Pick a Book, Any Book

I crashed with a good friend after being displaced by Hurricane Helene. She and I became good friends when I had her children in my school, Epoch, while living in Bozeman, Montana. Her kids now attend a hybrid co-op, which means she's teaching them at home a few days. She told me, like so many homeschool moms, she's overwhelemed with what to teach her children and how. This is so common!

"I want to homeschool my children, but where do I begin?"

Here's my response, "Pick a book, any book". When I started word-vomiting, she grabbed a pen and paper to catch my spew and said, "Sorry, I feel like when you talk I always wishe I would've written it down. So, for all you homeschool mamas out there that feel overwhelemed, I've written it down for you.

Pick a book, any book will do, but I prefer rich literature. Roald Dahl, AA Milne, classics, historical fiction, Anne of Green Gable, Tom Sawyer, Moby Dick, Stone Soup, Wizard of Oz, Heckedy Peg...steer clear of Pete the Cat, Captain Underpants, Dogman, etc. Avoid the junk food and grab the steak!

Let's start with "Heart of a Samurai" by Margi Preus since this is a book I just read wity my kids. We purchase main lesson books from Mercurius-USA or Palumba with blank pages and Stockmar block crayons. If you have little kids, buy the set of 8-10, but if you have older kids, it's okay to get the larger pack in the tin. We start by setting up our book with a title page and illustration- title, author, date. The back page of the book is reserved for the glossary so we use our block crayons and create a border left to right and up and down going slowly to keep edge straight. Older kids can create a form drawing border or add a design inspired by the story.

As you go through the story, learning will inevitably unfold, especially if you've done the leg work of learning an overview of the skills children learn in elementary. By the way, many homeschool kids don't follow "grade" specific curriculums. It's far too limiting. If your kid is ready to use a dictionary in first grade, why would you make him wait until fourth grade? So, learn what is expected in elementary and follow your child's leads and needs!

Our story is set in Japan so the first page of the main lesson book will focus on the setting. Use a world map, globe, book, or online resource and find Japan. Drawing out the four main islands, labeling bodies of water together, and learning the creation story of Japan (Izinagi and Izinami) is a fantastic way to get started. If your child is able (8+), or interested, maybe create a compass rose, label latitude and longitude, or add countries that surround Japan. Please be sure to fill in a blue background since Japan is surrounded by water. No white on our pages unless intentionally white!

As you read the story, opportunities will inevitable arise for learning. Perhaps adding vocabulary words to the glossary in the back of the book leads to kearning to use a dictionary. Dedicate a page in the book to a timeline and either keep a timeline of the events in the story (for younger kids) or create a timeline of world events that would've occured during the progression of the story including things like battles, or wars, inventions, presidents, and emperors. Most fiction novels feature a protagonist and antagonist that provide an opportunity for using synonyms and antonyms or using a Thessaurus for assistance.

This story features whalers and fisherman so perhaps you check out books on whales from the local library or go whale watching if you live near a coast. If whale watching isnt an option, learn about the fish in your local creek, lake, or ponds and go fishing. Document learning in the main lesson book with illustrations of fish, whales, habitats, food source, filling in the page with sentences, paragraphs or poems about what's being learned. We went whale watching in Okinawa and then learned to write a Haiku. Do what your child would enjoy best!

Also in the story, a Japanese folk tale is mentioned. We had already read this one, but if it's new to you, find it online or at the library and read it, illustrate a page, summarize the story or write the lesson learned on lines created with a block crayon. Fight the urge to help your child make straight lines! This is a skill that takes practice. Don't rob them of the opportunity to correct their mistakes.

We ended up researching and adding pages about Japanese history, WWII, Pearl Harbor, Zen Buddhism, Japanese food, language, kanji, clothing and traditions. We signed up for a ceramics class to make Koinobori's for a Japanese festival, ate Japanese food, tried on kimonos, visited shrines, watched documentaries, and sketched out architecture observed. Even though we're currently living in Japan, this approach to homeschooling can be repeated and modeled based on your child's needs and interests!

Pick a book, any book, and let the learning unfold naturally! Do what inspires you.

If you prefer a custom plan for your child, please reach out. I'd like to know where you live, or where your next adventure is taking place, and I'll create a learning plan around that complete with book lists, main lesson ideas, cooking, songs to learn, ways to incorporate math and science and even field trip ideas!

Journey well, Chelsea