Ask Me

Prior to beginning this homeschool journey I did a lot of research. I wanted to be sure I did it right (I have come to learn that there is no right, what works for one child may not work for another and that is the beauty of home education.) I came across lists of questions that homeschoolers are asked, things that concern the general public about homeschoolers, things they think will cause the children pain and distress later in life. I know many homeschoolers who have been asked:

Can you do that?

Are you qualified to teach?

How do you get your child to listen to you all day?

How do they learn to stand in line, raise their hand, take turns, share, sit at a desk all day, etc?

How can they pass the state tests?

How will they meet boys/girls?

What about prom, football games?

What about college?

And the big one: What about socialization?

I have been homeschooling for 4 years and I have never been asked any of these questions! Come on, ask me! I spent a full year researching homeschooling before we began, I continued all through our first year. I read every book I could get my hands on. I joined a fabulous support group, I have attended 3 conventions and a parent practicum; I am ready to answer you!

I don’t know why I don’t get asked these questions. I have been asked “why?” But my answer is usually the short version, “It works better with our hectic schedule.” People usually leave it at that. On the occasion that someone has more questions, I love to talk about homeschooling.

Homeschooling our kids has been the best parenting decision my husband and I have made. This has been confirmed to us over and over again through many events and “aha” moments over the last 4 years. I want to share my joy! So ask me!

Can you do that?

Yes, homeschooling is legal in all 50 states! And yes, I am capable. I enjoy teaching. I have been teaching my kids in some way since the day they were born.

How are you qualified to teach?

I successfully finished a masters degree. Yes, it was in theatre, but I am confident in my ability to teach elementary school subjects like math and science. Besides, I don’t have to know everything. There is so much wonderful curriculum to choose from. School teachers have books they teach out of, that is what I do, too.

How do you get your child to listen to you all day?

Discipline. They listen as well as they always have. School is just a part of our lives, there is not much division. We eat breakfast, we do some school work, we eat lunch, we finish our schoolwork, then we play. Sometimes we just read, but we read from history and science books as well as picture books and novels.

How do they learn to stand in line, raise their hand, take turns, share, sit at a desk all day, etc?

We go to the grocery store, they stand in line with me there. Raising your hand does not take years of practice to learn. They take turns with each other all day.  They share with each other. Why should my 6 and 8 year olds be trained to sit at a desk all day? That is not the life I want for them as adults. Mom and dad don’t work at desks all day, my kids don’t see that as normal. It is also not developmentally appropriate for young children to sit all day. Both of my kids are kinesthetic learners (as are many young children, especially boys!) - they recall more if they are moving or doing something with their hands. We have done handstands during history, cartwheels during science, and rolled across the floor during math! I often read to my daughter while she cleans her room.

How can they pass the state tests?

They don’t have to. They are not public school students. They do not have to pass anyone’s tests. I decide when they have met the requirements to complete a grade.

How will they meet boys/girls?

They are 6 and 8. They have friends in our support group, at church, and at their extracurricular activities. When they are old enough to date and they are interested, they will find kids their age through these same activities. I am not concerned; again, they are just 6 and 8.

What about prom, football games?

Homeschool groups have proms and other activities for teens. In our area, there are homeschool sports teams. They have ample opportunities to see friends play sports; but honestly, they would rather watch a musical (just like mom and dad.)

What about college?

Homeschool students are admitted to college all the time. Some colleges even search out homeschool students. I know a handful who are headed off to college this fall.

What about socialization?

My kids have an amazing relationship with their family. The kids are best friends. They play together all the time. They are not subject to peer pressure, they are unique and I love that they don’t feel the need to hide who they are.

They spend time with people of all ages. Only in school are you forced to remain in an environment with people of your own age in a situation you may not like or feel safe in. As adults, if we dislike a work environment we can quit and find a new job. We make friends based on interests, and we are in situations with people of all ages allowing us to learn from those who are more experienced. Kids in school are not allowed this freedom. My kids have a lot of friends, all these friendships have been created through activities. They have common interests, not common ages.

They live life with their parents. They learn to socialize by example. Their example is from grown adults, interacting in a mature manner (most of the time) not from their peers who are also learning how to socialize.

Be confident in your choice to homeschool, be prepared to answer any question someone asks and maybe you won’t ever be asked! My mom always prepares for rain because then, it won’t rain. I guess the same is true of homeschooling. Prepare to answer anyone's questions, and no one will ask you.

What's for lunch? The Most Stressful Meal of the Day!

Everyone is awake, breakfast is eaten and the mess is cleaned up. The school books come out and everyone works hard. Focus is great! Things are being learned! Everyone is happy. Then it happens, someone says the words that end all productivity - "I'm hungry, what's for lunch?"

You try to keep going. "Let's just finish math, then we will get lunch."

Your attempt fails. "I'm too hungry!"

Your brain starts to race. "What will we eat? I don't want to cook lunch AND dinner! We just finished breakfast. Think of all those dishes that will have to be washed! I wanna go back to bed!"

If breakfast is the most important meal of the day; lunch can be the most stressful for a homeschool mom! Don't panic. Mealtime is only as stressful as you make it. Here are some helpful hints for a stress less lunchtime.

First things first, you know your kids will have to eat lunch. Plan for it. I try to keep a variety of quick and easy lunch options around. Many of them my kids can get for themselves. I try to keep as many healthy options around as possible, and we round out the less healthy meals with fruits or veggies. These staples save me stress at lunch.

frozen chicken nuggets
PBJ
pepperoni and salami
canned soup
Ramen Noodles
boxed pastas (mac n cheese, shells and cheddar, etc)
sardines
planned-overs (strategically planned leftovers)
ready to eat fruits and veggies
cheese
frozen pizza crusts (I make these and roll them out to the size of my stone, and freeze)

My kids can make their own PBJ and chicken nuggets, they can fix a plate of pepperoni, cheese and fruit, and my oldest (8) can make mac n cheese, Ramen, and a can of soup. On days when I am tired or we are very busy, these options allow my two older kids to get their own lunch, and many times get lunch for the toddler as well. When there is cooking I am in the room to supervise, but I can continue lessons with one child while the other cooks, or we can do a read-a-loud.

My second big secret is the use of divided lunch trays! It may seem silly, but it makes thinking about lunch optional. I can talk about math, history, science, or grammar and fill lunch plates and know that we will have a variety of food groups in our lunch. It has also taught my kids to fill their plates with a variety of foods. Each section must hold something different - meat or protein, fruit, veggie, pasta, bread. My 6 year old will fix herself a lunch that looks like this: the large section will have pepperoni and cheese or sardines. One smaller section will have strawberries and the other will have carrots.

Third, what are these planned overs? We have many meals where I purposely cook more than we will eat and then turn the leftovers into a quick lunch. Cook a whole chicken, turn the leftovers into chicken salad or chicken and dumplings, or just a cold chicken sandwich. Leftover tacos become a taco salad. A casserole will get us through 2-3 days of lunches. These can be quick and easy lunches!

Fourth is the one thing that makes our days run the smoothest! I cook lunch and dinner at the same time. I may cook chicken and dumplings for lunch. While that is cooking I fill the slow cooker with a roast and veggies, chicken and BBQ sauce, or dump a premade freezer meal in to start (or get one out to thaw and cook in my Rock Crok 30 minutes before we eat). Other days I prep a casserole or lasagna that just needs to go in the oven right before dinner. Once lunch is over, we clean up from prepping both meals and then go on with our day. When I do two meals at one time, we have a better day.

Finally, turn lunch into a class. Lunchtime is home ec. You can teach so many valuable skills during lunch preparation. Basic cooking and food preparation skills, health and nutrition, cleaning, and team work. This lapbook/unit study from Knowledge Box has some great introductory information. Currclick.com also has several nutrition studies that you can download. Everything your kids do is a learning opportunity. Use them to make your day easier. Check out the options like this lapbook on homeschoolshare.com as well.

Don't let lunch derail a productive school day. The kids have to eat, find ways to make it a stress less meal.

Teaching Lilly to Read

I have not blogged in a while, I get busy and forget. I keep thinking I will do better; but I prefer to write when I have something great to write about. Today, I do.

I was not going to home school my kids. My kids were going to attend public school, maybe private school; but I did not have any confidence in my ability to home school! At 18 months Aidan starting tracing his letters. Then around 2 1/2 he was making grocery lists. He would ask how to spell something, I would say the letters and he would write them. At 4, he wanted to read. A friend gave me Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, we went through 50 lessons and he was reading on his own. This was totally normal, right? All kids are this easy!

The time came to enroll Aidan in school and he missed the cut off for Kindergarten, but he was reading and knew all his addition facts. So, we decided to keep him home. Homeschooling was easy!

I know now, that it was God's plan for me to home school my children. He gave me an advanced, easy to teach child so that I would have the confidence that I could do it. (I have had many confirmations of this fact in the last 3 years.) Then he gave me Lilly. She has been ornery since the beginning which makes it hard to know what she knows.

My favorite example was doing colors with her at 2 years old. I asked her to point to the red block with about 5 blocks in front of her. She moved her finger around and then stopped for a second over the red block, turned her head to look at me, and pointed to a different block without looking. She also refused to talk until she was 3. She COULD talk, she would say a word and then cover her mouth and resume pointing to what she wanted.

Fast forward to 4 years old. We had been singing our ABCs since birth, she can sing a lot of songs but she cannot sing her ABCs! Once I heard her count to 10, but we usually got "1 2 3 4 5 6 7-11." Yeah, I know, too many Icees! BUT she wants to learn to read. I can do this, I taught Aidan, no big deal! WRONG! We tried for a month with no progress. We dropped it for 6 months, kept looking at letters and reading great books together. We tried again, nothing but frustration for both of us.

At 5, I started reading Charlotte Mason's original homeschooling series. She lays out a beautiful method for teaching reading. We tried and we made some progress. She read me a book! Then she read a couple of Bob Books. Then we tried 100 Easy Lessons again, to learn some more phonics. It was like she hit a wall. So we stopped with all phonics lessons. We went back to the Bob Books and a more Charlotte Mason-type method; we are slowly, slowly learning to read.

Her ornery personality still causes some problems; yesterday she read half a book with no trouble, today she read out of the same book with the same words and she seemed to struggle A LOT. She was never looking at the book! She was just guessing words without even looking!

So what have I learned? I have learned to be flexible. I have learned to be patient. I have learned to listen to my kids. I have learned that what is right for one child is not always right for the other. And most importantly I have learned that what I am comfortable teaching is not always going to be the best method for my kids to learn by, and that is tough!

Lilly's Birthday and Spring Break!

Lilly turned 4 on February 22nd. She had a great time eating dinner with Mema and Papa...but she really loved opening her presents. As you can see, the pile of gifts was as tall as she was. She now has all of the Hello Kitty clothing any little girl needs!

I cannot believe how big she is getting. We measured both kids, in two months Lilly had grown 1.5 inches and Aidan had grown 2 inches!!








We went on our first vacation in a couple of years. This was however, our first truly relaxing vacation! We usually go somewhere that is all site-seeing or visiting friends and family. This year we went to the ocean with almost all of Jonathan's siblings. 12 adults and 17 kids may not sound relaxing to everyone, but it meant that our kids were completely entertained, and we all had a little help in the parenting department.

Aidan looking for sea shells at the jetty. This was the best place for finding cool shells!

These sea gulls follow the ferry from the mainland to Galveston Island. The kids were able to feed them off the back of the ferry. They ate out of our hands! It was lots of fun.

Father and son crabbing. We caught several, but only two big enough to keep.

The view from our back porch. See why this was so relaxing!

This Week

This week was the most productive week we have had in a while! I was able to really do a full schedule of school with Aidan AND do some work with Lilly!!

Aidan did math and grammar everyday, we moved onto a new spelling rule and word list, we studied a science chapter, and we covered 3 history chapters! Aidan was excited to work on his history lap book again, I have not had the energy for the extra work and mess.

Lilly also worked on her letter lapbook. We only have 7 letters to go! But the biggest news for Lilly is that she decided it was time to start reading. We started Phonics Pathways this week. She has learned the five short vowel sounds, and 2-3 consonants. I was worried about blending, but the second day we worked on it, she started to get it! Yeah, Lilly!









It has been beautiful, so we played outside some this week. Lilly practiced her gymnastics moves on the swingset rings.

Thursday, we had co-op and the kids had a visit from the fire department. They spoke to the kids about fire safety and brought several trucks with them.










We have had a pretty good week, topped off by a visit from my sister. The kids have missed their Aunt Nini and were so happy to see her! We are looking forward to another great week!

Big News!

A few days after my last post, on Thanksgiving day, we found out we were expecting baby number three!! He is due at the beginning of August.We have all been very excited, but I have also been VERY VERY sick! I was not this sick with my first two kids.

After we made it through the holidays and our musical in January, I spent the next 8 weeks in a recliner. Aidan sat with me to do math and grammar, but that is all I could handle. I sent him to do reading on his own every day, but we put history and science on hold. I still had to teach my dance classes, so I used all my energy to get dressed and then did a lot of teaching from my chair. I was miserable!

I am feeling much better now and we have slowly added things back into our day. We managed to get pretty far ahead in math and grammar, so now we are focusing more on catching up on history. Aidan says we can do history during his summer vacation because it is fun and not like school. He is so funny, but I do want to get caught up and finish it by the end of May. I really need the summer to get ready for baby brother.

Baby Boy Morris, due August 2012!

An update before the holidays start....

I knew it had been a while since I posted a blog, but I did not think it had been two months!! Lots has happened in the last two months: we had a birthday party for Aidan, we added Lenny the Guinea Pig to our family, we had TWO garage sales, a lemonade stand, Halloween, and a trip to the house I lived in for 20 years!

My mom called on Saturday afternoon to see if I wanted to stop by an open house on Sunday afternoon. The house I grew up in is for sale, we went and looked around. It was strange, but a lot of fun. The current owners did a lot of updating and remodeling, so the appearance of the house is completely different. They were nice and let us take a couple of pictures.

 Stephanie and I had many pictures taken in front of that fireplace. The bush on the right was different, but we took all of our back to school pictures in that spot!

 Jama, Christy, Stephanie and I spent HOURS on this staircase! Everytime Jama and Christy cam for a visit, this was our "airplane." We had some amazing adventures here. It looks much smaller than I remember!







The kids loved walking through the house (Lilly was mad that she could not play with the doll house in the little girls room). Aidan wants us to move there. It was a fun family Sunday adventure!

Here are a few pictures of the other adventures from the past two months:

Lilly's new best friend!

Getting to know Lenny!

Aidan was Dearth Vader and Lilly was a dog....in the exact same costume she wore last year (you just can't see it under her coat)! She had a perfectly good Ariel costume, but she wanted to be a doggie.

Garage sale #2...at our house.

Garage sale #1...at the studio.

Between what we sold and what we gave away....we cleared about 4 truckloads of stuff from the shed and garage!!

Add caption

 Aidan had his first lemonade stand. He sold 2 cups for 25 cents each and made two 25 cent tips....Lilly drank the rest of the lemonade!