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Homeschooling With Baby by Kelly Frohnauer Babies are such blessings! They produce smiles on everyone's face! Their daily discoveries and achievements are wonderful to behold. Such a joy they bring to the home! A joy that requires alot of time and attention, something that most homeschooling parents have so little of! Trying to homeschool with a baby in the home can be, well, pretty stressful. (It's a good thing they're cute!) It's important, for your sake as well as the families sake, to stay totally flexible and to not have rigid expectations. Children that are taught at home have a remarkable ability and the perfect opportunity to progress much quicker in skills than children in public schools. One study decided that one hour of educational instruction in the home is equivalent to three hours of public school instruction. Besides, a year or so of relaxed, unstructured schooling could do everyone alot of good. Babies grow so quickly and time goes by so fast. Before you know it they are off riding bikes, playing on their own and you are wondering where the time went. So just focus on enjoying and caring for your baby. Get the other childen involved with helping you to care for the baby. Spend lots of time reading together while baby nurses and do crafts together while baby naps. You can even make baby the school lesson (see link below). Don't worry or be anxious about
your children not being at their grade level if you aren't able to
follow your curriculum that year. Just keep plenty of good books at
easy access, keep the TV and Nintendo off and your children will be
learning more than you realize. Your days of
(back to main Homeschooling
page) During the month of December we usually veer from our regular routine to include a more "Christmassy" atmosphere. Christmas-time brings many warm memories to mind and giving our studies a Christmas theme not only brings a welcome break from the routine but also creates pleasant family time and lasting Christmas memories. A simple way to give the Christmas
feel to your homeschool is to An especially fun book is Jotham's Journey - A Storybook for Advent by Arnold Ytreeide. It includes a schedule so that a portion of the story is read each day of Advent. It's a story of a young Jewish boy and his misadventures that drive him to Bethlehem right at the time of the actual birth of Christ. This is an exciting story that keeps the children asking for more! The three days before Christmas read verses each evening from the book of Matthew in the Bible leading up to the birth of Christ (which is the reason for the season!). For penmanship practice your children can write a Christmas letter to put in with all your Christmas cards. Also have them label all the envelopes. Plus give your spelling lists a Christmas theme. Use words from any Christmas story. Combine geography with home economics
and bake cookies from Each week include at least a Christmas craft or two, for gift giving and/or for decorating your home. Many subjects can be learned through crafts, such as geometry, measurement and chemistry to name a few. For music appreciation listen to Handel's Messiah and Menotti's Amahl & the Night Visitors. Daily playing a recording of traditional Christmas songs really adds to the atmosphere. For art appreciation look at a copy of L'Engle's The Glorious Impossible. With a little planning you can
easily incorporate a Christmas theme into your daily homeschool schedule,
creating memories to last a lifetime. (back to main Homeschooling page) |
The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook: A Creative and Stress-Free Approach To Homeschooling by Dr. Raymond & Dorothy Moore If you have never read any of Dr. Moore's books then you are missing out on some very helpful homeschool wisdom. Most of his books are now out of print but can probably be found in your local library. The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook is one of his more recent works.It's a remake of his Homeschool Burnout book. I just read it this past school year. Even after homeschooling now for 14 years I gleaned alot of helpful advice and confirmation and support from the Moore's many years of experience. Their relaxed approach to homeschooling is a breath of fresh air.(click on book to order) |