What a difference a day makes

Oh brother.  It's 3PM and my daughter is STILL NOT DONE.  I have been at this table since 10AM this morning.  Obviously things have not gone according to schedule or even remotely close to how the day went yesterday.  The kids have been testing me ALL DAY LONG.  I figure if I stay tough today, we may have a chance at a smooth rest of the week.  I can only hope.  So, today we did get through all our studies, but not without lots of interruptions, goofing around, complaining, whining, several time outs, some arguing and a temper tantrum... Where is Santa with the pear tree when you need him?

Our first day of school!

What a wonderful start to our HSing year! We started on time, there was no whining or complaining, and the kids actually even enjoyed our first day! The teacher was quite pleased as well.  So - what did we do?
After the kids finished their morning routine and breakfast, and after they tended to the animals (while I cleared the table), we all took our seats in the kitchen classroom.  The funny thing is that the kids happened to remember that last year's teacher had a very strange name (I forgot all about it).  Mrs. Kronable...  Yep, that's me!  They insisted that I introduce myself before beginning and so I did.  I introduced the schedule of the week and month to the kids and they seemed rather pleased.  It looks a bit like this -
M-F  Journal
M-TH  Math
MWF  Word of the Week (aka character study)
TTH   Poetry Memorization
M-TH Spelling
M-TH Writing
M-F  Music lesson and practice (The kids will be learning the recorder)
M-F     1 hour of daily quiet/reading time

Our Fridays aren't as academic

Journal and Math are still required, but then the remainder of class time will be spent on Life Skills.  We will be starting with cooking lessons.  The kids already have a long list of things they are ready to prepare.  Mainly cake, cookies, candy and chocolate.  They may be disappointed to learn that they will be learning more than just baking, but I won't tell them just yet.

Something I am doing different this year is incorporating one week per month of concentrated Art, History, or Science studies.  I had a difficult time before fitting adequate time in for these on a daily basis, so rather than have it all spread out, we will take a solid week to work on a unit study.  The kids      
thought this was a great idea.  I'm liking the idea too.  It just seems to make sense.

SO - After explaining the schedule and the things that will be expected of the kids, the kids started with their first journal entry.  They were reminded to use neat handwriting, and were discouraged from writing the same entry over and over again for each day (something my DD did at daycare Public school).  (I had to laugh at myself over this issue.  At the end of PS, my daughter brought home her neatly bound and beautifully decorated journal from first grade.  It was a work of art which I eagerly looked forward to reading.  In anticipation of finding profound words of wisdom that only a seven year old could fathom, and glorious insights into the mind of my little princess, I opened her journal and began to read.  I turned the pages with mixed emotions.  I was glad to find that she really really likes our dog and our two cats.  But an entire journal dedicated to the subject was a bit disappointing much.  Out of approximately 25 or so entries, all but two introduced our dog and cats... over and over again... sigh.  So much for my profound reading experience.)

Next, we moved into some basic math review.  I figured I better make sure they remembered place values, and how to add, subtract, carry and borrow before starting with multiplication.  Thankfully they did remember (dd needed a little reminder but was quick to pick it up again).  We practiced a few questions on the white boards and then moved ahead with some basic worksheet practice.  It was quick and easy.  And a great confidence and enthusiasm builder.  ;)

We took a short break and returned to do some penmanship practice.  My son has always had messy writing and any bit of dedicated practice is of great benefit.  We didn't get into any language art instruction today mainly because I still need to figure out what to review and where to begin anew.  Tomorrow is another day, and I have another few hours to dig into our spelling lessons and figure out a starting point.  Anyyyywayyyy, once they finished their penmanship, they were free to have lunch and recess, followed by Quite/Reading time.  This seemed the perfect way to end our first day back to homeschool.  And so it was.

My son tonight told me he was happy to begin learning again and that the first day back to HS was "fun".  It makes my heart smile.

Gearing up for a fabulous Home School year!

I must admit that I am very excited to begin HSing again.  After sending the kids to 6 months of Daycare public school, and seeing the regression dismal progress they made, there is no doubt in my mind that homeschooling is what we need to continue with.  We have taken the entire summer off for decompressing and relaxing, which was badly needed for all of us, so it really amazed me when my DD started asking to begin school again.  It made my day and brought a smile to my face.  DS has also expressed his joy of returning home for our lessons.  We are at peace with our decision to come home.
So what are we doing this year?  We will basically be starting again where we were last year....  I plan on backing up a bit from where we left off and going through a solid review to bring us back up to speed.  I plan on beginning with MathUSee and All About Spelling.  I found some workbooks for the writing process (can't remember the title at the moment), so will be integrating those after a few weeks of warming up again.  We will be incorporating more read aloud time in the Charlotte Mason style as well, and will have one day a week for life skills and character study.  After the holidays I will make adjustments as needed and hopefully keep our learning sessions fresh and interesting.
I feel like I already had our school planned out since last year (but never got it off the ground), so my planning for this year has been easy-peasy.  YAY!  Now with some calmer and clearer weather in our household, we can actually apply the plan and see the fruition of our efforts.  I am smiling and sighing with great joy and relief.
New beginnings are often the Best beginnings!

Family time

What a beautiful day today! The kids and I took our first official bike ride of the year complete with a stop at the playground. Then we worked a bit in the yard followed by violin practice (without moaning) and a yummy dinner that my daughter helped prepare. It feels so good to see the smiles on my kids faces. I am at peace today.


I am so excited about the end of PS and going back to HSing!  There's no place like home.

Guilty or Good?

It's amazing how quickly things can change, right beneath our noses.  And it's also amazing how long the process of change can wreak havoc on our day to day lives.

I write this today with the (in my mind shameful) admission that in January I had to put the kids in PS.  Oh DREAD!   But in reality it was likely the best thing to do at the time.  My marriage and life in our household had deteriorated to such a point that I was physically, mentally and emotionally unable to function in any real capacity.  It took just about every ounce of energy I had to get out of bed and deal with the basics of meal prep and general household maintenance.  Yes, HSing was still taking place, but honestly, it was sporadic and always came with a dark cloud looming nearby.  Patience was no longer in my vocabulary, nor did I have the energy to combat the ever increasing incidences of student resistance.  Needless to say our HS schedule, and life in general for all of us, had been negatively affected by the incessant arguing between myself and my husband.  TOTAL BURNOUT had moved in and taken over our household.  It pains me to even think how dismal my world seemed at the time.

Fast forward 4 months.  Had it been so long???!  The kids have adjusted to PS and for a short while even enjoyed it.  My daughter has made progress in spelling, however has lost ground in math.  My son however has made no real progress in any subject that I can identify, but thankfully has not appeared to lose ground in any subject either.  Yet in the past several months, I have found greater clarity in WHY I felt so strongly about homeschooling in the first place.  I have reconnected with my values and my self.  I feel like I can stand on solid ground now, and not be shaken to the core by the negative energy that is unfortunately a very real part of life.  I have collected myself and I am ready to begin again.  This time with a new set of priorities, a clearer vision of how to meet them, and perhaps a thicker skin as well.  I couldn't have found this clarity had I continued to "go through the motions".  Yes, I still think of PS in negative terms, but at the same time realize that it was better than sitting at home with a miserable mom.  Sometimes we need to bite our tongue and do something we don't want to - in order to save the things most important to us.

The reason I write all this is that I know for certain there are other HSers out there experiencing tough times.  If I can offer just one bit of hope to someone out there suffering the effects of burnout, I am happy.  I have learned from experience that we don't have to feel guilty about sending our kids to PS for a while.  It might be the best favor you do for your kids and yourself...

Ready to start anew!  Look out HS - here we come!

School is in session

It's the end of August already... The new 2009/10 school year officially started last week for the public schools and for us as well. We got off to a rough start with some interruptions on Monday, but we managed to salvage the week by beginning on Tuesday instead. Overall, our first week went very well! The kids willingly, even eagerly, jumped into their studies without any resistance or complaining. The time spent last month in planning our lessons has been worth the effort, affording us a clear direction for this year and an easier start. Also, I think that our new approach to discipline and communication has helped make an enormous difference in all of our attitudes and behaviours and is a definite contributor to our positive start for school. My discovery came at a class at the UHEA conference this past June called "Teaching Self Government". I have been slowly implementing the techniques I have learned over the summer and it really is working! You can find out more about it here - http://teachingselfgovernment.com/. I am very thankful to have found these parenting techniques. My sanity has been spared! :)
Regardless, we are all grateful to get back on a normal, and less hurried schedule. Fall is already in the air and we are seeing the first few trees displaying their autumn colors. The night air is bringing in an early chill, and we all seem to be getting ready to hunker down for another long winter. The garden has not withstood the cold snaps that have been moving through, with our corn, cucumber, and pumpkin plants all falling victim to a summer cut short. The cold weather crops are fairing much better, but I suspect they will require an early harvest. Such is life in the mountains... Sigh...

MidSummer already! Getting ready for a new HS year...

Here we are, enjoying the fantastic mountain summer at last. It's weather like this that makes mountain living worthwhile. Summer got off to a slow start with most of June being plummeted with LOTS of rain, but alas summer finally arrived. The garden is now beginning to grow, and I am beginning to see that cold weather crops are necessary for a successful harvest up here since the growing season is quite short. We do however have a very nice bunch of potted tomato plants growing on our sunniest deck. I'll move them indoors in Fall, so we will actually get a pretty good tomato harvest this year. Out in the garden we have two variations of kohlrabi, beets, carrots, pumpkin, snap peas, asparagus, and we did have some cucumbers, but something ate them. Oh well. In pots we have one cabbage plant, potatoes, chard, spinach (which mostly drowned in June), radishes, and the previously mentioned tomatoes. The kids loved turning the soil, planting the seeds, and are thrilled to see how things are starting to grow. The radishes are mostly harvested already which gave the kids a thrill. Our lettuce seeds did not sprout, but I knew they were old. We'll try again with some fresh seeds. The flowers and weeds are growing like mad from the rain, but luckily everything is growing where it is supposed/allowed to.

We are still HSing through summer, but on a lighter schedule. The kids just finished the Beta level in Math U see (today), and we are continuing with AAS level two on a regular basis. I would like to finish our Body Systems study by mid August, and then for the new school year, we will be digging into Writing, Astronomy, Home/Life Skills and Character studies. So, in a nutshell here's what is planned for 2009-10 school year starting end of August/early September:

Math U See - Gamma
All About Spelling
Writing Strands
Apologia Astronomy
Character First
Reading
Sewing/spinning/kitchen and cooking skills, etc...

When we finish with Astronomy in/near March, we will switch to social studies and geography, with a possible unit using the Little House series. I think our Life Skills will tie in very nicely with Colonial and Pioneer Times, so that will be our focus when the time comes.

The most important thing I have learned this past school year is to have faith in the curriculum choices I have made, and to not overwhelm myself with too many different sources of information. I was going nuts with too much information, and ended up crippling myself. We are keeping it simple this year, and not worrying about what the school or anyone else is doing. I think we will all be much happier.

In the mean time, I have created an outlet for my photography. My new website is http://www.ambientnature.com/. Please take a peek and let me know what you think.

Until next time -