Fall is falling

The sick has taken over my house. Thankfully it isn't the big scary sick is lurking around every corner, but it is the sick nonetheless. I'm feeling better but the baby, the husband and the roommate are all feeling it. The big kid just got back from 5 days at his dad's house so it hasn't hit him. Hopefully it won't.

The weather and the time of year are trying to force a dark cloud over my head, but I'm trying to fight it off. We instituted a chore list and a meal planning schedule. Hopefully that will help keep things somewhat sane around here.

I'm watching Antiques Roadshow with the roommate. The husband and the big kid are in the kitchen. The big kid is getting a lesson in making adobo and, it is awesome to listen to. Home ec a la the Philippines. And I get to eat adobo at the end of it.

This week for "school" we are drawing a map, to scale, of the front yard. I got a neat little book with permaculture projects, including designing beds like mandalas and herb mounds using recycled tires. Pretty cool. I'm excited to get started. Of course I want to start planting all sorts of things NOW NOW NOW, but I'm going to use this gardening experience as a growing opportunity and do it the proper way. So, we're going to plan the beds and then prep the soil over the winter. I know it will pay off in the long run. In the meantime, I'm trying to keep myself busy learning how to make bread, sew skirts and curtains(I just ordered about 5 sewing books from the library), and freeze some meals.

Is this like postpartum nesting or something?

Unschool

This weekend I read through Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks For Homeschool Curriculum. I'm not really in a position to be ordering a bunch of new books for this homeschooling venture, but there was a nice big section in the beginning that asked me to evaluate and determine my homeschooling philosophy. There was even this handy little checklist (oh how I love a good checklist!) that helped determine which of the popular methodologies I fit into. I wasn't terribly surprised to score high in the "Eclectic" category, but I was a little surprised to score so high in the "Unschooling" category. Of course, I didn't fit perfectly into any one methodology, but there seems something so radical about declaring "unschooling" to be an area I identify with strongly.

Really, I believe that all children have different educatioal needs. Public schooling, private schooling, homeschooling, sailing around the world, there are as many paths as there are kids. The Kid is generally a highly motivated learner. As I type this he is flipping between making music on Garage Band and learning skateboarding tricks on YouTube. Today he has also read for well over an hour, learned some of the political/geographical changes around our planet in the last 20 years, and learned about Least Common Denominator. He still has some writing and Spanish to do, but I know he'll get to it.

The hardest part of homeschooling, for me, is learning to let go of the reins a little bit. I made the decision to homeschool based, among other things, on a gut feeling that The Kid would benefit greatly from more freedom to learn and discover. I have to balance that with what I know about 11 year old boys. Yesterday was the first day of me stepping back and letting him get through his to-do list on his own. I needed to step in and help him look at time management a bit, but he got through it. We both did.

As with most challenges facing me, I have put a bunch of books by John Holt and other unschooling advocates on hold. I don't really think we'll ever become completely unschooling in our approach, but it is nice to see the different ways it can happen.

We are now, um, 3 weeks into this homeschooling gig. I have had moments of loving it, moments of thinking I'm crazy and The Kid will grow up to hate me, and moments of thinking I really want to do this for the rest of The Kid's academic career. Last week we had a lot going on with my sister-in-law in the hospital, The Baby having to go to two pediatrician visits, and The Husband working 2 nights and therefore being home in the mornings. I also didn't plan that well, so of course things didn't go right. You live and you learn, though, so I'm keeping my head up.

I've been devouring books on homeschooling and today I took a little quiz-type thing that informed me that I feel somewhere in between "unschooling" and "eclecting homeschooling". The eclectic part didn't surprise me. The unschooling part kind of did. I definitely think we both need more structure than unschooling provides on a day-to-day basis, but I think the overall philosophy is what appeals to me. With that in mind, I've worked up a sort of to-do list for The Kid. There are 6 small things, ranging from a half hour of reading to feeding the cat, that he must do every day. These are all things he can do on his own with little to no prompting from me. All told those things should take 3 hours on a hard day. The rest of the time we are going to have projects ongoing, mostly chosen by him, with some guidance from me.

Thrown in there, somewhere, are some long-term projects that affect everyone in the house. The biggest of these is gardening. I'm planning a vegetable garden for our front yard while The Husband tackles the job of building a deck in the backyard. The garden is really part of a much larger goal of becoming more self-sufficient as a family and having a lighter impact but stronger connection to our environment. Lofty goals, but if we take it slow I think we'll get there.

Meanwhile, grad school is in full-swing, I'm finally learning how to sew, and the house is ever so slowly getting organized.

Week 1

We decided on a 4-day week for homeschooling so that The Kid could have a 3-day weekend with his dad. I'm not worried about it because I know how much wasted time there is in a 5-day week at school. It also gives me more planning time, homework time for myself (grad school started back up this week!), and time to focus on the baby.

I think the first week went well. The Kid is having a hard time adjusting to the fact that he isn't sitting at a desk doing busy work for hours on end, so I guess we are still in the "deschooling" stage. Tuesday we went to a local park for a homeschooling playdate I had heard about with boys closer to his age. He got super shy when we arrived and sat and waited for the people we knew to get there. As soon as they arrived and he was introduced they were off and running, playing basketball, sharks and minnows, etc. As we were leaving he exclaimed, "This is way more social than regular school....You get to play with kids of different ages." This led to a discussion of the curious fact that school is pretty much the only time in your life you will be expected to socialize only with people your age. It also reminded me why I was doing this.

So far I've had pretty good responses as word of the homeschooling has gotten out. We got a call from the mother of one of The Kid's school friends, because they were worried we had moved. We made plans to get the boys together, which allayed a fear that I think we both had. The Kid's dad and I also discussed switching his schedule around once a month so that he is here over a weekend which should also help him be able to spend more time with the school friends he is missing.

Last night was the first night of my classes, and the longest amount of time that I've left the baby alone. I was worried that I hadn't pumped enough milk for him, but when I got home he was playing happily. Apparently he slept until an hour before I got home. Go baby!

Day one

The first day of homeschooling got off to a late start. I overslept by half an hour which means The Kid did too. He woke up claiming not to feel well so I left him sleep for another half an hour then woke him up and sent him to the shower. He was singing halfway through it, so I knew all was better. He got dressed, ate breakfast and fed the cat. We are still working out his morning chore routine.

The first thing we did is get his notebooks organized: Math, Science, Social Studies, Reading, and Nature Study. After that we reviewed our plans for the week. Then he took an online state math assessment that would typically be given at the end of 6th grade. I don't really plan to do a lot of testing like that, but I wanted to know where he was in Math. He passed handily and everything he missed was something he hadn't studied yet. It will all be covered in his Life of Fred books, so I'm feeling confident there.

We then hit a glitch with spotty internet, but that didn't stop us for long. He cleaned and organized his desk in his bedroom. He chose his course of study for Science. He has to do an overview of the each branch of Science, he got to choose the order we'll be doing it in. He picked Physics first, which is of course the one I am worst at, so I'll be hitting the library for that.

We are starting Social Studies with some research on the Philippines. We hit the library for that. We'll be looking at some Filipino customs and a history of Filipinos in the US since 1763. None of the Filipino history books were available at our local branch so we put in transfers on them and are waiting.

He also started his blog, which we are both excited about. He'll be doing recaps of what he is learning for family members and anyone else who is interested, he has to write a book review for each book he reads, and he'll have some other assignments on there.

I was feeling full of doubt last night, but my excitement is renewed. I'm trying to not be too rigid in my thinking. We'll see how that goes.

Tomorrow we are going to a local homeschool playgroup and I'll introduce him to the Reading Workshop. Tomorrow nigh he'll be watching Nova with his step-dad and we'll talk about it Wednesday. We also have a trip to a new local museum scheduled for Wednesday along with his first day of LoF lessons. Thursday will be Social Studies and learning the research process.

And we're off!

Magical life

Yesterday was a truly magical day. Let me recap:

+ the magical baby put himself to sleep THREE TIMES!

+ a great afternoon hanging at the museum with my favorite mama and gaggle of kids

+ my best friend and own personal superhero got a NO MORE CANCER notice. (I think she should take a celebratory trip to hold babies....just saying...)

+ my dear husband got a raise without having to ask for it.


It was so exciting that I literally fell asleep fully clothed at the end of the night. So attractive, but thus is my life.

I don't expect today to hold quite so many amazing revelations, but I started the day with 30 full min. of exercise on the wii fit while MB (magical baby's new nickname) slept. He is currently showing signs of letting me take a shower, but I won't push my luck.

I got a bunch of homeschooling books at the library yesterday and have been doing some research. Big Kid and I sat down yesterday and came up with a rudimentary schedule. He had obviously put some thought into it which has me hopeful. Last night I got home to an email about a homeschooler's bowling league. I think we are both super excited about that.

Today we have very little on the agenda other than visiting the husband at work, because he didn't really get to see MB awake at all yesterday.

here we go!

we are officially going to start homeschooling. the big kid's dad left the decision up to me, so after much hand wringing and soul searching i asked the big kid to give it a semester and here we go! i ordered the backbone of his math curriculum yesterday after he did a sample online and fell in love with it. i'm still searching for a science plan, but i think we can wing it for the time being.

tomorrow we are going to sit down and try to come up with a plan. i'm trying to factor in playgroups, field trips and baby naps when i formulate this plan. not to mention household chores which he will now be much more involved with.

there are other changes afoot around here, but i'm hesitant to post about them until it is more official.

limbo

Well, the big kid's dad is undecided on whether or not he is behind the homeschooling idea. I certainly don't want to turn it into a stressful situation for the big kid so we're in limbo for the moment. I sent off an email outlining my curriculum plans which also helped me feel a little more organized about things. Here it is, for those interested:

• Math: Life of Fred Fractions and Decimals. I would also get a used 6th grade textbook like they use at his school to supplement to make sure he didn't miss anything
• Science: the local Nature Center has a once a week Science class with hands on projects. There are also lots of projects to be found on the internet
• Language Arts:
• Writing - I found an online Creative Writing (poetry and fiction) class that lasts 12 weeks with powerpoint modules followed by writing assignments. I can teach grammar and other types of writing, creative writing is a weak point for me. This would also tie into his reading. I have suggested to Big Kid starting either a blog online or a paper "zine" to update you and stepmom and any interested friends and family on what he is doing.
• Reading - Reading workshop which involves reading books of his choosing, keeping journals about his writing and a regular book group meeting with a homeschool friend and possibly some other older homeschool kids.
• Social Studies - 6th grade studies Geography, but Big Kid is currently interested in the Civil War and slavery all over the world, past and present, which would lend itself to learning the geography of the regions he is interested. There are also a lot of more traditional Geography workbooks out there.
• Art: I am going to get a membership at the awesome neighbodhood museum and plan to do regular trips there and another local museum for art appreciation as well as classes when they are offered. My mom has offered to teach mosaics or other art classes to Big Kid and Homeschooling friend's kids once a week.
• PE: There is a weekly homeschool playgroup at a local park that has some boys closer to Big Kid's age. There are also a lot of hiking and biking trails being built around the city that I would like to explore.
• Music: He is teaching himself guitar and I was planning to ask our friend the musician for some more formal lessons, or ask my brother-in-law for some saxophone instruction
  
• Citizenship: He has shown great interest in reading the Bible which I would love to study with him. I was also planning on looking into potential volunteer opportunities in the community, although this could also fall under some of the things y'all do at church like the mission work
  

I have more ideas, but that seems like plenty to start with. Big Kid is interested in earning money so yard work in the neighborhood, walking dogs, etc. are on the list as well.

We have about a week and a half until we have to formally register at the junior high school so we don't have a ton of time to work this out, but I'm hopeful.