Why I Will Homeschool My Girls

I have two beautiful daughters, one is five and one is three. They are smart, hilarious, and kind. They are also crafty, creative, and if the moment calls for it, pretty sneaky. Annika is my third child but my first daughter, so while I am used to being a parent, I'm still figuring out how to parent a girl. It's still fun to buy dolls and walk through the girly aisles at the store, even five years later.

Annika goes to regular kindergarten right now. It's not ideal--there are 34 kids in her class for one thing, but for the time being it's better than having her home. I am planning to fold her into our homeschooling next year, for which I will probably need therapy, but I'm really excited to keep her with us. It's just been a recently that I've realized how important it is for me to homeschool my daughters. Let me tell you a story.

Annika's class had a Valentine's Day Party, pretty standard fair for a kindergarten. She dutifully made her 34 valentines and one for her teacher. I helped, but she did most of the work. She proudly put them in a bag and took them to school to hand out to her friends. This is where the story might get confusing. I think her party was on a Thursday. Annika has pull-out speech therapy on Tuesday, so on the day the kids made their Valentine's bags she was not in the classroom. Instead, on Thursday morning, Annika's teacher pulled her into the classroom to finish the bag. Annika did and put it on the drying rack so it would dry before the party. (I didn't know any of this before I picked her up.)

I picked Annika up from school and asked her about the party. I asked to see her valentines before we left the school grounds and she told me that she didn't have any. I couldn't figure out what had happened so I asked her if they didn't have a party or if they didn't hand out valentines after all. She said they did and she handed hers out, but that she didn't get any. I talked to her friends that were standing there and the girls had all gotten valentines. It was all very mysterious. Annika's teacher was still there, so I asked her and immediately the teacher figured out the problem.

Annika's bag was still sitting on the drying rack. The teacher forgot and Annika didn't want to make waves so she didn't say anything about it. So my little girl put her valentines in the other kid's bags knowing that she wouldn't get any herself and never saying anything at all. It broke my heart and I couldn't figure out why she didn't say anything to the teacher about her missing bag.

It all turned out in the end, there were valentines left over and most of them were just sitting on the teacher's desk. The teacher gave those to Annika in the bag that she had made and Annika was just thrilled. She was okay originally, but she was so excited over those valentines.

Annika is a nice girl, mostly a good girl. She doesn't make waves at school and can easily blend into the background. Her teacher didn't even know that she could read for a couple of months after she started. Annika just wants to be liked by everyone there.

At home, she's completely different. She lets her needs be known, she is sweet but it's not fun to cross her.  Annika knows what she wants and she will get it, by hook or crook. While it can get annoying at times, I'm glad she does. Annika needs a place where she can be "bad" and know that she will still be loved. I work hard so she knows that she is an important part of our family and she is allowed to express her opinions. (She has a lot of them.) She doesn't need to be indoctrinated into the thinking that in order for people to like her, she must be quiet and well-behaved. I don't want her ever to think she's bothering someone for sticking up for herself.

So, along with reading, math, and spelling, I plan to teach my girls to stand up for themselves. To make sure they are treated fairly, even if it means they stick out. I don't want them being "nice" in order to be liked. I want them to be liked for themselves and to have the strength to know who that is. I don't want them to miss out on something because they didn't raise their voice. There will not be another Valentine's Day without valentines. This is something I know I can teach better than the schools.

And that is one of the big reasons why my daughters will be homeschooled.

Weekly Roundup, The Not Gallstones Edition

It turns out that I don't have gallstones, but no one is quite sure what is causing the pain in my side right where my gall bladder is. So I still have a lot of pain, but no answers.

In any case, this turned out to be a great week. We had a couple of missing books and one child that just sat there staring at his book mystified but not wanting to ask for help, but really, that's just normal. I did have a couple of appointments and will have more next week, but it's turning out to be a good thing. I don't want the kids to miss out on schooling because of me and I can be in pain moaning about it or doing lessons. So I think it's kind of spurred me on in a weird way.

Harry:

• wrote his "pre" poem.
• raced his Pinewood Derby car.
• learned about fractions in math. He did really great with this, so far. We haven't gotten into least common denominators yet, so it could be premature to rejoice, but I'll take a happy kid doing his math happily any day without worrying what might come in the future.
• read more of Sentence Island. We're almost to the end and we'll all be sad about it. We love Mud the fish. 
• worked on more sentences in Practice Island. He was working on sentence 51 I think when all of the sudden he looked up and said, "Mom, almost all of these sentences are about the ocean and fish!" He's still having a hard time with prepositions so we're making a list of the ones he sees. That way he'll have a visual reminder and won't get frustrated when he can't figure it out.
• got to parsing in Latin. This might be his downfall. He is having a really hard time figuring out what to do and then how to do it. So we're taking it very, very slowly. We look back in the book for clues, he tells me what he knows and I use the answer key to guide him along. However long it takes is cool with me. Latin was his idea, not mine. Mine was Swedish.
• read about India and Pakistan and Israel and Palestine. Fighting over land just mystifies him. I love that.
• did some science too. He's finishing up the second of two chapters on electricity in his science book. I will be so happy when he is finished. I'm dying for something new!
• began Number the Stars, I think. He might have started it last week. If so, he continued with it.

Sam:

• made a ger and a Genghis Khan to live in it.
• began his new Singapore Science Cycles book by searching every book in the house for info on kangaroos. Apparently we have no good books on kangaroos. I can't believe we're even allowed to be parents, let alone homeschool.
• continued adding and subtracting with regrouping. What can I say, it's MUS Beta. He only has two more lessons though, then we get to move onto multiplication!
• read about the Silk Road and China. Impressed our German guest with his knowledge after the guest told us that he lives in one of the towns on the end of the Silk Road. Classical education is really good for impressing people. 
• Worked on two lessons from Writing With Ease 2 and a bunch (we've doing a few each day) of lessons from First Language Lessons 2. We're past lesson 20 in WWE and it takes away some of the summary questions for the narrations. It's been tricky but Sam's done well with it. His problem is that he wants to tell me everything that happened in the book, down to the word. It's hilarious and very long.
• raced his Rhino-shaped Pinewood Derby car.
• read The Silver Chair, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and is now in Prince Caspian. To say he reads fast is a huge understatement.

The week went well. I just hope I don't have to be in pain every time I want to have a good week.

Genghis Khan Slept Here

Last week Sam read the chapter in SOTW 2 about Genghis Khan. We decided to do the "make a ger" activity from the Activity Book, but first had to buy the right felt. I have every kind of felt except for brown. Buying the felt alone took three days and then I had to locate all of the other supplies (paper, markers, glue). It was a little ridiculous and I felt bad every time I saw the felt sitting there. But finally yesterday the stars aligned and we undertook our building project.

Drawing the lattice work onto the cardstock.

Trying to make the ger wider than it was tall.

Covering the ger with brown felt. .

Creating the doorway.

Finished! Ready for Genghis Khan to move into.

After he finished the ger, Sam realized that he had to make a Genghis Khan. So we grabbed some sticks, some clay, a coke bottle lid and the rest of the felt. Sam came up with this:

The sign in front of the ger says, "Genghis Khan lives here."

I love doing projects with Sam. He really gets into them.



Oh, and of course, please excuse the messy kitchen. If we had waited for everything to be all perfect, we never would have had a chance to create. Not that I'm making excuses or anything...Of course not.

Eek, a Fraction!

Many, many moons ago I studied fractions in high school. My teacher was very nice, but somehow I got the whens, wheres, hows, and whys of fractions so mixed up in my mind that I just gave up. That started me thinking I was no good at math, which continues to today. Once I realized that math was hard I just gave up and decided that I'd have to be good at something else. It's not an uncommon thought and I know it plagues more people than just me.

Today I started looking at fractions with Harry. I decided long ago to make math neutral, to just work on it with each of my kids and not get concerned or panicky if it looked like they weren't getting it. That decision holds better some days than other.

The math book said to get something to show fractions with, so I looked around and quickly spied our tower of lego heads. Perfect! Hopefully even if I can't make math neutral, I can make it fun. At least 2/3 of the time.

Pre Poem

Not "before the poem," but a poem using the prefix "pre." And yes, it's about Persian Ninja Zombies.


Persian ninja zombies ate premium prepackaged brains,
predicted Bob would ride trains.
But they would prefer to go by plane
to watch the premiere of Preschoolers in the Rain.

Weekly Report, The Gallstones Edition

My gall bladder went bad this week. Apparently I have gallstones (I won't know officially until this afternoon, but it looks pretty sure from my symptoms.). Gallstones are really, really painful. So this week we've had to homeschool around doctor's appointments and my pain. But we're descendents of pioneers, so we pressed on:

Harry:

• continued with Singapore 4A; capacity and money. I know he knows money, so I'm trying to get him to finish the chapter today.
• learned about World War II and the Holocaust. I can't tell you how grateful I am to be the one introducing that topic with him.
• read many (sounds better than a bunch) of books about World War II. This includes a couple that I checked out of the library to preview, decided I didn't want him to read and hid. Apparently not very well as he found them and read them. They were books with pictures of children and bodies. I'm more than willing to teach the hard things, but I didn't want him to have those images in his mind yet.
• learned more about the workings of the body than he planned to. He now knows where the gall bladder is, what gallstones are and the risk factors for them. (Basically, very little pigment. If you know me, you'll know it was just a matter of time.)
• went to the aquarium with his Webelos troop. I am so grateful for a troop leader that is interested in the kids and is willing to go out of his way for them. 
• finished chapter 16 in Latin for Children A. I bought him the LfC Reader, but we aren't sure what to do with it. If you know, please help me.
• decided he wants to learn Greek too. Yet another language I can't help him with. What is wrong with these kids? If they wanted to learn an obscure language, what's wrong with Swedish? I can teach them that one easily. But nooo, they want to be all classical scholarly and stuff. 

Sam:

• is really, really excited to start MUS Gamma. He still  has a few more lessons of Beta to go, but his heart isn't into it really. He just wants to start something new already!
• read about Ghengis Khan and the Mongols in Mongolia. We had big plans to make the ger from the Activity Book, but haven't yet. Blame the stupid gall bladder.
• did the same science as Harry. He's lucky, he has Jason's skin tone. But I wonder if that means his appendix will attack him rather than his gall bladder? Hmmm. I'll have to worry about that more later.
• created a sculpture in the same style of Alberto Giacometti. The project again was from The Usborne Art Treasury.
• read a couple of other books that I can't think of and can't go get right now.

Overall, it was a goodish week. I had more plans to hang out at the park and do more schooly stuff. But considering that I spent half the week wondering why my body hurt so much and the other half just wishing my gall bladder gone, we did pretty well. Next week I'll have pictures. Of the kids, I promise, not my gall bladder. 

Also, a quick ps. I am so, so grateful for my usual good health. I've never had pain like this before and I can't imagine how it is to have it always. Those of you who do have my thoughts and prayers. And admiration. You are amazing. Hats off to you.

One Good Thing

Story of the World Volume Four covers the modern world. So we "get" to discuss things like the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Holocaust. (I know there's more to come, I just haven't gotten to it yet.) Harry has been interested in war history for a while--the planes and troop movements and even the weaponry interest him. But I haven't taught him any of the wars in depth because, hey, he's 10.

Today we read the chapter in SOTW about Hitler and the Holocaust. I let him read the first section by himself. It covered the attacks on different countries and things like that, but nothing emotional. I read the section on the Holocaust out loud to him after sending the other kids outside. I have to admit I cried. I've known about the Holocaust since middle or high school and I still cried while reading about what people will do to other people. I had to stop a few times to catch my breath or answer questions, so it took a while.

Harry wanted to know why people didn't do anything, why the US didn't swoop in and save everyone. He asked why the German people were okay with this happening and what happened afterward. I talked to him a bit about the people actually being worked to death. He is having a hard time with the fact that no one did anything. Except the Danes. Way to go Denmark. (I'm not being facetious.) We also talked about the fact that if we see something happening that isn't right, we have to take a stand. Whether it's something happening here at home or far away, we have to make our opinions known. I need to be better about that.

We listen to NPR in the car all of the time so he's no stranger to some of the awful things happening in the world. (I don't turn it off as much as I should, but I'm getting better about it.) It's just really hard to end a history lesson with the fact that some people are evil.

Oh, the One Good Thing I referenced in the title isn't that we talked about the Holocaust. It's that I got to be the one to talk to him about the Holocaust. I got to sit with him and read and he got to see how I reacted while reading to him. I think it does a great disservice to kids to study things like this academically while not allowing emotion to show. I'm thankful that I got to let my emotions show and that we could talk through them and talk about horrible things and what they mean for the world. Just knowing that horrible things happen isn't enough. If history is going to be important we have to allow our kids to see the that things affect the world and it's people years and years later. Even if it makes us cry.

Looking on the Bright Side

This week started out with Annika dumping gallons and gallons of fish water all over the play room floor and just never got back to normal. I sucked up as much water as I could and put fans around and checked it every so often but other than that, I just had to hope for the best. We also had a few random, one-time things come up. Annika had a Literature Parade at school on Wednesday morning, kicking off a day of driving and we were just thrown off. And, to continue the all-Annika week, she started Spring Break on Thursday. She is now out of school until the 18th. I'm going to do my best just to fold her into our regular studies next week. In a perfect world I would have the boys' Spring Break then too, but did you see our week last week?

So, rather than focus on the not-so-great stuff, here is what we did this week: (It's going to be a short list.)

• Sam finished lessons 25 and 26 in MUS Beta. I am frantically trying to get Gamma to start on. 
• Harry worked on capacity and measurements in Singapore Math. I think he's on chapter 3 now. 
• Sam read some books, but I don't know what they were.
• I do know that he read a couple of chapters from Little House on the Highlands.
• Harry didn't read anything official for school, but he spent at least an hour reading every day, so I'm happy. 
• We managed to do an art project this afternoon. Paul Klee from the Usborne art project book I mentioned last week.

The project idea

Sam's version.

 

Annika and Emma hard at work.

• We played at the park and enjoyed the warm weather all week.
• I read to Annika and had her read to me. I love when they discover how fun reading really is!
• Emma listened to Annika read book after book to her. I just watched an enjoyed.

I've decided to find the good in everything we do. I think that this blog can easily get caught up in the "oh-my goodness, homeschooling-is-hard" mentality since I sit here thinking about our actual days. It's so much easier to focus on the negative and nitpick the day apart when I'm trying to remember everything that we've done. to combat that, I'm going to find at least five good things every day. I might not post them all of the time, but I will find them.

That and I'm planning for next year. Bright, shiny next year when I'll be a perfect teacher and my kids will all be perfect students. I can't wait!

Planning is Fun!

I will have three official students next year and one preschooler. To say that I'm concerned would be a huge understatement. I honestly don't know how it's all going to work, but I'm sure I'll figure it out, probably in June of 2011.

These are my plans for next year, as of right now. They do have a tendency to change, so I'll keep you posted (since I'm sure you are dying to know!).

Harry's 5th grade: (Can I just say how surreal it is that I'll have a 5th grader next year? Weird since I'm still 20.)

Language Arts:

• MCTLA Town Level
• Classical House of Learning Logic Stage Ancients
• Working Words in Spelling but I don't know what level yet

Math:

• Singapore Math 4A, 4B, 5A We switched from MUS this year and he tested into 2B, so that's where he started this year. I actually expect him to start on 4A before the year is over, but I'm not sure when.

History:

• SOTW Enhanced. I'm planning to have all three of the kids doing Ancients, but adding where I need to. Harry will work on a timeline, outlining, mapping, and all of the other stuff he is supposed to do. He'll use the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia along with SOTW. 
• His readings will also follow along with the Ancients

Science:

• This is my biggest concern. I'm planning to continue him with Singapore My Pals are Here 5-6 grades, but I'm not thrilled with the idea. I might just go back to my roots and follow what TWTM says to do. We'll see as the summer goes along.

Latin:

• Latin for Children B. An easy choice. He's doing well in it and we're keeping it.

Logic:

• I don't know. We're religious, but I school secularly and I don't really want to use something that I have to edit every day all day. So if you have any brilliant suggestions, I'm all ears. Even if they aren't brilliant, let me know.

Sam's 3rd Grade:

Language Arts:

• Writing With Ease 3
• First Language Lessons 3
• Spelling Workout whatever level he is on at the beginning of the year.
• Reading follows the history suggestions. I might have him read the same books as Harry, but do the lower level of assignments from CHOLL and have Harry do the upper. Hmm, I just thought of that. Brilliant idea! Less work for me and keeps the kids together and we can all discuss together. Awesome!

Math:

• MUS Gamma. He's actually going to start that this month sometime so we're jumping the gun a bit. He's just breezing through math right now. I do have a concern though. Harry got completely stuck on division at the end of Gamma last year and lost all confidence in his math abilities. I don't want that to happen to Sam but I don't want to switch him just because I'm worried. So we're sticking with it until it doesn't work.

History:

• Ancients: I'll add to SOTW but not nearly as much as I will for Harry. I'm so excited to only have one history stage to work on next year.

Science:

• Singapore MPH Science, 3-4. Same concerns as with Harry, but going to get it anyway.

Latin:

• Latin for Children A

Annika's 1st Grade:

Language Arts:

• Spelling Workout A
• First Language Lessons 1
• Writing with Ease 1
• Copywork
• Reading: follow SOTW and WTM. Also Ambleside

Math:

• Singapore Math 1A. I'm not going to even introduce MUS with her. Also, she is quite the little Harry clone so I think she'll really like it.

History:

• SOTW Ancients

Science:

• Playing around outside

Possibly Song School Latin if I feel like it and think she wants to.

I have massive reading lists for all of the kids that we'll work through as well.

Whew, I have my work cut out for me.