It's been a while since I updated.
School is going very well. We have our house up for sale and are staying w/ relatives.
We are keeping up w/ the Sonlight schedule very well. I love having it,esp the Sonlight schedules for Apologia science. If we just follow them, we will be finished in 36 weeks.
We still have some bugs to work out and a few subjects to add, but so far, so good!
My curriculum wisdom is to stick w/ what you feel God is leading you to do. It will work out. Eventually. It may not feel good all the time, but it will work out.And it will feel right, deep down, it will feel right!
Something that doesn't feel right is the whole Jon and Kate mess. My own parents were divorced when I was about 9. My parents married young, had 3 kids in 2 years(me and then identical twin boys). They did their best but it didn't work.
Being the oldest child, my world was my mom and dad. When their marriage fell apart, part of me died inside. I was daddy's girl and mommy's little helper. Now I was lost...it was easier to believe that there was a bad parent who ran the good parent off than to consider that I was so unlovable that my parents couldn't both be there for me.
It has only been in the last few years that I have been strong enough to look with total honesty at my childhood. I love and like both my parents and stepparents, there wasn't a good one and a bad one at all. And I wasn't unlovable, that was just a childish reaction, although it felt very real.
So I did turn out ok in the end, so to speak. :)
I hope that Jon and Kate's kids(and Jon and Kate) don't have alot of pain to face when they get older. I hope someone is thinking about that now.
My parents were young and their choices were not meant to harm us, but were the best they knew to do at the time. I would say that all of the single parent families I know right now are doing the best they can.
Are Jon and Kate doing the best they can do? I hope so. I have a hard time believing that with all the resources they have available to them that this is the best they can do, but I hope so.
Today went really well.
My health is improving. And since I am now using allergy pills that don't cause drowsiness, I am relishing the feeling of not being groggy all day!!!!
I added to the stuff we did yesterday. We started w/ Bible, which seems to really cause us to have success!
Listened to a chapter of Word of Promise on CD. It is the NKJ version performed by Jim Cavieziel and other famous actors. Then I played a worship song. Today I found one on youtube w/ the words displayed. I instruct the kids to be respectful and try to make the words a prayer. This is the only time I try to shape the way they behave during singing.
Then because some were still eating I went on to read our SL bible reading(for history and studying).
Then it was Window on the World.
For prayer, one day the thought occurred to me that it was silly for us to list our prayer requests and then repeat those very same words as we prayed for them. Plus, no one wants to pray outloud, so they give a prayer request such as "Pray for our aunt who is having surgery" then I would say" I pray for our aunt who is having surgery". weird right?
So~ I declared that while you are giving the need, THAT is your prayer. After all, He is in our midst because He is there wherever 2 or more are gathered!
Also during prayer, I read out the needs of the country we read about in Window on the World.
I have been so torn up over the last 2 years trying to complete the Sonlight materials I bought. These last 2 days have really just come together. Don't tell anyone on the SL message boards that I am using level 1+2 for my kids ages 8-12, with the 14 year old listening in before he does his own work. The top age recommended for this level was 10 I believe, but it just didn't work out before when I tried it.
The Lord took me down this road for a reason. I made the plans, but the Lord ordered my steps.
Remember when it drove me crazy to modify the schedule? I think now we will just do all the activities listed because now they are older, so the activities won't be too much.
Then I completed the SL schedule and went over some math tips w/ everyone.
now they are doing Mad Libs, it is getting really silly...
The oldest still has his work to do and a few have already finished their individual work.
Thank God for completing the work he began in me!
Something that has taken me a long time to learn, and that I still struggle w/ from time to time concerns the curriculum living up to the advertisements.
Especially w/ specials needs, school won't always be fun. At least not all parts of it all the time. It is hard to know when to change programs and when to keep going.
But just because you aren't having every good experience promised in the catalog doesn't mean the curriculum is a failure.
It takes me forever to learn how to use a program. I found that sometimes I was giving up on a program before I had fully learned it.
Sometimes I wish I was a classroom teacher and the things I learn could be used again next year!!! ;)
Some days I just feel so weighted down w/ all that we are dealing with. I am not in a deep depression, but I do feel an overwhelming urge to whine "Why?" But I won't. For now. ;) I'll keep traveling forward. Sometimes that is all you can do.
Well now that we are doing time4learning, I am starting over at square one making a schedule. Actually it feels like square ZERO! ;)
3 kids have a turn doing their t4l work on the computer. My schedule had them always working as a group.
My 'building a homeschool schedule and routine' post has brought alot of visitors. Alot for me anyway. ;)
I just looked over it again to see if it really had any wisdom to offer anyone. It is a simple tip, but I believe a useful one-start w/ a few subjects and when those are going smoothly, add one or two more. After a few weeks you will have a solid working schedule instead of the crashing and burning that sometimes happens when you try to start w/ a full on schedule.
Here's another great tip~ Don't get discouraged if my advice doesn't work for you. What works for me may wreak chaos in your house and that is ok. It doesn't mean the advice is bad or that you are a hopeless case. It just means that we aren't a good match. Keep looking and soon you will find someone whose advice works like pure magic for you.
After all, my brain does work in mysterious ways...
It is such a strange feeling to be doing so well w/ homeschooling-the scheduling, the subjects- and at the same time doing so bad w/ housekeeping and chores, esp. in the area of getting the kids to participate.
I really feel myself growing and being more tolerant of things not going perfectly. Which is so good, but nothing ever goes perfectly! At least not for very long!!
Yesterday on PBS, I watched a special on the brain w/ Dr. Amen. Very interesting. He said that many things we think of as bad behaviors are do to brain malfunction.I definitely want to research this more. When I did a google search, quackwatch came up, but I don't plan on doing anything "quacky". I am interested in exercise and fish oil and not giving a place to negative thoughts. None of that will hurt. They may not be miracle cures, but won't hurt anyone.
(Also yesterday and on PBS) I watched Randy Pauch's The Last Lecture.One of the things I took away was the choice of being an Eeyore or a Tigger in life. If I have to chose the one I am most like, I hate to say I have been like Eeyore. I don't know that I can immediately become a Tigger, but maybe I could certain AIM for being more Tigger-like.
There are so many good things. It is so important to determine what God has for me. I feel that I am leaning more and more on God's direction and not just the fine opinion of what works for others.
Today I am frustrated. The last few days have been so stressfull, just trying to balance it all: kids, house, etc. It's just hard for me. I am struggling to cope w/ it. The fact that I am still moving forward is a huge improvement for me!!!
Yesterday I was honored in front of other people by my father in law. It was really quite moving. Totally unexpected! We attended a luncheon for his last day of work. He introduced us(Joe, me and the kids) one by one and spoke of our accomplishments and acheivements.
It's hard for me to describe homeschooling and even parenting to another person. I usually either present only one side, wonderful or stressful. And the truth is that it is not either of these things by itself.It's both.
This popped into my head yesterday:
It's the best of times, and the worst of times.
;)
Continued tweaking...
So this week I am going to attempt to plug in history to our schedule.
So far the school day looks like this:
Prayer
go over homework
spelling (avko, so everyday I call out words)
Geography songs
Copywork quote
Bible verse memory work
reading tutoring (avko, alot like spelling)
math
science reading
read aloud
I think I am going to add bible reading after spelling and before Geo songs. Then add history reading between copy work and Bible verse.
After finishing the copy work quotes of Ben Franklin( a copy work notebook by knowledge box central, part of a set from homeschool radio shows called Four Great Americans), I am going to use Sonlight's LA for 3rd graders for everyone but the 8th grader. And I am only going to do the copywork and the grammar, not the writing. They just aren't ready yet. But they are going to continue to write sentences for 15 minutes a day w/ their spelling and/or reading words. Sentences before paragraphs, I say! Well, actually Don McCabe of avko said it first, I am just agreeing w/ him.
The oldest joins us for everything through bible memory. Then he goes and watches his math dvd(systemath.com) and is supposed to do his LA also, but often he doesn't. Gotta work on that. I bought him some LA materials from My Father's World because I thought I was headed there. I have added reading, he is reading Gladys Aylward, a read aloud from SL 1+2. He is going to use it as a reader. I am also going to have him read through a Child's History of the World on his own.He hasn't started that at all. And he hasn't started Writing Strands(also bought through mfw).
Ok, I haven't given up yet. Or even lost hope. So that is progress. ;)
Look at everyone doing their Geography Songs! They wanted to show their faces because they thought I was trying to take a photo for the Sonlight catalog! But the contest is already over this year. Maybe I will still enter it for next year's catalog. I told them to cover their faces, that it was just a pic for my blog! Pictures like this make me forget all the hard stuff and make me grateful that my pitiful little self has been entrusted w/ these little hearts and minds.
I should mention that another HUGE thing that has helped me is prayer. I have been earnestly seeking God and asking for His direction for homeschooling and some other areas too. It just seems like the scales have come off! I started off homeschooling w/ confidence, well more acurately: pride.Then for a long time I felt defeated.I still think I am powerless. BUT w/ God, my weaknesses will be strengths. That is where I am now. Enjoying moments that I don't deserve and didn't create on my own. I hope that when things get low, I can remember that it isn't permanent, that after the valley, a peak is on the way.
Geography Songs is a wonderful little CD(also comes w/ a workbook). It came w/ my Sonlight Core 1+2. A painless way to learn the countries/countinents/planets and have your kid sound like a prodigy all at the same time.
Before this CD, I couldn't even name the oceans and continents. And now I know where Bahrain is. I mentioned to the kids that this is where Michael Jackson now lives. None of them knew who MJ is, but that is beside the point. When the Transformer movie came out, I asked the kids, ok, I excitedly exclaimed, "DID YOU SEE THAT in the Transformer movie that they were in Qatar???!!"
These songs will STICK in your mind. If you know what "ear worm" means, this definitely qualifies!
I love doing as much as possible for all the kids at once. The oldest one is in 8th grade, so I won't be able to do that much longer.
I scrapped the SL schedule and just started at the beginning of the book. Today they kept asking to go on to the next song. It didn't escape my attention that the songs we know best are the ones we did according to the SL schedule! oh well...I was beginning to not get to them at all, that is why I decided to just open the book and go.
We went on and on, song after song. I figured an intro to many of the songs and countries was better than only doing a few songs really well. Besides, they were showing an interest and I wanted to encourage it. So we went through several songs and it started to get silly.
We got to the Middle East song, which was one of the first songs we learned. So everyone is singing really loud and confidently. I pause the song and say through giggles "Let's all sing the song as loud as we can."
So we did. "THE MIDDLE EAST HAS ISRAEL..."
The five kids on the couch shouted the song into their make shift mega phones(the workbooks).
I closed my eyes and leaned back onto my chair. I thought I might cry with happiness.
Thoughts turn to curriculum and schedules this time of year.
Not that I have it together or anything, but when I learn something, I always think I have something to offer because it takes me so long to learn something. That's because I have already found 999 ways that don't work!
I have a great tip today... and it only took me 9 years of homeschooling to learn!
Take several important subjects and start with those. For me, most important are reading instruction, spelling, and math. So once we can complete those everyday, I add one or two subjects more and do that for a week.
I am feeling pretty cocky at this point about being able to tackle Sonlight this semester. Last year, it was so unclear, but now I can look at the schedule(which is too much. They do that on purpose. You are supposed to choose what to use) and easily see that I am not interested in covering Aesop's fables or the poetry, for example.
It seems so simple to me now. We have already plugged in the SL read aloud(actually we listen to it on CD) to the daily schedule.
An aside: I hate to read aloud. Don't tell anyone I am a homeschooling mom who doesn't like to read aloud. And do SL, which as tons of books...Just add it to the long list of reasons why I should not homeschool. ;)I love to read. I love to share the story. But reading aloud is so slow and tedious. I don't mind reading short passages, but chapters are darn near impossible. God can use anyone, I tell ya. He doesn't call the equipped, He equips those He calls. ;)
We have even done SL science and the memory verse several times this week.
One day I will add in the history reading.
I kept feeling like last year was such a waste, that I never found my niche, that I didn't stick w/ anything. I learned so much and perhaps this is the year we will see the fruit.
School has started and I still don't feel it "in the air". So much for that theory.
Today we started so late, but still did mostly everything. I didn't sleep well and couldn't drag myself up.I was tempted to stay down and just do nothing for the day, but it eventually occured to me that sometimes you just have to lighten up. When things seem like they are rock bottom, there is nothing to lose in having a little sense of humor. So instead of feeling bad, I just started from where I was.
It is hard for me to see that I am still the same person no matter what is going on. I want to feel good about myself when I act good. But God isn't so fickle.He continues to grow me and use and change me. I don't need to rush Him or question His timing or help Him along.And I don't need to clean myself up on my own.
I am really enjoying this time of review. My confidence is really building.On Sept. 15, 3 of the kids will begin Time4Learning again, so I guess we will have to tweak things again. I am anxious to see if I feel like I still need it. It was such a life saver last year!!!
Ok, here's the new plan. I was all set and ready to declare Sonlight "not for us". However...
This semester I am going to give it another try. I just listened to 2 podcasts from SL and I need to make some changes to the way I have been doing some things.So I can't "grab and go" and maybe all the planning isn't done for me like the catalog says.
And maybe there is a bigger learning curve for me than other homeschool moms OR maybe you just don't hear about people who seem to struggle as much as I do.
Last year I couldn't find a way to make SL work. I think it might have been easier if the neighbor hadn't joined us. My kids love for me to read to them and answer questions, but really...Who knows? I love having the neighbor join us, it makes me do more than I normally would do and I take the school day more seriously.
I didn't understand that if the writing was too much, I could drop it for a while. I thought that since I had a lower core, we could just follow the teaching manual(IG) as is. I didn't get that if the reading was boring everyone, I should slow it down.
I didn't understand that if things don't work out perfectly, it doesn't mean that it is the wrong thing to do. I grew so much last year, I had to learn how to teach:
a middle schooler, somewhat unmotivated
a dylexic/dysgraphic who can't read or write, but comprehends well
a motivated elementary student wanting to go and do!
a motivated lower elementary student getting lost in the mix
and the neighbor who can read and write, but has low comprehension, burned out w/ school
Instead of starting day one of school with a full blown schedule, I am building. Each week I add something. I have tweaked the daily schedule, Doing handwriting, then Geography songs, then spelling, then another non-writing activity. I break it up that way for my son who is dysgraphic as he finds writing tedious.
I am really going to challenge myself to try to find my way w/ SL and finish the core I started last fall.One piece at a time. I find myself slipping into the old thought patterns, wanting to add too much, too fast, but I am staying on top of it so far.
The first week was hard, but ended up good. This week is starting off well. I have actually found myself thinking"Now this is the way I wish I was taught!"
Like I said, I fully expect this to be the best year ever.
I do think it is good for me to purposefully write everyday. :) Earlier I thought I was going to have to say how bad our homeschool week has gone, but I can now honestly say that the week has ended on a fairly positive note.
The "feeling" of school isn't in the air because the public school kids haven't started yet. I don't know if I will start early again next year or not.
Sleep has not been sweet and I have been sleeping very late, getting started w/ school late...that is frustrating. But for now it is the best I can do. It doesn't do anyone any good if I have a pity party for myself the whole day instead of just going ahead w/ school.
Having an extra student while I am going through this is a little embarassing. I need to meet w/ his parent and mention that I am just a mom, sometimes I run late and have issues. If they are looking for their child to be gone all day, I cannot provide that. He is welcome to join us. This is a family homeschool, not a professional institution. But we won't beat him up, so to me it is worth it! ;)
Something I am working on is continuing even though things get uncomfortable.
Right now we are reviewing math facts(This whole week was addition), and establishing spelling and reading tutoring routines. Each day I tweak the schedule and today it went very good. I didn't feel overwhelmed at all.I had time leftover and we listened to Ginger Pye , (a read aloud from last year that we never finished) on Cd and I even read some science to them.
One thing AVKO recommends is copywork w/ quotations that make the kids think. I have a book of Ben Franklin quotes to be used as copywork. The quotes make them think and I point out the grammatical reasons for the puncuation in the sentence.
It was a real light bulb moment for me. I realized that Sonlight LA does this too! But what was bogging me down about SL LA was the writing part.
I have had a hard time teaching the kids writing w/ all their learning differences.AVKO has them write sentences every night w/ their spelling or reading words. I agree w/ the author that writing sentences should come first, before paragraphs and stories and creative writing.
So maybe I should give SL LA another go round and just use the dictation only for awhile?
And today I opened one of the Science books up and just read about something that was interesting to us instead of what was scheduled. We had a lively discussion. A homeschool mom's DREAM!!! :D
Here is what is hard for me about SL in a nutshell:They give you too much(on purpose) and you decide what you want to use from it.
I decided I didn't like this style and made plans to change to a program that gives you a little and you add it if you want to.
I am wondering if I am finally learning to use SL??? Stay tuned, if you can stand it. ;)
After waffling back and forth all summer, the 3 younger kids went to school that fall. Joe never doubted that I could homeschool, but I wasn't sure.We were going to give school a chance for a year, til Christmas if it was really bad.
Once again, my kids were not misfits or dunces. They were bright students and except for spunky little JJ ;) were perfect angels as far as behavior. She was just "pretty good" I would call it, which is still good.
I will spare you most of the long drawn out saga by just saying that it didn't work out. In a huge way. Every time something would come up, I would freak. We would get it resolved, I would get ready to relax and then another something would cause me to freak. I would have had to invest myself at the school on a pretty near daily basis to make it work out and I decided that if I was going to go to alot of trouble for something, it was going to be on my terms.
So after 6 weeks of public school, one Friday I'd had enough. The last straw was that they could not keep my son from getting hit by other kids. That very day I had written a letter to the school telling about my kids being hit and bullied. I was so proud of myself until that evening when JD casually announced he'd been put in a headlock in the bathroom that day. He considered it just another part of the school experience!! I realized that this was not the right place for him or my other kids. We were better off fending for ourselves.
And it's a good thing the message was so clear that my kids did not belong in school because later on in that school year, we would find out that JD also has Learning Disabilities and ADD.I kindly declined the school's offer of services. We would continue finding private services for him, even though they were costly.
Just an aside when I took JD to be evaluated for ADD, I also took my youngest daughter JJ. She was disagnosed w/ ADHD.
By this time we were using Beyond Five in a Row. And not very well I might add.One day I suddenly realized Five in a Row had no high school program and my oldest was in 6th grade. So I began to research and I found my way back to Sonlight.
The Lord is so funny. The neighbor's grandson joined our homeschool that year, bringing us some much needed structure. He doesn't have Learning Disabilities, but has some comprehension issues and some catching up to do. I would have never thought that by adding another child our family would be helped so much.
I eventually came to believe that I bought the wrong program from SL that year, but at the time I thought it was best.(They do have a guarantee, but I didn't utilize it because the level did fit some of my kids, just not all the way I'd hoped) I did buy some things used, but they ended up being too much.At the second semester I had to add time4learning.com because I just couldn't keep up w/ all the specials needs. 3 of the kids will begin it again in Sept.
Now my oldest JC is in 8th grade, JD is in 5th, Jr. is in 4th and little JJ is a 2nd grader.
We looked at WinterPromise, but it would have been very costly. And I didn't want alot of activities.
My Father's World is developing a high school program. That is what we are going to try next.It seems to have everything I want without me forcing it to be what I need. For example, this year w/ SL Core 1+2, I kept wishing they would emphasize the flags of each country more. I notice MFW has geography course and each child gets a flag sticker book. It's little details like that that make me think I may have found a match w/ mfw.
But really it remains to be seen.
All my fears of being behind are slowly melting away as I settle in to some programs that really match what we need.We are finding our niche and making some great strides.
By the way, we no longer pay the big bucks for dyslexia tutoring. I use avko.org. I am really pleased w/ their approach. I use the materials for all the kids for reading, spelling and writing. And even learning comprehension.
It has been a long and winding road and I am all the better to have walked it. :)
Now, before I start w/ all the gory details, please remember that the story has a happy ending! :) Everyone is fine, health problems get resolved, it's all good! Or if not good, then getting better, ok? ;)
I started out buying w/ workbooks and such from WalMart and the education store. Pretty schoolish. Esp. for my little preschooler. I had energy to burn back then and I wanted to "school" someone!
So in the midst of having my little guy do preschool workbooks, I discovered the Weaver curriculum. I bought the preschool/K program called the Interlock. By this time, I now had a preschooler and a toddler. Before we finished the program, I would also have a newborn.
I didn't know it at the time, but it was a unit study.I really liked it. It was lowkey, not schoolish at all.Seemed overly simple, but very effective. When I have to remember what God made on each day of creation, I still think back to the project we did: items glued to large numbers, representing what God made that day. I still remember the moon phases and cloud formations. And so does my son, all these years later.
I went on to the elementary level, Volume 1, which required alot of planning and studying on my part. At this point, I had a 4 children ages 5 and under.Not the time for a big time unit study. (Just a side note, I still don't want to study and plan!)
So we veered over to Five in a Row.Also very low key, but very effective.I didn't even do it consistently, but my kids were learning alot.
Then I decided I didn't like going to the library and getting the books so I bought Sonlight for the first time because you could get all the books you needed in one package. Level K w/ advanced readers. I dropped it pretty fast. It was just too much for the time.
My first grader wasn't reading well. I felt like a failure and he sensed that he was the cause. It was heartbreaking to me that I was messing this all up. Meanwhile, my newborn baby had colic. For months I stayed awake all night and slept all day. My mom was living w/ us at the time and watched the kids during the day.We eventually switched to formula and I started sleeping more at night!
But that didn't clear up everything.Actually, it was during my last pregancy that I began to feel bad. I didn't know it, but I had depression. I asked for help during the pregnancy, but was told they couldn't do anything for me unless I couldn't get out of bed. I wish they'd recommended counseling or something because I took this to mean that there was nothing wrong w/ me.
Even after, the baby's birth, I believe I had post-partum depression or maybe even "regular" depression. One day during that summer, I couldn't bring myself to get the kids ready to go outside to play so they stayed indoors all day that day. I dont' remember now what the exact hold up was, but it scared me that I could not do what needed to be done for the kids.
This was also at the same time of the Andrea Yates thing. It scared me that she was a homeschooling mom, that she had a bunch of young kids, that she had post partum depression. My friend that is a nurse explained to me that having depression makes you feel low, about YOU, it doesn't make you want to hurt others, that is something else. I definitely was only feeling blah, low, about myself.
So, I didn't need to panic or fear, but we decided I needed some help. Of course, I was seeing a dr. and we enrolled the 2 oldest in school for the fall.I wonder too, if I already had sleep apnea at that time, because no matter now much I slept, I never felt rested.
BTW, my kids did really well in school. We got compliments from the teachers. My son caught up in reading and they commented that he was such a bright, eager learner, even though he was behind. Whatever I had done at home was right on they told me. Funny, huh?
Anyway, the school year went pretty well and we enrolled them for the next year.That year was ok, but we began to investigate our options. We looked into a charter school, but it was going to be so much work, we decided to homeschool again.
I breathed a sigh of relief and bought some workbooks from WalMart. We picked up w/ Five in a Row again. I homeschooled fairly uneventfully for about the next 2 years. I never really found my niche, I never really got completely consistent, I never fully got in the groove but we were doing it.
Then at a well check, I finally brought up my suspicions about my 2nd son to my pediatrician. I'd asked about him before to other drs, but always been told he was fine. She suspected right away that he had Sensory Processing Disorder and dyslexia. I just knew she was wrong about the dyslexia. My older son was suspected of having too in 2nd grade and he didn't have it.
Well he did have dyslexia. And sensory processing disorder.And muscle and coordination delays. At that point, I mentally checked out of homeschooling. I never signed up for this, I could barely do it w/ "regular" learners, how could I even think, even dare imagine that I had the patience and whatever else it took to homeschool a special needs learner?
As far as I was concerned, I would continue to homeschool the oldest, but the younger 3 were going to school. Who knew what undiagnosed needs they had that I didn't know about? Let them go to school and get the services they need. I am not good at this, let the professionals do their job, a better job.
Bless my heart, I tried to homeschool and it just didn't work out, I had no other choice but to send them to school. I had done my best and now I could rest.
Because I was done.
To be continued......
But God has other plans. I love to learn, I love sharing what I know, esp. w/ my kids. But I just don't seem to have the stamina, the organization that I think one should have to homeschool.
When we found out about dyslexia, dysgraphia and a whole host of other challenges. I gave up on homeschooling and felt darn good about it!
But God...
Long story short, school didnt' work out and I don't mean in a small way. In a huge, no-doubt-left-in-your-mind-way that makes it clear this is not an option.
So here we are. Why do I say these negative things about myself???!
I think people should know that you don't have to be perfect(or anywhere near it, apparantly!) to homeschool.
Or to do anything else that God calls you to do, that on your own, you just can't do.
I am not saying that God always calls you to do something that seems impossible, but when He does, He gets all the glory, because you know it certainly wasn't YOU!
You LOVE, LOVE the first day of school!!!
In spite of the picture above, my children are not 5,3,2 and 4 months old.
They are actually 13, 10(for a few more weeks), 9 and 7(8 in 3 months).
When I look at old pictures I feel a little sad for all the time gone by. They were so cute! I used to dress them in matching outfits!
Although, when I took this picture, I remember I'd only had about 2 hours sleep. I'd driven 4 hours to meet a fellow homeschooler I'd "met" through the internet.
The baby had terrible colic and for 4 months I nursed her all night long. Then I discovered soy formula and my life took a turn for the better.
Actually I still deal w/ sleep problems, but that is not what I sat down here to write!
Today was our first day of school. Well sort of. Have you ever noticed that when you make pancakes, the first one is often a dud? I set aside this day as a dry run of sorts, to work out any kinks. Thursday, I started organizing paperwork and everyone's backpacks and today we dove in.
This year is going to be our best ever. I got a scheduling idea from Joyce Swann. Now her kids were accelerated and all earned masters degrees at home by age 16 or so.I am not interested in that, but I like the idea of school for 3 solid hours a day(I may have to make it longer, but I like having a set time). No messing around, no goofing off.No talking about anything else, but what we are doing.
Even my spelling/reading/dyslexia materials(avko.org) say to only do activities for 15 min. If it takes longer, it becomes tedious, so we are working up to completing the lessons in under 15 min. We can only get about 1/2 done right now, but I am sure glad to know that we were spending too much time on it before.
And no fits! Fit throwing, whining, complaining, wasting my time and/or the other kids' time is going to result in detention(fancy word for time out) after school.
Another addition this year is homework! Homework builds responsibility and teaches time management. And this year, each child has a backpack w/ all their stuff(another Joyce Swann idea) Last year, we had a school cabinet. It was a big disaster; we were always hunting for our stuff!
Another change on the horizon. I am probably going to quit Sonlight and go over to My Father's World when we get our income tax.Sonlight is a wonderful curriculum. The set up of the schedules and heavy course load are too much for me. This semester I am going to quit using my SL Instructor's guide and just read the books. I am going to see what I have in the way of American History, because when I switch to MFW, they won't get that right away!
So far everything I have planned feels doable, not overwhelming. For about a month, we are going to review math facts, do some reading instruction, things like that. In Sept, the 3 kids that will continue w/ Time4Learning will begin that.
I was thinking today that my littlest didn't have anything to do when I remembered she has time4learning to look forward to!
That is it for now, it's enough!! whew....
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