I feel like we just now have gotten in a groove of school, we only have 2 weeks left! I was prepared that this semester would be us just figuring it out, but I was not prepared for some of the bumps that have come along.
Alison pretty much had to be "unschooled". It's taken her awhile to get un-grained from public school. She was super concerned for a long time about when we would have "rescources" and when she would be able to use her backpack. I still have to remind her that she doesn't have to take SOL tests and that there's more to life than socializing with crazy kids.
At first Alison loved that our school day was shorter and there were less distractions and we got more done, than in public schools. But it quickly turned to being overwhelmed that I wanted her to sit and get all her work done at one time. She was used to having 2 hours for one subject; she would get the 1 worksheet done in a couple of minutes and then have the rest of the time to socialize and do whatever she wanted.
We have gone through 3 different school approaches in 4 months. I'm thankful for this time to figure it out and I'm thankful that we finally have a clear path. We began with a computer program. I was sure Alison would absolutely love it and she could quietly work on school independently while I worked with Eli. Miss Smartie Pants finished the whole 2nd grade program in 5 weeks and hated it. Then I pieced together some workbooks, but after getting into them realized they were "common core" centered and I threw them away. Finally, by God's grace, a friend from church asked if she could give us some homeschool stuff she needed to clean out of her office. I was reluctant, but praise the Lord I said yes. The box was a treasure box for us, full of great educational pieces, essential curriculum and several foundational education books. More on that in a second, but we're finally on the path I want to be on and Alison is loving it.
I started reading 'The Well-Trained Mind. A Guide to Classical Education at Home.' by Jessie Wise. It immediately supported what we believe about education, but gave me a concrete plan for school. I thought it was interesting that it said (as I've found to be true) that if a child learns to read before 1st grade in today's world, they are immediately at a disadvantage. Public schools want kids to learn the alphabet in preschool, letter sounds in kindergarten and begin reading halfway through first grade. However, if they read before that, they will always be above the "common" and will always be bored. It also supported that "common core" is teaching kids dumbed down information to pass a standardized test. Instead, we want our kids to learn how to learn and learn to love learning.
It's been interesting seeing this first hand. In public school, Alison could ace tests, just by skimming the information. The reason she was ranked reading on a 5th grade level was because she figured out how to pass reading tests well, but she wasn't remembering what she was reading.
Because of this "new" path, we've backtracked a little to get a solid foundation under Alison. I am continuing on as if she is finishing 2nd grade in 2 weeks, but then we are going to be working through the summer on a light schedule to catch up.
Right now, our schedule looks like this:
Monday, Tuesday and Friday are solid school days. We have breakfast/bible time, morning chores, school, lunch, afternoon chores, reading time and play outside. For school, Alison does cursive writing, spelling, math, language and history. Eli does writing, math and learning to read.
Wednesday we just to a bible lesson after breakfast and the rest of the day is spent at gym class, swim lessons and small group. Thursdays we do writing, spelling, science and go to the library.
Language lessons and history are using classical curriculum. For her language lessons, Alison's working on memorizing parts of speech, poems and listening to stories and giving narrations back. History follows a similar pattern. She listens to a chapter out of the history book and then has to write a summery of the chapter. I ask her questions and then we work on a map sheet together. She enjoys the personal interaction a lot more than sitting in front of a computer and I love that I really know what she's learning and can make sure she gets each building block soaked in.
Eli is about half way done with his learning to read book. He's doing great, but at the point where he wants to guess words instead of working to sound it out. Alison hit a similar road block and it's just a matter of confidence to boost him over the edge. My goal is to have him reading by the end of summer. The classical education approach also supports what I've believed about preschool/kindergarten. Instead of spending a ton of time on worksheets or curriculum, my main focus is teaching him to read because that's the foundation for all learning. He is, of course, learning other things, but it comes in more natural settings like playing or exploring.
Colin...he's a puzzle piece I haven't figured out. The first couple of months, he did awesome. He would sit in the school room and color or he'd play quietly in his room. Then, he was tired of being good and decided it would be more fun to throw a fit, just to throw a fit in the middle of the school room. Lots of homeschool moms will suggest giving tots a "quiet box" of educational things for them to do. Do you know what Colin does with his tot box? He uses them as projectiles. One mom suggested having Alison and Eli take turns helping him with a learning activity. But that turned into him shouting, "NO! MOMMY'S THE TEACHER!" I tried saving his screen time for when I really need to work with Alison, but he enevidably ventures into the school room, either carrying the iPad or just wanting to be with the action. Today, I resulted to gating him in his room. All that to say, I don't have it figured it out, but I know he needs some training and I know it will all change in the next couple of months as summer hits and he gets older.
Personally, the transition into homeschooling was tougher than I thought. I went through a rough period of "Oh my shmolly I never get a break!" and it wasn't until I started getting up really early in the morning (to have coffee/quiet time/run) that things got better. I'm thankful to say that I don't feel that way anymore. I really do love being home with the kids and being their teacher. Ok, it's not always easy, but I've only seen blessings come from our decision. We've made some great friends and I've seen our kids grow tremendously.
Our days have been less stressful as we've cut out running on someone else's clock and the biggest thing; we are able to have family time when Ben is home. Our evenings used to be so crammed full of getting Alison off the bus and getting dinner ready and homework done and showers taken and Lord help us if any activity was scheduled for that evening, that Ben coming home was more a "move out of the way" or "please jump in and help me" situation. Now he comes home and we're ready to spend real time with him. It's also meant that we can do fun things on his days off and really soak up time together before he deploys. It also means that when he comes back we can take some time off school to catch up with him and if we move in the next year, we won't have to worry about transferring schools.
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