recently, i read a blog post  written by a public school teacher called "The Case Against Homeschooling." the post, of course, got my blood boling until i began feeling really sorry for that teacher's students.

this morning, i read a much nicer, more encouraging and funny post about the typical reasons families homeschool, and i'd like to share it with you... it was written by a guest blogger at The Pioneer Women's Homeschooling blog.

we wont't be officially learning latin for at least another year, but i've been playing the cd of music that came with our Song School Latin books while the kids play or eat breakfast and lunch.

i'm impressed that adam, our almost 3-year-old, knows the words two a few of the songs already - better than me! he sings the hello-goodbye (vale-salve) song perfectly, and is also learning how to say teacher (magistra) and student (discipuli) since they're words in the same song.

it's the sweetest thing to hear coming from his sweet little singing voice.

i changed the layout of the blog because i thought the font of the old layout was too difficult to read - especially when i'd link to other pages. so if you've been reading this blog in your reader only because of the font difficulties (i apologize!)...i think you'll find this layout is MUCH easier to read.

there are so many things to say about the CHAP (Christian Homeschoolers Association of Pennsylvania) convention....good and not-so-good. first and foremost, we have a great time every year. it's a good thing to learn more and more about what you're passionate about doing with your family (whether that be homeschooling, private-schooling, public-schooling, cyber-schooling, etc...) and not go blindly into any decision. i appreciate everything about what CHAP does for PA homeschoolers, and have nothing bad to say about the organization itself.

once again, we were encouraged and energized to go into a new year of schooling with our boys. we feel privilaged to be able to teach them at home, in the world and neighborhood around us. i went into CHAP with big plans for next year. but a day or so before getting to the convenvtion, i changed all of my plans. i realized that rowan and sawyer are still of the typical kindergarten age, and one of the reasons we're schooling them at home is to let them be kids for as long as possible. so my big curriculum plans were replaced with mid-sized ones. we're having lessons, but nothing earth-shattering or award-winning. we're going to have fun learning about math, more on reading, and some fun memorization of facts and verses.

the sessions...  there were some great speakers there this year. i was impressed with maggie hogan as i went to two of her talks. she encouraged women in their roles as mothers and wives. it was all common sense to me, and i was glad to see so many women attending. only if we could all just encourage each other on this walk of motherhood and wiving (okay, so what's the word i'm looking for there? anyone?)!

she also did a talk on "early learners" and that was especially encouraging to me as we have three of them in the house! by "early learners" she meant young kids, not "ahead of their age in learning" and she encouraged moms to keep the littles in their house busy with fun activities to keep them occupied when teaching older kids. again, common sense parenting, but esepcially encouraging was that i'm not the only one who has a 2-year-old who is into EVERYTHING if i'm not paying attention. :)

i also attended a homeschool support group leaders townhall meeting which was more of a time of encouraging leaders to keep leading. since i've been organizing get-togethers for the newly formed butler homeschool group, i've been wondering just when the real leader is going to show up. i guess that's me, since nobody else is jumping at the bit to take control. i'm happy with it now. i'm enjoying getting together with other homeschooling families in the area, and i love to organize events. so i'll keep on keeping on. it's good that CHAP is so supportive of the pennsylvania-area homeschool support groups.

the vendor hall...   i could spend hours walking around in the vendor hall...and i did, both days! it's a dream come true for curriculum junkies like me. there are used book stalls, new bookstores, large curriculum distribitors, small-scale ones, and great little gems like the victory-egg-garden booth.  i spent a lot of time in the veritas press booth and walked through the used book sellers for susan wise bauer's material (didn't get any at this time...as we went with a different spelling/reading curriculum.  i was intrigued by the science booths, especially the one that sold frogs and worms and dissecting tools. kenny was able to stock up on some insect materials (magnifying glass, insect mounting board) for what he's doing with the boys now. there is something for nearly everyone in the vendor hall.

there was a farmers market in the parking lot of the convention hall on friday, so we had a cheap lunch outside (that included an amish-made gob! although out east they call them "whoopie pies") as opposed to the EXPENSIVE lunch we were forced to have last year. and the weather was much nicer this year.

we plan to take the boys with us eventually. in a few years' time, i think they'll love the booths, love the materials, love to hang out with all the other kids running around.

it's tuesday, two days after we returned home from the state convention. and i'm still reeling with excitement for next year. it feels like we've stepped into a new realm of homeschooling...because i think adam will be more involved, as will kenny. 

we actually attended more of the talks this year and are excited about some of the information we got. kenny did a lot of the sciencey talks, and i did a lot of the "homeschool support" type talks - for homeschool support group leaders and for mothers. i return home ready to run, to teach, to lead, to parent with energy. :)

what our year will look like next year (with rowan and sawyer. i'm still working on pulling together learning resources for adam, which will largely be homemade):

Spelling and Grammar: Spell to Write and Read by Wanda Sunseri this came highly recommended by four families within a month's time - none of them know each other, but all recommended it highly. i love what i'm reading about it, and it looks like it will be good for all leveslof grammar and reading for a few years.

Math: Right Start Mathematics - another recommendation and we loved the private demonstration we had at their CHAP booth.

Bible: Children's Story bible and family devotions. We might even do more memorization of the Westminster Catechism (although I wonder if we should start with the children' version first? Dad, your thought?) along side of more bible memory verses.

Science:  various nature studies. nothing structured - just fun facts about nature and the world around us. the boys like journaling, so we'll be keeping a nature journal. currently they're still studying insects.

Latin: Songbook Latin (it's never too early to start memorizing latin words!) I think we'll use the cd as a fun music cd to listen to in the car, during breakfast/lunch/ and art time, but we won't do structured latin lessons until the following year.

Art (and music?): Sawyer has been asking me to show him how to draw certain things lately, so we found a great resource for his age called Draw Write Now. (each word in the title links to a different book - i got the first three in the series). they have lessons along with drawing and writing fun! we'll work with these as well as the Ed Emberly books my mom got for Sawyer. he's certainly our little artist.

the year will be a bit more structured than this past year, but we plan on keeping a lot of play time around the learning time. i can tell that both boys love to sit and do lessons, but they NEED time to run and play and be imaginative on their own. and i whole-heartedly believe that is part of the learning process any way. they won't be sitting for long periods of time. :)

since we've finished our "offical" curriculum a few weeks ago, kenny's been having fun with the boys teaching them all about insects. they're creating their own folders with bug pictures and charts and they've gone on a few bug hunts already.

it's perfect timing as our painted lady butterflies have emerged from their chrysallids and our ants came in the mail last week and are hard at work building tunnels all over thier 'hill."

this morning was the first gatheirng of our new homeschool group. we met at the library, had storytime (two of the older students read outloud to the younger students) and then planted seeds in a peet pot for arbor day. we then had impromptu playing and then singing time.

i look forward to seeing how this group grows and how we evolve over the months!

Susan Wise Bauer's latest blog post made me SO EXCITED that it's convention time again!  i think i just might have to make the cinncinatti one next year - look at that vendor hall!

We attend the CHAP convention in Harrisburg, and while the speaker list does not include Susan Wise Bauer this year, I am not going for the presentations. We love walking around the vendor hall and just looking at everything that is available for homeschoolers. 

I'm excited this year to be meeting an old friend there for coffee during one of the days, and kenny and i have the rest of the weekend to saturate ourselves in planning what our year will look like next year.

i've been doing a lot of research and picking of brains lately about homeschool cooperatives and support groups from homeschooling families. there isn't one within an hour's drive of us, and it was starting to wear me out.

i am the type of homeschool mom that wants to be with other homeschool families - no matter what their slant or curriculum choices are. it's important to me to get to know other parents that have made the lifestyle choice of homeschooling their chidlren. it's important to me to have my kids meet and befriend other kids of all ages that are homeschooled (in addition to their friends that go to school, not to replace them!).

i also love the idea of a cooperative group that pools together the talents other homeschooling parents and puts them in a group where our kids can benefit from their teaching style and expertise.  i dream of the day that there is a local co-op that our family can plug into.

but for now, there is nothing in our area. so a few weeks ago, i sent an email to a group of families that are part of a yahoo group in our area about getting together formally and we have started to meet already. right now, i think we're all fairly new homeschoolers (with the exception of a few seasoned parents - of whom i'm very grateful) so we're all kind of stumbling around trying to figure out what this group will look like.

i am hoping for a full-on co-op someday. we'll just have to wait and see what this group wants to do. because it all depends on the desire and talent of the parents involved.

i'm pleased to announce that we're DONE with school this year.

it's a sunny afternoon in early april, and my two kindergartners are happily playing together. they're done with "school," even though we didn't technically finish the entire curriculum.

phonics and reading: we've been breezing through the phonics and writing lessons in a few days' time, with both rowan and sawyer reading at the same level. we also continue to supplement with the Bob Books - both boys take turns reading a book a day from each of the three levels we have outloud.

math: rowan has already adding and subtracting numbers - even double digits. we haven't done one math lesson, but with the questions that he asks on a daily basis about numbers, he's gathered and deduced enough to figure it out himself. sawyer isn't as interested at this point. i'm sure he'll pick up when we start "official" math curriculum - which will probably be in the fall.

science: we are watching five pupae "painted lady" butterflies begin the chrysallis stage in a glass container and we'll be putting the "cocoons" into a butterfly environment when they've spun. i'm excited to see this take place. we'll release any butterfly that submerges and hope to see them work their magic in our flower beds. 
we're also waiting on ants to arrive in the mail at which point we'll add them to an artificial ant hill that we have to study how an ant builds tunnels and "works hard to live."
in addition to these, we'll be getting new honeybees in the mail in two weeks and each of the boys will be able to observe the hives up close in their child-size bee suit.
kenny is also planning on starting a BIG bug collection this summer - the old fashioned "pin and cardboard" kind.
science is so fun during the warm, sunny days of spring and summer!

bible: i can't believe how easily memorization comes at this stage in rowan and sawyer's learning. it's proof that the trivium makes the most sense in learning (at least to me). we memorize a new verse every other week. we read a lot of bible stories to the boys in their bible storybooks. i hope to begin reading from actual scripture and incorporating drawing and more artwork into their bible learning.

art: sawyer and adam are the biggest advocates of drawing, coloring and painting. rowan is happy to sit and do whatever the other two ask, but he doesn't ask to do it. he's much more interested in looking at pictures and through books (or being read to). we might take a saturday morning art class in the fall at a local art center.

~~~~~~~~~

all in all, this was a really fun year of homeschooling. for all of us! i doubt that we'll finish this early every year! especially when i add another level of learning (adam) to the official curriculum-learning. we'll probably do some year-end field trips before it gets too hot: the zoo (wild animals) and a local sheep farm (farm animals).

kenny and i are gearing up for the state homeschool convention at the beginning of next month. we're scanning web sites of curriculums that we're interested in for next year. we had a great experience at the christian classical education conference in february, and we're excited to begin incorporating what we've learned.

rowan and sawyer have techinically finished kindergarten and will begin first grade level lessons in the fall - depending on the curriculum we choose. i am happy not to start anything with adam yet - he's happy enough to sit with us and learn simple alphabet lessons, draw faces and sing our phonics songs.