FPEA 2012 Lessons Learned

Here is a lengthy post, but worth it!

This is my fourth year attending the FPEA Convention, first year as an ambassador and first year attending workshops. It was always encouraging every other year, however this year was plagued with many doubts about myself in many areas of my life.

1) Am I doing anything right?
2) Will I be able to do this with my super disobedient child (Logan)?

God continues to affirm many aspects in our decision to homeschool our boys even when I allow my sinful nature attack me. So, I have to give a shout out to Christopher Hopper from Spearhead Books.

You know those moments when you say something to someone and it was exactly what they needed to hear. Well, that was Chris for me on Friday. God showed me grace in that moment through our meeting. It was clarity. Clarity in more than one area of things I was accomplishing, but I was not giving myself any slack.

Clarity given by complete strangers.

Clarity from brothers and sisters in Christ.

Things I Absorbed:

Workshop: Raise Them Up, Don't Crush Them Down" The Strong-Willed Parent with Mark Hamby
Lamplighter Publishing
*Stop trying to finish the curriculum but to teach Biblical Character. (read about my biggest challenge here)
*It's not about what you keep away from your child, but what you pour into them.
*You cannot lead your family from the rear. You must lead by example.
*"You cannot control anything when you have outstretched arms."  -the cross- with grace, you will get nailed. Grace given freely will cost you to give.

Books I purchased after this workshop:
- "Teddy's Button" (book only) - a character builder in self-control... what six year old doesn't have this problem.

- "Sir Malcolm and the Missing Prince" - this builds on combatting selfishness... what PERSON doesn't struggle with this?

-"Little Threads" - a lesson on disobedience and unwillingness... I'm not sure how this book was written in 1863. I am almost certain that this author is living in my home! I already started reading it because a helpful man by the name of Roger told me how encouraging it would be for me and my fight with my unruly two year old. NO JOKE! EXCELLENCE!

If you LOVE Classical Literature like this English major, you will eat these books up. It's beautiful! The icing on the cake? They are written by Christian authors always turning back to the Creator of all things.

Workshop: "Proverbs: God's Character Curriculum" with Rick Boyer
The Learning Parent
*Through King Solomon we learn that the wisest man knows things from Botany to Music to Government, yet his first words in his book of wisdom... "To know wisdom and instruction... righteous, justice, knowledge..."
*We learn to be more profitable servants when we put Christ as our front in character.
*An educated fool is more dangerous than an uneducated fool.
*Knowledge separated from wisdom is apart from God's will.
*If your child wants to learn something, you must learn it, too.

Keep reading for what I got from here.

Workshop: "Gotta Love Those Preschoolers" with Marilyn Boyer (wife of Rick)
The Learning Parent
*Savor the Season
-the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
-look for the preciousness of the season
-a preschooler is a bundle of potential
-You are raising a child (generation) to follow Christ.
IF YOU'RE GOING TO HOMESCHOOL YOU NEED TO BE HOME!
*Nurturing a heart for the Lord
-Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
-"thou seest me..." Psalm 115:13
*Build a sense of destiny in your child
-"God made _____ in a special way, for a special purpose."
-instill a sense of vision in prayer
*Build a Foundation of Character
-Maximize your time... it could be short...
-systematic teaching of character qualities- character does matter- It's foundational to living a God-honoring life.
-teach the meaning of character qualities in simple language
-Character is the most important subject.
-Teach scripture where the negative character can be positive
GOD'S WORD IS WHAT WILL CHANGE NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR NOT YOU!
REMEMBER TO POINT TO SCRIPTURE AS  OUR AUTHORITY AND GUIDE.
*Teach Responsibility at an early age (chores, etc)
*Include your preschooler in teaching time
*What do I do with them while teaching?
-lace and trace
-paint
-pegs
-more on this with the next workshop
KEY- HAVE ALOT OF ACTIVITIES, CHANGE OFTEN
*Remember to have fun (give 15m sections of time to have mommy time of learning)
*Growing a Servant's Heart
-Those who learn to be servants will become leaders.
*Foster Patriotism
*DELIGHT IN YOUR KIDS
*How you manage them brings success to school

Logan is my disobedient child. He is the boy that laughs in your face when you do correction. Marilyn really put things into perspective for me in this session. As a result I bought two books. They are Character Builder books. You learn the character, it's definition, and the scripture of support. This is our CORE curriculum for my unwilling two (soon-to-be three) year old.

Books I purchased after this workshop:
"Character Trails" and "Crossroads of Character"

Workshop: "Occupying Pre-Schoolers While Teaching Older Children" aka "Educating, Involving,  Occupying ONLY WHEN NECESSARY While Teaching Older Children" with Jami Phillips
My Father's World
*Is. 40:11 Anything worth doing is hard!
*Reading Levels: Pre-Reading ---> Learning to Read ---> Learning to "Love" to Read ---> Learn by Reading
*Learning to read is the most important phase that needs the most instruction.
*What every toddler and preschooler needs:
-meet emotional and social needs
-devote your first 10-15m of the day to schooling them
-have a flexible routine, prepare snacks and drinks before the start
-expect them to want to prepare for school like the others
*Involving little ones as much as possible, some ways this can done:
-unit studies
-Bible activities
-History
-Arts and Crafts
*Creative Scheduling
-schoolbox for school time (let them decorate)
-strategic naptime
-learning centers
-read aloud
-toy rotation
*Educating Little Ones
-shapes & color starter
-peg stacker
-numbers
-lace & link letters/shapers
-kids puzzles
-pattern blocks
-pipe cleaners
-legos
-play doh
*Pre-Reading: Stages of Learning to Build-On
-Ages 2-6
-Structure and security
-Educate and Involve
-15-30 minutes daily
-very concrete learners
-like repetition
-mimic oriented
-foundation oriented instruction (4-5 subjects)
-focus on obedience
*Set-Up a School Box
-Target Areas: pre-reading, pre-math, language development, large motor skills, fine motor skills
-new items
-used, but looking new items
-created, but simple (junk mail to open, photo book with magazine cut outs of a topic [animals, etc], pipe cleaners, magna-doodle, nuts & bolts, mat (toys must stay on there to play with)
*School Time
-worksheets that siblings have (maps, etc)
-EXPOSURE VS MASTERY
*Training Mentors for the Younger Ones- allows the older child to teach and learn about their sibling

I bought a foam ABC board lower and upper case, a lace board, and color & shape sorter.

Knowledge from the workshops. More to come in another post about what will come into play for our school year.

FPEA Ambassador & Why we love FPEA

This Thursday starts Florida's largest Homeschool Convention done by the FPEA. At the beginning of this year I became their ambassador for Twitter. If you live in Florida, you should consider joining us as we celebrate 25 years! If you can't...

There are a couple of things to check out. It is really what makes them an amazing part of our homeschooling journey.

FPEA Convention Mobile App

Getting Started Guide with 6 easy steps

Myth Busters in Homeschooling

Guide to Homeschooling (one of my personal favorites & free to download)

This is really just a small portion of what they offer homeschool families in Florida. Their website is full of knowledge to get you through your homeschool journey. Browse around even if you don't live in Florida you may find many of their things valuable to your schooling. You can learn more about our homeschool ride here. 

FPEA Ambassador

http://www.fpea.com/member/ambassadors/

Check it out! I have been chosen to be a FPEA Ambassador for Twitter. You can also follow me here.

Let the adventure begin!

Game Plan

I am a bit of an organizational freak. I can't help it. So, last night I made Reson sit with me and put together a game plan for the FPEA Conference. Now, if you live in Florida and have been there then you know that you need some type of plan before you walk into that place. There are over 1200 vendors, hundreds of curriculum, etc. I learned last year I needed to minimize my train of thought because of everything that is available. You will see things you like, things that could work, things you want to work, and much more. After printing out the vendor list, we narrowed down that we would visit whichever ones we wanted, but we will be focusing on a list of about 20. That's good right?

Here is the list:
1) Abeka - self-explanatory why we would look here. All subjects. Popular. Christian.
2) Academy of Science for Kids (ASK) - Science
3) Accountable Kids - Accountability Curriculum/Ideas
4) Apologia Educational Ministries - Science based on God's creation
5) Arts Attack - Art
6) Binding Books Beautifully - we will purchase this to bind books that we make.
7) Latin Road/Phonics Road - curious about the content
8) BJU Press - All subjects. Popular. Christian.
9) Math-U-See - Math
10) My Father's World - Bible/Science
11) Noeo Science Curriculum - Science
12) Positive Action Bible Curriculum - Bible
13) R.O.C.K. Solid - All subjects.
14) Right Start Mathematics by Activities for Learning - my top choice for math
15) Ring Around the Phonics - Phonics Board Game Supplement
16) Saxon - again popular. All subjects.
17) Easy Reasoning Curriculum - Bible
18) The Critical Thinking Company - my top choice for critical thinking
19) Handwriting Without Tears - our handwriting curriculum
20) Tobin's Lab - for lapbooking materials
21) In the Hands of a Child - for lapbooking materials/unit studies

Along with this list, we made a School Year Goals list, and this is what we came up with for right now:
Spiritual: Prayer/Scripture memorization, understanding that he has the choice from right and wrong that God commands we do right. This comes into play when he decided to ignore directions and such.
Bible: General Bible stories in terms of character unit studies. He know many stories because of the wonderful church curriculum we have at our church, but we want more character knowledge.
Home: Chores- room cleaning daily (which he does now), pet care (which he does for his new Hermit Crab), and his toy rules. He also participates in helping with emptying the dish washer, the dryer, and helps sweep and vacuum.
Community: Reson would like us to have more visits to the Nursing Home, participate in helping control litter, and general knowledge of how we should care for our community.
Reading/Phonics: Get through Set 1 of the Bob Books (1st goal), Set 2 Bob Books (2nd Goal). Once we see where he is at with his Phonics (thinking about curriculum at the moment, looking at ETC today), the goal will have more to it. We want him to be able to read the set alone.
Writing/Speech: HWT book 1 completed and get through half of book 2. Better communication through high stress levels. When he gets frustrated, scared, or sad he just stops talking. We want him to better voice his feelings when this happens. Any other time he does great.
Math: Finish Level 1 and begin level 2 on whichever Math curriculum we choose. In the Saxon Math Pretest he is at a Kindergarten level. I want to make sure we cover ALL things in preschool first.
History: Do Family History and family trees
Geography: Know address fully, phone number, church location, know diagrams/maps ability to read simple ones.
Science: Weather, Months, Time, Plants, Planets, Energy, Animals/Plants relationships (bees, ants, butterflies).
Physical Fitness/Health: Running Schedule (Sue Patrick) with me, Proper form of basic workouts (jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, etc), sprint runs.
Field Trips: Lowry Park Zoo, Florida Aquarium, Dinosaur World, MOSI

Game plan done, now to wait for Thursday night, pack up the boys and spend Friday and Saturday at the Conference, Sunday lead Youth Service with the hubs, and Monday a fun day with friends. I can't I get my husband for 4 days in a row, and it is not really a vacation!

Finally, The Homeschooling Convention (Mega Shopping Center for Curriculum)

Come this Thursday afternoon, my husband, the boys, and myself are heading to Orlando for the FPEA Homeschool Convention. So, I have started the task of narrow down what we be looking for in this huge room of curriculum.  I have made a chart that I am filling out as I look through the hundreds of vendors that will be attending the event. We decided that we would look at every Math curriculum and see which one will catch Luk's interest. From there, I know that we are getting Critical Thinking material for the Critical Thinking Company, and Writing is from handwriting without tears. It will be a nice family break from the regular daily living, and it will allow me to start officially organizing for the start of the Fall.
I also purchased the Workbox System ebook, and will be incorporating my purchases on how I want it to work with our school day. More to come later...

FPEA Convention & Seminar Suggestions

I am excited! The Homeschool Convention is coming up soon here in Florida. I don't know what other conventions look like, but this is like a Mega Superstore of Curriculum. My first year going was last year (which was ridiculously overwhelming). I went with a group of other moms that were planning to homeschool, but no husband. This year, we are making it a family treat. We are going together with the boys. After checking today, the seminar listing is up and the Exhibitors are now posted.

Exhibitors

Friday Schedule of Seminars

Saturday Schedule of Seminars

For those that have been homeschooling, would you mind taking a peek at the Seminars? What would be some good ones to attend?

Educational Method

Here is where things start to get tricky for our decision making.
1) Which evaluation will be best for our family?
- We are leaning towards the Evaluation by a teacher. If there is educational delays in the boys we will seek a test or psych eval., depending on what exactly is going on. Basically, we will cross that bridge when we get there.
2) What is the educational method that will suite us best for this time period?
The choices are:
- Conventional Method (Systematic) - each subject is taught separately textbooks, worksheets, highly structured, easier on time for prep
- Classical Method (Progressive) - all things brought together, listening is key not visual, K-5 Grammar Stage listening and memory, 6-8 Logic Stage analyzing, organizing, debating with help from the key facts, 9-12 Rhetoric Stage expressing and developing conclusions in oral and writing forms
- Unit Study Method (Integrated) - all subjects are covered while studying one topic, hands-on, dramas, experiencing, and experiment, teaches several grade levels simultaneously, enhances knowledge retention
- Charlotte Mason Method (Gentle) - direct teaching, firsthand experiences, observations, reading literature, child narration for understanding, retention, self-educated
- Learning Lifestyle Method (Eclectic) - family's educational endeavors and studies developed around that, there is no distinction between school and home
- Principle Approach (Reflective) - looking at everything in the purpose of God's universe for a Christian Worldview, Biblical principles, America's Christian heritage, self-education using reasearch
- Unschooling Method (Unstructured) - natural learning following the child's curiosity/interest, formal teaching only when needed, uses books and other resources
- Delayed Academics Method (Unhurried) - low-stress outlook, child demonstrates readiness, typically happens between ages 8-14 they are in a mature level to learn, the brain is ready for learning, academics balances with work and service.

I'm thinking that we have a little bit of it all going on at this point, however thinking in terms of Luk and me as his teacher I have narrowed it down to three methods: Unit Studies, Charlotte Mason, and Unschooling. There is no doubt that there will be Christian worldview being used in all levels, however in the Principal Approach I don't always agree that our U.S. is the best example of the Christian heritage.


Next up what his curriculum will look like.
Again this is coming for the FPEA Guide that was cited in the previous blog.

Florida and Homeschooling

If you didn't know, Florida is one of the best states to live in if you want to homeschool your child. The laws are not too complex, and for the most part make homeschooling quite enjoyable. Here are some key facts that you should know about the State laws:

1) Mandatory attendance is not required and does not need to recorded.

2) There are five choices for evaluation on your child's progress:
a) Individual Evaluation - you find a FL certified               teacher to evaluate your child's portfolio, interview your  

child, and will sometimes give a test.

b) National Student Achievement Test - this will be administered by a certified teacher.

c) State Student Assessment Test  - this is not only the 
FCAT, but also the HSCT

d) Psychological Evaluation - a licensed psychologist must 
do this, and then the parent must turn in evaluation

superintendent - some of the choices is the ACT/SAT

3) Keeping up with your Portfolio is all about how extensive you want to make it. It can be as low as key as you want it to as well organized as you wanted.

a) must be in chronological order

b) have sample materials

c) show activities (field trips, co-ops, lessons, tutoring, etc)

d) must have a portfolio available for a superintendent given a 15 day notice

A few side notes to know about the rights to your homeschooled child:

1) They have the right to join any public school extra curricular activities, if it entails a class be taken then the child will be enrolled for that one class.

2) The child can join in on DE/AP classes or any class that you, as the parent, feel they would do better being taught by a teacher in that profession.

3) A letter of intent to start home education must be done if a child turns 6 before Feb. 1.

4) Kindergarten in not mandatory unless you intend on your child starting elementary school in the public school system.

My recommendations: become apart of a co-op group, get your children involved with other kids their age, check out these sites for information.

www.hslda.org - Home School Legal Defense Association

www.fpea.com - Florida Parent-Educators Association

This years 23rd Annual FPEA Florida Homeschool Convention will be May 27-29, 2010. I highly recommend that you try to go. There are many classes that are taught about curriculum, Florida Laws, and just seminars that will build your confidence in your endeavor. Reson will be going with this year. Last year was my first time attending, and I will be honest it was all very intimidating and overwhelming. However, now that I know what to expect I am confident that this year is going to be a greater success as we purchase Luk's curriculum for Pre-K/K.

In my mind: Figuring out the laws and the decision to homeschool were the easiest decisions I have had to make so far. As I stated in the first blog, the choosing of curriculum and methods prove to be challenging. What is the best teaching method for Luk, and then figuring out if Logan would respond to the same method or something completely different? What is best curriculum to go with our chosen teaching method? These are all things that will be answered as my time of studying and research happens before the convention. I am setting that as my deadline to learn what I think will benefit Luk most.

The information above came from the FPEA "The Guide to Homeschooling in Florida" 14 edition/2009