Parks and Recreation

Don't be too quick to discount the social question when it comes to homeschooling. I realize it is an overused and often times belabored point, but social opportunities are a big deal to many kids, sometimes, more than the parents even realize.

It can be pretty easy to make opportunities for making friends, but, like almost everything else in life, it starts with intention.

When you are making your plans for math, reading, and other academic endeavors, do not forget to plan for friends. We all need friendships to enrich our lives. I have tried to be intentional in giving my children the chance to giggle over silly jokes, learn hand clapping games, and discover the fun of playing in the woods with their peers.

Make sure you schedule some down time to meet new friends and cultivate the old ones. Plan a summer movie date and invite the others in your homeschool group, meet in the park for play, or invite a new friend over for some summer fun in the backyard. In the hustle and bustle of our homeschool years, it can help to schedule this down time on your calendar. Yes, actually write in days that are "black out dates" for free play with other children. This is a valuable part of the growing up experience. While you are at it, make sure to include new people in your homeschool group who are looking for a chance to fit in. Model for your children how it looks to build community and value other people.

It can be tempting to become an island in the hectic pace of home education, but take the time to meet friends and influence people. You will be glad you did.

What does it take to homeschool? How do I get started?

I often have people ask me how to homeschool. When you start something new, it can be difficult to see what it looks like and to interpret that into personal action. Where do I start? Do I order curriculum? Read twenty books about homeschooling? Order a chalkboard and a globe from Amazon? 

There are entire books written about how to homeschool. Some are very good and helpful. There are numerous articles, blogs, websites, and support groups. But, I am going to break it down to the very first crucial steps to homeschooling. The core of successful homeschooling is that it is a lifestyle. It will take time to bring this new way of looking at the world and at education into your home. It will take time to adjust your thinking to a new paradigm. Give yourself that time. Don't worry that you must have all the answers this week or that you must decide on your child's learning style by Saturday. First and foremost, homeschooling is a journey that you take with your child. Take some time to think about what that journey will look like, what to pack, and above all, count the cost. 

Homeschoolers spend a lot of time with their children. A LOT of time. Take a look at your home life. Do you enjoy spending time with your children? Are you able to instruct them and coach them through tasks? Are you able to be with them for the majority of the day, the week, the month, the year and enjoy it? This may seem like a simple question - but more than what kind of curriculum to use or which group to join, this question can make or break your homeschool experience. Don't despair if your answer is no. Are you willing to work at it? Are you willing to spend time taking an honest look at your home life and working together with your children to create an environment conducive to learning? No home is perfect, but you will all be happier if you can create an environment that includes what you and your children need to get along well with each other. This is perhaps the first and most important step to homeschooling.

When you homeschool, you are the one calling the shots. You must be able to take responsibility for creating your own program. There are many options and you can certainly use a program that lays everything out for you, a computer based curriculum, or a satellite school. But, at the end of the day, you must decide what is best for your child. This can seem overwhelming to new homeschoolers. If you are used to having a school or a teacher tell you exactly what to do and when, the new freedom can feel... well, free. Freedom is a great thing, but it can feel scary at first. Give yourself time to adjust to this brave new world. You really can do it, but you will need to put in some research time on the computer, reading books, and/or talking to other homeschoolers. You are now a teacher as well as a parent. You will need some teacher planning time, some time to invest in your own learning, and down time to rest and rejuvenate. Make sure you have a realistic expectation of the time and energy this will take on your part. 

Finally, homeschooling does cost money. There are certainly ways to reduce the cost, but it is not free. For one thing, there will need to be a parent at home and guiding the homeschooling. My husband and I have always worked and homeschooled. It can be done. It is not easy. We have worked schedules that we could arrange around having a parent home and, some years, we have also had to hire a caregiver. I will not go into all the details, but you will most likely have to limit your career choices or at least one of you will. There are certainly careers that will work well with flexible schedules, but not all jobs are conducive to flexibility. Some of you may have an adult in the home that can financially support a stay at home parent. Still, that parent is loosing the option to build their career while the children are homeschooling. This is something to take into consideration when you decide to homeschool. 

You will also have to purchase materials. You can limit your spending by making great use of the public library, going to used curriculum sales, shopping for used items online, and even swapping materials in your homeschool group. But, you will spend some money on curriculum, books, microscopes, instruments, sports equipment, and more books. You will also spend some money on classes, museums, field trips, and co-ops. The amount each family will spend will vary greatly, but a general rule is that if you need to cut corners on time, expect to spend a little more money. 

I absolutely love homeschooling. I have homeschooled both of my children for their entire education to date. I have a high school and a middle school student and we love our homeschool life. I really believe that anyone who can look up answers and read can homeschool their children. But, you must be willing to look up answers. When I am helping new homeschoolers get started for the first time, these are the things I wish they knew. There are amazing benefits to homeschooling - you just have to be willing to put in some elbow grease. 

Observation and Discovery - Sketching Fruit in Our Main Lesson Books

Today we practiced our observation skills by examining fruit and then sketching it in our main lesson book. We passed around the banana, apple, peach, orange, pear, and kiwi. The children commented on the different ways to describe the fruit. Then we cut them in half and observed them from a different perspective. The children sketched the fruit from the side, the top, and then the middle.
We also took a nature walk and observed the land (contours, plant life, etc.).
We read the book, Seven Blind Mice. It seemed like a perfect fit for talking about observing things with our senses. They are also reading Stuart Little for the next three weeks.
We reviewed grammar terms, practiced for "Battle of the Books" this weekend at the library, did self-portraits in our journals, and had a pleasant first day of school. The children will continue doing activities from the syllabus this coming week at home. Next Friday we will do some more work on the topography project.

August Book List for Fourth Grade

Suggested Titles for the Topography Project:

Be Your Own Map Expert by Barbara Taylor

South Carolina: An Atlas by Kovacik, Charles F., Steinke, Theodore R., South Carolina Geographic Alliance, University of South Carolina. Department of Geography

Topographic Maps by Ian Mahaney

Mapping Your Way by Anna Deboo

How to Draw South Carolina Sights and Symbols by Fein

Literature Selection:

Stuart Little by E.B. White

Other Titles:

Seven Blind Mice by Young

A Visit to Seven Acres Farm

Some dear friends of ours have a lovely fledgling farm in the mountains of North Carolina. It was Whit's birthday wish to go spend some time with them (and their animal friends). It was a quick trip over the weekend, but the children enjoyed making S'mores, camping out in the barn loft, sliding down the mountain in a muddy waterslide, running with the dogs and goats, and making friends with the chickens.
Even the big girls enjoyed playing in the mud! It was a great chance to let your hair down and get good and dirty.

 Getting clean was a lot of effort after sliding down the mudslide.

Here is Whit making friends with a chicken. Whit has wanted to own chickens for years, being able to play with them on the farm is the next best thing.

 

 

This was a perfect fit for a birthday weekend after reading Farmer Boy. Whit got to help with the chickens and goats and experience life in the country. Many thanks to our sweet mountain friends who made this weekend possible.

 

 

Gummy Snakes, Water Parks, and Hamlet

It is the last week of June. Summer solstice is upon us, the days are long and warm. Whit has been participating in STEM camp this week. (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) He has been building bridges, making snap circuits, learning about robotics, fishing, hiking, building rockets, and doing archery. Yesterday he was named, "the fish champion", after catching four fish in the camp pond!

Addie has occupied herself reading Shakespeare. She decided to take the opportunity to turn some of her fall classes into honors classes by adding on assignments. So, she has been cozied up with Hamlet and is currently working on her essay.

The Woodland School met last Friday for the high schoolers to go to their "business lunch" to discuss a documentary they want to make about the coming school year and to brainstorm about the cooperative blog they are working on. The younger students walked around downtown and went out for frozen yogurt followed by a trip to the local candy store to spend their allowances. Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans were a big hit along with the three foot gummy snake... ahhhh, the thrills of childhood.

Two weeks ago we took a trip to the local water park and hit the waves with our friends, the Block family. The children and I loved the lazy river and floated around for hours. I can't tell you how restorative it was to just let go and ride the current for awhile. The big water slides were a bit hit with the kiddos as well.

June has been full of sweet moments. We went to a family wedding and Addie read a passage of scripture. Her sweet voice reading I Corinthians 13 was a treat for me. She looked so grown up and so beautiful and poised.

The children have played outside on the rope swing that Papa put up for them. There is nothing like a rope swing in the summer!  I stand at the window and watch them soar above the earth and remember what is was like to be a child (and not get seasick from swinging). We have visited my brother and his wife in Charlotte, took my husband to Ikea for Father's Day, and visited the State Museum.

We plan to start back to school early this year. The first day of The Woodland School Cooperative is August 9. In the midst of all of this summertime frolic, I find time to plan lessons for the upcoming year. We will use Oak Meadow curriculum for both children this year. I hope to be able to blog more consistently about the experience. Memory is fleeting, but being able to look back on the blog is priceless.

Finding Rhythm in the Home

It is June and my thoughts and energies turn to planning a new school year. It is time to think about the year ahead and what it will hold for our homeschool. I turn forty this year and while that may not seem to have anything to do with our household rhythm, stay with me for a moment. As I count down my last months of being in my thirties, I realize that turning forty has many things to recommend it. For one thing, I am more confident in my own body. Not in the physical sense so much as in the mental sense. I feel that I have reached a place that I can move ahead without as much second guessing myself. I have struggled to find a philosophy of education that I could embrace and that meshed with my beliefs and values. We have been very eclectic in our approach. I think this is a good thing. It has made the journey interesting and instructive, both in what works for us, and what definitely does not.

 

Thus, I embrace the Waldorf philosophy of rhythm instead of routine. Rhythm breathes and has a gentle boundary line. Routine is more strict and has less warmth to it. If rhythm is playdough, then routine is wooden blocks that must be stacked just so.  My children are not babies anymore, they have crossed the rainbow bridge into true childhood and are poised at adolescence. Does rhythm still have a place in our home? 

 

Last year we had a "breathing out" kind of pace. We attended a weekly cooperative with academic classes, participated in community theatre, and generally found ourselves out and about. It was fun and it was educational and it was tiring. Even though the children are now 13 and 9, they both agree with my husband and myself that it is time for a "breathing in" year.

 

I prepare for our new school year by first seeking out a new rhythm. I will no longer have access to a washer and dryer this year (starting this week), so laundry day will become more interesting. I must scout out the best laundry facility in the area for our weekly sojourn. With all of the food allergies here (gluten, sesame and other seeds, peanuts, tree nuts, and dairy), we need to find more time to bake and prepare things that will make life easier. The children and I all love to sew, so that could also be a place we need to schedule time. I am also tossing around the main lesson ideas, the Montessori materials, the math and Old Testament stories and the extra lessons in reading that I need to organize for my third grade son. My daughter, who is in middle school, is going to plan her own course this year. She is going to study Physical Science and Pre-Algebra. She is working on making up her own literature list, planning to research starting a small business and an Etsy site, and is also working on writing a novel. We have met a couple of times already and I am excited about her ideas for volunteering, community involvement, and the special projects she is planning.  I have really put in the blood, sweat, and tears on how we should do the upper middle and high years. There seems to be so much pressure locally to move into a more traditional and/or classical approach in these years. But, I see her blossoming and unfolding into such an amazing person. She has asked us for more unstructured time and for our blessing to seek out some of her own dreams this year instead of being busy in weekly out of the home classes - and isn't that what homeschool is all about? So we move forward and feel our way into the teenage years, but even so, there is rhythm.

 

I envision our week including a baking/cooking day, a laundry day, a sewing and mending day, a painting and/or art project day, an errand day, and a day of rest and contemplation. This leaves one day free. We will either make that a free day (so the other days can breath a bit), make it a visiting day, an extra study day, or a day of poetry and verse (complete with a poet's tea and poems read aloud). Of course, at least five of these days will also function as school days. This is our weekly rhythm, but our daily rhythm will be a bit more specific. I hope to journal here how we shape our daily rhythm and how it all comes together.

 

Happy Summertime,

Laura