Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

2012-2013 Book Lists, Writing Lists, and a Little Bit of Pink (at my house?!)

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You would think that “Writing” would be on the top of my list of subjects to teach my kids each year, since I absolutely love to write. It seems though, that except for some journaling and small projects here and there, Writing seems to always get pushed to the bottom of our list, trumped by Reading, Math, History, Science, and the like.

This year though:  I have a writing plan for the boys, and we will be sticking to it!

First, let me share the boys’ Reading Lists with you, such as they are right now. I plan to adapt these through the year and hopefully add to them in January. Seeing their Reading Lists will help make their Writing Assignment List make more sense. I think. At least it makes sense in my head.

Here is our partially filled book shelf. Not all of the books have been filed yet.
I’m still working on it.  But doesn’t it look clean and organized?  :)

I typically go off of Sonlight Curriculum’s book list for our Reading, History, and Science. Their lists are wonderful, huge, and thorough, so I have found that I need to pare each list down to make Reading/History more attainable for my family. In addition, for Asa, Matt and I hand selected some books we’ve been wanting him to read that will help shape his character and give us an opportunity to discuss topics with him that we feel are important. With each list, some of the books will be read with a parent, and some will be read independently. I didn’t type out our family “Read Aloud” book list because I’m still working on it.

Asa (Grade 10) – Studying 20th Century World History

  • I Kissed Dating Goodbye
  • Choosing God’s Best
  • Do Hard Things
  • Crazy Love
  • Our Century in Pictures
  • Winston Churchhill:  Soldier, Statesman, Artist
  • All Quiet on the Western Front
  • After the War
  • When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
  • China’s Long March
  • Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity
  • The Hiding Place (most incredible, inspiring book ever!)
  • Exploring Creating with Physical Science

Justus (Grade 7)  and Elias (Grade 5)

  • D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths
  • By the Great Horn Spoon
  • Old Yeller
  • The Call of the Wild
  • Henry Reed, Inc.
  • Archimedes and the Door of Science
  • Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights
  • Homer Price
  • A Gathering of Days
  • Adam of the Road
  • Star of Light
  • Mystery of the Roman Ransom

Malachi (Grade 2)

  • Frog and Toad Books
  • The Fire Cat
  • Green Eggs and Ham
  • Put Me In the Zoo
  • Little Bear

Malachi is not yet a fluent reader, but is making great strides! We have not pushed him, and at his own pace, reading is finally start to click. He has loved the Frog and Toad Books we started having him read this summer, so I feel that he will soon take off and plow through that list. Not to worry, I have many more books ready to add to his list once this happens. :)

I plan to read The Story of the World (Ancient Times, The Middle Ages, and Early Modern Times) to Justus, Elias, and Malachi as we study World History this year. Even though the boys are all at different grade levels, I have found that it works very well for me to study the same History subject matter with them altogether. Each of them catches and learns what they are capable of for their age. It works beautifully.

In addition, the three younger boys will be studying science together, focusing at least first semester on a Human Body unit – all books from Sonlight.

Of course, our entire family will be reading the Bible and some devotional/study books together at breakfast time each day. Asa and Justus will continue to learn Spanish from the incredible Rosetta Stone CDs. Malachi will use Miquon math books, while the other three use Teaching Textbooks at their grade level (5th, 7th, and Algebra 2). We’ll go through grammar books, phonics books, spelling, handwriting, and vocabulary books as is needed and grade level appropriate. And I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but that’s okay. As long as they are learning how to learn, we’re good to go, right?

Now…for writing. Here  are the plans I’ve made for each boy. I will assign deadlines for each project.

Asa:

  • Write one 3-5 page paper about what you loved about your summer, what you feel God taught you, and how you feel you grew.
  • Write one 3-5 page research paper about a subject chosen from something you’re studying in Science.
  • Write one 3-5 page research paper about a major event you’re studying in History.
  • Write one 3-5 page research paper about a person you’re studying in History.
  • Write one fiction story, following the guidelines for LTC.
  • Write one poem, following the guidelines for LTC.
  • Write one (or more) devotional, which you will present at church when the opportunity arises.
  • Write two book reviews, choosing from the first four books on your reading list. Agree? Disagree? Personal thoughts and goals?
  • Write letters and emails of encouragement as the need arises.

Justus and Elias:

  • Write a one page research paper about something you’re studying in History.
  • Write a one page research paper about something you’re studying in Science.
  • Write one poem, following the guidelines for LTC.
  • Write one fiction story, following the guidelines for LTC.
  • Write one song, following the guidelines for LTC.
  • Write dictation sentences on Mondays and Wednesdays to practice and learn good sentence structure.
  • Journal each Monday, one full page, highlighting events from the previous week.
  • Write and send cards of encouragement as the need arises, about one each week.

Malachi:

  • Journal twice each week, and illustrate.
  • Write dictation sentences on Mondays and Wednesdays to practice and learn good sentence structure.
  • Create and write fun/silly sentences with Mom, then illustrate.
  • Make cards and write notes of encouragement, at least one each week.

This is a very long post, so if you’ve stuck with me this long, you now get to see the pink I was referring to in my post title. When we purchased school supplies for the boys earlier this week, on Malachi’s list was “card making supplies” to go with his writing assignment of making and writing notes to people. (Justus and Elias got to pick out ready made notecards instead.)  I already had card-stock, and I let Malachi pick which colors he would like in his “card making kit box”. He chose green and blue, of course. But then he also chose pink “for the grandmas and aunts and ladies at church”. How sweet is he? He also chose some cupcake stickers, deciding that he may need to make treats to take people that he made cards for. I love this idea, and think it is a perfect service idea to  follow up on our Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve Curriculum that we’ve done the past few years.

Phew, so there you go. Hope you survived this post which was about twice as many words as I typically write in one post. I’ll try to make up for it on the next one by writing very little. No promises.  Apparently I have lots to share as we prepare for school next week! ;)

Whether you home school or not, I’d love to hear:  Are you starting school soon? Are you ready?! :)

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School Room Clean-Up, School Supply Shopping, and a Trip Down Memory Lane…

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It is a tradition we’ve had with our family for years. Each year, after I’ve planned our school curriculum and schedule for the year, I make each boy a list of the supplies he will need. We then head out to do our shopping. This has always helped get the boys excited for the school year to start. And then, to make the day extra special, we go out for lunch together.

Except for the “going out for lunch together” part, I wasn’t really sure how interested they would be this year in our school shopping tradition. Asa is 15, after all. He doesn’t really need crayons anymore. :)  And actually, none of the boys really needed much. We’ve purchased so many 20¢ glue sticks in past years that there was no need to add those to any list. So, instead of individual lists, I came up with a general list of what we’d need, and off we went. Sweet boys that they are, they were all super excited about our outing. (That settles it. We are totally keeping this tradition until all of them head to college, and even after that if I can get away with it. Wow, I love these kids. And I refuse to think about them going to college. It’s only three years away for Asa. STOP. I’m not going to think about it.)

Here we were yesterday, taking our traditional “picking out supplies” picture.

And now, would you like to join me for a little tour through the years? I can’t believe how much they’ve grown. I decided to go backwards, so here they are last year, 2011:

2010 (we had and extra friend with us that year) :

school_shopping_10

2009:

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And oh my…2008. Will you just look at these sweet babies:

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And now, Asa stands almost six feet tall and speaks with a man voice. It’s unbelievable really. Did I mention that I love these kids? Allow me to wipe my eyes and blow my nose loudly while I move on with this post…

Edited to add our 2013-2014 picture:

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Before heading out yesterday for our outing, we de-cluttered the school room as well as we could. (Some of our upstairs rooms are under construction, so we have extra furniture in the school room for the time being. Therefore, I just took a picture of our very messy, piled high table. All through last year, as we finished with books, instead of being good and putting them where they went, it seems we just continued to pile them on the table. Lovely, huh?

And now…

I’m hoping to do a better job of putting books back on shelves this year. It’s not like it’s hard, you know?

Stay tuned for more updates on what I’m checking off of my Fall Preparation “to-do” list!

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Do You Have Time to Home School?

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How do I find the time to home school my kids?

This is a question I’ve heard quite a bit recently from some who are considering home schooling – or from several who looked at our home school schedule for this year and felt overwhelmed.

Yikes, I sure didn’t mean to overwhelm anyone. Nor did I mean to make you picture me slaving away beside my children all day. I simply shared my schedule because many requested to see it, and because I personally needed to outline my day for the sake of my own organization.

What you need to know is that while we try to hold to this “ideal routine”, there is lots of wiggle room in there. I schedule in thirty minutes each day to read History/Geography to my two middle boys, but sometimes it only takes ten minutes of my time before they take off on their own to finish the lesson. Sprinkled all throughout our routine is plenty of dish washing, cooking, laundry folding and other household chores. I just school my kids around and during our daily life activities. And guess what? They are home to help me with these chores, which means I can actually accomplish more while we home school than if they were away at school!!! Mwoohaha – their laundry folding ability is the real reason I like having them home with me all day. (Not really.)  (Except that it really is nice.)

asamathsm

I truly don’t believe that home schooling has created extra work in my life. Yes, it is work. Yes, I have to put forth the effort and spend dedicated time educating my children.

But I’ve been reading to and teaching my kids since they were newborns, and I didn’t consider that “home schooling”. I considered it parenting.

When our oldest son became a home schooled kindergartner, not much changed in our lives. We continued to read together and squeeze in all varieties of lessons and activities during the days, just like we had done before – working around nap times and meal times and play times and grocery store visits and all life activities.

I do have to schedule home schooling into my days, so that we can be more productive. But what I don’t have to schedule in? Getting my kids up and out the door with matching shoes and combed hair each morning by 8:00 (or earlier). Driving my kids to and from school. Preparing and packing lunches. Figuring out how to be a room mom (especially back when I had napping babies at home). And homework. When I hear my friends talk about how much time they spend helping their kids with homework at the end of each school day, I often think, “Wow – we spend the same amount of time (or less) on our entire school day.”

Because we’re so flexible and laid back about our home school routine – I actually consider my life to be quite “cushy” and easy compared to moms who have to get up at the crack of dawn to get their kids off to school, and stay up late with them finishing the reports and projects have to be turned in. I personally consider my home schooling life to be easier than the alternative, simply because I get to run the day the way I want to run the day.

So yes. I have time to home school, and it’s not because I have more hours in my day or more patience with my kids or more energy than any other mom. I am simply doing what I’ve always done with my kids – except for instead of reading books about shapes and gingerbread men and the little engine that could, we’re now reading about the constitution and the way a marsupial feeds its young.

I love it.

P.S. Did you know that you could fit twenty baby opossums onto a teaspoon? That’s how tiny they are when they are born before they crawl into their mama’s pouch to continue their development. We read about that just today. See how smart I’m getting to be?

This post was written in an effort to dispel some of the many misconceptions or fears people might have about taking on the task of home schooling. As with all my home school posts, my intention is to simply share my thoughts and offer encouragement – not to convince everyone that home schooling is the best and only way to educate your kids. You do what you do, and I’ll do what I’ll do and we’ll all do it to the glory of God!

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Our 2011-2012 School Year Schedule

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If you’ve been reading here long, you know that I keep a very loose schedule during our school days. I like to have a general routine in place, but just about every day looks different depending on the needs of the moment.

For instance, this week our family is helping with our local Meals-on-Wheels. Matt’s been taking two boys with him each morning. We’re just rearranging the schedule a little bit to make this happen. We want our boys to understand that serving others comes first (and that they still have to get the school work done later!).

As is our tradition, we hit the store last week to purchase a few school supplies, then went out for lunch.
We’ve had this before-school tradition for at least seven years and we look forward to this treat every year!

Here, without any specific hour of the day assigned to each line item (because it truly is different each day), is what I’ve outlined for our routine this year. (Read the specifics about the curriculum we’ll be using here.)

1. I wake up first in our household. After beginning my morning with prayer and Bible reading, I use this quiet time to check email and do website work. (one hour)

2. The boys wake up and spend time reading their Bibles while I fix breakfast. (20 minutes)

3. We eat breakfast together and during this time, I read the Bible and a devotional book to everyone. (We’re reading through the book of Matthew and More Than a Carpenter, by Josh McDowell right now.)  We work together to clean up the kitchen. (one hour)

4. Asa, Justus and Elias begin working through their assigned school lessons – doing what they can do on their own (math, English, etc.). I work with Malachi on reading, phonics and math. (one hour)

5. I read History/Geography to Justus and Elias. Malachi does individual work (if possible) or plays legos. Asa continues to work on his own. (30 minutes)

6. Justus and Elias work together on their History/Geography projects (Eastern Hemisphere Explorer, adapted from Sonlight). I read History with Asa (mostly because I want to learn myself!). Malachi does puzzles or magnetics. (45 minutes)

Malachi had a great time working on these Three-Letter Words Puzzle Cards today.
I highly recommend them if you have a beginning reader. I think I got them at Walmart,
but linked them to Amazon if that’s easier for you, and so that you could see what I was talking about.

7. Matt does Spelling with Justus and Elias, then works with Asa on Science, Spelling and/or Spanish (depending on the day). Malachi is assigned to work in his Explode the Code books. I check email and take care of any pressing website work, then I work on fixing lunch. (one hour)

8. Lunchtime! Matt leads us through Bible memory work. While we eat, I read a read aloud. (I eat a little faster than my kids, by the way. That’s why I’m able to read while we have meals. Plus, this helps mealtime be a little more…calm.)  ;)

9. I read Science to Justus, Elias and Malachi, then they work on their Science Animal Project, with help from me as needed. Asa works on his own. (30 minutes)

10. Justus and Elias have their reading time. Asa works on his own. I read to Malachi. (30 minutes)

11. Everyone finishes their assignments for the day and works together to put away books and tidy up the house. (however long this takes)

12. Downtime, Curious George time, trampoline time, mess the house back up time – for the boys. I try to get some writing done or answer emails. (2-3 hours)

13. Work together to make dinner, then eat together. We visit or read aloud while we eat.

14. Evening times look different every day depending on whether we have company, soccer games, Bible class or a free evening. Bedtime is therefore flexible, but always includes family prayer time and sometimes more reading aloud.

15. After the boys are tucked in, I do more website work while Matt gets any work done that he needs to do.

Here are all of my past home school posts if you’d like to read through them to learn more about how this works for us!

I’ll be sure to let you know if ever a day actually goes exactly according to schedule. Don’t get your hopes up.

Do you like to keep to a strict schedule each day, or do you hold a loose routine like we do?

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What We’re Studying This Year (Unless You’re More Interested in Chocolate)

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I realize that some of you won’t be interested in reading about our curriculum choices for this year, but since I continually receive emails from gals asking about what books we like to use in our home school, I’m going to go ahead and share our list. If looking at our book list isn’t exciting to you, perhaps you would like to take a look at our Death By Chocolate recipe? Or maybe many of you will be interested in both? Because chocolate and books – aren’t those just two of the finest creations on the planet?

Once I finally got all of our books organized, I decided to take a picture of our shelf. Enjoy it now – that shelf won’t look so organized after we start digging in. But we can pretend that it stays pretty like this. ;)

The top shelf is Asa’s (grade 9), the middle shelf belongs to Justus and Elias (grades 6 and 4) and the bottom shelf is Malachi’s (grade 1).

We’ve been schooling with Sonlight curriculum for all nine of our home schooling years – yes this begins our tenth! We love that Sonlight is literature based and that we are able to explore and learn without using textbooks. Instead, we read both fiction and non-fiction books as we work our way through History, Science, Geography and Bible. In addition, we choose what Sonlight recommends for Readers (kids reading on their own) as well as Read-Alouds (parents reading to the kids).

Here is a breakdown of our curriculum for this year:

Asa (grade 9)

Justus (grade 6) and Elias (grade 4)

Malachi (grade 1)

Next, I’ll share about our home school schedule for this year – stay tuned!

I’d love to know what your kids will be studying this year (whether you home school or not!). Also, I need to know which you like better:  Books or Chocolate?

I know, that is hardly a fair question. (And yes, your answer can be “chocolate with a side of books”).

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Our Favorite Books This Year (and what we’re reading this summer)

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I say this every year, so I just wouldn’t dream of let you down by failing to repeat myself. I must say it again:  This has been my favorite year of home schooling so far! (Just pretend you’ve never heard me say that before.)  Either the books keep getting better or I keep forgetting how good the other books were or I just like one-upping myself. Either way, our family had a great year of reading and learning.

If you’re new here, you may want to go back and read my Homeschool Hubbub posts to learn more about how school happens (or tries to happen) at our house, and to learn about our curriculum of choice.

I want to share with you my favorite pile of books for this year so that if you haven’t read them yet, you can look them up, and if you have read them already you can say, “I KNOW, that IS an awesome book! I’m not posting all the books we read, and that doesn’t mean I didn’t like all of them, these were just my very favorites. Here they are in no particular order (because by the end of our school year, our book shelf is not at all organized!):

The Great Turkey Walk, by Kathleen Karr

We read this book as a family and got a big kick out of this adventure. I love books that crack you up and make you think all at the same time.

 

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor

We also read this book as a family. Our kids were able to understand better the turmoil in the U.S. that was still going on years after the Civil War. Fantastic book.

 

The Journeyman, by Elizabeth Yates

 

Elizabeth Yates is an awesome writer, helping the reader fit right into the shoes of the main character all while teaching important facts of history. I never knew what a journeyman was before this. We learned about that and so much more.

Mountain Born, by Elizabeth  Yates

Another great one by Elizabeth Yates! This book was absolutely precious. Our boys could completely relate to the main character in this book, as the story was told through his point of view. This was one of those that I choked up at several times while reading it out loud. My boys love it when I do that {cough}.

Helen Keller, by Margaret Davidson

Justus and Elias declared this to be one of their favorite readers this year. They found it so interesting they could barely put it down. That rarely happens for my boys. (It’s usually pretty easy for them to put a book down and start kicking a ball instead.)  I love the understanding they gained and the inspiration they felt by reading Helen Keller’s story.

Indian Captive, by Lois Lenski

Wow, this book still haunts me and I can’t imagine that this “happened in real life”. And yet, what a story of love and courage. You’ve gotta read it. (Our eighth grader read this on his own – I read it too. I wouldn’t recommend it for younger grades. There’s a lot to chew on in this book.)

 

Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse

This was another book our eighth grader read this year. I believe he read it in two days…I read it in one. It is incredibly written and heart jolting. And obviously, hard to put down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Story of US, by Joy Hakim

Asa (8th grade) and I read through this series during the year as a part of his history program. I’ve mentioned it before, and I’ll say it again:  Never did I know that studying history could be so intriguing. Joy Hakim is a fantastic writer. These books were so simple to understand and taught us so much. I recommend this series as a great set of books to have on your shelves to read and re-read through the years.

 

Books we’ll be reading this summer (this of course is not an exhaustive list, just some I’d really like to read through with the kids):

  • Tell Me the Secrets, Treasures for Eternity, by Max Lucado and Ron DiCianni
  • Missionary Books by Dave and Neta Jackson (someone gave us a nice set of these and I can’t wait to read through them with the boys!)
  • The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (again, someone gave us several of these books, which are historical fiction and perfect for my boys’ interests)
  • By the Great Horn Spoon, by Sid Fleischman

What have been some of your favorite books you’ve read during the past few months? Are you reading anything exciting this summer that I should add to my list?! :)

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Homeschool Curriculum and Unhealthy Soccer Snacks! Podcast #2

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It’s podcast time again! Matt and I are still working out some of the kinks, but overall I think we’re getting things figured out. We WILL be asking to boys to “keep it down” in the next room as we record future podcasts. You may or may not hear a little rough housing in the background.  And a bird might chirp here and there. My children I can control (usually)…birds? Not so much.

On a completely different note, and don’t ask me why I feel the need to share this with you, but ever since I lost my mom to ALS six years ago…there have been random moments when I sing or speak that I am able to HEAR her voice through mine. I think the older I get, the more I sound like her. I am her daughter after all. Occasionally at church I’ll be singing away and suddenly notice…WOW, that sounded just like Mom! And then I melt into a puddle right there in the pew because “hearing her voice” makes me miss her so much more.

That’s what happened when I listened to myself at the beginning of this podcast. Not the whole thing…just when I open with the word “Hello!” It completely took me by surprise and I immediately began weeping all over the computer right there in my headset. Whew…I was not expecting that. It’s amazing how the pain fades, yet the tears and yearning are always there. Perhaps God has given me a gift today in being able to “hear” what my mom’s voice sounded like. Yes, it is amazing really.

Thanks for letting me share that. You all are really, really great and I appreciate all of you so much. {She says, as she pauses to blow her nose again. Man, I’m weepy today.}

I really am okay.  :)  {deep breath}  In today’s podcast, I address the question of which curriculum I recommend and how in the world to keep curriculum affordable!! Also, I talk about how to handle it when our kids are handed sugary, food coloring filled snacks after events such as little league games. Isn’t that counter productive to the exercise they just participated in to keep them healthy?!

Sit back and relax…or get some dishes done while you listen. (Actually if you’d like to get some of my dishes done while I sit back and relax and we can listen together…that would be great!)

Heavenly Homemakers Podcast Two

Links refered to during the podcast:

Thanks for taking the time to read and listen to the podcast!

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Our Home School Schedule(ish) for 2010-2011

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I hold to our schedule lightly in order to keep myself sane. Well, close to sane as the case may be. I thought I’d try to share with you what our daily schedule sort of looks like….although it really isn’t a schedule. It’s hardly even an order of events. This will just be a little glimpse into what our days look like if we don’t have a field trip or a PE class or a leaky dishwasher or a hang nail.

(In case you’re interested, here’s a look at our schedule for 2009-2010 and our schedule for 2008-2009.)

And now for 2010-2011…

Our schedule has changed from year to year, but one thing has stayed the same:  We always read the Bible at breakfast. We LOVE starting our kids’ day like this. We are currently reading a chapter of Matthew together, then reading a section from Why Pray?  (Why Pray? is a GREAT read by the way!)  Our older boys also read their Bibles on their own each morning before they come downstairs for breakfast.

why_pray

After breakfast/Bible reading begins a general organized hubbub. If possible, I sit down with Justus and Elias right after breakfast and read History and work through Spelling words. (You can see a list of their books and curriculum here.)  Malachi (Kindergarten) heads off to play Legos or super heros or army guys or something else very manly. Asa begins his reading assignments for the day. He works on his own for most of the morning, making his way through his history books, literature and math. Once I’ve finished History and Spelling with Justus and Elias, they do their individual work (handwriting, math, phonics, vocabulary).

IF by chance all the boys are working on their own without trouble at this point of the morning (of course I am available to answer questions at any time), I will start some laundry, wash some dishes, have a conversation with my husband (joy!), cook something, or scrub some unidentified gooey substance from the kitchen floor.

If I can, I try to put a big, nice meal on the table for lunch. Matt often works evenings, so I want to send him off with a healthy meal. I am finding that having good pre-made food in the freezer is a HUGE help for me since I don’t always have time to cook a big meal from start to finish during school time. Pulling something from the freezer and throwing some veggies on the table with it has been a life saver!!

While we’re eating lunch, Matt works with us on memory verses. Have I ever written about how we do “repeat afters”?  Why have I not ever written about how we do “repeat afters”?  I’ll put that on my list. It’s so simple, yet so effective.

While we’re doing “repeat afters”, I stuff my lunch down. Then, while the boys are still eating (because eating is an art form for them), I will read from our latest science book, then from our latest “read-aloud” book. They generally finish eating while I’m reading, but we all just sit around the table enjoying the books. I LOVE reading during meal times!!!

After lunch, before the boys scatter…we’ll do a quick grammar lesson (Grammar Ace) or art lesson (Mark Kistler’s Draw Squad). After that, I sit with Asa and help him finish his History, Spelling and Science lessons. This has been a really great time with my teenager! While I’m doing this with Asa, Justus and Elias set the timer for 25 minutes and sit down in a quiet room to read. Malachi has gone back to his Legos again.

Somewhere in there, we send Matt off to work (or soccer practice, depending on the day). Then finally, I call Malachi in to do his school work. I don’t do every subject with him every day. I don’t find it necessary. The main thing is that he gets it all done eventually…and he’s getting some one-on-one time with Mama.

Now keep in mind that this order of events is how an “ideal” day looks. I’m actually finding that by staying very laid back about our schedule has helped all of us stay stress-free during the day! Sometimes we’re still finishing up some of our lessons at 8 pm. Sometimes we don’t get everything finished and have to carry our work over to the next day. 

I have given up assigning a “time schedule” to our days. I pretty much HATED having a schedule that said, “Science 9:00-9:30; History 9:30-10:00…” We could NEVER stick to a schedule like that (read here if you want to know why) and it always made me a Frantic Freaked-Out Mama. NO ONE wants to do school work with a Frantic Freaked-Out Mama!  Not even me.

I think that the main point is to just get everything done (mostly) and to keep the most important things the most important things. I don’t want my kids to remember school days with a Frantic Freaked-Out Mama. I want them to remember “repeat afters” and reading with Mama while they eat lunch and snuggling on the couch to learn about Abraham Lincoln.

We get it all done somehow…so it doesn’t really matter what time the clock says, does it?

Here are some other posts you may be interested in reading about how we used to accomplish “school” when we had littler guys and  babies in the house!

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Homeschool Hubbub: Flexibility is Good

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Interested to know what a perfect day looks like at our house while we follow the awesome organized schedule I have set up for us? Yeah, me too. I’ll be sure to let you know what that looks like just as soon as we have one of those.

Want to know what a real day looks like at our house? Now that I can tell you about. Messy, loud, fun, frustrating, silly, scattered, satisfying…those are the kinds of days we usually have. Schedule? Yes we have one…just because we have to have SOMETHING to go by so that we can accomplish SOMETHING. But if I were to force us each day to stick to the exact schedule…I would make all of our lives miserable. Especially my own. 

I’ve learned through these past eight years of homeschooling to keep our days flexible. To write down what I’d like a school day to look like and then to follow the plan loosely. Because just about the time I finally get all of my children in the room at the same time, settle them comfortably into their spots on the couches with pillows, wait for all of them to look up expectantly at me so that I can begin reading an enlightening chapter from our latest history book…someone is going to have to go to the bathroom. 

And while that someone is in the bathroom, another someone will remember that he forgot his pencil but on his way to go get it he will see the Lego man on the steps that he had been missing and then he will accusingly ask which of his other brothers left the Lego man on the stairs when clearly Lego men are not allowed out of the Lego room because this is how we lose Lego people and the other brothers (the ones that are not in the bathroom) will run to see which Lego man it is and then they will all go to the Lego room, forget all about history and start to build a space ship. 

In the meantime, the phone will ring with a call I can’t ignore and by the time I can corral them all back into the living room for history a good forty-five minutes will have passed and we’ll all finally get settled back down again…just in time for someone else to need to go to the bathroom. 

These are the days of our lives.

I work very hard to keep our school days free of outside appointments, and I almost never answer the phone while we’re schooling…but sometimes things can come up that are out of my control. We have to roll with it. (No, boys!  I did not say that you could roll and wrestle all over the art materials which are on the floor…I meant roll with the schedule! Get off the sketchbooks!!!)

Somehow our children are learning in spite of all of the “life” that is going on around us. 

Hey, it would appear that “life” is what they need to be learning about anyway.

Well, I’m so glad I worked that into the schedule. ;)

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Gratituesday: Back to School Shopping

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gratituesday

If you’ve been hanging around here long, you might already know that the boys and I have a tradition each year a few days before we start school. Each boy gets his very own “school supply list” and off to Walmart we go so that they can pick out new notebooks and folders for the year.

I will admit that I tend to forget each year that while this is an incredibly wonderful experience and I love doing it…there is also a fair amount of chaos involved with four boys, four baskets, four lists and an aisle full of bright and attractive objects. My older guys can be calm and patient while basically picking their supplies without much help. My youngers require more help and also um…they don’t always like to follow their list so much. My youngest doesn’t know how to read the prices on the shelves, which means that I have to quickly redirect him to the 15¢ notebooks instead of the really cool $2.50 notebooks. The paper inside is the same, ya know. ;)

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Oh yeah, and this year I had a fifth boy with me…because if you’re already taking four, you might as well take five. Five boys, five lists, five baskets. Five hundred questions. All at once. (“Is this the kind of folder I need Mom?” “I don’t know…why don’t you get it out of my face so that I can actually see it?”)

And yet, I do it because the boys love it. And mostly, so do I. It is SO much fun to watch them enjoy getting excited for school to start. It is so much fun to watch them walk out of the store with their very own bags of supplies. 

And…it is so much fun to only pay 20¢ for glue sticks.

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The best part is watching them come home and pour the contents of their bags out to look at all over again. Then they put it all away to have it ready for the first day of school. (Or, they leave it sprawled out all over the floor so that it can get ruined already before it even has a chance to be written in yet.)

There really is something magical about new school supplies and new books that brings an excitement to the beginning of a new school year. So far we’ve had three days of school and every one of them has been just wonderful. Perfect? No. But wonderful nonetheless. 

Today, I’m grateful for the chance to be my boys’ teacher and thankful that we share traditions that will be lifetime memories. I’m even grateful for that crazy joy in the Walmart school supply section. Having a bunch of boys eager to start a new school year…now that’s something to be grateful for!

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

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