Huhtala Homeschoolers

Today during Science Katrina was reading about James Watt and his steam engine. When she read this line: "They worked slowly, making only about fifteen strokes a minute, and they were expensive also, a single engine burning fifteen thousand dollars' worth of coal in a year. " She said, "Why did they have to BURN money??"

The literal interpretations are hilarious. I wonder how often they hear this stuff in the world and what they must think?

A friend asked me if I thought my kids were learning as much homeschooling as they do at public school. I told her that since we were just beginning, that I was certain they weren't learning the same "quantity" as their public counterparts, but that it didn't really bother me because I knew that they were still learning good stuff. I pondered this for a while afterward and started to think about all the things my kids would be learning right now if they went to the school down the street. Then it hit me...I wouldn't know! I was sending them to school day after day and with the exception of the once a week visits to the classroom for a few hours, I had no idea what was being taught to my child on a daily basis. Of course I would see the homework and know what they were studying in math or what kind of grammar they were learning about, but essentially, I had no idea what my kids were studying all day long. Here are some things I did observe that they did and how I hope to counter teach that in homeschooling:

1. Daily Bell work. Write a few sentences, do a word search, fill in the blanks on some worksheets....

Homeschool: Sing a song we are studying, say a prayer, read some scriptures, practice memorization on the poetry we are studying, practice italics handwriting.

2. Math Studies: Sit and listen while the teacher goes over several problems in detail, then receive a worksheet of several more of the same type of problems and work on it. Take some timed speed tests.

Homeschool: Mom teaches a few concepts if needed, and child finishes one worksheet, asking Mom for help if he gets confused. We also do random "life" lessons with baking, measuring ingredients, doubling recipes, counting money, figuring percentages, fractions, etc...

3. Daily Reading: Teacher turns on a phonics sound recording and children follow along in their reading books. Usually the stories are very simple and teach some life lessons. Afterwards, the children take a quiz with the teacher reading the questions to answer questions. Older children read independently and then write a 5 paragraph essay about what they read after being given a writing prompt.

Homeschool: Mom gets out the current classic literature. Kids get cozy on the couch and raise their hands whenever they have a question. They ask questions frequently, and because there are only 2 children, we can discuss the book in pretty heavy detail. After our reading session, one of the children narrates to me what they remember, almost always, the other child has even more details to add on and fill in the blanks.

4. Creative Writing/Grammar - They do vocabulary worksheets out of a book that usually corresponds with their reading selection. For creative writing the teacher gives the children a prompt on an overhead projector. In the younger grades she gives guides to help them start each sentence such as "First, I would...." "Next, I would..." "Clearly, this shows that....." Payton still tries to write all paragraphs with this kind of canned sentence structure. It drives me crazy!

Homeschool: Right now we are focusing more on copywork. I have them copy the current poetry we are studying, or some lines out of the current literature we are reading. Soon, I will have Payton start writing out his narrations occasionally instead of saying them orally. We are studying Italics handwriting and I am hoping it helps improve Paytons handwriting, as well as my own! We also do some sentence structure study which usually doesn't take more than 10 minutes.

5. Spelling: Repeatedly write weekly spelling words by rainbow writing and creating sentences such as "I take a bath every day." Take a weekly test.

Homeschool: Read, read, read! The more children read, the more they see the words, the better they are as spellers. Copywork also teaches them excellent spelling skills but instead of just writing random sentences, they are writing ones that have interesting structure behind them such as, "The hot summer day made the river feel like a warm bath."

6. Arts/Computers: Watch the teacher on the overhead, create something very similar. Make a fun craft, draw a picture. Go to the computer lab once a week. At our school they were fortunate to have an art teacher who taught them all sorts of cool stuff.

Homeschool: Focus on actual painters and their works of art. Do nature notebooks and sketch what you see. Take an art class (paid for by the charter school). Learn handiwork (not my specialty but we're going to give it a shot). Do a typing program, play educational computer games, type their narrations, write a blog entry (coming soon!).

History/Science: Read from a textbook, create timelines, do a science experiment, make projects, take tests.

Homeschool: Read entire books on one person or subject (instead of a paragraph), create timelines and use maps. Do science experiments. Nature Study.

Now, as you can see from above, I do not know the meaty details of what is being taught in public schools. Maybe that is a part of why I am homeschooling. I felt so left out of their lives! They would come home and be able to tell me absolutely nothing about their day except for what was for hot lunch and why don't they get Hot Cheetos like the other kids?? Which reminds me that I left out an important subject in the world...Socialization.

School: Don't talk in class or you get sent to the office, get tripped by a big kid and called a nasty name (or if you're a girl, get pet on the head and told you're cute). Play games on the playground but make sure your necklace or zipper doesn't cut anybody or you get suspended. DON'T TOUCH ANYONE or you sit on the bench for the whole recess. Get laughed at when you trip, told to "go away" when you want to play basketball, and have your best girlfriend tell you your not her friend because you wouldn't give her the majority of your yummy snack.

Homeschool: Stick your tongue out at your sister, help your baby brother with his scissor practice, tell your mom you hate chores, read your little sister a book, give mom a hug, fight with your sister about who gets to be on the computer, sit in a time out for hitting, kiss your baby brothers owie, build a fort with your sister, tell Dad about the book you're reading, play a board game with Mom, play video games at a friends house, ride bikes with friends outside. They will also receive socialization through dance/drama classes, co-ops, etc...

Have I missed any subjects? Any thoughts? Bueller.....Bueller......

Today at snack time I was trying to think of something easy but really good for snack (can you tell I was hungry?) and Katrina looks in the freezer and says "How 'bout some of this Caramel Delight Ice Cream?" In this, "I know I'm dreaming but isn't it funny?" voice.



I then made time stop (did you know I had that talent?) as I said, "Ok; get it out." I mean, you could have heard a pin drop for about 3 dumbfounded seconds and then it was this deafening ROAR of "YESSSSSS!!!"

I played the "Enjoy this little treat and worship the ground I walk on" part very well, then I went in a quiet room and savored every bite :)

I promised my friend Kimmie that I would be honest about the good and the bad of homeschooling. That I would not sugarcoat it and act like it's always perfect, but tell it like it is. I actually expected to immediately feel discouraged and frustrated right from the start of homeschooling, so it was no surprise when today was "a bad day". I was frustrated that I couldn't get my house to my level of perfection I wanted before school. I was frustrated that a 2nd child has come down with pink eye overnight. I was frustrated that my daughter still won't put toothpaste on her toothbrush unless I catch her and that I made her feel like she's worthless because she always forgets this very basic and essential step to TOOTHBRUSHING! Then school starts and as usual our devotional is wonderful and brings back the calm, but immediately afterwords comes MATH and once again....I am frustrated to no end that my child is taking 20 minutes to do 4 math problems that he should be able to finish in 5 minutes. I am frustrated when my daughter whines that she doesn't want to copy sentences out of a book, and starts to cry and snot and wipe her nose repeatedly with her hands. I keep saying, "You guys wouldn't do this with your teachers at school!". How the heck would I know that? I wouldn't because when they are at school, I don't see them for at least 6 hours, and I keep reminding myself that for some twisted reason, I saw this as a bad thing and decided I wanted to keep all those joyful moments for myself! Lucky me!

I took this picture to capture the joy my kids find at the thought of beginning their homeschooling day:


Pathetic huh? Of course Katrina is smiling.


I then snapped, "Everybody smile like your happy!"


Much better!

On a positive note (insert annoying positive mom voice here)...We are studying the art of Raphael Sanzio (so of course Payton keeps raising his hand and asking questions about Ninja Turtles). I had some of Raphaels art work printed out from Walmart. The guy at the counter tried to give me copyright grief but the fact of the matter is, neither of us knew whether or not it was really OK to print them out and once I mentioned homeschooling, he just let it go. So, I pass an 8x10 of a picture around and let the kids study it, then I take it back and ask them to tell me what they remember about the picture. They were very observant! They noticed lots of little details and they enjoyed "finding" little hidden objects or details within the painting. I also had a 3x5 of each print for each of them to put in a small photo book, and I will be having them make an opposing 3x5 that lists the name of the artist, when he was born/died and the name of the painting. This way, they can look back at their books to remember the art we have studied.

My house in the middle of homeschooling looks like a tornado hit. There are flashcards thrown all over the living room (when did the imp sneak past me and get those out??) There are tiny bits of paper everywhere from Tyson and Bella's scissor practice. There are random tools and utensils all over from Tyson getting them out of drawers while I was distracted with Art Studies. Water has been spilled on the floor, Bella's screaming because Tyson hit her with a toy Katrina is crying because she doesn't want Bella to have any of her stuff and HAS PAYTON SERIOUSLY ONLY DONE 1 MATH PROBLEM IN 10 MINUTES AND WHERE HAS HE GONE ANYWAY?? I mean who's responsible for all these kids? I am, and until I figure out the magic formula that is going to bring order to my life, we are not going to succeed at this. Although I had originally decided not to have a strict schedule for homeschooling, I think I need to start out with one until we get a good routine going. And I will be sure to pencil in on that schedule, "Go into your closet with a pillow, press it over your face and scream as loud as you can for 1 minute. Then check your smile in the mirror and go educate those kids!"

I have heard from most people that the first year of homeschooling is the hardest and that you must stick it out to year 2 in order to get a feel for if it is going to work for your family. Already, we are a little jealous of the kids who get to go to school, play on the playgrounds and meet new teachers. I remember though, that these excitements wear off within the month usually, and I keep telling myself, and my kids, that we have it much better right now.

My two littlest monkeys have already been much more of a distraction then I anticipated! They see Mom giving so much attention to the older ones that it makes them want to be a part of it all too. I do my best to give them things to do, but when you sit down to teach a math concept and you are interrupted 3 times from your toddlers it can get frustrating. Not to mention the poop and hunger pains and "did he seriously just dump his chocolate milk on the carpet?" How do teachers handle having 30+ students in their class?? I know they are not toddlers but they can't all be sitting perfectly still without causing distractions. No wonder they need the hyper ones to be medicated so badly...

Speaking of medication, I have taken Payton off of his meds (again). I realize that medication makes things easier for me and that maybe it's an excuse for me to not have to work quite so hard at parenting. It takes a lot of hard work, study, consistency and especially PATIENCE to handle a special needs child. Who knows, maybe we'll try medication again. It might just be an "easy spell" right now. (Parents with kids with ADHD know what I am talking about...I swear they have cycles...like PMS!)

With all of Paytons struggles, I still have to say that as I have spent so much time with him this summer, he has some great strengths.

1. He is a FABULOUS house cleaner. Especially if there is a reward in sight such as a movie. I can get that boy to clean anything I put on a list, and it always looks GREAT when he is finished.

2. He is very bright and loves to learn and is always inquisitive about the how and why of things.

3. He is very sensitive to the feelings of his mom and when he notices that I am stressed and upset, he tries to do his best to make it better. Whether it is asking what he can do to help, or apologizing for being extra hard that day and promising to try to be "good". He is always aiming to put a smile on my face.

4. He loves hugs and gives me several a day.

Tonight while Jay was at a church meeting Payton said, "I bet you wouldn't really like to play cops and robbers with me and Tyson huh? You'd find that boring." I said, "Not really my favorite game." He then said, "Can't you just try it and see if you like it? You just have to chase us around." So, even though I was sure I would regret it, I put down whatever I was cleaning with at the moment and started pointing plastic guns at my sons and shooting them! This goes against everything that I allow in my house, but it suprisingly felt so innocent! It made me realize that the worlds standards of what play is acceptable have changed, because none of us want to raise "columbine" kids. But am I really going to raise a killer by encouraging good old fashioned good guys vs. bad guys? We ran and laughed and ducked into dark rooms and hid under blankets. We snuck up behind each other and scared the wits out of each other and then did army rolls across the couches. It all lasted about 15 minutes but my Tyson didn't stop following me around and saying "Let's run Mom, let's run!" for about 20 minutes afterwards. I said, "Sorry, Mommy died." "Awwwww...." he said. :)

I am already feeling less pressure with homeschooling. We don't have to be in bed before 8pm because we have "school". We have time to snuggle and read stories because it's ok if we sleep in until 7:30. We don't have to pack lunches or prepare backpacks, make sure notes are signed or the right papers in the right place. We don't always have to be showered and squeaky clean (meaning it can wait till morning) And best of all, I won't receive any phone calls telling me that my child kept talking out of turn so he was sent to a classroom of big kids to "scare him". Or that because he didn't finish his work, he had to stay inside during recess and sit at his desk instead. No, instead I can pull him close to me, whisper that I love him, and give him a hug to tell him that he is a special person, a child of God, who has unlimited potential. Then, we'll go play cops and robbers. :)

So this morning my kids woke up and were eager to start homeschooling. I'm determined to be organized and thus, I informed my children that before homeschooling we had to do the following:

1. Eat Breakfast
2. Do morning chores/clean-up
3. Get dressed and brush whatever gets brushed every day
4. Pick-up rooms

I hoped to start around 9am, but already there were several distractions with poop, a little one who still won't walk even though the cast has been off for almost a week, and a toddler who wanted to run around and make an abnormal amount of messes this morning, even for him :)

Around 9:30am we got started. I announced that we were going to sing our Primary Song we have been working on this month at church.

Payton: "We have to SING in homeschool? (In his "this is lame" voice)
Mom: "Yes, we will be singing." (In her pretend, happy, patient voice)

I then said that we were going to say a prayer.

Payton: "Why are we PRAYING before homeschooling?" (again in THAT tone)
Mom: "Well, because that is one of the many great things about homeschooling. We can say a prayer and no one can tell us we can't. By praying we get to start our homeschooling day out on the right foot, and I feel that this morning devotional is going to be the most important part of our day!" (in my own repeated tone)

Next, I announced we were going to read some scripture and I braced myself......

Payton: "We HAVE to read scriptures??"
Mom: (In a tone that is losing it's pretend happiness) "Not only will we read scriptures, but we are also going to be reading poetry, and even memorizing some things, and if you have something negative to say, I would appreciate it if in the future you keep it to yourself and talk to me about it after school."

He started to say something, but decided against it once he saw the "don't mess with me dude" look on my face

So! I've decided we are going to study stories of the Old Testament this year. We will be reading directly from the King James Version. While I read, I gave Tyson and Bella each a paper and crayons to doodle and if they started to talk or laugh, I paused and reminded them (in that annoying nice Mommy voice) that during scripture time they were not to speak, but if they HAD to say something they could raise their hand.

Halfway through the creation chapter, I had Katrina narrate to me what she had heard, and she had paid attention! I then continued to read and Payton even asked me to define some words such as "Firmament" and "Fowls". Then at the end, I had him narrate and he too, had paid attention! (Even though the whole time I had been pulling pencils, scissors, and his brothers crayons away from him and pausing to tell him to stop rubbing his brothers head because it was upsetting him) How the boy can look like he is completely oblivious to what I am saying but still absorb information is a talent that I would like to bottle some day...

Next, I had them copy our school motto in their absolute best handwriting:

"I am; I can; I ought; I will." And we discussed each of these things (the little geniuses have it memorized, can you believe it?)

I then read to them our poem to be memorized this week "The Robin Redbreasts" by Hawkshawe. They just thought it was hilarious when I said, "Wee, wee, wee, wee!" In my high voice.

My friend Merrilee Leinweber popped in at this point to pick up Bella. I had expressed my concerns about her not walking and Merrilee wanted to take her for a few hours and try and help her to walk. In her exact words, "She just needs her Merrilein to help her!" I was quite skeptical that she could accomplish this as several people had already tried to get her to do this (with all SORTS of reward promises....even a new hamster) with no success. So, off she went and I was very grateful to have only 1 toddler to keep entertained for awhile.

After this, we did some math review. We don't have our supplies from the charter school yet so I just had Payton practice some division and Katrina do some workbook pages.

Next, we went into the living room to read one of our literature selections this term, "The princess and the Goblin." We had to pause here because Tyson had eaten an obscene amount of peaches at Grandmas yesterday (under Jay's supervision) and had diarrhea that burned his butt so bad he was screaming and trying to leap off the changing table every time I touched a wipe to his skin. I had to give him a bath.

So, I returned, and settled down to read. As we read, I was very worried that they would get restless quick. I had hoped to read 3 chapters of the book today, and it was a bit of a complicated read. I mean it had a good story, it just was written in a classic style and used a lot of big words. But Charlotte Mason said that children should not have literature that had been "dumbed down". That they are capable of thinking beyond what we think their capabilities are. So, I trudged through it using terms like "ludicrously grotesque" and "lawless imagination" Once, Payton raised his hand and said, "This book uses a lot of big words." But that was all, and when I finished the first chapter, they both told me what the book was about. I wasn't worried about if the book would be hard to understand, but more about if it was going to keep their interest! I then read the second chapter and glanced at the third realizing it was a bit longer than the others, so I decided to put the book down and not push my luck with how well they were behaving. At this point, Payton sits up and says, "Can't we just read a little bit more?" and Katrina says, "Yes! I want to know what happens next!" I sat there for a second with my jaw open, and tearing up just slightly said, "I guess we can read just one more chapter."

In the story, the little heroine had found an old woman who was spinning something in a room and at the end of the chapter it asked, "What do you think she was spinning?" And both of my kids said, "Bread!" I was utterly confused. "Where did you guys get that?" They then both started to insist that the book earlier, had said that the Old Woman was spinning bread. We went back in the chapters trying to find where they had gotten this information and then I found the following passage: "There was hardly any more furniture in the room than there might have been in that of the poorest old woman who made her bread by her spinning."
I could definitely see why they thought she was spinning bread, it was really cute!

Our adventures in our first day of homeschooling were such a success. I can tell it is going to take some "undoing" of Paytons expectations of what school is. For instance, when I pulled out an old Math workbook and opened up to the first page I was going to have him do, he instantly started freaking about the fact that there were about 25 long division problems. I touched his hand and in a calm voice told him that he was no longer required to plug out problem after problem. That he only had to do 5 problems without any mistakes to show me that he understood it, and that we would move on to the next section. He was completely suspicious but I could tell that he was truly hoping I wasn't pulling a fast one over on him. Math was a cinch and the best part was being able to stop before he started to get sick of it.

Near the end of the school day, Merrilee came to the door holding Bella with a big gi-normous sucker in her hand. I said, "Are you walking?" and Merrilee was shaking her head no with a sad face, then she put Bella down and Bella had a big grin on her face and started to hobble over to me on BOTH LEGS! We were all yelling and jumping around and I just got tears in my eyes! It had been almost a week and Merrilee had used her miracle woman powers once again and gotten her to do it within a few hours! As she was leaving I asked her how she had done it and she told me over her shoulder, "All you need is a little pink glittery nail polish!" I should have known....

I have realized that most of my family had no idea I was planning on homeschooling starting in August. Since I have made my decision I have been receiving mixed reactions. Strangers think I am weird and instantly tell me my kids are going to have "socialization issues". (So rude by the way.) My friends express admiration and ask if I can homeschool their kids too, and my family is worried for my mental health and the general safety for my children.

Here are a few reasons why I have decided to homeschool:

1. I began to notice my children disliking school and learning in general. It hits around 2nd grade. Around the time when children are required to sit for longer periods of time and are required to keep quiet so as not to disturb a teacher that needs to teach 25+ children a subject that they are "required" to learn at this age. In homeschool, I will be able to teach my children about things they are passionate about. I hope that they will LOVE to learn! The lessons will be short (each lesson no more than 20-30 minutes per subject) and we will be striving for QUALITY not QUANTITY. We'll do every cursive letter perfect and beautiful and then get to put it away. Not do sheets of practice that make both of us cry and wonder why we have to spend an hour on it only to have a teacher write on the page how sloppy it is.

2. In Public School children need to all work at the same pace so no other children get "left behind". If a child starts to get left behind, they cannot receive the kind of individualized attention they need for something they struggle with. Homeschooling can let them learn at the level of their brain, and not require them to learn at their "age level". All children are different...so what if a child doesn't learn to read when they are 5 years old and they are 8 instead. They will STILL KNOW HOW TO READ and will have learned when their brain is ready. I could go on and on about this....

3. HOMEWORK...pretty self-explanatory. In the 4th grade my son was going to school for 6 hours and then coming home with 1 1/2 hours worth of homework. What the heck am I sending him to school for?? He's 9 years old, not earning his college degree! With homeschooling, because of the individualized instruction, until high school we can be done with school by the time lunchtime comes around with no "homework". How awesome is that?? However, because the child will love learning so much, they will probably choose to spend some of their free time learning about things that interest them.

4. Teachers spend more time with my children than I do. The time that I do spend with my children involves me yelling at them to hurry up and get ready so we can get out the door, hurry up and finish their homework, hurry up and get ready for bed.....not a lot of quality time there. I want to reconnect as a family and learn to love my children and truly know them.

5. They can learn without a politically correct agenda in mind. We can say a prayer and read some scripture before starting our subjects. We can learn about christian morals and values without having to be careful about who we are going to offend. An atheist psycho dad cannot get the courts to tell us that we can't say "under God" or sing "Silent Night" at Christmas time, and we never have to say "Happy Holidays."

I could go on and on with this, but just know that I have wanted to do this since Payton hit the 3rd grade but did not have the "guts". I do worry about my sanity, and my abilities to teach my children, but I have decided that if I trust in the Lord that all will be ok. How many of my kids teachers said a prayer before teaching my children that they would teach them effectively?? I'm guessing none of them :) So, with the Lord on my side...they are going to be ok. I may also decide it's too hard and put them back in school by next year. This is ok too. Although my reasons show that I am unhappy with Public School, there are a lot of good things about it (I'll write about my views on socialization another day), and I do not judge anyone who chooses to have their children in Public School. If I do put them back in school, I will change the way I choose to spend my time with them, and never allow them to have a 2nd rate teacher. I spent a lot of time trying to make a certain ADHD child exactly what the school system needed him to be. I called and cried to my mom a lot! I hope that with homeschooling, I can just let him be exactly who he is, and not try to alter the creative, sweet, loving, enthusiastic, energetic boy that he is!

I will need a lot of support as I tackle this endeavor. Shalene and Amber, we will be doing a fieldtrip to RT and seeing how pizzas are made. Terry and Dean, love to learn all about creating and running your own business. Alisha, some hairstyling lessons to me and my girls would be appreciated. Brandon and Scott, Physical fitness and how to intimidate?? Candra, how to kick butt and take names and still look cute doing it. Deb is doing a few science lessons, Mom can help in baking and gardening and teach them how to make a mess and not let it bug them (I will be attending that class too.) Wayne and Jason will be in charge of Outdoorsy stuff and keeping alive the tradition of using terms like "It only got hit in the head by that car. That's perfectly good meat, load it up!"