homeschool

Or other reasons why I love my eReader…

For my birthday last year, my husband bought me a Nook Tablet. At first, I shied away from some of the games and apps, but before our flight to China, I added a few, thinking it would give the kids something to do in our long layover in Hong Kong. As it turns out, some wonderful friends bailed us out of that long layover, took us back to their place and gave us somewhere to unwind in comfort.

But the apps I downloaded have come in handy since then, and particularly this week. This week has been a bit of a wash-out as far as school is concerned, since Monday and Tuesday were the Chinese national holiday and the weather was gorgeous, so we joined the rest of the country in holiday-ing.

Wednesday, we tried to get back to homeschooling, but since we did a lot of running around the two days before and we only just had our new print cartridge for the printer, Mommy was not completely organized for the homeschool day, and we didn’t get going until quite late. On Wednesdays in our city, elementary school gets off for the afternoon. In theory, that’s so the school children can fit in all the extra classes and tutoring they do, but it inevitably means that a number of children are out for the afternoon and ready to play, so our kids get pretty distracted, and there’s really no point in trying to continue homeschool.

Thursday and Friday we spent in a government office trying to get our visas and permits in line so we can stay here for the next year. We ran into complications. We sat a long, long time. JavaMan and I were back and forth trying to understand and communicate with officials.

So what about homeschool?

Well, all was not lost. We brought along our eReaders, and between eBooks and apps, they had a pretty well-rounded school day. Here’s what they did:

For the older two:

Finished reading Meet George Washington from Landmark Books and continued reading Prince Caspian.

Primer

Did Whack-a-Math Fact, reviewing addition and multiplication facts and working on speed of response.

Played with Monkey Write Learn Chinese.

For Sprout:

Read from Yesterday’s Classics‘ Reading Literature: The Primer, the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Did Math app and played with Monkey Write Learn Chinese.

learn write Chinese

All in all, our kids behaved very well, the day wasn’t a complete homeschool loss AND we finally got our visa situation worked out!

For more apps for homeschoolers–especially if you use an iPad or Android device, check out The Homeschool Post for a review of several apps as well as a GloBible app giveaway!

- Carey Clark

One of my goals this month was to work through Simple Blogging. I really see this ebook as blessing. At this point, I feel like it’s given me a tremendous amount to think about, and a longer list of things to do, but along with that, it’s given me a gift: perspective. The biggest impact it’s had on me at this point is to make me realize it’s not the end of the world if I don’t get a post up on a particular day. It’s allowed me to release myself from self-imposed guilt.

I’ll be working out some of the ideas for some time to come, I’m sure. In the meantime, here’s how my goals for this month are progressing:

Work through Simple Blogging: This is going well. My to-do list is growing, perspective firmly in place. I don’t have to work through it all today–or even tomorrow. One great tip I want to pass on is a personal goals website anyone can use for free that helps you track all kinds of personal goals–from simple ones like drinking enough water in a day to nutrition, exercise and work-related goals. Completely customizable.
Get into a proper routine. I’ve been doing better at keeping office hours. I need to follow one simple Simple Blogging tip: no email in the mornings. Get up and get on with my day. The author suggests writing posts in the morning, but that won’t happen for me. However, homeschool and the general routine have been going well–dare I say better–and we have been working through things and having solid blocks of time in the afternoon to do things. I still need to work out a balance between time in my kitchen and doing housework and having office hours, but I’m moving in the right direction.
Get Hold the MSG posts on a better schedule. I’m getting more efficient with this as time goes on. I’m learning my way around iMovie for one thing, and finding shortcuts. I’m also keeping the camera with me and having it at the ready to record more than one post at a time. We’re always engaging ourselves in conversations, and there’s always new material. I’ve also learned something that’s helping me explain my need for footage to people I meet. I tell them I’m using it to teach my own children. This is not an attempt to be dishonest. In fact, this is part of my motivation for the lessons, and it is really helping. Our kids are much more intentional about their learning than before, and Sprout, in particular, is much more involved and retaining far more than before. Their involvement has increased as well, since we added the bloopers to the end. It’s their favorite part. And it’s a more logical explanation to the new friends that we meet than trying to explain that I want to teach others. I show people their bit of recorded conversation afterward, and everyone is flattered to help. If you haven’t yet, take a peek. If it’s half as much fun for others as it is for us, I’ll be thrilled.

How about you? April’s more than half-gone. Has it been productive? Could you use a system like this to keep you going?

- Carey Clark

How to Have School in a Government Office

April 3 in 30: Finding Balance