Q & A: Homeschool Edition

When I opened the floor to questions last week, I never anticipated the reaction I got. I was hoping at least one person would ask something so I didn't look like a fool. Instead, I got *MORE* than enough questions to keep me busy while Matt was gone (and , in fact, kept me busy even after he returned! hehehe) The first post was full of fun and sundry questions that were lighthearted and a snap to answer.

There were quite a few others (these) that were not at all lighthearted and actually, pretty weighty, on matters of religion and faith and our education views. Naturally, I wanted to take time to consider my answers carefully and wisely and gave myself more time to do so than I did the flippant, fun ones of last week. Forgive me for using that as license to take FOREVER.

In an effort to get these published more quickly, and move on to my normally shallow every day goings-on blog posts (SOOO much to catch up on!), I decided to split the questions up once again. One more installment next week should do the trick. Until then~

On Education:

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how you manage to integrate Adele into homeschooling? or how she amuses herself while you teach?

Adele is not quite two at this point so I don't integrate her into schooling just yet. Honestly, I have my hands full with the other two right now and am struggling to accomplish everything I must with them. Adele' does not amuse herself very well; she doesn't like to play alone, rarely looks at books by herself and always wants to be doing right alongside the other two. So I give her markers (I could kiss the inventor of washable markers), or crayons or pencils and let her have at it while the other two are sitting at the table working. I give her puzzles and playdoh or let her sit on my lap. I let her play with glue. (yes, yes I do.) One of her most favorite things to do is to play/sort/scatter the jar of coins I use for teaching money. That keeps her going for quite some time. Basically, I just try to keep those little hands busy-and if she learns things in the meantime (which she does, quite by accident), HU-RAH. ;-)

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I, too, would like to know more about your homeschool. Curriculum choices and methods would be great.

(and)

I would love to know if/what curriculum you use and why you decided on it. It seems you offer a wide range of projects, subjects, and culture to your children. I would love to know more... how you order your day... anything...!!

(and)

what do you use for an art program?

Home educating, for us, is about way more than a set of grades. In fact, what I aim to do has not a speck of commonality with my public school counterparts, and will (Lord willing) produce far different outcomes. Primarily, we want a God-centered education and we realize that no education, anywhere, is ever neutral. But a good Christian school can cover that. It is natural to assume, then, that there are other reasons I am drawn to homeschooling...and indeed there are! I am "Classically Charlotte", if you will- following a classical curriculum while still recognizing the great advantages of children being children and giving plenty of time for them to explore and do and guide their own interests and learning as well. It is a dance between freedom and structure, but one that I don't find at all contradictory.

I want my children to be disciplined to do work that might not be all that intriguing but at the same time, it is very important to me that they have moments of self-discovery. Not having me tell them what to love but to discover those things out themselves. Then, to allow ample time to pursue with a vengeance things those things that they are passionate about. I want to show them how much fun learning is so that they might strive to learn something every day-not because they must but because they can.

But on the flip side: As valuable as free time is for children, I consistently struggled with my own lack of self discipline in teaching. Homeschoolers are very capable of rationalizing "educational experiences" so far into every day life that their children end up baking bread but being completely lost on logic. It is very important to me that real learning is ACTUALLY taking place and we aren't just slicing pizza or planting seeds and calling it an education.

Enter:

I can't take credit for this idea, I stole it from a brilliant friend, but I can say it has totally changed our days for the better. I will never go back to the way I was tackling the day to day. I created a weekly schedule and blocked off time to accomplish everything I hoped to cover on that particular day. Corynn has her work in pink, Andrew's is in blue and the activities both are involved in are red. I then laminated the schedule and as we complete a task/lesson, we cross it off. At the end of the week, we start fresh.

Last year, I felt I could offer the children so much more-but never got around to it. Corynn was ready for school to be over after Math (one stinkin' subject) and I was just disappointed at all the things I wanted to cover but never did. NOW-so much more is accomplished and Corynn is EXCITED to cross them off the list and move on.


We don't start at a particular time every morning and we don't use a buzzer between subjects. In fact, I purposely try to keep time out of it for the most part simply because I enjoy having freedom from clock-watching. (The same reason I don't wear a watch...) I wrote time approximations when I made the schedule to be sure it wasn't TOO much time devoted for schooling and not enough time for real-life and real-fun, but we never follow those intervals. If Math takes less time-awesome. If reading takes three times as long because we are into a good book, fine by me. If the day has been a long one and we don't finish all the tasks, we circle the task we didn't get to and, if there is free time throughout the week we can make it up. Or not. I don't get bent out of shape if we miss a history project or science experiment, because having a Godly education is our primary goal. That said, being given gifts from God, like a brain, means we have a specific obligation to USE that brain well, so we Christians ought not to be raising imbeciles. If we raise children to love God and to find passion in LEARNING, we will have succeeded.

One way that I do this is to surround them with books, whole books--all the time. Learning doesn't just happen "within school hours" but can and should happen at any hour of the day. Books are the door into those new worlds of discovery. If I can help my children develop a passion for books, they will develop a passion for learning. I give them books that are too young for them, too old for them, and suited to their age group. They love them all. I read baby stories to the babies and the big kids snuggle in. We read mature chapter books in the evening, and the babies listen while playing. No one is exluded and anyone can glean anything they want in the amount that they want from whatever books they can. I keep animal encyclopedias out on the coffee table, or artist biographies (grown up books) and they scour the pictures and paintings. We go to the library once a week and I request particular books throughout the week that would interest them/pertain to what we are learning. There are books in every room of this house, not just in bookcases, but in baskets and piles too.

As for curricula~

The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer is an incredible resource (nearly all the books she recommends, up to second grade, we own or borrow repeatedly from the library.) We also follow (more loosely) their suggestions for educating: like creating notebooks, etc. I love this book-and it has been a LIFESAVER for this girl who was completely unprepared for homeschooling.


For history~ The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. We love this. Whole-heartedly. This is one curriculum that I don't bat an eye to recommend. While the Activity book is pretty hefty in price, I will never go without it. It makes history come alive and offers so many extra resources that it well makes up for the price. You *MUST* check this out.


For Science~We don't use a formal curriculum at this point. Rather, I make lessons pertaining to the things the children are exploring or interested in. Animals, plants and the human body is what I hope to cover this year. We have covered rabbits early (thanks to Sassafras and Blossom having litters) and will do most plant work throughout the summer. For animals, I made an "observation page" based on The Well Trained Mind book that asks questions about the species to aid in observation. All these pages go in an Observation notebook.

If the children are interested in space or dinosaurs, I make up lessons and get loads of books on the subject. When they get a hunkering for experiments, I get out a few science experiment books and pick one. Science is pretty unorganized right now, but classically taught kids usually aren't taught any science at all until much later, so I figure we are doing just fine.

"Hey LOOK! Mama!! This is the spider we read about yesterday!" the boy shouts as he peruses a new animal book. Don't you just *LOVE* that?!?!

For Math~ we use Saxon, which is excellent but (in my opinion) offers far too much busy-work. We usually do HALF the work they offer in each lesson (two pages a day instead of four) and that is plenty sufficient. PLUS-that means that the OTHER half left undone will be Andrew's workbook when the time comes! Two for the price of one! Wa-hoo.

Spelling and Grammar-I can't recommend anything because we are hanging on by the skin of our teeth on these things. I haven't really found anything I get excited about....any suggestions?


Art~ I don't have a particular art program. I make projects up out of my head. I keep famous paintings where they can reach them. I keep a variety of markers, papers, scissors, paints, colored pencils, stickers, etc. around for whenever their fancy strikes. We look at paintings and make our own versions of them. We cut out magazine pictures and imitate them. We explore famous paintings, we read about artists, and we try and make our own art. There are so many great resources out there. So many. I could do an entirely separate post on this subject alone. Maybe I will. Someday. One thing I find extremely helpful in getting children into art and really trying their best at it, is to do it beside them. If they are watercoloring, you watercolor. If they are painting birds, you paint birds. And always, ALWAYS refer to them as artists. Because they are.

We do a composer of the month, an artist of the month, and we learn a new psalm to sing every month. We are continuously changing out the family read-aloud and I included several different genre for Corynn to read outloud for her reading time throughout the week, so as to expand her horizons. Poetry, Nature Reader, library book and her choice. Of course, those are just the books she reads to me. She always has her nose in a book. All the reading things I added to the schedule only to convey how much fun schooling is-because the way to my childrens' hearts is through books. :-)

Quiet time is after lunch, and is two hours where the babies sleep, Andrew reads (and sometimes falls asleep much to his chagrin) and Corynn reads/draws or plays quietly. After this, the afternoons are free for them to do anything their little hearts desire.