| The Magic School House |
Doubting myself againI am doing it again. I am wondering how I could possibly be qualified to teach my children anything. I cannot be the one who is responsible for thier education. I just don't see it working. There, I said it. I am a bad homeschooler. My son is thriving in his college Japanese class. We sat down and registered him for fall. He will be taking three classes this fall at the local CC and will jsut do one class at home. One. He hates math. He is pretty good at it and he has always been capable of doing it, but he hates it. My middle dd is only 6 and in her K year. She is great at math, but guess what? She hates math. She can add and subtract single and double digit numbers. She can carry and borrow. She can count by, 2, 5, 10. She can multiply by 4. She is learning to divide. I still don't feel like I can teach her math. She was constantly asking me to spell words for her so I got her a spelling program. She didn't want to be taught to spell and proved that she didn't need to be taught by spelling all of the words from every spelling lesson in the book. I thought she needed more reading practice so I got her some reading books at her level. At first she enjoyed them. Then she realized that I was trying to teach her again and she started chosing books "above" her level and reading those. It goes on. Maybe I can teach my littlest dd who is only 2 something someday. Maybe I am just not good at chosing the material for my kids. Maybe I am picking the wrong levels. Maybe I don't understand thier learning style. Maybe my idea of being a relaxed classical homeschooler isn't working for us. Maybe I should be more rigid. Maybe I should require more work from them. Maybe textbooks are better. Maybe unschoolers are right and kids don't need to be taught things. Maybe I have no idea what I am doing. Maybe they would be better off at school Then again, maybe this is working. Maybe my expectations are the problem. 12:02 AM - Saturday, April 21 - comments {0} - post commentWhat word would you use to describe your time with your kids?Delightful comes to my mind. On most days, I smile at my children. I feel a full heart of love for them. I feel that they are delightful. I love being with them. I love trying to see the world through their eyes. I delight in my children. I have my moments of tiredness and frustration, but overall our life is delightful. 5:53 PM - Saturday, March 31 - comments {0} - post commentHomeschool in the newsI saw a link to t his article on another board. In case you haven't read it, it is interesting. It is very funny to me that when politicians are asked about homeschooling, they seem to always take both sides. Yes it is good that the families have options; I wouldn't choose that option; the parents need to be regulated to prove kids are learning or they should be put back in school. I have a question, when public schools can't prove that they are educating the kids, should kids be forced to go somewhere else? http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17872 Here is an except from the rebuttal part of the article: "In every subject and at every grade level of the ITBS and TAP batteries, home school students scored significantly higher than their public and private school counterparts," the study finds. Home-schooled children score in the 82 to 92 percentile ranking for reading and up to the 85th percentile in math. About 25 percent of all home school students are enrolled one or more grades above their age level, with the achievement gap widening as students progress. Incredibly, by the 8th grade, the average home school student performs four grade levels above the national average, the study shows. It's a good thing our kids aren't in public school. Those poor schools would be even more burdened if they had all of the homeschoolers to accommodate for. I don't see what the problem is, the school system gets our tax money and our gets get a great education. Oh, I think maybe that's the issue. Maybe every time we graduate a child that can read, write, do math, and think for themselves, we prove that it doesn't take a union and staff of professionals to teach basic skills to children. And if you are interested, here is a link to the Rudner study of homeschool kids. http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/rudner1999/Rudner2.asp
12:51 PM - Sunday, March 11 - comments {1} - post commentHave you had one of those days?Don't you love those days when you snuggle in bed with your kids? You get up and enjoy a great breakfast, then the kids help clean up and play nicely while you enjoy a cup of coffee and a chat with your hubby? Well today wasn't one of those days. We snuggled in bed and had a great breakfast - hubby made pancakes. Didn't clean up. Did enjoy the cup of coffee with the hubby. But then..... As I get out of the shower, I hear it. The sound of bickering girls and a frustrated dad tring to mediate. Then there is the issue about drilling a hole in the floor to run a cable that ends with frustrated mom and frustrated dad and a disagreement about the best course of action. Frustrated dad is the one doing the work so he can choose his own way of doing it - really. I don't have to agree with it. Then there is an argument surrounding the highschool son and laundry. Then the middle one jumps in the middle to defend her brother. Then frustrated dad, Little girl cries in her room. Smaller girl and mom try to comfort her. It is okay to defend your brother, it really is. It is a valiant thing to do. Little girls don't need to learn to pick thier battles, they need to learn to standup for what they think is right. Frustrated dad solves his problem with the floor. Little girl and Mom finally gets out the door and leaves dad with the kids. Mom is relieved to not have to deal with the rest of the day. Dad manages nap and lunch and a trip to the park. Good dad. So, if I had taken a quicker shower and not tried to help my hubby, would my day have been better? Dunno. Somes days we work great as a family and other days we don't. I love them all, but some days I am glad to go to work so I can get up tomorrow and try again. 11:06 PM - Sunday, March 4 - comments {1} - post commentI think I have been overwhelmedMy hubby noticed that I hadn't posted in a while. He uses this to help keep track of whats going on with the kids and school. So here is an update. I have been overwhelmed. There I said it. Homeschooling is hard. Teaching is hard. Being a stay-at-home mom is hard. Working full-time is hard. Trying to do all of those things and stay sane and not pull out your hair or lock your kids in thier room is hard. My last post has me rethinking my homeschool plans. I have done that and then some. Everyd week after co-op I think about putting my kids in school. I don't feel that I am capable of teaching anybody anything. I wonder if there is a homeschool-in-a-box that is all just DVD's. My kids could watch tv for 4 hours a day and get a full well-rounded education. Usually by Wednesday night, I realize that my darling 6yo daughter would love school, but I would miss her and she would miss the opportunity to really soar. My now 17yo darling boy is going to be taking 3 classes next semester at the local cc. I have resigned myself to not being able to teach him anything anymore, but that is a different problem. My super cute 2yo daughter is simply amazing. She was sorting some toy sea creatures this weekend. She had all the mamals together. She put the fish together, then asked me if one of starfish was an invertebrate. Apparently she is learning something from the science class I am teaching at co-op to the 5-9 yos. So I won't be putting them in school after all. I am still overwhelmed. My hubby mopped the kitchen for me this weekend. I just might manage to make it to the end of the year 12:37 AM - Saturday, March 3 - comments {0} - post commentWhat I want for ChristmasI read this little list this morning in an email from the Advisory group for the AmbleSideOnline yahoo group. Until I read it, I wasn't sure what I wanted for Christmas. Now I know. I want Time. Time... -- To gaze long into the eyes of a child who is vanishing into maturity with every tick of the clock. -- To listen -- not hurriedly but happily -- to young voices that will soon deepen and mellow. -- To sit and just hold each child -- even the ones who think they're too big for such -- and marvel that they are now no less a miracle than the day you first held them. -- To become as little children and just play with them. -- To brew up some mulled cider and go caroling. -- To make gingerbread folk or even a cottage, get glue-y glitter all over the kitchen, cut snowflakes for the windows, simmer orange peels and spices on the stove just for the heady aroma, make a Christmas feast tree outside for the birds or cinnamon-scented play-dough for the little cousins, roast marshmallows at the hearth,read "The Gift of the Magi" aloud, and make orange-and-clove pomanders for friends. -- To tell stories of holidays past, and pass on the heritage of loved ones now gone. -- To write loving, thoughtful, commemorative letters to each child, for them to keep and treasure forever as a remembrance of this fleeting time in our lives together -- a mother's narration of her year with the child. 2:03 PM - Saturday, December 9 - comments {2} - post commentBack from TexasWell despite the apparent mutiny during our second day of driving, our trip went better than I had hoped. I have learned that with the liitlest one, I have to schedule 15 minutes out of the car for every hour and a half in the car.The mutiny involved a nice roadside game of "throw rocks at mommy". I tried to distract them with my butterfly and frog impressions, but the rocks were more fun - for them.   The Alamo was fun for all. It even prompted A to ask questions about why Fort Desoto (which we visited during the summer) was built. These kids always making connections between things - who wudda thunk it? A had so much fun with the family that she opted to stay. Yep, my almost 6 year old stayed in Texas with her aunt and grandma and cousins. She was all giggly this morning when I called. The trip back was interesting. I always knew D had alot to say, but with just the two of us in the car, she was very talkative and interesting. I had forgotten how wonderfully imaginative two year olds are. She's not just the youngest, but a person all by herself too. Things I'm glad I took: The Dvd player in the van and lots of movies. Especially Signing Times movies and some Reading Rainbow videos. The Leapster was a great thing to bring for A. She and D didn't agree on many movies so A played her Leapster when it was D's turn to choose a movie. The portable potty was used several times - D hasn't learned the fine art of "preemptive pee". She won't try to go just because I tell her its time to try. I did decide that slightly dehydrated is the best way to keep the kids. Lots of candy and no water. 9:23 PM - Friday, November 10 - comments {0} - post commentRoad Trip WeekSince I have a newly liscenced teenager that no longer needs to be driven to his community college classes, I am packing up my little girls and going to visit my sister in Texas. It will be a 14 hour drive. This will be the first time I take D who is newly 2 on such a long drive. My older two have always been good at road trips, but D, I will have to see about her.I have T's work all printed out early for him (usually I do it on Sunday). He'll start Brave New World this week and head into World War II. We are hoping to visit the Alamo and the San Antonio Zoo. The zoo has a rhino which ours is lacking.   Of course the highlight will be seeing my sister who recently came back to the states from being deployed at Gitmo. D has never met her Aunt J. My mom will be there too and so will my nieces and nephew. It should be fun. 9:40 PM - Friday, November 3 - comments {2} - post commentThe war in IraqAs the daughter, sister, and wife of previous enlisted men (and and a sister), I wanted to share this with any who hadn't already read it. Its an email from a marine in Iraq to his family. It gives a great voice to the thousands of military men and women who don't get their story told on the news. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1543658-1,00.html 2:58 PM - Sunday, October 8 - comments {0} - post commentWifeSwap tagJessica from the
Trivium academy tagged me. So here is my response. 7:05 PM - Friday, October 6 - comments {0} - post comment
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Description A homeschool and life blog about the adventures of one mom and three kids (my ds Handsome who is 17, my dd Beautiful who is 6, and my dd SweetPea who is 2) and a wonderful husband (known here as hubby). I work full-time three days a week. Hubby works 5 days a week. I am a relaxed classical homeschooler that is making it all up as I go along. Home User Profile Archives
Curriculum Choices
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