Lasso The Moon

First Day of School - 2014

Our first day of Homeschool.

I know that Emma looks really grown up here. I don't want to talk about it.

Ethan's deer-in-the-headlights look is gradually improving over the years.

 

Tips for taking your own photo-within-a-photo:

:: Get a frame that you love.

:: Hang the picture in an easy-to-access place in your home.  Then when the "first day of whatever" sneaks up on you, like it does on me every year, you can just grab the photo off the wall.

:: Send the photo to your processor the same day. (And pick it up and frame it!)

:: Store the previous year's photo behind the others inside the frame.  That way there's no need to file or store them somewhere else.

:: Don't stress out if you didn't get the first year (or years) on camera.  I have a feeling we won't be able to see much detail in those first few years pretty soon!

Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2014

The countdown is on.  School starts in two days, and butterflies have started swarming inside my guts.

I have no idea what's got me so freaked out.  I love learning, I love teaching, and I love my kids.  What's to worry about? I don't know.  Best to not dissect the issue right?  Better just to shove all those nervous feelings back down.  Get a hold of yourself woman!

Ah. Deep breath.

Since deciding to homeschool, a previously-suppressed part of my personality has emerged. I am now that dorky-curriculum woman.  I have been obsessed with researching, trying out, reading reviews, asking around about which curriculum to use.  I have discovered that I am not a big-box-curriculum kind of girl.  I am picking and choosing, combining lots of different elements to make up our school year.  And each time a book comes in the mail, I turn into that person. I call my sister or my mom, call the kids over to check it out, call Donnie at work to tell him how excited I am that the new science text or Bible lessons are here. It's out of control. I'm starting to annoy myself. So now that everything is here. I'm going to share it all with you. So that you can be annoyed excited along with us.

GEOGRAPHY/HISTORY

In complete opposition to traditional school requirements, we are not basing this year on a core of language and math. After 4 years in school, I think they could use a little break from the testable subjects. Instead, our core is geography.  We are using My Father's World, Exploring Countries and Cultures. 

It was recommended by a friend, and when I read the description on their website--that you could teach the whole family at once from the same text--I broke down into tears.  This was what we needed.  My Father's World (MFW) takes you through a 5-year cycle of history, starting with world geography, and the whole family follows the path of the oldest child.  We can all learn together, personalizing assignments according to each child's skill level.

SCIENCE

Although MFW does include science, I found a separate one that I could not resist.  I've never been a great lover of science, but I can't wait to jump into Apologia Astronomy . 

The kids will keep a comprehensive notebook that will hold all of their information in colorful, hands-on lessons.  On top of that, my sister and another friend have decided to use this same science this year.  So we'll be getting together for group projects every couple weeks or so. We started with astronomy, because it is the first in the series, which follows the six days of creation.

BIBLE
I ordered a separate Bible curriculum, even though My Father's World is pretty heavy into it. With MFW, we'll be learning about missionaries and God's heart for the nations around the world.

But then I found the Bible Study Guide.  So for two days a week, we are going to do these fun, interactive, funny worksheets.  When I showed Emma one of the lessons, she looked surprised.  "You mean we actually get to learn about the Bible in school?  Last year I wasn't even supposed to talk about God."  Yes, baby. This year is going to be different.

 

MATH

I said we weren't basing our year on math skills, but that doesn't mean we're letting go of math completely.  But we are doing math like I have never seen it done before.  Life of Fred --learning math in story form.

Many homeschool moms who do Life of Fred will supplement with worksheets and drills, because each chapter is very fun, and only has 5-8 problems to work at the end.  But after reading the information on their website, I feel confident that this program will give them the conceptual understanding of math that they need to move forward.  If I feel like they need practice work, I can always find printables online, or a workbook at the store.  This year Ethan (2nd grade) will be going through the first four or five books, while Emma (4th grade) will work through all thirteen of their elementary-level books in preparation for fractions next year.  Actually, Emma has already started, and even though the problems in the first book (Apples) were too basic to challenge her, she thought the story was hilarious, and kept begging to do another lesson.  A math book that kids beg to read? Yes.

LANGUAGE

Reading, grammar, spelling, and composition are my strongest area personally, so it's the area where I'm using the least amount of structured curriculum.  I found a great list of spelling words on K12reader.com, as well as some grammar worksheets for Ethan.  But for now, unless I find that just-right method of teaching, we'll be using our other subjects as the basis for language skills.  Each child will be required to read 30-40 minutes a day, but it will be fun reading.  I've noticed that kids who read interesting books have a better grasp on what is interesting when they go to write something. Also, the more kids read, the better spellers they are.  Reading is huge.

We'll also be writing one formal book report per month, and writing at least one letter (remember snail mail?) each week.  I'll have them rough draft, edit, and final draft the letters.

ART

Are you surprised that I'm most excited about art?  At first, it seemed too much to add yet another subject to the list.  But while I was thinking about it, I realized that I wanted to teach them the art masters--great famous artists throughout history, from all over the world...when the idea hit me that we should let our geography outline dictate which artists we study each week.  Since we are starting with America, for example, we will be studying 3 great American artists: Jasper Johns, Georgia O'Keefe, and Alexander Calder.  There is so much information on pinterest, that coming up with a new lesson each week should be no problem at all.  We'll be sharing some of our art projects, so you can do them yourself at home.

Well, that about covers it I think.  We are also doing PE, Memory, Poetry, and a fun class called "Domestic Engineering", but I'll wait and tell you about those subjects later. 

I promise in the near future to branch out from homeschool-based blog posts, but since I've felt so helped by other's curriculum choices, I thought it would be nice to reciprocate.  I'll keep you updated about what works for us, and what doesn't.

I have linked to many of the websites that offer our books (some are affiliates), but we were able to find many of them used or in online auctions.  Apologia and Life of Fred were at our local Mardel, where you can use a coupon.

Happy 1st week of school, everyone!

Pirate Supply Shops and Banana Pianos - 7 Inspiring Ted Talks on Education

Do you watch Ted Talks? 

I didn't until a friend shared one on facebook, and then I was hooked.  If you can find a good one, it might change your life and how you see the world. (And maybe alter your place in it.)

Even though all of these are about education, most of them are not about homeschooling, and every one of them is either hilarious or amazing.  I don't have time to watch boring people talk, and neither do you.  I hope you'll watch some of these and tell me what you think.

Dave Eggers : My Wish : Once Upon a School (I think this one is my favorite.  I want to be friends with this guy.)

This makes me daydream about the future of my family and the possible impact we could have on our community.

 Sugata Mitra's experiments in child-driven learning are shocking and wonderful. 

What could it mean for the future of kids everywhere, if they had access to all the information they need?  What can this mean for my kids?

 Ken Robinson: How Schools Kill Creativity

 At one point, this was the most-watched TED talk of all time;  it might still be.  So much of this had been on my heart already, but I didn't know how to put it into words. 

This is his follow-up: Bring on the Learning Revolution

His imagery of strip-mining our children's minds is profound.

Logan LaPlante: Hackschooling Makes Me Happy His mom pulled him out of traditional school after watching Ken Robinson's talk above.

He's so comfortable in front of this crowd!  I love that he spends one whole school day each week outside.  For the whole day.

Gever Tully: Life Lessons Through Tinkering

At Tulley's camp, kids use real tools to make amazing things.  Maybe my kids need a "tinkering" class this year.

Jay Silver: Hack a Banana, Make a Keyboard

Of all the school subjects, science is my weakest.  But this guy's talk makes me want to go invent something!

::

Go ahead and watch some of these, and see if they don't shake the way you see education.  

Is there a TED talk that changed you for the better?  Share it with me!

Taking a LEAP

I'm just going to come out and say it.  Some of you already know.  And I'm so excited that I can't stand it any longer. 

We are homeschooling this year.

HOMESCHOOLING!!

I have to say that this was one of the toughest decisions we've had to make in a while.  I mean, we LOVED our school.  We loved the teachers, we loved the other students.  We love that our kids are both awesome readers.  We loved that the school was only a couple blocks away.  We loved that our kids made close friends with all types of other kids, from all types of backgrounds.  The list could go on and on.

So why in the WORLD are we homeschooling?

It all comes down to one thing.  TIME.

Every year I get really antsy around the beginning of August, because I hate the idea of giving my kids back.  As soon as school, homework, and earlier bedtime starts up, I get about 1 1/2 hours per day with them.  And that's on a good day.  For Donnie, time with them gets even more rare.  As a youth pastor, he works several nights a week, many weekends, and takes Thursdays as his day off.  Any time he has at home is precious, and for much of it, our school-age children are away from home.  That just doesn't work for us anymore.

So, homeschooling seems to be the answer.

And I am FREAKING OUT with excitement.  I'm sure that if any of you are still reading, you've noticed that I took some time off from the blog this year.  I talked about it a little bit here.  I had felt a nagging in my spirit that things were off-balance in my life.  That I was looking for fulfillment in places that didn't work with the rest of my life.  I felt the Lord continually calling me back to the home, and I noticed that He kept closing doors to things (even GOOD things) that didn't directly benefit my home, children, or husband.  To tell you the truth, I didn't like it.  I felt confined, felt my talents were left unused, felt almost without purpose.  But still, I could not shake the feeling that God wanted me to cut off any endeavor that did not directly relate to my family.

I think this might be why. 

Suddenly, I find myself completely free from outside influences--completely free to devote all of my energy, talents, and resources to teaching my kids.  All of those assets that I thought were going to waste?  They are about to be used up on my kids.  My hands shake and my eyes well up at the thought of it.  That God has been gently nudging me to this point, even though I had no idea where we were going. 

So, what does that mean for the blog??

Well, I think it means I'm back.  It might look a little different than before, but I'm so excited to share the journey that we're taking on this year. 

And I'm a little bit scared to death!