That last entry was a doozy, wasn't it? Sorry about that!

One of the things I love about Sonlight is the fact that I can pick up the Instructor's Guide and know what to do each day. I also love that I can look back and see what all we have done. It's nice to have that record. DD6 is keeping a notebook of pages from her readers and read-alouds this year. I am thinking of adding a history one, too. She narrarates to me what she remembers of the story and I write it down. Then she draws a picture. What a neat thing to be able to look back on in the years to come!

Television

But, I was thinking, one thing I didn't mention in yesterday's thread was that reading The Well-Trained Mind really convicted me of how much time we all spend in front of a screen. Previously, I had let the girls do whatever after we finished schooling, whether that was watching cartoons, playing computer games, or toys, or whatever.

I had no idea that I could use that time for teaching as well. So this week the TV went off. I watch the news in the morning for weather, and local news (we do not take the local paper anymore). Then off it goes. We eat breakfast, I read the paper, we do school. Then DD4 gets 30 minutes of computer time while DD6 finishes up her work.

We break for lunch, and that is when the tube usually came on. But NO MORE! After lunch the girls go to their rooms for quiet play. The DCKs go down for nap. At 3 everyone gets up and we have snack. After snack they play or read and DD6 has her 30 minutes of computer time, assuming that she has completed her schoolwork.

I turn on PBS Kids at 5 p.m. for the last DCK and my girls to watch while I make dinner. They watch Cyberchase and Arthur.

It was really hard Monday and Tuesday. I had gotten used to the noise of the TV and the quiet of the kids. Now, I like the quiet during rest time. I like seeing the kids using their minds to play. DD6 will read quietly, sometimes reading to the other kids. She plays games, Barbies, dollhouse. DD4 looks at books, plays "house," plays with the other kids. It's amazing.

They were wild Monday and Tuesday. "Can I turn on the TV?" Or, "Can I play on the computer?"

Now, it's like they don't even miss it. Not to mention that with the limiting of their TV watching they haven't been exposed to the over-hyped Christmas toy commercials this year. I haven't been dealing with the constant chorus of "I want...."

In the evening Dh and I are trying to keep the TV off unless there is something on that we know we want to watch. Usually Heroes on Monday, House on Tuesday, Survivor, CSI, and Grey's Anatomy on Thursday and Football all weekend.

I read, play on the computer (but much less than I used to), sew, or whatever...

I can't believe how much time I have gotten back!

A Journal?

Now with the addition of TWTM to my homeschool adventure and the requisite addition of better books, books on tape, etc. I am feeling the need to make notes of what we are doing besides our formal schooling with Sonlight.

I have a simple composition book that I can jot down notes about our daily activities and think that will work.

Does anyone else do this?

Over-Scheduling

One common theme I am seeing over and over is the over-scheduling of children these days. Too many activities, stressed out second graders. I think it's just sad.

I think it followed immediately after "mandatory" preschool around here. I swear, when people would ask me where I was sending my kids to preschool and then found out that I wasn't! They looked at me like I had just sprouted a second head. I got questions like, "How will they ever learn to use scissors?" and "Aren't you afraid they'll be behind in Kindergarten?"

I don't get it. Even if my DD6 had gone to PS K she would have been ahead of the majority of her classmates, even those that went to preschool. When did society become convinced that we need our kids in school by age 4? And now I am hearing rumblings about real mandatory preschool starting at age 3!

Can you imagine putting your 3yo on a bus to school every morning? Yikes!

So I buck the trend. One extra-curricular (gymnastics for us) and church activities ONLY. We do children's choir on Sunday and AWANA on Wednesday. Gymnastics on Saturday. And I feel okay about that. I like having family time in the evenings. I like my family.

Am I weird? Maybe.

Back in the saddle again!

We finished the first day here at Growing Grace Academy (DD6 came home from church upset because she didn't have a name for school to write on her Bible Study Profile Sheet....so we picked GGA). Here's how our day went:

Bible - Leading Little Ones to God and Bible reading. DD6 LOVES LLOtG. She said so. This kid adores devotionals and does them every day on her own anyway, but is excited to be back doing them in school.

Math - Horizons 1. Today was a review from last year on writing numbers and counting, so no problem there.

Reading - Sonlight Int. 2 readers - Cora and the Bookwagon. I was really VERY concerned when I used SONIA (the SL choosing helper at their website) and she said Intermediate level. I was even more concerned when I got the books. I mean, there is a HUGE jump from Dr. Suess to chapter books! So last month at the library I talked DD6 into checking out a couple of the Boxcar kids books for her to try and read. I figured if she could handle those then she was very well prepared for Int. 2. She sat down and read 6 chapters in one afternoon. So, I felt better! We still have to work on not being monotone and not reading every sentence sounding like a question, but all in all, it's good.

History - People's of the World. Learned about Countries.

Read-Alouds - Charlotte's Web. A favorite of mone and no complaints from the crew!

Science - Magic School Bus at the Waterworks. DD6 ADORES MSB. She has seen just about every episode of the cartoons. The reading went really quickly and she was disturbed that we stopped halfway through!

DD4 is doing a cobbled to gether PreK program of internet worksheets, workbooks, and SL LAK.

We started at about 7:30 and were done at 9:30, so we went for a walk (recess). We would have played outside, but it rained all day yesterday (PTL!) and the ground is still very soggy. It has been nice here weatherwise, as the temps have been in the 70s and 80s. So very mild. YAY!

Anyway, that has been our day...

We were doing double school today, like every Thursday now, this morning. DD6 looks up at me and says, "I sooooo love being homeschooled."

I said, "Oh, really? Why is that?"

"Because how else would I get every Friday off??"

She was talking to some of her friends in Sparks last night and they were talking about going to school. DD was shocked at how much these kids hate school! They hate reading, and math is boring, and big kids on the bus are mean, etc. My DD was speechless, which is shocking in itself. I think she was even more horrified at the fact that these kids don't get to go at their own pace and set their own schedules. The girls were really intrigued by the idea of having every Friday off of school and being able to play and watch cartoons and movies...

I may be getting some phone calls this weekend. Sigh.

Me? I just think that it is sad that these poor kids are already hating school in Kindergarten! I mean they now have 12 years of school ahead of them. For the next 12 years they will spend the majority of their time doing something that they hate! How sad is that?

I understand that HSing is not for everybody, but I think it could be for more people if they would just try it...but alas...

Anyway, it was good to see DD's eyes opened to the realities of school. They don't get to do near the cool stuff she does, and they don't get every Friday off!

It is Spring Break at our house this week. Reall, I had planned for our week off to be next week, but when I looked at the IG I realized that we were at a really good stopping place, so we took this week off.

Which in a way is really good. For one, I have more time to spend on the internet. It can also be really bad. For one, I have more time to spend on the internet.

But, I did some cool stuff this morning. Our Walt Disney World vacation planning kit arrived in the mail last night. We watched the DVD this morning. I ordered it a couple of weeks ago because we had planned on going in Spring of 2007. Of course, that was before we started house shopping and now the WDW vacation has been pushed back another year.

On a side note, I had a very opinionated friend mouth off about our vacationing there. She hates the idea. Not that it should concern her. She also has opinions about HSing. I ignore those as well. I love her as a friend, but like I said she is very opinionated...

Anyway, the kids loved the video, and surprisingly they have not been begging to go. They are excited that we will someday go, but it is not like they had an all out fit when I said it would probably be 2 years...

Scary to say, but I am looking forward to returning to routine and school next week.

And I am counting the days until the new Sonlight catalog comes out. I am so pathetic.

I have been away from blogging for awhile now. There are some things that are just too personal to puit on the web, you know?

At any rate, I think we have stumbled on a schedule that will work for us...finally! Since this is really our first year homeschooling we have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to deal with the huge new responsibility. I mean, it does take some getting used to, the whole idea that you lose a huge chunk of time to doing something besides cleaning or cooking, or gasp! web-surfing...

At any rate, we are using Sonlight Core K and all of the requisite stuff that comes with the first time order, Horizons math, SL Science K, and LA 1. I got my box the week before I wanted to start schooling so I had a week to look over the stuff and get aquainted with the program. Last year we used Calvert Pre-K, which I must say, I was not a real fan of. I mean it was okay, but it was terribly dull and really designed for a large class use...which was a bit frustrating.

So I spent the week reading the instructor's guide and trying to figure out how we would integrate homeschooling into an already busy household. We started off strong using the SL 5 day schedule. And it really worked well, but I realized that by the end of the week I was ready for the break. I thought that might be due to having three little ones running around while we did school, so I moved school from mornings to afternoons during nap time.

Nap time school just didn't work for us. Mainly because I felt like that was the only break I get during the day and I wanted to rest and relax and not be fighting with my 5/6 year old to get her to focus and finish school before the littles got up. Not to mention that I did not like having school hanging over my head all morning. It just really felt like wasted time to me. So back to mornings we went.

While I realize that homeschooling is supposed to allow us the freedom to set our own schedule, we really don't have all that much freedom here at least for this year and in my head. See, my DH is very shaky on the whole issue of homeschooling and has allowed it only on a trial basis and based on how DD continues to progress. So, I don;t feel like we can unschool or take breaks just whenever if this is a journey that I wish to continue.

So, here we are back at mornings and doing school 5 days a week. While my DD loved it, I wished I had a little more time in the mornings to myself. So, one day I just decided that I would do the readings for Thursday and Friday on Thursday, leaving only seat work for Friday, which would significantly lessen our time on Friday morning. Well, DD noticed what I did and asked if the next week she could just double-up her work too and have Fridays off. I thought it was a great idea and that is what we are doing.

I can;t even begin to explain how much this has helped us. Just to know that every weekend is a three day weekend is amazing.... Ahhhh...the joys of homeschooling.