Huhtala Homeschoolers

Another Nature Walk Blog...

2010-03-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

Today we went on a long nature walk through a local field. It has big hills, lots of wild flowers, and most importantly, birds! (Which we are studying in Science)

We are now quite familiar with the House Sparrow, the American Robin, the Red-winged Blackbird and the Western Meadowlark. It's very exciting to see these birds and know their identification. Today we also saw a few Egrets. It was fun to watch them through the binoculars and watch the kids hunt for their nests carefully in the grass. At the end of our walk we were blessed with a spectacular display of about 10 Red-winged Blackbirds all flying low right in front of us. The kids loved to see the flashes of red mixed with the black.

As we came to the top of a big hill in the field, in the distance we could see our old Elementary school that was just "getting out" for the day. Parents were lined up around the block in their cars, traffic was abundant, and as I looked ahead at my 8yo with a pair of binoculars to her eyes watching the sky, and my 10yo holding my toddlers hand so he didn't fall as he navigated a steep hill, I realized that although I sometimes miss my own personal freedoms, and quite often complain that this is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, that these moments are more important.

And I ponder....I was a little selfish when I wanted them gone at school all the time. Now I find myself feeling selfish for keeping them home to myself. It's a good trade...

Outdoors

2010-03-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

I encourage my children to go outside as much as possible when not schooling. They have started to catch on that if they stay outside and play, I quite often don't push the "bookwork" or chores until they are underfoot. They think that they are being sly and quite honestly, I just let them think it! We're not heavy into organized sports so all the fresh air and exercise my kids get on their own is a plus. They are currently practicing a "Youtube" skit called "Super Mario Brothers". The dog is a Yoshi...

When we first began homeschooling, they played outside for maybe 30 minutes a day. Then we bought the trampoline and the time has slowly been increasing. Yesterday, they played outside for about 2 hours sporadically throughout the day. Today, they have been outside for almost 2 hours already and it's just past 10am. AND it's raining!

They started to come in at one point because someone had ruined the game, and I stated: "Oh! That's too bad because I was just going to make you a thermos of hot chocolate!"

They decided to wait :)

In this picture, Payton is under the trampoline with a hose...in the rain. I was not very amused...

The Squishy Saga

2010-02-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

So, a few weeks ago, Squish turned 8 weeks old. He is quite big, and we decided he had lived in a box long enough. It was time to go spread his wings and venture out into the real world. (In other words, he was going to Grandmas to live with other chickens.) Some things to mention that we hadn't really considered up to this point:

1.Squishy has always lived in a box, with a heated lamp, only venturing outside for 10 minutes at a time with the kids while the dog was locked in his crate.

2.He has always had his food and water there for him, in the same place.

3.He has never seen another chicken. He thinks he is human.

As you might guess...these things might create a problem in our story.....

So, we pack Squish up in a smaller, travel size box, with his lamp and set on the road to Grandmas. The plan is to bake Christmas cookies at Grandma Debbie's, then go to Grandma Karen's for a Christmas family gathering. When we arrive, we immediately take Squishy around the house and let the other hens out. We then litter the ground with stale, moldy bread, because that's a TREAT to chickens! As the chickens ran up the hill to eat the bread, Squish didn't seem to notice them. I don't know what I thought he would do....maybe flap excitedly and squawk and have a happy, joyful dance with his new chicken friends? Sadly, he just kept chasing after us humans! Whenever we would push him towards the other hens and try to quickly retreat, he would dash after us as if to say, “Where are we going?” Finally, we outsmarted the CHICKEN and escaped onto the deck without him noticing. One of the hens went right up to him as she was eating the bread, and Squish suddenly did a “double take” as if he was thinking, “Where in the world did THAT come from??” He then noticed that this “thing” had an interesting red hangy thing on its head that should be pecked (in case it was edible). As he pecked, the hen indeed noticed him for the first time, and ATTACKED! She reared up and pecked, calling her girlfriends in the meantime. They all ran over in defense and jumped poor Squish! He tried to fight back but didn't have a chance, and when the rooster stepped in, he made a hasty get away. For awhile, the rooster followed him all around the yard herding him away from his “ladies”.

Not a good start...but I knew that hens often take awhile to accept newbies and so we persevered. At this point, Squish was panting with thirst, but no matter how many times I tried to get him to drink out of a bowl...he just didn't get it. I decided maybe it would be best if he just went into the pen and became familiar with his new home there. We brought him in the hen house, showed him how to get up and down from the nesting boxes, and how to get out of the house into the pen. We then put some corn on the ground so all the other chickens would come in, which they did eagerly. Squish now had a new respect for his new “friends” and stayed quite clear of them. They proceeded to ignore him as before and fill their belly's with corn. I put Squish near their water, and once again, he just didn't get it. Jay just kept saying, “Don't worry, he'll drink when he gets thirsty enough” but I really wasn't too sure. I mean, animals have instincts but what if you've messed them up with a sheltered life? Suddenly, one of the hens noticed Squishy standing in a corner and proceeded to stalk over to him. Squish started to panic and didn't know where to run, then this mean old biddy just started pecking at him! He screamed and squawked a sound I had never heard from him before and proceeded to run circles around the edges of the pen, drawing everyone's attention. I felt so sad, and the kids begged me to let him out, but I told them it was necessary.

We had to leave to our dinner at Grandma Karen's, but we were going to come back that night to pick up goodies, so I told the kids we would check on Squish one more time then. When we came back, it had been dark for some time and the temperatures were dropping fast, I told Jay I really wanted to check Squish. I just wanted to make sure he knew to go into the actual hen house when it was this cold. (Mama was worried!) I didn't expect him to be cuddled up to his nasty new family but wanted to be assured that he was, in fact, under a roof. As Jay and I walked down the hill to the pen, he shone the flashlight into the outside of the pen onto the ground and there, in front of the door, lying in the mud, in the cold, was my Squishy! He was either too afraid to go into the pen, or just didn't know better. I went to the door and opened it and cooed, “C'mere my Squish...” He began to peep like a little new born chick, struggled to his feet and waddled over to me, peeping and chirping. I scooped him up and put him against me inside my jacket, where he promptly buried his head under my arm as if to say, “Mom! It was awful! Don't make me go back in there!” I turned to Jay and said, “He's coming home.”

Jay got his travel box and lamp out of the car, and we put him in the house. He began to promptly clean himself (remember this is the first time he's ever been dirty) and peeped and scratched merrily at his shavings. We put a bowl of water in his box, which he tipped over repeatedly and did not drink. We finally left for home, and when we arrived, we set up a new BIGGER box that we had taken from Grandma. We put fresh food and water in, and he ran over to HIS water, and he began to drink, and drink, and drink, and DRINK! We put a perch in for him which he promptly flew up to and fell asleep under his warm lamp.

The conclusion: Squish is not a chicken, he is a human. Like Mowgli in the Jungle Book, he has been raised by another species with no contact with his own kind. I incorrectly assumed that he was miserable in his cramped box and would be much happier running free all over Grandmas acreage with his fellow genus. As I looked at Squish that night in his box, I realized that he was so incredibly happy to be there. In the warm, familiar surroundings, with the family he knows and loves. :) Sure, I guess you could say we've “messed him up”, but I think he would disagree.

Welcome home Squish!

Pairs

2009-12-01T14:14:00.000-08:00

In the below story, anything that is in Italics is something I see as a joy and benefit of having my kids around me so much, and being able to experience them first hand:

Today my kids were playing outside together quite a bit. When I glanced out the window, I saw my two older kids playing some game where one was crawling around on their hands and knees like some animal, and the other was leading them around the yard. My young ones were animatedly having some make believe discussion on the swing set, with, of course, Bella telling Tyson exactly what to do and how to do it.

A while later, they came inside and continued in their "pairs". Payton and Katrina went to his room playing their "puppy" game and Bella and Tyson asked for some wooden dolls to get down. At one point, I walked past the room where the big kids played and saw Katrina face down on Paytons bed snippedly saying something about how she didn't want to play with him. This has always been a problem with her, she knows that if she whines and refuses to play with Payton when the game is not going her way, it will teach him, and just maybe she'll get her way! Otherwise, she'll absolutely make his life miserable. I have been trying to help Payton lately understand why she does this, and that instead of getting so upset and crying that "Katrina won't play the game now" he should try

a) Walking away and teaching her a lesson that it doesn't bother him (my choice)
b) Talk to her about it and come up with a solution

As I walked by and saw her throwing one of her manipulative fits, I said "Katrina, you just go in your room right now and be by yourself if you're going to act like that!" When Payton, to my surprise, held up his hand and said "Wait Mom, let me just try something." and calmly shut the door. They haven't emerged from their game for the past 45 minutes.

Bella then came out of her room with Tyson in tow and said, "Mom, we cleaned up all the wood dolls, now can we please have the cake down?" A little while later, they cleaned that up and asked to watch a movie. Bella picked Swan Lake. She brought the movie case over to Tyson and said dreamily, "Isn't she so, so, pretty Tyson?" Tyson just *sighed* in the same dreamy voice. :)

I then said they could watch it after Bella swept the floor, she ran and grabbed the sweeper and said, "C'mon Tyson, you sweep and I'll show you where!" Which he agreed to. After they were done sweeping Bella said, "Mom, today Tyson and I are friends!"

I just love when the kids quietly group off and find enjoyment in spending time with each other. (And not just because it keeps them out of my hair) It just feels so right to have siblings getting along and playing like "friends". Now, in about 10 minutes everyone could be worst enemies, and on the floor ripping each others hair out, but for now, I will just enjoy that tranquil feeling of being a happy FAMILY.

A Much Needed Break

2009-11-22T10:47:00.001-08:00

My husband and I agreed that at the start of every "term" he would take the kids away from the house, for a weekend, so that I could have some time to myself. During this time, I write out our homeschooling schedule for the next term, organize some parts of the house and just enjoy some "alone" time. Something that you NEVER get with 4 homeschooling children unless you run away. Or die.....

Somehow, for this "break" my husband managed to squeeze himself into the "alone" time and pass the kids off to various relatives. As you may have guessed, I have gotten hardly ANYTHING done and my house is in worse shape than when the kids are here. There is something about having my husband around that makes me want to be generally lazy and spend lots of money. Also, of course one of my children is back home because he came down with a yucky bug and had to be taken to the ER last night, (which could have been completely handled by my husband if he had been WITH the kids). Long story short: Next time, he goes too! :)

Am I selfish to ask for this time for myself? I hate inconveniencing people but I really feel like 1 weekend every 3 months isn't too much to ask. Is it?

This weekend hasn't been totally unproductive. I have scheduled out the next semester and written the term exam. I have also started to write out some ideas and gather curriculum to begin incorporating my preschoolers more into the mix. I plan to start spending at least 45 minutes per day doing activities with just them. I also plan on guiding their activities better throughout the day. They will be given things to color, cut and paste, blocks to build, play-do to mold, and coats and boots to play outside to their hearts content (instead of nightgowns and slippers...I mean no wonder they never stay outside longer than 10 minutes). Hopefully this will distract them from their former activities: Dumping out humidifiers, playing in the bathroom and trying to help "clean" the toilet, rubbing Desitin all over the bed and carpet, and of course screaming, crying and pulling each others hair. Since I've started homeschooling, my older kids have taken my attention away from my younger children. There must be balance!

Another benefit of this weekend has been all of my studying and reading of different Charlotte Mason curriculum's and websites. It has given me a renewed sense of purpose and excitement about why I am doing what I am doing. Charlotte Mason said:

"... We want our children to feel that each fresh lesson gives them an "open sesame" to a fairy palace full of treasures worth the seeking; that they are the inheritors of all the heaped-up gains of past ages, not slaves doomed to a treadmill of weary monotony. We do not want their experience to be that of some "grown-ups" who can tell us of a happy early childhood, when the world seemed all alive with interest, and Nature was teaching them many things, until there came an ever-to-be- remembered dark time when they had to begin to "do lessons"; lessons which unfortunately failed to excite any interest and only became a big, palpable barrier, shutting off the old gracious freedom of the days when they learnt without learning. "

I want my children to find joy in learning. I want them to love the outdoors and feel of Gods goodness and beauty in a world that is slowly burying all of these things. They must have this if they are to give their own children a legacy to follow.

"Children first should be learning about the world as it is- no matter how brilliant and academically gifted children are, they should all have plenty of opportunities to climb trees, play in mud puddles, go for long walks, run in meadows, wade in streams, sort rocks, shells, and acorns, collect bugs, watch butterflies emerge from a cocoon, run, skip, ride, swim, and more.

A child who has splashed in a puddle has a richer understanding of a pond. A child who has climbed a tree has a broader grasp of what was involved when explorers first climbed Everest. A child who has collected stones or shells has a deeper grasp of what is involved in scientific classification later." Charlotte Mason

I am now designating every Friday as our families "Wild Days". We are going to do most of our schooling Monday through Thursday, and each Friday we are going to take a field trip together and make great memories. We'll pack a picnic and just spend at least 3 hours away from home. Generally, it will be outdoors, at a new park, lake or trail. Sometimes, it will need to be indoors and we will visit a museum or maybe even just some friends or family member. The idea is, I want my children to find some privileges and excitement in homeschooling. Some grand thing that they will remember fondly when they are older and say, "Wasn't homeschooling the greatest?"

Saying Thank You

2009-11-09T15:54:00.000-08:00

The Huhtala Clan, while always incredibly grateful for all they are given, has never done very well in the thank you card department. We had soooo many good intentions of sending out cards after birthdays and Christmas. We'd even go so far as to "write down what was received" next to the persons name on a list. As if by this act alone we were committed to sending a thank you card....right. Sadly, it rarely happened because I refused to be one of those Moms that did it FOR my kids, which meant of course, it was NEVER going to get done.

Now however, thanks to Homeschooling, things have changed! We have sent out more thank you cards in the past 2 months than we have mailed in a decade! Here's how I accomplished this.

1. Get a cute box or basket and designate it just for letter writing.

2. Fill it with a variety of blank thank you cards (I look for ones at the dollar store or on clearance), envelopes, stamps and a list of addresses of "the regulars" when it comes to needing to write family or friends.

3. If someone sends you a birthday card or gift, cut out their return address and add it to the list.

4. Designate one writing assignment during the week for notes of gratitude. This is flexible. Today for instance, instead of having them do grammar, I had them write out thank you cards because they had just received some birthday gifts in the mail.

I have found because I have made the process so manageable and organized, my kids are actually the ones to mention that they need to write out a thank you card! They grab the thank you box and off they go! My only requirement is that they write a rough draft first and I have to proofread it, as they often end up crossing things out and making a mess when they try to just write one immediately onto the card.

Hurray for developing the habit of writing letters and showing gratitude!

I shall call you squishy....

2009-10-17T06:04:00.001-07:00

Out of the more than a dozen eggs we put in our incubator we recently had ONE of our eggs hatch! Don't be too sad for us. We had almost given up the whole lot of eggs as a failure and thrown them away! I'm sure glad we didn't or we might have lost our little squishy (that's what we're calling her/him/it).

A few nights ago J called me into his office to tell me he swore he had heard a chirping coming from one of the eggs. I was skeptical, (I had no idea they could do that!) but he brought the incubator out to the kitchen. Sure enough, I soon heard it myself...a little cheeping coming from one of the eggs! I couldn't pinpoint which one but it was sure exciting! The next day our little squishy chirped all day in his egg, and towards late afternoon, I started hearing one of the eggs moving on the metal of the incubator. I stared intently for awhile and finally pinpointed a little green egg in the center that was doing little movements. I called the kids in and decided to rotate the incubator so I could get a view of the whole egg, and lo and behold, there was a little piece of shell on the backside that had been worked away! We all watched, mesmerized. Then I rotated the incubator even further, and there was an even bigger hole! This one had a little beak that could be seen going in and out. So cool!

Well, our little squish never took a break (and he chirped like crazy the whole time!) He tirelessly worked at that shell and membrane and then rocked and rolled until he finally threw himself from that egg! Then he proceeded to stumble all around the incubator walking all over the other eggs as if to say "Wimps!"

I feel so bad for the little guy because he is all alone! He loves attention and will stand up on his little teddy bear we've given him and chirp super loud and frantically until I come and poke my head over the box. Then he rushes to my side of the box and does this excited little "pleasure chirp" like he's talking to me. He completely holds still while we stroke him and talk to him.

We are going on vacation and I tried so hard to convince Jay that we could bring him for an 8 hour drive to So. California in his little incubator and just plug it into a car adapter or something, but he won't let me :( I'm so sad that he's going to be calling for someone to come and won't have any attention except for the neighbor girl changing his water once a day. I hope he doesn't forget me.....

Candling

2009-09-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

Grandma Debbie got a sweet deal on a really nice incubator at a yard sale. I swear one day the woman is going to find a solid gold nugget at a yard sale, say: "I'll give you a quarter!" and make us all rich!

She let us borrow the incubator and brought a few eggs from her chickens in the hopes that some of them might be fertilized. Jay did all the science with this incubator of getting it to the perfect humidity and we put our eggs in and waited about a week. We then did the candling.

The kids really enjoyed getting to turn out all the lights and watch the eggs glow. Unfortunately, after studying pictures online, it was very obvious that there was no signs of a little life in any of our eggs.

Deb's rooster is a tiny little guy so Jay told her that maybe he wasn't able to get his "business" done with all those big hens :)

Katrina asked me why none of the eggs had babies inside.

Katrina: Can't ALL chicken eggs turn into babies?

Mom: Not all eggs, there needs to be a rooster to fertilize....(sudden silence as she realizes where this may head)

Katrina: What does the rooster do?

Mom: Erm, Ummm, he mates with the hens.

Katrina: OHHHH! They get married!

Mom: EXACTLY!

*Whew* Not ready for that one yet....

Nature Walk

2009-09-10T10:23:00.001-07:00

Today, I knew it was going to be hot so we started out our day with an early nature walk. Right behind our street is a long country road that has quaint little houses, pastures with big oak trees, cows, horses, weeping willows and LOTS of quartz for Payton and Bella to collect. I brought one stroller so Tyson and Bella could take turns riding. I wanted them to run and play as much as they could. It's probably about a mile walk but it took us over an hour. We had to stop and examine every flower, watch as a huge flock of birds went right over our heads, hide amongst the weeping willows, collect anything that caught our eye as interesting and stick it in the bottom of the stroller, and try to get the horses to come over to the fence. It was a beautiful morning and I think we just enjoyed the leisure of it all.

After seeing the horses, I had to listen to Katrina talk for the next 20 minutes about how she wished they had come over to the fence to see her. Didn't they like her? Could we go back after Daddy got home and try again? Do horses like having flowers in their hair? Could she put one in the horses hair? Could she bring snacks for the horses? Not without permission? If the farmer says we can? I'll bring carrots, apples and sugar cubes. Why can't we just feed the horses a yummy snack without asking? Maybe the farmer will come over, put a halter on the horse and lead it over to us. Did you know that at night, I talk to my animals like they are real. It's hard sometimes to pick which ones get to sleep with me.....If I win a race and win lots of money, I would buy the house for sale next to Grandmas with the horse land and buy horses for everyone in the family. If I had lots of money, could I do that?

I think, just maybe, she's trying to tell me she really likes horses.

Here's a picture of the next day...she had brought a mysterious purse with her. Turns out, inside she had brought just a few baby carrots just in case she saw the "farmer" and ended up using them to lure the horses over. Then she "accidentally" dropped one into the pen. At one point, I looked over and she had materialized one of those plastic My Little Pony brushes from "the purse" and was trying to comb the horses hair with it! Obviously, she had thought long and hard about this.

Once home, my kids gladly got out their nature journals and began to write about their walk. Katrina has written a page already and says she wants to write LOTS. "Pages and pages!" Then, she mailed one to Grandma Debbie. Payton is trying to press some flowers and may get to writing a sentence or two. The amazing thing is, they have been quiet for over 20 minutes and I haven't been out there. Usually I have to be right there directing them and keeping them on task, but for now, life has made an impression on their imagination, and I choose to fade into the background.

Room for Creativity

2009-09-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about homeschooling is that our schedule is never strict. I may write out that we are going to read so much in History, do a science project, and study geography, but if something that is equally educational and much more fun comes along....we choose fun!

Today for instance, after reading "The Princess and the Goblin" together, rather than have the kids do oral narrations I had them go to the table and draw a picture of a scene they remembered. As they drew they began to discuss how they could make a puppet show out of their drawings. Payton began to draw some furniture that was described in a room and Katrina began to make the characters. They are now cutting them out and taping toothpicks to the back of them for their puppet show. We are scheduled to do some grammar, and we'll get to it, but right now we're enjoying our freedom to break away from monotony and get creative. How awesome is that?

Reaping Rewards

2009-09-01T14:04:00.001-07:00

As I type this, my older kids have been playing Legos together for 2 hours. It's not even the building of Legos. It's some kind of "pretend" game where they are constantly talking back and forth. They did the same thing yesterday...immediately after homeschooling, they ran to the living room to play Legos together, and played quite well for some time until I had them clean up. Some of the things I wanted out of homeschooling was peace, harmony, and generally just concern for each others feelings. Already, I am noticing that my kids are getting along better. They are playing together without screaming and tattling, and for longer than 10 minutes :) They used to do that all the time but I was noticing that as they got older, they were starting to separate.

They also are going out of their way to make little ones feel better when they cry. Today, Payton offered to help Bella with her preschool book when she was crying while I made lunch, and later, when Tyson was throwing a fit about going to bed KT said, "Kiki read you a book?" In her best baby voice. I've missed this kind of compassion and empathy...it's just been lacking lately. Summer and the lazy days of not wanting to do anything had robbed us of some of it, and I think that now that we are in a routine, working together, there is definitely more stability which brings PEACE.

During school of course we have the typical sibling rival battles. Payton laughs at Katrina getting an answer wrong. She titters at a drawing of the "Mona Lisa" that he attempted. (It was pretty hilarious!) But through all their comments I am right there, able to say, "Hey, don't forget that we are a team! Instead of laughing, you should be encouraging your Brother/Sister to do their best."

"Now.....give me 5 extra math problems!" :)

I LOVE playing the teacher!

Steam Engine

2009-08-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

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?

What am I TEACHING them anyway??

2009-08-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

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......

Ice Cream for snack

2009-08-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

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 :)

Not a good morning....

2009-08-20T11:23:00.000-07:00

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!"

Adjusting

2009-08-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

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. :)

Day 1

2009-08-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

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....

Why I am Homeschooling

2009-08-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

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!"