Saturday, January 14, 2006
Through 2003, years six through 13
Posted in Learning on the Narrow Path
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During the first several years of homeschooling Blair and John we used a LOT of unit studies. Some of the units we used: Five in a Row Konos Weaver Alta Vista Prairie Primer Plus units I wrote when inspired We have started all our children with the first two years of Rod and Staff for a good phonics and math background. For Blair and Jonathan we also used Rod and Staff 3rd grade math. After that they were ready to jump right in to Saxon 54. As they turned six, each child was added to our "Keepers of the Faith" program we have at home in which they can learn skills and earn badges. After Kate was born, the umbrella school increased my responsibilities to include all published materials they provided. I compiled and typed a 60-page quarterly calendar of events, high school transcripts, a newsletter featuring students' artwork and writing, brochures and event programs. It took a lot of my time but I was thankful we didn't have to pay the ever-increasing cost of tuition. When Christy was born, I was also put in charge of the yearbook, a full-color padded cover production with Jostens. Just after Rose joined us, we moved 900 miles, away from my now grown-up Martin. This move would change our lives and homeschooling practices forever. Before the move, I bought several books and printed out many free resources from the ‘net about the places we’d be traveling through. We had never traveled outside our area, and the kids were shocked to see so much open land outside the city. This opened the door so we could discuss how easy it is to accept untruths based on one’s own experiences, and how children tend to accept “normal” based on theirs. We did a lot of talking that trip. Dearest needed quiet during some of the more stressful driving times, so I’d sit in the back seat and read aloud. John tracked mileage and was chief navigator. Blair helped us track our expenses and calculated miles per gallon. Kate made up stories she’d tell us as we drove. The little two napped a lot, colored some and listened to everything. Once we arrived in Oregon, we searched for a house while living in a hotel room. It only took three days, but one small hotel room for three days with five children seemed like a week! There were llamas at the hotel that we would go out and feed, ducks in the pond and elk just up the road. It was an amazing area and so unlike where they had lived before. We finally found a house within commuting distance and started moving in. Our neighbors right across the street were homeschoolers as well, and we were immediately introduced to the local library, teacher’s supply store and YMCA through them. We spent the summer playing with our new friends. We were a one-car family so whenever I needed to shop or take a child to the doctor, we had to take Dearest in to work and pick him up. We made up a rhyme of landmarks from home to his office to help the littles know where they were and avoid the “are we there yet” syndrome. “Power plant Santa’s ranch Cline Falls Basketballs…” John took golf lessons that summer and while he was at class the girls and I would take trips up to the mountains. Even in July there was snow within driving distance. We saw beautiful lakes and streams, interesting geology and amazing wildlife that filled our sketchbooks and conversations. On the fourth of July our neighbors invited us to light fireworks with them in our cul-de-sac. Fireworks are illegal in CA and the kids had never seen them close-up. They were enthralled, and we jumped into a study of them. We started off the school year with a Konos unit. Just one week into our school year, the tragedies of 9/11/01 took place. Everything stopped for several months while we studied our country, patriotism, terrorism (in a very mild way), Islam, New York, and tried to make sense out of the daily news. We helped our neighbors put up a lit flagpole and made a streamer flag on our chain link fence. Over our first three years in OR we moved four times, as rentals were hard to find and only temporary. The children and I learned much about packing, moving, unpacking, decorating, making “do” with limited spaces, and the importance of staying “de-junked.” Only the most beloved of the school books were even unpacked that second time: Pathway Readers Getty Dubay Italics Training Our Daughters to be Keepers at Home Saxon Math Handbook of Nature Study We relied more and more upon the library for our resources as time and space continued to limit us. I had been reading about “unschooling” but it didn’t seem to make sense to my institutionally educated brain. But it seemed that’s what we had started doing! We finally landed (with a 2-year lease, thank you!) in a rustic, old ranch house in a tiny town of 900 people. We didn't get to stay for all two years, but I was beginning to feel like I was home there in that tiny town for the first time since I was a teenager. |
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