School Interrupted

It has become increasing noticeable to me that as a homeschooler majority of what we learn is not academics or out of a book per se. But just what we learn from living our lives.

As much as I try to have a full day of school, life just keeps interrupting. We have to take life and learn from it. What a great lesson for today and everyday!

What lesson have you learned today?

Choosing Curriculum

It seems around March, I start thinking about the next year in homeschooling. And it seems others do as well. A couple of weekends ago, there was a Curriculum Symposium. It is where a panel of homeschoolers will get together for a question and answer period and then open up the room for those who brought their curriculum and those wanting to sell curriculum. I had never been before and had really wanted to go. But, I had no childcare and then the kids ended up being sick.

But, that hasn't stopped me from thinking and planning. I want to branch out a bit. Stay with the Charlotte Mason style of teaching because it works well for us. Plus, it is very flexible, which we need and it promotes LOTS of reading, which I love. And not reading twaddle but really, really fabulously written stuff. The style just gives so much credit to the intelligence of a child and their real ability to learn.

Anyway, that is where the problem comes in. There are so many darn good books out there to read and I just don't know where to stop. I don't know what books to include in my school year. What books should I just skip over? Or should I make them read alouds? Or free read books? What do I do about the fact that I want to read them all? But, with schooling two and the other two roaming freely, time is at a premium.

As I stack my books to look through for next year and peruse all of the literature for sale online, I know at some point I am going to have to narrow things down. I do have to wonder how others do it? How do they make decisions on what to include? Do they tell themselves they will get to all the rest of the books next year and the next and the next?

So, what are your plans for next year?

Geography

We just finished our first ever geography fair. It was for the whole family to participate in and there was no competition. All of that was right up our alley!

CM recommends learning geography through the reading of living books. Surprise, surprise! Up until this point we have read Tree in the Trail, Paddle to the Sea, and Seabird. Every couple weeks or so, we review the United States map and both girls pick what couple of states they want to remember for the next "test." For a test, I give them a blank U.S. map and have them tell me how many states they remember. It is kind of fun because each couple of weeks they try to outdo what they did the last time.

I also encourage them to find, on the globe, a new country they hear of in our stories. Sometimes they will do this all on their own. I try, just in casual conversation, to discuss rivers and lakes, or mountains and cities. Not forcing information, but, just taking advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself.

We have, in the past, used the NCAA basketball brackets and the Olympics to talk about different cities, states and countries. We have map puzzles and dry erase maps. A flag of different countries placemat.

This past week, we had a great opportunity to participate in a Geography Fair. It was a very relaxed affair and really encouraged family participation. My kids picked Madagascar. Based on the movie, of course. They had originally picked Spain which was my preference. But, was so delighted in our final product. We (I) learned so much. And what a great way to learn for the kids.

Not only did they get to learn about Madagascar but they walked around and looked at what other families had done as well. Each of the kids took away from the other countries what was impressive or memorable to them. My guess is, it will be something they will always remember.

Do you have a favorite country?

Charlotte Mason

After a year of doing Sonlight (which I loved but it was just a little too structured for me), I happened on Charlotte Mason. I am not going to go into all of Charlotte Mason's homeschooling philosophies. Her theories and ideas are written out in a six volume set! (I have only made it 99% of the way through the first volume.) But, there are a lot of great books out there that have taken much of her information and put it in a more doable form. I have read Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's For the Children's Sake, and Karen Andreola's Charlotte Mason. I am currently reading Catherine Levison's Charlotte Mason Education.

A few of the main reasons I am attracted to the Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling are she believes in short lessons on any given subject, she feels good habits are very important and doing things right the first time are a must, and reading books, as opposed to text books, are the mode of learning. She felt that great literature will inspire children to have great thoughts and ideas.

A child's education, in the early years, should be spent mostly outside. And that given the freedom to explore, a child would develop a desire to learn things. On a nature walk, a teacher is never to lecture. Let the children explore and ask questions as they are moved to. Grammar and spelling, in the beginning, are taught, again, by reading good literature.

Narration is the form of "testing" used. The focus is on what a child knows as opposed to what a child doesn't know. At least once a day, after a certain subject has been read, the child is to tell back in his/her own words what was read. CM felt that the telling back of something read made the child the "owner" of the information. How many times did you take a test, only to forget the information once the test was over?

These are just some of the things that appealed to me about Charlotte Mason. We might tweak our schooling a little more this coming year. We will just have to wait and see.

What curriculum do you use? And, why?

Begin at the Beginning

We did not start out intending to homeschool. Honestly, it was the furthest thing from my mind. I have a great friend who is a homeschooler and before my kids were even schooling age she would always say "Well, you could homeschool." I would laugh at her and tell her, in no uncertain terms, homeschooling was NOT for me. And, of course, I had a list a mile long of why it just wasn't for me.

The school zone we belong to is not one of the best. I think a couple months before Nature Girl was suppose to start school, there was a shooting at the apartment complex right next door. We could have tried to work the School Choice program by using my mom's address or something else along those lines but I was not comfortable with that at all.

Next, I looked into private school. I knew there were a couple I was interested in and there were a couple I knew my kids would not go to. One was a Christian school and one was just a really neat school. The Christian school was way on the other side of town and when I received their tuition package, we decided that we (daddy) didn't want to work that much more to pay for tuition. Our next option was a school run through the university. It was based on diversity and tried to mirror our city's demographics. Plus, you had to be tested to get in. It was basically our last hope before having to seriously consider homeschooling.

After I took NG to be tested, we had a couple of weeks to just stew about our choices. I don't honestly remember praying about our decision. But, like so many things in my life, God just kept nudging me in the right direction. I do remember the day the letter from the university school came in the mail. I remember silently praying that NG didn't get in so that we had no choice but to homeschool.

Up until that point, I had taken the time to interview friends whose kids were homeschooled or went to private school or went to public school. I did want to have tons of information to better help us navigate through our "decision making process."

I think a part of me really wanted to homeschool but I was so scared to just make that decision. So, when I opened the letter and it said NG was not admitted for that year, I was THRILLED.

I don't remember being scared after that. Maybe a little overwhelmed with all the curriculum choices. Maybe a little fanatical on making sure we finished everything everyday. But, my how God has changed my heart over the last couple years. I believe homeschooling is a great option and I also believe that it is biblical. I think getting an education is important but not more so than growing kids with good character and having hearts for God.

We are in our fourth year and I am schooling two of the four. I look forward to what each day brings. So, what is your homeschooling story?

Welcome!

As I was sitting in the kitchen taking a picture of my 16 month old "doing her school" (spreading all of her sisters addition and subtraction flashcards all over the floor), I decided to do a blog strictly about homeschooling. I won't post everyday and it will only be about things we are doing, how I have things set up. Maybe a funny story or two or something unique we are doing. What has worked and what hasn't. I just don't know yet. But, as I read another homeschooling blog today I just figured what the heck! If you are a fellow homeschooler isn't this a great way to spend your life with your children! If you are contemplating homeschooling, I would encourage you whole heartily to continue on with your fact finding journey (we have all been there) and pray, pray, pray! I can almost guarantee that your life will be blessed ten fold by choosing this path of God, family and education.