#time4learning

Hey! Yeah so we do have a curriculum and well we have 2, the first one is Splashlearn, it's 19 bucks a month and it goes up to 5th grade, from there we have to switch over to Time4Learning. That one I think is 29 a month but both have a yearly option which we will switch to during income season.

The reason we chose those programs is because they are special education friendly. My son is on the spectrum and has adhd and the whole scheduling with these programs are very flexible.

Right now he's in pre k so he has one live class a day, Monday through Thursday but we have worksheets for him to do extra assignments to help with his handwriting and whatever else.

Monday & Wednesday are his math days and Tuesdays & Thursdays are his E.L.A days.

Splashlearn does have a free option but you don't get the online classes which I think helps a lot with him. He really looks forward to school during the week and he loves that for each class he completes there's a quiz and he wins points for his online aquarium he has through them.

So right now we're on splashlearn and once he's in 5th grade we're going to time for learning.

Here's Splashlearn if you would like to read up on it.

And here's Time4Learning if you would like to read through this as well

So I was to premise this by saying I haven’t used it in a few years. And when I did use it it had improved significantly from the first time I looked into a few years prior to that.

I like ABC mouse for some things. I think it’s great if it’s the first thing you use and keep with it. The kids get to create an avatar and they earn tickets for completing tasks, which they can use to buy stuff for their avatar. (I think they can buy stuff for their pet too? I may he confusing that with another program though) So in that respect it’s fantastic.

My personal issue with when we started using it, my son was in the middle of a grade. So he was bored when he started. And it wouldn’t allow us to jump past the beginning stuff. He did enjoy getting th tickets and stuff but he wasn’t getting as much education out of it as he needed. And bc he was already working on the first grade level, that was it. It didn’t go beyond that so it wasn’t like he could just jump to second grade and play there.

ABC mouse seems like a program you need to start at age 3 and not age 5. I have known others who used it and loved it. So I think it definitely has to it’s positive qualities. Plus it’s not expensive. As much as a Netflix account.

That being said, I recent saw an ad for a new program coming out for older kids by the same people. Adventure Academy. It looks great and I’m on the email list for it. My kids both think it looks like fun so I’m really hoping it provides for older kids what ABC mouse provides for younger kids.

For homeschooling, I have used Time4Learning in the past and I really enjoyed that. As did the kids. I think we’ll be going back to that next year. There are some other great resources out there like Reflex Math and Freckle. My kids really enjoy those programs. They have fun playing the games and learning but they love earning tokens and then buying new outfits for their avatar. And actually I think our local public school uses them too.

If you’re looking for physical stuff for math, I really like the stuff from Math-U-See. They have great counting manipulative blocks and stuff. Even if that’s all you get from them, it’s worth it. It’s a great way to teach kids the basics, especially borrowing with subtraction.

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Homeschooling During the Holidays

When it comes to the holidays every homeschooling family continues in their studies differently. Surprisingly enough, we are that family that normally doesn’t get caught up during the holidays.

The hustle and bustle of shopping, prepping for family arrival, meal prep, decorating, holiday card making, we’ve kind of moved away from the commercialized feel of the holidays. We’ve gone 8 years without a Christmas tree and our Christmas dinner was from KFC this past year. I know we’re pretty horrible when it comes to the Christmas Spirit. As parents we wanted to preserve the real meaning of Christmas keeping it about spirituality and the birth of Jesus Christ. The kids did at least perform in a Christmas Program at our church.

With all that said, we have missed out on some traditional holiday fun like card making, baking, Christmas story reading….and for this reason I believe we’ll do it differently this year. There are so many options to consider in regards to your schedule during the holiday months. You can take our lead as I share with you how we plan to change it up a bit or chose your own. Here’s my take…

You can:

1. Follow the public school schedule:

The public school will usually take 2 weeks off in December. We’ve never really done it this way. We’ve valued the flexibility of being homeschoolers way too much to follow suit. Although, there is consistency in knowing that when the public school kids are out they won’t be knocking on your door to play with your kids during school hours. This sometimes causes a few temper tantrums at my house on teacher workdays and other holidays. Now, I present those kiddos with the opportunity to join us. They started coming around a lot less.

2. School through the month of December:

Homeschooling families have the flexibility of totally ignoring those two weeks off and treating them like regular school days. We’ve done this for years, especially when the husband wasn’t home during the holidays due to military training or deployment. So, we’d use our home school days to keep us busy and occupied. We’d acknowledge Christmas Eve and Christmas but hit the books right after.

3. Have a modified December Schedule

This is the option that I believe most homeschoolers fall under when considering the holidays. I believe this time, instead of pushing through each homeschool day we will do half days. It will look something like two subjects a day. We’ll most likely do math and phonics on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Then we’ll do History and Science on Tuesday and Thursday. This will literally take 1.5 hours or less each day. Normally we would do all those subjects in a day. But during the whole month of December we will do half days in order to maintain a routine. And if we happen to not get to it, I won’t stress about it either.

We’ll do a modified schedule this way we can take advantage of opportunities to do more holiday spirited activities.  During the holiday time, don’t forget to count some of the more non-traditional “school” activities as learning hours too. Here are some activities we want to add:

Decorate our classroom

A Holiday Unit Study

Read Christmas Stories

Look for more volunteer opportunities

Caroling at nursing homes

Christmas Parties with friends

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Homeschooling: Where In the World Am I?

One of the most frequent concerns expressed in our Military Homeschooler’s F​acebook community ​by those getting started is ‘W​here am I!​?’ (legally *speaking of course!)

Homeschooling is legal in all U.S. states and state provinces.

Additionally, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) has applied this same right to all OCONUS bases. BUT – laws may vary widely in ‘homeschool‐friendliness’. For military families coping with a somewhat nomadic lifestyle, it can be difficult to determine which homeschooling laws to comply with, not to mention confusing when keeping up with the ever‐changing requirements as you PCS!

Common questions: ● Can we follow the laws of our official state of record? (i.e. home state?) ● Do we follow the laws of our current PDS? ● What if we’re set to PCS mid‐year? ● What if we are OCONUS?

For those located within the contiguous United States, you must comply with the homeschooling laws of the state your family c​urrently ​resides in. This means a family originally from Texas stationed in New York must follow New York homeschooling laws.This remains true whether you’re living on base or off! If your spouse is deployed, away at training or even in situations where they have moved on to another station – the same rule applies. You’ll continue to follow the laws where your primary residence is located.

A move mid-school year can seem a bit tricky! What you do not have to do is fulfill the requirements of both locations. 

A good rule of thumb is to focus on the timing of the move. If PCS occurs near the end of a school year and only testing remains, consider finishing out early. Complete the testing and move on! In most all other instances, however, move and submit to the laws of your new state of residence – just as you would if your kid was required to enroll in a traditional school. Note: You are only expected to comply with the new state’s laws from the point you register. In other words, you cannot be legally held accountable for the time you weren’t living there! If you’re an active duty family stationed overseas, you are protected under the S​OFA​(State of Forces Agreement) between the U.S. and the country of residence. This exempts you from being forced to submit to foreign homeschool policy.

The official DOD EAP Policy Memorandum (2002) states the following: “It is DoDEA policy neither to encourage nor discourage DoD sponsors from home schooling their minor dependents. DoDEA recognizes that home schooling is a sponsor’s right and can be a legitimate alternative form of education for the sponsor’s dependents.”

While overseas, homeschool families operate independently. Removing kids from the base school requires only a simple notification form. OCONUS families have no set standards they must follow in regards to record‐keeping, portfolios, etc. It can be rather freeing – but, a word of advice: Be mindful of the uncertainty of the future. While your next state of residence cannot retroactively require paperwork, keeping at least a basic record of classes, curriculum used and grades issued can ease future transitions. Parents of high school students will find this even more valuable as h​igh school transcripts​may be required for college admissions, trade school or job opportunities ‐‐ including military! Trying to go ‘back in time’ after multiple moves, curriculum changes and LIFE happenings is a headache you’ll be glad to skip! As military homeschoolers continue to grow in number, there is an active push developing to enable families to follow laws of their declared state of record. Doing so will allow consistency in a life that is anything but! Both the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and H​ome School Association for Military Families​are actively working on new legislation to provide the best balance of protection, choice and freedoms. We will continue following their progress and let you know of any new development!

Read more Homeschooling articles here! *D​isclaimer. No legal advice intended. The contents of this article are intended to convey general information only and not to provide legal advice or opinions.

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Welcome to Your New Life

We arrived at the Pacific Islands Club in Saipan late in the evening the day before we left the airport in Hawaii; that date line is tricky business! As we were checking in, the desk clerk handed over a handmade welcome kit. You see, when I was planning this whole life change, I did tons of research. I was online for hours looking into homeschooling and life in Saipan, and lucky for me, I came across a blog that an expat family was keeping of their adventure. I assumed that it was an old blog but commented anyway. It turns out, they are actually currently living in Saipan and homeschooling, not due to leave until July. They have become great friends through our journey, sending us several emails preparing us for what life would be like here and informing us of items we needed to bring since they can’t be found here. Their hospitality continued as we received our handmade welcome kit. It contained local foods, activity books for the boys, and a great informational guide of their favorite beaches, restaurants, and local businesses. I pretty much hit the PCS jackpot!

After resting, we opened our eyes to our new life, life on a tiny island about 180 degrees from everything we had ever known. To make the most of it, we hit the beach, learned to crack coconuts, collected shells, swam in warm clear waters, and just enjoyed life. Guilt was setting in a bit about not “schooling” for a couple of days, but hubby brought me back to reality by pointing out that literally every activity we’d done had an academic value, it just wasn’t obtained in the typical classroom environment or by traditional methods. This is, after all, exactly why and how we wanted to be able to homeschool (through life experiences).

We spent the month diving into our surroundings and taking full advantage of all the opportunities that the PIC had to offer. The boys climbed rock walls, swam, tried surfing on machine-made waves, attended every evening show performed, participated in international competitions, snorkeled, learned to play tennis, mastered archery, attended a kids club with various languages being spoken all around them, shot some hoops, played putt putt, danced to a wide range of music, and really lived for once. It was so great being able to allow them to just enjoy life and be themselves without “consequences” for being a little too squirmy or speaking out of turn over their excitement. We really tried to submerge ourselves in the local environments too by going to the street markets, visiting landmarks, and even participating in a community march on Commonwealth Covenant Day. The boys also spent time writing about their new surroundings, crafting characters out of their shells, and completing “Our Island Environment” booklets from the local fish and wildlife division. Their other curriculum was to come from an online source. Unfortunately, internet on the island isn’t nearly as reliable as I had hoped and we didn’t have actual computers with us, just iPads. So early on I realized that I needed to throw out my homeschooling plan, but the boys really rose to the occasion and adjusted well with yet another plan. I’ve learned that my boys are super resilient (even the one that dislikes change and loves a schedule). I’ve also learned that I am capable. That is the most empowering feeling – – I AM CAPABLE! And it feels great to get to be there when your littles are gaining new knowledge and achieving new skills. For example, our oldest performed his first legit cartwheel this month and exclaimed with so much excitement that he had “finally reached his full potential”. Being able to share that with him was so fun, I’m kinda glad I don’t have to send them away and share them with teachers everyday.

The month also included several “grown-up” agendas of securing a rental car, exploring downtown, obtaining a postal box (which is actually difficult here as there’s an arbitrary wait list – I think they save boxes for certain people), house hunting (super hard too – we got seriously mixed up with a greedy businessman that was trying to take advantage of the Army allowance by offering housing that likely would not pass inspection as habitable by state standards), searching for family athletic options, hunting for reliable grocery stores, finding the library and proving that we live here, dealing with phone companies in different time/day zones, and trying to iron out routines.

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The Journey Begins...or Does It?

With a major military assignment, to say that there are several moving parts is a huge understatement. Moving overseas to a “remote” location with very little US military presence and absolutely no military base complicates things ever so slightly more. This assignment came with several warnings that life certainly wouldn’t be what we were used to and we welcomed that idea. We actually looked forward to the lack of accessibility of items and services that we’d become accustomed to. To rewind life a bit and get back in touch with our core beings was definitely on our hearts.

However, a move so far away where travel to and from would be uber expensive for our family and friends, meant that we needed to try to fit in as many “see ya laters” as possible, but also save money and use time wisely in the midst of said permanent change of orders. So a lot of planning needed to happen. A glimpse into how these moves work would show that in order for the Soldier to be put on orders that authorize the family to accompany, the entire family needs to pass certain screenings. Those screenings happen before the orders even get finalized and handed to the Soldier, usually. So, with orders in hand, plans were set in motion.

I submitted my letter of intent to homeschool my boys and pulled them at the end of January. In the first week of February, the boys and I traveled nine hours to say some “see ya laters” to family and were meeting my husband half-way back where we would drop off our vehicle to be shipped overseas; Except, I got a phone call that seemed to be changing our plans. I was told that our screening was actually processed for the wrong location and that we were approved for somewhere else that didn’t need to be screened as thoroughly as our actual duty station. That call was only days before we were dropping our vehicle off! So my husband and I worked very diligently in different states talking to people located all over the world to expedite the screening so that the “all clear” would be made in time to still meet the strict timelines we had scheduled. Luckily, there were some very understanding and dedicated personnel on the other end of those phone lines and our personal schedule was only thrown off a day.

The timeline we gave ourselves was a pretty intense (say goodbyes, drop off car, pack and send unaccompanied goods, visit with mom, pack and ship household goods, clear housing, clear post, fly to in-process location) three weeks with very little wiggle room. We were able to ship our vehicle when we expected and it only required a slight adjustment to our moving plans (I had one day instead of two to gather our unaccompanied goods shipment). Then my husband’s mom was able to come visit for a few days and our household goods were to be packed and shipped the following day.

However, the day that we were driving her to the airport, there was an awful snowstorm and our post announced a post closure and the state declared a state of emergency! We were just sure that there was no way the movers could come, but they did and all went as well as it could. But then… we sold our other car just one day before my husband had his final out and there were all sorts of complications with weather delays and early office closures. This move certainly felt as if it were not going to happen several times. February was a very stressful month to be an adult in our family. The boys on the other hand, were proving daily that homeschool could be a great fit.