What can I do with my non core 400 hours?

New homeschooling families who are learning the ropes often have the same questions. “Now that I’m homeschooling what do I do with those 400 non core hours?” Those 400 hours fall into the area of elective subjects.

Here is a short list of everything those non core hours could contain.

1. Foreign Language
2. Arts & Crafts
3. Music
4. Woodworking
5. Home Economics
6. Computers
7. Scrapbooking
8. Photography
9. Physical Education
10. Bible Study
11. Gardening (although this could easily go under science)
12. Household Management
13. Work Skills/Ethics
14. Animal Husbandry (another one that could easily go under science)
15. Learning a trade

Some of these are a little redundant but it is enough to give you an idea. Any hobby that you love and do on a frequent basis can fall into non core hours. When my daughter was younger she spent A LOT of time learning sign language as it was her new interest. I marked her time spent doing that under non core hours. My son has spent much time taking care of our chickens and overseeing the flock and learning what their needs are – this is animal husbandry.

Summertime Dilemma

Now that school is out for those of us who don’t school year round the summertime dilemma has hit our family. I don’t know if it is a universal problem but it is a real one for us. The minute school is out and the day is free the snipping, arguing, restless children arrive. I, for one, am glad to be done with planning and scheduling but I soon find that this restless behavior drives me crazy. 

So, lets hear it…what are some fun things your family does during the summer that doesn’t cost a fortune? We don’t live near the big city so things like the zoo and museums are out unfortunately.

A Daily Schedule is not your enemy

The more a family grows the more the need for a schedule becomes apparent. Daily schedules are one of the key components to having a successful homeschool day with your children.  It sure would have been helpful knowing this little bit of information back when I first started homeschooling.  It seemed like such an unimportant detail until I constantly found myself behind with housework/chores or behind with teaching. I spent several grumpy years fluttering like a butterfly from flower to flower – always in a hurry but never feeling like I was accomplishing very much.

Then one day I came across this awesome website called Flylady. It was an eye opener for me.  Daily school teaching was easy because I knew that I could just open my curriculum and do what was lined out for me to do that day but housework was a different story. I was a terrible housekeeper especially trying to focus on homeschooling and taking care of small children’s needs.  There just never seemed to be the time to clean up.  Until Flylady! When I ran across her website I got so excited.  It was like a curriculum book for cleaning your house and it didn’t take much time everyday. Granted there is a lot of stuff to wade through on the website but her daily email reminders got me on the right track for scheduling my housework. I don’t use her daily routines anymore because she taught me how to take care of my home. 

Most of all I learned at this time that a schedule is the key to a successful and pleasant day. When I schedule school I make sure to schedule my housework as well and I make sure that I am not responsible for all of it – every child helps with some task. Now I’m not embarrassed if someone pops in unexpectedly because I know that everything is tidy and dusted.

OFFICIAL Missouri School Year – “from the horses mouth”

It really seems that there is a ton of stuff to wade through for new homeschooling families who want to comply with the law making it simply frustrating trying to track down what is legal.  Thanks to a recent forum I attended I have deleted my previous article about the official Missouri school year due to conflicting advice/opinions.  HSLDA interprets that Missouri homeschooling families can set their year term as long as it occurs in a twelve month period.  Apparently, there is a county where this is true in Missouri. This ruling I believe occured in 1999.

HOWEVER…

That being said, OFFICIAL Missouri School Year, according to Missouri government law as of August 28, 2008 is from July 1 of said year to June 30 of the following year.  The official term for the current school year would then be July 1, 2008 – June 30, 2009.  (see  section . 4. on the link above)  I think I would be inclined to go with what is “on the books.”

If you have any questions than call your local representative and have them track down the information for you.

Online Directory for Missouri Homeschool Co-ops

Sometimes in the process of trying to begin something you find great new information that you did not know previously existed!  I had been researching for days before I found this awesome directory through a chance search.  

A list of MO Homeschool Co-ops from HOMESCHOOL CLASSIFIEDS.

*my original post follows below*

I am looking to place an online directory of Missouri area homeschool co-ops.  If you could give me the location of the co-op, the co-op name, and person to contact if interested in joining we could compile a great list for new Missouri Homeschooling families to find a support group easily.  Leave your information in the comment box and I will begin compiling the groups together on one page! Thanks so much for your help.

Different Methods of Homeschooling

It would be foolish of me to try and define different styles of education when it is so well layed out in other websites.  You will find great information in the following links to help you decide which method of schooling fits your child’s needs and your teaching style.  I have listed five of the most popular methods that I am aware of for your browsing convenience.

As follows:

Charlotte Mason

The Moore Formula

Classical Education

Unschooling

“Traditional School”  (by with textbook or computer)  All of these have a Christian worldview simply because this is what I am familiar with.

A Beka Book www.abeka.com (could be considered DGA or gifted)

Bob Jones University Press www.bjupress.com (slower paced than A Beka)

Alpha & Omega www.aophomeschooling.com (average)

I just found another great link with many more homeschooling methods listed at CHRG in Missouri!

Build A Cushion

In light of my recent posting about losing hours quickly due to illness and interruptions, it has come to my mind for the first time since I’ve been homeschooling to add a few extra hours of school work when I can.  This way if you do get ill then you won’t feel rushed to play catch up. Before last week I was an entire week behind on school (and its only the end of September!), since we were only doing a four day school week I just decided to pick up on the extra two days so I could be on schedule again. I know I’m behind and it is just so easy to stress but thankfully I am now only 15 hours behind and quite sure that I can repeat what I did last week to completely catch up. Wisdom, however, now suggests that in the future I start adding an hour or two extra here or there on smooth days to build a cushion into my school week. That way when illness or schedule disruptions strike I don’t have to be stressed over what is not getting done because I will know that I already have time built up to offset those bad weeks.

Don’t Panic – just grab an hour!

Certainly, if you have scheduled your hours with a certain amount to perform every week you will have found how easy it is to fall behind when illness or schedule disruptions attack. Currently, because of the wild September I’ve had I am actually one week of hours behind.  At this point, it is easy to panic and get tense about it but refrain from panicking!  When you have school days that flow well just add an hour or two here or there or maybe you’ll have a day to pick up the hours you’ved missed like on a Saturday.   Add a fun hour of art, nature study, acting out historical figures; your hours will fly back to you in a hurry.

Free Homeschool Forms

One of the most valuable websites that I have run across as a homeschooling parent regarding forms of all types is at www.donnayoung.org  Drop by her website and plan on spending some time browsing as her website is pretty vast and includes many different types of planners, grading sheets, calenders, etc.

Withdrawing Children from Public School

Withdrawing children from public school in Missouri is really quite an easy process.  The problem is that many public schools are going to give you the run around and tell you things that aren’t true because THEY don’t know Missouri’s homeschool laws.  Before you withdraw a child be sure to familiarize yourself with Missouri Homeschool laws.  It will make it easier on you if the try and pull a bluff.  Fortunately, not all people who work in the public school try and make it difficult, some are very accomodating.  

 In 1990, the law was modified to require parents who wish to remove five and six-year-old children from a public school setting to do so in writing.  Again, this is merely a notification, not a request of permission. -Families for Home Education

The following link provided by FHE is a wonderful sample letter for public school withdrawal.  I would recommend this letter to be sent when withdrawing children of any just to prevent any truancy reports. 

Sample notice of intent:  http://www.fhe-mo.org/sampleletter.pdf