Babies Summer Schedule

Our first official day of summer vacation and all is running smoothly, thank goodness.The kiddos have embraced their new schedules and all is quiet on the western front, for now. 

I am a planner, I must have a schedule to work within or I go nuts. I am not rigid in my scheduling, but I function  much better when there is at least a general plan in place for the day. I learned a very important lesson years ago when I was teaching elementary school - children thrive when there is structure. I have tried to implement this lesson ever since. 

So - yes - the babies (who are not really babies anymore) have a new summer schedule as well! To accommodate their short attention span I have broken up their focused, sit down time (ie storytime) into various segments throughout the day. 

Here is a break down of their summer days...

7:00 Wake Up! Get dressed, clean room, puzzles, trains etc.
8:00 Breakfast
8:30 Family Morning Devotional
9:00 Nursery Lesson/Stations
10:15 Snack/Book of Mormon Stories
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Nap Time
2:00 Snack/Storytime
2:30 Outside!
4:00 Art Project/Busy Bags
5:30 Dinner
6:00 Bath time
6:15 Family Scriptures
7:00 Bed Time

The babies do SO much better when they know the ebb and flow of the day. I have tried to coordinate their independent time with the times that the big kids will need my help in order to maintain some sanity. Sanity is critical.

Happy Summer!

Weekly Goal Setting

This summer, in an effort to teach the children personal responsibility, we will be instituting a weekly goal setting program. Every Sunday I will sitting down with the children and helping them set goals in four different areas for the week. After setting the overarching weekly goal they will then break down the goal into pieces they want to accomplish each day. I put together a simple printout for them to write their weekly goal and the daily implementation of that goal that they can use as a reference throughout the week. I am hoping to put these sheets in their own binders so that at the end of the summer they have a record of all that they were able to accomplish. 

John's four goal setting areas -

Personal Scripture Study
Boy Scouts
Family History Project
Priesthood Prep (He will be receiving the Priesthood at the end of August)

Madi's four goal setting areas -

Personal Scripture Study
Faith in God
Family History Project
Homemaking Skills

As I've mentioned before, we are making a huge transition from Mom driven goals to personally driven goals. Hopefully we will transition well!

Summer Reading Program

From How Does She

Our public schools are not out yet. This Friday is the kiddos last day and then they are home for the summer and beyond! Thank goodness. One thing I have always struggled with, when my kids have been in public school, is the necessary role I must assume of the 'Time Nazi'. We always seem to be rushed and I always seem to be the great enforcer of that rush. Not my favorite. I am thrilled that we have a few months of lazy summer days stretching out before us.

Now, that being said, our summer days are typically never lazy summer days, much to my childrens dismay. We have done workboxes every summer forever now, and it has been a great thing for them. However, we are going to try to give them up this summer and go a different direction.

We will be hitting the academics really hard this fall and I want the kiddos to have time to unwind from their public school experience before beginning our rigorous learning. It will be a huge change for them and they need some adjustment time.

I am also wanting the kiddos, now that they are getting older, to take more ownership of their education. I have a goal setting plan in place for the summer that will hopefully help them in that area this summer. I am looking forward to starting it and may post about the ins and outs later.

So instead of our normal summer math, grammar, reading, writing, history etc. we will be doing a summer reading program and they each will be given a family history research project to complete. That's it.

I hemmmed and hawwwed over what to do for a summer reading program. I ultimately ended up deciding to tweak this program just a little bit by adding in 8 book titles to the bingo card. I wanted a combo of a book list as well as a time commitment program - so I think this will work.

John's (age 11) eight books are -

Number the Stars
Sing Down the Moon
Dude, Don't be a Lemuel
Tuck Everlasting
Aaronic Priesthood
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Robinson Crusoe
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Madi's (age 9) eight books are -

The Goose Girl
How to be Totally Miserable
Pippi Longstocking
Caddie Woodlawn
The Long Winter
Alice in Wonderland
Nancy Drew
The Princess and the Goblin

Of course the kiddos will be reading other books. They absolutely devour series books in the summer and both of them already itching to get going in that direction. These are just the books they will need to read to earn their coupons.

I am not sure what books we will be reading together as family yet this summer. Some of my fondest memories are of the kids and I curling up on my bed with a bowl of popcorn and reading Harry Potter on one of those summer days in Houston where it is too hot to even be alive. I so very much do not miss those. We are currently in the middle of Anne of Green Gables. I'm not sure what direction we will head after that.

Happy Reading!

Our Return

Our family certainly has changed since our last post! We are in a different phase of life, living in a completely different part of the county, and, having added our twins, have a different number of children entirely.

It has become time for us, once again, to take the road less traveled.

Beginning this fall all four of our blessings will be continuing their education at home. Though the reasons have been many, of which further posts may illuminate, our decision can really be stated in one sentence - we feel that this is what is right for our family.

I am hoping this blog will be far more interesting this time around then last, but I make no guarantees. It will, very simply, be a record of our journey in taking the road less traveled.

We've come to the end of our journey.

John and Madi are officially enrolled in our new elementary school. When we had started our journey we had expected to homeschool the children through our transitional year and then reevaluate when we arrived in Michigan. When we realized we would be doing our transitional year in Houston our plans changed. It's interesting how the Spirit works, really. We had gone out to a celebratory lunch with Corey's family right after the match and as we were excitedly talking about where we would be heading I knew, I just knew that the kids needed to go back to school. I remember being very surprised as the words were coming out of my mouth to my mother-in-law, but Corey and I just knew it was what needed to happen. We then began to plan accordingly and were able to move into a fantastic fine arts and Vanguard magnet school zone that all four of us are simply giddy about.

Some observations on homeschooling from someone who has spent a year in the trenches...

1. Homeschooling is not for the faint of heart.

Homeschooling is tough. While many of the social stigmas of the past have lessened, a family who homeschools must be prepared to always be the odd one out. For me it wasn't such a big deal, I've spent my whole life being the odd one out. It was harder for me to see that my children were treated differently simply because they were homeschooled. However, they didn't seem too bothered by it.

2. Homeschooling is an around the clock job.

Planning and preparing never really stops. I always had something that I was working on, a topic I was studying, a problem I was trying to solve, activities I was trying to pull together etc. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it - but there was always something that needed to be done.

3. Never, ever, ever try to homeschool when you are trying to sell a house.

Selling our home was tremendously stressful, I think in large part because of the fact that I was trying to educate in the home I was trying to sell. I don't think we had a normal school day once the house went on the market. We showed the house almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day and often I was only given very short notice before people showed up. As I am one of those crazy people who had to have all the vacuum lines perfect, everything sparkly, a candle burning and soft music playing every time the house showed - our ability to spread out our papers, start an art project etc. was severely limited. I also lost our designated school room when we put our house up and had to move our little academy to the kitchen table. Not having a specific school zone was a challenge.

In fact, we have been doing school all summer to make up for the days we lost in the house selling process. When the kids get a little grumpy I remind them that they had their summer vacation in April and May.

4. Homeschooling is tremendously isolating.

Now, let me just preface that it doesn't have to be isolating. It just happened to be for us. We were the only family that we knew well who made it the entire year homeschooling. Many homeschooling co-ops/groups exist - and we even joined one for a time. Our local homeschooling group welcomed us until they found out we were LDS. As I very quickly realized the rather large problem that this was, even for people who had come to know my children well, I very rapidly excused ourselves from the group. It was rather sad really, but an important learning experience for me.

I was lonely much of the time. I felt like I was trying out so many new things without anyone besides my cute husband to bounce ideas off of, without anyone to tell me to 'take a deep breath, you're not ruining your children' etc.

In the end, I think the kids were lonely too. While they had plenty of socializing experiences throughout the week, they missed the peer interaction they received at school. Both of them have mentioned that this is what they are most excited about as the head back to school in a few weeks - they can't wait to make new friends.

5. Homeschooling is emotionally and physically exhausting.

I was totally and completely spent at the end of the day. I was always the most tired on Fridays - which meant that often our date nights were simply enjoying the treat of going to bed early. I think a lot of my exhaustion stemmed from the fact that I worried that I wasn't giving my kids the education I felt they deserved. Even on our very best days there was always the little nagging voice in my mind - 'Are you teaching them everything they need to know?' 'Are you ruining them?' 'How are you going to teach _____?' 'Are they thriving and excited about learning?' It was absolutely exhausting - and to be honest, it wore me completely and thoroughly out.

Enough of the negatives! On to the positives!

1. Homeschooling taught me a great deal about my kids.

I learned so very much about my children this past year. I came to have a much clearer understanding of how they learned and what made their brains tick. I learned how to move beyond what I thought would work to seeing the world from their eyes to better understand what really would work.

2. Homeschooling brought us closer as a family.

We made a lot of memories this year. When you are with your family 24/7 funny things are bound to happen which have left lasting impressions on our minds. John and Madi also became much, much closer this year. They interacted and played together much more then they did before. Now along with this closeness also came more fighting - but you can't have your cake and eat it too, right?

3. Homeschooling taught ME a lot.

Delving into world history, chemistry, Latin etc. was not only a learning adventure for the kids, it was a learning adventure for me. I learned so very much this year! Homeschooling reignited my desire to expand my horizons and study more of the world around me.

4. Homeschooling is wonderfully flexible.

We were able to do so many fun things this year without any real restrictions on our time - such as going to Disney World when no one was there. It was great to be able to vacation when we wanted, go on field trips when we wanted, sleep in when we wanted, visit with family when we wanted etc. I will seriously miss our flexibility this fall.

5. Homeschooling = no busy work

In our home we didn't have homework. Enough said.

With all the positives and negatives, would we homeschool again?

If the occasion arose I wouldn't hesitate to homeschool again. The first year is always the hardest with just about everything, I imagine that homeschooling is no exception. We have made the commitment as a couple to do whatever is in the best interest of our children academically and if homeschooling is what needs to happen, that's what it will be.

I really did love homeschooling. The Spirit directed us on this journey and taught us so much along the way. I will miss it as the kids start their new school in the fall. But life is an adventure and we're ready for our new twist in the road.

Blocks are such a timeless toy. My children have been playing with this particular set for many years. Yesterday morning, before school, the kids wanted to build a block city. John has been especially interested in attempting asymmetrical buildings, experimenting with balance and proportion. When the city was completed it was determined that half of the city would be under siege by a variety of Star Wars figures while the other half of the city would be a great place for a Lego police chase. John begged to leave the block city up until his Dad could see it that night. I agreed, as long as we didn't have to show the house.

Ten minutes later the phone rang.
We had to show the house.

Because of this...

our schoolroom has moved from here...

to here.

It's been an adjustment to now have our school days in the kitchen. The kids seem to be doing fine, I'm the one with adjustment issues. I'm not a big fan of clutter - especially in my kitchen. So to have my kitchen overflowing with books, papers, etc. has taken some getting used to. Oh well, we'll do what it takes to get the house sold.