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We decided to homeschool by accident. A friend told me she was thinking of homeschooling her then 2 year old daughter and I was convinced it was the wrong thing to do. Afterall I was an expert on such things. I possessed a public school education, a bachelor's in elementary education, a 2 year old of my own and I knew one homeschooling family whose children seemed a little socially inept. Surely I knew what was best for my friend's daughter! So I rattled off my list of reasons as to why homeschooling would be an irresponsible choice for this mom (yes, I even mentioned the dreaded socialization issue My husband, who had a less than stellar academic background, was fully on board from the beginning. So off we went to our first homeschool convention when our daughter was barely 2 years old. Perhaps we were a little on the early side, but we were soaking up all the information we could get our hands on. We walked into the convention hall and I actually started crying. I was so relieved to see throngs of "normal" looking people versus...Well I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was certain that the only people who homeschooled were the large families who all wore matching, homemade outfits and played musical instruments together. To be sure, we did see a few families like that - but there were also families in jeans and t's with kids running around acting like...kids! So our first convention was back in 2000 and here it is 2008! I can't believe we've been at this (in one form or another) for 8 years already! I remember those first couple of years when I was doing "organized play" for preschool and feeling like we'd never get to the "real" academic subjects. Here we are all those years later with kids in 4th, 1st and preK and feeling like we are already behind! How did that happen when we had such an early start??? I know the answer to that question. We never sat down and made a vision statement for our school. We've been very fortunate to have been led by God to a couple of wonderful programs that we've used for our main curriculum and I learned very early on that:
Those two little tidbits saved us quite a bit of potential curriculum hopping over the years! But I was never really sure we were on the right path. Then I started hearing and reading about the importance of vision statements for our homeschools and it all fell into place. If we have a conscise vision statement (or statment of purpose) for our school, we can use that as the benchmark for choosing curriculum and evaluating our efforts. There was another *duh!* moment for me. Once we set our priorities, we'll know if XYZ history is going to meet our needs or if ABC extracurricular activity will be worth the havoc it wreaks on our weekly schedule. We'll know if teaching a certain subject is truly necessary or just twaddle (my new favorite Charlotte Mason word) that corrodes what could be free time. So this weekend, after 8 years of officially declaring ourselves homeschoolers, my husband and I finally sat down to write our vision statement. It's a work in progress so I won't post it yet, but it began with a simple question: "Why are we homeschooling?" It seems like a simple question and one that should be very easy to answer, doesn't it? Hmph!!!! This simple little question turned into a 4+ hour discussion that lasted until the very wee hours of the morning! It was nice to sit down and really discuss with my husband what we are doing and why we are doing it. It's a conversation that we really haven't had since my oldest was in a stroller and homeschooling was just a novel idea. Now that she's a 'tween, no longer an only child and talking about ideas and goals of her own, our thoughts and priorites have changed. Writing this vision statement isn't only interesting, but it's really helping us narrow our focus and "get real" (sorry Dr. Phil) about what we are doing and WHY we are doing it. I didn't see the point when I had one Kindergarten student, but there's definitely value in defining purpose. BTW, over the years I've come to know and love several large, clothes sewing families and my friend decided to put her daughter in public school so she could be a light amidst the darkness. Go figure. |
) and my friend had a clever response to each objection. Not to be easily dissuaded, I went straight to the library to reload. I read every book on homeschooling and before I knew it, I was convinced. I was now certain that not only should my friend homeschool her daughter, but we should also homeschool ours! |
One of the tasks I managed to accomplish this morning was cleaning out my inbox. I had been saving all the newsletters from TOS until I had time to actually READ them - and today was the day. One of them really caught my attention. June 6th is our 180th day of school - our last required day to meet the state standards. I had planned to take a week off and then jump right back into our studies and keep right on trucking through the summer while it's too hot and humid to play outside much. The pace would slow and we wouldn't necessarily school every day, but I didn't plan to change what we had been doing. Then this morning I read the newlsetter about vacations and the article by Todd Wilson really struck a nerve. He reminded me of the NEED to take a summer vacation and the NEED to "put on our FUN hats". He went on to say, "You need to enjoy your children as children NOT as students, and your children need to experience you as their mother NOT as their teacher." Ding ding ding ding!!!! Oh man did I NEED to hear that! I have not really been enjoying my children lately. We've been fretting with each other a bit too much and Mr. Wilson is right. We DO need to take time to experience each other as mother and daughters. So, we will finish our "official" school year on June 6th and my oldest (the party planning queen) has a big end of the year party planned for June 7th and then we'll relax and enjoy each other. I came up with a list of things that we've been meaning to do but keep putting off like building a volcano, making a nature journal, learning how to sew, binding the books the girls have written, reading, playing games, riding bikes as a family..... This is shaping up to be a FUN summer! |
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I always SAY I want to wake up early in the mornings. Not TOO early, but sometime before the kids are up and wanting breakfast. My "plan" is to get up when B leaves for work so that I can have time to do a devotional, exercise and shower all before the kids are ready to start their day. That RARELY happens, but it's such a nice idea. Today, however, I was up before they were. In fact, I barely went to bed last night before Sadey (3yo) was climbing in bed with me. She ambled into our room around 2:30 this morning and I'm not sure how it happened (my brain is very foggy at 2:30AM), but she ended up in bed with us. She spent the next hour flopping around before she begged, "Can I please go back to my bed?"...as if I had been holding her hostage or something! By then it was sometime between 3:30 and 4AM and I was wide awake For some reason, I was uncharacterictically filled with energy and decided to get up and work on laundry. Don't ask. I couldn't explain anyway. I finished one load, started another, defrosted dinner, cleaned my severely backed up inbox, worked out our summer schedule, walked/fed the dog and watered the garden before my middle daughter made her morning appearance. Talk about productive! I may have to keep doing this...only rising slightly later than 4AM. |
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I never thought it would happen, but we are FINALLY the proud owners of a lovely DSL connection. I don't have time (or the desire) tonight, but I'll be back shortly to post pictures of my cuties and all the fun things we've been doing this year. *YIPPEE* I'm so happy to finally be able to blog and browse around HSB to see what everyone else has been doing. *YIPPEE* |
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Spring Break is over and we are slooooowly trying to get back into the swing of things around here. The girls are ready to hit it hard, but I'm still suffering from an SB hangover. Not literally, of course, but I do so like having my days completely free. Well as free as they can be with 3 kids and a dog to take care of. My girls amaze me though. They are such deep thinkers. I wonder if I asked such tough questions when I was their ages or if I just accepted whatever information was thrown my way? I'm a people pleaser, so I'm guessing that I was one of those ideal public school students who sucked up any information I was given and then spit it back out on test day. I know I've certainly forgotten most of what I've learned even though I was an honor student. My husband laughed when I told him my favorite part of homeschooling was learning the history and science I had already forgotten. I truly can't remember much of it - even what I was supposed to have learned in college. Things are different with my girls though. They seem to have a better understanding of what they are learning and how it all fits together. I won't even fantasize that it's because I'm such a fabulous teacher. That would be laughable. I think they "get it" because they have time to take in the information, ask questions, read historical fiction, take field trips and do projects that seem to tie everything together in a way that never seemed to happen for me in the classroom. I know my teachers tried to do those things. But they never could tell if we understood what was being said or if we were totally bored with the subject and just wanted to get to recess or art class. At home, we aren't in a big hurry to finish a book by the end of the year. We don't have to teach to any test. They can absorb the information, apply it and ask the tough questions that, I think, most kids are too busy or too rushed to ask. I don't mean to imply that my girls LOVE everything we study. That would be awesome, but it's definitely not true. They do seem to want to learn what I am trying to teach them though. It's not just a bunch of facts and figures. It all has an importance to them in one way or another. They want to learn math facts so they can count their money or divide up their toys. They have an understanding of and appreciation for the struggle the early settlers had (from Biblical thru Colonial times) in a way I never grasped. For me, it was just a bunch of facts to memorize. For my girls, it's about the people. They have a deep compassion that I think is taken out of the equation in public schools. I love knowing that they are learning about the struggle as much as they are learning about the dates. I never thought I'd say it, but homeschool is cool |
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I can't do too much damage after such an inspired entry title, can I? Well I suppose a brief intro is in order since this is my first post and all... Who we are: My name is Pam. I am 37, been married to my hubby B for almost 15 years and we recently moved from NW Indiana to the Gulf coast of Florida. We are in our 6th year of homeschooling and have 3 beautiful and fun-loving daughters ages 9, 5 and 3. Curriculum: In February 2008 we began using Adventures in My Father's World and LOVE it. We are also using Math U See (Primer and Beta), and First Language Lessons (1st and 3rd Grades). Before Feb we were die hard Weaver users, but our less than stellar library and slow internet connection always left me feeling ill-prepared to handle the Weaver objectives. It's a wonderful curriculum though and we may go back to it in the future, but it's just not for us right now. So that's us in a nutshell. Eventually I'll figure out how to post photos so you can see all the fun stuff we've been up to this year. |