Homeschool Open House 2007

I'm joining in on the Homeschool Open House 2007 hosted by Tiany at Less of Me~More of Him. Thank you for hosting this Tiany, I think it is a great idea!



A short intro about you, how many blessings?
I'm Momma Roar (aka Leigh Ann) and I have a 5 year old son - Quintin, a 2 1/2 year old daughter - Noelle (Elle [rhymes with belly] for short) and an 8 month old son - Colin. Quintin is beginning kindergarten this month.

We home'pre'schooled last year using Weaver's Interlock program. We loved it. It was a 37 week program that covered Genesis 1-11. It formed an excellent foundation for Quintin with the days of Creation - I really enjoyed it too.

Your Homeschool Day, what does it look like?
Our schedule is still being "discovered!" Last year, when I was pregnant with Colin, I would work with Quintin first thing in the morning, while Elle was still asleep. Now, Colin is the first to wake up and I've been trying different schedules this past week. We spent some time reviewing from last year and experimenting with different times to work together. We did it one morning while Colin was down for his morning nap and the next day we did it while he was in the pack n play in the next room. I'm sure we'll have some other variations, but it was nice to know it still worked and it doesn't have to be the same each day.

Our lessons will be Bible, Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, Phonics and Math - we won't be starting with all of these, but gradually adding some in each week.

My plan is to finish before lunch, unless we have a crazy day - then I'll work with Quintin while his brother and sister nap.

What curriculum will you be using?
We will be using Weaver's Vol 1 this year and I am looking forward to it. It is set up differently than their Interlock program, but I think I've gotten myself prepared!!

We'll be using RightStart for math and Spell to Write and Read for phonics. I also want to go through Gregg & Joshua Harris' The 21 Rules of This House with Elle and Quintin.

Anything else we add will just be a hodgepodge of this and that, lol!

Do you schedule your day to the minute or go with the flow with no real structure?
I like to have a plan, but "to the minute" is too difficult to do - I have a goal in mind to complete each day. I was an elementary PE teacher before having children and that taught me to always have a plan B - some days I would have the gym to teach in and some days, there would be no janitor there to clean up after lunch so I'd have to move elsewhere (those were the days!)

Do you homeschool in a homeschool room, at the kitchen table, at a desk, in the park on the grass?
We homeschool everywhere - the kitchen table, at a table in the playroom, outside, in the truck...everywhere!!

Do you have any “must share” tips?
I recently purchased Ruth Beechick's "A Biblical Home Education" and I am finding it so refreshing. Here is an excerpt that I really needed to hear:

"Many new homeschoolers, and older ones too, buy too much curriculum and then cry for help. They worry about "gaps," about not covering everything. It is a myth that there is an "everything" standard that we all should know. Graduates who are good thinkers can later learn whatever they need. One whole generation had to learn computers on their own. Schools like Mass*achuset*s Insti*tut*e of Te*ch*nolo*gy hired self-taught men to teach computer until they could raise degreed computer professors. Who knows what your children may need to learn in the future? There is no way to "cover" everything. Aim, instead, to teach your children how to think and learn in whatever content you are using."

Thanks for stopping by my Open House! Blessings to you all for a wonderful new school year!