My top 5 things I've learned

#5 - There are a lot more choices than just public school when it comes to education .

Maybe I should have realized it sooner but I really just learned in the last two years that public school is not the only choice and that in fact public schools were started so that the poor could have a chance to be educated too, not neccessarily ment for everyone. And I love this education that we found.

#4 - Moms need socialization just as much as kids.

Infact, I have to say that one of the reasons I love to homeschool so much is because of the friends I have made, and because I get to get out and be with them on a pretty regular basis.

#3 - I am crazy!

Many people have told me that I must be patient or organized or motivated ect., and while I don't think any of this is true I do think I am crazy. This is not easy and if I don't fit any of the compliments I must be crazy.

#2 - I like being crazy!!

I do love what I do. Not all the time but in the long term perspective I love that we are willing to do this.

#1 - I love to have my kids around!

I understand many women love to send their kids away and have a break and while I do like to have a break every now and then I more prefer to have them with me. All the cute things they do and say. All their unconditional love. All their help. Their sweet voices and hugs. Non-stop hugs at that. Next to all these reasons, we get to choose what time to get up, how long we want to do school, where we want to do school, and when and if we want to go outside in the cold. I can't seem to adjust to the thought that it is nice to have them gone 7+ hours a day 5 days a week. That seems like a bit much. I guess you could call me selfish.

"A Mile Wide and a Mile Deep"

There is a saying that the curriculum of k12 is "a mile wide and a mile deep." I would have to say that that makes total sense to me.

In literature Lulu has been reading stories from the American Revolution (both sides of the story) to the Civil War to stories of immigrants and pioneers. She has even read stories about Abraham Lincoln and the Gold Rush and of course classical stories.

In history we have been learning about ancient Rome with stories about Cincinnatus, Julius Caesar, and Augustus Caesar. We even studied the 'Pax Romana' (Roman Peace) and the birth of Jesus Christ during this time (the beginning of Christianity). Today's history lesson is about the Good Samaritan. Next we will be learning about Pompeii. In fact the kids are very excited about these and asking me to do them right now.

In science we have begun simple physics and simple machines. Of course these are age appropriate lessons and it is my theory that every year they will get a little more in depth in subject matters like these. These simple lessons in the primary grades will help them grasp the harder concepts in the older grades.

In art we have been studying Henri Rousseau, and Leonardo da Vinci. We have been practicing different colors and lines with patterns. We love studying different art works and enjoy making them. Even the little girls like to get in on this action.

This curriculum really is 'a mile wide and a mile deep.' I love all that we are learning. I am excited that my kids are being subjected to such a great vastness of knowledge. I love being able to witness them learning. Words cannot explain how much it means to me to watch the light bulbs click on when they learn something new.

Socializing

This week to be social we went to game night on Wednesday where the kids got to just play with their friends and some neat toys. Thanks to another Mom who is doing this school for bringing them. We also went to Gym day on Friday and the kids played kick-ball. All the children that came were split up into age groups the two older groups worked on their presidential fitness and played volley-ball. The Kindergartners through second graders played kick-ball and the Preschoolers/toddlers played duck duck goose, had stories under a fun little tent, made turkeys out of paper plates, and tossed plastic bags in the air. They all had a great time. I am very grateful for all the time these volunteer moms give. My kids love going.

How fun it is for me to be able to watch them socialize. My kids are growing and learning and I get to enjoy every minute of it with them. How thankful I am!!!

P.S. I forget my camera when we go and do these things but I promise someday I will remember. (Last time we went to Gym Day they had a ballroom teacher come in and teach the kids. It was great to watch.)

We love art!

This week has been very busy and very full. We are trying to catch back up to where we would be if we had not gone to public school.

Any how - this week in art we have been learning more about lines, shapes, and colors in art. We studied primary and secondary colors. We looked at art works like 'Two Cats' by Franz Marc and 'The Water Hole' by N. C. Wyeth, and many more.

The kids learned a little about the life of Franz Marc and we studied his painting 'Two Cats'. Then the kids made their own painting from primary colors (red, yellow, and blue). That was the colors of paint I gave them then they made their own secondary colors (orange, purple, and green).





















Lulu painted 'Cat in a Pumpkin' and Buster painted 'Buffalo Drinking'. They named their painting themselves. I am excited about what comes from their most recent art work. It is a multiple set process and today they will do their second step in the process.

We are excited about our art because our plan is to make our home into an art museum and send out invites for people to come join us to look at our art. Of course with refreshments!

We're back!

Sorry for the lack of posts. It is about to get lots better. Why have we been gone? We decided to put our kids into regular old public school. You know, the brick and mortar school. While the public school did have its good points we felt disappointed for the most part. The kids missed k12 and I missed k12.

We have been back for a week and have been loving it. Some things cannot be mocked till you try it. I understand it is not for everyone but it is for us.

Transforming a bedroom into a SCHOOLROOM

We wanted to make a school room this year. Last year we did not use one and I thought it might work better if we had a place to belong. It also helped us to have a place for all our school stuff. "A place for everything and everything in its place!" We had the book shelf and we received the blue desks from an Uncle and Aunt. I love hand-me-downs! My brother also gave us the big black desk. Thanks so very much for your help and support. (If your thinking that we are related to home schoolers, I'd likes to say right now we are not. We have no close family that home schools.)
As we began to transform Buster's room into the schoolroom we had to work on finishing a bedroom downstairs in our basement for Buster to go to. My husband worked very hard and did a great job framing it in and getting it all wired. Now all we have to do is sheet rock and carpet. That is the job for this weekend.

The boxes are here

Our boxes came yesterday and it felt just like Christmas morning. We were soooo excited. It was so much fun to open the boxes and see what was in them. Sweetie kept on screaming with excitement and saying, "Open this one, and open this one." Lulu's favorite part was opening her rock sample box. She loves rocks and since we opened the boxes 24 hours ago she has asked me at least 4 times if we can start school yet. I also loved how the boxes were labeled on the outside, "What's inside?" Buster was away at Grandma's when they came, so we just opened his boxes for him and showed him what he got oncde he was home. The boxes do come labeled with the child's name. I also like that.

The Children

I thought I would introduce you to the children that this blog will be about. Under code names there is...



Lulu

















Buster



















Sweetie



















Yum-Yum

The curriculum

The boxes are on their way. They should be arriving this Wednesday and Thursday. I check every day to see where they are at. I get really excited.

Since they are on their way it is time to get serious about how I am going to organize them. This week will be a week of organizing and finding a home for everything.

While the curriculum is for my two older children I do not have anything for the younger two. Well I do have some things I have collected over the years having worked in two daycare settings and also having a love for teaches my children. I do love gaining as much knowledge as I can when it comes to this subject so I have been to the library and blog stocking. I am loving what I am finding. I plan on putting together my own pre-school activities. I'm excited.

School Thoughts in July

School for us does not officially start till August 31st, but honestly I think about it everyday. My most current thoughts are on shipping back the materials from last year and watching and eagerly waiting for the new materials for this next year. Of course when this happens I also start to ponder my organization. Where am I going to put all the items when they come? I am excited to start setting up our school room. Last year we never had a school room and this year we have decided to make one on our main floor which means we will have to move our son downstairs. He is very excited about that.
Another thought I have in July comes from a question that was poised to me by a friend. She asked, "Do you continue to do things through out the summer?" To this I would have to say yes with a little hesitation. You see I do worry about knowledge loss from not having anything all summer. (I did see a study that was done on the amount of knowledge lost. It does happen.) At the same time I want my kids to be able to enjoy their summer without a lot of stress or strain. Therefore the way I decided to go about this was to make learning very enjoyable. For example, we went to our local zoo today and we had to find an animal of every color while we were there, and there was a giant map of the continents and so we did a quick review of what continents are where. At home I made a scavenger hunt for numbers. They had to find items such as the spoons and count and write down how many. I also purchased those worksheet books of superheros and princesses and they like to read to me everyday. It is their alone time with me. I try not to make things of this nature too much of a chore. I like to have fun with it.
One last thought in July is that I am excited to start again. I am excited to see what the curriculum has in store for us next year.

The beginning

We often receive questions about our choice to home school and the most common two questions are why and how. To answer how we do it I'd have to say on our knees but besides that I would like to share our how's as we go through them. One big reason I started this blog was to share our 'hows' and also for myself to have a journal/scrapbook of our journey. This way I might be able to get better at what I love to do, that is teach my children. I plan to record things that work for us as well as some things that don't.
As for the why, I would like to try and answer that now. We heard of this online school system before our oldest started kindergarten and we signed up as we were very excited about it. I don't know of anyone who is that excited about sending their child to kindergarten for the first time and I believe I signed up mostly out of fear of sending my oldest to kindergarten. Well,when it came time for school to start I chickened out pulled my daughter out of the online academy and put her in a B&M (brick and mortar) school. Mostly I was worried if I could really handle teaching my child while I had 3 other children at home ages 4,2, and 1. Lulu finished the whole year with its ups and downs. When it came time for her to start first grade and Bubby to start kindergarten I was thinking more and more about this opportunity to teach my children at home. I had a close neighbor who was doing it quite successfully and I liked all that I heard about it. After pondering and praying about it we decided it was something we wanted to try and if it didn't work out we could just slip our kids into a B&M school. What could a couple of weeks or maybe a month hurt?
So we began. I won't kid you there were several times that I wanted to quite. But then I would have an experience that would have me keep going. For example, at one point I was so fed up that I took the kids over to the B&M school to sign up. I thought we will just go and see how we feel while we are getting the papers to sign up. Well, none the less we had a bad experience and when I got home I was in tears. I felt there was no rush so in my mind I thought, "I will just keep them at home for now and check again later." As soon as I thought this I felt total peace. I really believe in a mother's intuition.
So, my number one reason is that I know deep in my heart that for us this is what we are supposed to be doing.
I am not saying that this right for everyone or every child.
Some other smaller reasons I do what I do is, I love being involved so much in what my kids are learning. I love to know their strengths and weaknesses. How I can help them and the things that they love to learn about. Another reason is because I like how my kids are building close relationships because they are eachothers playmates and tutors and mentors. One last reason is that I feel I can bond stronger and stronger with them when I am their learning coach. A friend of mine had a good point. She said that she felt being her childs learning coach/teacher would help them to feel that mom knows things and the result would be that they turned to her for advice and also take her serious when she told them things. I had never thought of this before and it made total sense to me.
Those are some of my main reasons why I teach my children through and online academy. I know I could say more but for now that will do. I have to say my husband has his own seperate reasons but since I am writing this blog I will tell mine.