Where to start homeschooling? At the library!

August 18, 2013

Is there too much writing or too litte? Either could turn a child away from a book, but learn your child's preferences and you have a key to finding the right resources. — Is there too much writing or too little? Either could turn a child away from a book, but learn your child’s preferences and you have a key to finding the right resources.

How do you start homeschooling? Start homeschooling in the library! If at all possible get a library membership and learn how to use it fully. Know if and how to order books in from other libraries. Find out if you can reserve and renew books online.

If your town or city has a university library, particularily one with an education program, look into getting a library membership there too, as some education departments will have curriculum library and helpful teachers resources. I’ve been able to borrow resources such as an Alaskan math curriculum explaining mathematical concepts in the context of Yup’ik culture, teachers guides on using tangrams and geoboards, as well as preview many textbooks.

Sometimes, even an adult's textbook can be interesting if you sit and discuss the charts together. — Sometimes, even an adult’s textbook can be interesting if you sit and discuss the charts together.

Learn your child’s tastes in books. Does too much text on one page overwhelm your child? Does your child like charts and graphs? Are there styles of artwork that disgust or scare your child? I know there are children out there who will willingly gather books from all over the library but my children get intimidated by the huge shelves and tend to stick to one spot. It is easier for me to gather up some books to bring to them than to try to herd all three of them around the whole library with me, but doing this means I need to know what types of books will work for them. Don’t limit yourself to the children’s sections. Look in the adult nonfiction section for coffee table books with an abundance of pictures and charts. I also like to get adult books out on whatever topics they’re studying so that I can learn a bit extra to share with them.Whether you decide to purchase a complete curriculum, allow your children to unschool or find a balance somewhere in between those two extremes, libraries can help fill in the cracks. When we’ve needed breaks from our curriculum we can learn math from library story books. There are sometimes older treasures like Many Luscious Lollipops: a book about adjectives Ruth Heller, that can reinforce concepts learned in other curriculum. There are books about figures of speech and children’s jokes.

Homeschooling is a wonderful adventure, if you’re ready to learn alongside your children. There’s so much to learn.

2 Comments

Susanne

August 19, 2013 at 7:41 am Reply

Yes indeed at the library!
Pingback:

September 5, 2013 at 11:59 am

401st Carnival of Homeschooling | The Informed Parent

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Christy's Houseful of Chaos shared a post.

21 hours ago

This is interesting. I think about the issue of accommodations in classes (both online and off). Some people would view accommodations as only acceptable if it makes the other person behave exactly like a neurotypical person. They don't want to actually have to accommodate the other person being the other person. And I can understand that in some ways, in that I can understand when people pay for classes they want to focus on what their kids get out of it not what other people's kids get out of it. Yet we should recognize that when we do that, we are often asking autistic children to accommodate other children.
Often we take for granted that certain standards of behaviour are in some way morally superior - like looking a person in the eyes or keeping their hands still - when they really aren't. Sometimes the standards are based on expediency and trying to work with large groups at a time. Of course one could argue that having wheelchair ramps is inefficient use of space and money too, but we've gone ahead and said we should require public buildings to make that accommodation.Relevant quote: "Autistic children are expected to learn social boundaries, even though they grow up having their own boundaries ignored." ... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook

Christy's Houseful of Chaos

3 days ago

One of the things I hate about Outschool is the rating system. I get that the rating system replaces having a teacher and course vetting system (basically expert evaluation of the courses) that most Outschool teachers would find too controlling. It serves its purpose, supposedly, in allowing bad teachers or bad classes to be weeded out "naturally" and good teachers rewarded. However, it inherently makes things harder for those who teach part time, running courses only a few times rather than run the same one-time classes a hundred times. It also sucks emotionally, as teachers stress over the reviews, particularly the negative ones with no comments or the bad reviews about things beyond the teacher's control. It also means that teachers are scared of setting boundaries.
But.... the Outschool rating system is mild and sensible compared to what this article describes. Imagine being a waiter and knowing that how many shifts you'll get next week depends on how you are scored. Imagine knowing that anything less than a 9 out of 10 either doesn't count or counts against you, and that some people will rate you down for things you have absolutely no control over. People will rate you an 8 thinking that it is an acceptable rating, only to have that not count on your score. Imagine knowing that your score could go down if you don't flirt with the guy who wants to flirt with you.
If the results of a rating system are meant to help customers make informed decisions, then go ahead and be honest on them. If the results of a rating system are meant to help employers evaluate employees, be conscious of the fact that you could cost someone their job by giving them a less than perfect rating. ... See MoreSee Less

An Invisible Rating System At Your Favorite Chain Restaurant Is Costing Your Server

In data-hungry, tech-happy chain restaurants, customers are rating their servers using tabletop tablets, not realizing those ratings can put jobs at risk.

View on Facebook

Christy's Houseful of Chaos

3 days ago

On my agenda for today -
- #FridaysForFuture
- schoolwork with kids
- sewing buttons back on a coat
- work on memorizing Akkadian poem to the gods of the night in Akkadian.
- do writing.
- do laundry.

Working on the Akkadian poem is a form of self-care, doing something that has no value to anyone else. Unlike working on my online classes, I will not be reviewed for it. Unlike working on my writing, I don't have to worry about ever selling it. I just want to learn it for my own sake, because it is a way to exercise my brain. I look at the translations and the explanations of the words. I try to learn about the different grammatical rules. How amazing it is that different languages can convey different bits of information in different types of words! (Some languages convey more meaning in conjugating a single word while others use less conjugation and more additional words to convey that same information.) I love the imagery. pussumat mušītim - Veiled is the night. How is the night veiled? Isn't night itself a veil, in a way, or a veiling of the day? utul šamê - the lap of heaven is the "sky's interior that is not visible to humanity but in which the gods reside." Do I picture the sky's interior as those big billowy clouds on which it seems a kingdom could rest or do I picture it as some other dimension? How did they picture it? "Lap" sounds humanoid, so I wonder whether it was personified. That leads me on a different path of exploration.... ... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook

Christy's Houseful of Chaos

4 days ago

Goethe wrote: "As students of nature we are pantheists, as poets polytheists, as moral beings monotheists."

Anyone have any thoughts on that? Agree? Disagree? ... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook

Christy's Houseful of Chaos

5 days ago

Close your eyes and listen to this recording of someone reading the ancient Akkadian text of the righteous sufferer. Then, if you have time, compare the text with the different arguments in the Biblical story of Job. ... See MoreSee Less

The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer (Ludlul bēl nēmeqi), Tablet II: BAPLAR: SOAS University of London

By kind permission of Professor B. R. Foster, the translation below is taken from his work Before the Muses: an Anthology of Akkadian Literature (Bethesda, 2005), with minor modifications (most of which follow the translation of W. G. Lambert).

View on Facebook