how we homeschool: curriculum, part 2--the extras

it is not-back-to-school blog hop time at life with my 3 boybarians!  yesterday i described our mission statement and how we address the 3 R's.  today i will tell you about all the "extras".

while composing this post i strongly fought my natural tendency to spout off.  :D  i don't consider these things"extras", but for most children in regular school they are extra--they are the first thing to be taken away when punishment is handed out, and they are the first thing to disappear from the curriculum when funds run short.  and that is a shame.  in our home these are part of daily life, and i wish that for all children (for all people, really).

music:  ella loves music so this one never gets overlooked.  we will continue to learn and sing songs, improvise our own songs, attend music events, listen to recordings.  she also loves to make or invent musical instruments.  we are super blessed that ella loves to sing, as we are graced with the sound of her sweet singing voice every single day.

resources:  instruments we have in the home;  home music library;  public resources;  our multiple friends in the music industry

arts:  we will continue to explore art materials and processes, both for fun and as part of the learning process in other subject areas;  we have a fantastic art museum in nashville, as well as dozens of smaller galleries and other types of museums (the botanical museum here is really nice).  we'll attend performances of dance, theater, and our favorite, puppetry!  i am also fortunate to be friends with artists in several disciplines who are eager to share their knowledge and ideas with others.  other work as needed or desired.

resources:   our home art/crafts studio;  local museums;  artists' studios;  performances, etc.

foreign language:  spanish and chinese

resources:  for spanish i am the primary resource since i am around and can speak spanish to her anytime.  :)  we also host a spanish language group at our house once a week--thank you, dos amigas teach and all our amiguitos (and their mamis) for graciously putting up with the chaos of the aldridge home!  rudi has a book from college about the chinese language and we sometimes try our hands at making chinese characters. and don't ever discount the power of dora, diego, or kai-lan. 

community service:  volunteer activities at church and in the community.  ella also sponsors a little girl in the philippines via save the children, for which she has "fundraising" events each month to help cover the cost.  (if you are in the nashville area and ever need lemonade, a foot massage, or have other pampering needs, ella is your go-to girl.  for a modest fee, of course).  other activities as needed or desired.

resources:  local animal shelter;  church;  community;  and the wonderful save the children.

one thing i haven't mentioned is materials or supplies.  i just don't see a need to pay for things dedicated to the purpose of "schooling".  when we want to count something, we count what we have--when we want to work on reading, we read the books that interest us, not the ones that tell us how to read.  for us, the entire world is one big collection of manipulatives.  in this way, we learn to read and we learn about things of interest at the same time, or sometimes (mostly) because we want to be entertained, amused, enlightened.  we learn to count, add, subtract, do fractions, by cooking, sorting our clothes, making sure we have a full deck of cards--we make a list or a chart or an "inventory", and we understand our own environment a little better, we have a record of something that means something to us. 

of course this method will not work with every child, and would not suit every family's needs or style.  but for us, it is the most efficient and most stress-free process.  ella and i are able to enjoy each other's company and still accomplish something that others would recognize as "productive".  :D

tomorrow i will tell you about our bible studies, our character development efforts, and how we follow the muse.  until then, be sure to check out all (or as many as you can) the curriculum idea links that other readers have posted at the not-back-to-school blog hop!  i've found so many great ideas that i had to start a file to keep track of them. 

and please leave me a comment if you have the time, i always appreciate hearing if i've made any sense.  :)

Comments

[jillnjosh]

The approach sounds very similar to our household homeschooling efforts. Your thoughts were fluid and well organized. ;)

[Edi]

"i just don't see a need to pay for things dedicated to the purpose of "schooling". when we want to count something, we count what we have--when we want to work on reading, we read the books that interest us, not the ones that tell us how to read."

I agree!

We make very good use of our local public library, our church library and a "Christian" library a bit further away. Whether it is for history, or science or fun - we might choose to read some from a textbook -but a lot more comes from books that I (or the children) see that seem interesting. When my son was learning to read via 100 Easy Lessons - I was disgusted with how lame all the little reading stories were - sure they were needing to focus on certain sounds etc. but it was bad. What really made the boy take off in his reading was I bought some vintage easy readers based on a topic that he loved - western frontier. He read through the books and is now reading like a mad man. The stories we were told to read for literature sometimes came in a watered down version or only a chapter or two of the real book.

We also include music and art - but it's not from a set curriculum - the other day I picked up some paint-by-number paintings (complicated ones where they have to also mix their own paint and the areas to paint can be very small)... The kids listen to a variety of music and there are some good cds that include a biography of the musician as well...lately they have been watching (and singing) Fiddler on the Roof...learning never ends and it doesn't all come from one specific book(s).

[Rachel]

Our family also sponsors a child...World Vision is also a great organization to sponsor a child through.