How much fun can you have with $1.00?

One of our goals for the summer was to construct and erupt volcanoes. We made them in June (see picture here), but never got around to the big eruption until tonight. It's amazing how much fun you can have with sawdust, glue, rocks, sticks and twigs from the yard, baking soda, vinegar and food coloring.

My Favorite Things...

as expressed by Todd Wilson, Familyman Ministries

Favorite things about homeschooling . . . hmmm . . . favorite things . . . favorite things.

(Queue the music.)

School in my pjs and short simple school days
Hot steaming coffee and basking in sunrays
Children that miss out on lots of 'bad' things
These are a few of my favorite things

Oom pah pa . . . oom pah pa

Mountains of good books and time for their hobbies
Learning to be godly daddies and mommies
Chores and routines that help keep our house clean
These are a few of my favorite things

Babies and toddlers and growing teenagers
All in the same house without social dangers
Living and learning although the phone rings
These are a few of my favorite things

When the kids scream
When I am mean
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feeeeeeelllll sooo baaaad.

These are my favorite things too. Thanks for being so creative, Todd!!!!

Peek A Boo!

My first minivan had two bench seats and I always thought my life would be simpler with captain's chairs. I don't know why. It just seemed like it would be roomier for the kids, I guess. Well we got a new van last October and I was so thrilled to finally have my captain's chairs! But I hated them. It was impossible to help whoever was in the third row get buckled in properly, there was no place for groceries and the aisle between the seats was way too narrow. Since we really only needed three seats, we decided to take the 4th one out of the van and store it for awhile. I love the new arrangement because I finally have a place to put my groceries and I can easily reach into the third row to buckle my youngest into her carseat.

We removed the seat and needed to find a place to store it. Our garage is loaded with the homeowners' things, but my husband was determined to make some room in there for the seat. He works 10 hour days and can really only do projects like this on the weekend, so the chair sat on the back porch for a week until he had more time. Meanwhile, and unbeknownst to us, a bird decided that my van seat would be a great place for a nest.

Who can blame the bird though? It does look like a safe and cozy spot to raise a family! (Please ignore the mess, we were cleaning the porch/garage when I snapped the picture). Apparently there's just enough of a gap where the seat folds over to make the perfect nesting spot.

So now we are hosting three gorgeous baby birds. Aren't they adorable?

I have no idea how I'm going to clean that seat up once the babies leave the nest! In the meantime, we've been learning quite a bit about birds. My oldest did some research and found out that the old myth about touching baby birds is untrue. It seems that birds have a horrible sense of smell and really don't care if you touch their babies. However, the babies are extremely fragile and can be easily injured by even the most careful human. So, for now, we watch and look forward to the day they fly off into the trees.

Do you like them, Sam I am?

Not only is Green Eggs and Ham my all-time favorite Dr Seuss book, but it also made a delicious dinner for Family Night.

The girls were a little unsure about eating them at first, but they were so excited about the color that they gobbled them all up...even though they weren't sunny side up like the eggs in the book.

Vision Statement

We decided to homeschool by accident. A friend told me she was thinking of homeschooling her then 2 year old daughter and I was convinced it was the wrong thing to do. Afterall I was an expert on such things. I possessed a public school education, a bachelor's in elementary education, a 2 year old of my own and I knew one homeschooling family whose children seemed a little socially inept. Surely I knew what was best for my friend's daughter! So I rattled off my list of reasons as to why homeschooling would be an irresponsible choice for this mom (yes, I even mentioned the dreaded socialization issue ) and my friend had a clever response to each objection. Not to be easily dissuaded, I went straight to the library to reload. I read every book on homeschooling and before I knew it, I was convinced. I was now certain that not only should my friend homeschool her daughter, but we should also homeschool ours!

My husband, who had a less than stellar academic background, was fully on board from the beginning. So off we went to our first homeschool convention when our daughter was barely 2 years old. Perhaps we were a little on the early side, but we were soaking up all the information we could get our hands on. We walked into the convention hall and I actually started crying. I was so relieved to see throngs of "normal" looking people versus...Well I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was certain that the only people who homeschooled were the large families who all wore matching, homemade outfits and played musical instruments together. To be sure, we did see a few families like that - but there were also families in jeans and t's with kids running around acting like...kids!

So our first convention was back in 2000 and here it is 2008! I can't believe we've been at this (in one form or another) for 8 years already! I remember those first couple of years when I was doing "organized play" for preschool and feeling like we'd never get to the "real" academic subjects. Here we are all those years later with kids in 4th, 1st and preK and feeling like we are already behind! How did that happen when we had such an early start???

I know the answer to that question. We never sat down and made a vision statement for our school. We've been very fortunate to have been led by God to a couple of wonderful programs that we've used for our main curriculum and I learned very early on that:

1. You have to trust the curriculum and
2. All curricula basically teach the same stuff. Be patient and you will eventually fill in any perceived gaps.

Those two little tidbits saved us quite a bit of potential curriculum hopping over the years! But I was never really sure we were on the right path. Then I started hearing and reading about the importance of vision statements for our homeschools and it all fell into place. If we have a conscise vision statement (or statment of purpose) for our school, we can use that as the benchmark for choosing curriculum and evaluating our efforts. There was another *duh!* moment for me. Once we set our priorities, we'll know if XYZ history is going to meet our needs or if ABC extracurricular activity will be worth the havoc it wreaks on our weekly schedule. We'll know if teaching a certain subject is truly necessary or just twaddle (my new favorite Charlotte Mason word) that corrodes what could be free time.

So 8 years after officially declaring ourselves homeschoolers, my husband and I finally sat down to write our vision statement. It's a work in progress so I won't post it yet, but it began with a simple question:

"Why are we homeschooling?"

It seems like a simple question and one that should be very easy to answer, doesn't it? Hmph!!!! This simple little question turned into a 4+ hour discussion that lasted until the very wee hours of the morning! It was nice to sit down and really discuss with my husband what we are doing and why we are doing it. It's a conversation that we really haven't had since my oldest was in a stroller and homeschooling was just a novel idea. Now that she's a 'tween, no longer an only child and talking about ideas and goals of her own, our thoughts and priorites have changed.

Writing this vision statement isn't only interesting, but it's really helping us narrow our focus and "get real" (sorry Dr. Phil) about what we are doing and WHY we are doing it. I didn't see the point when I had one Kindergarten student, but there's definitely value in defining purpose.

BTW, over the years I've come to know and love several large, clothes sewing, guitar playing families and my friend decided to put her daughter in public school so she could be a light amidst the darkness. Go figure.

Summer Vacation

June 6th was our 180th day of school - our last required day to meet the state standards. I had planned to take a week off and then jump right back into our studies and keep right on trucking through the summer while it's too hot and humid to play outside much. Thank you Florida. The pace would slow and we wouldn't necessarily school every day, but I didn't plan to change what we had been doing. Then I read a newlsetter about vacations and an article by Todd Wilson that really struck a nerve. He reminded me of the NEED to take a summer vacation and the NEED to "put on our FUN hats". He went on to say, "You need to enjoy your children as children NOT as students, and your children need to experience you as their mother NOT as their teacher."

Ding ding ding ding!!!!

Oh man did I NEED to hear that! I have not really been enjoying my children lately. We've been fretting with each other a bit too much and Mr. Wilson was right. We DO need to take time to experience each other as mother and daughters.

So, we finished our "official" school year on June 6th and my oldest (the party planning queen) had a big end of the year party planned for June 7th and then we spent the next couple of months relaxing and enjoying each other. I came up with a list of things that we had been meaning to do but kept putting off like building a volcano, making a nature journal, learning how to sew, binding the books the girls have written, reading, playing games, riding bikes as a family...and then we spent some time working on the list. We didn't get it all done, but we had fun along the way. Isn't that what summer is all about?

Homeschooling really IS cool

I'm actually cheating here and transferring an old post from another blog of mine. A blog that I have largely neglected, but there are a couple of posts on there that I would like to preserve...

My girls amaze me. They are such deep thinkers. I wonder if I asked such tough questions when I was their ages or if I just accepted whatever information was thrown my way? I'm a people pleaser, so I'm guessing that I was one of those ideal public school students who sucked up any information I was given and then spit it back out on test day. I know I've certainly forgotten most of what I've learned even though I was an honor student. My husband laughed when I told him my favorite part of homeschooling was learning the history and science I had already forgotten. I truly can't remember much of it - even what I was supposed to have learned in college.

Things are different with my girls though. They seem to have a better understanding of what they are learning and how it all fits together. I won't even fantasize that it's because I'm such a fabulous teacher. That would be laughable. I think they "get it" because they have time to take in the information, ask questions, read historical fiction, take field trips and do projects that seem to tie everything together in a way that never seemed to happen for me in the classroom. I know my teachers tried to do those things. But they never could tell if we understood what was being said or if we were totally bored with the subject and just wanted to get to recess or art class. At home, we aren't in a big hurry to finish a book by the end of the year. We don't have to teach to any test. They can absorb the information, apply it and ask the tough questions that, I think, most kids are too busy or too rushed to ask.

I don't mean to imply that my girls LOVE everything we study. That would be awesome, but it's definitely not true. They do seem to want to learn what I am trying to teach them though. It's not just a bunch of facts and figures. It all has an importance to them in one way or another. They want to learn math facts so they can count their money or divide up their toys. They have an understanding of and appreciation for the struggle the early settlers had (from Biblical thru Colonial times) in a way I never grasped. For me, it was just a bunch of facts to memorize. For my girls, it's about the people. They have a deep compassion that I think is taken out of the equation in public schools. I love knowing that they are learning about the struggle as much as they are learning about the dates.

I never thought I'd say it, but homeschool is cool

My Intro

I can't do too much damage after such an inspired entry title, can I? Well I suppose a brief intro is in order since this is my first post and all...

Who we are: My name is Pam. I am 37 and have been married to my hubby B for 15 years. We are beginning our 7th year of homeschooling our 3 beautiful and fun-loving daughters ages 9, 6 and 3.

Curriculum: In February 2008 we began using Adventures in My Father's World and LOVE it. We are also using Math U See, First Language Lessons and I Can Do All Things (Art). Before our big switch to MFW, we were die hard Weaver users. Unfortunately our less than stellar library and slow internet connection always left me feeling ill-prepared to handle the Weaver objectives. It's a wonderful curriculum though and we may go back to it in the future, but it's just not for us right now.

So that's us in a nutshell. Eventually I'll figure out how to post photos so you can see all the fun stuff we've been up to this year.