No, silly! It's not that kind of Sunday school, and not those kinds of revelations.

This weekend, we were alternately cleaning up the berry beds in the fields and prepping the bathroom for renovation in the house. The berries are looking good. I wish I could say the same for the bathroom. Ugh. I hate renovations. But I digress...

T hadn't done his spelling review on Friday because he was feeling under the weather, so as we raked straw off the strawberries, we did the spelling review orally. (We don't do "tests" here, nor grades, by the way.) While we were stripping old tiles out of the bathroom, we went through our math facts.

The revelations came when T said, "I think I think better when my body is moving as fast as my brain." I'd known this for a long time and have tried to facilitate ways for him to move more. He is also attuned to tactile sensation, which I try to toss in as well. I've noticed in the past that he has been making a point to pace or do jumping jacks, or some other calisthenic movements when reciting his math facts, or spelling orally, or narrating back some literature or history, or when he is reciting something for me that he's memorized. His is definitely a kinesthetic learning style.

What is important about this revelation is that T realised this for himself. Not only that, but he also noted that, "I think I wouldn't be allowed to do this in town school, would I?"

Well, from what I know of town school, I'd say the answer is no. He would not. To which he further surmised, "I think I should be glad I have a homeschool mommy and not just a regular mommy then." It got a little huggy, cuddly then -- like Mother's Day come early.

 

It's never okay to spank.

Corporal punishment is abuse.

Just ask this little boy. (Warning: contains graphic image of results of abuse).

Or, you could ask this little boy ... if he weren't dead.

If we are ever to turn toward a kindlier society and a safer world, a revulsion against the physical punishment of children would be a good place to start. - Dr. Benjamin Spock

Back in 2006, a group of bloggers struck up a boycott against The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and their baby-beating friends, the Pearls. The boycott has never stopped. Click here for the original "Click and Go Boycott Kit."

The Pearls aren't the only wackjobs out there espousing child abuse though. Take a look at what readers have to say about Dr. James (pain-is-a-marvelous-purifier) Dobson, and Dr. Gary (break-those-babies-good) Ezzo.

Anyone with a brain can make a better choice than following the advice of these criminals.

Every year, this pagan, Marxist, home educating family has a particular dilemma to address: where do we find curriculum materials that are:

a) completely secular - I don't like having to "skip" the creation crap, or "just skim over" the bible crap, or "just use something else" for the passages of scripture that are in whatever program it is.

b) Canadian - like CANCOM, I keep a rule about our curriculum that it must be at least 2/3 Canadian content, whether that be Canadian in scope, Canadian publisher, or Canadian author. I refuse to count it as Canadian just because a Canadian supplier sells it. Canadian suppliers, in general, are woefully guilty of pandering to the American curriculum producers even when there are equivalent (or better) Canadian resources out there. I have two suppliers that I like because they actually go out of their way to carry a fair amount of Canadian curriculum.

c) not public school textbooks - now this is where points a & b get screwed, because if I want Canadian and secular, then that mostly comes from public school style text books. I hate public school text books. They kill the joy in learning AFAIC.

d) solid, reliable, and well-written.

I don't ask for much. Why is this always so hard every year? I have come across some resources this year, though, that may help.

History: I know this is now in a revised format, but I got a copy of Modern History Through Canadian Eyes from another library's book sale last month. It uses some books we have at home as spines: Story of Canada by Janet Lunn and My First History of Canada by Donald Dickie, as well as the Discovering Canada series. We've been reading through Story of the World, and next year is volume 3. This resource starts, roughly, in synch with that. A word about SOTW - this one is a compromise for me too. T always stops me and asks about the Christianity. We're reading about the Middle Ages right now, and let's face it, the xtians play a huge part in that time period. As we move more into the modern age, we'll be discussing how its influence declines and reason begins to emerge in the paradigm. For now, I keep having to stop every page to go off on tangents, but that's okay. It makes T think, and that's the point of our home education. Next year's hurdle to overcome in SOTW is its pro-capitalist slant, and its America-centricity. Like xtianity, however, capitalism and American history have been a huge influence on the world. T needs to know how his neighbours to the south have evolved, too.

Science: Okay, so insisting on specifically Canadian science would be kind of stupid, but I must say, it was surprisingly hard to find completely secular, non-textbook science. I finally settled on using the Chemisty program from Living Learning Books, even though they are not a secular company. I hate making the compromise, but at least the program is god-free. In addition to that I've collected an assortment of some nice freebie downloads from Doc (see her side bar: Secular Lesson Planning) over the past year. That will round out our science nicely and keep us from getting bored. On top of that, we have numerous science and experiment books in the house from which to pull more hands-on stuff.

Language Arts: We will continue using Practise Your Spelling, a very nice spelling program in workbook format. It also includes extension activities that you do on a separate sheet of paper, so incorporating a bit of writing with spelling. The only place I know of that carries this is Home School and More, a great supplier of many, many Canadian resources. Alas, they have no web presence, but I think that makes them even more appealing to me. I kind of like filling out a paper form and writing a cheque. Along with the spelling, I have Language Power, published by Gage, and Growing with Grammar. GWG isn't Canadian, but it is excellent and completely secular.  

Math: Well, I would prefer to have Canadian math, so that I don't have to do something separate when the money sections come up, nor have to supplement the measurement sections with metric, but I can't quibble when something works well for my son, and MCP is doing that. Finally. We were using Math-U-See which we all loved, but there just wasn't enough there to allow T to grasp those basics. We started using MCP to supplement, and it has now become our primary program. So, we'll continue with that, and our flashcard drills. I know he says he hates those flashcards, but they really are working, and he's starting to see, in his results, that they work. I have a feeling we're on the verge of one of those "aha!" moments.

So, that is my basic curriculum for next year - Grade 3. I'm making up my own planner again. I made one up for myself for this year, and it was one of the best things I could have done. Everything is organised the way I want it and planning is very easy now.

My main blog over at asmallcornerofnowhere.blogspot.com just got nominated for the "Live-what-you-believe" category of the Homeschool Blog Awards.

Click here to go vote for me. Vote for me, if for no other reason than to throw off the absurdly fundie skew of the other candidates. Then, you can tell all your straight-laced, conservative friends (if you will admit to having any) that you voted for that really cool Marxist hippy witch.

Brightmane left a query in her comment to my blog post below that really got me thinking - "Would you have one bit of advice for a mom who's considering homeschooling? Or maybe a link or book that can lend guidance?"

When people ask me how I do it -- homeschool, farm, work, all at the same time -- I will often say that it comes down to prioritizing. My number one priority is my family. The way we choose to live our lifestyle is part the sacred to me. Homeschooling is one of those high priority lifestyle choices for which other things must sometimes be sacrificed. I don't work full-time, and that sacrifices finances sometimes, but that can be compensated for by frugality. Again, it is a matter of priorities -- homeschooling is more important than driving a newer vehicle, for example.

So, my best piece of advice to anyone contemplating homeschooling is this: Take the time to really "know" your priorities and honestly evaluate whether or not homeschooling can fit comfortably in the upper ranks of those priorities.

There are some adjustments and sacrifices that may need to be made in order to homeschool, but for us, those things are negligible in comparison to the deeply satisfying rewards we reap from our choice.

As to the second part of the question: My favourite homeschooling book is "The Well-Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer. I like it because it lays out an outline for covering all the important subjects, plus tons of recommendations for books and curriculum. I don't follow it to the letter by any stretch of the imagination. I use it as a frame for our studies.

My favourite website is actually a blog by a woman who homeschooled her triplets through high school. Doc at intothesunrise.blogspot.com is an awesome woman. Her blog isn't as much about homeschooling as about life. She has tons and tons of resources though -- all secular! Most of her info also has to do with "unschooling" a less formal method of homeschooling.