The Other Children

On occasion, I hear other moms say "Oh, I could never homeschool. What would I do with my other children?" At one time, this was a concern of mine as well.  I mean, I can barely squeak out a few hours to do actual work (for money), and that's when my oldest is playing around the house and actually interacting with the little ones. For the life of me, I couldn't imagine trying to keep the little ones busy while I did school with my responsible, oldest child.  What could the other two get into during our school hours?  They get into plenty when I'm not preoccupied.

Turns out, I was worried for nothing.  The little ones are happy to be right in the middle of our lessons.  And if we need time away from the little ones, Baby G will contentedly sit in her crib listening to music (she can see our homeschool room from her crib).  Mr. T (aka Tornado Man, aka boy #2) is happy to sit at the table with us practicing his fine motor skills with a trace book. Or he'll paint a picture while standing at the easel.  Or he'll watch educational movies and documentaries in the media room.  Or, sometimes he sits and listens to our lessons too.  Regardless, he's just happy to have his own school project to do.

 I've discovered that learning is contagious.  My two little ones actually want to do school with us in the mornings.  Although I have no intention of putting a 15 mo old and a 3 yr old on a formal curriculum, they are pleased when I give them something to do.  I think they've noticed that big brother is accomplishing tasks and is getting positive praise from Mommy and Daddy for all his hard work.  Why wouldn't the other two kids want this as well?  Plus, school looks fun.  It's not this ambiguous place that my son leaves every afternoon.  They are a part of it--and it seems fun!

I can see why homeschooling does not work for everyone. Not everyone has a carefree, adventurous spirit when it comes to learning.  And if mommy doesn't love to learn, why would anyone else?  But if the only thing holding a mommy back is her other children, I'd tell her to go on a 2 week trial and see how things work.  In spite of my own fears, my other children are perfectly content, happy, and are not being deprived by my decision to homeschool at all.  It's amazing how some things are just meant to be.

To Play for Love

We've been putting it off for years.  Just the thought of having to sit in the bleachers enduring wind, rain, and the Texas heat makes my head hurt.  Because once this whole charade starts, it might not end for another 20 years or so.  And the idea of sacrificing 20 years of family life to a sport makes my stomach churn.  That said, I was prepared to go for it this year.  I was prepared to let my oldest son finally sign up for t-ball.

T-ball in Texas has become a ridiculous obsession for parents. Starting at 3 yrs old, little boys are treated like teenagers as they endure multiple nights of practices and games, try-outs and drafts, and all-star games and "world series."  It's both amusing and disgusting at the same time to watch parents turn America's favorite pastime into a career for their toddler.  Why in the world would any parent think their child has college or MLB potential when their child is only 4? 

It occurred to us that our desire to not burn out our son could be to his detriment at some point.  For example, we discovered that because of his birthday, this might be his last spring of eligibility for t-ball.  Thus by making him wait to play ball, we would be forcing him to skip that entire step of baseball.  Upon this discovery, Mr. Wonderful started searching for the least life-invasive little league around.  We agreed that Boy Wonder (who was hitting just fine without a tee at 2 or 3 yrs old) could finally sign up for baseball.  We marked the sign-up on our schedule and planned to commit our Saturdays during March and April to ballgames.

But then something happened. My son discovered a new sport.  Grandma and Grandpa gave him a tennis racket for Christmas and signed him up for tennis lessons at the rec center.  And he fell in love. It's mind-blowing that a 5 year old would be obsessed with such a grown-up-like sport, but Boy Wonder insists that he would rather play tennis than any other sport.  He has assured us that tennis is his game.  He was very adamant that he doesn't need to play baseball.  He informed us that if he needs to, he can always play that sport later!

And Hallelujah!  Our rec center has little kid tennis classes INSIDE the gym during the winter.  Not only that, but we found a coach who decided that both of our boys should get to learn the sport together.  (Who knew that our 3 yr old could volley so well?) I'm not saying that I have a world class doubles team in my house right now who will someday achieve a world ranking.  (I'm not that parent.)  But my boys are getting to enjoy playing a sport together.  We have found a sport that my son can play because he WANTS to.  Ah, "to play for love," such an appropriate definition out of the tennis history books. 

Even Baby G loves tennis lessons.  Today I even caught her placing balls on the face of the racket as if she were going to do drills with the boys.  Who knows, we might have a prodigy yet? 

I Wanted to Bathe in Purell

I can't believe that I haven't written a blog post since Valentine's Day!  My intentions were good in this regard, but somehow, I didn't think you'd want to hear what was on my mind last week.  Let me sum it up in a few words.  All I could think about last week was this:  "I want to bathe in Purell."

If you haven't already noticed, people tend to blog about what consumes their lives--unless they're totally fakey bloggers who want you to think they live gorgeous lives in their perfectly labeled and colorful DIY houses.  Anyway, if I had blogged last week you would have rolled your eyes.  It would have been like reading a blog post from a new mommy who just can't help blogging about her child's diapering and nursing habits.  It would have been one of those posts that would have left you going TMI (too much information!).

So to put it really simply, last week I was playing nurse in my own house.  A child started losing control of disgusting body functions on Monday evening, and on Friday night, said child and both siblings were still sick.  It was pure grossness.  I have no idea how many loads of laundry I washed or how many paper towels I used up last week, but I do know that I've had to buy new hand soap dispensers for my entire house because we used up so much soap.  Like I said, so gross.  And I'm serious that you should be glad that I didn't blog about it.

For all intents and purposes, last week was like our "lost week" for the year, because I don't remember much about it and I pretty much stayed within our 4 walls for the better part of the week. Thankfully the weather was awesome and we were able to air out the house all weekend with a pleasant indoor/outdoor living experience.  And, in spite of the aggressive virus raging in the house,  somehow Mr. Wonderful and I survived unscathed. The Lord did have mercy!

Poor Boy Wonder missed out on museum school and tennis last week, but amazingly, we didn't get behind in kindergarten!  Of course, I was able to adjust our lessons this week to make-up for the few phonics pages that didn't get done.  But, because we're doing school at Boy Wonder's pace (which is 2-10 weeks ahead of the recommended pace), I discovered that it's not a big deal to take a few sick days.  How cool is that?!

Anyway, I hope you all survive your last day of February unscathed.  And for your sake, I hope the nasty viral strain doesn't make it your way.  And sorry Grandma--the kids didn't mean to get you sick!

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.