Miss Sniz's Homeschooling blog

Pride goeth before a fall

2010-11-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

Our Open House was Saturday. The family was here. I had several things out for them to look through...the lapbbooks the girls have made this quarter; the small display pages they've made for each artist and composer we've studied, as well as food that Izzi made. She made fruit salad, gluten-free cupcakes, and cucumber sandwiches. All the food got eaten, to my surprise. Anyway, I decided to just talk for a couple minutes about how proud I was of how hard the girls have worked during these nine weeks, and then let them talk about a government display board they'd made. (Because neither of them wanted to do anything in front of anyone, and that was our compromise). They did a good job and I was glowing with the knowledge a teacher gets of how she's passes on precious knowledge to her hungry students...then Izzi said quite clearly to the room at large, "I don't really remember any of this." Ahem. Nice.

2010-10-27T12:34:00.001-07:00

I love the way the girls and I are learning this year. Our son is still an unknown though.

2010-10-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

We're on week number nine! After this week, we will be through the first quarter! We're having an open house for the kids this weekend. I'm anxious to see how it goes!
I love me some exclamation marks!

2010-10-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

Oh, I love what we're learning this year. The problem is I love it more than my students. I want my enthusiasm to be contagious...and part of me expects my kids to be as excited as me. But another part knows that's impossible. I mean, how capable were YOU of just bursting with excitement about learning about Napoleon when you were 13?

Anyway, I have basically used all my spare time in ways other than on here. I'd like to say I've used it ALL planning school, but although I've been spending MUCH more time on that than I ever have before, the truth is that when I'm not planning school, I'm planning other things...I just feel like I'll never have enough time to accomplish everything I want.

We just completed week number eight of school. There's nine weeks in each quarter and we're having a school Open House after each quarter. I've never done that before. The girls are going to display their lapbooks that they've worked on all quarter, as well as a government display board and six small boards for the 3 composers and 3 artists we've studied. I wanted to have another display where they write a short blurb about each thing we've studied, but I don't think that's going to happen. We're sending invitations to our family and a few families who support what we're doing. Izzi is making the food and they are each going to read something they wrote this quarter. We'll see how it goes.

So far, I have been able to maintain planning the whole week out on the weekend so I am not tempted to skip certain things because I'm tired and don't really have a plan worked up yet, you know? I pray I'll be able to continue that. Although today is Friday and I usually get a jump on the following week Friday afternoon and here I am blogging. I just don't feel like doing it right now which wouldn't be a problem except that tomorrow I'm going out with a friend for a while, and Sunday is big family reunion birthday day. The weather is gorgeous right now but instead of exercising every morning, which is my norm, I just feel like being lazy and staying in. I hope it's just a few days that I feel like this. I'm capable of forcing myself to do these things...but I've gotten used to doing them because I enjoy them, so it's been easy for a while. I guess it can't always be easy, right?

More about the new school year

2010-08-03T19:24:00.001-07:00

So I haven't written for a week. I've been on vacation, but I've been THINKING about school. We're starting August 18th. I don't really know how to feel about it. I just don't know what to expect. I feel unprepared, although I've spent WAY more time than ever before on planning. Actually, I would say I've spent 80% more time this summer on planning than ever before. So why am I so unsure? Because I'm trying something new. Something I've had inklings about before, in ever-increasing amounts, but I'm only now confident enough to try. Teaching the kids DIFFERENTLY.

Here's the plan: (I know this will change when we start really using it)

William (11th grade) and I do school from 8-9

All three kids and I do school together from 9-10
This includes: making and reviewing presidents cards
state cards
classic artists/musicians cards
vocabulary cards
Reading about current events
Adding to timeline as needed
Prayer for people groups (I am using the Usborne book Window on the World)
Singing president's song

Here's the list of the other things the girls (8th and 6th) are doing the rest of the day:

Test Prep
Spelling and vocab review and test
History reading
History discussion
Mom read Lit outloud
Lit worksheet
Dictation
independent lit reading
independent lit discussion
Mom reads classic book aloud
Activities (make lapbooks or paint)
writing (a curriculum that mixes TOG and my own SAT ideas)
letter/note writing
flash card review
math
character building
discussion with Dad about week's work

2010-07-18T05:26:00.000-07:00

Let's see. Where did I leave off?

Oh yeah. Timeline.

Well, that isn't going to be a subject, per se, it's just going to be something we add to when I feel they need it to help their understanding.

I used to think that the kids needed to spend at least 30 minutes or more on a specific "subject" for it to be "real" and worthwhile. I thought if we spent less time than that on anything, it meant we weren't doing "real" school and it was a waste of time and I would feel guilty. (There are LOTS of things homeschool teachers find to feel guilty about). My reasoning was that kids in a traditional school setting have classes that are usually 45 minutes or more in length, so anything less than that was just "playing"...and wasn't serious.

My attitudes, ideas and emotions have changed slowly and surely. Now I think, "Why does it matter HOW they learn something, as long as they really LEARN it?"

So in thinking about what I want them to learn and remember, I decided that daily flash cards, ones they make themselves and on the topics I want them to remember, would be effective. Even if we only spend five minutes each day on each topic, if we do it EVERY DAY, they will remember. Just like the president song I remember from the first grade (26 years ago). Who cares how long it takes, if it's effective?

These are the subjects we are making and reviewing flashcards for:
Presidents
Classic artists through time
Classic composers
vocabulary (based on words they question in their reading as well as SAT-prep word lists)
And for Izzi: spelling (Baylee doesn't need these)

I realize that it will take more time to review as our number of cards grows. Each morning will be spent on these topics, as well as Bible reading, prayer, and Daily Grams. (Grammar workbooks) I will also read aloud one current event article from the daily paper. William will be with us for this time.

After that, William will move upstairs to his computer desk area and work independently, while the girls and I do math.

More later.

TOG

2010-07-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I think I've recovered enough from writing that long post about William to write a long post about what I am doing with the girls next year. (Actually, in four weeks...yikes!)

I've usually been eclectic in my homeschooling, mostly because nothing worked with William, so I changed curriculums all the time, searching for that elusive one that might spark his interest. (I never found it.) Two years ago when William went to high school and I just had the girls at home, I started using Heart of Dakota (HOD) which I loved and worked really well for us. It's very gentle and that's what I liked about it. They don't say they are very Charlotte Mason in their approach, but they are.

But after two years of being gentle, not really pushing the girls, and recovering from the strong dislike I had developed towards home teaching when William was home, both Rog and I thought it was time to start challenging the girls a little more and be more deliberate in my approach. I could do that with HOD, but after talking at length with a friend who has been using Tapestry of Grace (TOG) for four years, I felt led to switch to that.

But although TOG is the main framework on which I am hanging the CORE of our studies, it is not everything. I reread the Charlotte Mason handbook at the beginning of the summer, as well as some of my inspiring home education books and going through the curriculums and books I already had, and that combined with my seven years of experience of knowing what works for me and the girls and what doesn't, a bigger picture of our days started forming. I also asked myself what I wish I would have had a better understanding of after graduating from high school. (I graduated 17th in my class of 350 and always loved school, but I never really understood American government, nor did I know all the past presidents, nor did I have a clear understanding of time...who was president when and what was going on in the world with art and music and politics...i.e. I knew who Napoleon was, but didn't know when he lived or why he was important to France. I knew about how our country started and the first 4-5 presidents, as well as the Civil war and the importance of Abraham Lincoln, but ask me who was president when the Wright Brothers invented the airplane or what Watergate was, or who was president during the Viet Nam War or the westward expansion, and I felt lost. I wanted to be able to discuss at least the well-known artists like Degas or Renoir, or be able to intelligently discuss Handel or Beethoven. I guess what I wish I would have had was a general well-rounded education and understanding of significant people and events through history and how they all occurred in time.

So all of that to say that TOG gives me a roadmap that I am using or altering as I put much thought and prayer into what I want the kids to learn during the year. I wouldn't have felt comfortable altering a curriculum when I started. I always felt guilty if I didn't do EXACTLY what they said I should do. I had to check things off...nothing else was as important as that. I was a servant to the curriculum. Now the curriculum is MY servant.

Oh, I should say here that William is doing something different. He is just taking the courses and subjects he needs to take to graduate.

Anyway, TOG suggests having Baylee (8th grade) do a complicated timeline with lots of dates for battles and events like the XYZ Affair and the Tennis Court Oath in France. I think knowing what things are and the general time they took place and their significance to what was going on in the world around them (in other words, a basic understanding of the flow of time and events) is more important than writing the dates of battles. She wouldn't remember specific dates anyway (I know I wouldn't), but I really want her to understand Napoleon and his role in France and why things happened there, and what that had to do with America and how did it affect John Adams (the president at the time)? So I am just going to put four thin white timelines that stretch around our room, one above the other, so they can "see" time and how things happened simultaneously in different places. One for Europe, one for France, one for America (that will start after the others so they can get an idea of when this nation started in relation to other places), and one for the rest of the world. Then as we go, we will just add significant events to their relevant timeline so they can see how they relate to each other.

OK, that is just the tip of the iceberg, but I've already spent a lot of time on this post, so I'll write more tomorrow or the next day. Don't worry. It will only take several installments to explain everything!

William

2010-07-13T05:42:00.001-07:00

OK, I said I would go into more detail about our school decisions for the coming year (2010-2011).

First of all, let me tell you about William.

He went to public Kindergarten, then private school for 1-3 grade. I started homeschooling him in 4th grade. I really didn't know anything about homeschooling at that time and had therefore never considered it, but at the end of his 3rd grade year, due to some special circumstances, I was convicted to do it. And let me tell you, that was one time that ignorance was bliss. I didn't know enough to be worried or anxious about it. No, that came later.

Baylee was in 1st grade that year. She had gone to Kindergarten at the same school where William was in 3rd grade, so I had a toddler, a first grader and a fourth grader the first year I home schooled. And as I indicated, that year went by in a worry-free blur.

After that was a serious of progressively more difficult years as I began to understand that I was going to have to drag William uphill academically, as he protested all the while. Wil is not the acedemic sort. So many books tell you that if you love learning and show it through your enthusiasm, your child will learn to love it as well. That never proved true with William, to my confusion, frustration, guilt, discouragement, and even anger. Those were VERY difficult years. You can imagine that we tried everything and anything, but nothing made any difference. That meant that I was never able to "settle in" to homeschooling, never able to stick with anything for very long as I dealt with William from morning to night. We wouldn't get finished with school until evening and I was exhausted all the time and began to struggle with depression.

By the grace of God, I got through those years. My husband and I had always planned, that unless God showed us otherwise, to send him to high school; being responsible to someone besides his mom might be good for him. So we got him tested, got his shots updated, met with the counselor, and sent him off to school. (Quite the relief for me, as you can imagine.)

I tried to be optimistic. My husband and I both did. We had heard so much about homeschool students testing highly, about how they are usually more self-motivated and better workers, how they do well in most situations...well, none of that was true with William. Wil is not a self-motivated person, especially when it comes to what he considers work. And academics sure fit into that category. We already knew William would never be an A student. It didn't matter if he had a brain that was capable of earning As, he never did any of the things necessary to achieve those grades. He never showed interest in anything besides playing and enjoying himself.

William isn't a bad kid. He's a good kid who is controlled by his laziness; like he is trying to stay 10 years old forever because he's convinced if he does that, he'll never have to face the responsibilities of growing up. I think the worst part of being his mom and the frustration that is part of that has been the knowledge of how intelligent and wonderful William is and how he squanders what God has given him in himself, as well as the wisdom his parents have always showered on him.

So William has been at our local High for two years. During those two years, he has kept the same friends he had before(the kids from our neighborhood), and he hasn't participated in any school activities. He went to FCA meetings for a few months last year and those were a big disappointment. There was no meat there, no time, no motivation and no fun. It wasn't a cohesive group...it was just a few kids who go and sit in the big gym for 40 minutes after school once a week. Needless to say, nothing there sparked William's interest. And since the school is so big...the Christians don't even know who the other Christians are; in fact, the kids don't even know who most of their classmates are. My high school graduating class was 325. I knew most of the kids, if not all, by name. Wil's class has over 1000 kids in it and there are supposed to be about 300 more by the time the class graduates. We had hoped he would enjoy all the opportunities offered there that we can't offer him, but he hasn't shown any interest. And his grades have been just as bad at school as they were at home. If he doesn't feel like turning an assignment in, he doesn't. He gets decent scores on tests, but his participation scores are horrible. He has failed Spanish and Health...two classes in two years and he doesn't seem to care. He gets Cs and Ds in most of his classes. So school didn't help him become more responsible about turning his work in. I think the two good things school taught him was that school is not just Mom's silly idea, and that he actually has a pretty good family...telling him those things before never got anywhere with him. He is so hard-headed...some people have to learn the hard way and I fear he's one of them.

Anyway, he wants to come home, believe it or not. I can't tell if it's because he thinks it will be easier and he'll get to sleep in (which wouldn't surprise me), or if it's because school stresses him out more than Rog and I know. Regardless, we've prayed and talked endlessly and have concluded that bringing him home is the right thing. And now I come full circle because, just like it was when I started homeschooling, I don't know much about teaching high school. But I know God is faithful and I trust Him. That's what I'm clinging to.

That brings us to today. I'm still waiting on William's high school transcript to be sent to us before can order his curriculum. I think we're going with C.L.A.S.S. or Christian Liberty Academy. It's the most affordable.

Well, that's William's story. We have two girls as well, one going into 8th grade, the other going into 6th. Their stories are much more simple. I'll get into the nitty gritty of their curriculum in other (hopefully shorter) entries. May God bless anyone reading this.

Changes for the coming year

2010-07-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

William has been in public high school for two years while I gained back some of my sanity. But he will be coming home again next year for his junior year. Lots of prayer, tears, and discussions have been a part of this decision, as you can imagine. Maybe I will share the reasons on here some day...when I can actually discuss them without getting teary. At this point, I'm pretty terrified about it and all I feel up to saying is, "Please pray for me."

But in other news, I have decided to change my curriculum for the girls next year to Tapestry of Grace, with lots of my own modifications. Since this will be my eighth year homeschooling them, I think I pretty much know what I'm doing and what I want/need to do. But all of my changes and big ideas require lots and lots and LOTS of planning. So that's basically what I've been doing every day in between all my other responsibilities. I'll go into more details in the next few entries.

2009-08-19T07:43:00.001-07:00

We're on the third day. I ordered most of my books from Rainbow Resource and some of them are on backorder, so they haven't come in yet. That mean's we're having shorter days this week; Bible, reading, grammar and math. Since the days are shorter, so far it's been pretty stress-free. I wonder what it will be like next week.

But something amazing has happened--up until now Baylee has hated math PASSIONATELY. And Izzi pretty much hated it too since lower-math is so repetitive and so much work (tons of long multiplication and division problems almost daily). But this year, Baylee starts pre-algebra and LOVES it. (Well, it's only been three days, so maybe "loves" is an overly strong word). But she doesn't dread it. And actually looks forward to it. Izzi likes hers too. We have tried lots of math curriculums...Math-U-See, Saxon, SOS and Horizons, Singapore, A Beka, (that's all I can remember right now, but I know there was at least one other program in there) and what I finally settled on that works for us is Bob Jones. It's linear. (And gentler.) One thing that became clear as we were using Saxon is that the spiral method of learning DOES NOT work for us in math. We need mastery of a concept before we move on. A brief exposure to a concept, even if it get's revisited every few weeks or so, is a disaster, especially as the kids progress and the concepts become more complicated. For the assignment at the end of the chapter, there would be two problems or so from each concept that was introduced in the prior weeks. (We usually only spent a day on each concept in a rotation. Then a few weeks later, the book would start the rotation again.) Even though the chapter number where the concept was first introduced accompanies each problem, we had to spend way too much time looking back to try to remember how to do the problems. And since there were only two or so from each concept, by the time we really got into school, we were looking up tons of different concepts to complete assignments. (I was having a hard time teaching it because I couldn't remember either.) I could see that William (public school 10th grader now) was beginning to hate math even though he's always been instinctively good at it. But everyone I talked to seemed to love Saxon and no one ever said they liked Bob Jones. In fact, Bob Jones was never mentioned at all. :-) That's one of the great things about homeschooling. You can choose the curriculum that works best for your kids' learning styles. So even if no one else says "Bob Jones Math works for us!", it does for this family. (I found it through this awesome used curriculum store here. The Tea Room, owned by my friend, Jo Ann Masterson. She has some of everything so you can go and really look through the books before you buy).

Anyway, I didn't start out this post to talk about math curriculums. But it IS great the girls like math now! :-)

First Day of 2009

2009-08-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day for Baylee (7th grade) and Izzi (5th grade). It went well except that I found out there were some books I need that I forgot to order (and don't have money for) and our day takes longer than I anticipated. Baylee is taking pre-algebra this year and it's better than her regular math last year (which she hated). We're using the same program I used with William two years ago. (Bob Jones) The girls like school because it makes the day go faster. (Their words) And because it gives their lives purpose. (My words :-) )

2009-01-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe how low my motivation is right now...well, I guess I CAN, seeing as how it's January, one of the hardest months to get through. It's a good thing Heart of Dakota (our curriculum) is so easy to follow.

2009-01-05T06:35:00.000-08:00

This morning we started with math. We almost always have math first because it is the girls' least favorite subject and in order for them to have a decent attitude the rest of the day, we need to get it out of the way.

We do two pages a day of math. Baylee's first page was on exponents and patterns and problem-solving for Pascal's Triangle. I usually have to break through her mental block to get her to at least TRY to understand. (She is convinced that she CAN'T understand math, so she doesn't even try at first and usually breaks down in tears.) But after a lot of patience on my part, she almost always realizes it's much simpler and easier to understand than she assumed. Why it always takes her a while to figure that out, I don't understand. Anyway, when she finally understands how to do something, her attitude INSTANTLY changes from a weepy, hopeless, negative one to a happy, bouncy, positive one. Right now she is working on her second page which is percentages. She understands it, so she's happy. She likes to lay on the floor of the living room to finish her work.

Izzi is working on several digit multiplication and long division. She hates it because the problems take so long, but although she is slow, she is methodical and hardly ever makes a mistake. Her favorite spot is under my table/desk in the school room and she is there working right now.

2009-01-04T16:53:00.000-08:00

In preparation for school tomorrow after our long break, I went through a pile of papers I hadn't looked at for a while and found an old homeschooling journal from 2005. Wil was in 6th, Baylee was in 3rd, and Izzi was in 1st grade. I wish I would have kept it up faithfully but I was very sporadic. Anyway, I thought I'd put a few entries on her that I found interesting:

August 18, 2005
Started @ 8:30 and spent 1 hour and 10 minutes going over rules, expectations, etc. Did reading w/ Wil for 45 min. Baylee worked w/ Izzi . Izzi said it was too long.
Wil did Daily Grams on his own. It only took him 10 min. I made pot roast during that time. When he was done, I set him up w/ Social Studies and Baylee up w/ Spelling. They both worked for an hour. I read to Izzi for about 35 min. Then she got on the treadmill. Wil finished and got on the treadmill after Izzi. I gave Baylee her verbal quiz and then she got on the treadmill for her exercise before lunch.

Lunch and my treadmill time--1 hour & 10 min.

Wil & Izzi did math for about 20 min, then Wil started spelling while I was doing SS with Baylee. Then Baylee and I did language arts for 45 min. That seems to be the limit with her. Will did spelling (while complaining about how hard it is) for an hour.

We ended @ 3:30.

Aug, 20, Saturday
Went to the Indiana State Fair. Learned about agriculture, plants and farming. At least I did. The kids learned about the state's fattest pig.

Sept 19, 2005
This morning didn't start well. The girls were fighting before school even started. We began with prayer and the pledge at 8:30. Wil and Izzi fought over a Bible verse card. Wil put his head on his desk and had a bad attitude and began arguing. Izzi started crying. We said our verse a few times and talked about it, had history, sang a song and prayed again. Then we did science for 1 hour. For lunch and recess we are going to the park.

We had spelling, LA and math after lunch. Baylee really struggled with subtraction but I helped her and she did better.

Oct 10, 2005
Field trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum to visit the Norman Rockwell exhibit. I loved the history. Even though the kids' favorite part was playing with the old-fashioned radios, phones and dress-up clothes, I think they actually learned something.

Nov 12
Mondays are always hard and today is no exception. Oh how i wish I could escape my emotions, just rip them out. Arggg.

Dec 4
While Wil did his math, I read to Baylee. Then Wil and Baylee did history and SS while I read to Izzi. Then I read to Wil while Baylee did LA. She was very confused, so I stopped reading to Wil and just helped her. I feel like we had a breakthrough with studying skills.
Lunch.
Wil did his SS, Izzi had reading, and Baylee had math in the afternoon.

Well, there's a little snapshot of 2005. If you're still with me, hope I didn't bore you too much!

2008-12-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

Godly character traits. We study one each week, and let me tell you, if we all really exhibited all of these character traits all the time, this world would be a better place. But I continue to be amazed at how often they come up in our everyday lives. Children are always making decisions that don't line up with the attitude they know they should have and that we are trying to instill in them. But what's cool is that the more I have to talk to them about their attitudes and how they should be in line with what Jesus wants from us, the more I think about how I struggle with the exact same things in different ways. God is using my kids, once again, to teach me how to be the woman he wants me to be.

Teenagers

2008-12-12T12:29:00.000-08:00

I was just looking at all of William's assignments and grades on-line when he got home from school today. I asked him why he had two really low scores back to back on his Algebra homework. He said because it was a really hard chapter that he had not understood at first. Supposedly his teacher said it was the hardest chapter they would have in all of ninth grade. But did he ask me for help? No. In fact, he said cockily that there was no way I'd be able to understand it. I asked what it was over. Substitution was his reply. Substitution, I thought. That is one of the easiest things to do in Algebra. I told him so.

Him: I'd like to see you do a problem!

Me: Bring me your book.

Him: Of course you could do it if you spent a long time reading the directions!

Me: I won't read the directions. I don't need them.

Him: Then do this one! (under his breath: She'll never do it without reading the directions.)

Me: Here's the answer.

Him, grabbing the book and looking in the back where the answer to that particular problem was: Silence. He, like most 15 year old boys think he knows more than anyone else, but I guess he learned different today. LOL.

2008-12-04T06:25:00.000-08:00

Things have been going well at the Shuman Acadamy of Learning. Both the girls dislike math (Baylee HATES it) and it was amazing how long she could make it draw out. So now we do math first--9:00 until 9:45, rain or shine, and whatever they don't get done, they have to do in the evening as homework with their dad. Getting it out of the way has done wonders for their attitudes and so far, neither of them have had to do math with their dad.

In other news, in Science we are covering wildlife, specifically John Audubon and things which live in the woods. We covered owls earlier. Here's on of Baylee's Science notebook pages. I thought the picture was very well-done and she had so much fun drawing it...

2008-11-26T06:57:00.000-08:00

Here we are, the day before Thanksgiving break, and I have to admit, my motivation is low. But the Heart of Dakota curriculum is easy enough to follow that I can get it done fairly quickly so it's easier to stay on track when that happens.

Our ninth grader and I usually go over his school day and his planner when he gets home from school. It was a tough transition for me, not being in control of his curriculum and what he is learning, but I am just focusing on his organizational skills. I check to see that he's done his work and he's on top of studying for tests, etc, but I don't check his work for right or wrong answers, despite how tempted I am, unless he asks. Which he rarely does. He wants to do it on his own and I'm glad of that, but he needs more guidance than he thinks. BD has been especially convicted of his spiritual development, now that he's not with me all day, and gets up with him early each morning and has his devotional before he gets on the bus. William responds so well to his father right now. He basically needs me for love and nurturing, but I can see it on his face when he looks at his dad...that look of respect and bashful, eager hope of approval. I am soooo thankful for BD and I am proud of how 15-year-old William is developing character-wise. We've always had issues with his personality to deal with (which is true about all children--we all have a sinful nature after all). He sruggles with honesty and arguing and accepting responsibility, but by being obedient to keep him home for the last five years, despite the difficulties, I feel that we've avoided many character-issues that could have cropped up in him by now. Each child is different. We saw that William was especially impressionable when he was young. Now that he's over those years, he's pretty established in his belief system. Anyway, he turned 15 on Monday, one year from driving. Wow. Time flies. I hope and pray that everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving!!!

2008-10-29T05:21:00.000-07:00

I tell myself daily that I really need to post on here. I want to post. But when school is done for the day, I just don't feel like doing more "school" stuff, you know? And when the evening comes, all I want to do is turn off my brain, do mindless stuff and go to bed early. But some neat things have happened since my last post (not hard since it was a month ago) that I want to share.

First of all, I said in my last post that it seems like things frequently happen in real life that corresponds perfectly to what we are studying in school. Like a homeschool-group puppet show that was based on the Bible verse we were memorizing that week, for example.

Well, one school day, we had taken a brief break to pick some tomatoes when Izzi spotted this on one of the plants:
The picture doesn't do it justice because it was HUGE. (That's a large green pepper behind it). It was one of the freakiest, coolest insects I have ever seen, at least as large around as my thumb. I must have stared at it for ten minutes, softly exclaiming to myself until my girls actually had to remind me that we were still doing school! So I went back into the house, but only to get my camera (yes, Mom-teacher IS willing to put off school for really weird stuff!) While I was staring at it the second time, it started throbbing. You heard me right. Throbbing. Then something started coming out of the rear-end. It would come out, get pulled back in, then the throbbing would become more violent and it would come out again. This is what Mom-teacher extraordinaire yelled:
"It's pooping something green!"
Yes, I'm just that klassy.
Turns out, what looked like the rear-end was actually the head, and a new head was emerging that finally got out and started eating before more than one set of legs was out and the whole body was still throbbing.
So of course I watched it for a while, realized whatever was happening was going to take a LONG time, and went in to call my husband and exclaim to him for a while. (We got a lot of school done that day). We looked it up on the internet and found something similar that turns into a night hawk moth, but I still wasn't sure it was the right thing because it didn't say anything about the caterpillar living on a vegetable vine, nor about its incredible size.
Then three days later, Izzi is reading from her read-aloud book, Nature Reader, and this is what she sees...
Yes, it is a tomato worm. It looks just like the one we saw (except for the size), and she recognized it right away. It turns into a huge moth called a hawkmoth, so we weren't far from the real thing on the internet, but the book clearly says the caterpillar lives on a tomato (or other vegetable vine) and the picture was more clear than anything we saw on the internet. And of course she was so excited and thought her book was the coolest thing EVER and was sad when it ended. But now she's reading a book about Tornado, a dog that a tornado deposited, house and all, in someone's yard. Now there's something I hope DOESN'T really happen!

In History, we were learning about wampum, carved, colored beads made from clam shells that Native Americans used as both decoration and as money before the settlers came to America. Wampum was one of our vocab words, but although Izzi could recite the definition, how much does something like that "come alive" in her head? Well, through our homeschool group we got free tickets to the Indiana State Museum so we went for a field trip. There was a whole section on Native Americans. We saw a life-sized wigwam (another vocab word) and a scale model of an Indian village, all things that we had talked about extensively, but the real clencher was this:

That's a real wampum belt behind the glass (Izzi is the one on the right). Wampum is obscure...in fact, we had even asked one of the guides earlier if they had any real wampum, and she didn't know what we were talking about. So it's so neat that such an obscure thing that we learned about in History was there 3-D for her to visualize and put in her head as a picture so that it came alive for her.

OK, I'll stop rambling now, but to me, these things are really neat and another way that I see God's hand in our homeschooling.

2008-10-02T05:23:00.000-07:00

Today I stumbled on a blog entry called "Homeschool Lunch" which is ironic, because I had been absently thinking about writing something about that exact thing before I read it.

It saddens me to say that although I consider myself a good mother, I am NOT a good dietitian. We do not eat only organic, we do not have vegetables or fruit with every meal, I don't make from-scratch meals (or even from-box meals) every meal-time. I HAVE been heard to say things like "Make yourself a dang kay-see-dee-a" (bonus points to anyone who can tell me where that quote is from) or "Pour yourself a bowl of cereal" or (gasp) "Let's go to McDonald's for lunch today." I DO try to make sure there ARE veggies and fruit consumed every day and I DO actually cook dinner most nights. And we don't let our kids eat much sweets. But the whole lunch thing...it's usually sandwiches or spagetti-O's (gross---I know) or hot dogs or basically anything that can be thrown in the microwave and cooked without fuss. This week we had frozen pizza, hot dogs, PB and J, turkey and tomato sandwiches, bananas, tortilla pizza, frozen fettucini, leftover tacos, and mac and cheese. Oh yeah, there were some grapes and apples in there, and we had some veggies and pears at dinner time. But I have to admit, I get kinda frustrated if someone asks "What's for supper?" before 5:00 pm, the time I actually think about food. Lunch is always, "Well, we have this, this and this that can be made easily. What do you want? And don't forget to eat a banana." Mrs. Cleaver I am not.

2008-10-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today Baylee cleaned her room without being asked and then asked me in a very sweet voice:

Am I being faithful, Mommy?

Faithfulness was our Godly character trait from last week and we talk about it several times a day. It's so neat to see it actually being played out in her life.

Our Care Group meets at our house and tonight during prayer, we heard the sweet sound of girlish voices singing O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing upstairs, the hymn we've been singing every day in school. To think that during their play time, they still lift up their voice in a hymn to God...well, it was one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard.

2008-09-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't written on here for a while but it's not because things haven't been going great. A couple of highlights from the last week:

In our science reading, we just touched on Carl Linnaeus, the "father" of taxonomy (the classification of living things). Our lesson was not about Linnaeus primarily, so just his name and a brief explanation of what he did was included. Baylee pipes up:

"Oh. I remember him. Keep penguins cool or find good shelter."

I blinked at her. I had forgotten that. Two years ago, I came up with a sentence to help the kids remember Linnaeus' classification system...Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. And she remembered it. We recited the categories together and as we did, I marveled about how that year of school was a huge struggle for me and I felt like we didn't learn anything, but Baylee proved me wrong. She remembered something I, as the teacher, had forgotten. Wow. What an affirmation.

As any reader of this blog can tell, I love Heart of Dakota, our curriculum this year. In fact, the only thing that I haven't found perfect is the History. The book Carrie, the author, chose as the backbone for her history curriculum (we are studying American History starting with Columbus, or Eric the Red if you want to go that far back) is an older history text. Carrie's reason for choosing an old text is a valid one...she wanted something that was written closer time-wise to the actual events. The problem for me has been how little time is spent on each event, which makes for a confusing jumble of names and events that are difficult even for me to untangle. I just couldn't get which events and people and places went together. For younger kids, this would be fine...just an overview to introduce them to names they will be exposed to later. But I am using the curriculum with older kids and we need to get a grip on what is happening. For example, we started with Christopher Columbus, then moved onto John Cabot. We all thought that John Cabot came AFTER Columbus' time, but at the end of the brief recount of Cabot, we found out that he was a contemporary of Columbus and that he sailed to North America for England two years after Columbus discovered the West Indies for Spain. But I had already visually put Cabot (and led my daughters to think this way too) a generation AFTER Columbus. Then we moved on to John Smith, then Henry Hudson, back to John Smith and Myles Standish and...well, we couldn't remember which story went with who or where. It was driving me crazy.

So I finally came up with a solution for us...(click on the pictures for a better view)

These are taped to the bottom of our white board so we see them all the time. Plus last week, I added an activity to our History study...each girl got a map to label with names and a list I put together of the key players in order, as well as a few key words to remind them of who they were. It really helps me visualize the people we're reading about...I hope it helps them. Since I always go over stuff periodically, I think it does. (Maybe I'm being optimistic.)

I love the Godly character traits we study each week since they represent the character we pray so earnestly for to develop in our kids. Each Monday we go through all our previous verses and talk about the character traits. Their memory is astounding. Anyway, each week I write the verse and add the character trait to our permanent list on the board.

Our weeks continue to go great and I feel so good about their education. The stuff we are learning is in small enough bites that we can go over and over the things we learn every day so that I am confident that it stays with them.

2008-09-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

One who is slack in his work
is brother to one who destroys.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe.
Proverbs 18: 9-10

This morning as I was introducing our weekly Bible passage, I asked the girls to come up with motions as usual. Baylee said excitedly that she wanted to do them all and since that was OK with Izzi, she went ahead. She was going along, but couldn't think of a motion for "name".

"What's sign language for "name"?" she finally asked.
"Hmm. I studied sign language a little bit in high school, but I don't remember."
"Hey, we have a book on sign language!"
After looking in the book (which is pretty much useless due to the fact there is no index), we finally turned to the internet and found this great site: www.alspro.com/
"I know what we should do!" I said excitedly.
"Learn the whole verse in sign language and do it that way!" she said as if reading my mind!
She's been working on it whenever she has a few minutes between subjects, dancing and humming as she makes the motions. She loves it. This is a great, fun way to not only memorize scripture, but also learn sign language for a purpose at the same time without having to have a formal "curriculum". We're going to do all our verses this way.

For a history activity today, we made Indian sand art, mixing the colors from salt and food coloring. I ran out of salt and had to go to the grocery, so the girls did most of their math in the car while I drove and was in the store. I love how that worked out because math takes so long and they were distracted with excitement about the upcoming sand art activity, so got it done without complaining!

Baylee's

Here's Izzi's, although I'm not sure the native Americans would sand-paint a flying pizza with technicolor crust.

2008-09-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of Baylee and Izzi's acrostic of the word "Pocahontas".

Here's a picture of the bookmarks they made today to use in their school books. Hopefully they remind them to be responsible.

2008-09-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

Today we were talking about simile and metaphor. They had to find the metaphor in this week's poem (An Arrow's Flight), then I gave them some sentences they had to fill in with either a simile or a metaphor. They each had to do two metaphors then two similes. I asked Baylee to come up with a simile that started with "A star is like..." in her own words. She thought and thought and finally said, "A flashlight" but I could tell she wasn't happy with it. We had moved on to metaphor and she squealed "I know! I know!" I asked what she was talking about. "A star is like a diamond, just like in the Twinkle, twinkle Little Star song! There's a simile in that song!" I thought that was so neat that she made that connection. It seems like those kind of things happen all the time...we will be talking and learning about something for school, and a light bulb goes on in one of their heads as they realize that what we are learning about directly relates to everyday, ordinary things and they can now look at those things in a new, more dimensional way. And although some of the ways we do things seem simple, they remember the things we learn. So for example, say we only cover five vocab words a week instead of several. But we use those words all week in all our subjects and draw pictures of them, etc. My 9 year old that had trouble remembering things like that now learns those five words for life. And learning five words in long-term memory beats learning any amount of words in short term memory.

Here's Izzi as she and her sister spontaneously decided to perform a play starring Pocahontas (Lady Rebecca) when she visited England.

Here's some more pictures from some of our activities last week...

Floating an egg in fresh water and salt water.

Here we are making a map out of blue cardstock, glue and popcorn kernels.

2008-09-08T18:21:00.000-07:00

You know what continually amazes me? It's how everything my curriculum suggests works, even when I'm convinced it won't.

Take today for example. It's the first day of the fourth unit. That means a new Bible passage. My 11 yr old was dragging (she's NOT a morning person) and just kinda slumped in her seat, eyes half-mast, willing to attend school, but not enthusiastic about it due to lack of energy.

I said, "Baylee, run around the circle (kitchen, living room, school room) until I say "freeze", then recite the verses from the first week.

She kinda nodded.

Izabella (9) said, "I'll do it!"

I said OK, thinking Baylee just wasn't up to running around the house.

But when I said go, she got up and gently pushed her sister back to her seat. "Mom said for me to do this." She started jogging. She got faster with each "lap" until she was bright-eyed and laughing. I said "freeze" and she recited the three verses from nearly a month ago, then she and her sister argued about who got to say the Godly character trait they studied that week. (persistence)

Then Izabella said excitedly, "My turn!"

"Since you said the character trait last time, I get to say it this time!" Baylee yelled.

Before my eyes, my girls had turned from sleepy-eyed, sluggish, non-interested girls into excited Bible scholars. Their memorization put me to shame. They didn't even hesitate when reciting things from weeks ago.

But that's not what amazed me. It was the hand-motions the author of Heart of Dakota (Carrie) suggests to aid in memorization. In the past, Baylee hasn't participated in adding hand-motions to our verses and Izzi has only done it in a half-embarrassed manner. This morning I said,

"Baylee, you get to create hand-motions to the first verse, and Izzi, you get to come up with them for the second." I held my breath, expecting them to groan and roll their eyes.

They both jumped up and down and Baylee got into position breathlessly and proceeded to come up with hers.

Izzi could hardly wait her turn.

We all recited the verses with the hand-motions they came up with several times. They didn't want to stop. Until I told them about our History activity...trading for food like Captain John Smith and the Native American Indians did in the 1500's. Do you think the Indians had Chessmen Cookies, chocolate-dipped biscotti and Popsicles to trade?

2008-09-04T06:21:00.001-07:00

William is going through some growing pains as he gets used to keeping track of assignments and homework assignments. It's tough for him...if he forgot to turn in an assignment at home, he could just go upstairs and get it. Now he's out of luck if he forgets something. That is one thing we knew he would experience and would be good for him.

At home we start at around 8:30 and get done around 1:15 or 1:30. Each week we study a verse that corresponds to a Godly character trait that we focus on all week. It's amazing how this curriculum makes the verses so easy to memorize and how the character trait applies to every area of their lives. The first week, it was persistence. Then humility, and this week we are focusing on boldness. We are also studying the literature genre of biography and focusing on responsibility. Baylee is working on the genre of humorous fiction, as well as having several books that she reads on her own. Then she dictates to me what she's read either with oral, written, or picture narration. In science, we are focusing on the seashore and the life that can survive in that environment. We just did an experiment where we put sand in a pan and blew on it for wind, dropped water from a dropper for rain, then poured water in the end and rocked the pan back and forth for waves to see what affected the shoreline most...wind, rain or waves. Waves came in first, then wind, then rain. Each time we do an experiment, they fill out a experiment hypothesis page and include drawings. I love how much they are using every part of themselves to learn...listening, writing, drawing, etc. They each have A Beka for math, and Baylee has A Beka for grammar and Izzi has Bob Jones for grammar. Baylee struggles with math and both of them dread it, but their attitudes have improved as we apply our verses to them. As we do drawing and assignments, the girls put them in page protector sheets in their binders so at the end of the year, I don't have to do much to put together their yearly notebooks.

Everyday, we do History, Bible, Science, grammar, reading, dictation, poetry, and math. Then we alternate art, vocab, geography, and history activities. Izzi has a weekly rotation of dictation and spelling. I love being able to focus on each of their issues and attitudes and what they are learning every day. I am convinced they are growing and getting a great education, plus are growing and developing Godly characters.

2008-08-31T18:24:00.001-07:00

The high school had a "back to school night" for the parents of freshmen. We took Wil's schedule and got to spend ten minutes with each of his teachers. I was pretty impressed because for such a huge school (totaling over 2500 this year), they have done a good job breaking each class into two groups that have all their core classes together, so his (Biology, Algebra, and Literature/English) classes, as well as his locker are all in the same small block of classrooms (A Hall). He has all three classes with the same kids all year. He has five teachers; two women and three men. In fact, with the exception of his Biology teacher(who acts like a teenager and is barely out of college) we liked all of his teachers. We were especially impressed with both his Lit/English teacher and his Algebra teacher. His English teacher even told us that she plans on visiting our church and couldn't believe William had been homeschooled because he's so outgoing. She's only had one other girl (that she knew of) that came from a homeschool environment and I guess the girl was shy and rarely spoke. That probably perpetuated the myth that homeschooled kids aren't socialized enough (which is ridiculous).

Another thing we liked is that every teacher is required to maintain a website within the larger school website with all the notes, as well as the assignments and due dates. And they all check their school email between every class, so there is a direct, fast line of communication between the teachers and the parents.

Roger and I have already seen how much of an effect school is having on Wil since he has to be responsible to strangers to turn things in on time and be organized. It's tough for him since those qualities don't come naturally to him, but this is forcing him to do it.

We started school on Wednesday the thirteenth because that is when William started and I want to keep the same schedule. I am constantly amazed at how well school with the girls continues to be. I told my sister yesterday that I haven't found anything I don't like with this curriculum so far. And the girls are learning so much. For the first time, I look forward to teaching every day.

One of the biggest reasons we homeschool is that we love to have the opportunity to teach and instruct about Godly character during every part of their lives, including schooling. Their character is more important to us than academics and when they are young and impressionable, we think it is the best way to ground them in their faith and keep them from being exposed to things they aren't mature enough to understand or make decisions about yet.

Anyway, school resumes on Tuesday and I hope to have more time to share more details about our days. Right now, we are on vacation at my grandmother's house in Ohio. As I sit here, my family, my sister's family and my parents are playing "Things". The reader calls out something like "Things you shouldn't say at a funeral" or "Things you wish grew on trees" and every one writes an answer. Then we go around and when it's your turn, you guess who said what. It's so funny to hear some of the things the kids come up with. One of the kids said they wished "apples that made you swim as fast as Steven Phelps" grew on trees. And in the last round, the question was, "Things that are embarrassing" and one of the kids wrote "Toots (farts) that whistle." How true.

2008-08-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

William being in public school for the first time is almost harder for me than it is for him. I've chosen what he's studied, I've chosen his books and curriculums...in short, I've been in total control of his education for the last five years. Now my role is to help him use books other people choose, help him with work other people have assigned. This is normal...it's just hard for this homeschooling mommy that's used to being in control. The other thing is that I seem to come on too strong. As soon as William gets home, I start pestering him with questions about everything, which he answers willingly at first, then gets defensive and gives me the signal to back off. I want to know what was said by whom and what did their expressions look like, and did this teacher do this and that and who did you sit with at lunch and what did you talk about and is there a particular girl you like and what are your assignments and let me see them so we can do them together right away and did you hear any words today you hadn't heard before and how far is your locker from the gym and how do you feel about...well, details...I WANT DETAILS!!! Pant, pant.

But wait. The thought occurs to me that one of the reasons we put him in public school was to let him stand on his own feet, to not have his mother making sure he does everything, we want him to take responsibility for his own decisions. And so far, he's been impressing the pants off my husband and I as he steps up and behaves like a thoughtful, compassionate young man. We raised him to be that way...why do I expect the worst? It's almost like I expect him to mess up...to forget a homework assignment, or not do something right, or make bad decisions about the new, worldly stuff he's exposed to, and I HAVE to step in. Do I have fear that I never knew I had? Do I have a controlling aspect to my personality that I never knew was there? Like I said, this is harder for me than it seems to be for him. He hates getting up so early, but besides that, he has handled the transition very well. In fact, he told me today that on his first math test, he was the only kid in the class that got an A+.

Anyway, all my demands and coercions don't work, especially as far as giving me information about relationships, like who he is interested it, etc. Then he goes out with his dad and the answers to all my questions just seem to come up naturally between them. My husband tells me later that Wil told him this or that and my mouth drops open. Why didn't he tell me that? Am I a bad mother that he doesn't trust me? Am I losing him? This is probably something most mothers of teenaged boys have gone through, but like I said, I've been used to being his world. Sure, I shared him with a few boys on the block and at church, but in general, Mom WAS IT. Not so anymore. My husband and I had a talk about this last week...about how frustrated I feel and how I see William's unwillingness to talk as disrespect. My husband listened to me. Then he told me that he understood, but that I was coming on too strong. "Give him time," he said.

So I've been praying for wisdom of how to be the mother William needs. First off, I'm going to accept that there are some things about William's feelings I will only hear when my husband tells me what they talked about. And I've decided to wait until...IF...Wil comes to me with questions instead of trying to shove my help down his throat. I will continue to read the Bible to him before school and pray outloud for him, but not get upset if he doesn't seem as enthusiastic about it as I think he should. I will remember that he is a kid and will not act like a mature Christian adult. And I will not think that if he messes up, or doesn't have a huge motivation to memorize scripture to help him through the days, or doesn't read his algebra book cover to cover, that he will always be that way. After all, we trusted God when we put him in school, why do I suddenly NOT trust Him to guide William without me? William has his whole life ahead of him...time to pursue things that interest him, time to develop the habits and skills and knowledge HE wants and that God wants.

Anyway, I didn't sit down to write about William. I wanted to talk about my school day with the girls. We are studying the seashore in science, and they drew their favorite fish in white crayon, then painted watercolor over the "resist". They turned out really cute and we had so much fun.

Our Bible verse is Proverbs 11:2 and our curriculum has them do pushups, then recite the verse, then do pushups, then recite, etc. I'm surprised how much they love the physical activity even though lots of push-ups are hard for them. Our days have the perfect amount of routine and variety, if that makes sense. I continue to be amazed at how well things are going. With this curriculum there is little teacher-prep...I am so relaxed and happy. I'm so glad my sister introduced me to Heart of Dakota!

2008-08-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I sound like a broken record, but we had another great day!

For science, we are studying the seashore, and today we read about birds' beaks and how God gave different birds different shapes and sizes of beaks to help them get food. Here they are using differently shaped "beaks" to find food (cereal, seeds and pasta) in the sand.

Our son has been having a good experience at the public high school. He doesn't like getting up so early every day, but we have been seeing some encouraging things going on in his life.

Well, I hope you all have a great weekend! I've got to go get ready for a crop I'm going to at a scrapbooking store tonight from 6-12. I've never been to one before and I'm excited!

2008-08-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

Today went well. One thing I love about this curriculum is that it has all the subject laid out each school day, not by days of the week. So if we don't have school on a Monday, it doesn't throw us off. The spelling program that I've always used, for instance, was based on a five day week, with a test on Friday. If we had a holiday or short week, we were messed up because each page was labeled with a day. But since we want to stay on the same schedule as my son's school, we started on a Wednesday, just like he did. Therefore today we did Day 6. You might say that you planned your year in advance and have already divided everything up according to how many days you are planning to have school at home, but there are two reasons that doesn't work for me. The first is that a big benefit of homeschooling is the flexibility to move days around as needed throughout the year. I can decide to take a field trip on the spur of the moment if a special educational opportunity comes up there is an emergency and we can't have a regular school day. If that happens, I don't have to feel "behind". I just pick up on the next day when regular classes resume. The second is my personality. I love variety and spontaneity and flexibility (which is one reason I made a good flight attendant). I know those qualities need to be "tamed" when I'm teaching, so I am more disciplined than I would be if I weren't teaching school, but I am still not a regimented, super-organized person. Having all the subjects laid out with specific directions works for me because there is no planning involved. I used to spend my Sundays after church planning our week. I always dreaded giving up one weekend day for that. This is so much better.

Another thing that is awesome is the Godly character trait that corresponds to the verse.
I introduced Proverbs 11:2 today and focused on humility. The girls respond so well to it and love all the activities and questions that the author provides. But what I love is how deep the concept goes into their little hearts and minds. We discussed humility, along with several stories and examples, for a long time. They got up and started doing jumping jacks and repeating the verse on their own. Then there is the singing, which they LOVE. I could go on and on, but this is already so long, so I'll stop now! Hope everyone is having a good day!

2008-08-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

I am blessed that my sister lives 7 minutes away from us. She also has three kids and is using the same homeschooling curriculum I am. Her oldest daughter is 6 months younger than our middle child and her boy/girl twins are a year younger than our youngest. They have all been best friends from the time they were babies. My sister and I thought it would be fun to have a "reading kick-off" for the older girls to start their unit on humorous fiction. Yesterday after school, they researched, planned and performed a humorous 3-part skit. The performance started with puke-green "refreshments" (colored orange juice). Imagine our shock when we tasted the stuff and it actually tasted good! Then the "audience" moved upstairs to watch the show. I was so impressed at how polished and well-done their delivery was.

This is a picture taken during the second act. My daughter was a man at a diner and my niece was the waitress. They delivered their lines so smoothly with the perfect timing and humor...

Here they are in the third act where they "dueled it out" by trying to outdo each other in joke-telling to get the audience to clap and cheer more loudly. I just have to say we didn't help them at all with the writing (which was very clever), the set, or the costumes and make-up. They did it all themselves and had so much fun. My sister and I are excited about the way they share and execute their ideas...

While the two older girls were writing their skit, the "littles" as we call my youngest and my sister's twins were writing a play based on the book "Prairie School" that they had just read. They performed it for us after the skit.

It's hard to see from this angle, but in this scene, Noah and his mother are at the train station to meet Aunt Dora who is in a wheelchair...

Later, Aunt Dora tries to teach Noah his letters, but he's always running away, saying there's no need for reading on the prairie. Needless to say, he changes his mind by the end of the book...

I continue to love this curriculum (The Heart of Dakota) and am so excited about the things I see going on in our school days...and it's only been a week. Stay tuned for more updates...

2008-08-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

Well, another wonderful school day has come to pass at the Sniz Academy. We're on day 4 of the Heart of Dakota Bigger Hearts for His Glory curriculum. Here's the girls doing jumping jacks and reciting the three verses of the week (Prov. 2:3-5).

The character trait we are working on is persistence and we have had many, many opportunities to talk about and implement persistence this week, especially as it applies to their attitudes. I love having one character trait to focus on. Bible verses are usually so full of good stuff that it's hard to focus on one thing, but doing activities and learning how that trait applies to the other subjects is so productive. I love how the kids see over and over how relevant persistence is in every area of life. They easily had all three verses memorized by the second day, but they still love to do the activities, repeat the verses, and talk about them throughout the day.

Today's History activity was to make a label for every continent and ocean, they tape them to a ball (representing Earth) in the correct spots. They worked together and did a great job. I let them look at a small map, so we're doing it again tomorrow "blind". What a tactile way to "see" the Earth. They won't forget it.

Later today, I am taking the girls to my sister's house where my oldest and her oldest are going to write and perform a humorous skit for the kickoff to the reading unit on humorous fiction. They are going to be reading the same books during the same time period and they will get together at the beginning and the end of the reading units for special projects. The "Littles" (what we call my 9 year old and her 8 year old twins) are going to perform a play based on their reader "Prairie School". The girls are wearing the matching Little House on the Prairie dresses (complete with bonnets) my mom sewed for my sister and I when we were kids.

I am still loving this curriculum.

2008-08-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

If you've been here before, you might know that my husband and I have three kids...a 14 year old son, an 11 year old daughter, and a 9 year old daughter. As a result of God's leading, we started homeschooling over 5 years ago when our son was in fourth grade. This year he is a freshman in high school. My husband and I pray about the education of our children all the time and this year, felt led to put our son in public school while I continue to home educated our daughters. The decision to put him into public school had nothing to do with the constant frustration and challenges I faced on a daily basis as I taught him at home. At least on our end. I am sure on God's end, in His infinite wisdom, these facts were a part of the conviction He put on our hearts about what our son needed, what I needed, what our daughters needed, and what our family needed. And although it's only been two days, I am SO EXCITED by what we've already seen in our son as he faces the new, challenging world of public school, as well as the wonderful time the girls and I have been having these past two days. For the first time, I am enjoying teaching homeschool. As I write, the girls are make a Science notebooking page showing how the moon's gravity affects the tides. In the past, they would have spent 20 minutes tops on this, but they have been working on it happily for over an hour. Their work is so amazing, I have to share... (Click on the picture for a closer view.)

So far, I absolutely LOVE this new curriculum we are using called The Heart of Dakota. And my daughters are loving it too. And since my sister is using the same thing, our kids can talk about what they are learning and even do some projects together. I have enough experience to know this enthusiasm may not last, but wouldn't it be wonderful if it did? After all, we serve a wonderful God and anything's possible!

2008-08-13T17:27:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day of school.

Let me go back to when I choose our curriculum. My sister also homeschools her 8 year old twins and her 10 year old daughter. On our week vacation to stay at my grandmother's in Ohio, she and I spent the four-hour trip diving together. She began talking excitedly about The Heart of Dakota, the new curriculum she'd found and that she was going to use this year. The more she talked, the more excited I got because the more I heard, the more I realized it was just what I was looking for. After much prayer, I had the "moment" where I knew this was the curriculum for us. I had planned on using that week to make some decisions that week (I had taken a vacation from all things school for the previous two months), so the timing was God-inspired.

Anyway, our son who's a freshman this year, had his first day of public school in five years today. It was a half day. I've decided to stick to his school schedule for me and the girls.

So today went great! We only had a half day, but what a day! It was wonderful and the girls loved it! I am so thankful I found this curriculum. God is good!

2008-04-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

The human heart desires nothing as much as selfishly avoiding accountability or responsibility of any kind. We HATE admitting when we're wrong. Remember when Bill Clinton was president and it was discovered that he smoked marijuana in college? His response was, "I smoked it, but I didn't inhale." Or with Monica Lewinski. "I didn't have sex with that woman." I can't remember for sure, but didn't he say later that oral sex didn't count as sex and that's why he said that? If there's a loophole to be found, or a possible distraction, or a way to place doubt that it could have happened, people find it. That attitude typifies many people today, because our culture makes it easy. It's the attitude that says, "I must avoid responsibility at all costs, no matter how. Although I don't necessarily set out to lie or cheat or hurt someone else, I will in a heartbeat if it means I can "get out of" admitting that I did something wrong or made a poor decision." It's the attitude that gets a girl pregnant and then refuses to take responsibility and leaves the mother and the child to fend for themselves. It's the attitude that justifies stealing from someone or something because "they owe it to me". It's the attitude that justifies listening to a song with obscene lyrics and saying, "I only listen to the music, not the words." It's the attitude that takes advantage of others or the welfare system, or anyone without conscience. I know a woman who worked at Walmart and when a boy was caught stealing, his mother came to pick him up and said, "I told you not to steal anything over ten dollars!" At the softball diamonds last year, a son told his dad that the concession lady had given him a dollar too much change. The dad said it was only a dollar...don't worry about it. It's a selfish attitude that does not consider the cost to someone else. And eventually, it murders any kind of conscience God places within us. It's dangerous, but it's everywhere.

That's what parents have to fight. It's a huge battle, more with some personalities than with others. Our son is compassionate, creative, intelligent and happy. But he has a problem with accepting responsibility. And it is our job to teach him to accept responsibility when the world around him is telling him he doesn't have to. Like I said, it is a fight. And it often feels hopeless. Thank goodness that with God there is hope.

2008-04-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

I'd gotten into the habit of letting the boy (14) be responsible for his daily math since he had started consistently getting minus zeros on his assignments. Then I would grade them on the weekend. I should have known better.

The boy has a great heart, is compassionate and sweet, and has lots of really good qualities. But he has never been known for organization or responsibility. His motto is don't ask, don't tell. By that I mean that if I'm not checking up on any certain responsibility on a daily basis, he quietly just doesn't do it. This concerns me, this attitude of his. I keep hoping and praying for the responsible gene to click on in his head...I pray daily for him to do things just because that's what he should do. To want to do things because it's right and he wants to please God; be a stand up guy; have integrity. I know he's only 14, but really, are those expectations so unrealistic?

So today it went down like this. The boy was playing basketball on the Xbox with his cousin (who I'm watching this afternoon.) I asked him if his math was done. He said yes. Now, he usually admits it if he hasn't done it, but there was something about the way he said it that made me suspicious. I asked him again. He said yes again. It wasn't in the turn-in box, but that's pretty typical of him since he usually has to show all his work to his dad in the evening and just gathers it all up from his desk. But Rog wasn't home all last week, and this week, he's had deacon meeting or baseball practices (he's coaching) every night. So William is out of the habit of showing his work to his dad. I asked him to get his math for me and sat down to wait. He was rustling paper upstairs. I asked him what was taking so long. He said he couldn't find it. More papers rustling. I waited some more. I finally went upstairs. By this time he was getting panicked, saying, "I DID it! I promise, Mom. I just can't find it." In my heart I knew he'd never find it, nor any of the assignments for this week. What I can't figure out is if he truly "remembers" doing things or if he's just outright lying. I tend to think the first, as unlikely as that seems, but I don't know for sure.

So I sat down in the school room (it was after three o'clock) and felt the anger and frustration just bubbling in me. I spend so much time every year setting up a filing system and going over it with them to help them be organized. I ask him to do it daily. But I don't do it for him. I guess I hope he will do things without me checking (and I don't want to have to check...I'm lazy about that, I admit it!) but if I don't check, he doesn't do it. And in that moment, I knew I had to face that fact. AGAIN.

And at that moment I hated teaching homeschool, HATED IT! I couldn't seem to stop that sentence from going through my mind over and over...supplemented with thoughts of why do I have to do this? Why can't I just be a mom? This isn't fair. I begged God to take those thoughts away from me...I pretty much said He had to. But part of me never expected them to go away. I've had them before and I always feel like it's my weakness, my problem, and God expects me to stop whining. But what usually happens is I'm just frustrated and mad and it comes out in my voice in the way I talk to the kids. But you know what? My anger went away. My frustration went away. It was weird. It was God.

I spent an hour calmly talking to William as he found messy piles of hundreds of scrunched up assignments (that should have been filed) all over. Under bookshelves, stuffed into crevices between books, stuffed into drawers, into his desk. It was endless. But no matter how daunting it was, I just kept calmly telling him it had to be organized and filed. Every paper. I would help him. He kept getting emotional...angry and frustrated and impatient. He kept asking me why it mattered that a math paper from months ago needed to be filed IN ORDER because he'd never look at it again. I kept telling him over and over why learning how to be organized would be important for the rest of his life. Around and around we went. I'm amazed I kept my cool.

We are done now. He is organized. He has a system I think will work even better for him. He couldn't find his last 7 math assignments. I made him a detailed list of what he needs to give to me. Some of it I've graded and he's lost or hasn't done because no one else has ever seen it. He's really depressed. He has a lot of work to do. But It was important. And I'm glad we did it.

2008-03-24T10:30:00.001-07:00

We had a good day today. My fifth grade daughter asked if she could do composition with her brother (eighth grade level) because hers was too boring. So today was her first day and I've already graded their work, and she did as well as my son. That child is gifted in English. But she struggles so hard in math. My son is the opposite...gifted in math, struggles with English. The youngest, 3rd grade, seems to be very well-rounded academically. At this point, I don't know if she's gifted in anything, but she understands all subjects well and picks up new concepts easily. So although she takes a lot of time (because she's too young to really be independent in most areas), she's my easiest to teach because she "gets things" so easily. That's the way I was. I didn't stand out (except in art and literature), but I got everything pretty easily. (Except geometry, but I had a terrible teacher. And as an adult, not really understanding it has never hurt me!) I'm glad I have at least one low maintenance student.

Public School

2008-03-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

I have sadly neglected this blog and for any reader who stumbles on this blog by accident (because I think only my friend Kristen checks it with any regularly), I don't blame you for not checking back. I don't give you anything new to read!

Part of the problem is the low motivation I have this time of year. I only do the minimum in school and don't want to think about it when I'm not doing it. But on Sundays I plan for my school week and so it's staring me in the face, and given the fact that there's some changes in the air education-wise, I wanted to "spew" out all the stuff that's been my husband and my hearts lately.

My friend Mo from Un-mainstream Mom wrote a post recently about how there's different "cliques" in the homeschooling community. She calls them the U's (unschoolers), the RH's (regular homeschoolers), and two other terms having to do with taking money from the government for curriculum, etc. Since the last two are not an option for those of us who live in Indiana, I don't remember the terms. But it stayed with me, mostly because I've been thinking about the subject a lot lately.

See, for the last five years I've been an RH. But next year I'm going to enter into a group that is extremely rare, one she didn't even mention. One where moms are neglected and can just disappear. RHWHCIPS. Regular Homeschooler Who Has Children in Public School. After months of prayer and supplication, my husband and I have decided to enroll our oldest son in ninth grade at our local high school. We will continue to homeschool our daughters who will be in sixth and fourth grade.

This is a weird place to be in and there's no real support group for people like us. See, we know and agree with all the numerous, good, valid reasons to homeschool. After all, I've homeschooled three kids for five years. I know. And many of my friends are homeschoolers who also believe those things whole-heartedly. To some of them, what we're doing is scandalous at worst, and misled at best.

But consider this. We have never made decisions about our children's education without exhaustive thought and prayer. I doubt every parent can say that. We don't take this decision lightly. It is not because I am tired of teaching him, or I want to send him to school so I can have a break or it's just what everyone else does. It's because we have prayed. And we have watched our son. And we, more than anyone else, know this is what God wants for him for next year. The year after that, who knows? We've always taken things one year at a time. For people who assume that because we are putting him in school next year, it's a done deal for the next four, to that I say we will not hesitate to pull him out at any time if we feel God leading us to do so.

In fact, I wouldn't even consider this if I couldn't say, 100%, that this is NOT because of me. There were times in the last few years that I wanted to put the kids in school because I didn't want to homeschool them and hated doing it. Last year I finally reached the point where I accepted that whatever God wanted me to do, I would do it with a joyful heart. So William going to school next year is actually scarier for me than it is for him. Part of me wants to keep him here...it's freaky thinking about all the things that COULD happen. But this is what God wants.

2008-02-26T08:42:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make. I am NOT a natural teacher of children. I am not one of those homeschool moms that loves training her kids and who gets excited about choosing curriculum, etc. I enjoy teaching adults who actually are interested in the topic being taught, but I don't voluntarily teach Sunday School or anything that involves teaching children. I teach homeschool because I'm convicted to do it---because I love and am obedient to my God and I love my kids.

Last Sunday, the sermon was about spiritual gifts. There are many gifts; i.e., some are given the gift of evangelizing---it comes naturally and easily to them. But just because it's not easy for those of us who don't have that gift doesn't mean we aren't called to evangelize. That being said, I think God equips you to do what He has called you to do. I am called to homeschool although it isn't enjoyable for me.

This admission might be shocking to some, encouraging to others. And after five years, I have accepted my lot. God gives me the patience I didn't know I had to deal with the reality of homeschooling. Sometimes. Well, He always offers it to me. It's just that sometimes I don't take it. But here in February, when we are all fainting for a bit of sunshine and warm weather, when it's gray and snowy and cold every day, I feel we are all nearing the end of our tether. I nearly lost it today while trying to teaching adding/subtracting/reducing mixed numbers to my 10 year old daughter. In fact, after explaining it for the twentieth time (with detailed drawings and manipulatives) and she stared at it with her lip out and tears in her eyes, saying sullenly she still had no idea what I was talking about, I threw my red pen down and had to stomp into the living room and sit with my head in my hands, praying, for a long long time. I could tell she'd already made up her mind that she COULDN'T understand it. Then I had STRONG words with her. And the whole time, I was thinking about how much I hated teaching.

When will spring be here and when will school be over??????

2008-02-15T05:26:00.000-08:00

We actually had school yesterday on Valentine's Day and I did not throw a big all-day party. I'm so mean. Baylee actually had a better attitude about math (for the first time) and it didn't last quite so long. Plus she's almost done with this torturous long division chapter. I'm looking forward to it as much as she is.

The girls are nearly done with their grammar books. They will finish them well before the end of school. That raises the dilemma, do I just not have them do grammar for the rest of the year, or do I get books to supplement them for the rest of the year? Also, the girls did more school this summer than William, so they will be done with their 180 days almost 2 weeks before him. I've never had this before...not sure what I'm going to do.

On another note, we are thinking of enrolling William in school next year for high school. I talked to a good friend of mine about sending him to the local Christian high school. I know the education would be excellent, but the cost is prohibitive. We're going to look into scholarship and work programs, though. We're really praying about this.

2008-02-13T08:09:00.000-08:00

It is so HARD to teach math to a fifth-grader who hates it. We have been spending the last 45 minutes doing LONG division. You know, three digits into six digits? And almost every problem has to be adjusted up or down, (that is what the lessons have been about) so she has to erase constantly. She is on the fifth problem. She doesn't fight it, just works slowly and steadily, silent tears running down her cheeks. Whenever the math book comes out, my happy 10 year old turns into a sad, depressed child and it is so hard to watch her struggle. I want to tell her she doesn't have to do it today OR maybe she just has to do half of the problems. I fight this urge every day as we sit for over an hour doing 15-20 problems. I am there for moral support more than anything. She knows how to do it, it just requires so much effort on her part. Things like 8 times 2 don't instinctively come to mind. She has to pause and concentrate over the simplest things. She eventually does them right and gets the right answer, but it is. so. slooowww.
I keep telling her (and myself) that it is important to do this now so it will come easier in the future. But it is still hard!

2008-02-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

My third grade daughter LOVES manipulative for some reason.

When she was younger, we used plastic bars and counting bears. Then we moved to pennies. Now she is old enough not to need them, but for some reason she loves them. Her mood is much better when she can count them out and put them into groups while she does her multiplication and division problems. The problem is that I usually sit beside her while she does her math, instructing and guiding when needed. But the extra time involved while she cheerfully counts and groups pennies drives me crazy.

2008-02-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

I've been bad about posting on here. It seems like if I have any extra time, I want to scrapbook or post on my main blog. But the reason I started this is so that I would have a forum just to talk about our homeschooling experiences and I wouldn't have to worry about people reading it who aren't really interested in it, you know?

Anyway, teaching math to my 5th grader is SOOO HARD!! She does NOT have a head for numbers AT ALL. She has the hardest time understanding the simplest concepts. I explain them over and over again. I write example after example. She tries, but it's like there is a wall in her head that will not let any understanding through. It takes us over an hour to teach a lesson and get through her assignment of 20 questions or less. And most of that time is filled with tears. Unlike my older son, Will, who gets loud and angry when he doesn't understand something, Baylee just gets weepy. If she can't understand the simplest concepts now, what are we going to do when she gets to algebra? I'm scared.

So here's a break down of the challenges for me teaching my three kids:

My son William's (14) attitude of doing the minimum. He lives by this. We have been working with him for years on how to head his papers consistently, how to turn things in on time, how to write neatly, etc. But he continues to do the minimum. It's a heart attitude that really concerns us.

My daughter Baylee's (10) attitude of mood swings and self-defeating behavior. She is neat, she always turns her assignments in on time, but if she doesn't understand something, she gets weepy and stares at it for hours, paralyzed. Just today, doing math, she started out weepy, after much work on my part, she understood a small thing, she got manically happy, then hit some problems she didn't understand, and descended again into the throes of despair. All within the space of an hour. If I don't sit next to her, helping her and encouraging her, her math assignment takes hours.

My daughter Izabella (9), is the easiest so far. She seems to get most things easily and instinctively and generally has a happy attitude. But watch out if she gets resentful about something. For example, if I won't help her with a word she should be able to sound out while we're reading, she gets impatient and resentful and can hold on to her anger at me for a long time. She gets that stubbornness from her grandma, certainly not me! LOL!

Everyone has different challenges. These are just some of them that God has given me.

2008-01-20T06:01:00.001-08:00

I plan my school week on the weekend. I hit on this idea around Christmas last year after three 1/2 years of homeschooling and being able to break down the things that frustrated us the most. I made a template in Word of each kids' week. Izzi's is one page. William and Baylee's is two. They have their name at the top and I write in the five days that week covers. Then they each have a list of the 4-5 things they have to do everyday, like practice piano or guitar, etc. with five little boxes after each one, one for each day.

Then there are the days. Each day has each subject listed under it. Each subject is listed with a little box. IE Math. Beside the word Math are three lines. I hand write in their assignments and personal notes, like re-do this, or talk to Mom about that. When they have completed Math, they fill in the box. This works great because most nights Daddy checks all their stuff. They bring him all their books and assignments and their lists. All he has to do is look at the sheet, check to see that the assignment has been done. He spends time on the things he feels led to, especially writing or spelling. He leaves the math to me! :-)

I plan all five days for all three of them. It takes 4-6 hours, but I usually do 2-3 on both Saturday and Sunday. It alleviates lots of stress during the week for me. I know some people use all-inclusive curriculums that have their planning done for them. I tried many of those. But through trial and error, I realized that I am eclectic because my kids are all so different, they are spread out in age and need different things at different times. And one of the reasons to homeschool is the freedom to choose what we study and learn and how. I like choosing our books totally on my own, etc.

So all I have to do during the week is teach the individual classes (that I've already gone over when I assigned them) and keep up with my daily grading. It works for us. We tried something else at the beginning of the year. The kids didn't like it and after a while, I realized I didn't either. So we went back to this. It took a while to set up the template, but as I print it out each week, I realize it is worth it.

Here's a sample of my weekly assignment list - it formatted weird when I put it on here...sorry

2008-01-20T05:50:00.000-08:00

Baylee Week of: __January 21,22,23,24,25___

Homework M. T, W, Th, F:

Write spelling words twice П П П П

Quiet time / chores П П П П

Read to yourself for 30 min. П П П П

Check daily assignments П П П П

Monday

П Spelling:

П Reading:

П Grammar: ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

П Math: __________________________________________________

П Composition: _____________________________________________

________________________________________________________

П History or science:_________________________________________

Tuesday

П Spelling:

П Reading:

П Grammar: ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

П Math: __________________________________________________

П Composition: _____________________________________________

________________________________________________________

П History or science:_________________________________________

Wednesday

П Spelling:

П Reading:

П Grammar: ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

П Math: __________________________________________________

П Composition: _____________________________________________

________________________________________________________

П History or science:_________________________________________

2008-01-16T13:01:00.000-08:00

I have been using Sonlight Grammar with William. I tried it three years ago (the age they recommended). What a disaster. Not for kids who are not naturally gifted in this area. I'm a free-lance editor, and I don't even know some of the stuff in their Language Arts program for his age. Anyway, I pulled that program out, dusted it off, and realized we'd only done about 3 weeks of work in it 3 years ago. I was at my wit's end with him in this area, so I thought why not, at this point nothing can hurt. Well, he's doing so well with it! Today he actually told me that last night when he couldn't sleep, he actually thought about sentence structure in his mind. He can get this stuff. It's challenging, but he's tasting success and his whole attitude is turning around. Praise God!

Izzi loves, loves, loves to sing praise songs. She doesn't really care for music unless it's classical or praise music. This is not because of me...it's just the way she is. Mr. Shumway has a music corner where he keeps his guitar and all his multitudes of music. She will spend hours in that corner, looking through his music, finding praise songs with words on them, and singing them over and over in her sweet voice until she's memorized them. Yesterday she told me that there's always something to do in that corner. She has the softest heart.

Baylee is starting into manipulating fractions, GCF, LCM, converting fractions into like denominators. This is new for her but we're taking it slow and so far, she's doing well.

2008-01-13T16:07:00.000-08:00

We have reached the point where math is really challenging for two of my three kids now. Gone are the days where I would just assign pages, review addition and subtraction, and call it a day. Saying goodbye is always so sad.

2008-01-10T14:01:00.000-08:00

Well, this week has been so dreary outside. So rainy, gray and dark. I find January, February, and even March the hardest time of the year and today I had a hard time staying awake and just wanted to lay my head down and not teach school. But that's not an option. :-) One good thing about today was it was the first time Mr. Shumway and I were able to have a conversation with William about something he did wrong without him turning it into a 1-2 hour argument full of emotional angnst, manipulation, crying, grounding, ...well, you get the idea. He was very calm talking to his dad on the phone and just said "Yes sir," a lot. I don't know if this is a one-time event, but I'm fairly excited about it.

2008-01-08T05:45:00.001-08:00

Often when I go to wake my son up in the morning, he tells me, "I only just now fell asleep," or "I only got one hour of sleep," or "I didn't fall asleep until 4:00 AM."

But he's always sleeping good in his nest of the extra blankets, comforter and all the guest pillows from the closet arrayed around him. (There are five---having so many is comfortable.)

So, did he stay up and look at the clock all night? Did he note the exact time when he fell asleep. These are the kind of things I want to know.

OK, OK, so that's not true. I listen and nod sympathetically, tell him I'm sorry he had a bad night but he has to get up anyway, and walk out, confident that he really did get a full night's sleep. Or at least eight hours, which is more than I got.

2008-01-07T09:09:00.000-08:00

School went really well today. I actually have a hard time believing it went so smoothly or seemed so easy. We were all ready, and that helped. Break was wonderful--so refreshing. I think that although the older two don't really like school, they are ready to get back on our schedule, and Izzi loves school and is really excited to start. While doing math with her, she said, "I know 3 times 3 by head." :-)

Another thing that helped was doing the girls separate from William. That happened accidentally when my mom called and asked it she and my dad could take William shopping with his Christmas money for 1 1/2 hours. So he got up early and did some school, then the girls got up and I made breakfast and we read the Bible and prayed, Then we all did reading together (I read aloud, then they each read aloud to me), then Wil left. I got school done with the girls. It was quiet and we got so much done. When Wil got back, we watched our history video together (Revolutionary War). After that, the girls were done, so Wil and I did math and grammar together, the only things he had left. That took an hour and I finished up with my portion about 3:00 while he does his written assignments. Wil is definately more challenging than the girls. Yes, we are studying harder stuff, but his attitude, while it's not mean, it's just challenging. He's more hyper, he blurts and sings, is full of energy and is so dramatic. He has to be reined in and asked repeatedly to concentrate. It makes teaching really difficult, but I remind myself that he's not being bad; he's just being himself. Still, some of my worst frustration on this homeschool journey comes from going back and forth between Wil and the girls all day. It wears me out. HE wears me out. Bless his heart; being a teenage boy must be hard. But being the mom of a teenaged boy is harder.

I'm also starting my new eating/exercise plan today. I do want to lose weight, but I want to do it in such a way I know I can live the same lifestyle as my family so I will maintain it. I know weight loss will be slow. Right now, that's OK. But the eating/exercise battle is won or lost in the head, and today, my head is sure I can do it. My motivation will wax and wane...I know this. I just hope it waxes more than it wanes!

Our school day is done and that's when the girls get tough. They ask over and over if I can take them to the store, if I can take them to a friend's house, if I can pick up a friend and bring them here....they seem to get bored and basically drive me crazy if I am not teaching school and thy are not watching TV. Occasionally they will read or play the piano or do a craft...but that still leaves lots of hours in the winter that they want me to alleviate their boredom. I come up with things for them to do, like read or write or work on their devotional book or write a thank you note or scrapbook or do a craft or go outside and play even though it's cold. They don't want to do any of those things. They want to watch TV, go to a friend's house, or have me take them to the store so they can look at all the toys (that they can't buy, but hey, there's always the chance that maybe Mom will buy them a piece of candy.) That's our school day today in a rather big nutshell! :-)

2008-01-07T05:18:00.000-08:00

Well, it's 8:18 and my son is well on his way for his first day. The girls are still in bed. They like to lay awake in their beds for 15-20 minutes before they have to get up. They are slow starters and I have learned that letting them have that time is important for their mood, especially regarding school and their willingness to buckle down. I went over Wil's new Compositon book with him (it's similar to his old one, but a lot harder...Excellence in Writing, Medieval Legends.) I also explained that we would be adding a step to his Grammar (Sonlight). He's on the computer doing that right now, then he and I will go through the exercise together. Since he struggles so much in this area, it helps both of us to do that. I'm so GLAD he's so good in math. When you get to this point of difficult, complicated math, a student who needs little instruction is gold. My fifth grade daughter is going to struggle with it big time, but God gave me a son, who while grammar is like pulling teeth for him, math is cake. He still doesn't love it, but he understands it. Baylee loves grammar, but she hates math and has always struggled with it. She starts manipulating fractions today. Since that is such a big part of math from here on out, it's really important. We'll see how it goes. Oh, and we are watching a History Channel special on the Revolutionary War for History. We're all excited about that!

I'll write an update after our day. Hope all of your went well!

2008-01-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

Today was the first time in a LONG time that I prepared for a regular school week. The public schools around here don't start again until Monday and that's the schedule we're on. It takes me about 4-6 hours on the weekend to prepare adequately for our week. I used to do nothing on Saturday, but then I would be totally stressed most of the day on Sunday after church. Now I split it up. I also used to have a DVD playing in the background (one I've seen lots of times) but I found that I spent too much time watching TV and not enough time getting school planning done. Now I wear headphones and listen to music. It helps the time go by.

To do it right, I have to make lots of copies. Unfortunately, our copier/printer is the slowest thing EVER, so I ~~waste~~ spend a lot of time doing that. But it's better than nothing, and I'd rather have a new couch than a new copier. I just got done tonight. I spent about two hours and got almost half way done. I just started a fire and am starting to relax. Yay! I'm almost excited about school starting Monday! I think I might pretend I have nothing else to do and spend a little time working on my novel!

2007-12-15T19:45:00.001-08:00

Baylee was just in our local homeschool group's spelling bee. I was the pronouncer. I wanted SO BADLY to pick out the words I knew she knew how to spell. But she was so nervous, she wouldn't have lasted long anyway. In fact, all of the kids were so nervous, I think they might have misspelled MOM had it been given to them. I wonder what spelling bees really teach kids..like my friend Monica said, you get one tiny moment to be perfect. If you mess up, it's over. In a second. There's no teams, no second chances, no "come-backs".
I was proud of Baylee for studying huge lists of words, time that was not wasted. I was proud of her for getting up in front of her peers and taking a chance. She didn't win...a boy who was extremely self-confident about spelling bees did. And I realized something I didn't get as a kid...that a spelling bee is as much about keeping calm and collected under pressure as it is about spelling ability. No one ever told me that as a kid...the pronouncer and judges at the spelling bee I was in were strangers. But as her mother AND teacher, I can share my observation with her on a meaningful level. And you know what? Baylee was really bummed out for a while afterward, but she says she's going to try again next year. I can't ask for more than that and Christ can use lessons learned here...who knows how this experience will fit into her memories, fit in to who she is and who she becomes? And I can guarantee she will never misspell business again.

2007-12-11T09:38:00.001-08:00

I just spent a frustrating hour teaching math to my son and I'm still not sure he gets it.

In the past, we've tried Saxon and Math-U-See, both not good fits at all for our family. So this year we thought we'd try Bob Jones.

After Saxon last year (8/7), 8th grade pre-Algebra seemed easy. Almost too easy and I started being worried he wasn't learning enough.

Well.

I guess I don't know if math levels have changed since I was in school because the things he's doing now are things I learned at the end of Algebra one, and some of it I didn't learn until Algebra two or Trigonometry. And he's a good math student. I understand the things he's doing, but wow, this is advanced. Stuff he'll always have to remember if he moves on in math. Like I said, I understand it; I even remembering tutoring other students in high school over this stuff. But here I am, trying to teach my 8th grader (who can't keep still and usually sings random stuff under his breath and doesn't have Turrets, although sometimes I wish I could blame his incessant singing on that!) in such a way that he'll remember all of this stuff...and we're only halfway through the school year.

2007-12-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

One of the things I appreciate more and more about homeschooling is the fact that we can take time out for special things. We would not have this option if all the kids were gone all day, separated from their family and each other. I used to not be able to enjoy "time outs" because I was so tense thinking the same school hours should be maintained at all times, regardless of anything else. But as I've relaxed, I've stopped feeling guilty, at least most of the time, when special things happen. Like the first snowfall. We've just been enjoying each other this morning. We woke up to a winter wonderland and the kids were so excited and happy. So I put off school for a couple of hours while we played Christmas music, had homemade pancakes and bacon, and just enjoyed the moment and each other! School will get done. Who cares if we're still doing school subjects this evening? We are learning other things this morning! And my 14, 10, and 9 year old kids love to be together. Isn't that cool? I am so blessed as I sit in my cozy house watching my kids play together. They just decided to get on all their snow gear and go outside to play. I want them to have this time. Right now it's more important than exponents or linking verbs.

2007-12-04T18:13:00.000-08:00

Well, dear readers,

Mr. Shumway and I sat our son down and talked with him last night. We asked if he was ready to start maturing and being a man and following rules. He said yes. Today he was much better. He seems to be concentrating on Grammar much more and he knows more than I thought he did. There is hope! So our un-parenting is over for now, mostly because it was US who couldn't stand it, who needed rules. Ahem. Needed to ENFORCE rules! :-) It was fun while it lasted, but I am a mom, a homeschooling mom, and I HAVE to be hands-on. It's in my make-up. I'm sure I'll feel differently in the heat of the next argument. But for now, I'm OK with this.

On another note, I use Bob Jones for Math. We tried Saxon twice, in two different years since it seems to be the Holy Grail of homeschooling, but each time we gave up. I just don't like it. I doesn't work for us. Bob Jones does. But when you get into advanced math, like pre-Algebra (William is taking that for 8th grade this year), there is very little in the way of teacher-helps. There seems to be plenty of information (too much) in the teacher manuals for the younger grades...in fact it annoys me and although I might skim it occasionally, I just use the manuals to grade their answers. But suddenly, for William's grade, there is way too little. This is advanced math. Who remembers how to compute negative exponents? The manual just gives a couple of examples, a couple of sentences, and you're on your own. I was good in math and can usually figure out how to do something from the sparse examples or the answers, but today something came up out of the blue that I tried and tried to remember. The manual didn't give me any help. I asked my sister-in-law, the math education major for help. She helped clarify the lesson for me. But for a teacher who isn't good in math, this curriculum wouldn't be good. I was trying to figure out what someone would do if their child wasn't self-motivated learner (like mine isn't) who didn't understand something their child needed to learn in the high school level. They would have to get a tutor, right? Or just have a gap in that area? We are planning on sending our son to public school next year for ninth grade. I guess this is as good a time as any to toss that out. It's a tough decision. One we constantly pray about.

2007-12-01T14:13:00.000-08:00

So today I was taking my daughter shopping with her birthday money. The first place we went was the new Dollar Tree in town. We browsed for a while, finally ending up choosing three items.

The saleslady who rang us up was in her mid-twenties, attractive, and NOT mentally challenged. The total was $3.18. I handed her $3.25. I was standing there waiting for my change, when I saw her counting on her lovely, acrylic-nailed, fingers, making me understand why cash registers usually tell the employees how much change to give the customer. This one obviously did not do that but still, 25-18 isn't advanced math, so it should be no problem, right? To my amazement, she did it again and this time I distinctly saw her lips move as she counted. Then again. After the third time, and over a minute later, she gave me 6 cents!

Now, I'm not a genius. BUT. I asked my third grade daughter what 25-18 was when we got in the car. She not only did the math in her head, but she came up with the correct answer - 7. Now, folks, even if this woman dropped out of high school, she had to be in school until she was 16. How can a person go to school that long and not be able to do math higher than a second-grade level? I really want to know. I'll be honest---this event scared me, but it also made me realize that I don't need to stress so much about homeschool, something most home educating moms struggle with. We are constantly asking ourselves if we are teaching our kids what they need to know. We freak out over whether they are grade level in this or that, if we are motivating them and preparing them for adult life. My eighth grade son can solve for X in complicated word problems that involve square roots and fractions with different denominators, using different mathematical functions. He can usually do his work in his head, no matter how many steps he has to take. We use a typical eighth grade curriculum but as his one-on-one teacher, I know what he needs to work on and make him do things until he understands. There is no chance of him falling through the cracks like this woman obviously did.

So last time I wrote, I shared my frustration about my son and his lack of grammar skills. After that morning, Mr. Shumway and I had an epiphany. I told William I was done trying to drag him along, forcing him to learn. I told him he could do whatever he wants. He didn't have to do school and could play Xbox all day.

He responded by doing school on his own and working around the house of his own free will much more than he ever did when we were trying to make him do those things. I told him he didn't need to...he could do what he wanted. He said he wouldn't feel right about playing Xbox instead of doing school. He put himself to bed on time, took showers, went above and beyond on chores, even looking for things to do. Everytime he asked me if he could do something, I said, "I don't care. You don't want my help anyway. Do what you want." Yesterday he rolled his eyes and said, "Are we still doing that?" Then last night, we found a long letter on our pillow when we went to bed in which he deeply apologized, said he was so thankful for the fact I know so much, then ended it by saying..."I can't take this anymore--I need rules!!!"

But then we went back to normal yesterday and he reverted back to his normal self. So we are back to telling him we are done. He can do whatever he wants. It is the only thing that has affected his behavior, after all. We call it un-parenting. I'll keep you updated about our progress. He obviousy needs more than two days of it. We'll see what a week will do.

Wednesday, Nov 27

2007-11-28T05:37:00.000-08:00

William (14) got up early this morning, before Rog had even left for work. He and I started Grammar...I've mentioned how much we've been struggling with that subject. He behaved like he usually does. He knows he has to do it, but because of his personality, he has to complain and let it be known that he hates it. Rog left. I continued with William. I am trying Sonlight, which I've tried before and it was too hard. But I thought I would go back to Sonlight LA #5, which is challenging even for me. I will continue to have him underline words in a copied paged of one of our reading books too.

Anyway, Rog had told me before he left that William doesn't get to play X-Box at all today because we need to see more effort from him in the Grammar department. I told him I thought that Wil should have 60 minutes. That's what we used to do but haven't been that strict with him since he got this new X-Box. Rog told me that if Wil gives me any flak to let him know. Well I told William. The complaining started, then the arguing. Heaven knows most days have episodes like this anyway and I WAS NOT going to START my day like this. I got up and left the room, telling him that he needed to talk to his dad about it.

So he called Rog who's in his car. They have been arguing on the phone for 30 minutes. Wil has been crying and trying all his tricks to the point I can actually hear Rog's voice coming out of the phone, and he rarely raises his voice, no matter how the kids push.

My youngest daughter came downstairs and said, "It's starting already?"

She knows this happens every day.

It's unfortunate that both my girls are used to this and they have to have their day disrupted because we are "dealing" with William. Izzi started to whisper to herself. "First Wil starts arguing. Mom or Dad raises their voice. Wil starts yelling and crying. Mom or Dad gets mad and then Wil gets grounded and loses his X-Box."

I don't mean to say Wil isn't a sweet boy. He just cannot let go of something and will argue about whatever it is (usually something small) until the bitter end. We tell him over and over that all he needs to do is say, "You're right," and either, "I'll try harder," or, "I messed up. I'm sorry," and these things would never happen. But he just CAN'T. He is so stubborn and HAS to argue his point. He NEEDS to prove that he is right. Tons of conflict would be avoided if he would just learn when to keep his mouth closed.

So after the conflict is over and Wil has time to cool down, he always apologizes and tells us he loves us and that he is sorry. But that happens way after we've spent tons of time dealing with the issue. Raising kids is so hard.

Tuesday, Nov. 20

2007-11-20T18:11:00.000-08:00

My son turns 14 Saturday. He is a whiz at math, but really struggles with Grammar. I have tried different things for this, but he seems to have a mental roadblock when it comes to any kind of retention or real understanding of this subject. He constantly asks why he needs to know what a past participle or a gerund is--how it applies to life. I tell him it's because English is they way we communicate and he will use writing in every single aspect of life, no matter what, unlike advanced math, etc. He will need to represent himself well in writing any resume, any job-related reviews or reports, even simple notes to friends. He listens, but in his mind, if he can speak English well, that's all that seems important.

OK, there's a few things I struggle with here. First, both my husband and I have always enjoyed learning. Even things we weren't so good at were fun to learn about. William is good at math, but he doesn't ENJOY it. He doesn't enjoy anything about school. He doesn't care about gaining knowledge of any kind. (Except maybe about cars, sports, or video games.)

Second, I have taught the same things over and over in different ways through the years, but he still seems to have no concept of it. For example, he can only identify nouns and conjunctions with regularity in a non-related sentence lifted from a random place, like a reading book.

Third, although I know Grammar is pretty dry and I didn't love it in high school, (partly due to my dry, boring Grammar teacher) I always understood it. He has no clue.

Fourth, I LOVE to write. I mean, I am so passionate about it. I love words. How come he doesn't even have a spark of my passion? He can be a pretty good creative writer, but has no love for it.

Grammar doesn't change. You just review it every year. You just study it more in depth as you get older, but it's not like math that builds and builds on itself, presenting something new all the time. So for example, I have taught pronouns every year. But still he struggles to identify them after some time has passed without studying them. That's what I mean when I say there's little retention or REAL understanding.

I tried Easy Grammar and Daily Grams. I tried Sonlight. I tried Bob Jones and Abeka. I tried Hands On English. I made countless lists for him on the computer, made laminated cards with Grammar rules, put simplified lists of Grammar Rules in his English Binder, put special Grammar cards on an O ring.

As a younger child, he was more stubborn and rebellious about school. Now he knows he has to do it and he doesn't really fight me...it's more of an instinctive manipulation. I don't think he's doing it on purpose; I think he and I have developed patterns of frustration and discouragement. Plus, I think he's convinced himself that he's bad at Grammar, doesn't understand it, and never will, so why try? That attitude burns me up. He knows that. How do we break out of this pattern? I have been doing Bob Jones this year but it's not working. So I've become a rebel from necessity. I made a list of what was important to me for him to know--how to identify the basic parts of speech and how words were used in random sentences...i.e. how to identify the verb and/or verb phrase, how to identify the adjectives and why they are adjectives, etc. So I have been making copies of pages from classic books and every day we go through, cut apart and analyze 3-5 sentences, then he has to take the rest of the page and find, for example, all the adjectives. Or adverbs. I'm not worrying about all the various ways to break down and define adverbs, etc, right now. Understanding is my goal. I've been praying so much for patience and wisdom. Progress is slow, but it seems to be working more than anything else I've tried.

My girls, on the other hand, are very Literature-oriented and pick this stuff up like a breeze. Go figure.

2007-11-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

My son got the stomach flu Sunday morning and so didn't do school all day yesterday and half of today. I am amazed at how much faster an easier school is when I just have two as opposed to three. The girls and I were done each day well before lunch.

Thursday, November 8

2007-11-08T06:14:00.000-08:00

Word of the day: manipluation (definition courtesy of dictionary.com)

noun
1. exerting shrewd or devious influence especially for one's own advantage; "his manipulation of his ~~friends~~ mother was scandalous"

Wednesday, Nov. 7

2007-11-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

Well, three days in and things are going great. The hardest thing for me is getting up early, before Mr. Shumway is out of bed. I have made homemade breakfasts for the kids for two weeks now. Since I've never been at all motivated to cook or plan meals, this is astounding to me. Something's happened to me recently and I find I'm kinda enjoying cooking and trying new things...at least things that will feed a family and have at least some chance of being eaten. Although today I'm nervous because my husband wanted me to try something called "Oriental Pepper Steak" in the crock pot. You serve it over rice and it has onions and peppers and mushrooms and soy sauce and garlic...sounds yummy, right? Well, the kids THINK they hate mushrooms and peppers...but I really want to try new things as a family...something different from tacos and spaghetti and BBQ chicken. So Mr. Shumway told me to cover the crock pot with foil and just tell the kids we are having steak and rice tonight. Hmmm. It might work during the day, but I don't see them shoveling mushrooms and peppers into their mouths unaware.

Tuesday, November 6

2007-11-06T04:44:00.000-08:00

During my seven hour planning marathon Sunday, I wrote a letter to the kids. Then my husband sat the kids down and read it to them. Here's the letter:

Dear Kids,
I love you so much. Last week was a bad week for me. I've put a lot of thought into this and have determined that the less prepared I am and the more you play and put things off before your school is done, the more stressed, frustrated, and grouchy I get. Since the time changed, this is a good opportunity for us to start and finish our day earlier. I am not a naturally structured person and whether you think you are of not, you like it better when things are structured. Our day will go better if we maintain regular hours and set goals for ourselves. I will get you up at 7:30 each day. You have 1/2 hour to accomplish your morning responsibilites. That means no playing. You can play after school. I want you to have fun, but AFTER school. Watch the clock! You will have to do this as an adult who has to be at work and/or appointments at a certain time anyway, so you need to learn now how to manage your time.
At 8:00 AM, I will check that
1. Your bed is made.
2. You have taken a shower if it is on your chore list.
3. You are dressed and your hair is neat.
4. Your teeth are brushed.
5. Your clothes are put away and your room is clean.
6. The bathroom is picked up.
After inspection, we will have breakfast and read from the Bible.
We will start school at 8:45. It will help me immensely if you would work quietly and diligently until 12:30. That's 3 hours and 45 minutes. I think we can get done by then with most of school. I really need you to try, kids. Being done at 12:30 will be so encouraging for all of us. Do not play during that time. Do not get distracted or you will not finish by the goal. You can do it! Our afternoons will be free! What a great feeling! I will be more relaxed, less stressed, and you will feel good about what you accomplished.

Also, your chores are important. You are a member of this family and you make a difference. We need you to make this home run smoothly. We need you to do your chores. Not just do them because you HAVE to, but do them because you care about our family and our house and the things we have. Please do your chores everyday and do them WELL. It frustrates Dad and I when your chores are done sloppily or not at all. And the fact that you eave things laying around frustrates us too, because it tells us that you take both of us for granted, as well as the things God has given us. WE NEED YOU to help our home run smoothly!
I love you so much. I really, really want us to enjoy each other and enjoy our life. We CAN do it! I need your help.
Love, Mom

Now, please don't think this is a first attempt. But it's a first attempt with these details. I know this may seem to rigid to some. But this is what works for us and my emotions. I am always trying to figure out ways that I can be less grouchy because I don't want the kids to grow up and remember me that way. I want to be relaxed and have fun. Doing everything by 1:00 enables me to do that. (We found out that starting by 8:30 and finishing by 1:00 is more realistic--that gives us 4 1/2 hours.) Having a husband that is really supportive and checks their work each night really helps keep them on track too.

Friday, November 2

2007-11-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

Curse my emotions! I am usually at my best in the mornings, but this morning, I have already been in tears, feeling utterly defeated. (I'm not going to name names, but I didn't get here by myself.) Mr. Shumway tells me that I would be much more effective if I remained calm and unemotional when dealing with the kids. Once again, I agree with him. I know he's right. But I'm a passionate, emotional being and that just ain't hapnen. That doesn't mean I don't hate the fact that I feel like crying at least once a school day and am tempted to raise my voice more times than that (or that I give in occasionally). I have often said my emotions are MY thorn in my side, just like Paul had one he begged the Lord to take from him. God didn't take Paul's thorn away and He hasn't taken mine away. I have improved, people, but know I won't reach perfection in this lifetime. I know Mr. Shumway would make a better home school teacher than me, but I'm the one God gave this job to, and His grace will have to fill in the gaps.

Monday, October 29th

2007-10-29T05:24:00.000-07:00

Today is my youngest's ninth birthday. I had one busy weekend with only an hour to spare both days. Since it takes me about 4-5 hours to plan our school week on the weekends, Mr. Shumway and I talked about it and decided today would be a "teacher-in-service" day, the kind they seem to have constantly in the public school. That way I could stop being so stressed. In lieu of a "friends" party, this year she is getting taken to breakfast by my parents, to lunch by my grandma, and Mr. S and I for dinner. That is something all three kids think is really neat...to go out for every meal. She even gets to pick the places and she doesn't understand what things cost yet, she chose all inexpensive places. We had a family party after church where she opened her gifts and had cake. Grandma even made her favorite...home made potato soup.

We've been doing something new with our school days. We did it every day last week and it seems to be working. Every night we have dinner at 7:00 PM (Mr. S isn't home for sure until 6:30 or later). I planned out menus and made home cooked meals every night except Thursday when Mr. S leads a Bible study at church. I know it's a worthy thing, but our family functions so much better when our evenings are OURS and follow the same routine. Coming off of the summer schedule where we seem to have something going on with sports or church every night, this was a big deal; I'm not used to cooking, let alone planning a meal every night. The girls got the table ready and we either discussed something from our "questions and answers" book or Mr. S led a devotional around the table when we're done eating. Then my son helped me clean up while Mr. S went over everything they did in school that day with them. Talk about accountability! He's supposed to also inspect their evening chores and that didn't go so well last week. I'm trying not to get discouraged about that and focus on what we DID do. One thing at a time, right?

Wednesday, Oct. 24

2007-10-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

A couple of you have asked how the layer bars turned out. They are yummy. I said I wouldn't have any, but I gave in. (Big surprise) This summer I did a lot of baking for the first time in my life as I played around with the idea of making and selling cakes, so this recipe, that would have freaked me out before, was nothing new. I had my "baking center" (a 30 bookshelf from Walmart) in my kitchen with all my stuff, and the kids were having so much fun, that I closed my eyes, ignored how much butter and cream we were putting in, and did it. The chocolate ganache (or dirt layer) was slightly too runny, but the caramel (sand layer) and almond (rocky layer) was just right. And the crust was supposed to represent a hard layer of solid rock underneath. We still have about half of the bars left because they are so rich, Mr. Shumway won't let them have more than 2 a day. But it was worth it...the kids really remember things like that.

In fact, last week, we had done an experiment with making a stalagmite using string, water, epsom salt, paperclips, and drinking glasses. It was one of those things that we checked on every day. But I thought it wasn't that big of a deal. We had lots of pictures of the real things that were better than a bunch of Epsom salt crystals forming on a plate. But one day my niece came over and I happened to see she and my 8 year old in the school room, crouched down by the experiment and discussing it for a long time. My daughter was using all the correct vocabulary...basically reciting the whole chapter (and here I thought she wasn't even paying attention!) and my niece was spell-bound and asking all sorts of questions. My daughter could answer them all. I could tell she was excited to show off her knowledge.

I feel totally confident with my 8 and 10 year old daughters. I don't feel so sure about my 13 year old son's education. He's a sweetheart, but he has a huge problem with following directions.

Tuesday, Oct. 23

2007-10-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Why is it that hyperness is probably the thing that drives me craziest when there are so many things kids do just because they are kids? And why do I want them to behave like adults so badly?

Monday, Oct. 22

2007-10-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today in Science, we made layer bars to represent the layers of the earth's crust. I skimmed through the recipe earlier and made sure I had all the ingredients. But I had no idea it would be so involved, and the ingredients were listed separately in the recipe, so I didn't realize HOW MUCH of all the rich ingredients I needed. Like the butter was listed 3 times, and since we had tons of butter from Costco, I just assumed we had enough. And the heavy cream...that was listed two different times. It's a good thing I had a carton.

Anyway, we did this activity last...it's listed in our curriculum. But as I got into it, I wondered why they would make the recipe so complicated. It was too late to back out because I had already told the kids and they were so excited...they kept asking what the different things were supposed to represent, and said this was the most fun in Science that they'd ever had. But Science was the last subject today and I had hoped to finish school by 2:30. As I looked at the clock, I realized there was no way. And as my youngest daughter slowly added the butter (two sticks worth in one layer, and that doesn't count the stick in the crust), I realized that the writers of the curriculum assumed two things:

1. All home educators really know how to cook long, complicated dishes and LOVE it!
2. No one that home educates cares about their weight. They must think if you teach homeschool, your mind is too occupied with other things, like what wonderful, incredible project you can teach that involves Spanish, math, grammar and art all at the same time. Oh, and incorporates home ec. AND a field trip.

In my case, both of these assumptions are wrong.

But we made those bars and gosh darn it, they better be good. (Not that I can eat one...each tiny piece must have 1000 calories and 99 grams of fat).

Monday, Oct. 15

2007-10-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

Well so far, today has gone well. For me, at least. My teaching is done. But the kids still have a long road. They are hyper today, so I can already tell they aren't going to use their time wisely and will be ~~farting~~ messing around with their homework ALL DAY, then will break down into tears when they realize it's bedtime and they don't have any "time off" today. When they are like this, I either have to A) move into another part of the house where I can't hear them (like to the basement to scrapbook), B) ~~yell~~ raise my voice in ten minute intervals, reminding them to buckle down, or C) let my nerves slowly but surely fray until they are a mass of tangled threads. The first option is why I'm getting caught up on my scrapbooking. The second makes me feel bad, and if I choose the last option, Mr. Shumway will come home to a wife who is hugging herself, humming, and swaying back and forth. Hmmm. What shall I choose today?

Anyway, I got up this morning at 7:30 as usual and Mr. Shumway made me my morning french press coffee as usual. He gave me some extra compliments this morning. I think he's feeling romantic that we're coming up on 15 years. We prayed together, then I spent some time in personal prayer and last minute planning. The kids got up at 8:30, then at nine we had breakfast and read from Psalms.

I think the day started out well. My teaching went fairly smoothly...there was only one time that I lost my patience. When I do that, the kids freak out in their own special ways. One breaks down in tears, one accuses me of always being in a bad mood and asks, "Why are you like that, Mom?", and one (the instigator) crosses their arms and sticks out their lips and says, "I didn't do anything wrong," then can't seem to pull herself out of her funk to continue the lesson.

Mr. Shumway says that anytime the kiddos do any of those things, I should punish them immediately. And I agree with him. If the world were perfect. Wouldn't that be nice? We could punish our kids non-stop and never have to teach any school.

But. If I'm going to get anything done, I have to keep going. At least for what I consider "minor" infractions. My days are full of jugement calls like that. "Is this serious enough to disrupt school to take care of?"

Anyway, sorry to ramble like that. I am MUCH more prepared for this week than I was last week. Tomorrow is my husband's birthday, Wednesday is my 15th anniversary, and Friday is my birthday, so Mr. Shumway is taking Friday off and we are spending the day together all day in celebration of those things. I thought about having Fall Break this week since the local schools have half days M-W, then are off on Thurs and Fri. But since I was doing so much work with planning, I decided to do a whole week. Friday is a light day since I only assigned them work they can do without me or that Grandma can help them with. (They will be at Grandma's all day)

Saturday, Oct. 13th

2007-10-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday night and I finally sat down and did a ton of school planning that I'd been putting off.

See, towards the end of last year, I came up with a form for each child that I could print off each week and fill in with all of their daily assignments. That way, not only was my week planned out, but there was the accountability the kids needed. (No more, "I forgot!" or "You didn't tell me to do that!") All I had to do was point to the sheet. Thirty minutes off of bedtime for each infraction. They responded well and I found it easy to remain consistent with the consequences. The kids weren't perfect, but they DID greatly improve in accountability with their school work.

This year I didn't do that because the downfall of "The Assignment List" was that I was tempted to be too impersonal. If everything was written on their assignment sheets, then what do they need me for except as a reference or to referee squabbles or to keep them on track? Why is that bad? Well, the temptation is to be sucked into being selfish with my time, sometimes bothered by their questions, especially when they ask things that are A) Already written on their sheet B) Something I'd taught before that they'd claimed to understand and/or aced previous tests and assignments on or C) Something they learned in first grade and somehow couldn't remember years later. Like how to use a question mark. Or how to "borrow" in math. Anyway, after two months, I've realized that the lists worked for a reason. so I sat down and spent several hours updating their assignment sheets for this school year. I'm excited about it...I plan to combine it with a more hands-on approach. This week promises to be better than last.:-)

Thursday, Oct. 11

2007-10-11T05:57:00.000-07:00

School starts in three minutes. Pray for me.

Tuesday, Oct. 9

2007-10-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, today's school day wasn't much better than yesterday. While there were some things that were better, there were others that were worse. My husband works an hour's drive away, and for the first time since I've begun homeschooling, he came home early to help me "deal". He wasn't too happy. I feel better now, but of course it's evening.

More thoughts

2007-10-08T14:52:00.000-07:00

Another thing about homeschooling is how blurry the line is between school/life and parent/mom. Or even kid/student. I just thought of this as I wrote the last post...it was as much about parenting as it was about homeschool teaching.

That is one thing that makes homeschooling hard.

Another is that there is no boss standing by your bed in the morning telling you to get to work. All motivation comes from yourself and God. If anything gets accomplished, that is why. There's no monetary compensation, no paid vacations, no sick days. But isn't that also the definition of a parent? The traditional way of looking at education is "the separation of school and home". Homeschooling says there is none and that is so hard for most of us to deal with. Any thoughts?

Monday, Oct. 8

2007-10-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

The thing about homeschooling is that there is no end to what neat and exciting things you could teach or do with your kids. But you can't do everything. Or even that much.

Homeschooling is rarely like what you read or hear in the homeschooling magazines. Sure, there are kids out there who love to learn, are self-motivated, have great attitudes, who always go above and beyond. The homeschooling parent of those kids is looked on with great admiration...Look at how great Jimmy is turning out! His mom is doing a great job!

And then there are those outstanding homeschooling teacher moms, people born to teach, who LOVE it, whose enthusiasm is never dimmed and rubs off by default on the kids.

But what if neither of those is the case? What if you struggle to maintain a consistent chore system with your kids? What if most of the time they complain about their schoolwork and even though you try so hard to teach to their learning style, they still hate school? What if you struggle to maintain structure in your house, what if you yell sometimes and are not an example of Christ? What if you tell them how to behave, then do the exact opposite? What if you teach them to talk kindly at all times and never raise their voice, yet you do it at least once a day? What if sometimes you are so emotionally and mentally drained, you step over their toys or socks or dishes, and don't even bother to correctly discipline them for doing what they know they shouldn't?

My oldest child has always been challenging. We've walked a long road and have many hard-earned victories, but they came slow and a great cost. And we made plenty of mistakes along the way. And I'd be naive to think this will not all happen with my younger two. Maybe the issues will be different, but they will be challenging just the same. All I can do is pray that God's grace will cover our mistakes and bring out the things we've done right.

Honestly, though, I feel so inadequate most of the time. Rog and struggle to maintain consistency with the kids chores and discipline. I struggle to maintain structure in our school days. I struggle with impatience and frustration and raising my voice. I struggle with time management. I have such feet of clay. How can I lead these little ones?

I'm struggling with my stupid emotions today. Maybe I won't be so maudlin tomorrow.

Friday, October 5

2007-10-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

Well, today we got everything done, but I feel so wrung out. It is my niece's birthday, so my middle daughter is having a sleepover at her house. My littlest is spending the night with her cousin and my brother and sis-in-law's house. My sister's seven year old son is spending the night here with my 13 year old son. My teenager is so sweet when it comes to younger kids. He's the oldest cousin and separated from the next one (my daughter) by almost four years. All the cousins, down to the two-year-olds, love, adore and look up to him and he is amazingly patient and hands-on and kind with all of them. (Although not always with his sisters, of course :-)) I may have spent HOURS working with him on all kinds of behavior issues...mostly arguing and lack of personal responsibilty, but his heart is so right. Thank You, Lord.

Tuesday night, Oct. 2

2007-10-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

Ten minutes until bedtime. Baylee (5th) is still not done with her work because she can spend one hour on one math problem from dragging her heels and goofing off and just not doing it and the other two are still not done with their chores. But my wonderful husband is taking care of that. I was done teaching by 2:00.

Tuesday, Oct. 2

2007-10-02T05:18:00.000-07:00

I have 15 precious minutes until the kids get up. This is going to be a good day...I've decided. I hope the Lord has the same idea! :-)

Monday, Oct. 1

2007-10-01T17:52:00.000-07:00

Today we started school at 9:30 AM, then didn't get officially done with school until 4:30. Some days I am on a mission...the kids stay with me through all the time I spend with their siblings, my oldest gets up and starts early, and we are all done by 12:30. When I hear homeschool moms say they didn't get done with school until evening, I always shake my head. "That will never happen to me," I think. Well, today it did. But it wasn't as bad as I thought. We got through all our subjects. We just took it slow with lots of breaks while I graded or worked with the others. What makes it hard is other kids coming home from school because William (13) wants to play with his friends so badly, he rushes when it is close to that time. That's what makes me feel out of control. Anyway, we had a really hard Science test today and I was pleasantly surprised that the kids studied so well. I really didn't expect that. I did the test verbally with Izzi and she did poorly. I spoke to Roger about what to do. I am going to administer the test to her again tomorrow. It is the same test the older ones took, just verbal, so I think that's OK.

Sunday night, Sept. 30

2007-09-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

OK, for those of you who are new here (if anyone reads this at all...and if they don't, that's OK. I do just fine amusing myself), this is an honest blog. You may read things here that are TOO real. Because sometimes I just feel down. That's just the way it is. It doesn't mean I'm depressed or a pessimist, I'm just having a bad day. Like right now. It's Sunday night. I have no reason to feel so lousy except,
1. Tomorrow is the start of a new school week
2. I ate too much today
3. The house is messy and I'm too tired to clean it up, plus there's number one looming over my head, which is paralyzing me
4. I'm pretty sure I am a lousy homeschool teacher

My question is this: How can a fallen woman who is not naturally disciplined or organized teach her children to be disciplined and organized so that they don't struggle with those things as adults like I do?

Wednesday, Sept. 26

2007-09-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

My back went out yesterday. Thankfully, my lesson plans were already done and the kids generally know what they have everyday, so I schooled from my bed. I was still feeling pretty down, especially since I had "firm" words with my sweet daughters. (Believe me, they were justified and needed, but they are so sweet and loving, it's hard to discipline them for bad decisions sometimes). Anyway, my daughter snuck in and gave me a letter this morning. It was sealed and had "kisses" written all over it. I opened it and read this:

Dear Mommy,
I love you so much and I'm so glad you're back is feeling better. I love you so much that I made a poem about Mommys.

Mommys are sweet
Mommys are kind
I love my mommy because she's
all mine

Mommys are loving
Mommys are caring
I love my mommy because she's
all mine

Mommys are teachers
Mommys are leaders
I love my mommy because....
she's all mine.

Love, Baylee

2007-09-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

But oh, what I wouldn't do for 30 minutes with no children in the house. And a husband who wasn't on a business trip for a week.

Monday, Sept. 24

2007-09-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

Today was not a stellar example of what our school day can be. Izzi did handwriting and spelling. Baylee did spelling and comp. Will did Comp. I have our school day planned out, but have spent several hours dealing with heart issues with all of them. I'm tired. We're having school on Saturday because I'm done with academics for today; BUT I feel like I got somewhere with character-development.

Thursday, Sept. 20

2007-09-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

Ow. I just burned my finger in the oven! I hate it when that happens!

Today was our co-op weekly meeting. Oh, I forgot to say that this week has gone well, but I need to get some Epsom salt for our experiment tomorrow (we are growing stalactites). Wednesday wasn't as good as our golden day Tuesday (the day that will live in homeschooling infamcy). My son, the grammar-hater, keeps asking me WHY he has to learn about direct objects...what is it going to matter in his life as long as he can write well (he's a good writer)? His attitude was so low...so defeatist. He wasn't mad or rebellious, just so NOT motivated.

So anyway, back to the co-op. I taught an art class to 5-6th graders. The kids really liked it. I sat out last year, but it's under new management, so I decided to try it again and so on Thursdays, that's our school. My youngest has four classes, my middle has 3, and my oldest has two longer classes.

I'm really impressed with my son's character lately. Today I realized just what a quality person he is growing into. Thank You so much, Lord.

Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2007

2007-09-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day!

I get up at 7:30 and get ready while Rog is downstairs making french press coffee for us. Then I usually spend the hour before the kids get up praying and preparing for the day. Today, though, the weather was so perfect, I sat on the porch swing and drank my coffee while I prayed for 30 minutes.

Got the kids up at 8:30. They did their morning routines and chores and then I did my usual morning inspection.

Started school at 9:00. Got Izzi (3rd grade) set up with handwriting so I could do some subjects with the older two. Handwriting works out well for me because I don't really have to teach it so she can work on her own while I'm doing other things--plus, she's making the transition into cursive, so she really needs it. She usually does a page in her handwriting book (from Barnes and Noble) and one side of her dry-erase board, then I have her repeat the letters she needs to work on.

Baylee is 10 and advanced in Language Arts. So she does 6-7th grade lang. arts stuff. She breezed through her Spelling page. She had worked ahead in Composition (normal for her) so she didn't have that subject today. She hates math, so is doing 5th grade math but her math was a review today. Less work for me, but she still spent a long time working on it. Baylee prides herself on neatness in school even when she doesn't like something, so her math paper was long, laborious and very neat!

William (8th) in NOT neat. Nor is he especially fond of anything that has to do with school. But despite that, math comes naturally to him. We started with Composition (he just had to write a first draft from an outline on the computer), then we did Grammar (his least favorite). We are on direct objects, indirect objects, transitive and intransitive verbs, linking verbs, and predicate nouns and adjectives. His biggest gripe is that there are exceptions to every rule in English, so you can never be sure about anything. I love English, but he's right. We use Bob Jones for his Grammar/language arts.

During this time, Izzi worked on her spelling page.

Then I did Bob Jones 8th grade pre-algebra with William. He breezed through it.

Time for math with Izzi. Bob Jones again. She loves it. After that I did Grammar with her.

Then I did Grammar with Baylee (it had taken her all that time to get her math work done.)

Then we all did science together.

After that was reading. Done by 1:00. I think that's a new record. It's amazing how fast we can get things done when no one complains or sulks or drags their feet or argues or is disruptive. I hope this happens more this year.

beginning our fourth year

2007-09-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

Due to the flexibility homeschooling gives us, we were able to take a week's vacation for much less since we could go after Labor Day. We got home last Wednesday. Thursday and Friday was full of field trips, games, reading and art.

Over the weekend, I ran a wedding rehearsal, hosted a scrapbooking night, coordinated a wedding, hosted a surprise baby shower for my sis-in-law, then went to a cookout in their awesome, secluded backyard around the campfire. I then proceeded to stay up late planning for today and even later trying to blog a little bit. I was getting ready to post on here, but got too tired.

Anyway, this morning started the old grind again. Only this year, to my surprise, it's not an old grind like it used to be. I even have moments where I -- gasp! -- look forward to school.

OK, I already told you this would be an honest blog. You see, I don't naturally enjoy teaching, nor do I think I'm especially good at it. Which would be a good reason NOT to homeschool. But.
When God tells you to do something, you do it. He told me to take William and Baylee out of school three years ago. I had no idea what I was doing. I plunged ahead. The first year went by. Will was in fourth grade, Baylee was in first (and already reading fluently), and Izzi was still too young for school. It wasn't that hard.

That first year is kind of a blur. I think I used Abeka since that's what the kids had been using in school. I don't even remember a lot of the details now. I do remember going to the Indianapolis Homeschool convention and being overwhelmed and excited and having a wonderful time while buying tons of stuff I would never use. Each booth was a new find that required much time and reading...wow, I couldn't believe what was out there. I ha never heard of Unit Studies, but immediately fell in love with the idea. "They are neat, but very teacher-intensive," my friend warned. I didn't care. There were so many new and exciting things we could do with our kids. We could teach them using a Unit Studies, workbooks, textbooks, boxed curriculum's, Abeka, BJU Press, Sunlight, use an eclectic mixture of things. We could give them Charlotte Mason-inspired, literature-based, classical education. Wait! I could teach the about the Master artists, musicians, writers---wait, what about another language! Wow! Here's a booth that is selling a History curriculum that teaches secular and Biblical world history side by side! Here's a creation-based science program. The sky's the limit! But all the new vocab! What was spiral learning vs. linear? I did not know if my child was a kinesthetic learner. Manipulative's anyone? And all the women in long denim jumpers, white keds, their long hair in a bun and pulling rolling crates to hold all their finds with bungee cords. I was excited, but totally overwhelmed and ignorant about this new world. And I most certainly didn't own a denim jumper.

Things are a little different this year---my fourth year. Mr. Shumway and I attended the convention for the fourth time this spring, an event I always look forward to. I loved the workshops and convocations...they would get me pumped up.

But this year fell a little flat. I liked the workshops, they are always good. But I've heard most of what they have to say. I've researched most curriculums out there and tried a good many of them. I know what works for me and my family, I know myself and my kids and how we work together, how we function. I have certain subjects I think are more important than other and therefore they have a high priority. We have put a lot of thought and prayer into this...daily for over three years. I think we have now entered the "veteran homeschoolers" category. I think we may skip the convention next year.

Late night/early morning

2007-09-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

Here it is, 1:30 AM. School is in the morning. Why am I up? Because when one gives up all her free-time to throw surprise baby showers, prepare for school, take kids to all kinds of sporting practices/games, and various other volunteer activities, one gets desperate to have some computer time all to oneself. (CS Lewis always used "oneself" in his Chronicles of Narnia series and I've always loved the way that sounded.) Anyway, I'll try to give an update after our day tomorrow. We got some new books in! I'm excited to try them!

Thurs, Sept. 13

2007-09-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

Warning: this is an Honest Blog. Those with weak stomachs may want to move on.

OK, with that out of the way, why is it that I can be totally relaxed and unannoyed (is that a word?) and my children can be a sweet as pie for seven straight days on vacation, even going so far as to beautifully perform a play entitled To Be Kind, or not to Be; That is the Question, but as soon as we get home, the goal seems to be to speak as unkindly as possible (while avoiding swear words which we don't use and hopefully they don't even know about--hey, I said this blog was honest, I didn't say it didn't indulge in a little daydreaming now and then). I can't count the times I've asked them, in a ~~frustrated, impatient~~ gentle, quiet voice, to please speak to each other kindly. But folks, I've only lost it once. They, of course, took that opportunity to tell me that the reason they misbehave is because of the way I speak to them. The whole day of speaking kindly to them counts for nothing, but they are ruined forever because I raised my voice one time. Granted, I DID sigh a lot and shake my head countless times. Oh wait, this is supposed to be a homeschooling blog, not a frustrated-mom-rant blog. Sorry.

Today was our first full school day after vacation. Since it's a Thursday and our week is based on a five-day schedule, (plus the fact that I was too lazy to plan the lessons for today--hey, I warned you this blog would be honest), we had a reading-educational game-home ec. day. We played Fast Scrabble, Upwards, Match-Em (a math game), Taboo, Outburst, the Wrong Game, Boggle, and Sequence. We read our Bibles and worked on our respective devotional books. We cleaned and mopped the floor, we did the laundry after vacation, folded it and put it away, we talked about how to organize a room (with "keep, give away, and throw away piles) so that everything has a place. Hopefully, they will learn to declutter and will be able to clean more efficiently. They are upstairs working on their perspective rooms right now. In fact, I just inspected my son's room...he did a great job, which seriously makes me wonder why he doesn't keep it like that all the time. Nevermind that once, not too long ago, he told me that "chores weren't his thing". When I challenged him on that, he said it was because my husband and I didn't enforce them enough. How's that for honesty? I called my husband right away and we took appropriate steps to...well, enforce things. Anyway, the girls room will take a little longer since they are younger and have so much more stuff.

OK, I said I'd talk about homeschooling. And I will. I promise. Tomorrow.

Introduction

2007-09-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

I am entering my fourth year of homeschooling our three children, William (13 years old and in 8th grade), Baylee (10 years old and in between fifth and sixth grade), and Izabella (8 years old and in between second and third grades). We have two weeks of this school year under our belts, but are taking a break for our yearly one-week family vacation to Lake Michigan. We usually go earlier, but it didn't work out this year. This year has started out well and I look forward to sharing our days...mostly for a record of our daily ups and downs. LOL!