Refocusing the lens - Caution! May only be relevant to hs'ing geeks

-
As I mentioned in my previous post, school planning is always a reflective time.

As I looked back at our year(s) I came to some surprising conclusions as to what I might like to change. When I started with the homeschool idea I was all about the adventure and breaking away from the mold. I didn't want to be trapped into a 9-5 life, running the kids everywhere, never being together. I wanted to have family adventures and learn along the way and really enjoy each other!  I just wanted things to be *different* than what I saw as the "typical" lifestyle.

Well, since we haven't yet travelled North America in an RV for a year or hired private guides to take us through Europe :) is this lifestyle really meeting my goals? Since I live it everyday I don't feel very outside the box and I'm disappointed. It seems like we spend most of everyday just doing basic learning although over the years I've tried to find innovative and exciting curricula to capture some of that "adventure". We use lots of "real" books, few graded readers or textbooks, manipulative based Math, creative notebooking for Science that everyone can participate in, a "natural" methodology of learning Writing and Grammar, that sort of thing. All well and good, wonderful ways to learn but I can see that this takes a lot of extra time and effort on my part and I'm not sure anyone else really appreciate it!

I've changed my tack; this year I just want to get school done and get on with life!  I've invested in exciting online class opportunities for my oldest, leaving me more time to work with the littles while giving him some independence and a new voice to listen to.  He'll be doing a great real-time online literature course with a wonderful classical academy (Veritas)  in the US.  The books he'll be delving into are terrific!:

Around the World in 80 Days
A Christmas Carol
Kidnapped 
Fahrenheit 451
The Yearling
Fellowship of the Ring
Call of the Wild
White Fang
Little Women

He's a thinker and an excellent reader. I think he can handle it. He'll be doing an online Canadian Social Studies class with the school with which we are affiliated.  And he'll be accessing his Math lessons online, though not interactive, using the same curriculum as usual.   There are so many great ways to learn these days!

The rest of the changes involve heading to a Grammar text book (Rod & Staff), an excellent writing course on dvd (Institute for Excellence in Writing), a very solid formal Spelling program (Rod & Staff) (we need a bit of this!) and drilling the basics for those grade 4 and under.

I think it promises to be a varied and thorough year although next year my blog may reflect the complete opposite. Who knows?  I do know this year has been approached thoughtfully with much prayer and great expectation!

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for constructive and encouraging comments!

Popular posts from this blog

More Learning Links!

-
LINKS! The amazing online school we are enrolled with, Heritage Christian Online , compiled a nice list of links, many with free offers to help us all out during this crazy time. Thanks  HCOS ! There are all kinds of things in here from conferences to competitions to curriculum (hey! An alliteration!). We have used or are familiar with many of these, if you have any questions leave a comment below. ********************** Training for Parents Canadian Homeschool Symposium Online April 14 - 18 Live workshops on a wide variety of subjects and for early years, high school and in between Enjoy up to 25 live speakers and have lifetime access to all of the workshop videos on demand once you register! Only $20 Homeboun d 2020 Online Conference   hosted by Julie Bogart and Susan Wise Bauer, presented by Brave Writer and The Well-Trained Mind Replays are available to EVERYONE (registration not necessary for replay)  Well-Trained Mind offering audio "
Read more

Unintended Homeschooler?

-
Image
Have you been dropped into homeschooling out of the clear blue? Amidst all the chaos that's going on and managing your own anxieties, are you secretly freaking out about middle school math? Are you angry that this is now on your plate? Are you concerned about your relationship with your child, and how in the world you are going to get them to do school on top of the other stuff you already can't get them to do? Totally been there. Last week. Last month. Last year. And those years have turned into fifteen years of homeschooling four kids. We've schooled through, moves, deaths, cancer, attitudes, babies, teens, and now I can add a pandemic to the list! It doesn't always look pretty, but it can be done! So, where do you start? Do you just crack open the computer on Monday and let them go to it? Welllll, I suggest maybe not quite . I've put together the top three emergency tactics I would employ if I suddenly had a child at my table needing an education, but
Read more

Seeing Clearly, Accepting What Is, Choosing Joy

-
Image
If you had never heard of homeschooling, how could you prepare yourself to do it?  If you could have never imagined a reason to use Algebra after escaping high school, how would you be prepared to teach it?  If training up a child was one of those bible verses meant for someone else, how do you make it your all day/everyday job? Exactly. Schooling children at home hit me like a Mac Truck on a dark night. And not only did I know nothing about homeschooling, but children were a complete mystery to me, too. When I consider where I started and what I envisioned, I give myself a little grace. One by one my expectations have been demolished: firstly because they may have been unreasonable, secondly because, although reasonable, I did not know how to make them happen, and let's not forget thirdly-- children are their own persons. Some things are never going to happen with some people. Nevertheless, even starting a few miles behind the starting line has not ended in complete disa
Read more

The Early Bird Gets the Worm - And I Know Why!

-
Image
I'm making an assumption that most everyone knows most successful people start their days early and get lots done while the rest of us are still sleeping. I have never been one of the those people. I get quite a bit done, but I have never been able to master myself to the point of getting up early.  I make notoriously bad decisions snuggled under my blankets, the foremost being that it's not necessary to get up and get going. Recently I came across a course that is supposed to help you be more productive and such, and,  without even taking the course, I knew it wouldn't work for me because one of the number one principles was getting up early. However, since it continues to annoy me that I'm so pathetic, I was still thinking about this idea and the way she phrased it: "Make your first two hours count." Let me backtrack a bit.  Since I've had this ordeal with the cancer, I've had a very hard time motivating myself to get the stuff done that
Read more

TOO MUCH!!

-
I said in my last post that my next would be about my trip across on the ferry.  Due to the destructive nature of chemotherapy drugs, it is not advisable to have as many treatments as I need in the veins of my one good arm.  I was highly encouraged to have a "port" installed in my left upper chest area through which to administer these meds. Seemed reasonable; I like my veins.  A lot.  The catch was that they couldn't do it in a timely fashion (i.e. before my 2nd chemo) where I live which necessitated a ferry trip to another hospital. It all seemed a bit crazy but at this point, what doesn't? So Sunday we boarded the ferry to ensure we would be at our appointment at 10am Monday, which we were.  Sunday was actually kind of nice! Nice hotel, nice in-room dinner, nice linens, nice husband : )  Monday was not so nice.  The procedure itself was really not worse and maybe even better than going  for a dental procedure, but let me tell you that after 4 hours of waiting amo
Read more