Saturday, May 9, 2009

a homeschool log

Just one more quick thought........

If you homeschool, especially with many small ones in the home, you should keep a homeschool log!  There are times when my days fly by so quickly, I'm just not sure what exactly I've done all day?!?!  I know that I was busy, that I worked hard, yet what exactly did we do??

My school co-op friend showed me her own log and just what she was accomplishing each day.  I was impressed (and a little nervous about our own accomplishments), yet when I decided to start writing down our daily lessons, formal or simple "life-lessons", I was amazed!  

Hey, we do A LOT of learning during our days!!

Just the other day, our carbon monoxide detector went off.  There's tons of learning there (yes, even at 10pm).  Today, Selah had a run-in with some Wood Nettle - the whole family learned quite a bit about the many types of "poisonous" plants out there, what they look like, why God made them that way, etc.  And those are just two examples in recent days.....yet I would have forgotten all about those incidents, not even realizing how much the kids were really learning.

In fact, a friend from church is the one who helped me remember how much "learning" we do day in and day out.  As a homeschooling momma, knowing that I was going to homeschool since the birth of our first son, I seem to always be thinking in "learning" mode.  What can my children learn from this?  Why does this happen?  Where did that idea come from?  Who invented that?

So now, I am trying to record these daily learning experiences (plus our more formal workbook pages, curriculum lessons, and co-op days) in my Butterfield Discipleship Academy Homeschool Log.  Ok, it's just a regular ol' notebook, but I made a fancy-shmancy label for the front of it, so that makes it OFFICIAL!!

Grab a notebook and give it a try.  Before you fall into bed at night, grab that notebook and quickly write down what you did that day.  You'll be surprised at how much you and your clan are learning each day.  

Amazing~

7 comments:

Dan said...

I was happy to discover your Michigan Momma blog today. I was unable to find a profile or contact link in your blog. I hope it's OK that I'm contacting you through a public comment. I've developed an educational program for Windows called SpellQuizzer that helps children learn their spelling and vocabulary words without the battle that parents often have getting them to sit down and write them out while the parents dictate to them. The parent enters the child's spelling words into the software making a sound recording of each word. Then the software helps the child practice his or her words. It really helped my children with their weekly spelling lists.

I would appreciate your reviewing SpellQuizzer in Michigan Momma. You can learn more about the program at http://www.SpellQuizzer.com. There's a video demo you can watch at http://www.spellquizzer.com/SpellQuizzer-Demo.htm. I'd be happy to send you a complimentary license for the software. Please let me know if you are interested.

Thank you very much!

Dan Hite
TedCo Software
Dan@SpellQuizzer.com

Anonymous said...

Hey Lori! Awesome comment on the spellquizzer above! Anyhow, glad you were excited about the log thing, didn't mean to make you nervous though....sorry! I think I am picky about that stuff because I didn't plan on homeschooling and now I am constantly comparing myself to what Anne would be doing if she were back in private school. Anyhow, that's my issue! Also, I now feel that I MUST come up with a fancy name for my school log...hmmmmmm.

Brooke

Unknown said...

What a wonderful idea, the log! :) We do something similar with Simply Charlotte Mason's organizer. I just check what we worked on academically that day and we are done. :) It even has a way for you to click "Nature study" and then write a comment about "observed Nettles" or "studied the term carbon minoxide". Under life skills you could put "learned to care for siblings" when older sibs had to help out with little ones or if you had a sick day because of caring for littles. :)There are a great number of things we learn every day! Anyway.. Great Idea. :)

Anonymous said...

Michigan Momma,
We are a CBS television station in Saginaw. We are trying to do a story on the Quiverfull Movement and we are hoping to get in contact with anyone in the Saginaw-Flint-Midland-Bay City areas that might practice Quiverfull. Any ideas? Any chance you could call me?
Thanks,
Doug Moiles
Assignment Manager
WNEM TV5
1-800-257-8943
doug.moiles@wnem.com

Dean B. said...

Well, what do think fellow Quiver full families, would you contact Doug from the TV Station? Doug, if you happen to check back, here's the thing:

Most people look at us like freaks anyway, and the media does not help. If you do end up doing a story, I urge you to be fair in how you present them. Also, Lori and I are not the typical QuiverFull family and you may want to check out some that are.

Dean (DH to MichiganMomma)

Unknown said...

Good Answer Dean!

Tess said...

Keep your personal life, personal. Especially if it involves the media! They would be likely to skew it all up and make trouble for you. Loving advise...by Mom