Will's First Year of High School at Home

Well, this school year has come to a close, and the new one is just around the corner. Well, kind of :). This year will be the first in a long time that I am choosing not to follow along with the school calendar (public or private) for our homeschool. Kate graduated in May and will be starting college classes at the end of August, so I'm thinking Will and I will probably wait to start school when she does.

Home Schooling...Just My Thoughts

When we first began our homeschooling journey in 1999, my oldest child (and only student at the time) was in 4th grade. (I also had a preschooler and a toddler.) I had no ideas of my own as to what home education would look like for my family, only that this was what God was telling us to do. Several homeschooling families that I knew were educating their children using Abeka curriculum, and since Abeka publishes curriculum for the traditional classroom, I chose to utilize their materials in our homeschool. I thought that was what I would be most comfortable with, given my traditional public school background.

Homeschooling in High School

Will is going to be in high school in 6 months. I can't believe my *baby* is going to be in high school in just 6 short months. I'm aware we haven't even finished this school year and yet, I am already contemplating curriculum for high school.

I didn't have to worry about this with my first two children. They both went to the Christian school in Baxley for their high school years, but Will has been pretty adamant that he wants to continue to homeschool. So even though we still have about 3-1/2 months of 8th grade left, I've already begun poring over catalogs in search of the right curriculum for us.

Our 2012-2013 School Year

I think I can say that after almost two months back in school, we have settled back into our "normal" routine. Normal -- don't you just love that word? What's normal anyway? Just a setting on the washing machine...

Just Some Things

Just some things I wanted to share... in no particular order

 

I found this gemstone mining kit and thought it would go along great with our geography unit right now. We are using Ann Voskamp's A Child's Geography Vol. 1, and we are loving it!

Will enjoyed digging for stones and he found 10. We haven't finished cleaning them up and determining what type of stone each one is just yet. In the picture below he is pointing out a stone he has found.

Journey Toward Learning

Yesterday was Will's first day of school. I waited a week after Kate started back before starting with him. This year I wanted to give myself a little time to adjust slowly, rather than starting them back at the same time like I did last year. The extra week helped some. I know it wouldn't be a big deal if they were both at home, but getting back into the routine of getting Kate off to school needs some getting used to around here.

2011-2012 School Year

Kate started school on Monday, August 8th. She is in 10th grade this year! She has been learning to drive this summer, and has been working on the Joshua Law requirements. I can't believe she will be 16 in February! My little girl is not so little any more. She still attends ACA, and I still tell her (often) that she can always come back home if she wants to. She always tells me, with a smile in her voice, that she really loves it at this small Christian school. They have 2 new students in her grade this year, for a total of 18 in the sophomore class. This is the biggest class yet at ACA!

Here is her class schedule:

Winter Storm in the South

We certainly don't get much in the way of winter storms down here in the deep south, but when we do, we tend to get a little excited. We didn't get any snow (of course). It rained during the night, but the temperature here at my house hovered just above the freezing point. So when we awoke this morning, there was nothing to be excited about.

Until about an hour later. Around 7:30 am, the temperature began to drop and it was still raining a little, and the wet trees began to freeze. But that was all. Apparently the ground was too warm to freeze and the rain stopped. I thought at one point there appeared to be some tiny little snowflakes fluttering around. But if so, that didn't last long at all.

The tops of pine trees don't handle frozen water very well. Some of them were bent over from the weight of the ice. I wonder if some of those tree tops popped off and fell on some power lines near my house because our power went out around 9:30 this morning, and stayed out until around 2:00 pm. I have a heat pump, so needless to say, it became a little chilly in my house.

We did school all bundled up in our fuzzy pajamas! We closed the bedroom doors and lit lots of candles in the living room, kitchen and bathrooms. The candles did put off a little heat and helped a little, but it was still cold. I put Lizzie's little coat on her and she took turns snuggling with us as we read and did our lessons.

So we made memories today. I love it when out-of-the-ordinary days happen along and we have a chance to learn to make the most of whatever comes our way.

Dragonflies & Butterflies

This morning we incorporated another of Miss Mason's techniques into our school day. Not exactly a nature walk, but time spent outdoors, nonetheless.

We watched the birds flying in and out of our backyard... got out the binoculars to see them close-up in the trees. We especially like watching the hummingbirds come to our feeder!

This was an earlier shot (and not very clear).

First Week of School

I spent a great deal of time expounding on Kate's first week of school in my last post (and we are definitely seeing improvement btw). Now it's time to consider Will's first week. Of course, he's still at home with me. I mentioned in a previous post that we are using Heart of Dakota curriculum this year. When browsing through the well laid out lesson plans, my first thought was, "Geez, what alot to cover! We'll still be doing school when Kate gets home!" Plus I have some other books and materials that I want to incorporate into our day!

However, I  have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly we finish each day. HOD incorporates Charlotte Mason's methods of educating, so we cover lots of subjects but we don't spend lots of time on any one subject. This keeps the day flowing smoothly and it helps us tremendously as my Will has a short attention span. In the past he has been frustrated to tears because I have forced him to stay focused on one thing in particular for long periods of time. This year -- major improvement!

Another new approach for us this year is in the area of math. We are using Teaching Textbooks and so far, so good. Will seems to be doing well with it. He pops the cd-rom into the computer, clicks on the day's lesson and the lecture begins. He solves a few practice problems covering the new concept, then moves onto the problem set which covers the newly learned concept, as well as previously learned concepts.  The first few lessons were basically review, and most of it is mental math. He enjoys doing math on the computer, but I'm not sure how it works when he moves beyond the mental math and actually needs to work out a problem on paper. I suppose we'll see when we get there.

  

I am a little sad that I have only one child in our homeschool now. To me, it is such a joy to teach (and learn along with) my children. I count it a privilege that God has called me to homeschool them, and I am so grateful that He has allowed me to homeschool each of them. Am I a perfect teacher? No! I make mistakes, just like anybody else. But... God gave my children to me. I know them better than anyone else. God has given me the insight to know what motivates them to learn, how to encourage them, how to help them reach their full potential. Is this path easy? Of course not! Anything worth doing is not easy. But is it worth it? Oh yes! I wouldn't trade these years that He has allowed me to be at home, investing in their lives for all the "stuff" that we could have provided them had we been a two-income family.

Thank you Jesus for the privilege of being a wife and mommy, a stay-at-home mom, a home-schooling mom.

New Beginnings

We attended our daughter's high school orientation last night. She is no longer my little home-schooled girl. She's entering 9th grade at Appling Christian Academy. It is a very small Christian school...she has about 15 kids in her grade. She is on the cheer squad this fall. School starts Monday, August 9th.

This is her schedule:

1st period - PE
2nd period - Bible
3rd period - English
4th period - Biology
5th period - Algebra 1
6th period - Geography (first semester)
                   Speech (second semester)
7th period - Fine Arts/Study Hall/Sports Practice
Chapel is weekly on Friday mornings

She is excited, and nervous. Me? Well...my oldest son has moved about a 1 1/2 hour drive away, my daughter is starting 9th grade (at school, not at home)... I'm a basket case. Just kidding! Seriously... I'm full of different emotions right now. Of course I'm saddened at the change, but at the same time I'm excited for them.

My son feels like he is "really at college" now that he's at a big university. Whatever that means, lol. I'm just grateful that God gave us a year at a smaller college close to home to prepare us for this.

This is his schedule for Fall Semester:

Elementary German I
US History II
Intro to Information Technology
American Government I
Creative Writing III

He'll have 15 credit hours, and Lord willing, a job to round out his days.

My daughter is nervous about starting school. That sounds funny, doesn't it? Like we've never "started school." She met all her teachers last night and had lots of questions about how they "do" school -- at school. This will be a transition for her.

But on the other hand, she is excited. As I've mentioned before, God has given her a love for all things athletic, and He has gifted her in that area as well. She is quite a talented athlete. As we have no avenue for her to continue in sports if we continue to homeschool, this transition will open new doors for her. She loves all the sports and she will participate in all of them, cheerleading in the fall, basketball in the winter, and softball in the spring. She really loves basketball and softball and her dream is to play one of those sports at the college level one day!

And my youngest... this will definitely be a change for us! Only the two of us home all day. I am excited! I have more plans than I can ever complete with him, but I am looking forward to it. We'll be using Heart of Dakota for our main curriculum (lots of reading). I will mostly just use their history outline - we'll be taking a chronological journey from the 1500s to the 1970s through American history. We'll use their Bible study program and we'll learn the stories behind some of the greatest hymns using Hymns For a Kid's Heart - Vol. 1. We'll also continue in the Awana program (which focuses on scripture memorization) at church. 

For the language arts we'll use Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Spelling Power and Handwriting Without Tears. For math we'll use Teaching Textbooks 6. For science we'll use Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day. I love how they present science from a creationist viewpoint. I love how they focus on learning through an immersion approach. I can't tell you how impressed I was when my (then) 3rd grader could tell people much more than they wanted to know about birds when we finished Zoology 1, and about marine life when we finished Zoology 2. I can't believe how much my children have learned (and retained) using this method! I'm very excited that Jeannie Fulbright has written journals that we can use with this book! (Ok, that's my plug for Apologia Science!)

Well, I sure do get excited when talking about what we'll be doing for school. I'm pumped and ready for Monday!

But, in the meantime... I've got to get off this computer and start going through what's left in my son's room, sorting, cleaning out, getting ready to paint. My husband is ready to convert it to his work-out/exercise room. I would like to leave it as it is for a little longer, I guess for sentimental momma feelings lol. But dh likes to get on with things. And he keeps reminding me that God gives them to us for a season, and now it's time to let go. And he's right. And I know that my heart will catch on and believe that soon :)

Homeschool Co-ops

I thought I would share some memories we have made in homeschool this year. Two particular note-worthy events we participated in were co-ops, one on Australia and one on birds.

We really enjoyed both these co-ops, and we all learned so much. Here are some photos from the Australia Co-op:

learning about the geographical features of Australia

learning about animals that are native to Australia

here, the "platypus" had to cross the finish line while carrying his egg between his legs

making boomerangs

making an "emu" refrigerator magnet

"A Taste of Australia" - he didn't like shrimp on the barbie

The next co-op we participated in was about birds. We spent a full year studying birds two years ago, using Apologia's Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. We learned SO much about birds that year and I was very excited to see how much they remembered during this co-op! Here are some photos:

egg races

holding baby chicks

learning about the anatomy of a bird's feather

discussing the structure and parts of an egg

making pine cone feeders to hang in the trees

learning about different types of bird nests, and how to attract birds to your yard

Whew!!

We are having a busy week at our house already, and it's only Monday; how about you? In addition, our church is in Spring Revival mode right now, so I'm not sure how much time I'll have to post anything much.

And to be quite honest with you, I kind of feel like I'm living in survival mode right now anyway...

You know what I mean...trying to finish up the last of the school work...well, at least get those 180 days checked off and turned in to the superintendent anyway! And schedule in all those ball games and practice days! And... well, the list goes on.

As far as the school work goes, is there anybody else out there who, like me, can't even finish this year's course load before beginning to pore over the homeschool catalogs, eagerly anticipating what we'll pursue for next year's curriculum?? I do love planning what we'll cover next year; it's just this last month of school that somehow gets me down. It happens every year. I don't know; maybe it's just me...

I'm looking forward to tonight's message at revival; can't wait to see what God has in store for me! (I know this post is very sporadic and changing topics too frequently, but I'm just trying to get my thoughts down before heading out the door in a few minutes.) We've had this preacher at our revival services before, and I really like his style of preaching. I think God really uses this man to speak to my heart! Maybe I'll organize my sermon notes and post about what God has taught me after we finish revival!

Sorry for the choppy post! I'll try to do better next time!

What I Learned Today...

In the mornings, after breakfast, the kids and I sit down together for our group read-aloud time. We begin with the Bible, then move into our catechisms. We spend about an hour reading before we begin our core subjects. We are currently reading about heroes of the Reformation, and we read an article from Voice of the Martyrs magazine. And we are reading two biographies, as well. We read just a little from each book, and have gradually increased the number of books that we read from.

We recently started a new book, for Easter. It is called Journey to the Cross, by Helen Haidle. It is basically a retelling of the text of the Bible concerning everything leading up to and after the crucifixion of Jesus. Each chapter ends with a few comprehension questions and a scripture verse to memorize. But what I really like about this book is that each chapter begins and ends with an explanation of a Jewish custom or tradition of Jesus's day, or as in today's reading, an explanation of something that Jesus did.

We all know that Jesus asked his disciples to go into the next village and to bring back to Him a donkey's colt that they would find inside the city gates. We all know that the disciples did just as Jesus asked them to, and that Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem. We all know that Jesus did not come to conquer the Roman army and set the Jewish people free from their rule.

But what I did not know (you may have known this all along) is that Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem was supposed to present a picture to the people of the fact that He did not come to conquer Rome. In Jesus's day, a donkey was known as an animal of peace. Men did not ride donkeys into battle; they chose fast horses for that. So by riding a donkey into Jerusalem, Jesus was showing that He did not come to lead a battle against the Roman army. Instead, He came to make peace between God and man.

As many times as I have read this account in the Scriptures, I did not get that. Obviously I'm in good company, though, because apparently Jesus's disciples and early followers didn't get that message either. Throughout the Bible, Jesus was constantly teaching people through word pictures. I'm glad that He still does that, even today!

The Lamb, who was put to death, is worthy!...He is worthy to receive honor and glory and praise! -- Rev.5:12

Bits and Pieces

Some of the things we've been up to lately:

Just for fun... math with Aubie

Science investigations:

investigating how the continual rubbing of rocks...

contributes to the formation of soil

investigating the ability of freezing water to break rocks

obviously we shouldn't have used a pickle jar... as the water

expands, the jar is supposed to break...

Upward Basketball:

     Our two youngest children are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to competiveness in sports, as you will see in these next few pictures. Kate is a very competitive and aggressive player. Winning is very important to her; she gives 100 percent and holds nothing back. Will, on the other hand, is so nonchalant and very laid-back. If his team wins, that's great; if they don't, well...at least he had a good time.

Kate, on a fast break

going in for a lay-up

Will dribbling down court, no fast breaks for him

putting up a shot

Our little guy, sick with strep throat, on sister's birthday...

please mom, no more pictures...

I'm happy to report that today he is feeling much better, after being on his antibiotic. He was not happy that he had to miss Awana last Wednesday night. Lord willing, he should be able to go to church in the morning.

Monday, Monday...

It's interesting how we'll have a day or two with nothing much going on at all, then all of sudden, things just take off at break-neck speed! Monday we "hit the ground rolling" so to speak, beginning the day with an out-of-town doctor's appointment for me. We could have hurried back home to begin school, seeing as how we didn't get much school work done on Friday (because of dh). But, I felt that since we rarely have time for browsing and window shopping, etc. we'd just hang around and make a day of it.

I HAD to check out the latest finds in Beall's Outlet, lol. Not sure if many of you are familiar with this store, but it's kind of like a Big Lots with close-outs and bargains and what-not. I found two pairs of shoes for me (very inexpensive!), and a couple of things for the kids. I love that store! Next, the kids wanted to check out the pet store. We looked at everything in there! And we bought a new toy for Aubie, our cockatiel. Then we had lunch at Zaxby's, my children's FAVORITE restaurant. After lunch, we stopped in at Rue 21. My daughter loves this store, but I'm not so sure that I do. For one thing the music playing was nothing that I'd want my kids hearing all the time. And while some of their clothing line is cute, a good bit of it is...umm, well let's just say it's not what I'd want my daughter to wear. After Rue 21, we made a stop at the Dollar Tree. Who doesn't like a store with lots of $1 items?

When we got back home that afternoon, the only school work we decided to tackle for the day was our reading subjects. So all in all, it was a day well spent. And I think the kids enjoyed it as well.

Friday

Friday...we usually spend this day wrapping up our school week...probably just like you. Right now dh is on a different work schedule, so he is off on Fridays, and that affects our school schedule. Alot. Today, the only school we accomplished were our morning read-aloud time and about 1/2 a lesson of math for each child. DH had lots of things he wanted to accomplish today like taking the trash to the landfill, lol, (there is no trash pick-up where we live) an optometry visit, and working on Will's (and a little friend's) race car for our upcoming AWANA Grand Prix... and of course the kids would much rather help him than do their school work!

But, I'm not complaining. I am thankful for the time we get to spend together. Maybe I will incorporate what another blogging friend does...Fun Fridays. Maybe I can even get dh in on school. He loves math and science, so maybe I can ask him to do some fun science experiments with the kids on Fridays. He has done some experiments with them in the past and has quite enjoyed doing them! I might have to change the name from Fun Fridays to Freaky Fridays, though.

I don't know that I'd want dh home all day every day, but for this short time I will welcome the change. It was neat that everybody was here during school hours, even my college kiddo. I managed to snap a couple of shots of them doing school work this morning...

my fifth grader working on math and my college freshman working on Biology

my eigth grader working on math (Teaching Textbooks) at the computer

Although we didn't accomplish everything on my agenda for today, we did get to experience what was on God's agenda for our family. I was a little stressed to begin with, and if I can be honest with you... I was a little miffed because my dh was interfering with my plans for the day and interrupting my routine and schedule! Thankfully, the Lord showed me how ridiculous I was to feel that way! And thankfully, He showed me early enough in the day so that I didn't completely ruin the day for everyone. I am usually slow to learn the lessons He teaches me each day, so needless to say I am VERY grateful that He penetrated my stubbornness and softened my heart on this little (or should I say big) "my way" issue. Yes, my God is BIG like that! Why does it so often take me so long to see that?

 

Well...our day turned out to be a good day for all! I would say that we experienced a Fabulous Friday. Hey! That might be the new name for our family Fridays. Of course, I can't say that each one will be as good as today was. But... if I leave it open for God to plan the day, who knows? And isn't that what I'm supposed to be doing every day, anyway?

 

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33

Catching Up...

Ok...I'm so far behind on my blogging, I'll never get caught up. So I thought I'd share a few highlights of what we've been up to...

Most recently, we've celebrated a couple of birthdays around here... Will turned 11 and DH turned 41. Since both their birthdays happened to fall on a Wednesday, we decided to go out to eat with friends after church. However, I (the one who usually always has her camera with her) forgot to take it along, both nights! So no pictures to share (except the one I did take at home). In addition to eating out on his actual birthday, Will also celebrated with a party here at home with some of his friends. This year we (or rather I) opted to forgo the usual theme party (which as you probably know, quickly adds up to be quite expensive) and had a variety of foods along with a cake I made myself. And the kids just played... with no organized activities. And I must say they all seemed to enjoy themselves very much! And so much less stress for mom!

He prefers brownies to a cake

the kids playing at Will's party

He didn't care that the icing barely concealed crumbling cake layers (lol)

We also enjoyed our church's annual fall festival on the Saturday morning of Will's birthday party. After the fun and games and hayride and lunch, the children were all given a pumpkin and a carving tool set...so my kids and some of their friends decided to carve their pumpkins at the party. They had fun and the pumpkins turned out quite cute, I think!

My family joined a new home school support group this year, as our local group has pretty much disbanded. There seems to be fewer and fewer of us in my county who continue to homeschool. Most are opting to send their children to the local Christian school. I can't complain, since that is what we did with our oldest child when he was in 9th grade. He is very competitive and into sports and our homeschool group has never been big enough to support a sports program. I love living in "SmallTown USA," but there are definite downsides to rural living... so we sent him. He did very well academically, socially, emotionally...I just missed him...alot! And now our daughter wants to go next year, as she will be in 9th grade.

Needless to say, I really want to continue to homeschool, but I also know how important sports are to her. In the meantime, I joined a larger group in another county (still it's not big enough to support a sports program), hoping that she will enjoy other activities and make new friends. Recently we took a field trip with this group to an orchard and enjoyed a corn maze, a hayride and a pumpkin patch!

DH is off work this whole week and oldest son is home from college...yaayy! We won't get much school work done these next few days, but that's ok...we enjoy having the extra time with them. We'll be heading out to Alabama in a few days to spend Thanksgiving with our families. We're all looking forward to that! I am thankful for the time we will have with them. I am thankful for so much! The Lord has been good to me; I am truly blessed!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, surrounded by those you love most...Blessings!