3 Teaching Musts before Fall

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As educators, it’s an incredible benefit to have knowledge of the array of curriculum choices and options for the school year that we have before us! To serve our students in the best ways possible, we must give attention to these 3 tasks before summer draws to a close.

#1: SELF-REFLECTION

Reflecting back on what worked well and what did not should be top-priority as we think seriously about the school year that just passed.  Make lists, brainstorm, and be honest as you mull the answers to questions like the ones here…

Questions to ask yourself about last year…

  • Did my students master the content from last year?
  • What areas do I need to cover again?
  • Did we like our curriculum choices last year?
  • What subjects might he/she take online?
  • Are there any community college class options for my students?
  • Does our curriculum fit our schedule needs? For example, do we need more digital learning for on-the-go?
  • How much time do we allow for extra activities like sports & music lessons?
  • Have I asked my students what they are excited to do & learn this coming year?

Perhaps it’s been a few weeks since you considered the finished school year. If so you’re not alone! This is the perfect time to consider these questions! Gather up each student’s books to make room for the new items you will purchase for the upcoming year. As you do this, take time to look through their work and materials giving special consideration to the questions above. Make some notes for yourself. For example: “Michael Scott did not master multiplication this year.” Keep these notes close by to use (in steps 2 & 3, the planning & purchasing) as you select the best homeschool curriculum for the fall.

#2: PLANNING

This is the next crucial part of facilitating successful learning and a successful next year. Have any notes you made close by! These notes will be of great help to you as you browse the array of curriculum choices before you. Make sure to look specifically toward satisfying the needs of each student. For example: If Michael Scott will be working on mastering multiplication, make sure to select a math curriculum/ supplemental item to accomplish that goal for him in the upcoming year. Please keep this in mind, though: No teacher will ever plan a perfect year… a good educator will monitor and adjust along the way. The exercise of planning simply gives you a roadmap to start another academic year with direction. It’s a must and there’s no better time than these longer summer days to do it!  There are many, many curriculum choices and the process can be quite overwhelming. I suggest investing a great deal of time on the review website linked below:

curriculum reviews

#3: PURCHASING

Finally, let’s entertain the PURCHASING part of this refreshing season! After choosing your curriculum (part of the planning stage mentioned above) its now time to shop. Yes! Once you have discovered the curriculum that serve your needs the best, there are plenty of ways to seek out good deals.  I will share some sites below! In the days that follow purchasing, packages will begin to arrive… and, if you’re like me, these deliveries are as exciting as Christmas morning! Smile big and be thankful for the blessing of providing a QUALITY education of your precious students. High five, teach! 🙂

Here are a few sites I suggest to buy curriculum:

I hope this is helpful to you. Each year, I too, go through the musts of SELF-REFLECTION, PLANNING & PURCHASING for the upcoming year. After that, we can all take a deep breath, kick back & relax to enjoy the long summer days we have left knowing that your future self will thank you! 😅

~ Domestic Chick

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Book Lovers Day🥰📚2019

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“Books, Books… I need my books!” 🤣~ Jerry Seinfeld

Yes! What a fun day to celebrate… National Book Lovers Day! If I had to choose my biggest purchasing weakness, it would no doubt be books. So, in light of this celebratory day, I’ll share a few of my favs with you. 😍 To start, here are my personal favs & GREAT PICKS FOR MOMS…

My FAVS for Moms 🙂

Ok, ladies! At various times in life, we all just needed a book on THAT topic… whatever it happens to be at a time. You know what I mean. Mine have been on struggles or some self-improvement topic I wanted to know more about. Heck, sometimes I’m simply drawn to a book ’cause the cover looks so beautifully intriguing! Take a look and browse these titles I include in my personal favorite GREAT PICKS FOR WOMEN…

My FAVS for women 🙂

Friends, if you happen to be married, these are for you! Eventually I will take time to write many more posts on marriage, but for today, I will share the books that I find tremendously helpful during all kinds of seasons relating to marriage. With almost 25 years hitched to my college sweetheart, I believe I’m a credible source! 😉 With that, I highly recommend the following GREAT PICKS FOR WIVES…

My FAVS for wives 🙂

Alright teachers! I saved us for last due to our serious obsession in this department, I had little doubt you’d read all the way to the bottom! 😂👌🏽 I love my teacher friends! 💕💚 I won’t exhaust this list… there are so many we could highlight here. These have made recent impressions on me. So, I hope you’ll take a look at my GREAT PICKS FOR TEACHERS…

My FAVS for teachers 🙂

Hopefully you will find one or two titles here to enjoy as I have! I’ll just go ahead and say the obvious…perhaps we should grab a glass of something happy along with a new book, & celebrate National Book Lovers Day, y’all! Enjoy 🎉💚

https://www.crystalstorms.me/
~ Domestic Chick
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Repurpose those Empty Candle Jars

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Please step away from the trash receptacle! Let me share a few ways to repurpose those lidded, glass beauties! This little DIY is so quick & easy. If I can swing it, you can definitely do it too! 🙂 Don’t we all buy them? And, certainly we all love them! With any luck, I believe most of us plan to get more… yes?

So it seems wasteful to just throw them away when they’ve burned to the bottom. Well, I’m hoping this project video will inspire you to find a reason not trash them, but beautifully repurpose them! Take a look at these ideas…

Repurpose ideas:

  • matches by the fireplace
  • scrunchies
  • cotton balls, flossers, or q-tips
  • jewelry storage
  • spare change
https://youtu.be/SUvnGusbTkY
Need new candles? Click here —–> https://www.bathandbodyworks.com/

I would love to see what amazing ideas you come up with! Have fun & please comment & share what worked for you. 🙂

~ Domestic Chick

Diversity in education

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As I began this journey years ago, I held teaching certificates.  After spending several years in the public school system, I knew how to teach classically and enjoyed it.  By most standards, I was even quite good at it too!  As the day approached to drop my daughter at the kindergarten door I just didn’t have a peace in my heart.  So…

After a lot of prayer, and a considerable amount of furrowed brows from family and friends, I began the part-time journey of supplementing education at home.  It was a leap of faith, for sure, but today I can confidently say I have no regrets in making the decision.

Coming from the school system though, posed unique challenges.   It takes some time to realize how quality learning can be accomplished without a bell schedule, but a very flexible one… maybe sleeping in a bit longer won’t hurt anyone either… and best of all, nobody has to sit in a classroom with nice, neat rows all day!  Early on,  admittedly, I tried to force the classical school mentality at home, thinking we had to “look” like school as most of us remember it.   This simply wasn’t necessary and soon I realized that much of the beauty of homeschooling lies in the blessing of daily DIVERSITY!  You might wonder: What does diversity in education look like?  

Diversity happens when we allow our deeper learning to be fueled by curiosity, life experiences,  & exploration…instead of the clock. 

~ Domestic Chick

During a typical week,  we don’t look like a classically structured “classroom”.  At any given time, my girls  may be playing the piano, laying on their bed working on grammar, sitting at their desks writing in their journals or completing daily science experiments in the kitchen or sometimes even the garage!  They love working with typing software on the computer and earning mastery percentages on our #1 favorite website for math: www.khanacademy.org.   My personal favorite activity is snuggling up to read our Bible and history on the sofa.  And, don’t forget learning in the kitchen! We often include baking & cooking too.  Making cookies was a fun way to learn more about the Periodic Table of Elements… and eating them is even more fun!   When kids are excited and active, that’s when the real learning takes place.  For example, our older daughter enjoys taking photos. Her enthusiasm of capturing a bee on a flower just makes me smile. We definitely work hard & take our learning seriously; but, we make sure to have fun along the way.  During lunch many days,  we enjoy using the Apple TV to watch videos from www.youtube.com, www.DiscoveryEducation.com or www.BrainPop.com to go deeper in a topic we’re studying while we eat.  We all enjoy this time!

While covering the curriculum remains a top priority, we would be missing out if we forgot to include social time as well ! Yes, we are quite social and make it a priority to be part of groups and with friends every week having fun, sometimes every day …haha!

When the beautiful weather is here, it’s a great opportunity to serve in the garden at our local Food Bank or at Hope+Choice, a local crisis pregnancy center.  These experiences are time well spent learning to work hard with friends serving others. Raising our kids to look outside of themselves and serve the needs others will certainly help to develop within their own hearts an extra measure of compassion & thankfulness!

So, there it is.  That’s what a week of diversity in education looks like! I do want to mention that the school system has many incredible educators with hearts for the students. The decision regarding the education style and location of every child should be made on an individual basis according to what is absolutely best for that student.

I am thankful to have choices!  It fits my girls well and I am happy to report that many of those original furrowed-brow family members now see that student at home can indeed still achieve an extraordinary education!   🙂

~ Domestic Chick