BUSY

Wow  the last few months have been busy. The kids are all officially home schooled. The virtual school thing did not work for us. I want my kids to have a natural education. I feel they will learn more if they can skip a subject on a particular day in order to focus on another subject that fascinates them. For example today Gabe did nearly three hours of Math, and only about twenty minutes of spelling, and thirty minutes of reading, and an hour of history. However last week he spent an entire day cozied up with a book, then wrote a report on it, and practiced expository writing all in one day with only thirty minutes on his math. This, to me, is how real learning happens. Organically, naturally, according to what they are focused on at the time. I am not saying that I would allow them to just skip a subject, but if for a day or two they are into a book, or into a scientific idea, or working through a math chapter, then allowing them to pursue that instead of pushing it to the side in order to do what is expected, seems like the right thing. I am proud of my kids, and although I question my self daily, I think that they are happing, and well educated at home.

Tomorrow I will post a record of what we have been up to these last few months, I have most of it recorded but I need to get it on here. 

Some thoughts...

So far I am not LOVING the virtual school. My reasons include the fact that the boys both no longer look forward to their lessons. My goals are 1) Teach them to THIRST for knowledge. I want them to become life long learners because they love it. and 2) Teach them the skills they will need to do well in college.

So far in the online school their work has become a list of things to do, and they don't have time to delve deeply into things even if they are interested in the lesson, there are so many menial tasks to do each day that it does not seem productive to creative thinking. And despite the menial work I don't see how it will be retained or helpful in college because I am still in college and my classes are nothing like that.

So I am back to square one, will likely be taking the oldest two out soon and return to our original plan of homeschooling. Katie, in kindergarten, loves, LOVES, Loves, the virtual program, she gets to dance to music and play with puppets, I  read to her from the many books they sent, she colors, paints, and has a ball. They nailed kindergarten and it is working out well so I will keep her enrolled not matter what happens with the boys. 

Florida Virtual School.

About a month ago we decided to enroll the kids in Florida Virtual School. The decision was based on the fact that I was afraid of not providing enough curriculum, and of doing it wrong and a million other insecurities that come with the big decision of taking control of my child's education. We may do Florida Virtual for a year or for the remainder of their education depending on how this year goes. Even if we just use is as a bridge between going to a  public school to a home school. Florida Virtual is not considered homeschooling, it is technically considered public school at home. Whatever it is called for me, for now it is the best of both worlds, I have the help of a teacher for each of my kids, all curriculum provided, yet I spend the day with them, teaching and guiding them under the supervision of actual teachers. The schedule is similar to public school, the first day of school is the same and they are required attend 180 days with attendance sheets, hours, and work to show for it. They will also FCAT which is the biggest downside for me, but like I said after this year I may be brave enough to home school without the back up of a public school, or it may be awesome. :)

Wednesday-Friday

Wednesday-Friday

I planned on making Wednesday a one on one day for me and Gabe. Then Thursday for me and Nic. The other kids were meant to go with their Dad and have fun and the one on one teaching was to make sure we were all on track. However heavy rain Wednesday morning kept everyone in the house and the one on one day was canceled. After that we went to a nearby bee hive supply store and watched bees work through a Plexiglas hive. We wandered around an antique mall and spent the day as a family. On Thursday we got the kids one of those blue pools that go up fast and they played most of the day, we ended up just hanging out and the kids had yet another day off... Today we have been working on math on Khan academy, playing in the pool, learning our states. The kids cousin is over so I don't see much more school work getting done today. This week was fun I am glad we are schooling year round so when things deviate from my planned schedule I don't have to worry too much. Over the weekend I plan to do a lot of Geography and History to prepare them for the 4th of July, Which they will have off officially but I think we will discuss plenty of History facts in a way that they will hopefully retain it.


By the way, I asked the kids today (four days after the lesson) what is photosynthesis, and where does a plant get its energy and they answered correctly. Yay!

Tuesday June 28 :)

Today we did our typical math on Khan Academy, then science Chapter 3 Lesson 1. We learned that plants are producers and animals are consumers. And we spent about an hour watching videos online about photosynthesis. We did painting in the evening which turned into each of the kids having their faces painted with the finger paint. They looked pretty cool!  Yesterday we focused on Math and a little science. I need to get back into history and geology. I am looking for a good curriculum for that though because as we are trying to learn about US history starting about 14000 years ago it is intensive and we are going through it very slowly. I would like a US history text that includes Ancient History, yet something we can get through quicker than we have been lately. It has been one of those days that at six pm I still want to learn with the kids. But they are playing Indians in the yard and I will just have to wait till tomorrow.

One Month In

I just realized that it has been a little over a month since our family began homeschooling. Then I realized that we already took a week off from it and panicked a bit. However I started homeschooling the kids straight from public school with no break in between. So I think allowing them a week off in the middle of summer is completely justifiable and expected. This has been a good month. I wonder though if I will always question myself every day we do not have school? And when the other kids return to school in August will the worry of not being enough for them or making them do enough each day become even more intense? I don't know... one day at a time... one day at a time.

Break

June 16 was our eleventh wedding anniversary so we called it a family holiday and did not have school. Then the next day I realized that the first official day of summer was coming up so we decided to take the week off, this turned out to be a good thing for many reasons; I had finals in college and Nic had a serius injury to his mouth that would have kept him from his studies. He is all better now thank goodness, and fyi knee plus trampoline plus chin equels lots of blood and pain for little boys. :(

 Starting tomorrow Monday June 27 we will resume our schooling I have found an online grammar class that I plan on taking with the kids to brush up on my own skills by teaching them. We will continue to use Khan Academy for math. We are still on the ancient Native Americans for History but plan to move on soon. We will do another Chapter or two in Science this week. And free reading of their own choice is still the reading curriculum although I do think I will have them fill out some kind of form to show when they read a book. This is our tentative plan for the week. There are also plans to go to the beach on Friday but I have not mentioned it to the kids yet.

Monday Tuesday June 13-14

I think we are getting the hang of this thing, and the heat was so bad that we stayed inside a lot.

Monday

Gabe-
Did a half hour of math online. (Math)
Finished The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (Reading)
Did the research for a report on Turtles. (Science, Reading, Handwriting, Grammar)

Nicolai-
Read four books to his sister. (Reading)
Did a half hour of math online, and watched a math video. (Math)
Read personally in a few Second Grade level books. (Reading)

Katie-
Did a few pages in her workbook (letters.)
Enjoyed stories read to her by Nic and Gabe.
Flipped through several books.

Tuesday

Gabe
Wrote a rough draft of his report on turtles. (Reading, Science, Grammar, Handwriting)
Did an hour and half of math online. Plus a few videos on times tables. (Math)
Watched a show about the Hubble space telescope and images of space. (Science)

Nico
Painted a picture. (Art)
Read to Katie. (Reading)
Did a hour and a half of math online. Plus a few videos on times tables. (Math)
Watched a show about the Hubble space telescope and images of space. (Science)

Katie
Painted a picture. (Art.)
Did several work book pages. (pre-reading)
Enjoyed stories read by her brothers. (reading.)
Watched a show about the Hubble space telescope and images of space. (Science)

This was a busy day. We did not cover history but it is only the second day of the week so I am sure will will progress in that area as the week goes on. They are making such leaps and bounds in Math that if that is all they do for a few weeks I would be satisfied.

Also I am so proud of Gabe for his work on his research report. He took three pages of notes from the Encyclopedia, and online. He wrote the report in the format I requested and I was suprised at the hours he put into it, and the final outcome. It is not perfect, but tommorow he will do the final draft so it will be close. I am very proud of him because this is the first report he ever wrote and I have seen worse from students in my college classes.  My plan is to ask him to turn in a report in MLA format (or as close as he can get in his handwriting) every two weeks on the topic of his own choice. I think that will meet handwriting/grammer requirments, allow him to study whatever topic he wants, and have something I can keep to show his work.

:) Summer Time

We still are tempted outside more often than not. Although with temps reaching 107 yesterday it is becoming less so. Here goes the remainder of our week:

Thursday- The kids each did Math online. They read to each other and did personal reading. Gabe went into the swamp with his Dad and watched a turtle lay her eggs. Pictures coming soon.

Friday- They did a little math but it was one of those days that their Dad was home and we stayed busy. Aside from personal reading it was an day off.

Saturday- We went to our friends house and had science. The kids learned about holograms using the suns rays, I am still not sure how it worked but plan on researching it so we can do it again at home. They also watched a science video and made their own sidewalk paint with cornstarch. This was a great science/art lesson. They got to play with their other home schooled buddy and make a mess with paint. This was a good day.

Today is Sunday so aside from reading scriptures there is no official work. This week was an easy one, but I am not worried because they made leaps in their math, and had fun with science.

One of those days....

Today was one of those days that confirms my decision to home school my children. We started at nine with math online. Then history, then a bit of letter sounds with my preschool daughter. Then we went to town to run errands and get dinner. When I got in the parking lot I saw a bloodmobile. I thought, I have never gave blood before but this should be a good lesson for the kids, in compassion, and an example of a job in the medical field. So I asked if the kids could be with me the whole time and they said yes, so I signed up. They interviewed me and determined that I was worthy to drop off my bodily fluids with them. The kids each got a lemon aid slush and complements on being well behaved. I conveniently forgot my childish fear of needles until she pulled one out, but knowing that I would be a horrible example if I ran out of the screaming so I concentrated on the face of my daughter snuggled up on the chair next to me and hardly felt a thing. It was over in half an hour and a least one of my kids have said they want to be a doctor or a nurse when they are grown so all in all worth every drop of blood and pretending that I am tougher than I am. In the evening we went for a swim in the lake as the sun set. I waded with my children around me as the sun set and the bats fluttered around our heads as we stared in wonder at the quarter moon and night birds. We finished the day with another math lesson on the computer and reading the library books we checked out. All in all a great day. I really have no dramatic stories for why I dont' send my kids to public school. In fact I love LOVE the public school in my small home town. I have spent many hours volunteering there last year. And honestly it hurts my heart a bit to give it all up. But I want to give myself to my kids each day, I want to be their teacher. I recently read that Mary was Jesus' first teacher. I take my role seriously and if I fail I count on all the other people in my kids life who don't really support this choice of ours to let me know. Meanwhile I am enjoying every drop of my kids childhood. I really goes too fast that is something everyone has told me a hundred times and  it is true. So this is what this blog is about. I will Journal our home school days honestly and if any of you people who also love my kids think I am failing in any way feel free to let me know. I want to do this right... this parenting thing, because I only get this one chance. Ya know?

Outside all the time.

We have started using Kahn Academy for math. It has turned out to be immensely useful. I have started the boys out at basic addition for practice and I am letting them self pace their way up. The site is http://www.khanacademy.org/ and it is free. 

Today we mucked around in the mud, caught fish with our hands, studied ecosystems, focused on math (online), read Beezus and Ramona in order to watch the movie tomorrow, and went for a Looooong hot walk. For handwriting and bible study they are writing one bible verse a day. (Their choice) if I don't mention it in our days activities it is still done daily. Much of our time is spent outside; they are learning at a steady pace but not getting a ton of paper work done. I think the bulk of the paper work will be done in the winter when the weather does not draw us out for most of the day. Luckily it is summer and they would be out of school either way so no one is worried. :)

This week...

This week we have tried something new... since it is only our second week in I think this will happen often till we find exactly what works for our family. We decided to be a bit more laid back we looked at a swamp and had a short discussion about ecosystems. We read about animal and insect behavior and watched an ant bed for patterns. We watched two episodes on Planet Earth. We read a chunk of The Magicians Nephew by C. S. Lewis, and did math work sheets daily. They also did more personal reading this week than last. We reviewed last weeks history but did not add anything to it. I know we can't be quite so relaxed every week, nor will will be quite as structured as we were in week one. This week was a lot more peaceful and I feel they learned a lot so all in all even though I don't have a ton of paperwork (aside from daily math) to show for it, I feel it was successful.

Last Night...

Last night we went and hung out with another homeschool family. The children taught their friend what they learned through out the week in Science, which enforced it for them. Then we read a story together, and did some spanish online as a group. I am letting the kids have an R&R day today due to their extra work last night. We will read today, but aside from that no required work.

I have hopes that they will by choice do a little online spanish, or other educational things but if they don't I won't hold it against them. All in all it has been a good week.

Tommorow we may do a History lesson just for the fun of it, I plan to have school everyday but Sundays even through the Summer so if we have a day off, do extra school at night, or only cover one subject but in dept on somedays then we will still be ahead of the game in my opinion.

Something New

So today instead of trying to get the kids to listen while I tried to get them to fill up on knowledge, I asked them each to teach. Gabe taught a science lesson on seeds and how they are transferred from one place to another. (Chapter one lesson 4) Nic (after some Internet research) taught the lesson on the Tribes of Northwest Indians. And Katie used the number chart to count to a hundred with the boys and they all did their worksheets. Then we went to the library again. Gabe picked out "The Magicians Nephew" which is the first book in the Narnia Series and we are going to read it as a family for our lit. requirements.  This worked better for us. I think I need to unschool myself in order to properly school my children. The main goal is to get them to enjoy learning and retain a good bit of it. Teaching is learning so maybe this technique will work...

Here's hoping...

Would LOVE to here other stories about your first few days of homeschooling and how things work for you now...

So Far This week.....

May 23 Monday

This was our first day. There were lots of up but even more downs. The boys saw the lesson as kind of a joke. Each new subject we moved on to I had to convince them once again that we are not “playing” school. This was their school. I would explain what they would be doing at public school at the time. I admit that I even threatened to send them back a time or two… not a good moment. We covered all the subjects on the chart above, it was simplified for my kindergartener, and Gabe 4^th grade,  and Nic 3^rd grade, did not have the same expectations set on them although they covered the same subjects. I don’t have all my curriculum yet so I am using what I do have mixed in with internet resources.

I am learning a lot about the first Native Americans, and about my children. This will be harder than I realized, but at this point I believe, totally worth it.

May 24 Tuesday

Ups and downs, I am looking forward to when the kids don’t smirk when I am animated in a lesson, and when Nic don’t intentionally answer a completely off the wall wrong answer. But that being said today was better then yesterday. A lot.

May 25 Wednesday

We slept in (9:30) so I let the kids play action figures for a while. This makes sense to me somehow. Maybe it is because they have not actually played with their action figures together since school started. There simply has not been time for them to. They get up and go to school in the morning, then come home wore out. Gabe started getting  what we call “after school headaches” nearly everyday. I would give him a drink and often a Tylenol and let him lay down for a bit. But a nine year old should deal with it every day. It is bad enough many adults have deal with stress related chronic  pain. I love seeing them start to play together again. They did this before starting school three years ago but somehow it has stopped. I realize now it is for two reasons. 1. They don’t have a ton of time together, so they are often not on the same page. 2. The time they do have is often after being wore out at school all day so tempers flare.  

Our school day started after their play time, feeding the dog and eating breakfast. They knocked out math quickly because right now until I get textbooks they are reviewing what they know. They are expected to do two worksheets a day of math review. Reading went well, Gabe read in Trails to Explore by A beka. Nic also does trails to explore then they answer the questions out loud to me. Today however Nick read an entire book of short stories to Katie, so I counted that as his lit for the day. Science started out fun, we explored the yard in search of flowers so we could see the parts, and how pollination works. We only found one though but it worked and we had a nice time together. How ever when we tried to read the lesson out of the textbook together the boys would not listen to each others reading. So instead of reading the lesson quickly together then answering the problems in the back out loud I made them write each of the questions out and look up the answers their selves. This is not ideal for me because, although they will be covering handwriting, I don’t want them to have to write out each bit of knowledge they receive. I think that interactive discussions will help them retain the knowledge as well as writing and answering till their hands get sore. For example when we learned about plant classification we did a project, I asked the questions out loud, and then later I would asked them casually “Oh, yeah. I forgot what is a conifer?” Or “Do ferns produce seeds?” And they retained the information. Today however, I don’t know how else to get them to listen to the chapter, other than showing the alternative of a lot of writing if they choose not to? 

A trip to the library, history, s.s., Spanish, and group bible study is what we have planed for the remainder of the day. I may put off the library until tomorrow as discipline if they don’t do well on the actual school work. I pray things will come to a balance soon. I don’t like having to be tough on them.

Edit: at the end of the day: after some thought, I decided maybe I was going about it wrong. So I canceled the remainder of the days curriculum and took them to library. They picked out some fiction books and I stocked up on non fiction pertaining to our lessons in the next week and a few educational videos. I have to figure out a way of meeting state standards and still cultivating a love of learning and thirst for knowledge.

Both my kids were considered very well behaved in school. For the most part they listened to their teacher and got great grades. I don’t know why they are trying to rebel for me. I am not going to give up though.  It is only the third day after all.

Has anyone else had problems of this nature? How did you solve it?

I wonder sometimes about unschooling. How do you unschoolers meet state standards? How about college admissions for you how do you go about it?

Would these issues be non issues if they were permitted to pursue what actually interests them instead of a planned out curriculum?

This week's plan

This is the plan I made for my oldest son who is starting fourth grade. The rest of the children's plans are similar to this. This is the first week and I can already see flaws in the plan. One of the reason I wanted to pursue home school was because I wanted to allow my children to discover their own interest and study them in detail. This schedule does not leave any room for this. Also each day is treated equal, this will not work for us because the days Dad has off need to be a bit lighter to leave room for him to hang out with his boys. So next weeks the plan will be altered to fit us a bit better. Maybe a check list of things we want to accomplish through out the week regardless of the day?

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Math	2 Review Sheets	2 Review Sheets	2 Review Sheets/ Math Videos	2 Review Sheets	2 Review Sheets/ Test	Math Videos
Reading	Pg. 2-8 -  A-Beka	Pg. 9-15 A-Beka	Pg. 16-27 A-Beka	Pg. 28   A-Beka	Pg. 29-40 A-Beka/ Timed Reading	Free Reading
Social Studies	Jobs in the Community	None	Money	None	Holidays in May	None
Science	Chapter 1 Lesson 1	Lesson 2 Dissect Flower	Lesson 3	Lesson 4 Bean Seeds	Chapter 1 Review/Test	Nature Observation
P.E.	Hike	Swim	Swim	Run Time:	Hike	Swim
Spanish	30 Min online	30 Min online	30 Min online	30 Min online	30 Min online	None
History	Beringia Native Americans	Artic People	Tribes of Northwest	Plains Indians	Review	None
Handwriting	Cursive Worksheet	Journaling	Cursive Worksheet	Journaling	Journaling	None
Bible	Group Reading	Group Reading	Group Reading	Group Reading	Group Reading	Group Reading

Daily Reading to Katie is encouraged, and also a personal choice book for reading daily is required. Any topics missed or that are hard will be reviewed on Saturday. If a spontaneous field trip occurs the work can be made up on Saturday.

Does anyone else have the problem of meeting state standards, yet allowing time and room for the pursuit of what really interests your child? Any ideas?

This Blog is.....

This blog is about our own homeschooling days. I plan to post what we do each day, our ups, downs, curriculum, what works, what does not. This is for me and my own records, it is also for any other home school families because I have learned so much by studying other family's curriculum, schedules and what works when it comes to raising up your child to be smart, productive, and faithful.

I welcome comments, discussions, and tips about techniques. I really want to know what works for you.