I homeschooled while attending seminary full time

 Yes, I homeschooled for a full year while attending seminary full time, while my husband worked from home.  I nearly lost my mind, my husband nearly lost his mind, and the children learned!  We survived!  We took the summer off, and we are ready for another year.  I can't believe I haven't updated this blog in so long.  Bee (age 19) took a year off to work, and now he has gone away to college. 

I just finished writing up my yearly progress reports for Bug (age 15) and Dot (age 8), and I also wrote out plans for the coming school year (which are the rough drafts for next year's progress reports.)  

I'm so glad we are still homeschooling.  I never expected to have kids with special needs, but Bee has ADHD, Bug has characteristics of autism, and Dot has a reading delay/possible dyslexia (something I never anticipated).  I think that all three of them are intellectually gifted, which is both wonderful and complicated.  For spiritual, academic, and emotional reasons, I do think that homeschooling has been a good decision for all three of them.  It has not always been perfect or ideal or easy.  I hope that this blog (however poorly updated) shows something of our struggle.  

We have been homeschooling for 12 years, and it has been a joy and and a struggle, and so many times I have questioned myself, but right now I am just thankful to God and to all of the wonderful parents and teachers who have helped us on our journey

8th Grade Homeschool Plan

 I see that I never wrote out Bug's homeschool plan for the year.  Poor Bug, my middle child.  

For his 8th grade, we are doing:  

• English:  Bug reads constantly, mostly fantasy books.  It is not unusual for him to spend several hours a day reading.  He prefers audiobooks.  He has taken an Outschool course on Shakespeare, and is currently in an essay writing and a creative writing course on that platform.  
• Math:  Teaching Textbooks Algebra I.  If he has questions, he can ask his very own dad with a PhD in math.  Bug has done pretty well with this program.  Once we figured out how to access the textbook, he stopped watching the videos and is much happier and scoring higher.  I like this program because it is easy to keep track of Bug's progress.  
• Social Studies:  For the fall semester, we took a road trip out west and visited several national parks.  Bug also read Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac.  So I am giving him half a credit for "Geography of the Western United States."  For spring, he is taking a couple of classes in economics on Outschool, one more traditional and another that is kind of an RPG.  
• Science:  Bug took a Life Science course on Outschool his first semester, and is now taking a speculative evolution course this semester.  In addition, he chooses to watch science videos on Youtube for fun.  He has also been teaching himself Javascript.  
• Foreign Language:  Bug takes private Spanish lessons with native Spanish speakers online from Homeschool Spanish Academy.  
• PE:  Taekwondo, scout activities, family hikes.  

Next year, I am going to insist that Bug add some kind of artistic endeavor (other than writing) to his life.  

The Futility and Appeal of Record Keeping

I am starting to think about our next homeschooling year.  We will be moving to a different state, and I will be a residential graduate student/seminarian, instead of a hybrid-distance student.  This means that I will be on a schedule more than I have been in the past.  I will need to be a little more structured with our time, I suppose.  I will be homeschooling my two younger children, both of whom are not too challenging to homeschool.  

My wonderful oldest, Bee, really is kind of like an insect, hopping about from flower to flower.  Keeping records on his learning has been nearly impossible.  He is one of the smartest, most knowledgeable 17-year-olds that I know, with an excellent SAT score to show for it.  He is incredibly articulate, has a strong writing voice, and possesses a storehouse of knowledge on history and computers, among other things.  He also speaks Spanish with a beautiful pronunciation.  He plays guitar and sings.   And he cooks, cleans, and can make home repairs.  But planning and tracking his learning has been like, How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?  

So, I am starting to think about keeping more structured records this coming year, checking off the subjects that were studied each day.  And I question my motivations.  Because I know that whatever structured school I provide is often very good, but often the most quality learning that happens in my children happens internally, is self initiated, and I may not even be aware of it.  Homeschooling creates an ideal environment for spontaneous learning and creativity.  For instance, Dot makes up songs constantly.  Bug has become obsessed with java script as of late and works on that.  

And am I really concerned about someone accusing us, after all these years, of educational neglect?  Some social worker coming around to tell my husband (PhD) and me (MEd and MDiv-in-progress) that our precocious children are, in fact, ignorant?  Concerned enough to check a bunch of boxes and count "school days?"  But, on the other side of it, record keeping, even though I always sort of forget about it after a while, often has the result of making me feel affirmed because I see just how much learning that my children are doing.  

Bug and Dot are a little bit easier to track than their older brother.  And, now that I don't have anyone who is hyperactive or really little running around, it's easier for me to take a little time to keep records on a more daily/weekly basis.  I'm having fun making a planner (that's definitely the fun part), and I plan to share what I created on this blog at some point.  

A 12th Grade Homeschool Plan

 This is Bee's final year of homeschooling.  We are focusing on his strengths and unique gifts and emphasizing learning and personal development.  We are encouraging him to get more life experience next year and consider college at a later time.  

Math:  For the first time, we are trying out Teaching Textbooks.  Bee is in Precalculus, and his dad can help him with any questions.  

English:  Bee (and his brother) are taking a Shakespeare class through Outschool this semester, and we are watching a play as a family each week.  He is also taking a writing class and a general humanities class.  We are working through a Glencoe grammar workbook.  

Spanish:  Private lessons twice a week through Homeschool Spanish Academy, emphasizing listening and speaking skills, at our request.   

Science:  Bee will take a review course through Outschool on Chemistry, a subject he started in public school.  I'm looking into physics options for the spring.  

Social Studies:  Bee has a lot of history credits already.  We plan to do US History with an emphasis on the western US.  This will incorporate a family road trip that we plan to take.  He will also have a weekly art history course, which I'm not sure how to incorporate as a credit but it's a great thing to take.  

PE:  Taekwondo classes.  

The Arts:  Planning to sign him up for guitar lessons.  

Kiwi Crate Reviewed: Our First Month

 I decided to use Kiwi Crate as part of Dot's science program.   [Dot is a 6-year-old kindergartener.] The idea was that it would provide a good hands-on experience each month.  My goal with elementary science is to provide interesting books and experiences that support a love for learning about the world.  

The first month's kit went really well.  The materials were good quality, and Dot and I managed to follow the instructions and put together a claw toy grabber.  I often have very poor success with "science" kits, so this was great!  There was a lot of optional art and decorating included, which appealed to Dot.  I will say that it was fairly parent-intensive, at Dot's age and ability level.  But Dot was able to do most of it with my guidance (except for the optional box cutting).  

I am happy and looking forward to next month's kit.  

A Kindergarten Plan (by a Long-Time Homeschooler)

Dot is 6 with a late spring birthday and entering homeschool kindergarten.   She is probably going to be doing the level of work that my parents would have done in first grade.  She is my third child, and any reading, writing, or math we have done has been FUN, never pushed.  I feel very confident about our approach.  I have selected things that work and that we can actually get done and that are foundational for skills she will use all her life, such as a phonetic approach to reading and a conceptual approach to math.   Reading aloud is the best way to build vocabulary.  

Also, LESS IS MORE with little kids and academics.  A consistent approach of short, quality, developmentally appropriate lessons is ideal.  

• Reading:  
• We are finishing up All About Reading pre-reading and then plan to switch to Level 1.  As we went through the pre-reading program, I watched her develop the skills needed to read.  The program helped in this process, but a lot of it was just her brain developing readiness.  
• Lots of being read to--the foundation for every child under the age of 9-10 or so!  My husband or I read chapter books to her every night.  We will also have a reading time during the day with 10+ books picked out for month.  
• She is taking a weekly kindergarten class where they use Five in a Row and read a book every week.  
• She is taking a weekly storybook club class.  
• Writing:  She will be taking a weekly handwriting course at a local co-op!  Hurray!  Mommy doesn't like teaching handwriting.  
• Math:  Schiller Math modified by me to include activities learned in a Montessori classroom.  
• Science:  She will be getting some science 2 days a week at her co-ops (science in her kindergarten class plus a nature club at her other co-op).  We will also read science books (5 or so a month) and will try out a Kiwicrate subscription.  
• Social Studies:  Field trips to national parks coming up this fall!  She will be taking a geography club class once a week, and we will read books (5 or so each month) on social studies (geography or history).  
• Spanish:  weekly 25-minute classes through Homeschool Spanish Academy and at-home instruction.  It appears she will require Skittles as a reward for the class.
• PE:  outdoor play, homeschool soccer and running, and hopefully gymnastics
• Arts:  She is signed up for an art class at one co-op.  I would love to find something musical for her to do as well.   

I think this is a simple, do-able program that has all that is needed for kindergarten.  If the co-op classes were not available, I would simply add more read-alouds and attempt a handwriting program.  Notice that there is basically NO lesson planning prep for me other than picking out books to read to her each month.  No grading because it's kind of silly for kindergarten anyway.  

More Schiller (ish) Math

 So we have abandoned the Schiller book a little bit for now.  We continued building large quantities.  It took a while for Dot to remember which category were the thousands and which were the hundreds.  Today she knew that confidently, so we went on to addition with large quantities.  We added two numbers, ensuring that they would not involve carrying.  Dot already knows how to add with small quantities.  

The way I learned to do it as a Montessori teacher is to build 2 quantities, put them together (using a scarf) and then count them up.  We then tell the story something like this:  Mom brought 1101, and Dot brought 2310.  We put our quantities together, and we had 3401.  Putting together is addition.  

This whole procedure with the quantities up to the 1000's place seems very appealing to the age group (usually 5-6).  And because it's done in such a concrete way, the larger quantities are not intimidating.  In fact, that is kind of the point, that we work with the large quantities so that the children aren't intimidated by them later.  I used to give my sons a few (or just one) addition problems in the millions or billions or trillions when they were in early elementary.  They thought this was much more interesting than a whole bunch of smaller problems.  

If children are clear on how place value works (which is why we use these manipulatives), then they see how easy it is to work with the larger numbers.  It's nice to see children excited by the large quantities rather than intimidated.  

Next time, we will do an addition with exchanges/carrying.