luckyoakie-blog - Tumblr blog

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The final, brilliant word on passive voice.

“She was killed [by zombies.]” <— passive

“Zombies killed [by zombies] her.” <— active

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But the 8-hour workday is too profitable for big business, not because of the amount of work people get done in eight hours (the average office worker gets less than three hours of actual work done in 8 hours) but because it makes for such a purchase-happy public. Keeping free time scarce means people pay a lot more for convenience, gratification, and any other relief they can buy. It keeps them watching television, and its commercials. It keeps them unambitious outside of work. We’ve been led into a culture that has been engineered to leave us tired, hungry for indulgence, willing to pay a lot for convenience and entertainment, and most importantly, vaguely dissatisfied with our lives so that we continue wanting things we don’t have. We buy so much because it always seems like something is still missing.

Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed  (via becoming-vverevvolf)

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My non-stick pan sits on a throne of lies.

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Every morning starts with coffee. But after that, I use my Weekly Lesson Plan to see what’s up for the day. I put our daily plan on the white board for the kids to see what’s happening and in what order. They REALLY like knowing the plan! I find it helps a lot with transitions too. Our formal learning takes about 1-2 hours a day, the rest of the day is for play, crafts, board games, exercise, household chores, running errands, and snuggles. ❤️

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My Week-at-a-Glance plans are my short term plans. This is something I plan on a week-by-week basis. I can’t get too far ahead, bc, you know, life happens. And planning too far ahead ALWAYS ends up in changes. Now I can use this plan each day to see what we’re doing for the day and which lessons I’m presenting.

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For each unit of study, I make my own unit plan. I unit involves several lessons covering the details of the broad topic they’re learning about. I love to Bullet Journal, so I plan my units this way. (Side note, an awful lot of pencil-paper scribbly planning happened before these pretty final copies were decided on). So once I’ve researched the topic (taught it to myself if necessary), found resources (books to look into, videos to watch, worksheets to work through, and activities to try), and made a lesson-by-lesson plan, I have a good idea of how long the unit will take us and how many individual lessons it will be.

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To go along with our Long Range Plans, my Language/Grammar planning looks like this! I have two kids so that’s why there’s two columns. First I made a list of everything they’re suppose to cover for their grade level, then I organized by what they would do each week, trying to keep similar or complimentary topics together, and wrote down the corresponding unit/page number in the Grammar books I purchased for them. Each week they do the unit in the book, plus a practice worksheet I find for free via Pinterest.

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I get loads of questions about how we homeschool, so here’s some sneak peeks into our world. Everyone does things their own way, but for me, it all starts at the beginning of the year with my Long Range Plans. I use the Ontario Curriculum Guide to know what they should be covering, add in the extras we want them to learn or they’re especially interested in, and organize it all over the course of the school year.

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Bonus to Homeschooling: Having the McDonald’s PlayPlace all to yourself.

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I love this.

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When you tell people you homeschool...

One thing I've found challenging about homeschooling is talking to people about it. I feel like people get defensive bc we're making a different choice then they are, and in that defensiveness they sort of push me to defend my choice. People say, "but they can't really be that well socialized can they?" And I feel like if I say, "well, actually studies show that homeschooled kids are usually better socialized than their school-going peers" then I've defended that argument, but at the same time I've sort of shit on the school system and by extension that person's choice to send their kids to school. Do you know what I mean? If I say, "well gee I never thought about that, I dunno" then I sound like an idiot who didn't make an informed decision. I can't win.

So I want to say that I'm not judging anyone, ever, who makes the choice to send their kids to school or who doesn't have a choice. It's seriously all good. School is far and away the norm, we're the weirdos here, lol. And I reserve the right to, at any age, say "this isn't working out for us" and send them back to school. This is just the choice we've made, for our particular family, for this particular moment.

That said, I do share things about school systems and where I think they've gone wrong on my social media. I have teacher friends who share that sort of thing too. I will share articles about how our school system is pretty messed up, just like I'd share things about how our prison systems are messed up, or how capitalism is kinda fucked or where our government structure is going wrong. I think it's important, as members of society, to speak up and say "I agree" if you think a mainstay of our society has gone awry, or isn't serving the right purposes anymore. I think that's the only way change happens.

Some of the teacher friends I admire and respect the most post a lot of articles about making positive changes to the school system. Getting kids outdoors more, getting dirty, less supervision, etc. And I see them implementing change into their own classrooms and I think it's amazing and they are fantastic educators. I see parents sharing that they feel cursive writing should be taught and recesses longer and things like that. We all, as a society, engage in these discussions.

Every teacher I know is doing the best damn job they can within the confines of the system.

Every single parent I know is doing the best damn job they can at raising their babies in this crazy, sometimes messed up, world. And I respect the shit out of all of you.

So I guess I just wanted to say, that if I say "homeschooling rocks! I love my life!" that I'm not trying to say you should homeschool too. And if I share something that says, "the school system has outgrown it's original purposes, and isn't serving our society the way we need it to" that I'm not bashing teachers or parents or anyone's choices, I'm just trying to further the discussion and thought and engagement on something that is really important to me and to all of us parents.

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One of my favourite pictures on our farm. Photo credit to Tim Forbes at Forbes Photography- always beautiful work!

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So can we have more homeschooled characters in media?

Characters who are homeschooled but still have lives and friends because homeschooled does not automatically equal sheltered beyond belief

Characters who are homeschooled for religious reasons

Characters who are homeschooled because they learn better with these methods than at school

Characters who are homeschooled who are just as active as the public schooled characters in whatever plotline

Characters who are homeschooled by single parents, or multiple parents, or grandparents or any other legal guardian they have

Characters that have online school or study center

Characters who have had good experiences with homeschooling instead of “I have no friends!” (seriously why is this a thing?)

Just… characters who are homeschooled

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Hello Tumblr?

I just downloaded Tumblr because Google told me it was one of the best platforms to blog on, so I guess I'll check it out! I feel a calling to write, and I feel like I have things in my head to say, but I don't have time for a fancy pants blog. I don't have time to upload and edit a zillion pictures and properly insert them in between paragraphs and stuff. I'm not looking for a profession, I want something simple, and preferably anonymous, to just spew my thoughts. Is this the right place for me? I guess we'll see.

I have two kids, and we homeschool. I like to talk about parenting, kids, homeschooling, etc. We also live on a farm so sometimes I may rant or rave about that.

That's all. :)