Friday, January 15, 2010
FREE Curriculum Online for Future Christian Homemakers & Random
I was just blogging around and came across a great site with a FREE curriculum online for teaching girls to be Future Christian Homemakers! I love it! It is the same stuff you would do if you were teaching your girls, but they have it all ready to go with the handouts and some cute ideas for added delight already done for you. Just to see what a lesson looks like I clicked on the one for Yeast and Breadmaking and the handout (about 11 pages) has a pictures of them making a bread bear! So cute for kids to do! You can include your boys, but this is designed to be done with girls. As we all know when we are at home schooling our kids all day we just have to include them all. Caden is going to be so cute in the kitchen with us in his new apron we got him for Christmas.... he was wearing the girls pink ones, so when I saw a simple blue one at Target in the $1 bins we snatched it up as a gift from us girls. He LOVED IT!! This might be the very thing I need right now to ignite some excitement around here that has been lacking. We just need to spend some time doing the fun things we used to do all the time before homeschooling took over our world. And I know.... that was supposed to add to the fun, but it has added a whole new level of stress around here. Being the Teacher is a bit overwhelming and some days I just want to go back to being Momma... only now since it has become a conviction I know that I must search out that way that they are ONE AND THE SAME. It was only a hundred or so years ago that THIS WAY was the NORMAL WAY. So, I am working on it. And crazily I have been thinking that as much as I like some aspects of our curriculum (MFW) I have been considering a different way.... more like the way it would have been done a hundred years ago. I just feel so stifled sometimes following "someone else's plan". I really knew this before I started this curriculum, but being new to homeschooling I wanted to have some guideline to follow to help me know where to begin. My Father's World is great for that!! What is hard for me is that one week in K we are studying the Senses and alongside that we are studying the Seasons for Adv (Science portion). I feel like I am in a constant juggle and trying to just get each week done and go from one thing to the next. I would much rather have a Yearly lesson plan that has Topics we will study and us just go through them like we want to. Maybe we would want to do the Senses during the holiday season for a week (because Christmas time lends itself to studying the Senses naturally) and do the Seasons for a day or two at the change of each season. Doesn't that seem more natural?.... I think so. Right now we are studying George Washington, but I would rather do that during President's Day week. Of course, I guess that is a bit ridiculous because we need to study in chronologically and then, on President's Day it would be a great day to "review" it. {{{I am just thinking and typing here}}} I think I might always use MFW's LESSONS PLANS as a guideline, but I think I might choose my own read-alouds and move some parts around. I do love it, but sometimes I just want to go to the bookshelf and pick up a book and start studying whatever is in that book! Or maybe I just need to break MFW up into sections and do 3 weeks of it and then, 1 week of a Unit Study... Like I said... I am just thinkign here... Uhhhh.. does typing while my kids wander off to play Candyland count as school... Sahara is running around here with the Candyland instruction pamphlet singing herself a sweet little song... I just want their hearts!
4 comments:
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That is the sweet joy of homeschooling. You can take a curriculum or guideline and make it your own and what fits for your family. And "Yes" Candyland counts as school! They are learning skills of working together, colors, etc. :o) Just thought I would throw that in.
ReplyDeleteRecently, I've been having the same thoughts about MFW. I LOVE the curriculum and the thing that drew me to it was the prepared schedule that tells me exactly what to do and when. I still like that accountability but sometimes I'd like to go on our own adventure without feeling like we would get behind. I like your idea of stetching the lessons out to allow for your own interests. I'll probably stick with MFW though because it's working for my kids and it's easy for me to teach.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to just "Mommy" sounds so appealing doesn't it? But, like you, I am called to do this homeschooling thing and I'm not giving up. Some days I think it would be "easier" to send the kids to school; but would it really? When I hear friends talking about the hours of homework their publically schooled children have every night, I smile inside giving thanks to God for equipping me for this task.
I've only read the most recent post on your blog but I look forward to reading more. =)
I think the same things sometimes. On other days I'm just so thankful that it's all laid out for me and I don't have to think too much :) I love the idea of using it as a base and then just moving it around as if fits for our families. Like this last week we did Dinosaurs (not much interest in it here) so I cut it short and moved on. I felt like I shouldn't (my orderly type A side). I'm doing the juggling thing like you are Shannon and when I'm on top of one like Kinder, I'm not as connected to the other. It will probably be different when they are all in that 5 yr cycle but that's not anytime soon for me. I've been thinking about next year too and so far I'm planning on keeping MFW as my base and then working from there. Wow, didn't mean to be so wordy. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Shannon! I know that at times it can be frustrasting to feel like you are doing too much. But know that this is part of being momma. You have it all in you. But you just have to search it out! That can be frustrating at times! Keep on going and allow the Lord to shown you how he wants you to do things!I am really liking MFW as well. But we are not using it for Bible anymore. I kind of felt like our children needed more than that. I am using Adventures and the Kinder program. I find it hard sometimes to do both of them. But I try to combine where I can. We are also using the Advanced Training Institute! I will blog on that soon!
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