This Is My Joy!

What joy it is to see my kids learning!  Yesterday, I caught Mercedes helping Jared with his math work.  They were sitting on the couch, and she was teaching him.  Not only are they learning math, but they are developing a relationship that will last for a lifetime and beyond. 

Of course, this was after I was helping her figure out a problem that involved figuring out how many cookies were eaten at a party.  There were 8 boxes of 12 cookies brought.  How many were brought?  Her answer: "8 dozen."  Can you tell she likes to bake?  LOL!

I am so excited as history progresses.  We are reaching the important developments that lead to the American Revolution.  They are enjoying their reading, which excites me to no end.  I keep telling them there is so much to learn, so much to figure out, so much to find! 

What To Teach?

We can get too easily bogged down in the academic part of homeschooling, a relatively minor part of the whole, which is to raise competent, caring, literate, happy people. ~ Diane Flynn Keith

I am excited as I watch my children blossom into the kind of people I enjoy being around.  They enjoy learning, appreciate others, and are well mannered.  Jared opens doors and does chores without being asked; Mercedes shows tremendous responsibility and trustworthiness far beyond her years.  They often help each other with their school work.  Mercedes is preparing to babysit.  Jared is preparing for his Eagle scout (he's 9 - at this point it's simply setting the goal). 

What do you teach when you homeschool?

I focus on the 3Rs - Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmatic.  We do a lot of history, both reading and by watching documentaries on YouTube (gotta love the Internet for curriculum!).  Now that we're coming up on the American Revolution, we're discussing the factors that lead to the Revolution and how they apply today. 

I also teach home management skills.  People don't seem to do this, but as a working homeschooling mother I cannot do what I do without my children's help.  We work with chore charts and establish routines that will serve them for years to come.  The kids help with laundry, cooking, menu planning, mending, vacuuming - and we discuss what laundry hampers are for (I've decided that the inability to use a hamper is on the Y chromosome...).  Why is it important to keep our home neat and tidy? 

We read - a lot.  Jared is currently reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Mercedes is reading Little House on the Prairie.  Both of these are favorites of mine, so I know when they haven't been reading.   

We're adding Spanish and French to the curriculum as well, as their father is Mexican (and his parents speak no English) and we have a friend who is a native speaker of French and German. 

I don't do much with the computer, other than locating accurate historical videos.  I find it is much more important to lay the foundation properly - literacy is much more vital than computer use. 

We do handwriting and copy work.  The time may come when they won't have access to a PC or smartphone - but they will always be able to write.

You see, I'm not raising "superkids."  I'm raising competent adults, who wont' be living in my basement.  I choose what I teach with that in mind.  If they like to learn, are well mannered, and interact well with the rest of society (not just their age groups), the rest is easy....

Can You Homeschool As A Working Mother?

"I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves."  - Joseph Smith, Jun

YES! YES! YES!  In fact, if your child is over 8 and you're spending more than an hour or two a day actively working with them on "school" subjects, you're doing too much. 

Kids inherently want to learn.  You really can't keep them from learning.  And they really like it when they *get* a new concept.  

Math and history are the only "subjects" we spend a lot of "teaching" time on.  Notice the quote marks....Math does tend to be learned in a vacuum, sort of separated from other subjects.  History - well, it's a story.  So for history I read them a story, and then encourage them to read other books from the library.  Science?  I cover it along with history and math, often with trip to the planetarium or the Bean Life History Museum at BYU, or one of the other wonderful museums in the area.  Since I'm in Utah, I get the joy of having many resources available through the many universities. 

The best way to teach at home, I think, is to teach them HOW TO LEARN.  The most oft heard sentences at my house are the ones where I'm encouraging them to think instead of looking to me as the fount of all knowledge.  Although I am brilliant (LOL!), I still want the kids to think for themselves.  :)

Planning

I'm spending some time this week planning with the kids.  What do they want to do (if they know)?  How is their education coming along?  Where are the areas we need to work on? 

Did anyone struggle with Daylight Savings Time?

We didn't.  We did what we always do - set the clocks forward, then relaxed.  We went to bed a little earlier, and woke up when our bodies told us to.  (OK, so I got up earlier - I do have obligations outside the home.)

The only screaming was from my public-schooled grandson.  Ironically, there was no school today.

The kids got up as usual, maybe a little later according to the clock, did their schoolwork after being prompted, and went outside to play.

Gotta love it.

Long Division

Mercedes is currently learning long division.  Bless her heart, I think she understands the basics, but it is confusing her.  She keeps losing her place!  I'm so glad she's learning this at home, where I'm here to go over this with her over and over.  Would she be able to master it at school?  Maybe, maybe not.  I suspect she would learn it well enough to pass the test, but not be internally motivated enough to retain the information.

I sneaked this picture of Jared over the top of my laptop.  He's doing his math - and rapidly catching up with his sister.  This is what homeschool looks like!  Doesn't he look so much happier than anyone sitting at a desk with 29 other students?  He's on the couch, with a blanket to snuggle with and Mom across the room if he has questions.  And he loves learning.

This is the way real learning happens.

"Why Did You Decide to Homeschool?"

I get asked this a lot.

I have older children, who attended public schools.  When my oldest graduated, I read an article about how little HS graduates know about history.

So I asked her, "When was the Civil War fought?"

She said, "Gee, I don't know.  1812?"*

After I picked myself up off the floor, I decided that I could certainly do better than the public schools.  I'm three years into a computer science degree involving advanced mathematics, I love history, and I have a well-rounded liberal arts education.  Loving to read and write helps.

When my younger kids, Mercedes and Jared, came along, I determined not to make the same mistakes that I had with the first ones.  I'm sure I'm making mistakes, but at least they're brand-shiny-new mistakes and not the same ones I made before.

Choosing to homeschool rather than send the kids to the government school was part of that thought process.

The results, even this early, speak for themselves.  Jared excels in math, Mercedes is already writing a business plan for her party-planning business, and they absolutely love history.

The other part to the equation, besides the academics, is that I lost custody of two of my children after a long, drawn out custody battle with their father.  Heartsick, and out of time, money, energy, and resources, I decided that I would keep my younger children with me as long as I could, rather than entrusting them to the schools.  After all - you never really know how long you will have with your children.

*Oh, and if you went to public school - the Civil War (known in the South as the War Between the States or the War of Northern Aggression, and there was nothing civil about it!) began January 1861 with South Carolina's opening salvo on Fort Sumter.  The issue was not slavery, but states' rights.  It ended in 1865.

The War of 1812 was against Great Britain.