Homeschooling Newbie Friends - Gotta love 'em!

There is nothing like having a friend that is new to homeschooling to make you question a few things. It cracks me up every time. You old timers know what I mean...


"Well have you heard of this curriculum?" Uh no, I haven't looked at new curriculum in 10 years. I found what works and I'm sticking to it. If they invented a new curriculum that you could strap to your head and instantaneously acquire the knowledge I would never know.

"What kind of test scores are your kids getting on their general yearly testing?" What general yearly testing? There is no such thing in Texas. And the usual followup "Well, how do you know they are learning?" Because they are smarter than me and a box of rocks.

I also love how excited they are starting on the dot at 8:00 with the pledge of allegiance followed promptly by a phone call to me (who is still searching bleary eyed for a coffee cup). Any curriculum questions you ask this early will be answered with incoherent answers. Sorry dear friend.

Oh, and the eternal "Socialization" question. Let's all sigh together. *SIGH* I've put together a list of websites and good articles that address this and just forward it on. It all boils down to "Seriously, have you been to the mall lately?"

I guess dear friend I've become comfortable after this many years of home educating my kids. The proof is in the pudding. They are wonderful, smart, handsome, articulate boys. Have I missed something in their education? Yes, they have not memorized the Gettysburg address. Will they survive? Yup.

I cheer you on my newbie friend. I've been in your shoes. I was the one asking curriculum questions at 8:00 a.m. to another bleary eyed homeschool mom. Lord bless her! I raise my cup of coffee to you this morning!

Homeschooling a High Schooler - It isn't an olympic feat people!

It is hilarious to me (now) that two years ago I was terrified of the idea of homeschooling a High School child. It isn't as daunting as I imagined it might be. Arming yourself with information is key.


Let me say, if you are contemplating homeschooling a child during their High School years, I would encourage you to take the leap. If you have homeschooled the child during several of his elementary years, now is the time you get to reap huge rewards friend! Consider this... by this age they will be mostly independent learners who have a fair idea of what talents God has blessed them with. These are truly the fun years (except for the occasional grouchy day)! You can point them in the right direction, with a little guidance and encouragement and watch them bloom. Take advantage of outside classes available to homeschoolers in your area to supplement those areas you are weak in. We have been very blessed to have our children take foreign language, science, speech and debate classes. If these classes aren't available in your area, organize them yourself! You might be surprised at the talent lurking amongst your circle of friends. Use social networking sites to search for teaching talent amongst your friends and family. Join local homeschool groups to find out what is available in your area.

We initially went to the websites of the colleges my son was interested in and printed off the minimum required coursework as a guide to what he needed to study during his High School Years. We attended a local seminar on homeschooling your High School student to gain some knowledge in the area. I organized a Q&A session with experienced homeschool moms in our area whose children had successfully graduated and gone on to college. It was wonderful to ask questions and get practical information and encouragement.

Other benefits:
Homeschool graduates are considered the top 10% of their graduating class which gives them a leg up on college entrance and scholarships. Colleges are actively recruiting homeschool students because they are excellent students! Family relationships are strengthened because siblings and parents are present in the teen's life. You can build your teen's self worth because you get to speak into their lives 24-7. No peer pressure (most of the time... my oldest son complains that he gets the most peer pressure from me because I balk at lack of fashion sense when picking out new clothing "Those pants are too homeschooly. We are not getting them!" Oh well!) Time for internships and volunteer work, both of which look great on a college transcript! Time for more travel. Graduate in less than four years if it is so desired. Time for work outside the home. More sleep! NO HOMEWORK! No wardrobe pressures (except the aforementioned fashion conscious mother). No problems with school administration (unless you aggravate mom). Did I say NO HOMEWORK! Yeah, that's a biggie!

Don't miss out on the golden High School years dear friends!

How NOT to make homemade paper or How to bundle several school subjects into one easy lesson

If you are in the market for a good dry heave, let me point you in the right direction. We are studying China this week and the project we decided to undertake was homemade paper making. It started out so well intentioned and quickly plummeted to gross (much to the delight of my boys).

We didn't have all the supplies needed, but that didn't dampen our spirit of adventure. We definitely know how to make do with what we have. We foraged around for scrap paper careful to avoid newspaper or magazines that would compromise the quality of our fine paper. We added a scrap of orange construction paper to give our paper a flecked artsy look. A YouTube video also suggested using lint from the dryer. What a cool use for something we usually throw away. We blended the paper and lint with several cups of water in my blender. Then we added it to our sink with more water. That's when this project took a horrible left turn. The boys added some grapefruit scented spray to give our paper a designer smell. Then no one wanted to put their hand in the warm water in the sink. It looked, felt and smelled exactly like vomit. We put the pulp on a screen to form the paper and patted it with a sponge laughing, gagging and coughing the whole time. We flipped it over onto a clean sheet to dry and that's when we saw it... Tons of dog hair from the dryer lint was now embedded in our school project. We now have hairy, vomit paper. I think I may have found a use for it. Anyone need to write a note to a political figure? There you go... we have neatly tied in art, science, history and politics in one easy lesson. Your welcome.



My youngest won't touch the stuff



Disgustingly awesome



sponging the "vomit" paper (note the look of delight)

 

This is horrible



A closeup of our hairy paper (hungry?)



Poke, Poke... yes, we are still here!

In our rush toward the end of the year to get finished and then our lazy, hazy days of summer, my poor little Homeschooling blog has suffered some neglect. There now, little blog, you are loved.

I have been following, with some interest, the Corpse Flower at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. It seems lots of people are interest in Lois (that's the name given this Corpse Flower). Unfortunately, Lois seems not to follow everyone's timeline on when she should bloom. She's poking along at her own pace and laughing in the face of the predictions of the experts. They have made slits, attached bags of rotten fruit, turned up the heat and humidity... to no avail. Lois is still cocooned in her bud. I hope all this poking about doesn't kill the poor thing.

That got me really thinking this morning about home educating our students. They poke along at their own pace. Often not keeping the timetable that the "experts" say they should follow. "Well, your son should be reading chapter books by 2nd grade. Blah, blah, blah." They create an artificial environment and expect kids to "bloom" on time in it. Kids, like Lois, were made by the creator with their own timetables. I like to work with that timetable instead of fight it and force it. Doing so, allows them to "open up" and enjoy their education.

Nature Walks

In our continuing efforts to follow the Charlotte Mason method, and since the cold weather is starting to give way to our warm Houston spring, we have been starting our nature walks again. We have a wonderful detention pond in the back of our subdivision that has been turned into a park of sorts. It is still very wild and I like it that way. The boys hop on their bikes, I hook up the dog, the boys grab their nature walk notebooks, I grab my camera and we all go for our nature walk.
Here are some pictures from our walk.

My oldest writing a poem he is keeping to himself. Notebook entries should only be shared if the child wants to.
The boys enjoy riding. So much freedom!

Enjoying God's creation. We can see His handiwork in even the "weeds".

Strawberry Picking Field Trip

Ah Tradition... one of our favorites is our annual Strawberry Picking at King's Orchard with our local homeschool group. I just love to go! In fact, I have been suckered into leading it for the past 3 years. No, it really isn't all that bad, I am just being silly. I just send out a map, tell people what time to be there and field all ridiculous complaints. (insert eye rolling here)

Here are some fun pictures.

Calling All Seasoned Home Educator

I still shake my head when I say outloud "I've homeschooled for 7 years." It doesn't seem possible. I still feel like a fledging newbie to homeschooling. The reality is that as a homeschooler with a few years under my belt (or purse), it is my responsibility to encourage others. That might mean giving unsolicited advice to those homeschoolers just coming up. Sometimes they don't know the questions to ask. We know the pitfalls and problems.

We tend to cocoon in these older years. We don't feel the need to go to homeschool meetings because we have a lot figured out already. We stick to our group of friends who are also seasoned. It is comfortable. The fact is that we are too lazy to put ourselves out there and mentor these moms coming up. We should attend these meetings not because we need information, but to be available to give information.

This is a call to all you seasoned homeschoolers: Get out there! Encourage, encourage, encourage! Get out of your comfort zone and find a new homeschooler to mentor. Make yourself available to them. Pray with them. Will they take all your advice? No. They might take none of it and that is OK. Just the fact that they have a cheerleader in their corner makes all the difference. Rah! Rah! Rah! Go Homeschool!

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

Titus 2:3-5 NIV

Is there a doctor in the house?

THE SYMPTOMS:

• I yelled at the boys twice today,
• I forgot to take my medicine this morning,
• Some guy ran into the back of me at Wal-Mart while I stood in line at the self-checkout and said "Surprise" (not "sorry"... "surprise" uh huh) I just turned and glared,
• I felt myself grit my teeth as the older lady in front struggled to find the UPC bar code to scan at the self-checkout,
• I found myself complaining to my husband about the lack of funds around Christmas when I knew he was getting paid in two days,
• I am unmotivated to check math work even though there are only 4 days left until we get out for Christmas holiday.

THE DIAGNOSIS:

Yes, I know, I'm in burnout. It's common around this time of year but for some reason it always catches me unawares. I finally got a clue after lunch that I was in full blown burnout mode. Now at least I can extend a little grace to myself and ease up. Did you ever notice that we are nicer to our friends who are having a rough day than ourselves? Recognize the symptoms you usually have during burnout and give yourself a lot of room and a few excuses to slack off.

Wal-Mart Commercial Gets My Goat

Who writes the commercials for Wal-Mart? One this summer really got my goat... it was the summer 2009 Wal-Mart commercial that said "Summer is here. Our kids are ours again." What???? Who did they belong to during the school year? The government? This line of thinking is scary. Are we are a rats hair away from total government control? Are we being conned into thinking that the government knows what is best for our kids? Probably.

While walking through the school supply aisle this August, I heard one lady commenting to another lady "God, I can't wait for school to start and for these kids to go back." The kids were standing right there and I saw their faces sink. It made me feel so sad for those precious children. I wanted to yell at these clearly idiotic women... "What is wrong with you? These kids are gifts. You should treasure every second you have with them." These are the parents whose kids get into trouble and they wonder where they went wrong.

Parents: Children are a gift. Their childhood is fleeting so don't wish away this time with them. The scripture says "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. " Proverbs 29:15 Sow into them love, kindness and discipline. Let them experience the consequences of wrong decisions. Your children are not your "best friend". Parents make decisions that are best for the child NOT what will make the child happy. Spend time with your children. Speak into their lives good things. Cheer them on in what they do best. Encourage them not to give up in things they find difficult. Your children are not there to fill your emotional needs. They are not there to hear about your problems. If you find yourself doing this, you need to reexamine your relationship with God. He is there to hear your problems and fill your needs.

Art Appreciation

Here we are in October already with several weeks of schooling out of the way. Our habits of reading the Bible daily, followed by a poem and nature walks on Monday has been working out very well so far. Today I somewhat reluctantly added art appreciation. We were studying a Picasso painting entitled "A Family of Saltimbanques". I'm not a fan of Picasso but I enjoyed studying this painting with the boys. I had them study the picture for about 5 minutes. Then we covered up the painting and then asked them to describe it. Then we looked at it again and I asked them how it made them feel. I was amazed at what they read into the painting. They both said it had a sad feeling. My 10 year old son said that he felt the lady with the hat represented Picasso and his feeling misunderstood in the art world. Wow! He also noted the coloring of the lady with the hat was the same as the boy in blue and the girl in pink and that perhaps they were related. They also said that the group was on the move. They also noted the barren location and that it added to the sad feeling of the piece. Their observations took me by surprise and now I am sorry we didn't start this sooner. I thought they wouldn't really enjoy this part of our day, but it turned out to be the highlight!

Career Assessment Tests Online

We had such a good meeting yesterday with our mentor moms. We all learned tons about how to homeschool a High School kid. One of the moms came wonderfully prepared with a sheet of websites and links. One of the links was a Career Assessment Test. Mine came out dead on.

You can check it out here www.careerdirectonline.org

I plan to have my oldest take the test. I'm interested to see the results.

Basically I learned that I have to choose my son's college choices now (8th grade). My homeschooling curriculum and record keeping will revolve around that. It boggles my mind that I have to make this choice now but I'm thankful for the words of wisdom I received from those that have walked the path before me.

Our first days...

After reading a terrific book over the summer (When Children Love to Learn), I have corrected a lot of the mistakes I have made in the past implementing Charlotte Mason's teaching methods. Every day now starts with reading straight from God's Word, reading a bit of poetry and every Monday morning is devoted to nature walks. We got the most adorable pocket journals for the boys to jot down notes or drawings from the nature walks. We have a long way to go with my youngest writing without a little encouragement, but we will get there eventually. I have corrected the way we implement narratives and I have stopped my "the moral of the story" speeches at the end of reading anything. The boys seem happier with the readings without my regurgitated edicts at the end. I've caught myself almost doing it a few times but with a little encouragement, I'll get there eventually. ;)

Lesson Plan? What Lesson Plan??

Here we are on day two of homeschooling for the 2009-2010 school year. If I had any sort of a stiff lesson plan, it would have been blown out of the water. My youngest son had a fever, cough and runny nose on Tuesday, the night before we began our first day. His fever was gone the next day, but the remnants of the cough and runny nose are still hanging on even today. My oldest son caught the cold this morning.

Thankfully on Wednesday, our first day, my youngest was feeling up to sitting on the sofa while I read the history lesson outloud from two different books. Judging from his narratives, he didn't catch much. Poor fella, I can't be too hard on him. His big brother filled in the blanks. I will most likely have to have his brother give a quick narrative on Monday when every one is feeling well.

My oldest started his Math U See Stewardship program. I'm thrilled with it! He desperately wanted to go on to Algebra 2, but seeing as how they are in the midst of revising the answer book to show you exactly how the problem is worked, I've opted to wait for the revision. Can you blame me? Thankfully, Dad can step in most of the time when I'm scratching my head. It's been 24+ years since I've seen Algebra or Geometry. I remember I liked it, but that's about it. My husband is currently in college for an engineering degree, so he is steeped in math 24/7.

My youngest son started his Spanish class today at PREP. PREP is a local school for homeschoolers. They cover things like math, science and languages that some moms have difficulty with. I'm not sure he enjoyed it because he is still trying to feel well. He went to class with a pocketful of tissue and throat lozenges. I was surprised to find myself choking back a tear or two as I left the classroom. This is the first time he has been with any other teacher in his ten years on this planet.

I'm a very organized person. Ask anyone that knows me. My Palm is my best friend. I love to keep things neat and orderly. I plan parties weeks in advance. You would think I was the sort of person that would have the next school year planned out in June. Not so. I plan each week's lessons on Monday. I write a neat weekly plan for each boy on Monday taking into account everything else going on that week. It has worked well for the last five years I have done it. Granted, my lesson plans are already organized for me on Tapestry of Grace, so there isn't much to do but decide what books to read. I do order my library books 2 weeks out, but that is about the extent of my long-term planning.

I see so many people make these grand lesson plans the summer before. They map out each day of school. Then something unexpected comes along and blows their plans away and they get frustrated and off track. They desperately try to catch up and end up being upset because they can't. I've learned to be flexible and forgiving with my schedule by only planning it at the beginning of the week. It has kept the atmosphere in our house more loving and calm. Learning is better with loving and calm.

Brown Paper Packages

"Brown paper packages tied up in string."

from the Sound of Music

Well, I could update that a little for homeschoolers of this age...

"Brown media mail boxes at the front door."

This time of year, we homeschoolers might have a pile of boxes at our door filled to the brim with school goodies. I just squeal with delight when I get one in. It may contain our science kits for Apologia or new Math U See books. It may contain history or literature reading books we can't find at the library. I let the boys open up the various boxes. It's like Christmas. Then I get very excited about whatever it contains. It's contagious. They in turn get excited about the book and beg to read it immediately. Of course, I make them wait. Delayed gratification is the sign of maturity.

I'm especially excited about my recent purchase. It contains several history books by Joy Hakim in her series "A History of US". They have to be one of the best series of history books ever written. I'm no history buff, but she makes it so fun and fascinating that I love reading them aloud to the boys. My husband, the history buff, can't put them down and declared them the most well-written series he's read.

I've also recently purchased "When Children Love to Learn" by Elaine Cooper. It's been kicking my booty. She has pointed out many of the mistakes I make when teaching the boys. I expect this year's learning and teaching will be much more fulfilling and fun. It's a tough read, but I'm making my way through the book. I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys the Charlotte Mason philosophy of teaching.

I'm also going to incorporate more poetry reading this year and have purchased two books to that end: "Poetry for Young People: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow" by Frances Schoonmaker; and "Poetry for Young People: Robert Frost" by Gary D. Schmidt. I'm interested to see how the boys react to hearing poetry read out loud on a daily basis.

We are also going to choose a bible verse for this year. I haven't found what that will be yet, but I'm listening.

We will start on September 9th. We always start out slow with just one or two subjects and slowly add a subject over the next week or so. It's is a much more pleasant start to the year and helps us from feeling overwhelmed.

This is our 7th year and what a wonderful school year it will be. To God be the glory!

Here comes August!

I visibly cringe when I walk in Wal-Mart and see the school supply aisle filling up with a multitude of school supplies in early August. Fourteen different types of scissors. Pens and pencils of every description. Backpacks and folders with a myriad of pre-teen idols smiling back at you.

I don't cringe because I hate school. I cringe because I think of all the moms and dads who have to comb through the supplies and find that lefty pair of scissors in a particular brand that the teacher insists on or searching across town for the 5 subject notebook that every store is sold out of and not the 3 subject notebook they have plenty of.

I think of all the money spent on uniforms or the perfect new outfits to make an impression on that year's set of peers. The "in" shoes. And heaven help you if you wear the wrong thing on the first day. You are branded for the entire year. I don't miss this at all. I remember standing in line for hours (yes hours) at the uniform shop waiting for my son to be measured to order up a new uniform. It was insanity.

Homeschooling has many benefits. However, I would probably do it just to avoid this beginning of the year ritual. Yes, we do buy supplies. But only when we need them. I did grab a box of color pencils for the boys while I passed by the bin at Wal-Mart and I did get some pink erasers, loose leaf paper and pencils on sale when I was at Office Depot for something else. That was the extent of my pre-school shopping friends.

I ordered my curriculum in May and purchased some used from a homeschool friend. It is all sitting neatly in its packaging reading to burst forth in a new school year of fun and learning. I will order the Math curriculum for my sons online, but I'm in no hurry. I usually receive it in a few days after ordering. If we don't have everything on day one, it isn't the end of the world. I usually ease into the school year adding a new subject after a few days. We don't jump into everything at once. Learned that years ago.

We'll order our books from the library online about a week and a half before we want to begin our school year.

Chalk up another benefit to homeschooling. Saving mom from the mosh pit of school supply shopping.

Tapestry of Grace

Usually at the end of the school year, families in our local homeschooling group post to the group any curriculum they would like to sell. I use Tapestry of Grace and I got really blessed this year when someone sold their year 4 curriculum. It is very rare to find year 3 or 4 for sale as most people start in year 1 or 2 and then decide it won't work for them and sell their curriculum.

I use the old version of Tapestry because they started updating after I purchased Year 1, so they are a year behind me in updating. I don't want to have to repurchase all new curriculum (even with the discount for previous users). I'm happy with the older version and have used it how it best fits our family.

Many people totally freak out when they look at the curriculum because there are several columns with lists and lists of books and projects. What most people don't realize is that it is like a menu. You wouldn't get everything on the menu at a restaurant. It would be too much. You just get what sounds good.

Same with Tapestry. You choose the books and projects that sound good to you and your kids. Also, when you realize that the history of the entire world is broken into four "years", it is pretty amazing. You also relax a bit when it hits you that this curriculum will take your kids from pre-school through graduation. Depending on your kid's age, they will go through the history of the world several times.

I also love it because the vocabulary/spelling words pertain to the week's books and topic. The literature and history readings all relate to the topic. The only thing I add is a math, science and grammar curriculum. Everything else is contained in Tapestry.

This is my 7th year of homeschooling. While I don't have everything figured out and I'm definitely not the model homeschooling mom, I feel somewhat confident in my choices. That's a great feeling. I'm excited about covering the more modern era in Year 4. The following year, we crack open our old friend Year 1 and dive deeper into the ancient world.

Summer Plans

Now that school is over and summer is upon us, the boys and I have a tradition of sitting down on the first day of summer break and writing out a summer schedule. We sit down with a piece of paper and write down all the fun stuff we did last summer that we want to do again. We also write down new things we want to do.

We have dubbed May the "Month of Exercise". Our goal is to do some sort of exercise every week day. We wrote out a long list of different kinds of exercise. These include walking the dog in our neighborhood, going to the dog park, riding bikes, hiking, swimming, badmitten, batting practice and indoor exercise for rainy days including bowling, walking at the mall, balloon volleyball inside and wii bowling and tennis. It may be an ambitious project, but we are going to try. May is warm here in the Houston area, but it isn't nearly as bad as the other summer months.

We also write down a weekly schedule that we keep throughout the summer. For instance, last year it was:

Monday - Library, Craft Day
Tuesday - Dog Park, Baking Day, Fencing
Wednesday - Chore Day
Thursday - Fencing
Friday - Lunch with Dad, Friend over at 3:00 pm

I like to use a computer program and type out different activities to do each week on a calendar. Word has calendar templates for this. We like a little program called "Printmaster". I make the calendar cheerful and colorful with lots of fun pictures. Then I print it out and hang it where the boys can access it. They feel empowered because they helped create the schedule and can look forward to certain activites. We've done this for the past few years and it really helps keep us on track and keeps the "I'm bored" comments down to a minimum.

This year we are also working on a few larger projects around the house. We have high ceilings in our great room. I noticed the other day that there are some cobwebs forming way up there. We are going to work together to clean these off. We also need to straighten out the garage a bit. It isn't horrible, but it is in need of some organization. We also need to clean out the school cabinet and the art cabinet. The boys took care of the art cabinet this morning and it only took them about 10 minutes to go through their supplies and purge and organize. We will tackle one large project a day until they are done.

We want to feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of our summer. We want to use our time wisely. But don't get me wrong. Summer is definitely a time for relaxation. While the rules don't relax, the schedule definitely does. We will have fun times making ice cream, swimming, going to the beach, going to the movies, have friends over, making movies and picking blackberries. We are trying to fit a vacation into our budget/schedule this year.

Finishing up the year

We really pushed ourselves this year and as a result will be finished with our year's work tomorrow! Wow! I toyed with the idea of ordering all the new books and letting them start, but with a few months break in between, the majority of what they learned would have been forgotten. I've decided to start up school a little early for the 2009-2010 school year. I'm not one of those year round schoolers. The reason is because my husband is still in college and we want to be off when Dad is off. We are really looking forward to the summer. We don't have any big plans yet. We are just looking forward to the summer break when we can cut loose. Bring on the lazy days of summer!

Moving my Homeschool blogging to this new blog...

I've decided to move all my homeschooling blogging to this new blog. My other blog was getting cluttered with other stuff. I hate clutter so here is a new box for my homeschooling thoughts. Enjoy!