End of year Wrap-Up

We've officially ended our homeschooling year 2010-2011. Actually, we finished a few weeks ago and I have been trying to write this post forever, but a new dog and trying to pack up to move for the summer have been keeping me from most other things these days. Summer in New Enlgand is so very beautiful. When it finally arrives I inevitably say to myself 'so this is why I live here'. We put aside any formal work for the summer, and relax into a different type of learning. We will soon be moving out to our house on the beach, and I look forward to spending our days playing, swimming, searching for treasures, reading great books, and taking long walks.

We did so many fun things this year! I'm sure I won't remember everything, but here are a few things we enjoyed: D learned about physics, architecture, and biology. He had a great time building models of simple machines and reading 'The New Way Things Work'. We took nature walks, planted a garden, and photographed the birds that come to our birdfeeder throughout the year. We participated in the Cornell Ornithololgy Lab's Backyard Bird Count and entered a Science Fair. J learned all about animals and plants. We visited the Museum of Science and the New England Aquarium. D learned about world history from 1849 to the fall of the Berlin Wall. He worked on maps and learned about the 50 states, important U.S documents and amendments to the Constitution, and read some great biographies and historical fiction. J learned about the seven continents and read stories from around the world. We visited Battleship Cove and Old Sturbridge Village. We discovered our new favorite board game, The Scrambled States of America.

D read the entire Guardians of G'Ahoole series, and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, along with many other wonderful books. Some of our favorites include Nory Ryan's Song, The Sign of the Beaver, and Number the Stars. J became a fluent reader this year! We read so many great read-alouds. Her favorites were Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, and Around the World in 80 Tales. D wrote some wonderful stories this year, and did some great non-fiction writing as well. I truly enjoy the content of his writing and it's been so much fun to watch his confidence in writing grow this year.

Both kids worked on math skills using Math-U-See. D began learning German and continued his study of Latin and Greek root-words. J practiced violin while D rocked his drum set, and both kids made some beautiful art in their art classes.

We ended the year with two performances of Much Ado About Nothing, in which D played the role of Dogberry. It was a wonderful way to end the year.

D, backstage, during the Young Shakespeare Company's performance of Much Ado About Nothing

Reading - How We Learn It

When we started out as a new family, long before we actually became a homeschooling family, I knew I wanted to instill a love of books and stories in my children. I read to my children in utero, and when they arrived we read as much as possible and brought books along everywhere - to the beach, on picnics, to church for wiggly toddlers and basically any place where we might have a minute or two to sit and thumb through a few pages. I wanted them to hear stories that are rich in content and beautiful in language, so from the beginning we read classics like Just So Stories, Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland, Charlotte's Web, The Wind in the Willows, and the Little House series. I looked for beautifully illustrated versions of Mother Goose and children's Fairy Tales. I remember staying up late with my then 6 year old D, night after night, unable to put down the Harry Potter books, even though he was already yawning. In the car we listened to books on CD - so, so many books on CD! We love absolutely anything narrated by Jim Dale. He is amazing!

When my children expressed an interest in learning to read, I tried to help them along, keeping it fun and lighthearted. We sang songs about the letter sounds. We played a lot of games. We used sandpaper letters and the moveable alphabet A LOT! My kids loved those. A good friend of mine showed my some old primers she used for teaching reading, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1957, called the Reading for Meaning series. These are 'whole language' primers and my kids have truly loved reading them. Having been written in the 1950's they provide lots of opportunites for historical/cultural teaching moments, such as "Yes, that mommy does look beautiful baking cookies in high heels and red lipstick, but your mommy prefers to kick it in sweat pants" and "nowadays some mommies go to work too!" I supplement with MCP's phonic readers as well so that they have some phonics learning as well. D started decoding words at about 5, but really loathed reading what he called 'baby books'. I encouraged him to sit with me and read a little bit each day, but eventually he decided that he wanted to do it on his own. I was a bit skeptical, but he took some books upstairs to his room (where I was sure he was jumping on the bed and building with LEGOS) and in a few months was a fully fluent reader! I have no idea how it happened, but it did, and I can honestly say I had very little to do with it. He was about 8 when he began reading chapter books.

From the time she was very little, J has wanted to learn to read. When she was a toddler she would sit with us on the couch for story after story, as long as we would sit with her. K, however, is a wiggler and has gone through times when it was very difficult to get her to sit and listen to a story. So I told stories while she played with play dough or while she snuggled in bed. Now she asks for the Three Little Pigs every night and loves acting out the voice of the wolf (done in Jersey-shore/Cake boss type accent). J is six now and just read her first chapter book - a Magic Tree House book! She is very, very proud of this accomplishment and I am very proud of her too.

What do we do all day?

One of the greatest things about homeschooling is the flexibility it allows you to have. I've had to stay on my toes and change our schedule quite a bit this year to adjust to K's nap/no-nap schedule, to avoid schoolwork dragging on into the dinner hours, and to keep things fresh and interesting. No two days look the same for us, but a typical day might look something like this:

We wake up to one or two kids bouncing on the bed, while K sings (loudly) in her crib and makes a big ruckus until we go in to get her up.

We eat breakfast, clean up the morning mess, and try to wake up while drinking extremely strong coffee (the adults, anyway).

We usually begin our school day with language arts first. I go over a new grammar lesson with D and then he does some independent spelling work and writes in his journal or works on his handwriting. While he works independently, J reads to me and we do some phonics together.

The kids take a break for snacks and play time and I run around like a mad woman, trying to tackle the laundry, dishes, and general clutter and mess that threatens to take over the house.

Then we move on to math. Again, I work on a new concept with D and we drill some math facts while J works with manipulatives or does a math-related project.

We eat lunch together and listen to the music of the composer we are learning about at the moment (right now, J.S Bach). Again I run around like a mad woman, trying to tackle the laundry, dishes, and general clutter and mess that threatens to take over the house.

After lunch the kids play together, then practice their instruments, read, or listen to books on tape.

In the afternoon we focus on hands-on learning or do a science-experiment. Last week we experimented with cold and warm temperatures and their effects on certain polymers. This week we learned about Russia, made Russian food and art, read a Russian folk-tale and listened to the music of Stravinsky.

We finish up by 2 - 2:30 and are off and running to art, violin, percussion, ballet, soccer, or gymboree, depending on the day. Any schoolwork that isn't finished is put on hold until tomorrow.

After dinner, baths, and books, the kids are all snuggled up in bed and I am thoroughly exhausted, like most parents I know! But again, I run around like a madwoman, tackling the last of the days chores, and organizing the schoolroom for the next day's work.

So, that's a typical day at home. But there are so many days when we are on the go and are hardly home at all. We typically take a field trip at least once a week and also meet with our homeschool co-op once a week. This week we braved the mayhem of the MOS during school vacation week and had a great time, despite the crowds and the chaos. It is, hands down, our favorite place to go at the moment. Today I took the girls to the South Shore Natural Science Center, where we learned about owls and had a great time watching the frogs and turtles, and checked out the exhibit on fossils found in Massachusetts. The kids take all sorts of fun classes through our co-op - everything from theater to nature science to cooking to botany to rocket science (I know! rocket science, how cool is that?!). We're lucky to have a group of smart, energetic, and creative parents in our group who share their talents with other homeschoolers in our community.

So that's our schedule for now. However, I'm sure that the weeks and months to come will bring more changes and we'll have to improvise once again!

So, why did you decide to do that?

This is, by far, the most common question I get when I tell people that we homeschool. So why did we decide to homeschool our three children? It was not a decision we made easily, quickly, or took lightly. Here's how it unraveled:

I met a homeschooler for the first time when I was in college. She had been homeschooled her entire life and started college at age sixteen. I had never met someone who had homeschooled before and was fascinated by her description of her childhood. It was so very different than what I had experienced growing up. While she was able to fully explore her interests and talents, and have input in her own education, I was trapped in the mass-produced, one-size-fits-all factory of public school, where I was told what to study, when to do it, and for how long. This former homeschooler had a different outlook on life. She was smart, talented, ever optimistic, and wasn't afraid to take risks when pursuing her passions.

Don't get me wrong - I ended up getting a very well-rounded education in public school. I read Dickens and Dostoevsky, learned how to create a thesis and write a coherent paper, speak Spanish, understand the basics of math and science, and participate in a good music program. I'm certainly not anti-public school and I have tremendous respect for the many dedicated teachers who work there, but I realize that like any system it has it's limits. There is a different, more meaningful way to learn and I guess that is why we homeschool. We're able to focus on the process of learning, to find the joy and wonder in discovery, and to let go of the product - the grades, the gold stars, and the rewards.

Still, it took many years for us to finally make the decision to homeschool. My oldest child went to preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. Though I was seriously interested in homeschooling him, I was extremely nervous about even trying it. Would he like it? Would he be lonely? Would he be bored? Would I be patient enough? Would I go completely insane being home with three young children full time? When we seriously started looking into homeschooling after D's first grade year it felt like we were jumping off a cliff. Despite all the research and soul searching it still felt like we were taking a risk. And ultimately for me, the most difficult decision lay in whether or not I should put my career on hold for a time in order to be home with my family. That was a very difficult decision to make, but I'm so glad that I did make it!

I asked my nine year old, who has been homeschooling for a year and a half and took to it like a fish to water, why he enjoys homeschooling. Here are his top five reasons:

1. It is fun.
2. At our homeschool co-op I get to play with my friends and take fun classes like cooking, theater, and rocket science.
3. I can sleep in and eat whenever I want!
4. I get to choose what I study.
5. I get to choose when I do my work.

So there you have it - from the mouth of a nine year old homeschooler.

At a recent field trip I met a lovely homeschooling mom from California who said, of teaching our own children, that "we teach their hearts". This statement is so simple but it means so much to me. As homeschoolers we teach so much more than the 3 R's. My children are learning so much, all the time, and I am lucky enough to be a part of it.