25th June, 2008
Vacation…all I never wanted
So today is like most days this month. We are wrapping up a lot of loose ends for portfolio review. We have been concentrating on history because that is the subject that suffers the most during the times I am busy with school. My goal was to make it through the revolutionary war. I am however making an executive decision to pause at the French and Indian War. It just feels like I am rushing to “get through” a time period that is so important and interesting. We have kind of a weird schedule. Joe is taking July off, but then we will we be back to work in August and September. Once I start student teaching Joe will lay low and unschool for that time.
I am not sure how well I am handling the concept of summer vacation. I would rather do maybe 4 weeks on, 2 weeks off kind of rotation. With my own school schedule, it just doesn’t quite work. I know that it is hard for Joe when all of his friends are at their leisure and he has to get his work done before he can go outside. Honestly, I am not forcing him to slave away by candlelight like some medieval scribe. Especially right now… it’s just a few things we need for portfolio filler. I have always been in the year round school camp. Joe thinks I am torturing him slowly. I feel like, we don’t get time off in the real world (because what is more real than homeschooling, honestly?) and it cuts down on incessant reviewing. Plus, it’s not like we are stuffing him in a classroom for 8 hours. Sheesh.
So what are your feelings on summer vacation, do you vacate the learning just because it’s warm out? 
Posted at 8:22 pm | Comment (1)
21st June, 2008
Schedules and other middle school mayhem
Well, this year has gone fairly smoothly, save some scheduling and completion issues. I can definitly tell that Joe appreciates the opportunity to homeschool after having been in public school some last year. We had to rearrange some things in our schedule to help it fit my school schedule. I am student teaching in the fall so we are working through June, taking July off, starting again in August and September, and then having a fall break in October and November. That made my head hurt just to write it. He is not loving working in the summer, I do however remind him frequently that if he would do the work when he is told to do it in the morning…. he wouldn’t be missing time with his friends later. Honestly that has been our biggest issue this year. If Joe is not completely feeling up to it he either “forgets” to do his work or says it was hard and “I answered the best I could.” Last time I checked, “sort of” was not even a mediocre answer to the question, “Did Johnny Tremain agree or disagree with Sam Adams’ actions via the Sons of Liberty and why do you think so?” We have really been in get it done mode, so maybe it is time for a break and things will be better in August. He is excited about starting some new texts that he views as advanced. I think I take for granted the things I believe him capable of. He is superhuman, right? Capable of understanding 7th grade literary analysis in a single bound!
Posted at 3:16 pm | Comment (1)
11th December, 2007
Finish what you start.
I haven’t written anything for a long time. Mainly because we haven’t been homeschooling and I lost my haphazard drive to blog once I didn’t need to document anything. We tried public schooling with Joe this year for 5th grade. I am sure it could have been more disastourous. He was pretty miserable right from the start. “What do you mean I have to raise my hand to go to the bathroom?!?”, “Why do we have to eat lunch sitting in alphabetcial order?!?” (honestly that one threw me too), “We never do anything interesting!” and on and on and on. The probelm I had was that all of his statements were completely reasonable and valid. If these children are in 5th grade, ready to shoulder some responsibility, why not give them some? I will not digress into all the reasons we disliked 5th grade. That isn’t the total reason we are back to homeschooling.
When Joe first started homeschooling a couple years ago, we noticed some motor tics creeping up. His doctor said let’s keep an eye on it and see what happens. If you think it is getting worse we will reevaluate. For two years he had them on and off, but not really a big deal. Once he started 5th grade, all of sudden we had full blown simple, complex, motor and vocal tics. Everyday, all day. In October Joe was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome. This is not some devastating thing to us, he is still Joe. I also kind of thought that was what we were dealing with all along. It does however, give me the iron clad reason to homeschool again. Not that we felt we needed a condition to homeschool. We approached this year as, “ok you wanted to try out public school again. We will finish an entire year. No quitting just because you don’t like it.” We wanted him to be a finisher. But clearly this is something beyond finishing what you start. He is withering. He is trying to inhibit his tics all day long, which is impossible. He hates it there, is under enormous stress. Some children are making fun of him and there seems to be little intervention in that department. We decided that the next few years of his education were to crucial to risk being turned off by education all together. So we are bringing him home. Maybe, in a way, this is what God had in mind all along. He really did want us to finish what we started.
Posted at 12:38 pm | Comment (0)
18th May, 2007
Books and Birthdays
Today is a weird day. Tomorrow my precious baby turns 10 years old. We are hosting a sleepover tonight. I will have no food left tomorrow. I know that most of you see the passage of time like the hands on the clock spinning out of control. I definitely see it that way. I was updating or What We’re Reading section and it floored me that Elijah has now discovered the beloved Dr. Seuss. These were Joe’s favorite books since infancy. He would rock to sleep in the rocking chair every night to The Sleep Book, or If I Ran the Zoo or the Butter Battle Book etc, etc. I guess the fact that our family has made it this far amazes me because of where we started and all the bumps we endured along the way. Joe’s birth marks the fragile beginnings of our family life together. I was 18 years old when I found out I was pregnant with Joe. My husband and I had only been seeing each other a few months and secretly at that because of the disparity between our ages. It was a nightmare. The guilt and the shame are incomparable to anything I had ever experienced. I had grown up in the church. I loved God. But I think I was always looking for confirmation of love elsewhere. At barely 19, I gave birth to a son. My adult life began with his first breath. Joe and I are so close, it is like we have a vulcan mind meld going on. But it isn’t that strange when, for the first few years of his life, he was my best friend. I was so very alone. As we tried to deal with being thrown together, he kept me going, kept em from running away. I get sadder every year as he pulls away a little more. It’s the way it is meant to be. I can’t hang onto him forever. I can already see the stirrings of adolecence creeping up in his speech and glances (read: glares).
So many times I would begin to guiltily wonder what my life would have been like had I toed the line. I don’t get too far into that daydream though. After the first few steps it feels wrong, meaningless. God’s providence has given us a wonderful life. We have made a lot of mistakes, and not all of them in the past. But God always steps in, dusts us off, and says, “My, my you have really made a mess of things. Let’s use all this for the something wonderful I have in mind for you.” How blessed we are. It is sad to watch your kids grow up. But how glorious it is to know that God will turn their nightmares into sweet dreams.
Posted at 4:23 pm | Comment (1)
6th April, 2007
The Great Social Experiment
I am feeling a little sad. We have been making lots of decisions about school around here. My husband and I decided a few months ago that we would keep Elijah in public school next year for 1st grade. I have 1 year of school left to complete and to homeschool to kids with that schedule would have been to much for us. Our family would suffer, our education(s) would suffer, and our business which is our only source of income right now. From these discussions Joe has decided that he would like to go to 5th grade next year. He wants to use his “last chance” to be in elementary school and be with his brother.
I have to say that I don’t feel like a failure; I always thought I would if Joe decided to go back. He seems to be approaching this with the attitude of an anthropologic field study. We’ve talked about still continuing with history, science, and our foreign languages at home (because they for sure do not come close to covering them in ps). You know, just for fun. 
Joe looked at me and said, ” Mo-om (just like that), I’m still homeschooled, I just go to a school at the same times you do.” He is so cool.
I am however pretty certain that he will not be going to middle school. It scares me. Even more after being in the teacher training program. I sense this very toxic environment of children who are trying so hard to prove they are grown up. Many of them who have no compass to guide them. There is so much focus on peer groups and how they dominate everything from what you wear to how you feel about yourself. No thanks, amigo. What do you think about middle school? Or is high school worse in your opinion? I find the subject interesting.
Posted at 10:11 pm | Comments (3)
21st March, 2007
Wednesday Words
Today was fun. Not sure why. We didn’t get much schooley stuff done. After I too Elijah to kindergarten I went the Y and worked out with my husband. I hate that place but it makes it more fun if he’s with me. He’s trying very hard to work his way back from surgery in August. Hip replacement. This is hard for someone who is a personal trainer and dancer.
Joe got away with just doing spelling today. Then we went to the library. He got Pure Dead Batty and I’m reading the first book in His Dark Materials and the second in the Bartimaeus Trilolgy. I love kiddie lit. I also found some books about the the Byzantine’s (what we are dong now) and the Gupta Empire of ancient India (probably next week). We will write a Code of Justinian and try our hand at a mosaic. Then I took a nap and Joe slipped out to enjoy the nice weather. Afterwards, I worked on my Belief Statement. Then oh my gosh it was time for church. When we came home hubby took Joe outside to look at the sky with his telescope. They had a big time out there. Joe told me that was a cool thing about homeschooling– you get to stay up late and look at the stars. I totally agree.
Posted at 11:53 pm | Comments (2)
28th January, 2007
New Routines and Old Guilt
We’ve started a new routine at One Room of being more independent in the mornings. It was either that or the straight (strait?) jacket. Joe was getting his work done. But the amount of effort I was putting in was killing me. I just decided that from now on every evening he gets his assignment list of must- dos. Grammar, Math, etc. Then he is responsible for getting himself up, dressed and ready and completing his list by the time I get home from class (Dad has the 10-1 shift). Then we can go over stuff, make corrections, do projects whatever. He also has some acceptable things to be working on while I am gone. So far so good. No additional hair loss on my part, no feet dragging on his. Thank the holy heavens. 
What I didn’t realize is how hard it would be to pursue a degree in education while homeschooling. Not that anyone is judgemental, mainly just misinformed (surprise). The hard part is I keep having this reoccurring waking nightmare that he is missing out on something. Every great new classroom activity or idea brings with it a wave of guilt. Now I may or may not teach with my degree. I am interested in education and the improvement of it in this country. Like it or not, a lot of our future leaders are in public school today (hopefully they are not all in private institutions). I guess I am a little socialist at heart and want the common good for every child. Not everyone has the privilege of homeschooling. It is also heartbreaking to learn of the real consequences of poverty in the public schools. It tears me apart to see children go to school in buildings that are operating under building code waivers while 50 miles away another group of kids enjoy exciting state of the art equipment.
But I digress. I have to purposefully recite every day the reasons I home-school. To teach him to think. To teach him responsibility. To teach him diversity. To teach him history. To escape the stringent schedules and rules. To keep our family close, a place of refuge. To show him that he is a citizen of the world, not just such and such school. I have to remind myself that those things are more important than any cool new teaching method coming down the pike.
Posted at 5:27 pm | Comment (1)
21st January, 2007
Randomness and the flu
Hey remember when I blogged two days in a row? Wasn’t that awesome? And also a month ago!?! Do you think that takes away from the single minded determination of those two well-crafted posts? Surely not.
Everyone here at One Room has had the flu, so not much of anything schooley has taken place here. We were doing some fun things before the flu hit the fan though. Joe finished Geometry and now we are on decimals. It is so nice to be able to take time on sections when he really needs it and then to fly past the others. Ditto for Grammar. I gave him one of those “chapter review tests” just see how well info was being retained. Let’s just say we are not going back to public school anytime soon! Yeah for Joe! We started a unit on Islam, looking at the history and similarities of Christianity and Islam. Very interesting because it is a subject I don’t know much about either. The first mosque ever in our city was just built and I might see if someone there will give us a tour. Just got some very cool books on astronomy from Rainbow Resource (thanks to Room of My Own for turning me on to them. Now I have no money). I’m also going to try a literature guide to Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil…..you remember the one. Never tried a guide before , so we’ll see. Has anyone tried Shurley Grammar? I’m thinking of trying it out with my kindergartener. We are currently deciding whether or not to homeschool him next year. I want to, but with myself in school and him being so young, it would be very difficult. We may need to wait to go full- blown (cause you’re never totally not homeschooling) hs with him for another year. We’ll see. Anyway, hope everyone has had better health than us this new year. Cheers!
Posted at 5:52 pm | Comment (0)
18th December, 2006
Welcome to the Jungle
Well obviously I am awesome at the blogging because I am averaging about one entry a month. Ho- hum. Here I thought I’d be blogging everyday; recounting the awesome adventures of our One Room School. How we seamlessly float from one activity to another in perfect harmony. “Age of Aquarius” is playing in the background…. geez, why do we do this to ourselves? Or why do I do it to myself? I’m sure no one else daydreams about what life would be like if their kids were blissfully compliant and totally in tune with your wishes. Right? Most days it is like slogging through the wet, hot jungle with your machetti (Joe would appreciate my choice of weapon). It’s like there is this ultimate and wonderful destination you want to reach and you are chopping down all this underbrush to make the path to get there and then you come to the point when you start to ponder, does it really exist? Is this place I envision in my mind really accessible? Can we make it through measuring angles, correcting subject verb agreement, and the kings of England without scarring eachother for life?
And then, something reallly cool happens when you are not even watching. You hack away with your machetti and find this beautiful clearing. It’s not the waterfall you were expecting, but there’s a lot of room to run around in and sunshine and you know you can’t stay there forever, but it feels so good to be on this journey in that moment. Like when your son stands up to sing his solo in the Christmas musical and he sounds like an angel. And you realize that because he’s homeschooled he has the energy and time to practice doing something he loves and it is heartbreakingly beautiful. That is when it is worth it. Not everyday. Everyday is what you pray to get through without doing too much damage. These moments are the ones you hang on too and breath in and savor. They are your reason. Then you pick up your sword and start hacking away at the undergrowth again.
Posted at 10:13 pm | Comments (2)
