THRIVING Melanin Family Magazine November 2018 | Page 52

down a road to boredom and failing
grades.
So, I pulled them. All 5 who were
currently enrolled in the Public school
system. Now there are 7 technically but
of course my rule is, ‘If I’m teaching,
you’re learning’ so all 9 are in class
Monday through Friday with light
review work on the weekends. I am free
to teach my children on any level I
please, because again, I do not follow
any curriculum.
How do I do it? Google. Just kidding.
That is my starting point however. I
literally googled ‘What should my child
know by the end of [whatever grade
they are in]. I teach all of my children a
level up and that is where the weekend
review comes in, That is stuff ‘on their
level’ to be sure I am not moving too
fast and they know what they should.
For my littles, I go to the dollar tree and
get the educational workbooks. I take
them home and dismantle them into
one page lessons. I separate the by
grade level and I make packets that
consist of 5 to 6 pages (they are front
and back, so you end up with 10 to 12
pages of work. I designate the packets
into their individual work spaces and in
the mornings, they know to grab a
packet and get started. You can do this
up the fifth grade from the dollar tree
but Barnes and Nobles also have
activity books up to the eighth grade
that you can do this with. It usually
takes them anywhere from 30 minutes
to an hour or more to complete these
daily packets. Then you can take a
break or continue on teaching.
We have a Goodwill here that sells by
the bulk. Thank goodness for this
because its where I get most of my
academic books from. I believe the
I believe the books are 50 cents a
pound versus 2.99 a book at regular
Goodwill stores. I have every level of
every book you need to graduate your
child from high school and probably
college. Anything from literature to
microeconomics. My oldest even works
from some college books we have. My
children excel daily and I can see it.
That is something I never experienced
in public schools. We also use Khan
Academy which is available on an app
as well as youtube. My children utilize it
for a clearer understanding of what I
teach in class in addition to jumping
ahead.
I signed up for ABC mouse for my 3-6
year old children but it was too easy
and they breezed through it in one day,
so I cancelled my subscription. I have
learned that my children, and I am sure
many others, learn much better in a one
on one environment. And while I have
nine children I teach, They still get
plenty of one on one everyday.
I buy index cards and everything goes
on them! Colors, shapes, numbers, sight
words, alphabets, addition, subtraction,
multiplication, sentences structures,
you name it and I am pretty sure I have
a stack of flash cards.
The state I am in mandates 4.5 hours a
day of learning, and I know some of you
may say, I just don’t have four hours to
dedicate. Well, remember, this does not
have to be a consecutive four hours but
also this includes self or Montessori
style teaching as well, remember those
packets?
Also, trips to the grocery store can be
used as a math lesson. Trips to the zoo
can be a counted as a science trip. A
family trip can be a geography lesson.
Paying bills can be an economics
NOVEMBER
2018 • THRIVE | 50