How's Homeschooling Going?

I've been getting this question quite a bit lately . . . we are two months into this, after all.  But at birthday parties or playdates recently I've found myself trying to answer this question frequently.

So, I though I might share a bit of my thoughts here.  I still don't know if this is long-term for us.  Do I love it and think, "Oh this is the perfect situation I never knew I wanted!"?  No.  But I don't hate it, either.  I enjoy it.  I really like this time with my babies, I like the easy pace of life right now.  However, I still don't know if this is going to be a forever thing.  And because I don't know if this is going to be a forever thing, I feel like I approach this a little differently than a lot of homeschoolers: 

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I feel like a lot of homeschoolers don't worry about keeping kids on track with their grade level, more like a, "Eh, as long as they learn it by college we're good" kind of mindset.  But, since I don't know if they'll be going back into a traditional school I feel like I do need to keep them up to speed with their peers, all the while filling in the gaps they have from their previous school and their non-curriculum:  Long division in 2nd grade? Sure!  Telling time in 4th?  Huh?  Luckily, that is an easy one to fill in (as it's often learned in kindergarten) but it's identifying the holes in the first place where I struggle a bit.  I'm not a trained teacher.  I have no idea what sorts of things might be developmentally appropriate and where I might need to nitpick.  Writing numbers backwards (like Dalton did) was not a problem at our previous school.  However, there were kids in Easton's 4th grade math class who still did it.  When should it be corrected?  Probably before then, I'm guessing.  Phonetic spelling?  When do I stop allowing it?  Which words do I allow and which don't I?  So, that's where some of my own struggles are.  A few times a week I make at least one child cry with my "high" standards. (They really just are not used to that from our previous school.)

For example, Dalton recently completed a 23 chapter, "The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad" book and I presented him with a very simple book report form.  We talked about complete sentences and practiced a few and I left him to it while I worked with Easton on something.  When I came back to check on Dalton, I found work like this:


Okay, Dalton, very funny.  But if that really was your favorite part, tell me what happened in the end.  In complete sentences.  "Why do I have to do it again?!  I already did it!  Why do you have to be so mean? Waaa waaaaa waaaaah!"  To which he was sent up to his room for a bit and came down to do it better.

Or Easton, "Why do you have to correct all of my words?! (when writing a short paragraph)You don't have to be so rude!" to which I have to point out how such and such a word was on his spelling list last week and I expect him to be able to spell it (or find HOW to spell it).  And, "Since when does a word end in just 'r'?  'Member how we talked about this?  It needs a vowel with it to get an '-er' sound?"  Good times. 

I'm on top of Dalton for his penmanship.  On the right you can see a sample from his very first day of homeschooling, on the left is from mid-March.  Granted, it's "copy work" where I'm expecting his very best handwriting, but see:

He's improved leaps and bounds, no?  That part is so fun to see, that they're actually progressing with me.  That I can do this.
Here's some of Easton's work, not that you can see how he's improving as much, but more because I think his interpretation of Confucius is amusing:



And his thoughts on homeschooling back on our first day:



I can still read what their previous classmates are up to at our old school . . . and I structure what I'm teaching (mostly for math) around that.  So, Dalton's old class was doing a money unit.  Some of it Dalton gets soooo easily and then other parts, like making change, he was really struggling.  Guess what?  I read that none of the kids did well on their unit post test so the teacher extended the unit.  I'm no worse than she is! :)  To review at homeschool, we got to do fun things like play "store" with all the kids and Dalton had to make change.  I think about how many young people in this world struggle with making change and need a cash register to tell them and then I feel better about my 7 year old not getting it immediately.  It's maybe not just me.


For literacy I've been using a free homeschooling website called Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool for Dalton.  For Easton I pick books and look for free resources on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Currently Easton is reading "Holes" by Louis Sachar, my sister also does Holes with her middle schoolers and she had some accompanying ideas for me that I can adapt.  But, as they are, like, 12 and he is 9 I also do some more age appropriate stuff.  I believe this one is geared for special needs kids whose teacher does Holes as a read aloud but it's just a little something to make sure Easton is paying attention:


Some of the deeper "literacy" will come later once he's further into the book.  It's hard to do much of a secondary character analysis in just Chapter 7 (of 50!).  We're excited to watch the movie as a family once he's done with the book although he seems to think Dalton should have to read it too in order to be able to watch the movie.  Hmmm.


So, what does a day look like for us these days?  Well, I'll tell you.  It's so nice how casual things can be.  You might not think the mornings should be too stressful but they were.  Full of "hurry up!" "c'mon!" "I thought I told you to put on your shoes?!" "Yes you have to wear jeans! You should be downstairs by now!"  But now?  Jason and I begin to stir around 7 when the kids start getting up.  Normally I would've set an alarm to be showered and packing lunches.  The kids eventually make their way downstairs and watch TV or play quietly till we join them.  Three days a week Autumn still has school so I help her get ready and Jason takes her to school.  I usually make myself coffee and check in online for a bit before making myself and the boys breakfast.  We eat.  No rush.  Then we'll start school.  In our jammies.

In the mornings we typically tackle math and language arts type stuff.  This will include their spelling, grammar, penmanship/typing, reading and writing.  Normally I'll pull up a few things on one laptop for one boy: an IXL math lesson, perhaps a math game, a typing game, maybe a grammar activity or spelling activity, sometimes a worksheet and then I'll sit at the other laptop with the other boy going over new concepts or listening to them read aloud to me while the other boy works independently(ish) on the computer.  Then they switch. 




Autumn doesn't do too much with us in the mornings usually, even when she's home. Sometimes she'll ask to "do school" and I'll have her do abcya.com or starfall.com or practice her handwriting:






Then we take a break.  Usually around 11 when Jason goes and picks Autumn up from school and I want to snuggle with her and talk about her day while the boys play.  They call it "recess". :)  Then we have lunch. 

I should've started them on this long ago, here's Easton and Autumn making their lunches recently:


After lunch we usually have quiet time.  The boys actually enjoy quiet time.  I insist on quiet time.  Jason's not really "supposed" to bother me during this time either.  This is to keep me sane.  I need just a bit of time for myself.  I'll often read or blog or watch a show.  It is strictly leisure time.  After 30-60 minutes of quiet time we regroup, this time it's on my bed.  We usually read for pleasure for 20 minutes.  I say 'read for pleasure' but it's still something I have to make them do.  But, the "pleasure" part comes from not making them challenge themselves too much (lots of Magic Treehouse for both boys).  It's just reading to read. 

After our reading timer goes off, we go into the day's Bible story and discuss.  Then we move into history.  We are all doing the same stuff for history and science.  For history we read from The Story of the World which I enjoy as a simple introduction.  We're in Volume 1 which is Ancient Times.  It's presented to me in a way I didn't always think of and in regards to the Bible so even I feel like I'm learning.  I might ask them to draw a picture of what we read about or give me a brief narration of what we discussed.  I might ask them to write it down, requiring slightly more from Easton and Autumn would just draw a picture and then dictate to me what it is.  Occasionally we'll read a picture book from the library, like when it was the Egyptian gods and goddesses we read quite a lot of their myths and legends in picture book form.  Or we wrote our names in hieroglyphics.  We sometimes watch a YouTube or BrainPop video to tie into it as well.  Like how they made papyrus or mummies.  Or getting silk from silkworms when we read about ancient China.  We all learn! 


After history we'll do a little science.  After reading The Well Trained Mind, I just love how they approach science in regards to the periods of discovery in history.  Such as, the ancients studied the human body, biology, and basic classification.  When we'd move to Volume 2 of Story of the World, it would be more Renaissance topics like earth science and astronomy.  So, because we're studying the ancients, and because Easy Peasy Homeschool started it for me, and because it's, like, my area of expertise we are studying the human body.  We're exploring the various systems.  Sometimes we've gotten books or videos at the library, we watch Brain Pop and Brain Pop Jr., we've watched Bill Nye episodes or Magic School Bus episodes that cover the same thing.  We traced Autumn onto a sheet of freezer paper and draw in various parts as we learn about them, half her body has got a few pieces of the skeletal system, we attached some of the muscular system to them, she's got a digestive tract....  For a spell the boys thought it hilarious to inform us, "I have to go feces".  Oh my gosh, when I took Dalton for his well-child visit he was sort of impressing Dr. Groovy with his knowledge talking about why blood is red and how white blood cells are like little Pac Mans eating up the germs.  It's pretty fun.  

I wish I was better about integrating our subjects.  The times it's happened have been mostly happy accidents: like when we were reviewing contractions in grammar and then also learning about muscles -- which contract to move your bones.  If I were to continue to homeschool I would most definitely want to buy some curricula to help us.  Every Sunday is a bit of a chore as I try to figure out the coming week.  And if our old school doesn't have their topics up just yet, Lord help me. 


So, each Sunday I sit down to this:




Not each blank is going to have something unique, sometimes the "penmanship" assisgnment is part of "writing" or writing is part of literacy.  Sometimes the typing and spelling practice are the same.  Sometimes our writing will be after (in relation to) our science or history.  My problem is perhaps wanting them to do too much.  Heck, I'm wanting to start Latin with them!  And various "life skills" beyond what we already have them do!  So, this is by no means filled out in every spot every day with something, but it's where I start. 

If we have plans in the afternoon, like meeting friends at the library or park or perhaps taking a "field trip" then we'll shorten things, skip others (don't really need to be typing every day) and squeeze more into the morning to free up our afternoon.

Speaking of field trips, we did take one recently with some friends who were on Spring Break. 







We plan to keep this up somewhat through the summer, as we always do at least some academics just to stay sharp.  Not sure yet what the plan is for the next school year.  I'll keep you posted!