Thursday, March 15, 2012

I captured the moment....


...discovered an "m" on my side of the bed. they explained it standed for "mom", in case I forgot where I sleep.....


...."d" is for dad :)


....the very rough draft of this year's schedule...


....our school cabinet completely cleaned out and ready for a new year's worth of books...


....the ones we're done with!


this perfectly describes her....all pink and frilly, digging in the mud :)


I made deodorant using this....


and these. it's lovely and actually works! :)

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

a gap

Believe it or not, we've finished our school year. Starting in July can have that affect. ;) Being advocates of classical education but no where near seasoned enough to do it by myself, I chose to follow the schedule and curriculum choices that Easy Classical set out. A woman I highly respect suggested it and it exceeded my expectations. It's a fool-proof system and they laid everything out for me. As we have committed to take this entire journey on a year-by-year basis, I have planned to use it for our next school year (kindergarten and first grade). The one thing I've been struggling with is what to do now. I've considered jumping into our next school year. When I think about when we'd finish, and then choosing to continue on with the next year, I have horrible visions of being one of "those" people. You know. Having a 6 year old in 4th grade???? :) And then I heard about the gap year. High school students who are either ahead on credits or need a year of maturing before heading off to college choose to travel. Study abroad. Apprentice with a veterinarian. Anything, really. So, that's what I've chosen to do from March - August. These will be our "gap months". :) One of the things I LOVE about being the teacher AND the mom is that I know each one of their strengths and weaknesses. And because I'm scared to death about what first grade might bring, and how an almost 5 year old will handle the rigors of kindergarten the classical way, we are taking a step back in order to lay an extra foundation. How quickly can he read that book and yet still comprehend it? They became pretty sloppy with those math flashcards.... maybe we can work for accuracy. Sure they completed their work, but sighs and rolling of the eyes also accompanied it. This is what our gap months will be for. I started wavering in my ability to complete it all in a day. Maybe I could use some straightening up as well. If we cut back the responsibility load, in essence those things that are left over should have much more time devoted to them. Hopefully resulting in accuracy, efficiency, and a respectful and obedient spirit. I also made a list. I make lists for everything, and I'm one of those people that has to add 3 items to the list that have already been accomplished solely for the sheer joy of crossing them off. :) But this list was different. What are the common sense things they'd learn if they were in "real" school? I think we, as homeschoolers, tend to fall short at times. That's why we end up holding a tissue to the nose of the 11 year old and demand them to "blow". All of those little every day accomplishments that are done quicker if they're done by me. But if they were in "real" school, they'd have to take responsibility and do it themselves. Hence my list. What do I want them to accomplish this year, besides academics. Even if it takes an entire month to learn one new skill, we can still accomplish 12 before the year is over! And one more thing I'm hoping to accomplish during our gap months.... my home! July will mark the 6th anniversary of moving in. I can't even believe that's a reality. Our goal was to stick it out for two years. And then life smacked us in the face. :) But as we get our ducks back in a row, we'd really really REALLY love to be living somewhere else next year. In my ultra analytical planner mind, I figured I have approximately 11 months to purge, clean, re-organize, paint, replace carpet/blinds/moldings, and the list goes on.... That's hard to do when the kids are 3, 4, and 5 and you're homeschooling preschool, K5 and 1st! :) Thus, these glorious gap months. :) Who knows. We may even tip-toe near the edge of normal and wait to schedule "back to school" night until September. :)