The Homeschooled Garden

I live on federal property on a military installation which has a rule that we are not supposed to plant a vegetable garden in the ground because 70 years ago there was a pesticide used that may or may not have been used in the housing area and may or may not still be on the surface. But about a mile and a half from our house is a “community garden plot” that allows each family who wants one to work their own 25x40 foot plot. I’ve had successful gardens in the past, and decided we would get a plot for our use this summer.

But the idea of a garden in the community area was far better than the reality.  In addition to the fact that produce from other gardens has already been stolen by random people who decide they want to take from others' hard work, the inconvenience of the distance from the house, the sharing of one water spigot between every 4 plots, and the amazing number of weeds I’ve had to deal with (because I have empty, unworked plots on two sides that now have chest high weeds that are reproducing right into my plot)... it has turned into a nightmare.

I went last weekend to do some maintenance and nearly cried. I was so frustrated with it all... all my hard work and effort...  and outside influences (inconsiderate garden “neighbors,” thieves, and the weeds) were ruining what should have been a fun and fulfilling experience for my family.

It kind of reminded me of our public school experiences.

So then I got to thinking... if I brought my kids home to “grow them up” the way I think they should... why not “homeschool” my plants too?

I have a couple of those Topsy Turvy plant bags I found on sale for a fraction of their normal cost a year ago but never used and a few empty pots I’m not already using for flowers and herbs. I bought some shepherd’s hooks to hang the Topsy Turvys and have been watching the back yard for sun light exposure so I can put them in the right spot.

We’ve snooped a little and discovered other homes have in fact dug gardens into their back yard (including one that received the coveted “Yard of the Month” award... so it isn’t like the no planting rule is being enforced). So we have decided to till out a small spot to put in a few plants as well.

I’m going to be able to tend to my plants on my schedule, using our resources, and not be dependent on others. The kids will have a far easier time tending to their own plants and will be able to make decisions about what care is needed with a simple look out the window instead of a drive to the garden plot. I will be able to grade them for their efforts and how well they take the initiative to care for their plants. Plus, they will be rewarded for those efforts, without the fear of their produce being stolen.

It will truly be our “Homeschooled Garden” ... I just hope that we don’t end up in THIS situation...

Does It All Count?

The plan is to homeschool year round with more frequent short breaks rather than one long summer vacation, but we still haven't started “real” homeschooling.  The kids have worked on some “summer bridge” worksheets most weekdays but that’s it. We have been too busy having fun, going to camps, and just hanging out to have do anything formal yet. As for record keeping, however, our official homeschool year started June 1st.

But that brought me to a question... What exactly counts as “curriculum” or “official” homeschooling time?

Does an outing to the swimming pool or the bowling alley count as PE? How about Nick’s overnight camping trip?

What about watching the *excellent* television show “How the States Got Their Shapes?” Surely this counts as Geography or History or Social Studies... or all three.

Is VBS officially Religious Studies... or even PE, Art, and Music?

This week we have gone to the US Space and Rocket Center, watched an Army Material Command Band orchestral concert, and to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. We will also go to Sci-Quest, Huntsville Museum of Art and Burritt on the Mountain this week as well. (It seems like a busy schedule, but it’s Armed Forces Week and as a military family we get into these places for FREE!) Do I list all of these outings as part of Science, PE, Art, and History?

This weekend will we have “community service” when we work for a while at a Homes For Our Troops build?

Nick has Aviation Challenge Camp next week while Emma has Horse Camp... Science and PE?

We divided our garden up into sections and each kids is responsible for their own little plot... A “Home Economics” grade?

I don’t want to get bogged down in record keeping, but it seems to me that almost everything we do could be assigned to a certain curriculum subject, and maybe that’s a good thing. Do I track it all or only the truly core things they do with a specific intent at “schooling?”

How do YOU do it?

Ready for Curriculum Overload?

I've had several friends ask me what curriculum we decided on and what I purchased at the homeschool expo I went to earlier this month, so I decided to turn it into a blog post. Grab a cold drink, settle in, and prepare for some curriculum overload!

Choosing What’s Best for our Family

When pondering homeschooling, I was honest with myself about our situation. I don’t believe I can sit and “teach” my children all day. Our personalities wouldn’t allow for it, nor would my schedule. My kids, at ages 9 and almost 12, are old enough and disciplined enough, to get through much of their schoolwork through independent learning. I was looking for curriculum that would allow the children to work independently with my providing guidance and help as needed, not specific teaching.

Cafeteria Curriculum

We opted not to go with “complete” curriculum but to piecemeal it ourselves. It isn’t because we didn’t find complete curriculum we liked... we did. If we were going to use it, Abeka, ACE, and Alpha Omega were all good choices. Another option, The Head of the Class, gets good reviews and looks promising, but I believe would be best for younger children. But one thing it’s got going for it... it’s all free online.

We also found a couple of complete online virtual school options that we considered: National Connections Academy and The Keystone School. (The Keystone School might be our option for high school, but we will make that determination when we get there.)

There are so many great options out there, I didn’t want to pigeon hole us into just one. I found math I liked from one company, history from another, and science from another. Whole curriculum would certainly be easier, and I’m not ruling it out in the future, but to start off, we are picking and choosing cafeteria style instead of being handed a prix fixe menu.

Before you Buy

There are two places I go first when researching new curriculum. First, I head over to Catherine Duffy Reviews to read up on curriculum. The website now has an AMAZING resource called Home Ed Expert. After answering a series of questions about yourself and your children, you will get a list of recommendations of curriculum that should meet your needs. It’s a great place to start.



The second stop online is to Homeschool Buyer’s Co-Op. Schools get discounts for buying curriculum in bulk. Why shouldn’t homeschool families? This is a free group to join, but gives you access to discounts on textbooks and subscriptions when you purchase along with others.

Our Decisions (So Far)

Ok... so finally... here is what you came to see. The list of curriculum we have decided to use for our first year. I’m not going to go into great detail on each one, but will include reasons why we chose it. Click on the links for more details. In no particular order...

MATH - TEN MARKS ($50.00 each when purchased through co-op)

We chose Ten Marks for math for both kids. It’s an online curriculum that is paid for yearly. We almost chose Teaching Textbooks, but Ten Marks is more intuitive and can adjust to the child’s needs, progressing quickly or returning for review as needed. Teaching Textbooks has actual workbooks to go along with the computer instruction, and can be used again for younger children, so the monetary value is greater. There is a discount at the Homeschool Buyer’s Co-Op for Ten Marks. It was this discount that was the final deciding point between Teaching Textbooks and Ten Marks.

Others we considered and are worth looking into: Life of Fred, ALEKS, Saxon Math

HANDWRITING ($1.99 each)


Both my kids need serious handwriting help. I found lots of handwriting workbooks but they seemed so baby-ish. The kids know HOW to write their letters in both manuscript and cursive, they just need to have a time to focus on neatness and to practice. At the curriculum expo I found pads of lined paper for just two bucks each... a lot less than the workbooks! I decided that I can assign them passages to rewrite instead of simply writing the days of the week, etc that the workbooks offered. And hey... what better way to continue brainwashing my kids than to have them rewrite such things as Ronald Reagan quotes, the Amendments, Bible verses, and more. <insert evil laugh here>

MEDIA LITERACY ($11.95)

This is a workbook I picked up for Nick. It teaches how the media advertises to consumers and how to interpret true messages in the media. It includes print media, packaging, websites, radio, music, and more. I’m excited about this curriculum! (There is also a version of this text for grades 3-5 that Emma will eventually do as well.)

INTERNET LITERACY ($11.95)

This one is for Emma. It teaches internet safety and nettiquette, how to research on line, designing  your own website, and more. (This is also available for grades 6-8. Nick will do this after he completes Media Literacy.)

SUMMER BRIDGE ($14.95 each)

These workbooks are how we are “easing” into homeschooling. Throughout June and into July, the kids will be doing these worksheets to hep get them into a routine of doing schoolwork at home. I found them at Barnes and Noble.

WE THE PEOPLE - GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CONSTITUTION ($19.95)

This is a Unit Study... and the only curriculum of this type I purchased. If you don’t know what a Unit Study is... click here.

The main reason we won’t do a lot of Unit Studies is because of the amount of potential work it requires on my part. But since a lot of the work has been done for me with this book, I decided to give it a try. Both kids will work from this book along with me and possibly Steve as well. I spoke with the authors of this series at the homeschool expo. Very nice couple with great kids! One thing to note... if you have any Boy or Girl Scouts in your family these books also meet the requirements to earn badges. This particular book earns the Boy Scout  “Citizenship in the Nation Merit Badge.”

FLIPPERS - PRE-ALGEBRA ($7.95)

A couple times a year there is a book sale on our military post. I discovered these Flippers there and picked up not only one for Pre-Algebra, but also Algebra, Geometry, and First Aid. While not “curriculum” per se, they are study aids... and I think they’re cool!  

FLIGHT PLAN: YOUR MISSION TO BECOME A MAN ($15.00)

This is my favorite Expo find! Using a aviation and flying themes throughout (Nick is obsessed with airplanes!) this book teaches middle school aged boys virtues and values to become a good man. Each of 13 chapters (with titles like Off Course of On Course, Girls Like Guys in Uniform, Red Flags, Potential Crash Landing, and Afterburners On!) teach boys how to navigate the days ahead and make good decisions. There is also a series of questions at the end of each chapter that not only ensure the child has read the chapter, but also gets him thinking about his own feelings and beliefs on each subject. I seriously cannot say enough good things about this book. I know Nick will love it and it will be a great start in character training. Read more about this book here. 

TALES OF THE GREEK HEROES ($4.99)

I’m not sure exactly how I am going to use this book yet. Greek mythology is a fun and interesting subject for kids. This particular retelling of the stories is the same one read by Rick Riordan (author of the Percy Jackson series) as a child and he writes the introduction. There are some questions at the end of the book, as well as vocabulary words and activities. Check it out on Barnes and Noble here.

8000 AWESOME THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ($15.00)

Another purchase at the military post book sale. I just thought it was interesting and a good reference for kids. My decision that it was an excellent purchase was the fact that my mother picked up the exact book for the kids!  This edition covers dinosaurs, sharks, insects, birds, mammals, and ancient and modern history. I’m hoping some day to pick up this one as well... 8000 Things You Should Know that covers the body, planet earth, space, animals, plants, geography, buildings and transport, and science.

WORLD WAR II ($7.00)

Nick is very interested in World War II. He’s read many books and is enjoys working on building model planes from that era. This book is an overview of the war and includes a computer disc with multimedia presentations. I found this book at the Scholastic school book fair.

ZOOLOGY 1 FLYING CREATURES OF THE 5TH DAY ($63.00)

This textbook by Apologia is the first in a series of three Zoology books. (Zoology 2 is Swimming Creatures and Zoology 3 is Land Animals.) Emma is an animal lover so this seemed like a great choice for her science course. These books are intended for kids from grades K-6 and can be done in any order. The cost above includes the Textbook and the Notebooking Journal. One of the things I like best is that the journal comes with a lesson plan (Less work for me!). It assumes that the child(ren) will be studying science two days per week and will take 28 weeks to complete the course. Emma says she wants science 4 days per week so we will start off with that and see how it goes. If she continues at that pace, and we complete the text in 14 school weeks, we will get Zoology 2 when this is done. There are three other titles in this grade school science series... in addition to the Zoology books there is also Botany, Astronomy, and Anatomy. I am hopeful that Emma will enjoy this book enough that we will continue with science 4 days per week and make it through all 6 books over the course of the next three years.

EXPLORING CREATION WITH PHYSICAL SCIENCE ($85.00)

Our priciest book purchase so far. This textbook comes with quizzes, tests, and an answer key for those and the chapter questions. There are all kinds of experiments in each chapter. The nice thing is we can simply buy a new testing book for Emma when she reaches 7th grade and reuse the textbook. (It helps justify the expense!)

CHARACTER FOR LIFE ($10.00)

I randomly saw this at the expo under a big “SALE!” sign. It was regularly $30 but on sale for $10. Who could pass up a deal like that? I think it might be a good book to use in 9th grade. It teaches character traits through the biographies of great men and women of history... Responsibility from John Adams, Hospitality from Florence Nightingale, Faithfulness from Noah Webster, Justice from Sojourner Truth, and more.

SPELLING and VOCABULARY ($24.95 per year per family)

We will be using an online source for spelling. Spelling City offers fun ways to study and learn spelling, games as rewards for doing well, and testing and grading. I can give them skill level appropriate word lists from the website or enter my own lists. The plan is to gather words each week from their coursework or personal reading, with a few random silly words thrown in for interest.

ART CLASS ($34.00 per 3 years per family)

We purchased online art classes from Mark Kistler for the kids. This is a great class and they LOVE it! The normal cost is $99 for three year access to the online lessons. But we got it for $40 through the Homeschool Co-Op!  Check out the free videos to see for yourself how the “classes” work. After just three lessons, I already see significant improvement in the kids’ artistic ability!

NANOWRIMO YOUNG WRITERS PROGRAM (Free!)

NaNoWriMo is short for “National Novel Writing Month.” People all over the world “gather” to attempt to write there own 50,000 word novel. I have participated three different times. I’ve tried for years to get the kids’ school to participate in the kids’ program with no luck. This year, my kids WILL participate! They are already thinking about their novel ideas! Parents and children can choose how many words they will write. Included on the website are 18 days worth of lessons to do prior to beginning actual writing. These lesson plans are divided into four age groups so it will work well for any age and multi-age families. You can do this any time of the year, but doing it in November with people from around the world makes it more fun.


Still to Buy...

US and WORLD HISTORY (Emma: $91.00, Nick : $57.00)

At the expo I found I really like the history books offered by Abeka. I will be purchasing the US History for 4th Grade for Emma and World History for 7th Grade for Nick. I will get the textbook kits and the parent/teacher kit to make lesson plans easier for me. Nick’s can be reused for Emma to help reduce costs.

GEOGRAPHY and LANGUAGE ARTS and WRITING ($9.95 each)

Found some workbooks by Spectrum at Barnes and Noble that we will get to cover the basics of these categories. (Note: Take a look at the rest of this website... lots of great workbook options for all ages and a wide variety of subjects.)

BRAIN POP ($195 per year for Homeschool Family)

I want to get this, but I think we will hold off for a while because of the expense. It’s a great resource and the kids have really enjoyed it when they were able to use it at school. They include lesson plans which makes things easier for the parent to incorporate the website into current studies.

WOW!

This list looks REALLY long to me. It might to you too. But know that every subject won’t be learned every day. Some will just be once or twice a week. Some might be every day, but only take a few minutes to complete. We will be jumping in with both feet, see how it all works for us, and then adapt, adjustm and modify, as required.

Please offer feedback on my list, and let me know what some of your favorites are in the realm of homeschool curriculum.