Called To It

The other day the kids and I all went to the Farmer's Market. All my kids enjoy this weekly outing in the summer. They especially look forward to the treat that comes at the end for good behavior -usually honey sticks, but last week, in the heat, we had "apple cider slushies" instead. YUM!

I saw a couple of old friends at the Farmers Market last week. One I hadn't seen in years, the other is a parishoner at the Church we were at before we switched when Night Owl started Highschool.

The first friend asked the kids what school they were going to in the fall. "We homeschool" was the reply. She looked at me like I was nuts and said "I don't know how you do it!"

"We just do", I replied, not knowing exactly what else to say. Later, the other friend approached and asked why she hadn't seen us in church. I explained that when Night Owl started highschool, we switched parishes so we could be a part of what goes on at the parish connected to his school.

She asked why we had decided to put him in school instead of continue homeschooling, and seemed very disappointed in our decision. This surprised me because she does not homeschool her children. Once again, I was unprepared for the question and gave a rather lame answer.

The real answer to both the comment and the question is "because we are called to it". God blesses us with the grace we need to do all that He calls us to do. I feel His grace every day, and I'm glad because I could not continue on without it. Eight years ago, when my husband suggested we homeschool, I thought he was crazy. I prayed desperately that he would have a change of heart. I did not want to be in opposition with my husband. The Lord changed my heart instead. I saw clearly that this is what God was calling us to do. I took a step in faith and He has blessed us tremendously. Homeschooling has become part of who we are. It just fits. The children are thriving and I have grown so much in my Faith.

So, when my husband came to me last year and said he felt that we should enroll Night Owl in the highschool, once again, I thought he was crazy. How could he even suggest it?! Things were going so well! I prayed. And, as before, the Lord helped me to see that I needed to step in faith, that He was with us, that He willed it. We made the step, and the blessings have been many.

This obedience, sometimes so scary at first, is the key to our peace. I saw it growing up when my own mother made decisions based on what the Lord called her to do - even though some people she knew thought she was crazy. I hate to think of the person I might have become if my mother had acted selfishly, based on what the world was telling her, instead of listening to the Lord. I want my own children to be raised under His watchfulness and care. I want to do all that He calls us to because I see the graces, even in the midst of hardship, when it comes. And it does come. A life of grace is not a life without hardship!

This obedience, this "doing what we are called to do" has also taught me that not everyone has the same calling. When a person asks me about homeschooling, in my exhuberance, I want to reply - "It's great. You should homeschool your kids!" But I don't. I know that God does not call everyone to this life. Without His call, and the grace that comes with it, I don't think it would be possible. Well, maybe possible, but not peaceful. I also know that His perfect will requires some parents (like my own) to work full time jobs, and some children to be in schools to "shine His light" there where it is so necessary.

I hope he calls us to continue homeschooling for a very long time because I have become passionate about this lifestyle. It works for us. It is peaceful. I find so much joy in it.

But, if He calls us to something different, I will be obedient. It might take some time to convince me, but I'll do it. Because, as I said in so many words above, it is in obedience to Him that we find our peace.

Planning Planning Planning

I'm still in planning mode around here. Schedules, syllabi, chore lists are all being typed into word documents. All the kids, especially Beany tend to get into trouble when I am at the computer too much so this is all being done in the early morning hours or when they are asleep in the evenings.
This is part of what I love - the planning. I don't know what it is but having it all before me, neatly organized, ready to go, is so worth the time it took all summer. I always enjoyed this part about being a classroom teacher, and learned, as I am learning now, that for me, "failing to plan is planning to fail". There are some moms I know that take a less intense approach to the planning. It suits them better not to plan so much. They are excellent teachers. I guess it's a personality thing.
I'll be back with the results of these days of planning, and hopefully more great pictures of the kids. They are having a great summer!

Summer

Summer has officially arrived here. As you can see from yesterday's thermometer reading, it was HOT! The forcast said 93 degrees, but our thermometer read 105! I think our thermometer must be off a little. Never the less, it was too warm for comfort.

The kids found a way to beat the heat though! Their good friends came over and they all found something cool to do. The big boys went on a 3 hour kayak adventure. I have no pictures of that but it was apparently quite fun. Night Owl is very adept at keeping his kayak afloat, but it would be just my luck that the time he had the camera with him would be the time he flipped!

The younger kids all ran through the sprinkler!

Social Butterfly was a bit timid at first ... but eventually jumped right in.Afterwards they all came in and the girls made "No Bake Cookies". I'm glad they are gluten free and work with rice milk. "No Bakes" are a summertime tradition around here!
The boys played on the Wii, of course... But after a few games and a few cookies, they were back outside in the sprinkler!

Planning Time

It's probably a good thing that I lost my camera. My computer time lately has been taken up with planning for next year. I usually try to figure out what curriculum I will need before the annual Homeschool Conference. My husband goes with me and this is when I make most of the purchases for next year. It's a great day for me - listening to the talks usually gives me the boost I need to"keep on keeping on". My husband is so good about going with me, even though I think it is more draining to him than "boosting". It's a day when we can talk about the kids education though, and he likes to be informed. This year's conference is tomorrow so I've been working hard to get everything done.
Besides researching curriculum choices I've also been reading several books as I plan. One of them has been particularly helpful - Discover Your Child's Learning Style, by Mariaemma Willis. For one thing, it's helped me to see why the methods I used to teach Night Owl don't work for Social Butterfly, Jetter, or Builder. My kids all have different learning styles and guess what? None of them have mine!
I'll be posting plans as I have time and sharing some of the information I have found from this book.
I did find my camera by the way. Just yesterday a friend let me know she had it. I guess God knew if I had my camera I would have spent all my time taking cute pictures of the kids and blogging about them instead of getting my planning done.

Camping

We had a wonderful time camping, as I expected! It didn't start out so great though.
We arrived on Sunday, in the rain. We quickly put on our rain gear (I was so thankful to have packed it within easy reach!) and set up the tents ... in the rain. It took us a while to settle into the fact that it was probably going to rain all evening, but once we did, it really wasn't too bad. I put the "wet suit" on Isaac and let him play, no longer worrying about the mud on his hands and knees. The older kids sat under the screen tent (I was so thankful to have the new screen tent with side flaps. They kept the rain out and the warmth in) and played Uno, Clue and Monopoly . That night it rained some more. I wasn't as happy the next morning, Monday, when we discovered there was water in the tent. It wasn't a flood. We were able to mop it up with old towels, but it did make a few sleeping bags wet. We spent that day in our rain gear as well. Our friends arrived and set up their camper in the rain. They said the forcast was more rain through the night. I was starting to lose heart. The rain stopped long enough to build a campfire and that helped a little. I went to bed hoping things would be better by morning, listening to the rain drops on the tent.
The next morning I was relieved to wake up with sunshine streaming into the tent. It was warm enough that the kids could play at the beach. We hiked, rode bikes, ate, played at the park, made new friends and had a great time for the rest of the week.
Builder made a special new friend. He is a little boy, exactly Builder's age and with exactly the same amount of energy - too much! I talked to his Grandma, with whom this little boy was spending the week. It turns out that this little boy has a twin brother with Leukemia. He was undergoing treatment that week and Grandma decided to bring his brother camping with her. She said it was such a blessing to see this little boy play with a friend. He had really been missing his brother. It was a blessing for Builder too. He's been feeling left out lately and needed a buddy.
So, as usual, we came home from our trip rested and looking forward to the next trip. My only regret is that I can't find my camera and I wasn't able to take pictures. Please say a prayer that I find it. My husband got it for me not long ago. I have a terrible feeling that the last time we were at the park someone helped themself to it, and in the hustle and bustle of loading kids in the van I didn't notice it was missing.

Almost there

Two days ... We're all really looking forward to our camping trip. Social Butterfly has packed and repacked two or three times and now wants to pack for the boys. I should probably just let her because time is running out! (And honestly, she's a pretty good packer!)

Dad and I are going to be gone for most of today. We are going to the ordination of soon-to-be Fr. David. He will be taking the place of Fr. Denis who will be leaving for Rome. We are sad to see Fr. Denis go - he has been such a blessing. But, we are also looking forward to getting to know Fr. David. It will be a nice day but that really only leaves Saturday to get ready!

Every time we go camping I fret and fuss over packing everything up. I think "there has got to be a better way" and finally, on the way to the camping destination I tell Dad "I'm getting to old for this!". But, then we arrive, unpack, the kids play, Night Owl fishes, Dad and I relax and then I decide it's worth it all. I just wish I could skip the packing part!

We are taking this camping trip with our friends. We try to go at least once a year with them. Their kids are similiar in age to ours and we like the same sort of camping activities - relaxing, hiking, kayaking, playing at the beach, relaxing, s'mores, campfires, bike trails, and did I say relaxing?! - all the traditional camping sort of things. They are great friends and we love the way the kids get along. My kids feel like they have 4 more siblings when we are with them.

So, tonight I'll start packing and we'll eventually have the van (over)loaded with tents, kayaks, fishing poles and marshmallows. We'll have the classic argument about how much stuff we're taking, how much we really need, and what exactly we should leave behind. Then we'll hit the road, the adults a bit frazzled, the kids overy excited. But, we'll get there unpack, and have a great time and I'll remember what it's all about...

Family, friends and building memories.

A Treasure

Quite some time ago, my mom found this and gave it to me. At first glance I thought it was a very old photo album and expected to see some old pictures upon opening it. That would have been a treasure, but what I did find was even more special.

On the inside front cover is written my Dad's name, with "First Grade" under it. This must have been written by an adult. My first thought was that my Dad's mom put some of his school work in here, but a lot of the works are written directly onto the scrap book pages so maybe it was done at school. I've kept this book on top of my dresser and consider it a very special memory of my Dad, who died when I was six. I wish you could see the writing more clearly. The little stories are darling and I'm surprised to see cursive in first grade.

I recently took this little scrapbook off my dresser and looked through it again. I am so thankful for this simple little link to my Dad. It made me think about my kid's own school work. Will they have something as beautiful as this to hand down to their kids? ... Not really.

I actually save quite a bit of their work, but it is in boxes, all labeled by grade, so that if I need to prove their education I will have more than enough to do so. But I've been thinking more about having them put their work into special notebooks that they decorate and put their own personality into.

On several homeschool blogs that I read, Commonplace Books are a hot topic. I find, that in many ways, they are actually similiar to this book of my Dad's. Here are a couple of sites that have examples:

These are examples of notebooks for Religion in a homeschool:

(This mom's blog is absolutely beautiful!) Scroll down to see how she teaches her children to created borders around each page.

http://evlogia.typepad.com/evlogia/2009/04/cease-being-unbelieving-but-believing.html

Here are some examples of notebooks for Language Arts: (Scroll down to see how color, adding borders, and shading the pages help to make the study of Language Arts a little more artistic!)

http://ebeth.typepad.com/serendipity/2008/08/lively-langua-1.html

This is actually not a blog but the work of several moms who got together and came up with this site, full of very creative and beautiful ideas for educating children.

The books that these children are making are going to be true treasures for their own children someday.

There are other reasons that I'm going to add a bit of this to our school day next year. Mostly for the product, but also for the process. I think my three school aged children at home will really love this. Night Owl might not have ... although I'm not sure, I never tried it with him. The other three draw, color and paint all the time though. This will allow them to use this love for "artistic pursuits" as part of their school day, incorporating it into subjects other than art.

Lean On Me

Beany and Winnie are good friends!

The Weekend

This past weekend included a whirl-wind trip to Dayton for my God-son's graduation Open House. It was a wonderful visit with family. Every time we are in Dayton my only regret is that the kids don't know their cousins very well. They still have a great time though!

Before we left I spent most of the day Saturday wrapping up the school year. The kids took End Of The Year Assessments which are required by Mother of Divine Grace - our "umbrella school" as I call it. They did not do standardized tests this year as I have them do that every other year. I had to average grades and get report cards written up - all sent to Mother of Divine Grace. I was very busy, but determined to get it done before heading to Dayton. The effort ahead of time made our trip much more relaxing. Since we've been home we are finishing up some end-of-the-year busy work, but nothing that important. It's been a very good school year and I'm proud of all the kids, including Joel, who made the transition into highschool without much trama! We'll celebrate the last day with a trip to see "Night At The Museum II". I've heard it is an excellent movie.

So Much to Say, So Little Time!

I didn't forget about the blog. We've just been so incredibly busy I haven't had time for anything. The good news is that the "End of the Year Assessment Tests" are all taken and sent in the mail to be graded, and the school year will come to an end on May 29th. Whew! Night Owl has a few more 1/2 days the following week, but he'll be done soon too. We're headed to Ohio this weekend for my nephew's graduation party so this is a busy weekend.
Summer is almost here though - then I'll have time to blog. (Sure!)

Night Owl

Dad and I just returned from the Awards Ceremony at Sacred Heart Academy. I couldn't be more proud of Night Owl. He is on the Honor Roll and was recognized for Academic Achievement in most of his classes.
I had originally written a very lengthy post about how well he has done this year. I decided to delete it for several reasons, the most important one being that Night Owl would have been embarassed. It's bad enough to have your mom gush about you, let alone on a blog that other people can read.
I'll just leave it at how proud we are and how we are so blessed to have such a wonderful son. I only wish he would have looked at me when I was trying to take a picture!

Workbox Art

In a recent post I talked about the workboxes we have started using. They are still working out great. With the workbox system, I am able to include more art in the kids day and they are really enjoying that. My problem is thinking of enough projects for them! I am not artistic myself so a lot of what I see on line is too overwhelming. I've decided to keep it simple so I don't skip it all together. In order to simplify, I've decided that some of the basics will be covered on a weekly basis. So, Monday will be drawing day, Tuesday will be clay or playdough, Wednesday will be painting, Thursday will be coloring, and Friday will be a project of some sort.

For drawing, I have lots of drawing books that the kids enjoy using. One of the favorites is called Draw Write Now (http://http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Write-Now-Book-Animals/dp/096393077X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241797012&sr=8-4 ) It uses very simplified drawing techniques so that even a young child, like Builder, can have some success. Social Butterfly prefers her drawing books by Mark Kistler.

The kids always enjoy working with clay or playdough. There are several books out that teach techniques, but I'm thinking I might just let them use the clay tools and have fun with it. I know the art classes they will take from Art Reach will get into more technique, so I'll leave that up to the teacher there.

I'll handle painting the same way. I do have different types of paint the kids can experiment with - water colors, tempera, acrylic - but the technique will come from the art classes. I'm hoping they will all get to go to Art Camp again this summer. They will learn techniques for various mediums that they can apply through out the year.

Finally, there is coloring and we have quite a few of the wonderful coloring books from Dover. They are great! Lots of detail, so the older kids enjoy them as much as the younger ones do. Jetter is particularly good at coloring all the details. Whatever the kids are interested in - cowboys, knights, the Revolutionary War, Civil War fashion, flowers, birds, bugs, etc., there is a Dover coloring book for it. http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-children-coloring-books-standard-coloring-books.html

That leaves art projects. It has been difficult to come up with a different project each week since I am dealing with 3 different ages and since I am art handicapped. To make this easier for next year I took some time and went through all the art supplies I had stored from 7 years of homeschooling. Then I brainstormed a list of things I could easily teach them and that I already had the materials for, or could purchase somewhat inexpensively. Here's the list: (Please excuse the links. They make this somewhat difficult to read, but they are for my own information.)

~pastels on dark paper
~wet pastels on light paper
~Chalk drawings with stencils, smeared to give a cloudy affect
~Sculpy clay
~marble painting (paper in a box, dip marbles in paint, let them roll around)
~string painting (dip string in paint, coil between two pieces of paper, pull it out)
~Valentines in February
~Easter Egg painting end of Lent
~Christmas cards
~Stations of the cross
~Grotto kits in May (Emmanuel)
~sponge stamping patterns
~Make place mats with large construction paper and clear contact paper. Use glitter, stickers ...
~Make tea lite candle holders with glitter clue on baby food jars (or something similiar)
~Rubbing plates
~Thumbprint painting http://www.amazon.com/Ed-Emberleys-Drawing-Book-World/dp/0316789720/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241800754&sr=8-2

~Weaving
~Do- a- Dot markers and books https://glammatoys.com/display/6281

~Indian head bands http://www.emmanuelbooks.com/product_detail.cfm?ID=1484&OID=3257
~Tomahawks or a coin purse http://www.emmanuelbooks.com/product_detail.cfm?ID=1482&OID=

~Rosary making kits http://www.emmanuelbooks.com/product_detail.cfm?ID=1946&OID=

~Fold Up Fun Masks http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Folding+Fun+Masks+(Set+of+40)/033050/1241799322-1471568

~Wooden birds to paint or wood tops to paint http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Birds+-+Small+Wood+Shapes/041441/1241799322-1471568

~Beeswax candles http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Beeswax+Candles/038099/1241799322-1471568

~Japanese Marbeling set (Social Butterfly) http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Marbling+Set+(Japanese+Suminagashi)/041357/1241799322-1471568

~Hand Prints (Plaster of Paris)

~Collage

My list isn't complete, but it's a good start. My second dilemma is what to do with all the art the kids are generating! My fridge is full and the walls in the classrom are filling up fast! We might have to work our way down the hall with it!

Lesson Learned

Do Not Let Two Young Boys Go Outside for Recess Wearing Indian Headbands. Why?

Because they will decide it is necessary to use the yucky black mud as war paint. Then, the "paintee" will get mad at the "painter" and serious mud-slinging will ensue. Then they will come inside asking for lunch.

No, I did not take pictures.

A Beautiful Day

Last Friday, I mean the Friday before last (I'm so behind!), we had a great day at the Garden Center about 30 miles away. The kids had been working very hard on their school work and the weather was just gorgeous so I decided it was time for an impromptu field trip. Here are some pictures of the kids. You can see that the Center's newly revised maps were a big hit. Beany also enjoyed the flowers. Surprisingly, while he had to touch them all, he didn't try to pick any! A day like this one is one of the many "perks" of homeschooling. It's not that children in school can't go on fieldtrips (there was a bus load of children there the same day we were) but I was able to actually relax and enjoy myself instead of worrying about 20 + kids. My own children have been here several times, but it's never boring. They notice the changes of each season, when the gardeners are changing the beds, and they know NOT to climb the trees or wade in the streams. I can just walk along, take in the beauty of both the gardens and my children who are taking in the same, and take lots of pictures!

Misc.

Wow, I just realized I haven't updated the March book basket. Of course, it's no longer March and we've been reading other books for April. I'll post the May book basket as soon as I get it organized. May will be our last school month so I think our theme will be "Camping". There are lots of great picture books at the library that I can use to fill our basket. We all still enjoy camping. For us it is one of the most relaxing family activities there is. We try to go at least once each year. This year we are planning to go for a week in June, right after Night Owl gets out of school, and before football conditioning starts up.

Beating the Spring Fever Blues

It doesn't seem to matter if one is homeschooled or goes to school, every year about this time Spring Fever hits. As a classroom teacher the last 6 - 8 weeks of school seemed to be the most difficult (with the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas coming in at a close second). Here at home it's the same. Everybody ( including the teacher!) is wishing they were somewhere else - in the sandbox, in the river, on the swings, finishing up the Spring Cleaning that never got finished, sitting on the porch reading a good book, etc. To combat this lack of enthusiasm for anything "schoolish" I usually try to change things up a bit. Sometimes I change the schedule, sometimes I add in a new unit study, one year we worked on making some really neat nature notebooks. This year, I've discovered something that is such a hit, I think we'll continue with it next year. ..

Workboxes.

Doesn't sound like much does it? That's what I thought, but then I did some research and some tinkering and we have a wonderful system in place for our homeschool.

The creator of this system, Sue Patrick, published her idea into an eBook: http://www.workboxsystem.com/ I read several homeschool blogs to find out about it, them broke down and bought the book. I'm glad I did. It's been a big hit. It actually reminds me of the system a teacher used when I was student-teaching a 2nd grade class (way back then). The students loved it, and it was a wonderful organization tool for the teacher. When I read about Sue Patrick's Workbox System I thought Why didn't I think of that?!

Okay so what exactly is it?

Basically, the system is a set of boxes for each student. The child's work is put into those boxes, and he or she is instructed to complete the work, in order. I've tweaked it a bit for each of my kids and I'm still thinking of ways to make it better for our family, but the results are that I have the same enthusiasm from the kids that I do at the beginning of the year. They are not only completing their work (happily), but I am incorporating some of the things we don't always get to like art projects and exercise breaks. I think this is what is so motivating for the kids.

Since I have three children using this system, I have set it up 3 different ways. This is because I wanted to use what I already had on hand instead of buying a bunch of boxes and stands. It's also because I wanted to test and see which we like best.

Here are Builder's boxes. These follow the plan layed out in the book the most. Sue Patrick uses a different shelf system, but once again, I already had this one. Builder has 9 boxes. There is room to add more as he gets older. He starts with #1 (obviously), takes the box to his seat, and completes the "work" in the box. For Builder, in preschool, that work might be a math worksheet, a puzzle, a phonics worksheet, pattern blocks, Tangrams, etc. When he's finished, he puts a little smiley face on the outside (attached with velcro) and returns the box to it's place on the shelf. He then goes on to #2. Some of the boxes have a little "work with mom" note attached. The child knows he is to bring his box to me (or I come to him) and we do that work together. These are the times for instruction in subjects like Math, Reading, Science, etc.

Here are Jetter's boxes. I like this system the best, but I think it's because the boxes just look "neater" on the shelves. Jetter has 12 boxes and he has a sticker to attach instead of the smiley face.

I started out thinking that Social Butterfly is a little too old for this system. She already has an assignment sheet that she uses each day and checks things off as she does them. But, of course, she wanted a system too, so we came up with this. We purchased her boxes in the hardware department. There are twelve, and I write her assignments on little business sized cards. I made up several cards that just say "Math" or "Science" or whatever. I attach a tiny Post It to the card if there are specific instructions or page numbers.

Social Butterfly and Jetter seem to like the system the most. I think that is because their workload hasn't changed. They have a few fun items added in, but the rest of it is mostly the same. Builder is adjusting to it. It's helped me to see that while Builder is doing just fine academically, he really had a very short school day before. I worked with him on reading, math and religion and then he was free to play. The workboxes take him longer to complete so he is learning the discipline of being in the classroom, working quietly, for longer than in the past.

What is Beany doing while the rest of the kids are happily working away? He's working too, in his own way. His work usually usually involves making messes but he sure is happy!




For me the set up takes more time (I have to fill all those boxes!) but the kid's enthusiasm is worth it. It will be summer before we know it! Hmmmm, I wonder if I can come up with a workbox system for their chores...

Happy Easter

(Note: I discovered that for MOST of the pictures on the blog, you can enlarge them by clicking on them. For some reason it doesn't work for all of them, but give it a try if you want.)

We're a little late with the Easter Post, but it's still the Easter season right? We had a beautiful day. It was a little cool but very sunny and no wind. We managed to get to early Mass BEFORE
the kids found their Easter baskets. This was planned in order to avoid the chocolate/sugar rush while trying to behave at Church! It's a good thing too. When we got there the only seats available were the front row. Yes, that's what I said, smack dab in the front. Well, in our church that means no rail or anything in front of us, which to Beany means "I'm free!". Before we even got to the opening song I had moved to the back with the other folks who were there with little ones, or people who didn't get there in time to get a seat. Dad stayed up front with the rest of the kids, holding Builder and Jetter in each arm in the "death grip". ("Dad, I can't breave!")

We managed to get through Mass and I even managed to get a picture of the kids before they found the candy:

After brunch there was the famous Easter egg hunt with Dad sneaking out to hide the eggs,

and all the kids, even Night Owl joining in the hunt.

It was a wonderful day!

Finally!

I was able to post the rest of the vacation pictures below. We had a wonderful time, the pictures really don't do it justice. We were able to do a little bit of everything and the kids loved it all. Most importantly, we enjoyed visiting with Mom Mom, Pop Pop and Aunt Charlene.
Blessings to you all!

Vacation Pictures - Fun at the Park!

Vacation Pictures - Chillin' at the Condo on a rainy day!