For those of you who haven’t caught the Pinterest-bug yet, let me just say that Pinterest for the sake of homeschooling alone is well worth your time. And when I say “worth”, I mean in terms of real dollars and cents.
I am absolutely amazed at what is available on the internet for FREE, or nearly free, for homeschoolers. While you could easily spend hours on Google and find these resources on your own, Pinterest has already done most of the work for you! The ideas, resources, support and freebies available on Pinterest makes this one of the few “time on the internet” investments actually pay off!
Once I started “pinning” and “following” other homeschoolers and teachers, I began to get new ideas for next year’s curriculum. In fact, I am in the process of creating Jessica (going in 6th grade) and Emily’s (going in 4thgrade) Reading curriculum ABSOLUTELY FREE from the resources and ideas I have gleaned from various Pinterest boards. I’m creating a Reading Notebook for each, utilizing books I already have in our library (though you could just as easily use your local library) and creating sections for reading logs, reading goals, as-you-go comprehension sheets, post-reading reporting, vocabulary sheets, graphic organizers, lapbooking ideas and other “post-reading” projects. I have also included a fluency section based on Fry’s word lists and since I already own all the McCall Crabbs books, have included a graph tracking the G scores for those. All of these items are available on various websites for FREE. You just have to know where to get them and invest the time in putting it all together in some sort of meaningful way. What better way to spend your summer than putting together FREE curriculum for your school year next year. While the notebook is still “under construction”, here are some of the pages it includes.
The ideas off Pinterest certainly don’t stop at reading. If you are limited on the money you have to spend on curriculum next year, you owe it to yourself to spend some time on Pinterest and start exploring what you could put together for free. So how do you get started on a venture like that?
1. Join Pinterest. You need to have an invitation to join. If you don’t know anyone on there, email me and I'll send you the invite.
2. Create boards for homeschooling. Learn from my mistake here: go ahead and create a separate board for each subject, as well as a General or Multi-subject board. They fill up fast and you’ll be glad you have one board with all the information related to whatever subject you are focused on.
3. Start following! Start following other homeschoolers and teachers. Look through their pins and begin repining whatever interests you to your applicable board. Don’t start exploring the pins yet! You’ll be on there forever if you start looking at all the actual websites. Wait until you’re ready to focus on a specific discipline. For now, just think of your boards as file cabinets of ideas and resources that you’ll come back to when needed.
2. Create boards for homeschooling. Learn from my mistake here: go ahead and create a separate board for each subject, as well as a General or Multi-subject board. They fill up fast and you’ll be glad you have one board with all the information related to whatever subject you are focused on.
3. Start following! Start following other homeschoolers and teachers. Look through their pins and begin repining whatever interests you to your applicable board. Don’t start exploring the pins yet! You’ll be on there forever if you start looking at all the actual websites. Wait until you’re ready to focus on a specific discipline. For now, just think of your boards as file cabinets of ideas and resources that you’ll come back to when needed.
Couple of warnings about Pinterest
1. There are “content” issues on there. Focus on education (or whatever else you are interested in) and realize if you go under the general “explore” tabs, you will be exposed to some inappropriate content.
2. When you find a homeschooler/teacher you want to follow, it may make more sense to follow the individual board you are interested in versus just following all. You end up with all kinds of pins on your home page that you couldn’t care less about, and that could even be offensive, if you just “follow all”.
3. It is a time-sucker. Seriously, you get on there for “just a minute” and suddenly 30 minutes have flown by. Make sure you are disciplined enough to know when you are going on there to just pin what’s new in homeschooling resources, or when you are going on there to look into the resources you’ve pinned. There is a big difference. Plan your time accordingly.
1. There are “content” issues on there. Focus on education (or whatever else you are interested in) and realize if you go under the general “explore” tabs, you will be exposed to some inappropriate content.
2. When you find a homeschooler/teacher you want to follow, it may make more sense to follow the individual board you are interested in versus just following all. You end up with all kinds of pins on your home page that you couldn’t care less about, and that could even be offensive, if you just “follow all”.
3. It is a time-sucker. Seriously, you get on there for “just a minute” and suddenly 30 minutes have flown by. Make sure you are disciplined enough to know when you are going on there to just pin what’s new in homeschooling resources, or when you are going on there to look into the resources you’ve pinned. There is a big difference. Plan your time accordingly.
Happy pinning!
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