I thought I would start off this posting with a little conversation I had with one of my boys – or rather a conversation he had with me that is.<\/p>\n
Boy, very spontaneously: \u00a0“Mom, you should run a school.”
\nAfter 6 years of homeschooling\u00a0I think I was missing something.
\nMe: “Um….. I thought I already have a school?”
\nBoy: \u00a0“No, one with lots of kids.”<\/p>\n
I guess a school with 4 kids is not enough \ud83d\ude09 \u00a0I think I choose to take that as a compliment \u00a0that he likes learning at home with his mom, and he thinks his mom is a cool teacher. \u00a0But, as I write this, I am sure his mind has changed for today he is not happy at me and does not like my teaching style! \u00a0So, I think I will remember that yesterday he liked his teacher and try to forget that today he does not. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
For those that do not know yet, the 4th Annual Torah Home Education Conference will be held in the\u00a0Baltimore area on Sunday, May 6. \u00a0All information and registration can be found at: http:\/\/www.eventbee.com\/v\/torahhomeeducation<\/a>.<\/p>\n **********************<\/p>\n I am trying to take a trip down memory lane. \u00a0As I gain experience and confidence (and with money always helping to dictate direction as well,) I have tried a variety of approaches to teaching. \u00a0I am always happy to move on and always happy for what we did.<\/p>\n As mentioned in previous posts, we first started off with getting a whole curriculum. \u00a0I chose Calvert’s all in one package. \u00a0It comes with everything you need to start teaching including teacher manuals, crayons, pencils, pencil sharpeners and paper, as well as support by phone, email or online chat. \u00a0There is the option to purchase what is called ATS \u00a0 and with that you send in tests and assignments that the child has completed to be graded by certified teachers. \u00a0At the end of the year you then have an official transcript so that if one is going to go to a school the next year (either because you want the child in school, or the child is going into high school – at the moment I believe Calvert only goes through grade 8) the child has official grades and do not have to be tested again to see what grade the child needs to go into.<\/p>\n It was always exciting, both for me and for the boys, when “The Box” came in the mail. \u00a0It is wonderful for we would get it 1-2 days after I ordered it. \u00a0Textbooks, notebooks, crayons, construction paper, glue, (and the important teacher’s manuals)\u00a0\u00a0were all there. \u00a0There was not very much prep time needed, and for me that was a very important part;\u00a0 partly because of my personality, and partly because I had 3 children. \u00a0Well, okay, I would say it was mostly because of my personality. \u00a0I was one who would wait until the last minute to do things, and I was not accustomed to thinking very far in advance usually. \u00a0My Pesach cleaning would start 2 weeks before Pesach, and yes, I would get it all done. \u00a0Before I go on, I should mention that Calvert allows you to choose a different math level than the rest of the curriculum. \u00a0So, if a child is in grade 3, but is a head in math, then you can order a grade 4 math program to go with it.<\/p>\n Ideally, one is supposed to read the manual before teaching for the day, for occasionally (it is more for the very young children) there is prep work that needs to be done. \u00a0In any case, the manual tells the parent exactly what is going to be done for the day, what pages in what book need to be finished. \u00a0It tells you the goals, what to say, what questions to ask to attain the goals, etc. \u00a0I know that the math books come with an answer key, and I am trying to remember if any of the other stuff does, but am drawing a blank at the moment. \u00a0Perhaps someone else can remind me. \u00a0If there are any questions that arise, then you are always welcome to call in to talk to someone, email or even chat online. \u00a0For those using the ATS, the teachers we had were always \u00a0very positive and wanted very much for the children to succeed. \u00a0If I had any issues, I could write to them as well, and they would write back with suggestions as well. \u00a0The teachers would always write and tell the student the positive they saw in the assignments and tests and then any suggestions for areas that needed improvement.<\/p>\n So, that is my plug for Calvert. \u00a0For when we used it, we had wonderful experiences. \u00a0There are other all-in-one curricula out there. HomeSchoolReviews<\/a> has a list of complete curricula, \u00a0I have not used any others, but I think you can get the general idea – all-in-ones are just that – all-in-one. \u00a0Great if you are unsure of what to include. \u00a0The textbooks are generally the same kinds as the ones used in schools, so if you are planning on a temporary homeschooling, then sticking to the same format as a school does have its advantages.<\/p>\n I stayed with Calvert for 3 years. \u00a0I decided to look into other options at that time for I was having problems getting my child to switch subjects. \u00a0I would send him 10 feet to the cabinet and tell him to get something different out, and he would take 10-15 minutes each time sitting down by the cabinet. \u00a0It did not matter what tactic I used to get him to go faster, he just could not. \u00a0While I was sitting and learning with him, he was great, but to have to change momentum, it was terrible. \u00a0At the end of the 3rd year, I decided to look into unit studies.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I thought I would start off this posting with a little conversation I had with one of my boys – or rather a conversation he had with me that is. Boy, very spontaneously: \u00a0“Mom, you should run a school.” After 6 years of homeschooling\u00a0I think I was missing something. Me: “Um….. I thought I already … Continue reading “Whole Box Curriculum and Miscellaneous Stuff”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6],"tags":[143,237],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9ErqW-1i","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atorahlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atorahlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atorahlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atorahlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atorahlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atorahlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atorahlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atorahlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atorahlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}