Homeschool Wrap-Up 2014-2015

As beginner homeschoolers, we did a lot of what beginners with anything do.  We tried stuff, we did it more if it worked, we did it less if it didn't.  That sounds pretty simple, right?  And sometimes it was.  Other times, it wasn't.  The process of "deschooling" (described pretty well here, and she has a Tips link that is helpful also) was difficult for all of us.  It was clear that both older kids, who had 6 years and 3 years in public school under their belts. struggled with creative independence (they were used to being given very specific instructions) and with seemingly simple things like how to find out what the date is (the teacher is just supposed to write it on the board, duh!).  

My personal goal was to start slow and gradually build up our routines, having some sort of groove by November.  And we did.  We hadn't quite figured out all of our learning resources yet at that time, so it was still a little hodge-podge, but they were learning every day.  For me, a huge part of my own deschooling was shooing away that guilty feeling that we weren't doing what the public school kids were doing, and that sneaking doubting suspicion that my kids were actually learning less at home than their public school counterparts.

 Have no fear, I'm WAY over that now.  The more time that passed, and the more we got away from sit down, paper-type stuff, trying to at least tackle what the district's master curriculum listed for that year, the more our confidence grew, and the more my kids learned and retained.  It was amazing to watch.  Yet still, in that first 6 months, I had continued to feel "wrong," like my kids were missing out on something.  I didn't know quite what, but that's how I felt.  

Right after the 6 month mark, I had my Hallelujah moment - the doubt was gone, the confidence was there, and I no longer gave a shit what the kids were doing over at school.  This was right for us, so right, and my kids were really learning, and we were all joyful about it.  It may not be right for everyone, and believe me, I have met some of the people who truly should NOT be schooling their children (hey, someone's gotta say it), but for us, right now, it's completely right.  

I realized that I most likely held my big kids back instead of allowing them to find their true ability level.  I kept them either at their grade level, or just one above.  This was my safety net, just in case homeschool didn't work out, then they could just go slide right back into public school right where everyone else was.  I did this despite the fact that one of the major factors in choosing to educate my children at home was that they were literally at the top of their classes, both of them, and needed more challenging work.  It's only been very recently that I have learned to list their academic achievements, and the district's lack of programming available for kids like them, as a reason for homeschooling when asked.  It took a few conversations with people I respect to affirm that it was okay to publicly validate their intelligence and academic talent, rather than hiding the truth and  feeling like everyone would just end up thinking I was bragging or exaggerating.  Chase did all of his work without issue, and reported that it was very easy for him, so this coming year he is ready to be challenged more.  Indy did work a grade ahead, because I was fearful of missing some of the foundations in math and language arts if we had skipped her too far up.  She was still bored and moved through the work fast and without issue, and so moving forward we'll probably just put her solidly in middle school level stuff while backing it up with some of the foundational information.  For subjects beyond math and language arts, the two of them seem to really enjoy working together, so we've combined social studies, science, and now even grammar to be a small group effort and will continue with that.  

Riley, who spent the whole last homeschool year as a 4 yr old, moves through material at a fantastic pace.  I had totally planned to have her do kindergarten level work (already a whole year ahead as she cannot start K here in our district until after she turns 5) as part of our homeschool, but I did not expect her to take off at a such a pace that I had to scramble and quickly put together all 1st grade level stuff or higher.  Once she started actually reading (beyond memorizing the books like so many smart kids do in their toddler years), she completely blew through all the reading materials I'd collected for her which puts us at the library each week for more and more and more.  She went from Easy Reader Level 1 to 2 in a month, and is now on level 3's and into chapter books like The Magic Tree House Series.  Her memory has always been uncannily fantastic and quite detailed, and I imagine this is why she learns new words by having them read to her just once.  With math (it makes me groan, truly, because I am a psychology major who can do math, but would really be satisfied leaving it to those who like it) she didn't need to be taught things like skip-counting (by 2's, 5's, 10's, 3's and 4's - the last 2 categories by her own insistence), the fact that multiplying is just "adding groups of things, Mom" and even the basic concept of negative numbers (which she explained to me early, early one morning while lying on top of my eyes-still-closed trying-to-sleep self after she had climbed into my bed).  She just knows this stuff already, and while we are obviously pleased to call such an intelligent little girl our own, I wish she would wait until after I've gotten out of bed to debate these things with me.  I do feel, 100%, that it will benefit her greatly to be educated at home, where we are able to nurture her individual talents with complete support.  

 

We can't forget RJ, who I thought we'd just have to keep entertained.  He wanted to be a part of school a lot more than expected, increasingly so as the year went on and he got farther from his second birthday.  Although I definitely don't agree with all the Pinterest boards and Mom Blogs on PreSchool Homeschool that are filled with tons of parent-made set-ups (more often then not just Type A moms getting their craftiness on, really), we are calling this coming year his "PreSchool Year" because he will essentially be learning alongside us, just probably not the things that kids normally learn in 3 yr old preschool.  He is a kinetic kid and loves moving things and moving parts and let's not forget all things Steam Engine, so the more we do with building, making, creating, and experimenting will please him so (and make life easier for me since he won't be building, making, creating and experimenting with stuff he shouldn't be touching!).  

 

And, because we can, we've already started our new school year.  Slowly, of course, just enough to keep our brains fresh and certainly not every day.  Here's a flashback photo to this time last year, followed by this year's start of school shot.  

July 2014

July 2015

Is Anybody Out There???

Yeah, it's been two whole months since I've been here.  It's more than a little dusty.  Coincidentally, the blog drop-off and the start of baseball season have a significant correlation...

This is what late April and May looked like:

Softball practice, softball game, keep smalls engaged without getting into poison ivy or falling off bridge into creek or blowing $30 at the snack stand or losing my mind, softball practice, softball game, run into field after bolting toddler, redirect, redirect, redirect.   Repeat.  Girls' Minors' Coaches were awesome, they all learned a lot about the game and true sportsmanship.  Softball players are boisterous, cheering, chanting little ladies and it is a joy to watch their togetherness.  I love when everyone cheers for everyone.

And our First Year Majors Player, "Bulldog."  Some of the kids' games were at the same fields, at the same time, or only an hour overlap.  Some games were at the same fields, but hours apart (which in parent terms, means your whole day is F'ed anyway, because you're either getting ready for baseball, waiting for baseball again, or recovering from baseball).  And some fabulous-o games were at DIFFERENT fields at the same time.  These were terribly fun.  Chase made some great plays in the outfield this year and enjoyed being on the White Sox with a super-fun coach.  Majors Baseball Players are serious about their game, they have mad skills (most of the just-for-fun kids have dropped out by now) and make some really awesome plays from all angles of the game.  At the end of the season, the team went to one of the coach's Karate studios, and Roger drove them all in the bus, which either made us the Cool Parents, or the Really Weird Parents, we're not sure...

But the crazy baseball season was worth it....

Because, in June:

"WE.... ARE..... THE...... CHAMPIONS.... MY FREH-END..."  Sing it, Freddie!  

Yeah, both teams won big.  Very exciting stuff.

A few other things happened in May:

 Our peas and other things started to grow.  This made us very happy.  We watered them everyday, since none of that stuff was coming down from the sky at all... 

We tried (and tried and tried and tried) to patch our animal-in-the-shed-eaten pool.  The kids enjoyed the 10 inches of water for a while before we gave up.

We grilled.  Until the grill caught on fire.  Then we nabbed another one out of someone's trash.  Then we caught that one on fire, too.  There's usually a reason when people throw their grills out.

There was some of this.  I would tell you what "this" was, if I knew... 

We played in mud.  Okay, correction, THEY played in mud.  I just got stuck with laundry duty.  For the ones wearing clothes, that is.  That RJ, he's just so thoughtful...

This one pottied his heart out, and his pee and poop out.  He's completely independent some days, and doesn't care at all on other days.  All this time I thought that was a hat on his head, it appears to be a pair of underwear... I have no explanation.  

And in early June (besides a shit-ton of play-off games and bringing home 2 championship trophies): 

We supported by brother's non-profit by participating in the 2nd Annual Glo Run in Harrisburg, which raised money to replace street lights in the city.  It was a late night for us with the race starting at 8:40 (so we could all GLOW, duh!).  Riley at 4 was the youngest runner and got a time of 66 minutes.  She ran some, she walked some.  She stopped to watch the fireworks three times.  She stopped to watch the band play.  She stopped to make it echo under the bridge.  I guess we'll have to work on continuity... 

They Just Wouldn't Understand...

All parents have this feeling every now and then, some more often than others.  The one where they stop and think about something that just happened, and ultimately determine that people who don't have children just wouldn't understand.  These feelings occur when something goes down in your house that is usually less than socially acceptable, perhaps gross and disgusting, and probably involves your younger children but may or may not also involve your husband and older kids.  And it is definitely something that you KNOW your childless friends, either those by choice or those who just haven't procreated yet, would absolutely be shocked by.

If you've been a Mom for a while, you're not phased by these things at all, in fact, you respond to them in the same tone and manner that you respond when someone tells you it's 11 o'clock, or the coffee's ready, or the trash is full (again).  

Here's some recent examples from our house:

Riley to Mom - "Look Mom!"  I made a birthday cake for you!"  She holds up some collection of food-style toys with pride.
Mom (while chopping veggies for dinner at the counter) to Riley - " Oh, wow!  It's so... wait.... why don't you have pants on?"

Mom to RJ - "Can you PLEASE get your head OUT of the toilet??"  For the zillionth time today.  I'm not really sure why.  And of course, it's usually not one of our toilets at home I'm talking about, it's some other really interesting toilet out in PUBLIC.  Ewwwww.

Roger to Mom, after chugging the nearly-full glass of water on the kitchen counter - "Was there something in this water?"
Mom to Roger, after turning away from whatever it was she was doing to analyze the situation - "Oh. Yeah.  Chase's Mirilax....."
I nearly died laughing.

Mom to RJ, who appears to be chewing and is not at the table - "What are you eating?"
RJ flashes Mom a goofy grin.
Mom to RJ, as she bends down to inspect - "Are you eating your boogers?"
RJ bats his eyelashes, smacks his lips, and runs away.

Children are in the yard watching an ant family try to move their stuff after being disturbed by a rock that moved.  RJ is trying to catch ants. He gets one on his arm and is uber excited.
Riley to Mom - "Look, Mom, RJ got an ant!"
Mom to Riley - "Great, hon."
Riley outloud - "Wait, not anymore."
Mom to Riley, trying to make conversation - "Did he hop off?"
Riley to Mom - "No, RJ just ate him."

Mom to kids - "Why are the pretzel rods mushy?"
Riley to Mom - "Because I only like the salt, so I put them back."


So as I'm writing this, I realized that I should mention that these 6 examples are just from the past 4 days.  I just had to write some of them down.

FARMHOUSE UPDATE

Beyond that, we've been at the farmhouse a wee bit, making slow, steady progress.  Now that it's almost fully enclosed, it should pick up pace soon.

Roger's been working on modifying the bus, so that the kids can hang out in it when we start spending evenings and weekends over at the farmhouse to get the inside done.  More than 16 passengers means one of us had to get a CDL, so we took out ten seats.  We created storage space in the back for when we're road-trippin', and flipped some seats around, Roger made tables to go in between for hours of games or hours of school.  A visit to the junkyard is in order to pick up seat belts, not required but Mom-requested.  Back-up cameras are in transit and one of our spare monitors will become a TV screen for movies on long drives.  The auto tag place apparently doesn't stock Omnibus license plates (who knew?) so we're still waiting for the state to come through on that one, even though it is technically legally licensed and registered.

HOUSE RENO UPDATE

The trim in the new hall bath got a coat of paint, and it looks AWESOME!  I have photos to share another time.  

HOMESCHOOL UPDATE

School has been happening for 9 months.  9 months!  Whoa.  Crazy, right?  It's been kind of a whirlwind.  We added pieces slowly into our routine over the course of it, and now have a generally regular list of Phonics, Reading Comp, Daily Journal, Creative Writing, Spelling, and Math on most days. Phys Ed is at least twice a week formally at the YMCA and more often informally with bike riding, running around with friends or throwing a ball outside, Science and Social Studies (including Geography) happen a few times a week or sometimes for days in a row when we're really into something, iCivics.org has been influential especially for Chase who has taken a real interest in the Constitution and Civil Rights.  Creative Writing was a struggle to get in the habit of.  Neither older kid seemed to have come away from public school with a general know-how for writing fluently, so we had to backtrack and work on that before we could really start producing anything.  Art is different for everyone, Chase prefers more hands-on mediums and Indy has been doing a lot of sketching with different types of chalk and charcoal.  Music is lessons at school, and spring concerts are in a week or two.  Somehow it has all come together, and it's not weird anymore.  Warmer weather days are sometimes a blessing, as in, motivation to get done and get outside, but sometimes a curse, as in, no one can concentrate because that strange-thing-that-was-gone-for-SO-long-called-the-sun is shining brightly and beckoning to everyone to forget school and enjoy it.  We have 16 "official" more days to log before, in the eyes of the state, we can be "done."  This works out great, in that I'll have plenty of time to have my evaluator review our little homeschool and get her letter into the district with plenty of time to spare.  It seems to have gone by so fast!

That's all I got for now, except that I noticed when I view the page from a different computer, there's random words in the recent posts that are linked to ads, which is really pissing me off.  I don't know why it's doing it, and I haven't had time to look into it.  The next time I accidentally drink two cups of coffee at 7pm, I'll hit the 'net and find out why.  Except that wasn't fun the other night, being up until 2am not on purpose and being so tired at the same time.  I eventually got out of bed and completely cleaned out my side of the closet - which then led to a 3-day event of attic, kid-stuff and clothing clean-out.  Two trips to the thrift store with the back of the Excursion full... oh yeah, I feel a whole lot lighter!