Homeschool and Silver Dollar City

A few pics from SDC. I thought Harrison was looking at where the water came up out of the ground. Upon closer investigation, I found he was getting a drink!!

We took a trip to Silver Dollar City again with some friends this week and had a GREAT time! This is the perfect time of year to go, since everyone else has gone back to school. We rode almost all the rides and never had to wait. The weather was beautiful, too. It couldn't have been better.

We are enjoying homeschool and one of the biggest benefits to is that we are no longer tied down to someone else's schedule. We are enjoying a slower pace in life. We are able to do the extra things we want without being rushed in the evenings and on weekends trying to cram it all in.

It's also really neat to see how the little ones are already anxious to do what their big brother is doing. They both usually choose to sit at the table with Jackson and color or do their own "school work". If they aren't sitting up at the table, they are just below us in the floor playing with puzzles, blocks, K'Nex, looking at books, etc. They participate in activities that are appropriate, such as free reading and read aloud time. It's nothing much different than differentiated teaching in a classroom.

Jackson is doing a great job with his schoolwork. He is usually finished with language arts, math and reading long before lunch time. This gives us the rest of the day to do whatever we want. We haven't officially started science or social studies yet, but I'm positive we'll still be finished before noon even with those subjects added.

Because we have our afternoons free, we have plenty of time to get together with other kids for lots of activities and play time. Here is what a typical day looks like.

7:30 - 8:00 - Morning Jobs

Everyone wakes up and kids begin their Morning Jobs. Jackson and Carter have checklists under a wipe-off sleeve. They check off their jobs as they are finished with a dry erase marker. This includes eating breakfast and loading their dishes into the dishwasher.

8:30ish - Language Arts & Math

Breakfast is finished. Jackson stays at the table and begins writing in his journal. He also completes his handwriting practice and takes a spelling test (Sequential Spelling) each day. He completes a math lesson and a Shurley Grammar lesson.

10:00ish -Free time

He has several choices of activities he can do during this time. He has to do each of the activities once before he can repeat any activity. I actually have a chart that has the entire day scheduled into 30-minute blocks. He has several blocks of free time in the afternoon. Forcing him to use all his choices before doing one a second time keeps him from positioning himself in front of the TV or Wii all afternoon. He is allowed to watch PBS cartoons and play Wii, but must incorporate the other choices into the schedule as well.

10:30ish - Reading

He has one book each week that he practices for fluency. We are also reading a chapter book together called How To Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell. He is a great decoder, so we are focusing on comprehension and fluency. If we have something else to do, we put reading off until the afternoon or early evening. As we get into science and social studies, we'll be incorporating lots on non-fiction, content related reading as well.

11:15ish - FINISHED!!

Our extra activities include:

• Book Club at the Library Center, which meets every other Monday afternoon
• CMA music class each Friday afternoon
• Art class each Wednesday at the Springfield Art Museum
• Classical Conversations from 9 - 3 every Tuesday
• Royal Rangers on Wednesday evenings at Parkcrest Assembly of God
• Children's Church on Sunday mornings and evenings
• Junior Bible Quiz on Sunday afternoons
• Regular trips to the YMCA to play
• Anything else that comes up we want to do!

We are so blessed to have this opportunity! I'm so thankful.

Downsizing Gifts

Last Christmas, we decided to make some changes in our gift giving and receiving strategies. As part of our effort to downsize and reduce clutter and "stuff" in general, we asked our family members NOT to give our kiddos the standard gifts. Up until this past year, the kids have gotten tons of cool things, mostly toys and clothes. Don't get me wrong, we were very grateful and thankful for the gifts we received, which mostly came from loving family members.

However, we were accumulating way too much stuff, including clothes. So, as Christmas approached last year, we asked our family to give our kids experiences instead of toys or clothes. I gave them a list of possibilities I thought we might enjoy as a family. We were given season passes for everyone to Silver Dollar City and a membership to the Dickerson Park Zoo.

We have thoroughly enjoyed both and are still using our passes to create wonderful family memories.

For their birthdays, Carter and Jackson were both given a Mad Science Camp. Jackson chose "Rockets and Robots". His camp was last week and he loved every minute. He was able to learn about robots the first part of the week and then about rockets the last part. He even got to build a model rocket and bring it home. He doesn't want to launch it yet, so we are keeping it safe for now. He's already talking about which science camp he would like to go to next.

Carter's ecology camp started this morning. He learned about what dirt is made of, and they started a seed sprouting experiment. He was happy to get to go to class where Jackson was last week.

Thank you so much, Aunt Kaye, for the great birthday gifts!

Here is Jackson with his rocket.

I love this and I think most of our family is happy to be contributing to the kids' list of experiences instead of putting money in toys that get lost and broken in a few days or weeks. It's a much better use of their resources and our time. Since we are officially homeschooling now, we'll be counting these experiences toward our schooling hours when it's applicable, also.

Things on our list of possibilities include: show tickets (special performances, plays, concerts, etc.), passes to fun places (zoo, pool, theme park, museums, etc.), summer camps and fun classes.

Homeschool Planning

I have been busy in my spare time (ha!) planning and getting ready to homeschool.  I think we are going to end up being an eclectic bunch.  What I really love most about the idea of homeschooling is that we will really be able to cater to the kids' individual interests and needs.  Because of my experience teaching and owning The Teacher Store, I am pretty familiar with a lot of curriculum.  However, there are still several things out there to learn about and I'm having a great time reading and exploring.

Jackson is a good student and on target academically, so there isn't really anything to worry about at this point.  That makes life easier.  When I asked him what he wanted to learn about, he told me oceans and Spanish.  So, we'll be starting in the fall with thematic unit on oceans.  We'll incorporate our reading, writing, math and science, of course,  into the ocean theme.  I'm going to use Jeanie Fulbright's Young Explorer Series: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day for the backbone in our science discussions and activities.  We'll supplement with books from the library and other things as well. 

I'm going to try to take him to The Summit for Spanish classes each day, if they are available.  I taught at The Summit this year and they have a great K-4 Spanish program that Jackson loves.  Hopefully, we can take advantage of their expertise in that area! 

We've got Sequential Spelling, Horizons Math and Shurley English to cover the rest of language arts and math.  For social studies, we are going to focus on American history and symbols.  Of course, we won't be glued to any of these sets of curriculum.   I'll change it up and add lots of stuff along the way.  I think we are going to have a great time!  I'm excited to have the opportunity to do what I love most with the kids I love most in the world.  It's a great feeling as a teacher when you know you have done your job and your students "get it".  I'm really looking forward to having those experiences with my own boys.

We will also study one artist and composer at a time.  I'm thinking we'll stick with the same ones for six weeks or so, but we'll see how that goes.  We'll do these activities as a family whenever possible, so that the younger ones get lots of great exposure.  Actually, Carter and Harrison will be able to participate with any or all of our activities as much as they can and as they are interested.  I can't imagine what they'll learn just from being with their older brother.  I'm excited to see what progress we'll make!

I've been doing quite a bit of reading about Charlotte Mason, who was an educator in England at the turn of the 20th century.  One of her primary focal points was spending a large amount of time outside studying and observing nature.  We are going to try to incorporate this as well.  Hopefully, our time outside exploring will encourage the boys' natural curiosity and help foster their scientific minds.  I think they'll enjoy it.  I need to gather up some field guides to keep handy.

I think it's a good plan to start with.  And, of course, another benefit of homeschooling is that if it doesn't work or if we're not happy - we'll change it!  Some of you may be wondering about our social interaction, but that's too much for one post.  Tomorrow, I'll tell you about what we'll be doing when we're not at home.