Getting Started with Homeschooling with Ruth Martin

On Thursday, May 16, 2013 the Georgia Home Educators Association started the Homeschool Conference Weekend.  One of our members Cheryl Kischuk was kind enough to share her notes from the conference.  Below is a highlight from her notes.







You may access all of her notes by clicking on this link  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B67dNSqTuB8JaEFIRll6YVljbUU/edit?usp=sharing.

Thanks Cheryl for sharing.  I will also be posting some of my notes from the sessions I attended so stay tuned for more!!!

How to Begin…

Lesson Plans and Scheduling

1. The goal of home education is to instill in your children a love for learning.
2. Academics is not the most important aspect of education.
3. Another goal is independent learning. This is accomplished through good scheduling and lesson planning.
4. When you first begin home schooling, it may take some time to prepare and find a rhythm. After time, it is a routine and becomes less time consuming.

Rule #1: You are not a traditional school!

• You do not have to set up desks in a row and teach in a lecture format to the children.
• Write out your goals and post them in a room for all to see.
• Set a flexible schedule (What works for your family?) The beauty of homeschooling is flexibility!
• Make daily lesson plans – basic time management

                                                              i.      Plan time alone to make lesson plans (children can play with spouse while you plan)

                                                            ii.      Be near your resources (put all you will need for the lesson in one easy accessible place.)

Rule #2: Pray! Pray! Pray!

      Pray before you begin every day. When you are ready to plan our your year, realize there are 364 days and you only need to teach 180 of them. J You do not need to teach every subject every day. You may alternate subjects daily, weekly, by 6-week periods, or by semesters. Ruth Martin does suggest to try to accomplish the core subjects every day. Those core are Bible, Reading, Writing and Math.

Rule #3: NEVER plan in ink! J

      You can get free blank calendars off of Google or you may prefer to use a teacher’s planning book. First plan your year, than your months, then weeks, then days.

Rule #4: Your children will NOT like everything you have planned for them to do. Too bad. That’s Life. 

Make it a character lesson in having to do things we don’t want to do with patience, grace, humility, etc.  You and they will hit moments of frustration where the level gets too hard to handle. Stop! Take a break! Go outside and get some fresh air. Take a time out but then get back to it when ready.

Rule #5: In Homeschooling, there is no homework! J 

There can be math drills and spelling mastery but not to the point of exhaustion. ***Major advice: Find your child’s learning style and teach to it! It’ll be a MUCH smoother process!  

Here are some links to help you find your child's learning style.  Discover your own as well so that you know what you are biased towards.

• http://www.schoolfamily.com/school-family-articles/article/826-what-is-your-childs-learning-style
• https://api.ed2go.com/CourseBuilder/2.0/images/resources/prod/hss-0/LearningStyles.pdf

  

Challenges:

• You are not used to being home all day and they are not used to being home all day (especially if you’ve pulled them out of traditional schools to come home).
• We are all peer influenced. As you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, turn to the Lord for guidance and reassurance.
• Both parents should be involved. Moms teach nurturing and dads teach leadership.
• If bringing your child home from a traditional public or private school, there is a period of adjustment. It is approximately one month for every year they have been in school. Allow time for mourning and healing.

 Notes by Cheryl Kischuk