Valentine Greetings

Nothing says Happy Valentine's Day like a beautiful sun-shiny Friday full of cards, chocolates, flowers, and stuffed animals.  Hope your Valentine's Day is wonderful!

Going Off the Curriculum Script

Usually mummies aren't in kindergarten curriculum.  But since this mommy decided to start out our school experience with world history (Jr. High level is totally manageable to a kindergartner!), we've managed to get ourselves into Ancient Egypt already.  Tuesday's history lesson turned out to be the story of Khufu (aka Cheops) who constructed The Great Pyramid. This lesson gave us a detailed account of how a mummy was preserved and buried.  Thankfully, when we told Grandma we were studying Egypt, she had the foresight to send us home with a picture book that beautifully illustrated the mummification process.  And then, because the cable geniuses knew I was teaching Egyptian history--the History Channel aired a 2 hour documentary on The Lost Pyramid on Tuesday. This pyramid was supposedly built by the son of the Khufu--even though the pyramid no longer exists.  How timely was that?

I wish I could take credit for endless of hours of preparation that resulted in literature, lessons, and video documentaries of Ancient Egyptian burial practices that coordinated together well, but I cannot.  It just kind of happened.  And my son loved it! (He also loved learning the song, Pharaoh, Pharoah.)  I'm starting to get comfortable with the idea of going off-script with our schoolwork.  Sure, we still work through Phonics and Mathematics and the dreaded Copybook lessons, but we're also experiencing science and history and enrichment lessons in unique ways. The resources for this off-scripting really seem to be endless.

In addition to the recommended subjects per the State of Texas and Memoria Press, and in addition to junior high world history, I've also added missionary studies to our kindergarten curriculum. Each week we're reading through missionary biographies.  We've started our reading with the Christian Heroes: Then and Now series.  Since there are more than 40 books in this series, and since we're only reading a chapter or two a week, I'm confident that this will keep us engaged for awhile.  We've started this series out-of-order with the Nate Saint book, and my son is 100% engaged and excited about reading the stories of the pilot, World War II soldier, and missionary.  Plus, I love reading to my kids about how the missionaries trusted in God and could see his handiwork in their lives.

Originally, the idea of going off-script with schoolwork was a little intimidating.  I mean, how do I know if I'm going to miss something?  What happens if the subject matter ends up being too hard? Here's my theory: if my son is ready to study a subject, we should do it.  Then, when this subject shows up again in the recommended scope and sequence, we can re-learn or refresh ourselves on the subject matter.  Thus, we won't miss out on anything critical, but we will be able to accommodate the interests of our kids and will be able to capitalize on this interest while it's there. Plus, teaching what I like makes mommy happy.  And a happy mommy is always good!

A Happy Phenomenon

 

If you ever want to be surrounded by happy women, go hang out with homeschool mommies.  It's the strangest thing, but the other homeschool mommies I meet absolutely love what they do.  Sure, they're probably exhausted from being around children all the time.  But the moms I've met genuinely love homeschooling.  (I'm sure there are some unhappy women who are being forced to home educate, but I haven't encountered any in my little sphere of existence yet.)

I honestly thought the "we love homeschooling" comments that I would receive from other mommies was a ploy to get other people to suffer right alongside them.  Don't they say that misery loves company?  I always thought that these comments were the same as the comments I used to get from people who live in Houston who claimed that Houston is the greatest place ever--it might be great if you've never lived anywhere else!  But no.  I'm finding that the enthusiasm and joy is actually real.  There's something infectious and fun about being a homeschool mommy.

I wish I could tell you why people love keeping their children home and managing their educational experiences.  The entire process seems like such a burdensome and overwhelming experience.  You would think that mommies would feel trapped by the constant responsibilities attached to homeschooling.  It seems so daunting to have to handle every aspect of a child's existence.  And yet even though mommies often feel insecure, not qualified enough, and are just flat-out exhausted with life, it seems that many homeschool mommies wouldn't change their chosen occupation if they had the chance! 

Is it that only happy mommies pursue homeschooling?  Or is it that homeschooling makes mommies happy?  Or is it that it's just completely awesome to go to work in your pajamas?  Who knows? Homeschooling sure comes with its share of headaches and challenges, but it also seems to make many mommies happy.

The Smelly Science Lesson

Week 3 of kindergarten is almost done! All we have left for this week are tennis lessons and some math pages. I can't believe that school is going so smoothly.  For months I fretted about how homeschooling was going to work.  But somehow, the school part of life seems to have just worked out.  I think if we approach everything as a learning opportunity (some would call this living an educational lifestyle), we can have quite a lot of fun.  That's what happened this week. 

Somehow, I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to top today's science lesson.  But come on!  When you see a news headline that reads: "Cow Farts Cause German Barn to Explode" you just have to go with it! And thank you Discovery Channel News people for making a video that provides a fascinating and entertaining explanation of how cow flatulence can cause an explosion.  My 5 year old was almost in tears from laughing so hard at this video:

Generally, I try to avoid body function humor.  I strongly discourage body function sound imitation.  And I frequently censor brotherly discussions concerning said functions.  Sadly, I'm finding this is harder and harder to do with the male wing of my house.  Plus, Daddy and Grandpa are no help on this subject either!  So, when I decided that we should learn about Cow farts today, Mommy really did something bold.  For just one afternoon, I joined "the dark side" and giggled with my son.

If you need a laugh as you head into the weekend, be sure to check out the news story posted above. This surely isn't a conventional science lesson.  And you won't find it in the state-approved textbooks.  But I think it does go to show that it might just be true that homeschoolers do have more fun!

Chapter Books

 

This afternoon I finished reading I Survived the Japanese Tsunamis, 2011 to my boys.  I had no intention of reading the entire book in two days, but once we got rolling, there really weren't too many places to stop.  Maybe because the book was intended for audiences that are a little more mature than 3 and 5 years old.  I'm thinking that the scary and realistic scenarios might have been intended for late elementary or middle school students.  But after Boy Wonder begged me to teach him about tsunamis and earthquakes last week, I knew that this was a must-read. It was intense, but worth the time spent reading.

We've made it through two weeks of homeschooling and I'm realizing that I've been missing out on so much by not reading to my boys.  It's not that I didn't read to my boys, but I never tried reading lengthy chapter books with actual plots and developed characters.  In the past, getting them both to settle down to listen to the stories has always been an ordeal.  So I just figured that neither child was interested in a book that lacked illustrations.  Boy was I wrong!

Even though the beginning of our reading sessions can be a little chaotic (think 3 yr old pinching big brother while little sister is crying), after a few minutes, everyone seems to settle down and become attentive to our story.  They even got so involved in our book yesterday that the boys got upset when I stopped reading halfway through the book.  (There may or may not have been tears.)  They actually enjoyed it and didn't want me to stop. 

Boy does this open a new door of opportunity!  The possibilities are endless as to what we can read and explore in literature together.  We certainly won't be skipping out on the dozens of children's books that I've collected, but we'll definitely be able to dive deeper into history and fantasy worlds as we enter the realm of chapter books.

Morning Praise

from www.graphics18.com

My life has gotten pretty hectic.  I've been having flashbacks to January 2011--right before I started this blog.  I was over-committed, over-worked, overwhelmed, and I just walked away from as much as possible and spent the next six months on my knees.  Fast forward to today, and I'm certainly busy again.  But this time, I have absolute confidence that the tasks given me are the tasks that God wants me to accomplish.  Thus, I know that He will help me handle my schedule.  In fact yesterday, someone from church promised to pray that I would specifically be productive in my job, and miraculously I was able to carve out 6+ hours to work at my desk--in addition to homeschooling my 5 yr old, working in the church nursery last night, and making dinner for my family.  Plus, I was in bed before midnight and actually slept all night!  Praise Jesus!

During these crazy days and weeks, it's nice to be able to start my days with more than coffee.  Lately, I've subscribed to the free Days of Praise newsletter/e-magazine from the Institute for Creation Research.  The daily devotionals written by Dr. Henry Morris have been so refreshing.  Ironically, he formats these devotionals in the same way that I used to format my blog entries.  First, a Bible verse, and then the text.  Unlike a number of other daily e-mail devotionals that I've gotten over the years, I actually enjoy and look forward to opening Days of Praise.  Not only do the devotionals focus on the awesomeness of God every day, but they're also a little "deeper" than the average e-devotional.  The late Dr. Morris wasn't afraid to take a hard stand on issues like Creation or the Old Testament or the inerrancy of Scripture (and no, he does not talk about Creation every day!).

As a coffee dependent adult who often stays up late, long morning Bible studies tend to put me to sleep.  I mean, I would have never studied for a college class in the morning, so I don't see why I should attempt an in-depth Bible study early in the morning either.  For me, study time must take place after I'm fully awake during the day or in the evening when I sit down with my decaf coffee and am completely focused.   That said, I like having some Bible time in the morning, and Days of Praise has been a wonderful way to give me something to meditate on all day long!

To subscribe to the Institute of Creation Research's daily Days of Praise (and other publications)  go to: Institute of Creation Research.

Note: Dr. Henry Morris past away in 2006.  His devotionals can be purchased as books on Amazon, but getting the daily blog posts with his writings is way more fun.

There's No Crying in Homeschool

Week 2 started out swimmingly--tears and all!  Although Monday was a holiday for most school children, we opted to continue with our classes since Daddy was home to participate.  It was a great idea until we all slept in.  I think classes officially started a little before noon, and halfway through his to-do list, my son was demanding food.  So when all was said and done, after Mommy explained to Daddy what needed to get done, and after Daddy taught Boy Wonder his lessons and forced him to finish his homework, we were well into the middle of the afternoon.  It was a long day.

Then, to make matters worse, Mommy made the mistake of visiting the classroom a few times.  It was during those visits when I discovered that Boy Wonder was hurrying through his numbers and copy/sketch activities.  Granted, the child hates the redundancy of the practice pages.  But today, when I called him out on sloppy "3's" he told me I was being mean and picking on him.  (As if I have nothing better to do?!)  Then he followed up this dramatic scene with tears.  Part of me believes that they might have been real, but I still think the tears were targeted at Daddy with the hope that he would tell Mommy to go away.  Didn't work.

So then we had to have a long family conversation about how important it is to do our work well the first time.  Every chance I get, I reiterate that he must continue to practice until he masters his work.  We want excellence in all we do.  Failure to produce excellent numbers means that he gets to continue to write numbers until the powers that be are satisfied.  And that would be me!

Sure enough, after a logical and encouraging pep talk, the "3's" turned from alien-like blobs to legible numbers.  Something apparently clicked. 

Thank goodness we got that behind us.  Hopefully the tears are out of the way for the week.  Generally, I'm not a sucker for tears.  Sympathy is earned when it is deserved.  Tears associated with eye-rolling do not fall into the deserving-of -sympathy category.  (I am convinced that Dante meant to write about a special level of hell for eye-rollers, but just forgot. I mean, eye-rolling is the rudest and most disrespectful act!)  I'm hoping that we've nipped the tears and manipulation in the bud for now.  But if it persists, I must find a way to teach Boy Wonder that there is no crying in homeschooling.

Getting to Know All About You

 

Week 1 of homeschooling is finished!  I learned so much this week about my son--his strengths, his weaknesses, and his familial tendencies.

This week I learned that Boy Wonder is a perfectionist.  If he can't do something perfectly, he doesn't want to do it at all.  I've always considered myself to be a perfectionist, but  I'm the kind of person who will practice until I get something perfect.  But not Boy Wonder--he's like his daddy.  Doing things well comes naturally to him and when they don't, he goes into avoidance mode.  This makes handwriting/copybook time rather stressful for both mommy and child.  I explained to him that refusal to "practice" his letters would result in more work.  I told him that my curriculum came with pages for slower kids who don't get concepts as quickly as he does.  Failure to do the assignments I give will result in getting extra slow-kid pages.  Okay, I know this sounds horrible, but appealing to his ego certainly worked!

I also learned that while neat handwriting skills are taking longer to achieve, I seriously underestimated Boy Wonder's ability to do math.  For a few months now, we've been practicing math skills while watching ballgames on TV.  Boy Wonder has this amazing gift of being able to add and subtract multiple digit numbers in his head in order to calculate point differentials during ballgames.  Silly me didn't realize that this gift was legitimate, and that first grade math would be well below my not-yet-kindergartner's ability.  (Seriously?)  Needless to say, when we got to day two of studying the number "0" he was completely bored.  By Wednesday, I picked up our pace in our math book and my son has opted to get ahead by doing math on the weekends as well.  His choice.  And how is this a bad plan?

I also accidentally discovered that my son not only listens to what I teach, but he comprehends it as well.  One afternoon he decided he wanted to play tsunamis with his brother.  In order to do that, he had to successfully teach my 3 year old what he had learned about tsunamis.  It was amazing how accurate and simple his explanation of a tsunamis was!  On another day, my boys decided to act out their history lesson together (my 3 year old had been listening too).  In chapter 1 of The Story of the World, volume 1, the main character was living as a nomad and searching for food.  She found a lizard, which her mother was going to cook into a stew for dinner.  Sure enough, that afternoon, my little Texans found a gecko in our backyard that they corned and attempted to capture for dinner.  (I'm pretty sure he lost a tail in the debacle.)  And no, I did not make lizard stew for dinner.

This week has been loads of fun.  I'm thinking about allowing Mr. Wonderful to substitute teach on his day off next Monday just so that he can appreciate the experience as well.  I had no idea that homeschooling would be such an interesting way to get to know my children better.  In the process, I'm finding that I'm getting to know myself better as well.

Footnote: The Story of the World series is pretty great.  It was designed for older elementary and Jr. High students, but it is so well written that my 5 year old is hooked!  You can order the audio version or the books online at Amazon.

My New Obsession is a Blessing

Find more at www.thehairbowcompany.com

Somehow, I think I finally nipped my obsession with headbands and hair bows in the bud.  Of course, my daughter MUST still wear her adorable hair accessories.  Hence my motto, "No bow, no go."  But  my obsession with searching for the perfect bow has finally been replaced by a new obsession. 

They say that certain personalities get on these "kicks" where the person dives head first into something new until they find something else to attract their attention.  I think I have those tendencies.  I seem to get a little carried away with things at first, and in time realize that I can take a chill pill and still perform well without being obsessive compulsive.  I'm the perfect person to bring on if you want some energy infused into a project.  But be prepared, because I don't do things 50%.  Thus, the fact that Baby G was probably the best dressed baby of 2013.   She's still well-dressed, but over the last 12+ months I've figured out how to keep her well-dressed without draining my budget.  It just took me a 18 months and a lot of money to get to this point.  Thank goodness Mr. Wonderful understands my psychological issues.

These days I seem to have moved on from hair bows to teacher things.  I've transformed from crazy girl-mom to enthusiastic teacher.  Although I never wanted to be a teacher, somewhere in my DNA, my mother must have passed on her teacher tendencies to me.  And now instead of drooling over $50 headbands, I get goose bumps from National Geographic readers and laminators.  Yes, I bought a laminator!  (Surely it will come in handy at some point, right?)  I've been told that I will have completely lost my sanity when I find myself frequenting Teacher's Tools.  I haven't been there yet, but at the rate I'm going it won't be long. 

All I can say is that God is good in making me this way.  When we first decided to homeschool I wasn't sure I was ready to join the world of denim-jumper-wearing mothers who believe that a woman's culinary skills are more critical than her choice of make-up.  At the time, I felt so disconnected with this new community!  All I could do at the time was pray that God would open my heart to this new adventure and get me excited about it.  And He did. 

Not long ago I was completely overwhelmed by the idea of teaching handwriting and phonics.  Yet now, I get all giddy when I head upstairs to my classroom in the mornings.  Only God could do that. 

Don't Homeschool in a Bubble

"You can't homeschool in a bubble."  I've heard that phrase quite a lot.  Typically, this is what people say when they are trying to get you to join a homeschool support group or a co-op.  They say that you do yourself a disservice (and unknowingly do your child a disservice) if you don't surround yourself with other homeschoolers. 

While I agree that you shouldn't homeschool in a bubble, I disagree with the concept that you must surround yourself with other homeschoolers.  Too often, when homeschoolers do this, they stay in a bubble.  There's just more people in their bubble. 

Okay, so how do you homeschool without getting stuck in the homeschooler bubble (this is the bubble that encompasses not only one family, but the like-minded and homeschool exclusive families as well.)?  Obviously, I don't have a lot of experience with homeschooling and probably can't provide the most educated answer to this question.  But the one thing I do know is that every homeschool mom needs an expert to go to--a teacher with real classroom experience who can guide them through the teaching process.  They need someone who can kick them in the pants when they start turning into homeschool zombies (yes, we all know these people), and someone who can pull them out of a hole when the lesson plans aren't working.  They need someone who can offer creative solutions when the going gets tough or the lessons get boring.

I have been blessed with two relatives who are elementary teachers.  For years, my mom taught in Christian schools, and for the past 5 years, my sister-in-law has been teaching in public schools.  Both teachers have been excellent about answering my questions, looking over curriculum, offering advice on how to plan and evaluate my son's progress, and recommending books or tools that have worked in their own classrooms.  Having real-world experience for me to rely on has been invaluable.  Personally, I prefer having these teachers guide me (and provide constant reassurance) as a teacher rather than relying on other parents to teach my kids in a co-op.  I am aware of my deficiencies, and I love being able learn from "experts" in the educational field. 

Other homeschool parents are a great source of information too.  But I'm slightly tortured by the idea of listening to other parents share their ignorance about education with each other.  Maybe some of the people are super great and know what they're talking about.  And maybe some are not.  How do you sort through the world of homeschoolers to get unbiased information?  Maybe finding someone outside the bubble really is the solution-- someone who doesn't have a stake in the game; someone who can objectively tell you the differences in what various curricula offer; someone who can tell you what they've seen as opposed to what they are doing.

I guess I'm afraid of jumping into a bubble and getting sucked in.  I don't want to turn into a homeschool zombie mom.  And I don't want to drink the juice and lose my creative mojo.  Maybe in time I'll be mature enough to join a group and discern smart from stupid.  But for now, I'm going to have to rely on my "outside sources" to keep me grounded and outside of the bubble.