2 Weeks Under My Belt

I've now got 2 weeks of homeschooling under my belt.  And what do I think?  How's it going?  It's ok!  It's not GREAT.  But it's not HORRIBLE either.  The boys are learning, which is the main point, I guess, right?

I feel like I've been on an emotional rollercoaster the last few weeks.  Taking your child(ren)'s education into your own hands is a pretty big deal.  And you want to get it just right.  But then you start to realize that your child(ren)'s education was ALWAYS in your hands; you may have just allowed strangers that will never meet or care about your kid individually to make decisions without your consent in regards to their education.  So homeschooling isn't that big of a change.

Or is it?  I've been exhausted each day (and have found ways to take a cat nap in the afternoon).  We're packing in all of our schooling in the morning and finishing most days before lunch.  And since 90% of their curriculum is teacher-led at this point, that makes for an intense time period for the teacher.  And what about the kids?  I'm alternating which kiddo I work with while the other one goes off and plays (usually with Legos).  So they're getting breaks.  Mamma, on the other hand:  not so much. 

There is some tweaking I need to do to make things a little better.  Like the intensity of the morning, for instance.  I need to make myself take a break or two (even if it's 5 or 10 minutes) so that I'm not exhausted and spent by lunchtime.  I also need to figure out what I want the boys to do in their spare time (while I'm working with their sibling).  Jack can't read fluently yet, so it'll be a challenge to find things for him to do while I'm working with Cade.  Cade, on other hand, is an excellent reader; I need to be more diligent in directing him toward reading 1 of 20 library books we have one hand, doing some typing games on the computer, etc.

But they're kids after all, so free play is OK too.  I'm just thinking that maybe free play should be a reward for finishing all of their work. 

One thing that we've been doing each morning before we start our work is a devotional time.  I read a chapter out of the Bible and then read a devotion that goes along with the passage.  And sometimes we discuss it.  And we always incorporate what we've read into our prayer.  This has been a blessing and has started off our days on the right foot.  I love that we're doing this!

Curriculum

In case you're curious, here are our current curriculum choices for the year.  (I say current because homeschoolers are known to change their curriculum mid-year because it's not working for the teacher or the student.)


Math -- Saxon

Spelling -- Spelling Workout by Modern Curriculum Press

Grammar -- First Language Lessons by Peace Hill Press

Writing -- Writing with Ease by Peace Hill Press

Handwriting -- Zaner-Bloser

History & Science -- We are using Classical Conversations as our spine (main resource) and supplementing with various texts, encyclopedias and library books

First Day of Homeschooling

I know you've been waiting, with bated breath I assume, to see how our first day of homeschooling went, right?  Wait no longer, my faithful 3 readers!  Here now, for your reading pleasure, is a summary of our day.

I had grandiose ideas of having some cool first-day-of-school kinds of activities to make the day special.  You know, things like a special breakfast.  Some crafts.  An "about me" sheet to fill out.  Things of that sort.

Since I didn't want to start out cooking some big breakfast that then I'd have to clean up later, I decided to try my hand at making some monkey bread as a special treat.  I figured the combination of biscuits, cinnamon, and sugar... surely the kids would love this!  And surely it would be a snap to make!  Only I completely misjudged the time it took to make it (and then bake it, and then let it cool). 

And as I was about to serve the kids the monkey bread, Jack mentioned that his foot hurt; he's mentioned this several times in the past several days.  So I took a look at the bottom of his foot and sure enough... a splinter.  I accidentally let the word "splinter" leave my lips and Jack went into hysterics.  He was inconsolable at the thought of having the splinter dug out of his foot (Jack has strong anxiety when it comes to any hint of bodily injury or pain).

So now we're an hour behind in our day, my 6-year old is in hysterics, and I'm thinking that this isn't how I wanted our first day to go.  Cade ends up tucking Jack into bed with a plethora of blankets, books, and pillows.  Jack calms down, and I start math with Cade. 

The rest of our time went OK.  it was a fairly light day because most of what we were doing was introductory lessons in our curriculum.  There are a couple of tweaks to be made and some things to add, but for the most part, a successful day.

Here are some back-to-school pics I took of the kids:

Claire (4)

Cade (8)

And Jack (6).  Unfortunately, Jack was in a sour mood and didn't feel like taking pictures.  This was the best I could get.  He was in the process of folding his arms at me to let me know he wasn't happy.

And then all 3 kids together.  Jack was still miffed about something and Claire wasn't sure where to look.  :)

It's really hard to get all 3 kids to look the same direction at the same time. But I was thrilled that Claire was offering the hook-em horns sign without being coached.

So all in all, a good day.  I think we'll try this again tomorrow.  :)

August

And now it's (near) the end of August.  Where does the time go, I ask you?  Apparently I've been a little too busy to update the blog.  Sorry 'bout that. 

Not much is going on with us as a family.  Well, I take that back.  There are some things going on...

• Scott is about to start his long-awaited education at Dallas Theological Seminary.  He is so stinking excited about it. The term "giddy like a school girl" comes to mind.
• I will start homeschooling the boys (for real now... not just in math) next week.  I'm sitting up in the school room right now, looking at all of the glorious books we'll be cracking open next week.  Should be fun!  Or at least good for some Frantlings fodder.
• Mom's addition to the house is coming along nicely.  It's bricked, sheetrocked and textured, and the trim has gone in.  Not sure exactly what the next steps are.  But hopefully in a month or two it will finally be finished and she can move back into her expanded space!
• I've been taking photos of houses that my friend JT is listing for sale; this has been a fun little side job, as my friend JT is a hoot and it's really decent money for an hour or two of my time.  
• It's been stinkin' hot here.  As in 107 for the high.  *sigh*   I'm really looking forward to the winter.  Really.  Really looking forward to it.  Did I mention that it's been REALLY hot here?

That about does it.  Claire and Jack have been playing nicely together the entire time I wrote this blog entry... the odds that it will continue into the near future are not good.  So I better wrap things up while everyone still has their appendages.

July

And now it's the end of July.  One month has gone by without any updates.  What have we been up to?  Plenty!

• Claire and the boys each had summer day-camps that they went to and thoroughly enjoyed.  Mommy enjoyed them being at day camp!  :)

• We also had VBS (Vacation Bible School) at our church.  The kids had a blast, and I got to help with photographing the event.  We were exhausted by the end of the week.  But it was great!

•  We hosted a poker party

• We went to two weddings

• Scott flew out to California to have a guy's weekend with one of his best friends from high school (he had a great time!)

• The boys and I have been doing math each day.  1, they asked to do it because they really like math.  2, it is allowing us to get our feet wet with homeschooling without having to jump into all subjects at once

Can't believe it's already the end of July.  Less than a month and school really starts up!  

Birfdays

The kiddos were gone all last week at their grandparents (Scott's parents) in Missouri.  What a wonderful break that was!  But man!  It sure was quiet around here...

The kids came home yesterday (Sunday).  While they were gone, both Jack and Claire celebrated birthdays.  Jack turned 6 (!!!) and Claire (my baby), turned 4.  Their parties will be this weekend at McDonald's and Chuck E. Cheese, respectively (yikes).

Eager Beavers

We've already started.  Homeschooling that is.  We've already started, and it's summer break! 

"Isn't that child abuse?", you ask.  Why no.  No it isn't.  Not when your kids are begging to start homeschooling.  And no, we haven't drugged our children.

The boys had been begging me to start homeschooling since school let out.  So I obliged them, of course!  We have only begun math.  And for the most part, it's VERY easy and mostly review so far.  In addition to satisfying the kids' desire to learn, I also wanted to get my feet in the water and test things out with just one subject.  As the weeks go by, we'll probably add in a subject or two and see how the adjustment goes. 

I'm learning that a lot of Texas homeschoolers (none that I know personally, however) do school in the summer because it is SO STINKIN' HOT outside.  There's not much else to do (my kids aren't strong swimmers and don't love the pool), so why not get some school done and take a break in the fall and spring when it's so nice outside? 

It's so not what we're used to (public schools don't do it that way), that it's taking my brain a long time to get that it's OK to do things differently than what we're used to.  After all, homeschooling isn't necessarily supposed to be public school at home.  With homeschooling, and especially in the great state of Texas, you have the flexibility to do things the way you want to do them (and what best fits for your family), not the way a government tells you to do it.

Classical Conversations

Classical Conversations is the co-op that the boys and I will be involved with in the fall.  It's an intense manifestation of the classical method, and we'll be learning a lot this year!  The history we will be studying is American history.  Science is anatomy with a little bit of chemistry thrown in.  Geography will be American geography.  And of course we'll be learning some basic latin.  Latin?  A dead language for live kids?  Yep.  It'll make moving on to Spanish and other languages later a lot easier.  Plus, learning latin will help the kids decipher what new words mean (about half of english words find their roots in latin).  And, the biggest reason to learn latin is that it helps show kids how to learn.  It's a very systematic language, and you study this language in a very orderly fashion.

I'm excited to be learning right along with the kids.  I love to learn!  I'm sure this blog will see it's share of brags this year.  I'll try to temper my urge to do just that!  :)

Random pics of the kids

Here are some random images of the kids taken by my phone.


The boys playing chess...





Claire with her new Dora doll....




Cade at the local library....



Claire at the same library ...



Jack at the same spot at the library...



The boys acting silly when they should have been trying to go to sleep....



Cade and his 2nd grade teacher Ms King (and Jack, who snuck into the pic)...



Cade being goofy....

Classical Education

The method or style that we're going to use to homeschool our kids is the classical method.  The classical method adheres to the trivium, which is an educational theory suggesting that kids grow and learn in three distinct phases.  There's the grammar stage, the logic stage, and the rhetoric stage. 

The grammar stage is approximately 1st - 6th grade.  At this stage, young minds are excellent sponges and they tend to soak up facts like they're going out of business.  So a lot of memory work (not necessarily with context yet) happens at this stage; they may memorize the US presidents, a history timeline, the 3 types of blah blah blah in science, etc.  During the grammar stage, young minds typically aren't developed enough to creatively write, reason, and express themselves. 

The next stage, the logic stage, is in the junior high years.  This is where more of the context gets filled in on what the student learned in the grammar stage.  The cause and effect of situations is studied (what caused WWI, for example) and the student's ability to reason is grown.

The last stage, the rhetoric stage, is the high school years where the students learns to persuasively express the opinions, reasoning, and logic that they developed in the logic stage. 

The classical model is also great because it teaches students how to learn.  First you learn the "grammar" of a subject.   Then you study the "why" of the subject.  Then you can express your findings through substantive expression. 

There are many resources for learning more about the classical model of eductation.  The following books have given us a solid foundation in the classical method:

• The Well-Trained Mind
• Teaching the Trivium
• The Core

You can also look on the Well-Trained Mind website for more information on the classical model.

There are many other homeschool styles out there:  traditional, ecclectic, unschooling, unit studies, Charlotte Mason...  But we chose the classical method because A) it is a rigorous method of studying  B)  it teaches the kids how to learn  C)  it will hopefully instill in the kids a love for learning.

Mavs!

Mavs tie the series up 2-2.  That's all.

Free (well, almost) Activity for Kids This Summer

Once summer really heats up, it's difficult to make the kids go outside and play.  It's just too dang hot!  A friend of mine tipped me off to Kids Bowl Free.  And it's almost free.  You have to pay for the shoe rental if your kids, like mine, don't have their own bowling shoes. 

We will most definitely be doing this several times this summer.  Check it out for a bowling alley near you!

Preacher Man

Much earlier than expected, Scott will get his preaching debut this Sunday, June 12.  He is beyond excited and nervous.  The fact that the elders trust him to share the pulpit already speaks volumes of how they feel about Scott.  I'm both excited and nervous for Scott as well.  I'm not sure how I won't be able to keep from pacing in the back of the church the whole time he's up there!

Scott's sermon will be on Joshua.  We are currently in an "Ordinary Heroes" series at church, examining different ordinary heroes throughout the Bible.  And Scott's lot fell on Joshua. A good guy to start out with!  Scott's main point will not be Joshua, though.  His focus will be on the God that Joshua has faith in.  I can't wait to hear it next Sunday!

THE Homeschooling Post

How in the world did we ever get into homeschooling.  How in the world???!!!???  Let me tell you.

But first, a little backstory.

When our oldest was about 3 years old, Scott started looking ahead to Cade's education.  We knew the 2 years prior to Cade entering kindergarten would fly by pretty fast (and they did).  Scott read a lot of books and determined that homeschooling was his #1 choice followed by private school at #2 and public school at choice #3.  He came to me with his findings, and I pretty much laughed in his face.  Me?  Homeschool?  Ha! 

I have not been very content being a stay-at-home mom since Cade was born.  I'm not a "little kid" person, so these years of having numerous small people in the house has been difficult.  Not that I don't LOVE my kids.  I do!  But this little stage just wears on me like nails on a chalkboard.  The idea of extending this time with the kids into homeschooling, especially at the time when I had two kids 3 and under, was a big no.  Homeschooling was great for other people (how on earth did they do it?), but it wasn't for me.

Fast forward a couple of years, and Cade entered kindergarten in public school.   We couldn't afford private school (at least not for 3 kids), so public school was the only option left.  Scott and I are both products of the public education system; and we turned out OK (keep your comments to yourself!).  And Cade had a great time at school.  And we were fairly pleased with his teacher and the school; we didn't have any major complaints.

Fast forward another couple of years when it's Jack's turn to enter kindergarten (this was around May 2010).  By all measures, it did not appear that Jack was ready for kindergarten.  One of the major obstacles we saw was that Jack still wasn't potty trained.  At the age of almost 5.  He was in diapers.  And would freak out on us if we tried to put him in underwear or on the potty.  I started looking around at private kindergartens.  But none of them would accept him because of the potty training issue.  We didn't want to try public school just yet:  what if the kids that he was going to grow up with start making fun of him?  What if they remember in junior high that he was the kid who went in his pants in kindergarten?  We thought it would just be a colossal mistake to subject Jack to that ridicule. 

Public school was out.  Private school was out.  Our only viable option?  Homeschool him.

At first this didn't sit too well with me.  But by golly, if this is what my kid needed, then I was going to do this for him.  I started devouring books on homeschooling.  And a funny thing happened:  the more I read, the more excited I got about homeschooling.  Sure, I was still nervous as all get out (can I really do this?  what if I don't end up teaching him anything?  what if he's behind his 1st grade peers the following year?).  But I had to trudge ahead.

I homeschooled Jack for 6 weeks before we made the gut-wrenching decision to put him in public school (that's a long story -- a story for another post some day).  And he did GREAT.  We saw Jack mature a lot those first few weeks.  And he loved school.  His teacher was the quintessential kindergarten teacher:   smiley, loving, sweet, nurturing, etc.  God could not have orchestrated that any better.

Fast forward to March of this year.  I'm not sure what got me thinking about it, but I started to be haunted by the idea of homeschooling.  I had really enjoyed my time with Jack (even if it was only 6 weeks).  And I recalled all the stuff I had read in the homeschooling books.  I became convinced that homeschooling was the best educational option for our kids.  Once I realized that, there was no turning back.

And the fact that none of this makes sense (I am the mom who skipped out of the school after dropping her first born off at kindergarten; no tears, just whistling and whooping) leads me to believe that God is behind all of this.  And if He has called us to do this, then He will surely equip me to be successful.

So WHY are we homeschooling? What makes it a better education option for our kids?

1. we can beat the public school's student-teacher ratio in a huge way
2. we can go as fast or as slow as we need to with each kid according to their abilities
3. we can use curriculum that is not meant to be a one-size-fits-all education.  we can use curriculum that meshes with the kids' learning styles
4. we (scott & i) will be involved in what they are learning; no more guessing at how the teacher teaches something when it comes to helping out with homework.
5. we can teach our kids our values; the public system tries to teach moral virtues.  but without a Who or why (God and the Bible) behind the system, the teaching falls short and shallow.
6. we love our kids more than their public school teachers do.
7. we don't want to outsource the educating of our kids to strangers

There are more reasons, but I'll stop with the above 7.  I'm excited about the idea of homeschooling our kids.  And the boys are excited too!  And most of all, a shocked Scott is thrilled that I've come around to what he has wanted since the beginning.

More Baseball

I know a lot of the recent posts have revolved around Jack.  Jack Jack Jack.  Well, here's another one.  Sorry!  He's had a lot going on recently!

We just received his baseball pictures for this current season.  So precious!

Rangers Game

Recently a friend at church gifted us 4 tickets to a Rangers game.  SWEET!  So my mom and I took Jack and Cade.  Cade had already been to a Rangers game, but this was Jack's first time. 

To say that it was hot is an understatement.  It was probably hovering around 90 degrees, not counting how hot the sun and humidity made it feel.  And I'm guessing our plastic seats were in the range of 120 degrees.  The seats were so hot that it actually burned my skin a little through my shorts.  Ouch.  So each boy sat on our laps.

After 2 innings of suffering in the sun, the boys needed to go to the bathroom.  After we took care of that business, we realized there was a really nice breeze going through his shady part of the stadium.  And there just happened to be some barstools and a closed-circuit TV that was playing the game.  SWEET!  So we abandoned our great seats and sat in the shade in a little restaurant kind of area in The Ballpark and watched the game.

Three innings of sitting there not being able to watch the game live got kind of boring for the boys...

We ended up leaving early, somewhere in the 5th.  And that was OK.  I got to see The Ballpark again (which is just beautiful) and got to take in part of a ballgame.  And the boys got to skip part of school (it was a 1pm game) which made it extra special for them.

Updates and Things

In my last post, I mentioned that a lot has been going on in our house lately.  We've been quite busy!

Baseball
Jack has started playing modified pitch baseball this spring.  And he LOVES it!  Modified pitch baseball is a cross between t-ball and baseball.  The batter gets 4 pitches from his coach.  If he hasn't hit the ball by then, the T is brought out for the batter to hit off of. 

 

 

Jack is on the Cardinals team, and boy does he look adorable in his uniform. 

With 2 games a week plus a practice, Jack's baseball schedule keeps us on the go!

Homeschooling
Yes, homeschooling.  It reared it's ugly head again this past March.  And I haven't been able to shake the idea of it since.  Soooooo, we're going to homeschool the boys this Fall.  Cade will be in 3rd, and Jack will be in 1st.  We've already got curriculum purchased and a co-op (Classical Conversations) that we're joining.  And we are all very excited!  Claire will be going to mother's day out 3 days a week next year, so that will help with getting things done!  :)

I'll probably do another separate post on homeschooling since I am passionate and excited about it right now.  We'll see how excited I am come September after a long summer with all 3 kids at home!  :)

Scott's Job
Scott continues to love his job at Woodcreek Church.  He almost feels guilty for how much he enjoys the work!  He's been busy lately with different ministry projects that he oversees, and his job is going great. 

One of the difficult things about some ministry positions is the lack of quantifiable progress; it's hard to quantify a congregation's spiritual growth.  So it's difficult for Scott in particular to know if he's doing a good job.  He can feel like he's doing a good job, but there's no quantifiable proof to support that feeling.  And this is just something he's going to have to adjust to.  At AT&T where he worked before, there was plenty of empirical evidence to demonstrate that he did a stellar job.  At WC, it's a little bit more difficult to assess his progress in his job. 

Whoa, Time Flies -- Jack Graduates

It seems I've been living life and forgetting to blog!  So sorry to the 4 people who read this.  :)

A lot has been going on in this neck of the woods.  But I'll update you guys on that a little later.  Right now, I wanted the focus to be on Jack Jack.  He's graduating from kindergarten! 

I'm so proud of this little guy.  He has grown (unfortunately not vertically, just emotionally) by leaps and bounds this year.  His anxiety has reduced some, and he is learning that he can get through scary situations if he's brave.  He made this momma so proud when, in describing a scary (for him) experience, Jack mentioned that he thought about King David and how God was with him when he fought Goliath. 

Jack remembered God's Word to help him through his scary situation!

I was so proud of Jack when he told me about that experience.  He has made friends this year and really come out of his shell. 

We are so proud of our little guy!

Crash and Burn

Howdy y'all.  Not much has been going on with the fam, or I would have posted glorious photos of said events.

My laptop died earlier in the week; I went to restart it because I was having problems printing to the wireless networked printer.  And alas, the computer never restarted.  It was a black screen of death.  No reboot.  No splash screen.   Just the faint whirring sound that screamed things weren't right inside the depths of my laptop.

Thankfully, after the last computer crash, we were subscribed to Carbonite, an online backup service.  So I'm not worried about important files being lost.  I'll be able to log on from any computer and transfer the files.  But the expense of having to buy a new computer with the inconvenience of not having a computer (save my wonderful iPhone) is just a bummer.

We have always been a PC family.  Not as in politically correct, of course. But as in non-Mac.  I'm fairly technical (as is Scott), so having PCs wasn't terribly frightening.  Plus they're just more affordable.  But now Scott has a Macbook for his job.  And the battery life is INCREDIBLE.  As is the speed of the machine, the fluid synchronicity of Apple products, and the light weight.  So now I'm thinking of switching.  Of course it will cost me a kidney to be able to afford it.  And people will say that I've drunk the kool aid.  But I'm OK with that.  :)

So proud

I'm so proud of Cade. This note accompanied him home last week:





-- Posted from my iPhone -- ain't technology grand?

Sawdust in my Lipstick

Many of you probably don't know that I love power tools.  Love them.  Scott bought me my first one many Christmases ago.  It was a circular saw.  The Sears sales clerk asked Scott if he could help him pick out a saw for himself.  Scott sheepishly told the sales guy that it was for his wife.  After a dubious look from the clerk, Scott proceeded to buy me my first tool (As an aside, he also bought me Mary Kay makeup that Christmas to balance things out).

Since then, I've inherited a jigsaw, nail gun, and router stand.  I've also purchased a table saw and router (with both fixed and plunge bases).  But I haven't used them in a while.

My mom mentioned that it would be nice if the kids had a book rack in their bathroom.  Currently, they have a small side table in the bathroom (which gets in the way of everything) to put their books on.  But not only is the table in the way, the books constantly slide off of it onto the floor.  With the book rack, we could eliminate the table AND the mess of books on the floor. 

She mentioned that she had seen a book rack in the catalog Land of Nod (which has way cute but overpriced children's furnishings).

 

It was way cute, but, accordingly, overpriced at $60.  I figured, "I can make that!  I just couldn't pay $60 for that!"

So last Tuesday, I bought my lumber and set to work.  In less then 2 hours, I had built my own book rack.

Of course I still need to caulk, prime and paint it.  But for 1/3 the price, and some fun time spent outside with my beloved tools, I made the kids a book rack.  And I even have some material left over to build some for friends and church!

I'll get a picture up when it's painted and installed...   I promise! 

Mom Jeans & the Dreaded Mom Butt

I just read this hysterical article... intended for ladies.  Don't get stuck in Mom Jeans!

Time Keeps on Tickin'

Sorry there hasn't been an update in a while. I think the last update I had was getting the Christmas tree... that was almost two months ago! Ack!

So we did Christmas. And that was great.

It snowed a couple of weeks ago. And that was great.

So you're now caught up with us. :)

Pictures? You want to see pictures? *sigh*. Fine. If you must.

Christmas 2010


GG and the kids worked on a gingerbread house...


Claire opening up her presents Christmas morning (this incidentally was a toy that lasted all of 5 minutes before it broke)

The boys opening their gifts as well...

January 2011: SNOW!


Claire, all bundled up and ready for some snow action.

Cade's feeble attempt to make a snow angel (we didn't get that much snow)

Claire's rain boots made excellent snow boots. Except she almost got frostbite on her toes.

Claire and her good friend down the street, Abby. Hugging right before they...

... fell over in the snow.

(sorry for the pic that didn't get rotated. i'm getting lazy). We built a decent sized snowman.