Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Making your own Unit Study

                   My family is starting the "50 states and their regions Unit". I made this Unit Study and thought this would be a great thing to share, how to make your own unit study.Why I choose this topic. This is something that interest each of us in different ways. I love learning about the history of our country, "Bug" loves learning about the battles that has happened, and the girls love learning about food, animals and clothes. So we are going to be able to cover all of this with our unit. We will take 9 weeks to cover the Unit, and on the way if we love it so much that we would rather take longer then we can.We will be studding allot so the kids will each have a specialty they will teach about on Friday's "Bug will teach about battles that happened in that region". My Goal for them is that they learn to listen and learn to teach.
                                             
 So when your ready to make your own Unit Study
When you decide that you want to make your own unit study, think about what you like to talk about and learn about. Than think about what interest your children. you want to research and learn with them, so pick something that interest you and them.
Decide on your Topic 
First get a pad of paper and write down about 5 things that interest each person that will be learning or teaching. you may see something right away. you may need to look and think about it.
Decide how long you want to study your topic
Do you want to study for a week or two? What about a month? Only you know how long you can keep your kids on one topic.
What subjects are you going to cover in your unit?
Are you going to cover math, and if so how? What about science and social studies, and history? this is not and hard as you might think. Just about every subject you study you can cover almost every subject.
 Like "House Cats" history= how they became house cats, math finding out how many breeds their are, science= looking at the body and seeing how it works.   

What supplies do you need for your unit? 
Each unit study will be different. Let your imagination go, think about different things you could do and write down all of your ideas. You may not use it this time but maybe next time.  

What field trips could you take and will you take? 
If your learning about cats go to a vets or a cat rescue. They love teaching others how to take care of animals.
Extra 
Think about things that would make it more fun or interesting for you at your child's age. and remember to follow any rulles or regulations you may have in your state. 

(I may have forgotten something please message me if you have any questions.)  

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Homeschooling 4 kids on a tight budget.

            So I have 4 kids, from 7th down to 4th. Tiffiny 13, Lisa 12, Matthias 11, Anna 09. All have different Ideas about what we should learn and how we should do it. I listen to their Ideas and then we talk about it. Your kids will have ideas and some will be great, other may not be something you can do right now, or things that wouldn't work so much for your family.So, i'm going to give you a few ideas that might help you and also link you to a couple others who have great ideas as well.

1. Use the Web, their are so many great free Ideas and things to print off. Their is thousands of websites and blogs you can get free things from.

2. Your library use it and get books and learn through them. We go weekly, i have the kids get books and write about what they read or tell me about the book. its great when you know you spent nothing on the book and your child leaned about where electricity came from and how it was invented.

3. Used book stores, they have great books that other people no longer need. hey i would rather buy a book that is $2.00 instead of $15.00 any day. just look through them and make sure their is not any damage to the pages, and most will buy them back latter or give you in store credit.

4. Clearance isle at large stores. if you kids love crafts and reading look in the clearance isles. this gets me in trouble( love this isle ;) but you can get things for a fraction of the price. just don't buy things if you know it will never be used.

5.Other MOMS, Get connected with other home school moms, some will give or sell you things they nolnger use or that didn't work for them. just talk to other home school mom and ask their opinion about what works for them. we love to help others find their way.

Some pages that will help you on your way.

http://www.homeschoolmath.net/  this has free math
http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeschooling/2012/12/free-online-educational-resources/ this page has a list of free pages and its good, I use it.
http://www.curriculumshare.com/ this page you will search through and pay only for the shipping it is used.
http://www.everythinghomeschooling.com/free.aspx this has some free ideas and printable pages.
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/weblinks/help.htm#.UegwqdLVDIZ free pages and ideas
http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/index.html  great pages to print for free

I hope this helped you, please leave a message if you have any questions or comments.