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BreWar's Homeschool for Three Not So Imaginary Children
Aug. 15, 2007
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Aug. 15, 2007
Surrender
I have come to believe that there is a certain amount of surrender that must happens when one decides to become a homeschooling family. I have been thinking about this for a while now and I have just decided to write about it.
When our family decided to make the move to homeschooling several things happened at once. We lost an income (mine) and gained a child (Dec) and moved. With all of those changes, I have not really had the time to stop and digest what we have done to our lives or what I have done to my life.
Please do not misunderstand me, I love being a mom and I feel the children are seriously thriving as they would never be able to in any other environment. They love learning at home and I love what it has done for our family as a whole. We are closer and more united in a way that we have never been before. We take time to actually just "be" together and view every moment as a learning opportunity as well as one to spend as a family. That is a beautiful thing.
What I am lamenting right now is the professional side of myself. The part of me that was a part of the rat race and quite good at it! That changed the moment my daughters were born. But at the same time, I stayed a part of it even if mentally I was completely with my girls. Then when My son was born and I made the move from interpreter to mommy full time, everything in life happened so quickly that I stayed in action mode. Now things have slowed down. I actually am lamenting, if only a bit, the loss of my career.
I have traded great corporate clothing for work out clothing often smeared with what ever science project, food, or other dirt that we have been working/playing in that day. I no longer bring an income into our household. Instead I am the one who plans the budget and must make sure that we stick to it. If at any time something goes wrong with the finances, it is me who must hash it out to figure it all out. I cook, plan, clean, and schedule day in and day out. Each day looks startling similar to the next and the last. Our days have a rhythm to them, but at the same time, each day flows to the next in a way that never happened while I was interpreting and had the day to day excitement of not knowing where I would be or with whom.
Basically, I have not surrendered yet. I have not surrendered that part of me that still longs for the excitement of interpreting. I have not yet surrendered that part of me that loved the status of interpreting. I have not surrendered to the awesome responsibility of being the mother of three children whose day to day life must revolve around the awesome task of making sure that their spiritual, educational, physical, and emotional lives are all healthy and cared for.
It is an awesome task that I have undertaken. I just need to become used to the idea that this is what I do now and surrender to the beauty of it. |
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Jun. 15, 2007
We are now PA homeschoolers
Although the boxes are not unpacked, and shelves are not mounted to the wall, and there is much to sort through and decide what to do with..we are here and together as a family.
From what we have seen of York so far, it is a wonderful cross of rural and city life. We are in the middle of farm county and even have a farmer's market within walking distance of us (as we walk past several farms plowing and horses grazing). There are quaint looking country and antique shops only a short drive away. The kids have already met friends and wandered off to pick and collect the fragrant honeysuckle that grows around our townhouse community. The closest grocery (other than the farmer's market) is a Giant and is about 20 - 30 minutes away.
With all of that, we are only one hour away from several major cities. And two hours from a few more. I think living here will be the best of both worlds for us.
I have not met any homeschoolers yet and am anxious to do so. The neighborhood is filled with children running everywhere yet it seems that they all attend the local schools. It will be nice to again connect with people in this new area. |
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May. 30, 2007
The End of Another Great Year
Although we school year round, the rest of the world is in the process of ending their official school year. School for us is not a place or philosophy or even a room or building. It is, for us, a lifestyle. In homeschooling, we have adopted a life of excitement and education. We have chosen to look at the entire world and every experience as our class room.
I have not posted as frequently as I would have liked. Life and learning has taken over. I would, however, like to give you an overview of what learning has looked for us this year. I thought it would be appropriate to show our journey through photos of places and people we have loved and have made this school year and our lives even better.
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Oct. 8, 2006
It has been so long!
It has been so so long since I last posted. I am afraid life happened to us and I could not post until now. Now...I will post and let you know what has been happening and this time try to keep up with everything.
This was my good bye post on the Core K check in and I think it sums up our year well. Homescholing has been quite good for us and we look foward to many more years of fun and learning.
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We are almost ready to say good bye to Core K
It is with this post, that I must say that we have just completed week 35 of Core K. It has been a wild and wonderful ride and we have loved almost every moment of it, but we are so excited to crack those books on Core 1 starting October 1.
We have been blessed to be homeschooling this year. We have actually homescholed through things that would normally mean we could not do them or our lives would have been completely overturned.
In September of last year we started with Core K with my new son who was born August 17th one month early. By the end of that month my children, son and I had moved to TN to be with my mother (who had had a stroke and bypass and we used the excuse of "showing off the new baby" so that she had no idea I was coming to help her) and my husband had cleaned out our entire house and put everything in storage as he searched for another house for us to live in. Education continued and even blossomed as we traveled and in the midst of the upheaval.
In October we drove to middle TN with my mother as she went into the hospital again and stayed there for a month. We were able to stay there with her and Education continued.
In January, my mother died here at home with all of us here doing things she loved the entire time. The night before she was talking about poodle skirts with my girls and laughing about the cool fashions of the day when she was a kid through today (Social Studies) as they sat on her bed looking through photo albums eating roasted pea nuts. And through it all including the funeral arrangements and a trip to GA for burial, education continued.
In February my husband found out that his services were no longer needed at his job and he stayed with us in TN. Education continued.
My husband started a nation wide search for a new job, and we did not dread or worry about where the school system would be because we knew that education would continue.
In June, my husband moved back to start his new job (better than the last) and look for a place for us to live and we do not worry at all about the state of our children's education because that has been the one constant through it all.
Through many many things and twists and turns and crazy life happenings, we know that their education continues uninterrupted and still as wonderful. The places and faces may change a bit. We may be reading The Apple and the Arrow one week, and sitting under a tree several hours away reading from I can Read It the next but doing science experiments with friends outside in a park in another state another week, but it is the one constant through this crazy year for us. Sonlight has made this happen. Homeschooling has made this happen. This community has made this happen. And I thank you all for that so so much.
Now, ummm...what happened this week...
The girls cried at the end of Pooh because Christopher Robin was growing up and did not recognize the animals as really "real" any longer. We all had a long sit down over that one and just cuddled and talked about growing older compared to growing up. After which my babies walked up to every one of their lovies and promised never ever to grow up. My miniature Peter Pan babies!
One child has been finished with SLLA1 for an eternity and we have been reading other books she is interested in and doing dictation from them as well as writing and illustrating each chapter.
The other on week 19 of SLLA1 and is doing a great job. She is my kid who started out the year stating that she did not wish to learn to read because she is actually a scientist and "scientists don't read about it mama, we do it" and then picking up an ICRI book about week 10 and reading the first 3 chapters without stooping! Thank you sonlight for having fun and good materials that encourage and invite the children to look and read and have fun with them.
The girls were thrilled that they knew the poem "The Tree" and performed it for everyone they saw (including some bewildered people on the street). And were able to explain to a kid in Sunday school why we memorize bible verses after she asked why it was so important (hiding the word in your heart not only your head).
They walked around in Saris (without jewels) and "rescued" their lovies from the temples and took pride that their momma's feet are bound. That part had me leaping with joy inside. They were able to correct a person at church about the date and place where John Wesley was born (the person they corrected was an adult at church who was just amazed).
Their hand writing has jumped up by leaps and bounds!!! They print beautifully (when they want to and when they have any motivation to). And my babies can multiply, tell time, solve for an unknown, and enjoy every moment of it!!
They know more about Language arts then their father (the techie) and that is cool. Especially when you see them sitting down to explain what a simile is and why a verb can not be an antecedent to a completely confused adult (my sweet DH).
They have measured their shadows this week to see how the earth moves. And we have together watched and marveled at the rain which has come from possibly miles away just to rain on the lake near the house which will be picked up and taken somewhere else.
The girls were shocked as we talked about Paul and how brave he was even in the face of such scary things.
They loved counting out grains of rice...that is until it became so much that they said "mama, the Emperor was not bright was he" and poured it all back. They cheered for Haun Po Po as her breakfast was brought to her and her house keeper finally came to see grace. They were so sad as Barry was mortally wounded and actually cried when Grip died (and saw the parallels to Christ).
Basically it has been a wonderful week for us (academically that is). The girls start every morning (and I do mean every...7 days a week) with wanting to do something academic and I have to force them to bed late late every night because they want to continue to learn. I end the day's readings amid shouts of "read more read more" every time (something that as a bibliophile myself is music to my ears). And the girls take serious pride in making me "trot" ( a term they started using when I have to work hard to keep up with them because they are finishing several days of work in one sitting with glee).
So, It has been a good week academically!! |
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Jan. 16, 2006
What do We Use?
I thought it might be a good idea to post about what we use this year in our homeschool.
The main portion of our homeschool curriculum is Sonlight-core plus K. It is a wonderful program which uses real books, not dry textbooks, to teach each subject. Take a look at their web page ( www.sonlight.com ) to see more about the program.
Because Dei started this year reading independently, she is doing the Language Arts 1 program and readers. Gab, who announced that "scientists don't read about it...we do it " started the year with the Language Arts K. About 1/4 of the way through, she announced that she was now ready to read, and picked up her sister's reader...and read it! So, we skipped ahead and started doing the Language Arts K readers and she is loving it. By the beginning of February, she should be in the Language Arts 1 readers and program. She is ever so motivated to read. She says it will make her a better scientist if she can read better! Smart little girl.
Right now we are on week 12 in the Sonlight core plus (Gab is on week 32/33 of Language Arts K). This means our read aloud is "The Family Under the Bridge" and we are studding fish in science and homes in Social studies.
The girls are moving quite quickly through Saxon 1 and are enjoying every moment of it. We add Miquin math orange and red books as well so that they are able to see the relationships they are learning on their own.
We also add in Montessori methods and materials as we go about our day. They actually go over and pick work to do when they have down time and even choose to "play" with that some days instead of their toys! They are so motivated right now!
In Bible, we are just starting Ruth. We will be going through the
entire bible this school year. We use "Egermeyer's Study Bible for Kids" as a read aloud and jumping off point for our discussions. And "Bible Stories To Color and Do" as a way to reinforce the lessons and a way to keep little hands busy while I read.
That is our basic curriculum. We do go off on tangentsnaturally. If the girls happen to see something that captures their interest, we weave it in or sometimes drop everything in leu of their interests. For example, we did 2 or 3 weeks of peach everything and bug everything thanks to the book "James and the Giant Peach". It was wonderful and I feel the girls (and I) learned so much from each day of activities.
That's one of the wonderful things about homeschooling...the ability not only to design the curriculum and method to meet the learner where they are, but also the ability to go off on wonderful exciting tangents as we wish! The world is our classroom and everything and every moment can be
something from which to learn. |
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Jan. 8, 2006
an introduction
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Hello!
This is our family's first year officialy homeschooling, but as I write this, I realize that we have been a homeschooling family for many years before. We just never embraced the label. Now, we embrace the label with pride. We are a homeschooling family. And we love it!
So, let me introduce myself and my family.
I have been married to my best friend, Bre, since 1994. We have known each other since we met at a camp in High Falls New York in the summer of 1990. We have have been blessed with three beautiful children together.
In 1999, after a long sad fight with infertility we were informed that we were pregnant. In 2000, we were
told that we would be having twins.
In June of 2000, we welcomed our identical twin daughters. Dei was born only a few minutes before her sister Gab. And after only a 2 week NICU stay, we welcomed them home.
In 2005, we were informed that we would be welcoming another child! At the time, my girls were attending a private montessori school. We had to make a tough choice quickly. I could continue to work, put our newborn son into daycare inorder to pay for the private school...and daycare. Or I could put my girls in public school in order to stay home with our newborn son. I did not want to put my girls in public school due to many reasons. So, I started to research homeschooling.
In August of 2005, we welcomed our son Dec into the family, and the first week of September we began our homeschooling journey. And we have never turned back. It is fun, exciting, frustrating, tender, heart warming, educational, and just a wonderful thing!
I look forward to sharing our journey with all of you.
War...Bre's wife...and Dei, Gab, and Dec's mom |
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