Homeschooling Archives | Mommy Plannerista

Curriculum Review: Introduction to Energy by The Good and The Beautiful

January 17, 2020 · 2 Comments

One thing new we did in our homeschool this year was to try doing unit studies. After researching on how to start and what to use, I decided to start with one subject first – Science. I came into this decision after watching so many videos on the Science unit studies by The Good and The Beautiful (TGTB). We did Marine Biology first for the first quarter of the school year and Introduction to Energy for the second quarter. Today, I wanted to share with you our review of the latter.

The Good and The Beautiful

First, let me tell you about TGTB.

TGTB was launched by Jenny Phillips in 2015. She’s a Christian singer-songwriter and homeschooler who decided to create her own curriculum because she couldn’t find one that she really loved.

According to the T G TB website, she wanted to create a curriculum that:

“Used completely clean and powerful literature
Combined subjects for more meaningful learning and shorter school times
Was completely open-and-go
Was academically strong and very thorough
Emphasized God, nature, and high character
Was visually beautiful, engaging, and meaningful”

TGTB is Charlotte Mason-inspired and that’s what initially drew me to it. I wanted to incorporate more Charlotte Mason teaching strategies in our homeschool this year (without necessarily being a purist) and TGTB sounded like the perfect curriculum to get our feet wet, so to speak.

To learn more about TGTB, please visit their website.

Introduction to Energy

This unit is just one of their many Science units available. This one is supposed to be a prerequisite unit which will provide a general overview of all the other energy subjects such as Heat, Light and Sound, Gravity, Forces and Motion, Simple Machines, Electricity, and Magnetism.

All of the TGTB science units are designed for K-6 with extensions for grades 7 – 8. They are written from a Christian, Bible-based point of view. At the time of my puchase in August 2019, it was available in both Printed + PDF version or PDF (printable) version only. I chose the PDF only at $11 because I knew shipping from the US would cost me a ton.

Take note though that as of this writing, TGTB has apparently decided to combine the Intro to Energy plus their Energy: Heat, Light, and Sound units and this is currently being developed. Nevertheless, I decided to still write this review to give curious parents an idea about the TGTB Science units and how it worked for us.

The Introduction to Energy unit is actually quite short, only consisting of 6 topics as you can see below.

It comes with all the lessons as well as printables that include vocabulary cards, flash cards, games, etc. I chose to display most of them on our Science Wall.

What I didn’t include on the Science Wall are these mini books that come with the unit as well.

Below you can see some Unit Information which explains to you what teaching this unit will entail as well as a list of all the supplies you will need per lesson so that you can prepare them in advance. The Science Wall is actually something that TGTB suggests you put up when using their Science units.

Here’s a sneak peek of Lesson 1. As you will see, the lesson starts with an objective as well as a short list of what you need to prepare.

Each lesson varies in terms of activities. However, there’s always a lesson to read to the kids, various activities, and in some cases, experiments as well. Everything you need to say to the student are right there on the page. Each time you complete the task you just check them off and proceed to the next one.

Our Thoughts

After completing this unit, I thought of the things we liked and disliked about it.

Likes:

The lessons are easy to follow and understand. You literally just need to read the lessons as well as the instructions and then let the child complete the activities. My son is 8 years old and in 3rd grade and he had no trouble with the unit at all.

We did this unit during the second quarter of the school year which is the shortest. It was perfect for that because it only has 6 units. We could have finished the entire thing in less than a month. I just chose to extend it a bit to last 6 weeks.

I think the lessons do provide a good overview of all the other more advanced energy topics.

I like that there is always some activity to reinforce the lessons. The variety of activities is what makes TGTB Science interesting for me and my son. The games are the ones my son enjoyed the most. I had my 3-year-old join us in some of the activities as well and he also enjoyed them even though he couldn’t really understand the lessons yet.

I like that they have a list of optional read-alouds that you can find from the library or bookstore.

I also like that there are extension lessons for grades 7 and 8. We didn’t need them yet but at least we have them already when the time comes that we’ll need to review this topic again in a few years.

*An activity about the different forms of energy*

Dislikes:

I would have preferred to use something that is ready-made already. However, since I chose the PDF option, I had to print everything, punched the pages and placed them in a 3-ring binder. I had to cut and laminate the vocabulary cards, flash cards, etc and that took some time. So in that sense, it’s not completely open and go. However, once you’ve done this prep before you start the unit, it becomes pretty much open and go already. I don’t regret getting the PDF because I plan on using this again when my youngest is a bit older, so I can just reprint it then without purchasing again.

It’s fun but not as fun as the Marine Biology unit. However, I know that’s only because this is just an intro unit. Marine Biology was super comprehensive and colorful with lots of experiments and other activities (full review of that coming soon).

There wasn’t a lot of work involved. This is not a bad thing. However, our homeschool provider requires a good mix of both written tasks and performance tasks (recitation, hands-on activities, experiments, projects, etc). Since this is a short unit, there weren’t a lot of those so I just had to supplement a bit.

*An activity about the transfer of energy*

Some parents are concerned about TGTB being created by someone who’s from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Being Catholic myself, I also wondered whether some of the contents will contradict our family’s beliefs. However, I didn’t find anything like that at all in this unit (or in the Marine Biology unit). Mostly, they just mention every so often how amazing God is for creating the world and other similar sentiments. So, I think anyone regardless of religion will find this unit suitable but of course, it’s up to you make your own judgments as well after you try it out.

Overall, I think the Introduction to Energy unit is a good one to try. It’s fun on its own although maybe not as engaging as the other TGTB science units but my son learned what he had to learn. I definitely recommend it.

Our Daily Homeschool Routine (Plus, Some Tips on How to Create Your Own)

January 10, 2020 · Leave a Comment

One of the things I had to think about when we first started homeschooling was how to structure our day so that we can accomplish whatever we set out to do. I’m a natural planner and organizer and it’s important to me to have a guide so that we don’t feel lost or waste our time.

Since then, our homeschool routine has changed several times depending on the season of life we were at. Take note though that I use the term “routine” instead of schedule. I just think that a schedule with specific time slots is something that will not really work out for us. I don’t like being too strict with that because we don’t typically wake up at the same time every day. However, a routine or sequence of actions, is something more doable for us because we can still follow it no matter what time we start our homeschool day.

Our Daily Homeschool Routine

To better explain what I mean, here’s a copy of the homeschool routine we’ve been following this school year.

*I have a copy of our homeschool routine in my customized homeschool planner and in our homeschool room too. Customize your own planner here.*

As you can see, I listed down all the subjects or activities that we plan on accomplishing in a day. I did list down time slots too. However, those just serve as a guide to remind me how long each subject or activity should last. We don’t necessarily start at 9:00 a.m. all the time. Some days it could be earlier and other days it could be later. What’s important for us is to be able to know which activity comes first and which ones come next so that we know what to expect. Our kids thrive on routine.

Our homeschool routine is really a combination of a morning routine and an afternoon routine. Our mornings are composed of our Morning Basket and our major subjects, with one short break in the middle. Then, we take a break for lunch. Our afternoons are more relaxed and composed mostly of minor subjects and independent work. The goal is to end by 4 p.m. or earlier so that my son can still have some time for free play before dinner.

You will also see Loop sections in our routine. A loop schedule basically means alternating subjects that you don’t need to take every day. For instance, for Loop 1, we alternate between Science and Social Studies. If we do Science today, that means we’ll be doing Social Studies tomorrow.

We’ve been following this routine for 8 months now and it’s been working well for our family. At this point, there’s no need for us to change things up yet. Next school year could be different though.

Tips on How to Create Your Own Homeschool Routine

If you’re trying to create a homeschool schedule or routine of your own, here are a few tips to consider based on my own experience.

Plan according to your lifestyle.

Each family’s lifestyle is different which means that our homeschool schedules will look different from each other as well. What works for us might not work for you. The important thing is for you to find the best fit for your family.

Our family involves two parents who work from home with two kids full time, one of which is a 3-year-old. My husband has a fixed work schedule while mine is more flexible. This means that when my husband is working, I’m the only one who can focus on child care and chores. So, I needed to find a homeschool schedule that can work around that and still leave me some time for work.

In our case, scheduling all our major subjects in the morning leaves me time after lunch to put my youngest, Zander, down for a nap. My 8-year-old can work on independent tasks such as his cursive and typing practice while waiting for me to be available again. Aiming to finish everything by 4 pm also leaves me time to do chores before dinner and work after dinner.

Remember that a typical homeschool day may not take as long as a regular day in private or public school.

Most of us parents most likely grew up in a traditional school setting, and so we might tend to copy that in our homeschool. However, we should remember that a lot more can be accomplished in one homeschool day in less time. This is because there is less administrative work involved for the teacher and less students to teach as well. Homeschool parents are also able to spend more one-on-one time with their kids which enables them to get more work done faster.

You’ll notice in our schedule that we only take 30 minutes per subject. I decided on this after learning about the Charlotte Mason approach which advocates short sessions because kids tend to have shorter attention spans.

You might think that 30 minutes is way too short but we can actually get a lot done in that span of time. In case my son doesn’t finish his work within the 30 minutes alloted for that subject, I just let him continue it the next day and we move on to the next activity. This set up is perfect for him because he gets bored easily.

Consider your child’s personality.

Are your kids early risers or do you have a hard time getting them out of bed in the morning? Consider this in figuring out what time to start school and which subjects to do first. The same goes for you too as the homeschool parent.

You need to be strategic in terms of when to schedule certain subjects. Be aware of when your kids are more alert and active. Use that time to schedule subjects that require the most effort or focus.

For instance, I know that my son, Ziggy, works best in the mornings after breakfast. So, I schedule all our major subjects then. That way, if that’s the only thing we accomplish for the day, it will be all good.

I also know that I’m a night owl and would often still be working or doing something until 1 or 2 am. That means, I can never start school very early in the morning.

Factor in siblings.

It’s a bit trickier to create a schedule if you’re homeschooling multiple kids. However, there are many strategies on how to do it, such as making them do some of the same subjects together then scheduling independent work for others.

Our case is different because the second child I’m homeschooling is only 3-years-old and he doesn’t really need to do much. He also doesn’t need that much time for lessons. I normally let him join us for Morning Time.

When it’s time for me to focus on Ziggy’s major subjects, I just let Zander play with some educational toys or give him something to color or “write” on. Then when Ziggy is busy working on an activity on his own, I take those few minutes to focus on some short activity with Zander again.

If Zander wakes up from his afternoon nap and Ziggy and I are not done yet with an art project, science experiment or any other activity, I let Zander join in too. He might not understand completely what we’re doing but he gets to have fun and just learn whatever he can.

Of course, this set up is not going to work forever. We will need to revisit it when it’s time for Zander to have more formal lessons.

Consider outside activities.

If your child attends other classes or co-op sessions out of the house then you’ll have to factor that as well. This way. you’ll know how many days or hours you have left for lessons at home. This also helps you make sure that there is a good balance of academics and extras.

Include breaks and time for fun.

We all know the saying ” All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Breaks are necessary during the day so that both kids and parents can recharge. What you do during your breaks is up to you. The important thing is to have them. We normally have a 15-minute break in the morning and then a lunch break.

I also figured that it’s best for us to start the morning slow, so we start with Morning Time. The kids enjoy it because this is normally the time we do read alouds and singing among others.

Be flexible.

Know that it’s impossible for you to follow the same exact schedule every day. Unexpected things such as sickness or emergencies can happen and so you’d have to be flexible enough to change things when needed. No need to feel bad about it. You can always do better the next day.

Don’t be afraid to shake things up a bit whenever the situation calls for it. There have been times when I decided to scrap our routine for the day if I feel that we need more rest or if we need to just focus on doing something fun.

The Bottom Line

The truth is, there is no perfect homeschool schedule or routine that will fit everyone’s needs. Just be realistic and take the time to try different things until you find what feels right for you and your family.

Christmas School: What We’re Doing This Year in Our Homeschool

December 16, 2019 · Leave a Comment

Last year, I shared how we inject Christmas in our homeschool. This year, I decided to do some things differently and so I’m sharing our Christmas School activities with you in case you’re also looking for ideas.

Several weeks ago, I was searching for Christmas crafts online when I chanced upon articles about Christmas schooling from other homeschool moms abroad. It’s basically about taking a break from your regular homeschool activities to focus on Advent and the reason for the season – Jesus.

I thought it was a great idea so I decided to do the same. I wanted to finish up with our planned homeschool lessons for December though and so we were only officially able to start Christmas schooling today. However, there were some activities we already started on the first week of December.

Here are the activities we’re doing for Christmas school this year.

Christmas Morning Basket

I have been changing out the contents of our morning basket every few weeks. For Christmas, I included Christmas books, of course, to add to our Bible. Here’s a photo.

These are not the only books we’ll be reading though. I have a few more ebooks on my Kindle. We prefer holding real books over ebooks though. Reading aloud to my kids is something I do often and both of my boys really enjoy it especially when they involve Christmas stories.

Jesse Tree

I discovered what the Jesse Tree is all about only last month just in time for us to start it in December. I found this amazing free resource from Confessions of a Homeschooler and it has everything you need.

The resource includes an explanation on what the Jesse Tree is an how to do the activity. It has a list of the daily passages you need to read and the corresponding ornaments to place on your tree. The ornaments are printable and come in both colored and black and white versions. There’s also a suggested list of addional reading from a book called The Jesse Chapter but I chose not to do that for this year because I didn’t have time anymore to look for the book.

Anyway, I chose to print the ornaments in black and white so that my son, Ziggy, can color them on his own. He enjoys doing this while I’m reading the passage for the day. Since I also had no time to buy a tree for this activity, I just chose to draw one on a board that we already had at home. Our youngest, Zander, is still too young to understand what it is because he’s only 3 years old, but he enjoys looking at the tree and pointing at the ornaments he can recognize. Overall, it’s just an amazing activity to do to teach kids about God’s love for us, about some very important people in the Bible, and most of all about Jesus.

Polar Express Unit Study

This is something I was very excited about because I truly enjoy unit studies. You can learn about so many different topics from just one central theme.

We started our Polar Express unit study today. Thankfully, there are a lot of resources available online. I just needed to buy the actual Polar Express book. Then when it’s time to watch the movie version, all we need to do is go on Netflix.

Among all the resources I found, I decided on this amazing bundle of activities I found from Mary Lou Cheney on TeachersPayTeachers.com. It has worksheets and fun activities.

We’re also using this awesome Polar Express unit study guide from Pam Cloar that I got from Homeschoolshare.com. It lists down and explains all the topics you can discuss, broken down into different subjects. For geography, we’ll be learning about the North Pole and the Arctic. For Science, we’ll be learning about biomes and arctic animals. There are also activities for language arts and math too among others. Plus, there are printables for a lapbook too! So exciting!

I super love the combination of these two resources I found.

Christmas Carols

Like last year, we’ve also been learning more Christmas songs this year. We are still using this book of Christmas carols. However, I’ve also been teaching my kids some Filipino carols too. I teach them one new song each week.

So far, we’re really enjoying Christmas school this year. I’m actually already planning on how to improve it next year. I want our Christmas school to be longer so next year I will strive to start by the first day of December.

How about you guys? Do you do Christmas schooling too? Comment below and let me know if you’re doing any Christmas activities with your kids this year.

If you’re interested to see more of what we do in our homeschool, do connect with me on my main Instagram account. I share a lot there!

Customized Homeschool Planner by One Stop Planner Shop (Giveaway!)

November 20, 2019 · 6 Comments

Guess what? I have a new customized homeschool planner! Just look at how pretty and big it is!

For those of you who have been following me on my planner IG account, @mommyplannerista.plans, and on my YouTube channel, I started this school year using my Kikki.K personal size ring planner as my homeschool planner. I really had no major complaints about it. I customized it according to my liking and it worked well for me.

Why change planners then?

Well, the truth is that I joined a giveaway hosted by fellow homeschool mom, Annie of @awifenmother, on her Instagram account (follow her ‘coz she’s amazing!). The prize was a one-year subscription to the One Stop Planner Shop, specifically for a customized teacher planner. Lucky me, I won!

I didn’t mind trying out a new planner because I’m forever on the hunt for new tools or systems to use that will make my planner work better for me. Homeschooling can become quite overwhelming sometimes especially if you’re disorganized. Using planners help me lessen the overwhelm which means that my kids and I get to actually enjoy homeschooling.

So as soon as I was given access to the subscription, I immediately started crafting the perfect homeschool planner for me and I’ve been using it for about 2 weeks now.

What’s inside my customized homeschool planner?

If you want to learn how I customized my homeschool planner, please watch this flip through video that I uploaded on my YouTube channel. In the video, I explained the process involved as well as showed the specific templates I used for my planner.

If you wish to know more about how I use specific aspects of the planner, please leave me a comment on this blog post or on my channel. I’ll try to address your questions or requests on a future blog post or video.

Why do I love my customized homeschool planner from One Stop Planner Shop?

To be honest, I didn’t know I was going to really enjoy this planner because I have never used one this big before. The planner is printed on letter size paper and initially I felt it was going to be too big. I pleasantly realized that I actually like it.

Also, I have customized my planners before but I have never done one with inserts from just one shop. So, I wasn’t sure if I was going to find everything I needed entirely from One Stop Planner Shop.

Now that I’m actually using the homeschool planner I created, let me tell you what I liked about the process and the planner itself. Let me count the ways!

I like that the portal is very organized and user-friendly. Everything is properly labeled. Plus, there are tutorials or how-to videos that will guide you throughout the entire process.
There are numerous cover design choices. I also love that there are matching dividers, plus spines for binders too. Plus points for the tabs!
Most of the elements on the planning pages can be easily customized according to your needs. You can change the type, size, and colors of the font. You can add or delete rows and columns on the tables. You can rearrange things. The only things you can’t edit are the decorative elements, which are based on the two styles that are available – Modern and Whimsical.
Editing was easy for me. I edited the pages using Powerpoint but there’s another option using Google Slides as well.
You can bind it any way you want. I just chose to use a binder because it was the easiest and fastest option for me.
I chose to print my entire planner but you can also go all digital if you wish.
The planner pages aren’t just for homeschooling. In fact, there are many templates available that can be used by teachers from regular schools too.
You can save all your planner pages on your laptop or computer. This means that you can print or use them again multiple times.
For my fellow sticker addicts, you’d be happy to know that there are digital stickers that you can use on the planner too.
There are monthly freebies available for all subscribers for as long as you are subscribed.
The subscription is good for one year. So, if you choose to change something in your planner at some point, you can just keep downloading other templates to try.
There’s a Facebook group that you can join. The members there regularly share photos of their own customized planners plus tips on how they did things.

Suffice it to say that I am loving my homeschool planner. I highly recommend homeschool parents to at least check it out if it’s something that will work for you.

It may sound like it will take lots of time and effort to customize your own planner. To be honest, it is but the product is a planner that is created around what you need to make homeschooling a bit easier for you. It has truly helped lessen the overwhelm I sometimes feel in homeschooling. I can relax knowing that I have everything I need in my planner. So, I think it’s so worth it.

How can you get your own customized homeschool planner?

I can give you two ways.

First, you can subscribe to the One Stop Teacher Planner Club. The subscription fee is only $30 for the first year and then just $12 every year after. The annual membership fee includes:

Access to the membership website
Over 1,500 pages to help you customize the perfect planner
Exclusive “Monthly Bonuses”, for club members only
A library of How-To Videos to help you get your planner just the way you want it.
Access to their Planner Community for support and inspiration

Members get access to new and updated planners every single year! So, I assure you that it’s definitely worth it. Just click here to go to the site and sign up! (Disclaimer: I am an affiliate of the One Stop Planner Shop, which means I will receive a small percentage if you subscribe using this link.)

There’s a second option, though, and that is to join my giveaway!

Kristin, of the One Stop Planner Shop, was so generous to sponsor one (1) winner a teacher planner subscription! That’s good for one year. Yay!

I’ll be hosting the giveaway over on my main Instagram account, @mommyplannerista. Click this link now to learn how to join.

Good luck! Happy planning and happy homeschooling!

Happy Eclectic Homeschooling: Realizations after the PHC 2019

October 8, 2019 · 22 Comments

It has been a month since I attended the Philippine Homeschool Convention 2019. I was planning on blogging about my experience immediately after, but I decided to take my time and really think about what I learned or realized that day.

As usual, I enjoyed going to the convention. I especially enjoyed being with my long-time friends that day. One of them is a newbie homeschool mom while the other two are private school owners who are thinking about offering a homeschool program. I also enjoyed seeing my other homeschool mom friends who I rarely get to see these days. I only wish I had more time to talk to them that day.

Anyway, back to my realizations….

Several months ago, I mentioned in this blog that we’ve been incorporating more Charlotte Mason methodologies in our homeschool with the intention of slowly transitioning to full CM. I’ve been researching a lot about CM from experts and other CM families here and abroad.

I’ve been watching lots of YouTube videos on how families incorporate CM in their homeschool. I stalk tons of CM families on Instagram. I’ve learned a lot from them, and I’m inspired by all of them. At the same time though, there was still a part of me that was hesitant to go full CM.

The Dilemma

The thing is, I’m also inspired by other styles of homeschooling. Right now, we use different ways of teaching depending on our subjects. Our methods are a mix of CM, Montessori, Unit Study, and Traditional. You can say that we’re actually more of eclectic homeschoolers.

Ziggy and Zander in our homeschool room…. We do a lot of playing.

We’ve been enjoying what we’re doing so far. I actually can honestly say that this is the most fun we’ve had homeschooling even though it’s more challenging now that I’m teaching two of my kids. Still, there’s that nagging thought that I’m not doing things right because we’re not sticking to just one style.

Then two-year-old Zander practicing how to “cut” vegetables and fruits. One thing we let him do to improve his fine motor skills.

There’s no problem in being ecletic, in my opinion. However, there are some people who believe that it is best to just choose one style of homeschool and stick to it in order to reap its full benefits. That idea somehow got stuck in my head these past several months, making me feel confused about how best to do things. Part of me wanted to go full CM but another part just wanted to continue what we’d been doing.

The Realization

So, what did I realize during the Philippine Homeschool Convention?

I was able to listen to stories from different types of homeschooling families. Their stories reminded me that each of us have our own homeschooling journey and that ours do not have to look like theirs.

Dawn Fung, homeschool mom and founder of a homeschool organization in Singapore

Dawn Fung, the guest speaker from Singapore, said something that really resonated with me. She said something like “the bigger the gap between expectations versus reality, the bigger the tension” and that “the smaller the gap, the more fulfillment.”

I couldn’t agree more.

The thing is, I know this already. I shouldn’t expect our homeschool to look ideal. I shouldn’t expect our journey to be the same as others. I shouldn’t expect for the results to be the same. I shouldn’t force myself to conform to other people’s ideas of what the ideal is. We don’t need that tension in our homeschool and in our life.

Building an atom. An activity that is part of our Intro to Energy unit study for Science

It’s just that sometimes I still can’t help but compare our journey to other families. Looking at the nicely curated Instagram photos posted by other homeschool families probably doesn’t help. I just need to constantly remind myself that there’s more to their story than what they show online. We can be inspired by them but that doesn’t mean we should be like them.

I also need to remind myself that what works for other families may not work for us. While some may choose just one style of homeschool (which is totally fine, of course), what really works for us right now is using different methods for different subjects. It may not be what some people consider “ideal” but the reality is that it works for us and that is what matters most. The reality is that we are happy doing this.

Snapshot of our family (by a fellow homeschool mom) during our homeschool co-op’s recently concluded painting class

Besides, our family is also not what you would call ideal anyway. Even the hubby and I are both more individualistic than most. We like doing our own thing and not conforming to the norm. We like being different. It’s just our personality. So, I guess it’s not really surprising that eclectic homeschooling is what works for us.

That realization (or reminder) made me feel a whole lot better about myself as a homeschool mom and about our homeschool journey as a whole. We are happy eclectic homeschoolers and we’re embracing it. I have the PHC to thank for that.