Homeschool Hacks (tips for making it easier)

[Dashka]

I was wondering what 'hacks', 'shortcuts', or whatever that you lovely people have for homeschooling.  This question came to me because I had a wonderful revelation today.  My kids love looking at things while we are sitting at the table eating.  Often we have left a grocery store flyer on the table, and it invariably gets picked up by a child wanting to 'read' something.  This also happens with their vitamin bottle.  The revelation came in the form of one of my 5 year old daughters being able to spell "Jamieson" correctly without looking (Jamieson is their brand of vitamins).  She was looking at it so often that she had it memorized.  So I quickly went and got them these math mats that I had gotten (one for addition, one for subtraction, and one for multiplication by Melissa and Doug; one side has just the problems and one the problems with answers) and I let all three of my kids look at those during breakfast.  Then they took the mats with them when they left the table and continued looking at them for a long time afterwards!  I'm doing a happy dance inside my head with how easy math is going to be now, haha!  My kids have amazing memories, and I don't know how I didn't think of this before :)

 

Do you have any 'cheats' for homeschooling that you would like to share? 

[Alenee]

Some friends of ours have a clear table cloth on their table under which they place any memory work, maps, photos, etc. I bought the plastic for my table too, I just haven't gotten around to it. :)

[AmyontheFarm]

Use a dry erase marker to write things I want them to memorize on the patio door window next to the kitchen table. I also use them to leave "love note" on their bathroom mirrors.

[Dashka]

Some friends of ours have a clear table cloth on their table under which they place any memory work, maps, photos, etc. I bought the plastic for my table too, I just haven't gotten around to it. :)

 

 

Use a dry erase marker to write things I want them to memorize on the patio door window next to the kitchen table. I also use them to leave "love note" on their bathroom mirrors.

 

Oh I like both those!  There are so many things you can do with that kind of thing.  I remember seeing this picture a long time ago, and just didn't put it together with these kind of ideas.

[aggie96]

One thing new I did this year...

 

I have kids get their next lesson book from the book shelves out of reach from the desk.  This requires them to get up and move around between lessons which helps tremendously with the wiggles.  Before I brought several books at a time or all of them at once to minimize their movement.  :)

[Onceuponatime]

I find that if I want to watch anything on youtube, I have an audience within seconds. Today I watched/listened to Gustav Holts "Planets" symphony. Coincidentally, so did my kids. :hat:

 

The same goes for history or science videos that I borrow from the library for my own edification. If I put it in the DVD player, someone is bound to come watch it with me.

[mom2hunangirls]

The table we eat on is covered with a world map and we always talk about some place while we eat.

I put Roman numeral charts up in the hallway (they see as they walk to their room) and bathroom mirrors. I've not had to "teach" those yet.

Addition or multiplication posters in front of their bed.

[Dashka]

One thing new I did this year...

 

I have kids get their next lesson book from the book shelves out of reach from the desk.  This requires them to get up and move around between lessons which helps tremendously with the wiggles.  Before I brought several books at a time or all of them at once to minimize their movement.   :)

I'll have to remember that when my kids are older!  Right now, I find if anyone gets up, everything is instantly derailed and difficult to get back on track.  Surprisingly, my kids don't have the wiggles :D  Don't know how they managed to be like that, since I'm wiggly!

 

I find that if I want to watch anything on youtube, I have an audience within seconds. Today I watched/listened to Gustav Holts "Planets" symphony. Coincidentally, so did my kids. :hat:

 

The same goes for history or science videos that I borrow from the library for my own edification. If I put it in the DVD player, someone is bound to come watch it with me.

Brilliant!  I didn't really think to look at homeschool-type things on Youtube.  My kids learned all the books of the Bible after listening/watching a 2.5min long video 4 or 5 times :D  I don't know why my brain doesn't connect certain things that would be obvious benefits to homeschool!

 

The table we eat on is covered with a world map and we always talk about some place while we eat.

I put Roman numeral charts up in the hallway (they see as they walk to their room) and bathroom mirrors. I've not had to "teach" those yet.

Addition or multiplication posters in front of their bed.

I can see doing a rotation of your idea of the world map with the previous poster's ideas of other things to put under a plastic tablecloth!  My wheels are spinning :D

[Alenee]

When my kids were still learning their 70 basic phonograms (phonics), I blew them up on 8.5x11in. paper and covered the main living area walls with them; I made three 'A's because it makes three sounds, 2 'C's, etc. The kids learned their phonics very quickly this way.

[Alessandra]

We love placemats too. I have often made my own to study things like, say, Rembrandt paintings, that have not already been place matted.

 

Audio tapes for the car. Kids will often listen more attentively that they will at home.

 

Dover coloring books for fidgety little ones -- Aesop book when reading Aesop, for example. Or just printing from internet.

 

Apple tv for showing not just movies/you tube, but also for looking at websites together.

 

Basic supplies kept handy + good pencil sharpener. When we started, it seemed as though dc were always running off while I searched frantically for supplies, lol!

 

I sometimes made concentration type memory cards for some subjects/units. The worked beautifully, but were a lot of work to put together.

 

 

[aggie96]

I have also started this year letting the kids sometimes answer their math problems orally instead of writing.  We have used this method when they are resisting a "long" lesson.  I write for them.  This is win-win because they actually retain the math better when dome orally, but they think it's a treat.

 

I also finally got organized using HST Online.  I woe much better with schedules.  This has been heaven.  School is running incredibly smooth this year even when we have to shuffle the schedule to accommodate "life".  I created all my lesson plans, then just make assignments for the week each Sunday night.  This has had the single biggest impact on school this year.

 

While teaching my 3rd grader skip counting/times tables, I went ahead and had my 1st grader learn them, also.  But we use the songs from a Classical Conversations DVD so this one was easy.  Even the preschooler is starting to sing them.  :)

 

A carousel for pens, math manipulatives, dry erase markers/eraser, glue, scissors, rulers, etc. has been heavenly.  We use to scramble for supplies all.the.time.  Electric pencil sharpener is within arms reach also.

 

We use place mats also.  Can't go wrong with place mats.

 

I have kids watch "educational" show at lunch.  It doesn't always look like a school show though.  I have found the Curious George has been a key tool for explaining science concepts, etc.  I have often said, "You remember when X happened on George?  That is an example of Y."

 

Even though DH works form home, we have kids discuss their day and what they learned with dad after school, similar to what we did after public school.  This has helped reinforce concepts, etc.  I also joke around with kids and ask them how their evenings were and tell them to have a great day at home and treat their parents nicely, etc.  They get a kick out of this being like public school.

 

Last one...I bought bulletin board cut-outs to use as labels for my school shelving.  This serves as our bulletin board without having an actual board.  I change the themed cutouts each month.  I ordered all of them from Amazon for $15-20.

[Plink]

My favorite hacks:

 

Magnetic bookmarks to prevent the pre-schooler from unintentionally causing chaos - these may have saved my sanity.

 

Tool caddies to keep math manipulatives in order.  

 

A light desktop organizer with a handle for quickly bringing pencils, blank paper, sharpeners, dry erase markers, and erasers to the table. - Sorry I couldn't find a link.  I'll try to look for one later.

 

Wheeled carts for quickly moving all of our books out of sight and keeping our dining room a dining room.

 

Keeping a "trash" folder in my own organizer so that I can immediately put unnecessary papers into it after completion (to be tossed when kids aren't looking).

 

Putting a piece of white foam board between the window and screen to turn any window into a white board instantly.

 

 

 

 

 

[Spryte]

Loved all of these, but this one:

 

 

 

7. When teaching the terms "denominator" and "numerator," write the terms on post it notes. Put "numerator" on your forehead and "denominator" on your butt. I promise your kids will never forget which is which again.

 

 

 

:lol: That right there is the beauty of homeschooling!  Stealing this one.  Love that idea.

 

 

[Ripley]

My older student is a fabulous reader, but a horrible speller. I'm a natural speller so it was a subject I was challenged to teach and he was challenged to learn. We hadn't done it as a formal subject before 3rd grade, and I went with AAS. He felt books 1-2 were a bit babyish, and was somewhat insulted; it made for not-fun lessons. But the format and basics were what we both needed, so we forged onwards.

 

During his 4th grade year I started having him "help" me teach AAS to my younger student.  It's open-read-go format, so he got a kick out of being the teacher and I was able to re-visit and review AAS 'with' him without his getting all mental about it being for younger kids.  I'd ask him to 'start' spelling while I chopped veggies for lunch, or made an important phone call, or whatever. By the start of 6th grade he had remediated his spelling using AAS 1-3 and was on par with his peers. That's around the time he had figured out my trick, too. LOL

[albeto.]

We played games as much as possible. Ds' favorite game was called Spelling Lesson Smackdown. He put on his roller blades and stood at the top of the driveway. I called out a word from his spelling list and he had to spell it correctly before he rolled to the bottom of the hill. If he spelled it wrong, ds or I would administer the Smackdown with a pool noodle or foam sword. It increased the pressure because our driveway is very short, and that showed me which words he really knew and which he had to think about (helped me to know which rules he had mastered, etc). It was also enormously fun, and one lesson he requested. 

 

You might find this video inspires some ideas for you:

 

 

[fraidycat]

I love these!!! Please keep posting them. School has become such a drudgery around here because I'm so uninspired and unimaginative!!

[swellmomma]

great ideas, love the numerator/demoninator one.

For us audio books in the car are a must, we almost always have one on the go.  We alternate between fun fiction(like right now we are listening the Mark of Athena- though my kids know the greek and roman goads/goddesses better after we started listening to percy jackson books than before when I simply read myths to them) and classics or SOTW etc.

do school outdoors.  We get loads more done when I load the books into the car with a picnic and we head to the provincial park and co school by the trout pond.  We alternate between sit down lessons and nature study with picnic and snack breaks and we all have a delightful time.  We do this periodically in the spring, summer and fall.  -35C like today is just doesn't work for me for outdoor school, so we tend not to head out like that in the winter.  For some reason math and grammar seem more doable when done on a blanket by the pond lol

 

 

[redsquirrel]

1. paper for the copier that comes with the holes already punched. That is all I use these days. It saves so much time. I buy my fair share of PDFs and if it is a workbook it needs to be printed and and put in a binder (at least for us it does). Buying the paper with the holes in makes this a snap.

 

I am embarrassed to admit that in the past we missed a lesson or two because I couldn't find the three hole punch. No excuses any more.

 

2. make a general, reasonable plan of science experiments for the year. It doesn't have to be perfect but it should be the minimum of what you want to accomplish. Assemble all components over the summer and divide items up by experiment. Put into separate bags (zip-lock style work well). Label all so you remember what it is. Be Hard Core. If it something calls for vinegar then buy a bottle of vinegar. Don't assume there will be any in the house the day you need it! Then pack it all into a large bin or do what you need so you have it when you need it. No more excuses for not getting to science! At the very least you won't want the money you spend on actual supplies to go to waste.  :lol:  When I do this we always have a fantastic science year. When I don't, we crash and burn.

 

3. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Sometimes just doing the best you can with what you have takes less time and is better than trying to do the best thing possible. AKA: if you just did it,instead of telling me why you can't do it, you would be done by now (what I tell my kids all the time)

[Dmmetler]

Other memory work tricks-put it on the back of the front seat of the car, where it faces the DC in the car seat. I'm amazed at how well it works.

 

Cafe schooling now and then when we need a change of pace. I've found Steak and Shake, starting at about 9:00 works well-we have a late breakfast and spend a couple of hours doing school. Usually, DD ends up explaining what she's doing to bored waitstaff, since almost no one is in there between breakfast and lunch, she's happy, I'm happy, and we leave a Big tip. I used to tie this in with getting the car an oil change, but since that mechanic told me I needed over $2,000 worth of work that two other mechanics didn't see at all, now we just go to Steak and Shake for fun ;)

[Dashka]

Thank you all so much!  These are all such great ideas.  I hope more people post their ideas, so we can all have that much of an easier time in our lives! :D  I'm sorry I've been slightly absent, but I'm sure you all understand how busy you can get with kids :)  I hope everyone has a great weekend!