FREE Simple Homeschool Planner 2015-16

It's the time of year amongst homeschoolers when parents are beginning to plan out the upcoming school year and searching for the perfect planner to help them get organized.

Last year, I was in the same boat.  But I couldn't find a planner anywhere that fit what I wanted.  So, I created my own, and shared it with all of you lovelies!

It worked perfectly for us, so I decided to go ahead and update it for the coming school year.  Same simple planner, new year.

Here's how it works:  

All pages are in PDF form, in hopes that the font I chose will remain intact whether you have it installed on your computer or not.  But, if it doesn't, I'm also including the ZIP file of the font that you can download, if you want.  Everything will work fine without it, though.

First, the cover page, which you can see in this image.  

Next, a full academic year (July 1st through June 30th) calendar page.  Here you can mark off planned days off, vacations, and holidays.  It's a year in review page.


Finally, monthly pages by subject, which is where you will fill in your lesson plans for each day.  One month per page.  When you print these, you can choose to either print them back to back (aka, duplex printing), or you can just print one month per page, which is what I prefer, so that when the pages are bound, the binding is always on the left side of the page I'm using.  

The subjects are color coded, but, to save on ink, you can print them monochrome.  Also, you'll notice there are only 5 days per week on the monthly pages.  They are Monday through Friday weeks.  I know, many of us school on the weekends, too, but I found the 5 day week planner to be most efficient for me.

After all pages are printed,  match up the month of July 2014 pages for each subject (putting them in whatever order you like), then match up August, and place them behind July, then September, and so on.

The subjects included in this planner are Math, English, History, Science, Health, and Bible.  There's also a calendar with no subject heading, which you can print as many times as you like to use for any other subjects you need a planner for.  Also, each subject's calendar is a separate file, so if you aren't teaching Health, for example, you can skip printing those pages.

The simplest way to bind your pages is with a 3-hole punch and a 3-ring binder.  You'll need a 1" to 1 1/2" binder.  I prefer the ones with the clear plastic cover where you can slide your cover page in the top opening.

Done!  Now you can start planning your days.

Let me know if you like this, if my instructions were clear, and if you have any suggestions.  Also, feel free to share the link with your homeschooling friends.  But, please, be sure to give credit where credit is due.  The link below will take you to Google Drive, where you can view and print the planner.   

Free Simple Homeschool Planner

 

A Homeschool Mom Apologizes: 10 things public schoolers believe - Part I

People who don't homeschool seem to not really know anything about homeschooling apart from the stereotypes perpetuated by social media memes and random (rare) news stories of psychopathic homeschool parents who locked their kids in a closet and starved them to death.

Many people think pocket protectors, social awkwardness, and parental abuse and neglect are the sum total of what homeschooling is.

And so, as a homeschooling momma, I feel I need to apologize on behalf of all the other homeschooling parents like me, to you, the public schooling parents who think we are doing our children a disservice.

I'm sorry my kids are different, maybe even a little weird.
Actually, this is one of those "sorry; not sorry" moments.  I'm sorry many of you feel that being different is necessarily a bad thing.  I'm not sorry that my kids don't conform to societal norms.  Frankly, I see that as a good thing.   I don't want my kids to keep up with the Joneses.  I want them to think for themselves, to follow after their own interests, and to not worry about the latest trends and fashions.  I want them to grow into much more deep and complex people than that.  

Just today, talking with my 12-year-old son about playing on the local playground, I asked him if that was something "cool" for kids his age to do.  He responded, "I don't care if it is.  I'm not trying to be cool.  I just want to be myself."

So, if my kids build the Eiffel Tower out of Legos and continue to think girls have cooties while other kids are texting on their smart phones and going to school dances where they make out with their girl/boyfriends, I will smile with pride and tell my kids what a good job they're doing.  And buy them more Legos.

I'm sorry you feel you couldn't do it.
Because, you could.  If it's really something you felt led to do, you could.  You'd figure it out.  But, when you say you couldn't do it, that's not really what you mean, is it?  More likely, what you mean is that you don't really know or understand what homeschooling is all about, and you don't know how you would go about it.  Or, what you mean is that it's not something you've ever felt you or your kids are led to do, so you've never given it any thought.

It's unfamiliar and uncomfortable.  That's okay.  We understand.  We've been where you are. 

But there are single mothers who homeschool effectively while working two or more jobs, completing online degrees, and raising multiple children.  Maybe some day you'll want to learn more about it.  Maybe not.  But believe me when I tell you - yes, you could do it.  We're living proof!

I'm sorry you think a child should be in the public school system in order to be properly "socialized".
What is it, exactly, that you mean by "socialization"?  I suspect you mean social interaction with other kids their own age.  I suspect you mean, "How will your kids learn to make friends?"  Or, "How will your kids learn to interact appropriately with people outside your own home?"  More specifically, I think you mean that without peer interaction within a public school setting, homeschooled kids will be socially awkward.  Weird.  At the same time, though, I think you mean, "How will your kids play sports, and don't you feel as though you're depriving them of important moments in the life of typical students - like pep rallies, and the prom?"

My knee-jerk reaction is to ask how often in your own daily life you find yourself sitting at a desk quietly for nearly 8 hours a day amongst 30 people your same age where you're only allowed to interact with them for a total of about 1 hour of those 8.  Is that what you call socialization?  Of course, that's slightly exaggerated, but only slightly.

My more rational response is this:  

If socialization is the way in which a child learns to interact with the outside world beyond their own home and immediate family, then I promise you we are meeting - and probably exceeding - your expectations.

Most homeschoolers I know have so much going on in their schedules that it makes me exhausted just to hear about it.  And, yes, there are also some homeschoolers who fit the stereotype of never leaving the house and  living in a bubble all their lives.  Those, however, are the exception, not the norm.  My family falls somewhere between the two extremes.  Here's what our typical schedule looks like:

On Sundays, we attend church.  This isn't just sitting in a pew and listening to a Bible lecture.  My 10-year-old joins in the children's church program.  He is with about 30 other kids ranging in age from 4 to 11.  They hear a Bible lesson, they sing songs, they play games, they make crafts, and more.  They are not restricted from interacting with each other, as kids are in a classroom setting.  My 12-year-old is too old for children's church, so he volunteers as an assistant with the younger kids.  He helps teach the Bible lessons and helps to keep the kids from getting too wild.  It amazes me how many little kids find him at other times throughout the week and run up to give him a hug.  The adult teachers of the children's program rave about how good he is with the kids and how helpful he is to the teachers.

On Tuesdays, we attend a local homeschool cooperative group.  A simple way to describe it is set up in a similar way that public school is.  Parents teach numerous different subjects, and the kids are broken down into age groupings.  They choose which subjects they want to learn.  There are class periods each day, so they get to take 3 classes.  During their classes, they are grouped with kids their same ages (give or take a couple years), and they sit at tables and listen to the teacher, similar to public school.  Before and after classes, however, all the kids - from age 0 to 12th grade, and all their parents - play together in the gymnasium, have lunch together, work on projects together, and are responsible for cleaning up the building before they leave - together.

On Wednesdays, both boys take piano lessons.  This requires them to interact with an adult one-on-one.  Once a month, though, the piano teacher holds a joint workshop for all her 20 students where they all get together to listen to a seasoned musician play for them as well as just hanging out with kids and adults who share their interest in piano.  Twice a year, they take part in a recital, performing in front of all the other students and their families.

After their piano lessons on Wednesdays, they participate in our church's after school religious education program, which we call Wild Wednesday.  About 50 kids from the local public school get out of school early and meet at our church where they learn a Bible lesson and how to apply it to their daily lives.  They sing songs, do crafts, and play games.  My 10-year-old takes part as a student along with the other kids ranging in age from 1st grade to 5th grade.  My 12-year-old is, again, too old to participate, so he works as a volunteer, assisting the Children's Pastor with anything she needs, and, again, being a role model to the younger kids.

On Thursdays evenings, both boys with their dad attend a program called Christian Service Brigade, which is similar to Boy Scouts, but is specifically Christian oriented.  They interact with other boys (and their dads) between the ages of 7 and 12 where they learn hands-on life skills as well as how to apply that week's Bible lesson to their lives.  Despite its name, not all the kids who attend are Christians.  So my boys have had to learn to get along with some rough around the edges kids.

On Fridays, once a month, our whole family attends what is called Fab Friday at our church.  It's a family oriented event with a different theme each month, and the purpose is simply family-friendly fun.  We have movie nights, talent shows, pizza and games nights, cookie decorating, sometimes we go bowling or roller skating, and once a year the kids have an overnighter.  My boys get to interact with people ranging in age from 0 to 100+.  They play foosball with fourth graders and puzzles with parents, and they look forward to it every month.

This schedule is just a normal week.  During the warmer months, my boys attend a summer Bible camp and a basketball camp.  My youngest plays summer soccer.  We go camping with friends and family.  And year-round, they invite friends from the neighborhood over for biking, or go-carting, or sledding, depending on the weather.

This is not atypical of homeschooling families.  Most have similar schedules.  You tell me:  are my homeschooled kids lacking in socialization?  Sure, they may never go to a prom, but honestly, if that's the measure of a successfully socialized kid, well.... I'm happy to keep my kids weirdly unsocialized. 

Photo credit:  Thomas Hawk
Meme credit:  used with permission by Hip Homeschool Moms

 
Do any of these resonate with you?  If you're a homeschooler, do you hear them often from non-homeschoolers?  If you're a public schooler, have you ever thought these things?

Order of Operations in Math: not open to interpretation

Some things are debatable.  Open to interpretation.

Like evolution.  Religion.  White chocolate or milk chocolate.  Chicken or beef.  

Other things are static.  They just are.  There's no debate.  No different interpretations.

Like photosynthesis.  DNA.  Gravity.  And Order of Operations in mathematical equations.

You can debate gravity all you want.  You can claim you have a different interpretation of how gravity works until you're blue in the face.  But, at the end of the day, you're still going to meet an impactful death if you jump off the Empire State Building.

Likewise, you can debate Order of Operations all you want.  Also known by its acronym, PEMDAS (which stands for Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication/Division, Addition/Subtratction), you can claim that everyone interprets PEMDAS differently until you're blue in the face.  But, at the end of the day, if you try to solve an expression in any way you feel like solving it, without following the rules of PEMDAS, you're not going to arrive at the correct solution.

Despite what Common Core methods are taught nowadays, it's not okay to get the wrong answer as long as you can show how you arrived there.  There is only one correct answer to a math problem.  We need to know and understand how to arrive there, but we also need to know and understand how to arrive there correctly.

In division, for example, more than one method exists for solving the problem.  Long division.  Short division.  Other methods I'm not even aware of.  But as long as all those methods arrive at the same answer, each method is correct.  6 divided by 2 equals 3.  Always.  150 divided by 5 equals 30.  Always.

In mathematical expressions, where more than one operation exists, how you arrive at the solution is of utmost importance.  There is only one method by which you can arrive at the correct solution.

For example, (5+5)-5x5+5/5x(5-5).

In the above expression, one can not simply work from left to right without taking into account the different operations that appear in the expression.  Let's simplify the expression working from left to right:

5+5=10-5=5x5=25+5=30/5=6x5=30-5=25.

25 is, by the way, not the correct solution.  In order to understand why it is not correct, we need to understand PEMDAS.

"The basic rule that multiplication has precedence over addition [Order of Operations] appears to have arisen without much disagreement as algebraic notation was being developed in the 1600s"  ~Greg Vanderbeek, University of Nebraska, 2007.

PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication/Division, Addition/Subtraction) tells us that, when solving a mathematical equation or simplifying an expression, there is a particular order in which we must approach the operations.  If parentheses are present, we must work with the operation inside the parentheses first.

Next, we tackle any exponents.  (Exponents are a shorthand way to show how many times a number is multiplied times itself.)  In our example above, there are no exponents, so we move on to the next step.

Next, we address the multiplication AND division, in the order they appear from left to right.  Multiplication does not take precedence over division or vice versa.  They are equal as far as which we must do first.  The only deciding factor is which appears first when reading from left to right.

Finally, we work with the addition AND subtraction.  As with multiplication and division, one does not take precedence over the other.  We work from left to right.

Following the Order of Operations, then, here is the correct way to simplify our above example:

(5+5)-5x5+5/5x(5-5)
(10)-5x5+5/5x(0)  Parentheses
10-25+1x0  Multiplication/Division
10-25+0  Multiplication
-15+0  Subtraction
-15  Addition

The solution to our expression is -15.

What if there are no parentheses or exponents in the expression?  Can we then just work from left to right?

For example:

5+5-5x5
10-5x5
5x5
25

It seems logical, doesn't it?  However, whether or not parentheses or exponents are present in an expression does not change the fact that PEMDAS must be followed.  In this case, we would simply begin with step 3:  Multiplication/Division, and follow it up with Addition/Subtraction.  Like this:

5+5-5x5
5+5-25  Multiplication
10-25  Addition
-15  Subtraction

The solution to our expression is, again, -15.

If a group of students are asked to measure the circumference of an inflated balloon, chances are good that they each will come back with slightly different measurements, because one may stretch the measuring tape tighter than the other, or the balloon may lose air between measurements.  The circumference of a balloon, though still a mathematical solution, is debatable.  It will be interpreted in different ways.

The solution to a mathematical expression, however, is static.  Only one method exists for arriving at the correct answer.  We need to know and understand this method in order to properly teach our children.  Unless, like Common Core methods taught in public schools, you feel it doesn't matter whether or not they arrive at the correct answer, as long as they can explain how they got there.

Personally, I think that does our children a disservice.  I'd even go so far as to say it's a failure.

I certainly don't want an architect building a house for me who was taught that way.  Can you imagine?  If he measured and did his calculations incorrectly, no matter how well he could explain how he got those calculations, the construction of the house would not be sound.  At the very least, it would be crooked.  At worst, it would cave in on itself.  Either way, finding the correct solution to a math problem really does matter.  I prefer my houses still standing.

What do you think?  Is gravity, or is math, open to interpretation?