Homeschool Freedom

We started our 2010-11 school year on Wednesday.  And we're off with a bang - Andrew's enjoying the more relaxed atmosphere, and I'm rising to the challenge of finding our learning tools for free (or as cheap as possible).

We're armed with out 2nd grade requirements lists.  But outside of that, we're all eclectic this year, baby!

Some things we're using:

Head of the Class:  a fairly comprehensive that gives the "instructor" a good bit of control.  Printable worksheets.  Covers math, writing, spelling, reading, and Spanish.  And, maybe best of all, completely free!

IXL:  Math, intensified.  Online tests (paperless!).  You can pay for the service, but the free end of it seems to be sufficient for our needs.


Making Music Fun:  I thought this was going to be more helpful.  As someone who is "financially challenged", I struggle to get the music and arts into our days.  MMF has offered some basic worksheets on the composers (we're working our way through Bach now), but we're still left filling in gaps.  Thank God for the library and it's resources.  And the internet, of course (when it comes to music, YouTube is awesome!)

Andrew's Blog:  I'm really, really hoping this takes off.  He was so very excited about having his Very Own Blog.  And, so far, the posts are coherent.  BUT, his attention issues are painfully obvious.  We've got our work cut out for us.

Taste of Home Kids Coloring Cookbook:  We have a LOT of fun with this!   We started doing this last year - we'll take pictures while making the recipes, slide the colored sheet into one of those clear plastic sheet protectors, put it in his 3-ring binder, and glue the pictures onto the backs of the pages (when we finally get them developed). 

That's just some of the online programs we're using right now. Every day we stumble across another useful resource, bookmark another site. 

What are you using to enrich your child's education this year?

A Day in the Life of a Homeschooling Mom

5am: Awake. First cup of coffee. News. Catching up on my reader and facebook.
6:30am: Andrew blearily comes out from his room. Smelling like pee. Strip the bed, start a load of whites.
7am: Watching the news with Andrew, explaining what he doesn't comprehend. Like why Harry was getting a colonoscopy on The Early Show. Looking up on the internet why Harry's colon looked "wet and slippery". I'll spare you the details.
8am: Yasar's up. Second cup of coffee. Andrew to the shower, laundry into the dryer.
8:30 am: Make beds, straighten up rooms. Stop to check pH and nitrates in the new aquarium (and explain to Andrew what I'm doing, why, how, yadda yadda).
9am: Make blueberry pancakes and throw leftover broccoli and potatoes into an omelet.
9:30am: Breakfast.
9:45am: Dishes
10am: 2 pages of reading comprehension, a page of spelling, 2 pages of math for Andrew.
10:45am: Yasar off to work.
11:30am: Review 4 verses for Awana tonight (two were leftovers that Andrew didn't get to recite last week). Also go over 100 sight words.
12pm: Kid's Clock!
12:30pm: chicken corn noodle soup for me, tuna salad sandwich for Andrew.
12:45pm: Dishes
1pm: Make Andrew's bed. Fold the res of the laundry. Get the mail and make some calls to update companies with our new address. Talk to a friend.
1:45pm: Drop off a check with Yasar at the store. To the bank to make a rolled change deposit to our "Disney in Two Years" account.
2pm: Off to the library to pick up some new books and educational DVD's. Andrew got his first library card (he's very excited!).
3pm: Make two cheesecakes for a Friday pickup. Peanut butter bananas and milk for snacks.
4:00pm: Dishes.
4:15pm: Make some rice for dinner. Head outside to watch Andrew ride his bike up and down the block.
5:00pm: Electric Company (the only TV show I consider part of my homeschooling).
5:30pm: Dinner.
5:45pm: Dishes.
6pm: Cup of coffee, a little computer time while Andrew reviews his verses.
6:20pm: Out the door to drop Andrew at Awanas.
6:35pm: Domino's to drop off Yasar's dinner, then off to Meijer for some grocery shopping.
7:30pm: Dollar Tree for some personal hygiene items for the Cleveland homeless shelter.
8pm: Stop off at Domino's on the way back to pick up Andrew.
8:15pm: Pick up Andrew from church. High-fives and big hugs for success at reciting the 4 verses.
8:30pm: Home. Unload car of groceries. Quick snack for Andrew while watching a Veggie Tales DVD.
9pm: Brush teeth, into PJ's. Climb into my bed with him to read a chapter of Island of the Blue Dolphins.
9:30pm: Prayers and bedtime for Andrew.
9:45pm: Load of coloreds into the washing machine. Sweep of the house to see what needs to be put away. Take meat out of freezer into fridge for tomorrow's dinner.
10pm: Brush teeth, wash face. As many chapters of Food Inc. as I can keep my eyes open for.

Just another day. I fall asleep exhausted but with a smile on my face. I love my life. :)

When You Homeschool, EVERYTHING'S a Lesson

Yesterday a good friend came over. We sat on the porch, discussing everything under the sun (as we girls tend to do).

In the middle of our conversation, she said, "Emily, I don't know if this'll freak you ou, but there's a bug crawling up the leg of your chair." (she's a fairly new friend, but we're getting along famously.)

My standard reply is "as long as it doesn't bite or sting, I'm okay." I never even glanced down to see the type of bug.

After a few minutes, I saw this:Tiger was kind of watching it. This is no little bug - this picture is about twice it's size, so it's pretty big. The body itself is over an inch long.

So Tiger gets to playing with it. Mary and I are both kind of in awe of it. This was the "bug" she saw on my chair? The girl has the gift of understatement.

So Andrew grabs a jar and we catch it (no miracle, the thing walks sooo slow). And we head inside to look it up on Bug Guide. We're all sitting together, trying to figure out what classification to look under. We probably looked for about 5 minutes before I plugged in Mary's description of it - dinosaur. And there it was....the Sail Back Dinosaur Bug, aka Wheel Bug.

From the assassin bug family. Bite that hurts worse than a bee sting. Also emits a pungent odor when threatened, which can cause an allergic reaction. Eats bumblebees for lunch. Just one scary customer.

So here I am, freaking out because I picked this thing up with my bare hands! Tiger was playing with it like a cat toy! And Andrew is having a blast, listening to us and laughing.

I'm all for catch and release, but this little monster is dying in the jar. I'm not chancing meeting HIM in a dark alley anytime soon. For all we know, he's probably the type to hold a grudge.

Do you think Andrew will forget the wheel bug anytime soon?

Arabic Class

Boring day at the store. You can imagine it, but we had *no* orders today before 3pm. So we had Arabic class! This is Andrew posing with his "tay"
Prebake...
And the finished product. From right to left (because that's how they roll) aleph, bay, tay. A tasty lesson, one we won't soon forget.

Cheesey Sesame Hot Dogs

Recipe here...


Brushing on the butter~The finished product. Bon apetit!

Highlights from Homeschool

The First Day of School picture

Mom, I think I got it!

Making Bean n' Cheese BurritosThe Finished Product

The Flipside to the Homeschool Creed

"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it."
~Proverbs 22:6

I call this The Homeschool Creed. In the homeschool community, this verse seems to pop up everywhere! Maybe it's our Biblical vindication to live on the fringe, to do what is not "normal".

But I got to thinking about this verse in the other context. The public school context. When the government takes it upon themselves to train up our children in the way they think they should go. And how those kids aren't departing from their lessons.

What do kids learn in high school? What did I learn in high school? What lasting lessons did I take away from public school?

fade back to 1993.....

I learned that it was not okay to be different. High school kids fall into a pack mentality - if you're not with them, you're against them. They don't know how to appreciate how differences can keep things interesting or teach them something new. How that lesson affects us today? Racism. Prejudice. Elitism. Intolerance.

I learned how to sleep in class. Smoking in the girls bathroom. Cutting last period. Breaking the rules, and getting away with it. How does that lesson affect us today? We've learned to be sneaky. That rules were meant to be broken. And, if we do happen to get caught, so many others are breaking the laws that the punishments aren't so prohibitive.

And what about what I didn't learn? Like math, science, English. The teachers were too busy trying to referee the class to really imbue us with any pearls of knowledge. Sure, I got the basics, at least enough to continue on my own. But I could have gone so much farther with more attention. Smaller classes. Stricter rules. My lesson for today? That I want to be the one teaching my son. No one will give him as much attention as I will. And he deserves to not fall through the cracks of a public school education.

I think we've got to get it out of our heads that we're raising kids, and realize that we're raising adults. Do I trust the public school system to raise him up in the way he should go? Do I really in my heart think that Troy City Schools can mold him into a well-rounded, educated, compassionate adult?

This is why I do what I do.

Homeschool - The Rebuttals

"I couldn't do that!"

"Better you than me..."

"If he doesn't get a proper education, the only person you can blame is yourself."

"It takes a lot of discipline, and we're not really known for that."

Now that the decision to homeschool Andrew has been made, it seems like all the negative comments are pouring in.

Guys, let me just say that I've been praying like crazy for God to slam this door shut. The comments I've gotten are nothing I haven't said to myself. I know I'm not the most disciplined person in the world. I know taking on sole responsibility for Andrew's education is risky. I know it's not going to be easy.

I also know that there's immense Christian homeschool support available to me. I'm not perfect, I'm gonna stumble a few times. But I've got wonderful women here to pick me up, dust me off, and point me in the right direction.

I also know that homeschooling for kindergarten is not the same as homeschooling a 10th grade curriculum. The structure element is not the same. We will be using workbooks at a K and 1st grade level so I can be fairly confident that he stays challenged. Life skills are also important, and there's plenty of education to be had at the grocery store, walking through a nature center, cooking at home. And, at the end of the year, Andrew needs to be able to pass a test *that he can probably pass if taken today*

I also know what it's like to have my kid labeled. Andrew was on an IEP for his two years of preschool for attention issues. Hypothetically, I send him to kindergarten. Where they're reaching the lowest common denominator. He gets bored. Fidgety. Starts being "disruptive". My child was just released from his IEP in May, he doesn't need to be labeled again.

I also know that I look forward to being responsible for his education. Raising my hand here, I'm a product of the school system. Even the Christian school system. I'm not impressed with either. And, from what I understand, homeschooled kids are in demand in colleges these days. And why not? They've been educated in the fullest sense of the word. If they didn't understand something, school didn't pass them by. If they're advanced, school didn't dumb them down or leave them bored. They're for the most part disciplined and self-motivating. What school/college/future employer wouldn't want that?

I also know that I love my son fiercely, and want what's best for him. His education is paramount to me. And if that means that I have to make structure a habit, well, I'm gonna pull up my big girl panties and make it happen. When it comes to mandatory things, like clocking in at work, the OCD in me kicks into high gear and discipline abounds. We'll be okay in that area.

And, for those concerned about the socialization aspect, Andrew's calendar is already pretty full. Karate twice a week, AWANAS every Wednesday, Sunday School, McCHEO-sponsored gym classes/art classes/science classes, we've got annual passes to Boonshoft - we'll be lucky if we have a full day at home.

I hope everyone understands this is not a decision I took lightly. More than anyone, I was looking forward to the "me time" while someone else took responsibility for my son's future. I thank God that He used that math problem to open my eyes and see that this is an option and we need to explore it. He led me to my friend Amy, who led me to Kim, who is the county coordinator for Christian homeschool and a mom who just had her last daughter graduate from homeschooling. Anita has passed me email addresses for her son and his wife, perfect strangers, yet people who are doing it and look forward to helping someone else. Fellow Grace Baptist members, Madonna, Margie, women I'm not close to, but have still reached out in support. Even Jeanne, Andrew's substitute grandma and a woman just retired from the public school system, had nothing but encouragement for this decision.

Everywhere I've turned, homeschool moms are crawling out of the woodwork. And not one of them said, "I wish I hadn't."

I won't be the one to say "I wish I had."

Exploring Our Options - Homeschool

Yesterday, at work, my 5-year-old dragged me into the office to show me a piece of paper he drew on. He wrote "3+4+5=12". Say what? I'm 34, and it took me a minute to do that calculation in my head! And, last night, he was arguing about sleeping in my bed. I said no, and it wasn't open to negotiation. He said, "why can't I negotiate?"

He's going into kindergarten in 2 weeks.

I spent a little time digging around on the internet for the grade level of the math problem Andrew solved, but couldn't really find it. They did show that 1+2, 2+3, etc. were first grade level. And Andrew and I were doing some of those problems yesterday after I saw that initial math work - he breezed through them. We also did some vertical format (think 12+25) math problems, he took to them like a fish in water. Even some basic subtraction! He must get it from his daddy, math is certainly not my strong suit.

For the first time, I'm seriously considering homeschooling Andrew. Yasar and I are talking about the pros and cons, and we're starting to lean into that direction. I've got some pretty serious researching to do....

So here's where you come in. Anyone tried homeschooling? Succeeded or failed? Know the pitfalls? I'd love your input.