching is concerned. We found ourselves having to abandon the lesson provided in order to go into further depth on our own.

Social Studies and Science were hit and miss. There were some interactive areas but most of it was a lot of reading and quizzes toward the end. There was also no recourse to failing exams. The main circles are checked as completed and students move on-even with poor grades.

There is also an L.A. Extension area that offers more work on the above areas.

The one thing I was disappointed me was the complete lack of writing. Not typing, because there was plenty of that, but actual-old-fashioned, paper and pencil writing. My kids did not put pen to paper once the entire month. I think that is dangerous to encourage in young children. While technology is a great way to get children interested and engaged, it should not be used to replace a traditional curriculum and human interaction.

Buyer Beware: this program IS NOT a hands free comprehensive alternative.

“The online language arts and math comprise a comprehensive program for preschool, elementary school, and middle school. Science and social studies programs are provided as a free bonus for most grades.”

Here again I will state that the language arts program is the star. Math comes secondary and science and social studies seem almost a throw away to get you in the door. Many of these lessons are not well done, can be overly complicated, and left me scratching my head.  

“Kids like using the computer to learn and to develop their skills. The Time4Learning educational teaching program gives students independence to progress at their own pace.”

This fact is true. I liked the ability for my students to move up or down one grade level so if a lesson was too tough, they could click the grade level below and choose something comparable there. Likewise, they could go up a level if they found something too simple (something not possible with our textbooks).

“Parents like that Time4Learning tracks progress and helps students advance along individualized learning paths. Students master the skills and concepts needed for academic success.”

I did enjoy the learning paths. I thought the site was very user friendly even for my preschooler. As far as mastering concepts, that did not happen 100% of the time solely based on the website. I had to step in on many occasions to explain ideas and find alternatives to examples given in order for my children to understand and engage.

Overall, I think this is a wonderful supplement for any home school program. It is up to the individual family however to decide if the cost outweighs the benefits. For me I think a better fit for our family is to purchase textbooks and supplement with free content on the internet. With that said, although we have been offered another free month with sign-up, we will be passing (and I cannot wait to jump back into our books).

            Make children more receptive to lessons and become more effective in it. Children are also more free to consult about his lessons, so it is more focused on lessons.

Family routines such as eating together and communication between family members can be formed by following the intensive education. And:

1 Give more freedom to make children enjoy learning without feeling pressured by the weight of conditioned by destination curriculum.

2. Give moral or religious education, social environment and a better learning environment.

3 Avoid social ills that are considered parents can occur in a school as the fighting, drugs, and harassment

            Make sure that children are more closed due to the lack of socialization with other people, because the only study alone at home. Due to the lack of socialization, these children do not have many friends. Make sure that children are under the age of Association.

• Uncompetitive environment so that children cannot be compared to where their ability that other children his age.

·         There is a risk of lack of ability to work in teams (team work), organizational and leadership.

• Protection from excessive parent’s inability to deal with side effects and complex social problems, which are not predictable.

      If we do school at home, we must dare to pay that much, because the same school home private lessons. So we should pay teachers per subject.

Conclusion

Home schools can function as an educational alternative for people who do not feel comfortable with the curriculum of formal education such as lack of emphasis on education and teaching faith-intensive materials and the desire to spend more time with his son. The existence of home schooling as an alternative education in Indonesia is very important given the flexibility of home schooling that can be done anywhere, by anyone, anytime.

1.       Spelling test- If you are in the habit of giving your child weekly spelling words, drive time can be a great time to test them. A good idea is to pick a day that you drive to the same place every week on that day, like Tuesday piano class for example. Tuesday can become test day. You can practice spelling words on car rides the other days of the week.

2.       Pledge of Allegiance- You don’t have to be staring at the flag to practice the pledge of allegiance and this is a great time to memorize it, I’m sure you will end up driving by a flag while you’re saying it anyway.

3.       Songs to memorize-turn the radio off and memorize songs for music class time. Practice songs your kids need to know for scouts like the make new friend’s song or Sunday school songs, your kids will be more confident around the other kids if they know the words to those songs!

4.       Counting objects- have your kids practice their counting skills by telling them to count a certain object, for younger kids you might want to choose something they won’t have to count too fast, older kids can practice counting objects that go by faster

5.       Books on CD- listening to books is proven to help children with vocabulary, improve listening skills and can help a family bond. Sometimes it is challenging to find time to read long books (Harry Potter, Huckleberry Finn, etc.) so audio books can be a great resource and your library is sure to have a large collection for you to borrow.

6.       Foreign Language practice- Is your child learning a new language? Use car time to practice flash cards, play study games, or listen to a book in the chosen language.

7.       Math Facts- Math drills can easily be done in the car even on short car trips, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division can all be practiced in the car saving time you would normally spend on this at home.

8.       Presidents- most eight graders have to learn the last names of the presidents in order, although you do not have to do this in eighth grade when home schooling, when you do decide to have your child to learn the names of the presidents, the car is a great place to practice

9.       Oral book reports- this should be self explanatory

10.   Classical composers- CD’s  like Beethoven’s wig, Mr. Bach comes to call and all the classical kids series are wonderful ways to not only listen to classical music but also about the famous composers who created it. Beethoven’s wig put s funny words laced with facts to the music making learning fun.

11.   Right and left- driving is a great time to teach your child right and left, at each turn announce whether you are making a right or left turn. After awhile ask them to tell you which way you turned.

12.   Opposites- take a few minutes of your ride to give your child some examples of opposites, and then ask them to tell you an opposite such as if it is a sunny day ask them what the opposite would be, a cloudy day.

13.   vocabulary review- have your child review their vocabulary words from their textbooks during car rides

14.   States and capitals- test your child and then let them test you!

15.   ABC’s- if you have young children use every opportunity to practice this all important song, especially drive time.

16.   Find items that begin with each letter of the alphabet in order- see if you can get through the whole alphabet before you arrive at your destination. Great practice for beginning readers

17.   Memorize the elements of the periodic t able- self explanatory

18.   reading aloud- have older kids read aloud

19.   Bible memory verses- a good trick is to have the memory verse wrote on an index card and taped to your steering wheel or sun visor, get in the habit of saying the verse aloud with your children every time you get in the car before you start the engine.

20.   Identifying road signs- have your child look for various road signs and discuss what they mean; by the time they are old enough to drive they will pass that part of the driving test with flying colors!

Time is valuable as home school parents know, so make the most of your drive time with your kids!

• Base-what the sculpture rests on and is presented on.

• Three Dimensional-A creation that can be viewed from many sides, as opposed to Two Dimensional, which is flat, like a painting or drawing and only has one viewing side.

• Abstract and Realistic art.

• Arch-A term referring to a structure that curves and rests on two ends, often used in architecture, such as a curved arching doorway.

Materials:

• Colored construction paper, cut in half to make it more manageable.

• A base for the pieces to rest on -like a paper plate, or a small piece of chip-board or cardboard.

• Scissors

• Pencil for writing names on the bottom of the base.

• Glue

Steps:

•  

  1. Begin by talking about various sorts of sculpture and explain that a sculpture is 3-D, or has many sides. Have one child come to the front of the room and pretend to be a statue. Walk around the child and turn her/him to show many sides. Show some examples of sculpture from history-The Thinker, by Rodin: Alexander Calder, Ancient Roman Bronze and so on. Show examples of abstract and realistic sculpture and talk about the titles and how it changes what you see in the sculpture.

  

  Image via Wikipedia

  Image:  Red Mobile, Alexander Calder, 1956

  1. Show the base for the sculpture and talk about how a ‘base’ is what the sculpture rests on, not necessarily part of the sculpture, but it could be.

  2. Using construction paper, cut a strip out from one end to the next. I usually use half sheets for this to make it more manageable for little hands.

  3. Using the glue, put one dot on the end of the strip and put the ends together to form a ring. Show the children that letting go immediately will result in the ring coming apart. Count out loud to fifteen while holding the glued end to keep the glue stuck, and ask the children to do the same for each thing they glue.

  4. Cut some more strips, making zig-zags and curves, and show how to bend little ‘feet’ on the end of one to make a standing arch on the base. The feet can be small, a centimeter or half inch.

  5. Show how to bend a ‘stair’ into one strip, and curve another, or looping two together and standing some ends on already existing sculpture. Show different techniques, but try to keep it quick and animated. Little minds tend to wander!

  6. Pass out materials and have the children put their name on one side of the base and then flip it over.

  7. While the children work, encourage them to build onto their existing pieces. How tall can they make it? How many different colors can they add? How many different ways can they cut a strip? How many different ways can they attach it?

  8. Require at least three strips built onto the base.

  9. When the children have finished sit them all down with their sculptures and talk about naming them. What do they see when they look at them? Birds flying? A play ground? Water Slide? Write down each title and display with the title. Talk about how the title will influence how people view them. But it is okay to leave the work ‘untitled’!

First you need to figure out if home schooling your child is the right choice for you.

You will have to realize that it takes a lot of time out of your daily life , and if you and your child do not get along well, this may not be the best choice for you and your family. but if you and your child get along well , and you are looking for excuses to be together as a family more, this is probably the right path for you.

Keep in mind that it IS possible to home school your children while having a job, but it makes for less time spent with your child, and less hands on learning time.

If you and your spouse work together, it can work out great, you can even have the older kids helping out the younger kids!

I have noticed that home schooling families seem to be closer together than some others i have seen. It makes sense , if you think about it. if everyone is at work and school all day, they have no time to get to know each other!!

Some important parts of home schooling are as follows.

The curriculum is important, because it has to be balanced, and it has to enable the student to learn. you may choose to let your student study subjects he is interested in, in addition to the basic reading, writing,math and such.

This is good to do because if the student is interested in his studies, he learns more than if he is only doing them because he is being forced.

Another important element of home schooling, is the discipline.

You have to keep your child interested in the studies he is doing, as this works better than forcing the child to do something that bores him. Sometimes fun activities involving his studies help. You can make up rhymes to remember things, or play games to learn, and your student will be having so much fun he wont even realize he is learning! Some companies even put out specialized computer games to learn the important subjects that you need. These are good for everyday learning, or for just helping the student with subjects he has problems with or doesn’t like.

One issue that i have heard home schoolers having a problem with, and that i have experienced myself, is socialization. The parent/ instructor has to realize that the child might not be getting enough socialization since he doesn’t go to school.School is where children meet all their friends, and get all their socialization, oftentimes. If we don’t have school in the picture, we have to find other ways to socialize the children.There are whole associations for home schoolers, so the instructors can share tips, and the children can make friends with other home schooling children. The Internet can tell you if there is one of these such associations in your area. If there is not one close to you, that’s OK too!

Your children can do many other things to get socialization, such as join clubs, the girl/ boy scouts, and go to such places as skating rinks and skateboard parks. These are just a few things to think about, if you are considering home schooling your child or children.