School Year in Review

This post has been a long time coming.  Really, it would have been best written back in May before summer came along.  Having all my kiddos back home with me, if only for a time, makes everything seem okay and the troubles of the past school year long gone.  Spring is the time when I'm fretting and deciding.  Now, in July, I'm left with trying to remember the passion of the problems.  Ah well, better late than never, right?

Timothy - age 16

Tim attended Valley Christian for his 3rd year, this year, completing 10th grade. (Which brings us to: 1.5 years at a church-based Christian school, 1.5 years at a public elementary school, 3 years at a small Montessori school, 2 years at home school, and 3 years at a larger Christian school.)  Each year that he's attended VCS, I've felt like the next year has got to be better: he'll be older, more mature, and be used to the routine.  And so three years pass, and he is still having a hard time connecting with teachers, maintaining enough motivation to complete a semester, and preventing himself from procrastinating to the point where his work doesn't get turned in.  He has two years of high school left, is not planning on jumping into a 4-year college, is yearning to start working, and is dreading two years wasted by sitting around in classes that don't teach him anything.*  He's now accumulated a full credit of English that needs to be made up, and has discovered that the expensive, online summer course that the school offered was no better at getting him through the material.

And so, Chris and I decided to approach him with the possibility of completing his schooling at home, while working part time for Chris at Traffic Management.  You should have seen the relief on his face. He knew it was an option, and had been thinking about it for the last year, but something about having his parents' blessing made it all really fall into place.  (Funny how that works.)  He hasn't even taken a summer break.  He got out of school and began working.  He did a wonderful job working last summer, and was eager to join the accounting team once again.  In the fall he'll be using Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2, Notgrass Exploring Government, Graphic Arts, Japanese (not sure which program yet) and English (put together by your truly**).  He's excited; let's hope it lasts. :)  Am I nervous about home-schooling a high schooler?  Yes and no.  It's a great responsibility, but I'm excited to have him home, am looking forward to exploring literature with him, and have the great benefit of tons of curriculum choices to help me out.  Love that.


Andrew - age 13
Andrew ventured into the lands of the larger school classroom this year, completing 7th grade at Valley Christian Middle School.  He attended Tahoe Montessori from Pre-K to 3rd, and home-schooled from 3rd-6th.  He loved home school.  He liked that he could get his work done quickly, and liked how much he could learn - this is a guy who loves information.  However, we thought that it was important that he experience school for a couple of reasons: 1) the opportunity to learn from different teachers, and 2) the opportunity to be involved in many more activities that are difficult to offer at home.

Andrew is notorious for disliking change.  He had quite a while to get used to the idea of attending school, but we were still nervous that he'd have a hard time adapting.  He, however, did a fabulous job. He made friends easily, always had his homework done and got good grades, enjoyed having something to occupy a good part of his day, and loved his teachers and his classes.***  He became the champion of more than one kid being picked on when he discovered that he had no problem standing up for what he believes is right.  He did have one major complaint, though, and that was the lack of material they went through in class.  He did not like having to wait for everyone else to understand things before moving on.  In his opinion, home school is if you want to learn, public/private school is if you want to enjoy friends.

He put serious consideration into whether he wanted to remain at VCS next year, because he really does miss learning at the level he can at home, but he has decided to stay.  I think he'll do well - he's already anticipating being able to do Honors classes in high school.


Melinda - age 11
After attending Pre-K to 2nd grade at Tahoe Montessori, and then home schooling 3rd-5th grade, Melinda was begging to be allowed to attend school so that she could spend her days socializing instead of learning.****  Fulling believing that it would be difficult for her, we nevertheless decided to let her try her experiment.

It ended up being the hardest thing she's ever done.  Not because of the academics, she was just fine as far as that was concerned, but a gaggle of 6th grade girls is tough crowd - especially considering that many of them had known each other for a long time and considered Melinda an outsider.  I saw my spunky daughter's confidence start to shake as she constantly dealt with playground shenanigans.  It's amazing how mean kids can be; even "Christian" kids.  I came [thisclose] to pulling her out of the school about 2/3 through the year when she was in the office sobbing (for the 3rd time that year) because of mean students or lack of information and communication from the staff.  Sure, at some point we all have to realize that there are terrible people in the world, but it doesn't have to be at such a tender, uncertain age.

Nevertheless, Melinda wants to try again.  She made a couple of good friends, and is willing to see if everyone else has grown up a bit by the time summer is over.  I admit that she has more hope in that area than I do.  She's an incredible girl with strong gifts of authority and leadership, things I find incredible and worth protecting.  We will stay in prayer, and take it as it comes.


Audrey - age 8

I'm incredibly blessed to still have Audrey at home with me.  What a treat she is!  She adores math and science, and is therefore a bit advanced in those areas.  She made a huge jump in reading this year, and is now easily reading chapter books to herself.  She's definitely active, and gets bored if each day feels like the same old material, but I'm getting pretty good at mixing it up, skipping ahead, or setting things aside if she's getting antsy.  She absolutely goes through a ton more material that way than if we were just plodding on.

She completed Math Mammoth 2 this year - a program that has proven (in my experience with other programs and schools) to be advanced.  She's jumping into multiplication with gusto.  As a science lover, she's worked on multiple programs this year, beginning with what was included in Moving Beyond the Page (what we used for social studies and science at the beginning of the year, but finished early.  We flew through it since we found the content repetitive and rather light. Moving on to Something Else next year!)  We also began (and will be continuing with) a Sonlight Science program (I can't keep track of which level since they switched from numbers to letters) and completed an experiment kit from the Academy of Science for Kids.  We also started an Equine program from WinterPromise that we'll be doing [slowly] on riding lesson days.

So for 3rd grade: we'll be using Story of the World Volume 1 (excited about this! I love how it teaches history, combining activities and projects).  For math we'll be using Teaching Textbooks 3 (since we already have it, and she's already started it, and she's up for a change etc etc) in conjunction with Math-U-See Gamma.  Science will be a continuation of SL, WP, and a bunch of experiment oriented things we have.  English will be a mix also: continuing with All About Spelling (LOVE this program) and Queen's Language Lessons, and adding in a writing workbook as well.  Should be fun! This girl still loves to learn, has been asking to do word problems and wants me to read her something like science or history even though it's summer.  She's ready to hit 3rd grade for sure.


__________________________
* Note that this is his perspective, and could easily be rephrased thus: "is dreading two years wasted by sitting around in classes that he refuses to learn from." It's a matter of perspective, sure, but the ending result is the same.  He isn't learning, and therefore vital years of youthful energy are being wasted.

** Despite what you might think, this is a fun, exciting prospect.

*** Except for Photography, where absences from illness and a lack of understanding about what was going on made for a frustrating experience.

**** This is my idea of a joke, people.

Back to School

This year is the first time Andrew (12) and Melinda (10) have been in a classroom with over 10 students or a school with over 30 students.  This is the first year they have schooled outside our home in the big, sprawling city.  Little by little it is getting easier for me to drop them off and drive away, but I do miss them.  On the flip side, Audrey and I are enjoying our days together very much.

Timothy was a bit blindsided by the amount of homework he had in his first week of 10th grade, but seems to be getting caught up as his classes even out and get into rhythm.  He is regretting not having much time to work at Traffic Management, but did manage to go in all day Saturday, and put in a few hours after school on Wednesday.  He's done a fabulous job this summer with work and responsibility.  Chris was very happy to have him as an employee, if only temporarily.  Tim saved up enough to pay off a debt he acquired due to a stolen bicycle, and went on to buy himself 2 surfboards (!!) and an iphone (with money leftover to pay for those monthly bills).  He impressed me by being bold enough to figure out the city's bus system (motivated by a desire to get to the beach and surf) and now isn't intimidated by it at all.  He walks about a mile from our house to catch the bus to Bolsa Chica, and even manages to catch a bus back.  I guess he's really growing up.

The most difficult part of adapting to school for Andrew is waking up in the mornings.  Now he understands TGIF and the loveliness of weekends.  He has made friends (is going to a birthday party this weekend in fact) and enjoys his classes.  He's in 7th grade now, and the middle school he attends has only 7th and 8th grade (love that!).  One of his favorite classes is Novels...an elective for people who just love to read.  He says that the environment in that class is the best, since it is filled with people that are there because they want to be there.

Andrew hasn't had any problem in organization, and does an excellent job at getting his homework done without being asked.  He says that one reason he likes going to school is that it takes up part of his day.  His least favorite part of school is his math homework.  Not the class or the difficulty, but just how long it takes to show your work and do everything thoroughly.  The hardest part socially has been the direct exposure to people who are unkind or unjust to others.  Already Andrew has confronted 8th graders for teasing a boy for his looks.  I love that he isn't intimidated and is willing to stand up for others and what's right.  He amazes me, this one.  Brings tears to my eyes actually.  What a guy.

Poor Melinda was out of school for most of her second week of 6th grade with an icky Back-to-School virus...so far nobody else is showing symptoms.  She's back today, but a little stressed at the thought of trying to catch up (in fact she actually wondered aloud why she ever wanted to go to Valley in the first place--that's how you know she's stressed!).  She has some friends (mostly due to a summer craft day-camp she went to at the school) but is still working on finding her place.  The elementary school operates so differently from the middle school or high school that it has taken me some getting used to.  Melinda hasn't been very impressed with the hot lunch system, so we are going to have to do some shopping to aid our daily lunch-making process.

Melinda has decided to be in band this year, and is very excited to learn to play flute.  When I was growing up I felt like the only girl who didn't play flute or clarinet (always had a thing for the piano) so it's fun for me to have a flute in the house.  Math is going to be a struggle for Melinda the next couple of months as she tries to get used to a new curriculum (Everyday Mathematics, yikes) and new ways of thinking.  She's always been great at understanding the concepts, but some of her math facts still elude her.  She is growing into such a beautiful young lady, and is doing a wonderful job at handling the surges of conflicting emotions.  She loves people and loves to serve.  Wonderful things are in store for this darling.

Audrey couldn't wait to start school, and has really loved getting to spend the entire day with me.  It took her a little while to "get her math brain on" (as she says) but as soon as I told her that I'd scheduled extra math because she had liked it so much, and offered to decrease the amount, she perked up and plowed through.  She said, "Nope, that's okay.  I can do it."  And she has.  I'm using Math Mammoth 2 and Jump Math 3 for her this year, and she's doing great.  We used Math Mammoth 1 last year, and she had no problem making it through all the work (the program seems more advanced to me than others I've tried.)  She discovered regrouping in double-digit addition on her own...when I told her she wasn't supposed to know how to do that yet, she glowed.

Other things we are using and enjoying include Moving Beyond the Page (which I find to be too Social Studies focused rather than History/Geography focused...yes, there is a difference...but Audrey is enjoying it, and it is on track with what Valley is doing, in case she wants to give it shot at some point in the future.)  The photo above shows a 3D map that we made when we were talking about Communities.  We are also using Queen's Language Lessons for the first time, and I'm enjoying it so far.  I started her at a lower level in order to build confidence, which seems to be working.  We're doing 4 lessons/day right now!  At this rate we should be moving onto the next level before Thanksgiving.  I adjust the pace of her work as we go, speeding up or slowing down each subject to make it fit her just right.

That's about it!  The last two weeks have been craziness, but I'm sure everyone can relate.  We'll get settled in before long.

Another School Year is Over

Completing a school year is no small feat, whether student or parent, so I thought it would be good to take some time to reflect on it.  Maybe that will help prepare me for the next round which is quickly approaching!  The next school year is bringing big changes for our family, as Andrew and Melinda venture into the world of schooling in a classroom with more than 4 students (technically they've experienced that at Tahoe Montessori, so perhaps I should have said that this will be their first time in a daily classroom with more than 10 students.) They are both positive about going, and Melinda (in true Melinda fashion) is thrilled.  I am alternately relieved (preteen is not my favorite age, as it turns out) and depressed (I'm going to miss them!).  Audrey is pretty excited that she gets me all to herself next year, although I find myself wondering how long it will be before she wants to be at Valley Christian too.

Audrey was in 1st grade this year. Structurally, this was the year that Audrey became accustomed to doing school every day, even when she didn't feel like it or didn't enjoy the material.  She [mostly] completed her Headsprout Phonics program and is doing a good job reading, but where she really shines is math.  She worked through Math Mammoth 1 this year, and just loves being able to figure out her own math tricks. We used Sonlight for history (cultures) and science, and both of these she finished early.  She also listened in on history for the older kids, as well as most of the other books I read to them, so she got in more school than she realized.  Next year we're going to use Moving Beyond the Page to keep us on track with Valley Christian's topics.

Timothy completed 9th grade this year, and officially passed his dad up in the height department.  9th grade was much easier for him than 8th in some regards...especially in the time and attitude management department.  This isn't to say that this year was easy, but that somewhere in the 3rd quarter he seemed to come to terms with the fact that school is not fair, easy, or fun.  He will be continuing on at Valley Christian for his Sophmore year, which we are all hoping goes more smoothly still.  He is glad that next year will not include band or Spanish, bummed that it will include English.  You can't win them all.

For Andrew, this was the year of blissful sleep--one of the things he most loves about home schooling (another thing being his delight at being able to finish all of his school work in a fraction of the time a normal school day consumes.)  He made huge progress in his writing skills, and is no longer afraid of a 5 paragraph essay.  He's looking forward to making friends and taking electives in 7th grade at the middle school next year, even at the cost of early mornings.  It's going to be hard on him, but hopefully the benefits will outweigh the frustrations.  Personally, I'm glad that it will force him away from his computer--where he's been contentedly immersed much of the year (even with time restrictions!)

Melinda will be in 6th grade next year, which I'm having a difficult time comprehending.  She's young for her grade, and sometimes struggles to keep up--especially in the area of comprehending instructions...next year should be fun. :/
She loves to be busy, so hopefully the jam-packed school days will be right up her alley.  This year she amazed me with how much school work she can pump out.  She loves earth science and creative writing, merely tolerating history and math.  She's growing a lot emotionally right now (translate: hormones are kicking in!) but we'll figure it out.  We'll survive!

NOW I'm ready to start summer.  If only it weren't already half over. :(

Back to School

Enough slacking already, it's past time for me to acknowledge that school is in full swing again.  This week is our home school's fourth week, and Timothy's third week of high school.  Everything is already starting to settle in, from the inevitable adjustments in schedule, structure, and curricula at home, to the decline in spirits of my teenager who has just realized that even with better teachers and less hormonal swings, school still requires responsible behavior and decisions.

Timothy seems to be adjusting to life on the high school campus fine.  Chris and I met his teachers on Monday night (Back to School Night) and found that he has:
   1 amazing teacher (Geography)
   1 very good teacher (Health)
   5 good/standard teachers (Band, Spanish, Science, Algebra, English)

The hard part is simply trying to help Timothy learn how to help himself.  How to not feel overwhelmed and put a little effort into getting through high school.  He's such a smart guy, but he really doesn't like school...except the social part.  (I haven't taken any pictures of him since I'm still bleary eyed when he leaves in the morning. Sorry. But take my word for it--he got a hair cut and looks quite handsome.)

School books--just a sampling. :)

It always surprises me that regardless of how much planning time I put into the home school year, it is always immediately apparent that some adjustments are needed.  I'm adding in a first grader this year (Audrey's kindergarten year was a little less formal) which has shaken things up a bit as far as scheduling the day goes.  I had some time this weekend to reorganize our history schedule, since all of my desire to use a pre-made schedule couldn't make up for the fact that my kids would be much happier (and learn much more) with some minor changes.

Looks more tranquil that it is--imagine leaf blowers, sirens...

Everyone has had a change in math and English, which has prompted Melinda to look for places to do her work that will help her to eliminate stress.  The adjustment in English has been small and easy for her, but math has really thrown her for a loop.  We are pressing on, however, since I made the change in order to help them adjust to how math is presented in brick & mortar schools (at this point we are planning for Melinda and Andrew to attend Valley Christian next year).

If there is to be a mess, let it be with books.

Andrew has done great with all of his changes.  He had a big change in English and Math, but he has adapted well.  He is currently reading The Fellowship of the Ring (of his own choice) which is something I've never done...he's almost done and loving it.  The thing Andrew has to work the hardest at this year is eliminating careless mistakes in his math, and being responsible in completing all of his work on time.

Audrey made sure to finish her K workbook before moving on.

Audrey is loving school.  Every once in a while she sighs about a specific task, but overall she is eager to do more than required.  She is speeding through her science and history especially.  She loves being read to and loves having a schedule just like the big kids.

Did I mention I'm actually doing better at cooking too?

As far as organization goes, I'm using a method similar to what I used last year: binders with weekly checklist/schedules for the kiddos, schedules for me (used rather loosely) and weekly folders for organizing some of our work.  We've been much better about timelines since I've organized them better, and maps are getting done regularly thanks to the Story of the World Activity Guide.  

I actually have "Completed Work" binders set up.

All of the kiddos got haircuts before getting pictures taken.  Most shocking of all is Andrew's hair cut, since his hair was so long before.  What a handsome guy!

Homeschooling: A Year in Review

This school year has been a difficult one for me, due to a lack of solid preparation in the curricula/planning department, combined with an unplanned move that left me mentally swamped for the first half of the school year.  Those things have definitely colored our year, but will hopefully affect next year in a positive manner.  Generally speaking, we had such a great time with WinterPromise's American Story 2 last year that I switched almost everything over to WP this year, which didn't work out so well.  Item by item, here's the deal:

HISTORY:  I chose WinterPromise Quest for the Ancient World for history because the age range was right (4th-6th grade), it covered the right time period (Ancient History only), WinterPromise was great for us last year with American Story 2, and the spine, Mystery of History, looked great.  In the end, we loved the Illustrated Family Bible and had fun with the Hieroglyphics Treasure Chest but the large majority of the program just didn't work well for us.  Mystery of History, although I loved it, bored the kids to tears.  In retrospect, it would have worked better if I'd pre-read each weeks lessons and taught it in my own words instead of reading the lesson together...if I'd had the time and mental where-with-all. Overall, it lacked the variety of non-fiction books that we loved in American Story 2, and that--combined with difficulty in organization and implementation (separate schedules for the students, notebooking pages)--made it less enjoyable.  I realized that it was those NF books (rather than all the hands-on craft type things that WinterPromise is known for) and the website/dvd suggestions that I really liked about WinterPromise last year.  I will probably use it again at some point, but not next year.  [next year: SL Core 2 and K, Oh California, miscellaneous additional books, as well as geography study]

LITERATURE:  Really, nothing beats Sonlight for great literature.  We used much of the first half of Core 6, and all of Core P4/5 and loved most of it.  We will absolutely continue with Sonlight. [next year: second half of Core 6, all of Core 2, Readers 2 Advanced, Core K, various beginning readers]

LANGUAGE ARTS:  Whew.  I don't know if I'm ready to talk about this one!
--Audrey started the year using McRuffy Language Arts K.  She enjoyed the different workbook pages until they started getting repetitive, and enjoys the readers for the most part.  We discontinued using it because too many words were popping up in the readers that didn't follow the rules she was learning.  Also, some things seemed to be taught in an illogical order towards the end of the program. [next year: Phonics Pathways, Writing With Ease 1, Handwriting Without Tears 1]
--I started Andrew and Melinda out using WinterPromise's Language Arts, hoping that using WP for history as well as language would streamline our day.  There were, however, too many frustrations with unexplained topics, and we quickly reconfigured our language curricula choices.  Next year we are trying something completely different.
--Andrew, for most of the year, used Junior Analytical Grammar, which I loved for it's logical progression and simplicity, but Andrew felt it to be complicated and difficult.  He used IEW's writing lessons for a while, but then we switched to Wordsmith Apprentice, which he seems to tolerate better.  That boy just doesn't like writing!  He also used Words are Wonderful for vocabulary which was fine, bordering on busy-work. SpellWell for spelling--I like their word lists, but don't know that the execution worked so well for Andrew. [next year: Character Quality Language Arts]
--Melinda also used Junior Analytical Grammar, and it went over her head sooner than Andrew's.  She used Just Write for writing, and All About Spelling (the most amazing spelling program ever). [next year: perhaps/probaby Character Quality Language Arts]

MATH:  Andrew and Melinda used Math-U-See, which I have been very happy with.  It presents everything in such a logical, sequential way that they don't struggle with the concepts at all.  Towards the end of the year, when I realized that they could use a little more drill/refresher on the basics, I started having them do Math Minutes as well.  Audrey has used RightStart as her base, which is a GREAT program, and added in Horizons and Math-U-See because she can't get enough. [next year, continuing Math-U-See and RightStart, undecided on supplemental program]


SCIENCE: We started out with WinterPromise Rock Around the Earth, which I was really excited about...until we started.  I was very interested to learn more about the earth and geology with the kids, but this program was BORING.  I tried to stick with it for quite a while, and then ended up switching to Sonlight Science 2 and 4, which has worked out great. [next year: finish Sonlight Science 2, 4, and K, then undecided]

ELECTIVES: This year we learned how to play Chess with WinterPromise, and Piano with Pianimals and Bastien.  All worked pretty good (Pianimals is great--highly recommended, especially for young beginners) and we will be continuing with piano lessons next year, adding Audrey in.  [next year: at least piano, health, art]


All in all, next year I am going to attempt to streamline Language Arts, focus on math and writing instead of history and grammar, reduce stress with a better routine/schedule, and lighten up the year with unit-sized electives and interest based science.

Set it on Fire

Timothy got a blue ribbon for his Science Fair Project, but even better than that, he was really excited about it.  It is not a common occurrence for him to be excited about a large homework project, I assure you...it was a picture taking opportunity.

Chris helped Timothy come up with the idea and provided motivation, and Gramps helped him with the building plan, supplies, construction and operation of the project (thank you Gramps!) All Timothy cared about was that he'd get to do something with FIRE.  When he got to add music into the mix, he was one happy camper.  His presentation was about the principle of sound waves, which he demonstrated with a Standing Wave Flame Tube.  He had a great time demonstrating it at the Science Fair; he got a fantastic response & drew a continual crowd.  Here are some pics:

Out of Focus

I've recently found myself somewhat disillusioned with my purpose for homeschooling.  There were a few reasons for this: flu for a month, lack of sleep, new kindergartener, entering the school year feeling unorganized, lack of sleep, new teenager in a new school, unplanned house purchases and listings and showings, lack of sleep...I couldn't catch up--couldn't even stay behind at the same rate.  Apart form the basics: math, reading, and language arts, academics were uninspired and faltering.  The kids seemed to have made much improvement last year, but this year I felt they were only maintaining, not gaining on, the learning curve. 

I made lists (one of my favorite mental organization tools) and realized that my main reasons for homeschooling are not necessarily for amazingly superior academics resulting in kids graduating college when they are 17, but for social, emotional, relational, spiritual reasons.  And really, regardless of how ill-behaved my children might be at any given moment in time, overall they are so much improved in the last couple years that it is impossible to mistake the cause.  I know without a doubt that my relationships with each of my children is better than it would have been if they had never homeschooled. I can see them develop positive social and emotional skills; I have experienced the deepening of their faith.

I had an example of this recently when Melinda came home from a friend's house (one we don't get to see very often anymore) wanting to share with me a revelation she'd had.

"Mom," she said. "I figured out why [my friend] and [her sister] are always fighting."  She paused to make sure I was listening and then continued.  "Her parents don't ever go to church--not EVER.  They don't even WANT to!  They say they hate church and they don't believe in God or Jesus at all."  She paused again, and then--in a quieter voice--said, "[My friend] and [her sister] think their parents are stupid and retarded."

At this she teared up.  As I welcomed her into my arms for a hug and to tell her that we would start praying for them every day, I realized what an amazing blessing it is to have children who know without a doubt that I love them and am on their "team". 

You must understand that this daughter of mine is the child in our family most likely to be dramatic and take offense.  No stranger to sibling arguments is she.  Also understand that this family she speaks of is a normal, functional family.  These children have attended private school for most of their schooling and are generally well behaved girls.  But my precious 9 year-old could sense a difference in the family dynamics and was troubled by it enough to ponder it in her easily distractible mind.  And what she discovered grieved her.

If homeschooling my children, for whatever amount of time it may be, can make such an impact on their spiritual lives, my burden is light.  I have many years left in my parenting journey, but right now--today--I am simply thankful for a God who is real enough to make a difference in daily life, who IS a tangible love, who will cover you in a deep seated peace and fill you with a bubbling joy.  I am grateful for the opportunity to share my God with some incredible children, and so very glad that He is there to put things back in focus.

Mr. History

Andrew, my 10 year-old, is a self-avowed lover of history. It is his favorite subject. He also loves to read. Literature based history curricula are right up his alley. This year, for his 4th grade year, we used WinterPromise American Story 2 (designed for grades 2-4) in conjunction with Sonlight Core 4 (recommended for grades 4-7). Apart from our history lessons, we also had daily read-alouds and readers, typically relating to our history studies.

We read 7 of 9 scheduled WinterPromise read-alouds, 6 of 14 scheduled Sonlight read-alouds, as well as an additional 5 books--making a total of 18 books read aloud this year for school. Andrew read 13 of Sonlight's 20 readers, as well as an additional 5 books--making a total of 18 books he read to himself this year (not counting free reading).

Today, in my planning for next year, I asked Andrew some questions. I'm trying to figure out if I need to add some of Sonlight Core 6 into our WinterPromise: Quest for the Ancient World studies next year. His answers were fun to hear, so I thought I'd share.

1. Were the books that you were assigned to read too easy, too dificult, just right, or a mix? A mix. Some were easy, some were just right, and one or two were a little hard.

2. Did you like the style of the books you read, or would you have wanted some different kinds of books? I'd say the books were pretty much exactly my style.

3. Do you think you were assigned too many, too few, or just the right number of books? Too few!

I guess that answers my question! Poor me, I have to place an order with Sonlight. :)

Creating a Reader

I posted this over on the Sonlight Forums, but thought I'd post a copy here as well. Melinda has made such amazing progress in reading this year, and I'm deeply thankful. I'm thankful for Sonlight, who not only put together good reading packages, but provides a wonderful community through their forums--from which I've gained a tremendous amount of wisdom. I'm thankful that God laid it on my heart to homeschool, and worked everything out in His perfect timing. I'm thankful that God has helped me grow so much this year, and that He saw my heart's desire for Melinda to experience the joy of reading (not just the duty). Here is the story:

This last year was the first year I've homeschooled all 4 of my children.

Last spring and summer, my (then) 7yo dd came up with her personal mantra that she would adamantly declare multiple times a day: I hate reading!

So as soon as we'd decided to homeschool, and I reclaimed responsibility for her education, we backed up in the instruction. Totally took off the pressure for reading level and expectations. She was required to read every day, but at very easy levels. We started with SL Fun Tales, and then went through all the easy readers I could get my hands on. Meanwhile, she continued to tell everyone she met: I hate reading!

We began nightly read-alouds, and when school started in the fall, she continued on with SL Readers 1 and 2. Slowly, the mantra faded away. She started reading the Beginner's Bible by herself, without telling me--I only found out when she announced that she'd read the entire Old Testament. We were all so proud of her, and when questioned, she said: I guess reading isn't so bad.

When we moved up to SL Readers 2 Intermediate, I was surprised to see that she made the transition to longer books without complaint. I started noticing that Reading was always the first thing she completed in the morning. Today, now that our school year is officially finished, I asked what her favorite subject was. She said, Reading is the best!

Yesterday afternoon I told her that if she reads 8 books this summer, she will get a free book of her choice. She's already on book #2!

I'm so thrilled. This year has changed my daughter's life--in more ways than just this, but this is a tangible example of her growth. I'm humbled and honored by this thing called Motherhood, by the blessings God has given me.

Weird Like Me

"Mom, can we please take the test? We're begging you!"

That was what came out the the mouths of my children yesterday. No joke.

I ordered CATs (California Achievement Tests) for Timothy, Andrew, and Melinda, and they arrived on Wednesday. I'm not required to test, being a private school in California, but I wanted to have an idea of where they were in the scheme of things. The private school that they attended before being homeschooled did not do any testing, so this was their first experience. They actually enjoyed it. It got them out of doing their normal studies, and they got to fill in little bubbles. What more could they ask for? Audrey joined in the fun by working on her Explode the Code books, and Juno (the cat)...well, he's just weird.

Are they obviously homeschooled? Or are they just weird like me?

Middle School Preview

Chris and I toured a private Christian middle school recently, with the aim of finding a place to enroll Timothy for 8th grade next year. The school actually serves Pre-K through 12th grade, but on 3 separate campuses. The middle school campus holds 7th and 8th grades. There are currently around 130 kids enrolled in those 2 grades.

We think we will be moving ahead with the admissions process. The staff that we met was all very friendly, enthusiastic about the grades they teach, and dedicated to helping the children grow in Christ. Their first goal is to help the students find their identity in Christ, and figure out how everything they learn fits with God's plan and character. The school has many music, art, and sport opportunities, as well as lunch and bus services.

It's so odd to be moving into this next stage of life, where my oldest starts the journey that will lead him through high school and eventually out of my house. I'm unable to comprehend how much he will change and grow in the next 5 years. I'm definitely not at the stage where I can contemplate how my other children will be hard on his heels in the race for adulthood. I am, however, finally beginning to understand empty nest syndrome.

Progress Reports

This is our first year homeschooling all of our children (it is the 2nd year for our 12 year-old). It is going really well so far. Before restarting lessons after the holidays, we had "Teacher-Student Conferences". Melinda is doing very well across the board. Andrew is doing very well apart from the occasional lapse in positive attitude. It was generally agreed that Timothy needs to put forth more effort, which goes hand-in-hand with me expecting more out of him, I suppose.

Chris and I also had a discussion with Timothy regarding high school. It ended up in a different place than I thought it would, so now I'm in the process of reorganizing my thinking, and researching many things for the next school year. Next year Timothy will be in 8th grade. We began homeschooling him with the idea that we'd homeschool through middle school, and then let him return to a brick and mortar school for high school. Not surprisingly, Timothy has another case of "the grass is greener on the other side"...or in the other school, perhaps. He'd like to return to school next year instead of the year after.

Since we began homeschooling Timothy, we have also started homeschooling the other kiddos. We have also moved, so schooling options are different. What this means for me is that I have less time to get him "caught up" to where I'd like him to be before returning to school. And so, with the planning and panic that entails, I am off running--trying to decide what our plans will actually be, and how we are going to get there.

And that is where I leave it for now. Incoherent ramblings and indecisiveness will no doubt be available on my other blog (that's partly why I made another blog, after all).

Picture Day!

Enough procrastinating, already. It was high time that I took some "school pictures". Thanks to the persistence of my lovely daughter Melinda, it actually got done today. And to top it all off, we had fun. Here's some of the funnies:I quickly found out that getting Audrey to talk about the reasons why she loves horses is NOT the way to get a smile out of her. It is the way to get to the heart of her little philosophical self. Ha-ha...I couldn't resist snapping this shot (even though you can see my Quasimodo-reminiscent shadow in the foreground). There is something so funny to me about children willingly and uniformly lined up without a parent nearby. It's just. not. natural. :-)Oh my. I am SO tempted to make this be Andrew's official school portrait. What a face! He was quite disgruntled that the sun had the audacity to unceasingly find it's way into his eyes. The nerve!Whodunit? Definitely not Melinda. She's as innocent as can be, can't you see?Timothy's laugh and smile really sum it up. Picture taking was fun. (Much more fun than math anyhow.)

And now I must convince myself that I need to work on denying the temptation to send these pictures out instead of the more serious ones. I just love non-traditional quirky photos!

Eureka! We've Struck Gold!

Well, instead of talking about how homeschooling is going today, I thought I'd reflect on happier times. Today is, as Mondays will be, full of tears and anguish, moaning and groaning, and gnashing of teeth. Today everyone is complaining that everyone else is picking on them. Today Timothy's math hates him more than usual. Today the milk has run out. Again.

But ahhh, last week. Last week was golden. Literally. Last week we broke out all of our gold panning supplies and tried our hands at prospecting. We had 2 kits from Hands and Hearts, as well as the supplies included in our history studies from Winterpromise: American Story 2, so we had 3 gold pans going. All 4 kids got to try their hand at it, and I think that Audrey came out as the best (she was the only one not worried about losing some of her gold).We did our gold panning in an ice chest--leaving the cloudy water and gritty residue for Chris to find later that day. Oops.Melinda was SO excited to try this. She enjoyed it very much, and did quite well...after she got her mind around the fact that the ants on the ground were not out to get her.The Hands and Hearts kits had 8 bb/pellet things hidden in the sand and rocks. Audrey found them all without digging around with her fingers (like the older kiddos resorted to doing out of fear that they'd be washed over the edge). They also included a vial of gold flakes to keep.Studying the Gold Rush has been fun, especially being familiar with many of the locations talked about in the books we've read. Adding activities like this has been a remarkable way to make our studies more meaningful. We're really enjoying the approach that Winterpromise takes to learning history, especially in combination with some of Sonlight's great literature pics.

I'll post later about some of our other school activities.

Name that School!

The time of year has come and gone in which I must register as a private school in the state of California in order to homeschool my kiddos. Going through this process spurred me to consider a new school name. I am required to have a name for my school, and am driven by my inner perfectionist to consider and reconsider until the last moment.

Last year I'd settled on SageCrest Academy. A sage is a wise person, and combined with the word crest, I felt it to represent the pinnacle of wisdom. This was all very good until I received a random advertisement in the mail for a Sage Crest School for gifted learners in Reno. Zap! My name was no longer creative. Drat! That led into me feeling like Sagecrest was really a name more suitable for a subdivision than a school. Thus, the desire for a new name quickly surfaced.

We had a couple of amazing contenders this year. This one is great, but showed up on the scene a tad too late:

Scholastic Spantastic

Isn't that fabulous? The next is probably my favorite, although it lost the winning spot because I was unable to say it without giggling. It still may become our school slogan, though. It's that good.

Academia Mesopotamia

Tee-hee! Isn't that wonderful? That's was from the brilliant mind of my hunny. In the end, I decided on Vita et Veritas (meaning Life and Truth) because I figure that anything in Latin sounds intelligent. And if my darling children need to transfer to another school someday, I'd at least like them to sound intelligent. (where are my emoticons when I need them?)

Book Review: Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning

“An Approach to Distinctively Christian Education”

This book has a lot of interesting information, still applicable to schooling today even though it was written in 1991. The book discusses education in general, with a focus on what Christian Education should be, in the framework of the Classical Education model.

I really appreciated the depth of the discussion about what Christian Education should be. Much of the book was spent comparing a Christian Education to a Humanistic Education, exploring exactly why they are different. Basically, one must realize that a complete Christian Education is not accomplished by adding prayer and bible study to a Humanistic course of study. Christian Education is built on the framework of knowing that all study is connected to the Creator—they are not individual disconnected areas of study.

As much as I enjoyed and agreed with most of this book, I have to say that I remain unconvinced that a complete Christian Education is the only way to reform education in America simply because this is not the method employed by other countries whose educational systems far exceed that of the United States. It is probably true that countries whose students perform better academically do so in part because of societal expectations. Therefore, in a broader sense I suppose the argument could be applied that Christianity is (or was, or should be) America’s framework for such expectations. In that case the breakdown of the Christian faith in America would account for a degeneration of academic and moral expectations. I tend to think, however, that the problem is more likely to lie in the fact that we are a nation of immigrants tied together by the idea of freedom. Without any other unifying moral framework this ideal has evolved into a sense of entitlement which has had a detrimental affect on many different aspects of our country and government.

I don’t think that the answer to education, or any other government program, is to attempt to make it distinctively Christian. I do think, however, that it would benefit Christian families to put more thought into the issues that Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning raises. Overall, I have to say that it was an enjoyable, well written book. If you are in the mood to refine your educational philosophy, I suggest you pick up a copy and see where it takes you!

Nothing like the last minute

Oops. I think that I just changed Andrew's writing program without meaning to! This would be the 3rd program so far this year...in the whole 5 weeks of schooling we've done so far. This wasn't my plan, far from it. I had researched all my curriculum extensively before purchasing for the year, really hoping to find the right fit on the first try.

I bought Writing With Ease by Susan Wise Bauer, and read through it last night. Ms. Bauer is the co-author (with her mother) of The Well Trained Mind. Many of her opinions are ones that I agree with, so this book really made sense to me. It is a longer term gradual approach to good writing, although she includes instructions on starting older children in it as well.

I purchased it with my girls in mind, but as I was working with Andrew today on his writing I realized that this approach very well may make more sense to him than what we were doing before. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll be typing up a short review of WWE, as well as a comparison to IEW. (And to all you non-homeschooling types with the glazed over eyes, feel free to skip over those posts! There will more fun stuff coming as well.)

Civil War Dinner

We have been studying the Civil War with Winterpromise's American Story 2. When I told the kids that there was instructions on how to make hardtack in the instructor's guide, they all got excited.

"We should plan a Civil War Dinner!" they all said at once. Well, okay! Who am I to pass up an opportunity for further education? So we made cornbread and hardtack, and served it with beans and coffee under a tent the boys constructed outside. We talked about a soldier's life and sang The Battle Hymn of the Republic.What a great experience. Andrew decided that we should have a Civil War Dinner once a year in remembrance of the Civil War. Everyone was beyond thrilled to be told to drink coffee. I was gracious enough to allow them to add cream and sugar, which is probably the reason that everyone (except Audrey) finished their whole mug.History with Winterpromise has been one part of our day that everyone has enjoyed. We all agree that the afternoons are the best. Andrew likes just being able to listen and discuss. Timothy won't go so far as to say that he enjoys it, but does admit that it is much less painful than math or grammar. I like that I can have them all together, learning about the same thing for some portion of the day.Next, we need to find a place to go gold panning OTHER than our pool!

Finally! A Smooth, Successful School Day

Today has been (so far) the first day of school where I've felt like I've actually managed to cover all the bases. Of course, the day is only halfway through, but the afternoons are always nice and laid back so I'm not worried.

Today gives me hope. Hope for tomorrow. Years of tomorrows. Tomorrows that won't be in the category of "Our first month of homeschooling". I've been hoping that we are still in adjustment time, that the problems I've been facing daily aren't an accurate view of my life for the indefinite future. Today was the first sign that I'm making progress.

Today, nobody cried about their school work. Andrew came close, but did the best he has so far. Everything was done smoothly, quickly, and kindly. And not only that, but we got everything done.

Today was the first day that I haven't had to push aside my eager-to-learn 4yo because of the needs of everyone else. Audrey is loving school. She pulls worksheets out of her desk to do while I'm working with the other kiddos, and is always begging for more. Today, finally, I got to focus on her. Today we started Audrey's Alphabet Book.

Today my outlook has completely changed. Thank God for joy in the morning.

Working out the Kinks

We've got 2 full weeks of homeschooling under our belts. It's that time where I am starting to see how all of my curriculum and schedule decisions are really working--or not working, as the case may be. (I really wanted to say "as it were", simply because the phrase has been grating on me lately, but I just couldn't do it. It would grate on me too much.)

What is very interesting to me is that Timothy is off and running--he's used to homeschooling at this point--but I am having similar issues with Andrew and Melinda that I did with Timothy this time last year. It goes to show, I think, that it does take some time to adjust to a new school whether the school is at home or elsewhere. If Andrew or Melinda are stressed about school, it usually is accompanied by a comment such as: "I've just never done anything this way before" or "We didn't do it like this at Tahoe Montessori".

This is the reason that I'm trying to hold myself back from piling on the work. I want them to enjoy learning. Or at least make it so it isn't agonizingly painful! But there is so much that I want to do--thus the need to "hold my horses". So what have I found out so far? Some good things, some things that need to change.

GOOD:
- Reading the bible while everyone eats breakfast. This spurs some great conversation, and starts the day out together and in a good mood.

- Doing individual work in the morning. Like I thought, nobody is ready to deal with anybody else in the morning. So after our breakfast and bible reading, we split up and get math and language arts out of the way.

- A long lunch break. This has been a life saver so far for many reasons. One is that it gives everyone a chance to relax and refocus. Another is that it breaks up the day and I'm not left with a huge chunk at the end of the day with Melinda begging to do things and be entertained. We've also been getting our read-aloud done at this time, as well as some exercise in the pool!

- Meeting up again in the afternoon to do history and science. We have some great discussions about history, and everyone is much more relaxed and capable of dealing with each other by this point in the day.

- WinterPromise "American Story 2". This has been a wonderful curriculum so far. I really like the instructor's guide (my only complaint being the separate "Working On My Own" pages that I don't use and wish were on the regular page). I love the variety of books, I love the movie, website, and activity ideas, I love how easy it is to add other things to. It really has felt perfect so far. Little planning, big payoff.

BAD:
- Bob Jones English. Sigh. I'd thought I'd found a winner. Grammar and Composition in alternating chapters on nice simple, colorful pages. It looked straightforward, contained plenty of instruction and wasn't too overwhelming. Well, the grammar portion has been tolerable, though it is quite questionable how much they'll actually retain. Timothy and Melinda are doing fine with it, Andrew hates it but can live with it. The writing portion is just not going to work out. It is not necessarily a bad writing program, it is just very teacher intensive. So much so that I feel like it would be far easier to pull something together myself! It does have all the step by step instructions that was absent in Sonlight's Language Arts, which is something that I really wanted. It also seems to be pretty sequential, which is nice. But I do think that it would work better in a classroom situation where all the students are given a lecture in class, and a homework assignment. I haven't decided what I'll do, but I'm thinking that we'll take it easy and have them write letters and do other low-key writing for awhile. Eventually I'll probably just have Andrew start on the writing program that Timothy is using.

- WinterPromise "I'm Ready to Learn" preschool program. I bought this a year ago, tried it, didn't love it, and stopped. Audrey is really ready to do more school type activities now, so I thought that I'd give it another go, ditching one of the books that really bugged me. Some of the activities are cute, we really like the science book, but most of it feels like busy-work and I find myself ditching it again. So I'm starting to think that I may just drop it and start up with Little Hands to Heaven, which is what I really want to be doing anyhow!


- RightStart Math. This hasn't really been bad, but has some bad points. I like the warm up activities, and Melinda loves the games and manipulatives. I am not liking the spiral approach, and Melinda hasn't been jiving with their way of explaining different mental math methods (don't you love alliteration?). It is also extremely teacher intensive. Since Melinda does like to do worksheets, (something that RightStart doesn't use much of,) we may use another program such as Math-U-See for our base, and add in the warm-ups, games, and manipulatives.

Overall, the most difficult adjustment to full-time homeschooling for me has been exactly what the most difficult adjustment was to homeschooling only one child: the loss of free time. I love my children, I love spending time with them, I love joining in their education, I love reading to them, I love researching curriculum and planning, but being Melinda's only source of entertaining is draining. If last year is any indication, however, it will balance out eventually. Not driving to and from school for an hour a day really makes a difference, too...I'm finding myself more willing to get involved in mid-week activities.

Well, that's the schooling update. I'll write more on the other portions of life later on this month!