Self-Education Form

If you're like me you plan on doing some self-education during your tenure as a homeschooling parent. I like that part, sometimes. Sometimes, it's like running down a hill a mm in front of an ever growing snowball. You could get buried at any moment.

As with any form of chaos I feel better if I can organize it. Come to think of it, I do that with decorating projects. Tigger and I were remodeling a bathroom once. It had some funky faux marble wallboard on it. Well to help in the demolition (I'm very helpful in that way) I ripped all the wallboard down. It had been glued on years before. The big thick brown glue that leaves trails bigger than termites. Well it was a few months before Tigger to get to the scrapping of the glue, I did what I could and then I hung a bright shiny new silver toilet paper holder on the wall, right on top of the glue covered walls. It became organized, sort of. Self-education is kind of that way.

So I have created a form to help organize your self-education efforts. It's not fancy, it's basic. But you can print it off, fill it in, and file it with your other school papers. You'll feel more organized at least. I make no guarantees that you'll actually do the work, but baby steps, right?

There are two links. One is to the form with my notes attached. The other is to a blank form for your personal use. Please feel free to print as many as you need, pass along to friends, use it to line your birdcage, whatever floats your boat.

Scribd self-education form with notes

Scribd self-education form, blank

Enjoy! Now go learn something, you'll feel better.

Week One: All Said and Done!

We made it through week one, and we started on time everyday. That in itself is an accomplishment. We had a huge storm last night; big enough water was leaking around some windows. There were high winds, branches down, almost hurricane force winds. All of it started about eleven p.m., right after we had all tried to go to bed.

I also have a really sore throat, and spent part of the school day in bed. Thankfully Z has elevated himself to be able to work independently. In fact he's pretty awesome so far this year. We had grand plans for academics over the summer (insert vile, evil laughter here). None of it got done. We had a family illness that took most of our focus and time. The only academic thing Z was required to do was read every day for thirty minutes. Since he is engulfed in the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix, getting him to read is not an issue. His reading level has increased over the summer. His reading aloud has greatly improved. We accomplished a lot of reading this week, much of it aloud. He did so well.

Our schedule has been a hit. Doing less subjects per day has been wonderful. We have time to chat, discover, not worry about the clock, and still finish well. The real test will be next week with math.

Our biggest joy this week has been delving into the Tolkien biography. We're only on chapter five, but I can already see Z's appreciation for the author increasing. We start into Lord of the Rings on Monday. I myself have never read the books (insert audible gasp!) and I can't wait to start our journey together.

We've also implemented rising interests into our ways to build skills. The other night we watched a show called Legend Quest. The episode was about the quest for the location of the Holy Grail. We stayed up long after the show discussing our knowledge of the grail (minimal), our own speculations (wildly so), and how he wanted to research this issue further. The next day at school we used this as a opportunity to learn how to research online. I could not have planned the task better. The chapter we read in Rulebook for Arguments that same day discussed how to find and use sources. We did not find too much on the grail, but we stoked our imaginations and built skills at the same time.

I'm thrilled with my student this year. His growth through a trying summer has been remarkable. I can't wait for next week when we start back into algebra; math always garners a few interesting conversations, mostly nothing to do with math.