Core Group

I considered homeschooling for two years.

Actually, I really wanted to homeschool for two years before we brought the girls home.

(Jason would have homeschooled from the beginning.)

What held us back?

The girls.

Last summer, I realized they were concerned about having friends.

So, I set about meeting other homeschool families.

I had already joined the local yahoo group

(at the suggestion of a high school classmate who homeschools).

Last summer, the girls & I started attending events.

They saw that they would have friends.

Over the year,

I have read countless posts by other homeschool bloggers

about their "core groups".

And I have to admit, I was envious.

I wanted a core group.

We tried many groups,

several co-ops,

many park dates.

We organized our own park dates.

We went to library meetings an hour away.

I was determined that my girls would have homeschool friends their ages to share this experience with.

Then, the other week,

it hit me like a ton of bricks.

We had spent the weekend with what we call

"our homeschool neighbors"

(they live down the road and they homeschool their 2 girls)

It is so common for these girls to stop by on their bikes or scooters and invite our girls to play.

Or, for us to stop there with our sleds in winter or our bikes in spring and ask them to come along.

It's not uncommon for our families to share a meal on the weekends.

Or to have a few beers together on a Friday night.

That Monday,

we spent the day with some other homeschool friends,

who I met last summer

and we all just hit it off,

as did our girls :)

We spend a lot of time messaging each other on facebook and making plans: go to the beach, the sprayground, each other's homes, the park.

I made plans with one of the moms to

attend a homeschool conference in June.

Later that week,

we hung out with some other homeschool friends

at a park.

These girls are A's age and we've been to each other's homes,

the moms and I email regularly.

Another day that week,

we met up with some other homeschool families

that we really liked

right off the bat.

They are a crafty group and my girls like crafts.

The moms were warm & friendly.

We attended one event with this group,

and they invited us to another.

Last week, 

we attended an end of homeschool party

with a Maypole.

I've always wanted to be part of a Maypole dance.

The girls had a blast.

They ran around and played with friends.

 I got to chat with other moms.

 We made plans for the Sprayground next week.

Suddenly,

on the way home,

it hit me like a ton of bricks.

We don't have a core group,

we have several core groups

of homeschool friends

that we enjoy being with,

that are cool

and interesting,

people we genuinely enjoy spending time with,

not people we spend time with because of their close proximity

or living in the same town

or being in the same grade.

So, while other kids are toiling away in steamy classrooms,
their mind a million miles away,
dreaming of beaches and playgrounds,
splashing in water and building sandcastles,
my girls & I
will be hanging out with friends,
at the beach,
at the sprayground,
at our lovely park
with their cool cavern shielded by tall pine trees,
collecting pine cones and building dams in the stream
learning about life & friendship.

A Remarkable Journey

We finished our lessons a week ago.

I took this week off from work and we just spent the week having fun, relaxing, doing what we wanted to do, reading books, going to cool places, being together.  I had more time to reflect on this year and just how amazing it was.

I am so proud of my girls and where we are now in our lives.

This year has been life transforming.

Neither Jason nor I have ever been the type to follow the herd and do what everyone else was doing.  To be honest, I was annoyed when we were doing home improvement projects and people would tell me that they were going to start a similar project, because we were doing it.  Why?  Why do what we are doing?  Why not do what is right for you?

When you have kids, you tend to not want them to miss out on anything.  There were times, I admit, that I got wrapped up in what everyone else was doing and not wanting the girls to miss out.  I didn't take into consideration that they were not really interested in doing it.  If they gave me a hard time about it, I was incredulous: I was doing this for THEM.

This year has been about finding what is right for our family.  Every step toward living an authentic life has taken us further away from worrying about our kids missing out and brought us closer to realizing what the girls enjoy, need and love and what we enjoy, need and love.  And really, isn't it more important for them to be able to find what truly interests them than to go on the vacation that everyone else is going on or do the things that everyone else is doing?

Every step leads to another step and with each step we grow.

We are meeting people who we have more in common with, who do what is right for them as opposed to worrying about what everyone else will think or say.  We are meeting people that we genuinely like and admire and are proud to call our friends.  These friends are not competitive or manipulative, they encourage our growth and inspire and support us.  It is so humbling and feels so blessed to be on a journey like this.

My girls are not athletic.  They've tried various sports over the years and it's not their thing.  They like to create things.  They like art and music and fashion.

I had heard of a homeschool knitting group and I knew my girls would LOVE it.  But, unfortunately, it was on a day when I ran a program at the library and I was unable to change my schedule at work until the program was over.  Finally, yesterday, we were able to attend the knitting group.  It was wonderful!

The girls with some knitting experience taught A and P how to knit.

The moms stood by and observed how the girls were instructing A and P, while they chatted with me.  We made wonderful connections.

I had heard that there were a lot of girls that were A's age and older in this group.  A and the girl who taught her how to knit made a great connection and sat together talking and knitting like old friends.

After our time at the library ended, we all went outside.  The moms sat around chatting, while the younger kids ran around playing and the girls A's age sat under a tree knitting.

Then, some of the families decided to head to a local bakery and invited us along.  A joked with the moms.  She ordered her own special drink.  She sat at a table with the 11, 12, 13 and up girls, drinking milkshakes and giggling and talking like old pals.  It made my heart soar to see her so happy, surrounded by girls who were interested in talking about things that interested them, like their horses and rabbits and projects they had done.  These girls were completely happy to pursue their own interests and completely disinterested in whether or not those interests would be considered cool by their peers.

P played checkers, first with me; then with some of the girls her age :)

We were invited to a party at one of the family's homes.  The girls are begging to go.  A said that she wants to go to this group all the time.  I've already asked and they are not sure what day they will meet next year, which may be tricky with my work schedule.  I pray that we can work it all out.

Last night, after I tucked the girls in, I went back for another goodnight kiss and this is what I found:

I am so excited and happy to give my girls the opportunities to explore their true interests and the time to develop those interests and to find cool people to do it all with!

10 Things We'll Do Differently Next Year (Part 4 of 4)

As we end our first year of homeschooling, I have been reflecting on changes I will make next year.


I knew there was a learning curve this year and I am sure that I will continue to learn as I go next year, but starting out, here is what I will do differently:

1. Not spend time creating lesson plans; I will look ahead a few chapters and purchase supplies or put holds on additional reading materials when necessary.  I may brainstorm some projects to do as well.
2. Say "yes" to more playdates and field trips.  This year, I declined a lot of things because I was so afraid we would lose focus on our academics.  We finished our history in five months and I feel we really did it justice and really dug in our teeth where we were interested.  
3. We use (& LOVE) Story of the World.  Unfortunately, I did not use the questions & summaries in the Activity Guide to our full advantage.  I have already purchased 2 inch binders for each girl.  I will copy all of the maps and coloring pages, etc. in the back of the Activity Guide for Vol. 2 before we start History again.  My plan is to ask the girls the questions at the end of each section, have them give me a summary and have them write that summary on notebook paper in their History Binder.  
4. I am considering having the girls copy the summaries in Vol. 1 on notebook paper to put in the History Binder for copywork and so that they each end up with a wonderful chronological history book to keep.
5. I have found what works for us and what doesn't.  We have found math programs that work for us.  I have decided Susan Wise Bauer is my soul sister and I will definitely give a lot of attention to-if not actually purchase-all of her curriculum and fantasize about my girls going to William & Mary and having her as a professor.  I am thrilled to have the opportunity to take a two day workshop with her this spring!
6. I know what supplies we need for next year.  Last year I just went nuts and bought a lot of everything when they had those crazy back to school sales where everything is a dime.  This year, I know we need a World Map (we've been using a small freebie that came with a magazine subscription).  We need a 3 hole punch and tons of looseleaf paper.  I will buy notebooks because my kids have a thing for notebooks, they use them as diaries and journals, they write songs and plays in them, they write stories and make lists in them.  I will buy more Expos and pencils and erasable pens.  
7. I have learned from other homeschool mom that you don't have to do everything all the time.  We will take some time off now, although I am sure the learning won't stop!  In a few weeks, when we feel ready we will begin our new term: Science & Latin, Math & Daily Grams.  When we finish the Science, we will take another break and then do a History & Writing with Ease, Math & Spanish (or more Latin) term.
8. I plan to have more reading days.  We love to sit and get lost in a book.  I think part of the reason my girls are the readers they are is because we seldom watch TV, we all cuddle up in Jason & my bed with our books and read for hours.  My girls think of reading as a snuggle, safe, cozy, warm, happy time.  What is not to love?
9. I don't feel like I rushed a lot this year.  I feel like, for the most part, I gave everything the attention it deserved and gave the girls time to digest things before we moved on.  I think this is important.
10. We did three read-alouds: Little Women, the Odyssey and Lightning Thief.  Audiobooks didn't work for us, we like to sing along to the radio in the car and we are too busy and going in different directions at home.  I would like to do more read-alouds next year and use the Drawn Into the Heart of Reading worksheets with them.

First Year of Homeschooling Wrap Up: What We Learned (Part 3 of 4)

This is not meant to be an exhaustive, comprehensive list, but I thought it would be fun to make a list of what we learned this year.

We learned...

...about the history of our state.

...that the first movie was filmed in our state.

...that if we are going to Burlington County, we are traveling South.

...where all the counties are located in our state and what direction we would travel to get there.

...about the Revolutionary War.

...about Jockey Hollow.

...what the soldier's bunks looked like in the Revolutionary War and the conditions in which they survived.

...what hoecakes were & what they tasted like.

...how to read music & play the recorder.

...the difference between refraction & reflection.

...about Amelia Earhart.

...about Clara Barton.

...about the Wright Brothers.

...about Laura Ingalls Wilder.

...about the lives of our family members, through interviewing them on camera.

...(memorized) prepositions.

...about compound subjects.

...imperative sentences.

...interrogative sentences.

...exclamatory sentences.

...infinitives.

....(auxiliary)helping verbs.

...linking verbs.

...direct objects & compound direct objects.

...how to diagram a sentence :)

...verbs can express action or a state of being.

...contractions.

...regular & irregular verbs

...verb tenses.

...subject verb agreement.

...mastering multiplication.

...three and four digit by three and four digit multiplication & division.

...fraction of one.

...how to add and subtract fractions.

...equivalent fractions.

...the rule of four.

...comparing fractions.

...adding multiple fractions.

...mulitplying fractions.

dividing fractions.

...reducing fractions.

...linear measure.

...solving for an unknown.

...mixed numbers.

...all about solids, liquids and gases.

...how to make soap.

...how to make candles.

...about Louisa May Alcott.

...we read Little Women.

...we read The Lightning Thief.

...the girls read over 75 books each.

...about fables.

...about fairy tales.

...about legends.
...about folk tales.
...who Anansi is.

...about myths.

...the Greek and Roman names of the gods & goddesses.

...the myth of Perseus & the Gorgons.

...Pandora's Jar.

...Persephone and the Seasons.

...Arachne and the Weaving Contest.

Phaeton and the Sun Chariot.

Bellerophon & Pegasus.

...all about the Minotaur.

...native plants of New Jersey.

...what our state tree, bird & flower are.

...when NJ became a state.

...Trenton is our capital.

...Giotto was.

...who Kandinsky was.

...what an adverb is.

...how to use descriptive details to make our writing more interesting.

...word choices & strong verbs to make our writing stronger.

...P learned cursive.

...the goals of writing.

...how to combine sentences.

...similes and metaphors.

...personification and alliteration.

...how to recognize the main idea and supporting details.

...writing supporting details.

writing topic sentences.

...writing how-to paragraphs.

...writing narrative paragraphs.

...writing compare/contrast paragraphs.

...writing descriptive paragraphs.

...writing persuasive paragraphs.

...writing definition paragraphs.

...how to plan a paragraph using a web.

...place value.

...finding the missing number.

reading pictographs and bar graphs.

...perpendicular and parallel lines.

...perimeter.

...area.

...regrouping.

...writing a check.

...recording checks and deposits.

...venn diagrams.

...quadrilaterals.

...finding elapsed time.

...why history is important.

...all about ancient Egypt.

...about the first writing.

...about hieroglyphs.

...about the Sumerian dictator.

...about the Jewish people.

....about Hammurabi.

...about the Assyrians.

....about the first cities of India.

...about Ancient China.

...about Ancient Africa.

...about the Middle Kingdom of Egypt.

...about polytheism and monotheism.

...about the Israelites leaving Egypt.

...about the Phoenicians.

...about Assyria and Babylon.

...where all of the above places are located on a map.

...Life in Crete.

...life in Sparta.

...life in Athens.

about Atlantic.

about Medes and the Persians.

...why ancient peoples worshipped the Gods.

..we watched Clash of the Titans.

...who Alexander the Great was and what he did.

...the Rise of Rome and the Roman Empire.

...Rome's War with Carthage.

...Aryans of India.

...Mauryans of India.

...Chinese Writing.

...Confucious.

Buddhism.

Julius Caesar.

Octavian (Augustus) Caesar.

...Nero.

...Constantine.

...where Italy is located.

...how Christianity began.

...how Rome was destroyed.

...about Pompei.

about the Barbarians.

...about Boadecia.

...about each of the planets.

...the differences between planets and moons.

...about different galaxies.

...about different gases.


This year was about proving to everyone,
including myself,
that I could do this and that it was a 
good decision.
Now that we know I can do it and it was a good decision, 
next year will not be about that.

First Year of Homeschooling Wrap Up: I have learned...(Part 2 of 4)

When A was born, my mom brought a notebook to the hospital to record her every bowel movement and wet diaper, when she slept and for how long, when I nursed her, which side I nursed her on and for how long.  I remember quirking an eyebrow and thinking, "Seriously?  You expect me to do this?"

I told my mom she could write it all down if she wanted, but that I was going to change A's diapers when she pooped or was wet, feed her when she was hungry and let her sleep when she was tired.  When A didn't understand that we sleep at night, I brought her in bed with me, much to my mother's shock and horror, and A slept like...well, a baby.

I didn't put P in a crib or bassinet until she was over 6 months old.

I saw myself as being someone that didn't live by schedules, someone that was loose and laid back and that didn't do what everyone else was doing just because it was the thing to do.

When we made the decision to homeschool, I read The Well Trained Mind and was turned off by the author's marketing of her own curriculum.  I liked the idea of Waldorf, but my girls were already older and while I could see some of it working, I didn't think it was something we could really adopt.  I saw some interesting things in Charlotte Mason, like keeping work in a binder and living books.  It's not so discussed among homeschoolers because it really is more based on group education, but I have always loved Maria Montessori's methods of teaching.  I favor focusing more on where a child is and reaching him there than at making him come to the level you want him to be.  I thought at most I would be eclectic, and at the least, we would unschool.

I bought a math curriculum.  I bought Writing Strands, I know it gets mixed reviews, but I LOVED it.  I put holds on books about our state at the library and figured I would do my own thing with that.

Over the course of the year, however, I have realized that I am not as laid back and relaxed and un-scheduled as I had thought.  My goals for my girls are for them to one day attend some form of higher education and find a career.  There are skills that they are going to need to have, things they will have to know.  Although I totally love and embrace the idea of children learning what they need to know, I am just not relaxed enough for that.  I need to know that we have a math curriculum that will cover integers and isosceles triangles; I need to know that we have a science curriculum that will cover electrons and the periodic table.  I completely see how all that comes up in life and I get that it's best to teach when a student is interested or has a reason to learn something, but I personally need a check list like photosynthesis needs light.  But I am looking at these next few curriculum-free weeks as an experiment in unschooling; I am eager to see just where the girls curiosities take them.

I have learned that homeschool curriculum is pretty different than curriculum that is used in a traditional classroom.  Homeschool curriculum allows for a lot of off shoots, homeschool curriculum encourages children to open their mind and let their thoughts soar.  This can not happen in a classroom of 25, because you could have 25 different directions of soaring and it would be impossible to give each child what they need.  But you can do this with a few children and the results will, quite literally, blow your mind.

I have learned that, for me, my children's education is a GINORMOUS responsibility and I trust Susan Wise Bauer to help me.  I don't have to do everything she says, but she has a ton of experience that I don't have and her methods seem perfect for my kids and their style of learning.  Giving children a foundation of information BEFORE expecting them to think critically just makes sense.  Having children read something and then asking questions that help them to summarize the passage, explaining to them that is the goal of the questions and then asking them to summarize the passage, just makes sense.  I love the ideas of a grammar stage and a logic stage and then a rhetoric stage.  I now look at The Well Trained Mind not as a marketing tool for her philosophy, but as an explanation of the what, when, how, where and why of my children's learning.

I have learned about my children's learning style.  A is a kinesthetic learner, she needs to keep moving while she learns; keeping her hands busy with manipulatives has made all the difference in the world to her.  She is also very auditory, I sometimes find her vocally explaining things to herself out loud as she works her way through things.  P is what Cathy Duffy would describe as a Polly Perfect, she wants everything to be perfect and expects to understand everything, she is what my education professors would term "easy to teach", she nods along at explanations and looks interested.

I have learned that the first year of homeschooling is all about trial and error.  I am only now starting to figure out what works for our family.  The joke among many homeschool families is that what works this month may not work next month...

I have learned that lesson plans do not work for me.  They are a waste of my time.  I don't follow them. We want to dig our teeth into something and we take longer with it; or my girls get subject-verb agreement and why bother doing 5 pages of exercises?   With two kids, you don't have to take the time for everyone to catch up that you would take in a classroom.

I have learned to trust God. The last lesson plan I made had us finishing in June, but here it is early May and we are done.  I could not have planned this, yet it works out better than what I ever would have planned.  We can take a few weeks off, relax and then start a summer term, Science and Latin.

I have learned that what does work for me is to look ahead in our books and see what supplies I may need and to put books on hold or purchase supplies.

I have learned that I can not cover Reading, Writing, Grammar, Arithmetic, History, Science, Latin, Spanish, Art and Music all the time.  I am thinking that if this summer Latin & Science term works out, we may then have a term of History, Writing & Spanish or something like that.

I have learned that homeschooling becomes a natural extension of family life.  It has enhanced our family life.  I think of weekends as vacations now.  We go to museums and planetariums and plays on weekends because we like to include Daddy-o.  Since we do so much together, these topics find their way into our everyday family conversations around the dinner table or wherever we may be.

If you are new to homeschooling or just considering homeschooling, I recommend what was recommended to me, just relax.  It is easier said than done because you want to prove to yourself and everyone else that you CAN do this and it is a GOOD idea and your kids will LEARN and still have FRIENDS.  But, seriously, just relax a little bit, know you can do this and take some time for yourself.  Say yes to a play date or a field trip and don't worry that math and grammar and history may not happen that day, know that they will happen the next and it will be fine.  Had I done that we would not be finishing the first week of May, we would be finishing maybe in mid-June, which would have been fine too.  Story of the World took us 5 months, doing anywhere from 1 lesson (and then spending subsequent days really digging in to it) to 3 lessons a week.

A Year Ago...(Part one in my series on reflections of our first year of homeschooling)

A year ago, I was dealing with an 8 year old who vomited every Sunday evening.  I would keep her home from school on Monday and she was fine.  By Monday evening, she was hysterical about going to school Tuesday. She had not done this in pre-school or kindergarten or first grade, so I didn't and don't think it was about missing me.  Her teacher even suggested that it was that P was a perfectionist and as they neared the standardized test, she was getting concerned about how she would fare.  The school recommended medication.  They told me that many children in our district were medicated, there was no shame in it.

A year ago, I was dealing with a 10 year old who woke up on the morning of the first day of the big NJASK test screaming that she could not see.  She was hysterical.  I seriously don't remember much of that morning, I think I was on complete adrenalin.  I remember that I realized it was stress over the test.  (Months later I read that under severe stress the pupils can dilate and obscure vision; I am not sure if that is what happened to my girl or not).  I was desperate to get her to school because there was no getting out of that test.  In our state EVERY child enrolled in public school MUST take test.  I  remember dragging her to school and having her guidance counselor tell me to leave her and suggesting that I call my pediatrician and put her on medication.  I remember getting to work and sitting there in the center of the library suddenly aware that I was there and then a feeling of utter panic came over me at where I had left my child.  

I considered homeschooling, but like many other people, I thought homeschoolers were weird.  I thought they wore prairie dresses and had long braids and were in complete submission to their husbands.  I thought their kids didn't brush their hair or teeth and said weird, inappropriate things.  I thought you needed unlimited patience and the ability to turn everything from folding towels to washing spinach into a lesson on geometry and science.  I thought you had to give your whole life up to homeschool.

But, our Catholic school was rumored to be closing (and it will close after this year) and private schools cost over 25K per student, which we could not afford.  I knew I had to do something...I didn't believe in a system that encouraged children to be medicated to take a test and I didn't want my children to be part of that system any longer.

Through facebook, I learned that a high school classmate was homeschooling her children.  She had been in the elite popular crowd, a cheerleader...I doubted that she owned a prairie skirt, so I contacted her and she was a wealth of information.  She told me to join the local yahoo group and start attending park days and other events to meet people.  She assured me that she had not seen any prairie skirts and that all of the kids were cool and not weird and the moms were all nice and helpful.

Around that same time, Jessica found my blog and we connected.

I went to some homeschool park days and realized that homeschool moms were just like any other mom.  Well, maybe there are some differences.  Homeschool moms aren't concerned with making sure that their children have what everyone else has, they are concerned with making sure that their children have what they need.  Homeschool moms sit and gossip about movie stars and complain about their husbands and talk about diets.  They wear jeans, they even drink cocktails and say the occasional bad word!!!  To be honest, although in some ways homeschool moms are pioneers, I have never met one that wears a prairie dress!

My girls were concerned that the kids would all be weird, but after a few park days, they realized that these kids liked Hannah Montana and American Girl dolls; they watch iCarly and Shake It Up; they have ipod touch and play video games.  They may not be competitive about clothes, most wear what is comfortable and right for them, but many of them do own some Justice fashions.  As a result, my girls have decided they don't like the garish colors of the Justice clothes and are open to shopping wherever we find something they like; they have stopped begging for cell phones and now beg for hamsters.

It's really nice that we get to see this smile again :)

When I think of where we were a year ago...the dread that lived with me every day as I dropped my girls off at a place where I was unwelcome.  I was concerned for my girls' confidence and self esteem.  I had doubts in the system and finally decided that I didn't want my girls in a system that made them so anxious that I was encouraged to medicate them.  They only have one childhood and I want them to enjoy it.

I had a conversation with my brother, a high school English teacher, at Easter.  He doesn't feel that it is the schools, teachers or administration that put pressure on the kids, his experience is that it is the parents who are desperate for their children to attend a top notch college.  Just this week, a mutual friend of both my brother and I, had an experience where a 15 year old girl was berated by her mother for over an hour because she got a B on a Biology test.  Her mother told her that she would never get into a good college.  I really don't know who is responsible for this thinking.  I saw the "Race to Nowhere" my feeling was that it's partially the parents, partially the schools and has a lot to do with living in a society where you  need a college degree, if not a graduate degree to get a decent job.  The pressure is on.  But I don't feel it has to be this way.  I feel like my kids can learn and grow at their pace.  I am without a doubt that they will do well enough to be admitted to a community college and transfer from there as my brother and I, my sister in law and so many of our friends did.  I think community college is a great stepping stone, a great place to take core classes with smaller class sizes.  I don't want to stress out and make my child anxious about going to a top college.  I don't buy into this.  It is not how we want to live our lives.

We have come so far in the last year.  My girls now own their confidence and self esteem.  It's theirs and it isn't based on what other kids or teachers or the system says, it is based on knowing what is right for them.

My girls are happier.  A had stopped cuddling with me a few years ago, but she is back to wanting to cuddle, wanting to be near me.  She doesn't give me nearly the hard time that she used to give me about everything from homework to cleaning her room to our decision not to get her a cell phone.  

We are all more relaxed.  We are all happier.

We live by our own schedule, what is right for us.  We don't worry about major projects being assigned over holiday weekends.  We can go to my parents' house for dinner mid-week.  We can take a vacation off-season in February when everyone is in school.

One caveat: homeschooling does become a lifestyle, but not in the sense that you have to teach geology while raking leaves or make washing windows a chemistry lesson.  Homeschooling becomes a natural extension of your family.  You go to a play together because you just learned about the characters.  You make the time to go to a museum together because they have an exhibit on something you just studied.  You spend an afternoon at the planetarium because you are learning about the planets.  

Homeschooling feels natural.

I was told that bringing your child home to learn was a lot like bringing them home from the hospital.  I wish I remembered where I read that, so I could give them credit, because it is SO true.  When your child is born you look forward to their first smile, their first words, their first steps...when they come home to learn you get to see their eyes shine when an idea takes hold in their mind, you get to see their face glow when something suddenly clicks for them, you get to hear them feel good about themselves and what they have learned and what they know.

Homeschooling is not for everyone.  But it is for our family.  It has made such a positive difference in our lives and I want to take this time to thank all of you who read my blog, comment on my blog and write blogs, for you support, encouragement and ideas.  I want to thank my parents and my uncle, my grandmother, Jason's brother, Rich and his father, Dick, for their support this year.  I want to thank my husband for always believing in me and my girls for putting up with me.  I love you all.  You have all helped to make this journey possible for us.

Time

Time.

When I was a child there seemed to be an infinite amount of it.  School stretched on forever.  It seemed like forever before summer vacation and Christmas was just this side of never.

Now, as an adult,  I wonder where it went.  My parents and family are aging.  Heck, I am aging.  I often find myself wondering where the time went.  Where did the last eleven years go...it was just yesterday that A was born.  What about the last twenty years, I just graduated from high school last week.

Now there are not enough hours in a day.  Not enough days in a week.

My girls take recorder at co-op.  They sing in our church choir and play handbells in the youth handbell choir.  P is always singing.  A dreams of playing guitar.  P would love to play drums.  Fantasize with me for a moment...."Everyone come on get happy..."

We got a keyboard.  I knew my girls could read music, but I was not prepared for P to open up a book and play the Star Wars theme song as though she had been playing it for a while.  I did not anticipate that they would be looking for youtube videos to teach them the hand positions.

Piano Lessons.  I have gotten recommendations from quite a few people.

The issue is...when can we fit them in???

Mondays we are at co-op, then tea with my grandmother.  I don't want to give up either.

Tuesdays we hit the academics hard.  It is really our only day to do so.  Then the girls attend choir and handbell practice and youth group on Tuesday afternoons.  All of that is important.  They have friends in all of those activities and they come home with big wide smiles on their faces.  I see how important being part of our church activities is to them, how proud they are to be part of building a well in Zambia and adopting children in Africa.

Wednesdays and Thursdays I work.  I am actually soon going to be switching my schedule to work Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  I will run the girls to church on my break on Tuesdays so that we can attend Homeschool Soccer on Thursday mornings and join a knitting club Thursday afternoons.  Both are important.  I want the girls to do something physical and experience being part of a team.  Likewise, they are creative and I think they will really enjoy knitting and being able to make purses and things, especially since sewing lessons with Mama will end when she heads to the lakehouse for spring/summer.  Also this is rumored to be where every homeschool girl over the age of 10 in the our state hangs out on Thursdays, and indeed, when looking at the database, there are a LOT of girls ages 10 and up in the group...and it is important to me that as she enters adolescence, A has friends that are "like" her in that they are homeschooled and also going through adolescence (and hopefully their moms and I can commiserate as well).  

Fridays are our only free day and I would kind of like to keep it that way.  We use Friday mornings to wrap up all of our lessons for the week and leave Friday afternoon for fun stuff like playdates or park days or week day field trips (to avoid weekend crowds).  Seriously, if I scheduled something on Friday my girls would never have time for a playdate or free time with friends.

Jason and I are both subject to working some Saturdays. Sundays are for church and family.

I am trying really, really hard to find time or to give up something.  Co-op?  But they love their friends and are doing well in recorder.  Choir and youth group?  I want them to be part of our church.  Do I quit my job???????  But job makes me feel good about me.  It is something that I do FOR me.  And I think it is good for my girls to SEE me working.  Soccer? Knitting?  Free time????  

I am praying that an answer will come.

Idealism = Innovation

My wife is an idealist.

I call it "Theresa's world".

She wants to have a close family. She invites everyone over. Her feelings get hurt if they don't have a reason why they decline the invitation. She doesn't understand why they don't reciprocate.

She would like my family to be different. It took her years to accept that some people in my family have a different set of values and will go to any extreme to get what they want, they will lie and take advantage of family members and are best left alone. I told her that for years, it took her years to accept this simple truth.

Recently, she asked me if homeschooling was like this.

We were unhappy with school.

Theresa had her usual flights of fancy about what school should be like for our girls. And it did not live up to her expectations.

I have never been a fan of "school".

Education and school are two completely different things in my book.

Education is good. School is a modern construct that, like many modern ideas, is flawed.

Our girls were in school for 5 years. It took us over 2 years to decide that school was not the place where we wanted them to be educated.

Someone suggested that was "escaping".

It is not as though someone hurt our daughter's feelings on Friday and we withdrew them on Monday.

It took us TWO YEARS to make that decision.

Two years of research and discussion to make the decision to homeschool. This is something that will form our children. It will be an integral part of their lives.

Just as you would not make a shelf with a rotted piece of wood, you want your children's education and formative years to be a solid foundation.

My wife works her ass off educating our girls and making sure that they are well rounded academically and socially.

Escaping is when you run away from a problem.

Innovation is when you look at a situation, assess it carefully and figure out a better way to do it.

We are teaching our girls to be innovative.

We are teaching our girls that if something is not working, there is a better way, a way to make it work.

We are teaching our girls to think outside the box, to think creatively, to be flexible and open and open-minded.

In my book, those are the best possible lessons any parent can teach their child.

Flexibility & Creativity

I love, love, love, love, LOVE this time with my girls.  I tell anyone who will listen that I found the key to the universe: I slowed down time by spending more of it with my girls!

I love them so much, that I am not without my doubts.

I want to do what is best for them.

Is homeschooling the best thing for them?

Music
Our girls attend an hour long choir rehearsal every week at our church.  They also play handbells.  They are getting something similar to the choral music that is offered in our school system.

In our school system, beginning in fourth grade, there is a pull-out program if your child wants to learn an instrument and be part of the band.  Once a week they are pulled out of class for their lesson.  I have always been opposed to this, thinking music should have its own period or be before or after school, but I can see where, in order to accommodate every child that wishes to learn, they need to be pulled out of class for weekly lessons in a band instrument.

Our girls take recorder at co-op.  I would like to see them learn another instrument.  I had looked into it and in our area, the average is $45 for a half hour lesson and $60 for a full hour.  Times two that is close to $500 a month.  I was a little daunted.  Now, through our Friday Park Day group, I have learned of several homeschool moms who offer music lessons in their homes for a more reasonable price, and have a good reputation in the homeschool community.  A would like to take guitar.  P would like to take drums.  Their father would like them to both start with piano.

Art
Both of my girls love art.  They have taken outside classes in the past, but it has not worked out for our schedule so far this year.  I keep saying I am going to make more time for it.

I have spent the last few days coming up with a schedule for the rest of our school year that will allow us time with friends and also to complete our curriculum.  I have also found one art project for each week.  I am determined to start our days with History and then do Art (since some of the activities I have picked go along with History).  THEN, AFTER ART, I will teach the Grammar lesson and have them do their copywork and Math.  If this doesn't work, we may try doing grammar and math every day, History one day, Art one day, Science one day in depth.

I have perused the websites and found various projects using various media that I think my girls will enjoy and learn from.  We will study Chagall, O'Keefe and Wegman in addition to projects related to our history units or techniques I think they should experience.

Also, the girls are participating in a homeschool art show this Friday.

Academics
Even if we don't get everything in every day, I still think academically my girls are better off.  There is such a vast selection of curricula that we can always find what is right for each girl.  We can go over things until they understand it.  We can spend more time if we need to or if we are just really interested in something.  My girls get to be front and center, and actually DO the science experiments, not watch the teacher or another classmate do them.  I am there to answer any and all questions.  It is a MUCH less threatening environment than school, so my girls feel much more free to ask questions.  Also, we can work as long as it takes to finish all of the books if we choose.

Public schools moms with whom I am friends on facebook, are always posting that their child doesn't understand the homework, they have no idea themselves what to do and there are no notes with which to help the child.  Is that beneficial?

Friends/Peers/Socialization
I think group learning, working in a group is very important to children's development.  That is why we are part of a co-op.  If we decide not to join co-op again next year, we will explore Audobon classes, a book club that meets monthly at a public library, a Writer's Workshop that meets at someone's home, or a Science class offered by homeschool high schoolers in someone's home.

"So many faces in and out of my life, some will last some will just be now and then..." ~ Billy Joel

I have been thinking so much about this lately.

I do have friends that I have known since I was a kid.  L is a month younger than I, and we have been friends since she was born.  Her parents lived next door to my grandmother and I only saw her every few months, but we wrote letters often.  Her daughters are just weeks apart in age from my girls and they  write emails to each other and see each other once in a while.

I have not kept in touch with any of my other friends from elementary school or junior high.  I attended a teensy weensy Catholic school (12 kids in my entire grade!) so my school world was probably smaller than my girls' homeschool world is.

My best friends from high school both have wildly successful careers.  They are married, but neither has children.  We try to get together occasionally, but what we have in common is the past and politics... we struggle to relate to each other's present lives.

KOJ and Dr. JJ and I all attended the same high school.  But we didn't become friends until years later.  When we knew who we were and what was important to us.  When we stopped trying to impress or be cool.

Both girls still have some friends from school.  A has two homeschool pals her age; P has 2 as well, but many of the field trips and things we go on are geared more toward the 8 and younger crowd.  I started a Park Day on Fridays for the 10 & up crowd.  We have gotten a great turnout.  Both of my girls have been making friends, as have I.

I think the big thing is feeling as though you are part of something.  My girls are part of co-op, they are part of choir, they are part of Park Days.  They have friends and connections in those groups.  They have time for those groups because they are not in school.  If they were in school, they would be part of a group, but based on the sullen moods of the last couple of years, I am unsure of how healthy being part of that group was.  My girls are less stressed now, they are happy and excited when they tell me about these groups, the experiences they had with these friends. They are not complaining about who said or did what or how they felt left out (I know some of my friends & family think this is an important part of development---but isn't being part of a group where you feel good about yourself just as important??).

So what are they missing?  They learn in a group with other children at co-op and choir; they hang out with public school kids at the library and they get to explore with homeschool kids in the park.  They are less stressed, more positive, happier and more relaxed.  They are enjoying their childhood.  We are enjoying them and not having to live our lives according to the school schedule.

I am learning that if something is lacking in homeschooling, I can find a way to make sure we fill in that gap.  It may take flexibility or creativity, but you can always find a way to fill the gaps.

Our Park Date

We had our first ages 10 and up Park Day at a local park.  Unfortunately it had rained A LOT the night before.  There were flood warnings and local law enforcement was making announcements through the streets with a megaphone in some parts of our town that residents should prepare to be evacuated.  Fortunately, the area of our town where we live does not flood and we do not have to worry about evacuation.  But, this did mean that only about half of the people who said they were interested in the park day, actually made it to the park Friday afternoon.

We had 8 moms and 20 kids!  A's ten year old friend from coop joined us, which was great!  It was so nice to see a familiar face and to spend time with her and her wonderful family.

We met some more kids in the 10 plus age range and their siblings, all of the kids played hide and seek and other games together.

What I did not expect - although I should have! - was how much I learned from these veteran homeschool moms.  We had joined a coop because a) it was our first year and we wanted to make friends; b) it took some of the pressure off; and c) our homeschooling neighbors were members of this particular coop.  While we have enjoyed coop, it is an all day commitment.  I learned that several homeschool families in our area (just the next town over) meet for a science class for a few hours once a week; other families meet for a writer's workshop every other week and still other families meet for a teen lit discussion at the library in a neighboring town every month.  I learned that with all of these programs, and with all homeschool programs, most moms say, "We will try it and see if it is a fit," before they sign up and pay for it.  Good to know, since honestly, there have been MANY emails that I discarded because I was just unsure if it was a fit and I didn't want to pay for a class that we weren't interested in.  There was a lot of discussion about the needs of different homeschool families being different, learning styles being different and how a program may be a good fit in the spring and not the following fall and all homeschool moms know it and are cool with it.

We discussed how most of the field trips on our local message boards are geared toward either pre-school age kids or 7-8 year olds.  While our kids enjoy playing with kids those ages, they are not as engaged with field trips geared toward that age.  While I realize that one of the great things about homeschooling is that children make friends a variety of ages, I do want to find some friends around their age for them to really connect with.  I find that the children 3 or 4 years younger are fun to play with, but I don't think that A will be able to discuss things with them as she enters adolescence and I personally feel it is important for her to have some different friends who are also in the throes of adolescence.

We have decided to meet again next Friday and to all start planning activities for kids that are in this age range.  Bike days were mentioned.  Laser tag at the sports arena was mentioned.  More park days and hikes were mentioned.  Activities where kids have a chance to bond with each other, as well as educational field trips.

Another discussion topic was community college.  In our state, at age 16 kids can take two classes per semester at an incredible reduced rate! Some of the moms had older kids who had done this.  By the time they were 18, they had taken 8 classes!  Most of the kids continued at the community college.  We discussed the merits of community college.  Usually you take your core classes in your first two years of college.  In a large university, you would take these classes in a huge lecture hall with a hundred or more kids. In a community college you can take the same class with 30 kids and have much more of a rapport with your professor.

I feel as though I LEARNED so much just hanging out with these moms for an afternoon - my intention had been for A to meet some kids in her age range - I had not thought about the positive effects for me as well!

The thing that I love about homeschool moms is that there does not seem to be the competition that there was in public school.  A had a friend in public school whose mom would call to tell us that her daughter was invited to so and so's house for a playdate.  This same friend's mom also asked all of us moms where we got our daughters summer sandals and then went out and bought her daughter 13 pairs of sandals so that she had the same sandals as EVERYONE else.  There was a lot of that in public school.  If my kid had a dsi, another mom would rush out to get one.  If someone's kid had a blackberry, the next thing you knew the other kids were all getting blackberries or androids or iphones.  I recently talked to a mom at the library who said that she thinks parents in our schools will go to any extreme to make sure that their child is popular.  Weekend long extravaganza birthday parties that include being whisked by limo to Manhattan, trips to a salon in Manhattan and two nights in a hotel for ten 9 year old girls!  Allowing children to play videogames like Call of Duty.  I guess I am being judgmental here, but I don't see the same things happening with homeschool mothers, and as a mother, I am old fashioned, I subscribe to the "if everyone jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you?" philosophy of parenting.  I want my children to do what is right for them, not follow the herd.

I find that homeschool mothers are more interested in developing their children's interests and abilities than in making sure their kid has what every other kid in their school has.

We met two other families with kids around A's age who are in their first year of homeschooling.  They brought up a very good point.  Last year, when they were in school, our kids were consumed with what was "cool" and even if no one was looking, they would not take a chance at doing something "uncool".  Some of these kids are 9--it just seems so young to be already worried about this (we discussed how marketing to tweens has such an effect on their perception of what is cool and wanting to be cool).  Now that our children are homeschooled, they are exploring their own interests.  Not only do they have time to explore their own interests, but they are not as influenced by whether or not their interest is "cool".  They like to make things out of fimo clay or build furniture for American Girl dolls or they like to sew clothes or act out plays they have written and they no longer worry if some kid in their class would make fun of them for it...they just do it because they enjoy it.

Happiness Notebook

In the midst of all of our soul searching this weekend, the girls, I think, felt something was up.  Children have an innate sense that way.

A and I stayed up late Saturday night talking.  She said that the one thing she misses about school was who she was in school.  She was the girl who was not afraid to talk to the boys.  She got along better with the boys than the girls.  The girls were always begging her to go ask a certain boy if that boy liked a certain girl.  She said her lunch was interrupted daily and she misses that.  She was also the one that went with someone to guidance to report a problem.  She misses being that person.

I see that so strongly as her identity.  Being that strong girl.

That is what my soul searching was about, though she didn't know it.

She also went on and on about the annoying girls and their cell phones and clothes and texting and catty remarks (which was why she was so often accompanying someone to guidance!).

She asked if she and I could have some time alone to do something on Sunday.

I asked her if she wanted to go to the mall or the movies or to get mani/pedis...the things we usually do when we take time alone together.

She thought about it and said that she wanted to make a "Happiness Notebook" of all of the things that make her happy.

I have such a notebook.  I made it when I was about 16.  I have poems and song lyrics that I love, photos and pictures from magazines, cards from family and friends.  It's a great representation of who I was then--actually, of who I am.  Pictures of small towns and country homes and cozy rooms and children and cute guys :)  I look at it and remember what is important, what matters in my life, where I have been and where I am going.  It cheers me up when I am blue.  It makes me feel like...well, ME!

I have shown the girls this book numerous times.  They love to look at it.

So, she and I spent Sunday afternoon at the dining room table, making her a book of her own.

She had gotten a scrapbooking kit from somewhere for her birthday or Christmas or something and I had told her not to use it until she knew what she wanted to use it for.

 I suggested she look through some photos.

 She asked to use my scrapbooking supplies.

We found the lyrics to her favorite Taylor Swift song (we all LOVE Taylor Swift!!!).

She wrote a list of her favorite things:

Do you see it on there?  Under favorite things?  The third one down...and the second is possible because of it.

She found photos in magazines of hairstyles that she likes.  She is really into hair right now.

 She wrote quotes from her favorite "Mother-Daughter Book Club" novels on paper and we pasted it in the book.  We also included the covers of some of her other favorite books.

We included some of her artwork.

She is proud of her book.

She feels it is a good representation of who she is.

It makes her HAPPY :)

GREAT NEWS!!!!

We got some really, really, really great news this weekend.  It has lead to A LOT of soul searching this weekend.

We had withdrawn the girls from school before we got the results from the standardized tests that they took last spring and the school never sent them.  I was on the fence about requesting them, but then decided to ask for them last week.  A's came in the mail yesterday and she was proficient in EVERYTHING!!!!

My poor, sweet girl had struggled and struggled.  In first grade she was taken out of class to get extra help in reading.  In second grade, she was the only one taken out of class for extra math help.  She was horrified and embarrassed and it affected her so much.  It broke my heart.  In third grade, I fought tooth and nail and became her advocate.   In fourth grade we discovered that she had test anxiety.

The teacher who was really tough on her made the biggest difference.  Her math scores were through the roof!

She would not have been taken out of class for Basic Skills Instruction (BSI--a pull out program in our school) had she been in school this year!

This is wonderful, fantastic news.  She is proud of herself.

Her father and I are proud of her and have let her know it.

Her sister asked, "Now, do you want to go back to school?"

I held my breath.

She said that she didn't know.

This was one of our reasons for taking the girls out of school.  We object to how much weight these tests have.  I saw the BSI as a self-fulfilling prophecy.  I saw my beautiful, creative girl believe that she was dumb, even though she was on the honor roll, even though she did well in class...  I was afraid of what that meant for her future.  The school kept insisting that she would gain confidence in a small group and that would transfer to the larger group and better test scores.

But now that is all irrelevant to the equation, because she would not have been pulled out for extra help "to boost her confidence" ...

Am I keeping her up to par?

What if she goes back in the future and she is behind??

And needs BSI again and it is all my fault?

Should we send her back?

Part of me says yes.  She should be with her friends.  I haven't found time for foreign language.  I am not that strict.  She could have the opportunity to play an instrument.  They need to deal with difficult kids and teachers to learn that the world is not perfect.

And part of me says no.  I remember the social pressure last year to have the right clothes and the cell phone.  Sometimes feeling left out of parties and things.  Our family's life dictated by the school and the school projects.  The stress.  Waking up early.  Homework.  How grouchy she would be when she was home after a grueling day.  Learning not for mastery but to pass a test.  The emphasis on the test and the stress that caused.

Test scores, test scores, test score...teaching kids to take a test was their primary goal.

She would have more opportunities to be in plays and play instruments in school... (although she does do both of these things in coop).

But now she has the opportunity to swim and skate and do things she loves.  To be her own person.

I am really excited to study the Greeks and Greek Mythology with the girls.  I am excited to do the literature pockets!!

I am excited that A is dressing with her own unique style again.  Since A was very tiny, she loved putting outfits together and would change her clothes many times a day.  Once she started school, she started to dress like everyone else.  Now I see her adding her own personal flair to her outfits.

I want to do Latin with the girls.  I have been looking at Latin programs.

I am happy that I have this time with my girls.  To do crafts and to talk and to read with them.  I love watching them learn and grow.  I love being with them.  I love that time seems to have slowed because we are spending more quality time together.  I love that we are not influenced by other parents and kids, but are able to make decisions that are right for us.  I love how relaxed and at ease and calm and happy my girls are.

But am I doing the right thing?

Am I being selfish?

I remember getting to that age...when I wanted that little independence, when my peers were more important than my parents.  Am I just having a hard time with my girls getting to that point?  Do I not want to let go?  Is that what this is all about?  Am I not allowing them to be cool?

In the spring,  they can feel cool around the neighborhood with the other kids.  There will probably be an air of mystery since they don't go to school anymore.  They see friends at the library when they come to work with me.  All of the kids say how lucky they are to be homeschooled.  They are envious that the girls stay up late and sleep in and school only takes a few hours a day.  Winter, unfortunately, is a time when many of the kids around here are not out and about.

She sees her public school friends.  She's gone sledding with them and had sleepovers with them.

I know that A is reading more than she ever did or would have time for if she were in school.  She has discovered a love of reading and books.  She has discovered a love of making things with Fimo clay and has time to devote to that.

If I were to make a list:

Pros of Going Back to School (Cons of Homeschooling)

1. With kids, forming memories
2. Learning to deal with difficult kids
3. Learning to deal with difficult teachers
4. Opportunities in Band, instruments
5. Foreign language
6. Art
7. Drama
8. Learn test prep for college, etc.
9. Get an actual diploma

Cons of Going Back to School (Pros of Homeschooling)

1. Pressure to keep up, get a cell phone, have the right clothes.
2. Can't stay up late reading/have to get up early.
3. Homework/grouchy after school
4. we get to dictate our own schedule/live by our own rules
5. learning for mastery/no pressure of big test
6. quality time together
7. Girls are their own person/dress and do what feels best for them/not influenced--get to be individuals
8. Can go to homeschool swim, skate, museums, etc. --more time for those things
9. I can see if they are understanding something or not and work one on one with them in homeschool
10. They get to do experiments themselves when they are homeschooled - not watch someone do them
11. We can make time for foreign language; sign up for outside art classes (although there are also great sites); and find a homeschool drama group; the girls play instruments at coop and deal with difficult kids.
12. Our values seem more consistent with the values of homeschool parents
13. With homeschooling they can grow and develop at their own pace, there is no pressure to be so proficient at such a skill at a certain day and time...I feel strongly that my girls will develop all the necessary skills and also be able to be their own, creative, unique person.
14. When the girls were in school, we looked forward to each day off, weekend, vacation....now we look forward to every single day.  We go to bed excited for what tomorrow will bring and start the day happy to see where it will take us.  We are no longer wishing the time away...we are enjoying it!

Jason and I decided this needs to be our decision, we need to watch the girls and see how they are doing, if they seem happy.  

My parents agree that the girls seem happy and have promised to tell us if they feel that the girls are not happy or if they feel that the girls are not getting everything that they need.

But for now, homeschooling is working for us...and we will happily continue.

Week in Review - The One with Ice & Art

Art
Both of my girls love art.  They have taken classes at a nearby art school as well as a local artists' workshop, but with our schedule this fall, we could not fit it in.  The offerings at both places this winter are not appealing to my girls or are classes they have already taken.  So, I have made a promise to include more art.  Kathy Barbro's site Art Projects for Kids has some wonderful projects and ideas.

We explored oil pastels and learned about Kandinsky:

We enjoyed mixing watercolors with water and making this wonderful positive/negative watercolor:

And we painted our papier mache masks:

And of course we did these hearts back on Monday:

Science
I had bought A the American Girls The Care and Keeping of YOU a few years ago and we had started reading it several times, but got distracted and pulled away.  We have made this our current "Science" curriculum and the girls are not only enjoying it and learning a lot, but asking a lot of questions and this is opening a dialogue that I hope will continue.  I have always been very, very open with my girls about everything from menstruation to homosexuality, riding that fine line between enough information and too much information.  My goal has always been to have them accept nature and view it as part of life, rather than something to be afraid of or embarrassed by.  Of course, privacy has been stressed as well.

We have been making various skin care products from their Spa Science Kit as we read, learning about the importance of exfoliation and that relaxation and taking care of yourself is very important.

We made this wonderful salt rub:

Tonight, Jason is going to a Men's Night at our church.  The girls and I are creating a Spa at home.  We can't wait!

Reading


Have I mentioned how much I adore the Master Skills Reading Comprehension workbook?  I picked it up for a few bucks on Amazon and we have been working through it.  Our unit on fables, folk tales, fairy tales and legends was inspired by this book.  It's actually fairly school-ey, but I like that it encourages various comprehension skills AND critical thinking, asking opinion questions about the selections and asking students to support their opinions or thoughts with facts from the selection.  The girls are enjoying this tremendously.   Last week, Allie asked to do the poetry unit on her own, and this week together my girls elected to do the pages on Animals and Nature together.  We are attending a homeschool workshop on weather next Tuesday, so we've decided to do the Weather selections over the weekend and on Monday...then we will actually be done with this book that we started at the beginning of January!

I am thrilled that both of my girls LOVE to read.  As I said, I have decided to stop fighting the staying up late battle and let them read as late as they want.  Like me, my girls tend toward books with realistic, layered characters with relatable flaws and issues.  When A was in second grade, she said, "I like reading better than TV because you know the characters are thinking and feeling."  Given our druthers, we would choose fiction, adventure, historical fiction or biography every time.  P would also throw any book that makes her laugh into the category of a "must read".

A read the first third or so of "The Lightning Thief" over the summer and was fascinated with mythology, but, like me, had a hard time suspending disbelief.  I think it's important to expose kids to a variety of genres, so, together we began reading The Lightning Thief  this past Thursday.  This is incorporating into our Story of the World unit on the Greeks.  We are also focusing on Greek Mythology, as the girls and I are fascinated with that.  I intend to draw this unit out and get everything we can from it.  We are focusing on the story and the writing and all that we can learn from it, rather than focusing on the fact that this could never happen.

We will be completing our first Literature Pocket on Greek Mythology thanks to my friend Karen over at Homeschool Girls, who has also graced us with many wonderful links for this unit.

Writing
We began using Writer's Notebooks a few weeks ago and the girls adore them.  We had been doing a mini-lesson, a half hour of writing and a share time and the girls got a lot out of it.  We will continue to do this periodically, but I have also given the girls free access to their notebooks to write the stories that they are working on when they choose.  P took hers to bed with her last night to write Chapter 4 of a novel she is working on.  A is copiously copying quotes from books she reads into her notebook, as well as writing original poetry.

Right now, as we read Lightning Thief and learn about different myths, we are paraphrasing the myths into a mythology notebook.  Yesterday, Thursday, we paraphrased the story of Kronos and the story of King Minos and the Minotaur into our notebooks.

Today, we played this fun game about Greek roots for words: It's All Greek To Me.  The girls had a blast and kept asking to play.  Then, on the same website, A found something called Be a Reporter. Scholastic provided her with several fact sheets about the first Olympics and then she wrote an article.  We were fascinated that women could not watch the first Olympic games and the girls got a kick out of the attire - or lack thereof - of the athletes!

Math
We had been doing Math first to "get it over with".  On Monday, after a particularly grueling meltdown where A told me to take her to school because she wanted to do Everyday Math and I was depriving her of it, I decided that we will take a different approach to Math.  We do Math last.  This way, it is on her own time and she can not hold her sister up with her meltdowns.  It seemed to work the rest of the week, as she is wants to do her math, do it well (so I don't make her do it again) so that she can read her book or write some poetry or make youtube videos with her sister.

Today we took a break from Teaching Textbooks and played at Multiplication.com, then wrote out all of the multiplication tables and looked for patterns.  This was a review for the girls, but it was a nice relaxing Friday exercise.

Independent Learning
After talking with a friend yesterday, I realized that because my girls are homeschooled, they have so much more time to pursue their own interests.  A spent a fair amount of time this fall exploring Fimo clay.  Now the girls are spending all of their free time creating homes for their American Girl dolls complete with refrigerators made from shoeboxes with shelves filled with food made from Fimo clay.  They are making and editing videos and posting them on youtube (after the videos meet my approval, of course).