Misnomer

Home. School. Since neither word really pertains to what we're doing here, I find it odd to keep calling it that. Compound words should equal the sum of their parts yet so far, this one does not.

Let's start with the first part: home. It is 9:40 on Tuesday night. I have not written since last Monday basically because we have not BEEN home. It's possible that I may have, in my slightly overzealous ambitions,  managed to enroll Sports Nut and Drawing Diva in practically every current non-overlapping homeschooling opportunity in the community. In the past week we have attended gymnastics, science classes at the nature center and hands-on museum, swim and gym classes at the Y, parks days, a festival, and gone camping. Historical museum classes start soon, as well as parent-taught class days at the community center. Luckily some activities are only monthly, but since they all started in the past week and a half, we have been very busy. Both Sports Nut and Drawing Diva are loving it. I love that they can get tons of extracurriculars during the day so we have the evenings to spend as a family at home.

Second part: school. We are doing very little of what most people would consider to be 'school'. We have followed no curriculum to this point; even the literature and writing texts I purchased have surfaced only a few times. We rarely sit down on a schedule to complete workbook tasks or projects. All three kids have a cubby of scant supplies including a good pencil, a notebook, and a folder. With those three materials they have written stories, drawn countless pictures, taken notes, made lists, and constructed a few random paper objects. I have not chastised Mini Marvel about proper letter formation, drawn attention to Drawing Diva's phonetically correct but misspelled words, or lectured Sports Nut about proper pencil grip. What has followed is a wealth of unhindered creativity and an excitement to produce work. Once they have put the time and effort into their own work, they often will ask me for the help or advice I had to sit on my hands not to force on them in the first place. Love it.

Sports Nut starts his day with band and comes home fully of energy and enthusiasm to show us what he has learned that day. The blaring trumpet usually brings the sisters down, who have been playing upstairs since waking. We eat, we look at the day's calendar, we talk, we discuss wants and needs, we compromise, and it seems to work.

On Sunday,  Sports Nut had trouble figuring out 7 times 7. I pointed out that it was important that he know math facts like that and he agreed.  Yesterday he got out his notebook and a Montessori style multiplication tool we have and methodically worked out a section of the times tables. Today he recopied them in a different way, as a website I had found suggested. Tomorrow he said we should make flash cards. Hooray.

At the library today, Drawing Diva confessed that many of the easy reader books were too silly and she didn't enjoy them. I showed her the juvenile non-fiction section and she elated. So many books and so much information, NONE of it silly. Perfect.

Mini Marvel has begged me to help her learn some of the more difficult tasks on the chore chart, whereas in the past she has shirked most responsibility, claiming she is the littlest and therby exempt. Today she chose cleaning the cat litter, so down to the basement we went with bag and scoop in hand. I opened the top of the box and showed her how to scoop up part of the litter, shake the loose litter out, and dump the clump into the bag. "Like a treasure hunt!" Um, yes. I suppose. "Ooooooh! I got a good piece. Get off, dirty litter, leave the great big shiny lump for me! Oh Mama, I think it's poop. Or is it urine? Oops, that one fell on the floor. Oh, use the scoop again? Don't pick it up with my hands? We have a TON of treasure!"

I shall leave you with that tonight. More anecdotes to follow shortly, if time allows ;)

I guess you can't escape Mondays

I'm trying to figure out why Friday didn't feel like Friday yet today was definitely a MONDAY. It may have something to do with the evening's multiple extracurriculars, or that it was Mini Marvel's first day of afternoon (read: no nap) preschool. But even when I first woke up this morning it just felt like a Monday. The day progressed into a stereotypical Monday as well.

Oddly enough it was Sports Nut, with no heavy load of scheduled activities, who had the hardest day. Husband has a pictorial analogy for Sports Nut's seemingly-unprovoked-but-often-high stress levels. According to Husband, we all walk around with a bucket that collects all of our tension for the day.  Certain calming activities can act as a drain for the bucket, and certain stimulating activities can fill the bucket up pretty fast. An overflowing bucket equates to a mental meltdown. For some reason Sports Nut wakes up with an almost-full bucket sometimes. The slightest thing can overflow his bucket and the result is basically a lost day. Today his bucket was filled to it's rim before Sports Nut even came downstairs. He broke a glass before breakfast and although I was tooting my own horn internally for being so calm and rational about it, one glance at Sports Nut showed me that my placid reaction went unnoticed; he was already toast. He went to band, came home, and went back to bed. Although we eventually did a small amount of schoolwork today, most of his day was spent in recuperation (bucket-draining).

My guess is that Sports Nut's current anxiety is coming from the huge change in our daily routine. For nine+ years he has attended daycare or school where his every move was monitored and his every minute was planned. I am forcing him out of his comfort zone by giving him some control over his learning, control that he is not yet capable of owning. In the home school world, this is known as a decompression or deschooling phase, and it takes time. It's difficult because I want our new world to work for him, help him, and make his life easier, and I want it happen now! Instead I need to trust the process and find the patience to let it happen gradually.

On the upside, Drawing Diva had a great day. She and I spent about 30 minutes one-on-one going through her math and literature work and it is really exciting to watch things click in her mind. The classical approach to teaching was made for children like Drawing Diva and she loves the repetition and predictability of the exercises. She also very willingly sat through a video from our library on sentence structure even though once I started it I realized it intended for much older children. Good thing Drawing Diva is also a lover of words: predicate is now part of her vocabulary. Tonight was her second soccer practice of the season and her first-ever Daisy Scout meeting. Both groups are affiliated with the local elementary school so Drawing Diva can meet and keep up with peers who live in our neighborhood.

Mini Marvel loves preschool. Heck, I love preschool. We found Best Preschool Ever four years ago when searching for a preschool that would fit Drawing Diva's personality. Best Preschool Ever is a Reggio Emelia inspired school and as soon as we walked in the door the first time I knew our search for the perfect place for our daughters was over. Drawing Diva attended the school for two years, and Mini Marvel began her third year today. She has a few BFFs in her class and was so happy to be back with them. At this preschool, Mini Marvel is allowed to be her complete and total self. Her whole day consists of art, music, outdoor time, free play, and often a special guest like the naturalist, the yoga teacher, or the dance instructor. If Best Preschool Ever went up to twelfth grade I would be one happy mama. Mini Marvel had such a great time that she fell asleep in the car on the way home and had to be woken up in time for dinner.

So I am ready for this crazy Monday to turn over into tranquil Tuesday. Husband worked last weekend so he could take a couple of weekdays off and we are going camping tomorrow. The weather looks good and we should have the lake to ourselves. Can't wait. (although I suppose I should have been packing instead of blogging...)

Week one is in the books!

Today is Friday, and strangest bit of today was waking up and realizing that this Friday had no particular weight to it. I was not exhausted from a long stressful week of commuting children to and from school and activities. I was not elated that tonight would be the first of the only two nights of the week that we did not have to fight over homework assignments. I was not concurrently craving and dreading the upcoming weekend for both the time we'd get to spend together as a family as well as myriad of activities we usually felt we had to cram in to two days. It was just Friday, the day that came after yesterday and before tomorrow.

The week has gone well. I had read a homeschooling blog a while back written by a mother of 5 homeschooled children. One of her tips for starting a new (sane) school year was to start with a plan for two basic subjects and let the rest come naturally. All for sanity, I had decided that our two core subjects would be language arts and math. For language arts we are using First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind. This is a 'classical' approach. We started at level one for both Sports Nut and Drawing Diva. The lessons are very concise and require the student to answer questions in full sentences. I consider this to be an important skill and was surprised that both of my kids lacked the ability to take my question and turn the words around into a responding statement. By today they are getting better at it, and have memorized the first short poem. I was a little concerned they would think this book dry, but the short length of each lesson lends itself to likability.

Our math plan, conversely, has gone out the window. Those worksheets they had begged for were pointless. Sports Nut completed his in 10 seconds and handed them to me. The majority of the answers were wrong. One page was all subtraction yet he added half of them. Prior conditioning has taught him to finish as fast as he can, answer accuracy be damned. This is not news to me; every teacher for the past 5 years has told me Sports Nut needs to slow down. I was stupidly optimistic that taking him out of a classroom setting would change this behavior. Sports Nut clearly needs time to decompress, so standard math work for him is out at this point.
Instead, we have switched to Building Critical Thinking Skills. The lessons are far more entertaining and actually require thought. The same company makes a math curriculum that we'd like to try, so stay tuned.

I am learning a lot about my children as learners. Sports Nut, for instance, must try something before he believes it to be true. On Wednesday morning he came into my room and said, "Just in case you are ever playing my trumpet, make sure you don't bash the mouthpiece into place. Mr Band Teacher said it will get stuck and you won't be able to take it apart again. So only twist it, 'k Mom?"
Uh, ok, Son. If I ever get the hankering to play your trumpet, I will most certainly take care so as not to permanently lodge the mouthpiece into the instrument.
Time lapse of 15 minutes.
Me to Sports Nut: "Where did you go? It's time to head out the door to band."
Sports Nut to me: "I can't get my trumpet in it's case."
Me: "Why not?"
Sports Nut: "The mouthpiece is accidentally stuck so it won't fit."
Me: "Accidentally?! What did you do?"
Sports Nut: "As soon as I did it I knew it was a terrible idea, but I bashed the mouthpiece in!"
Me, muttering in my head, as I try unsuccessfully to wrench the two brass pieces apart: No, you knew BEFORE you did it that it was a terrible idea! Mr Band Teacher already announced that, and you felt it important enough information to share with me, yet not valid enough information to not test it yourself.

Yesterday we attended a homeschool field trip to the movie theater to watch an undersea IMAX movie. The kids loved it, and now know more about the mating habits of cuttlefish than perhaps necessary. After band, the movie, schooling and a nap for Mini Marvel, we still had enough time while picking up our CSA share to take a leisurely stroll to the back of the farm where the U-Pick garden is. All three children picked vegetables and flowers until their bags were full. In the past we've had to rush in, grab our share, and rush off. This was far more enjoyable. In the evening we were able to go listen to the marching band a the university. We picnicked with friends, listened to the band, played football, and took a walk. Never before have we been able to have such nice family time on a school night. Mostly our evenings revolved around homework fights, angry words, frustration and exhaustion. Driving home at 8:30pm I had that giddy feeling that it was OKAY to be out late. The kids were tired but happy after having a great evening together.

Today we attended a science class at a local nature center. The instructor was amazing and we all learned a lot about insects and then got to run off and catch some. Sports Nut was puzzling over the dichotomous key he was given but once he understood the process, he was figuring out the names of all the bugs the kids were catching. I LOVE to see him truly interested in learning. On the way home he said he wants to construct a similar key for wars. Sweet. There's our first history lesson handed to me on a platter.

My favorite part of today was cooking with Sports Nut. Sports Nut loves to cook, but it has often been hard for me to find the time and patience to let him cook with me. In the old days, school nights were so hectic that if any child stepped into my kitchen while I was preparing dinner he could expect a scene reminiscent of Carrie. But today Sports Nut and I put together quinoa corn chowder for the crockpot, this yummy oatmeal casserole  for weekend snacking, and he made two fabulous loaves of whole wheat bread with toasted sunflower and flax seed. We invited another homeschooling family for dinner and Sports Nut was so proud of his creations and so happy to share them with others.

So far, in the writing of Mini Marvel, "iLovHOMSCOLEN"

Redefining a successful school day

I promise you that homeschooling three kids was never my intention. Homeschooling always seemed ridiculous to me. But the birth of each subsequent child has furthered my realization that any judgmental thought I have about someone else's parenting I allow to cross my lips will eventually come back and bite me in the ass. I remember snickering with work friends about the hippies putting cloth diapers on their babies to protect them from absorbency chemicals and plastics. Less than 4 months later I was laundering diapers for two babies and had a growing and expensive 'fluff' addiction. After openly mocking parental negligence, I am now the mom who has lost her son a the grocery store, let her daughter fall off the bed not once but three times, and set hot gravy too close to her grabby 7 month old. So as to not further digress or give you more ammo with which to call child protective services, I'll get back to homeschooling. When we first moved into this house, the basement room was set up as the previous owner's school room. I just knew that mom was nuts. Why on Earth would she homeschool her son? We can see two of the four highly accredited local schools from our back deck. The other two are walkable within 5 minutes. And now here I am, less than 5 years later, with all three of my offspring home for school.  You see, I have come to realize we are all doing the very best we can for our kids at any given point in our lives. Judging gets you no where because you have no idea what that other parent is going through at the time.

But anywho, yesterday went well. Completely not according to plan, but well. As I had mentioned in the previous post, the kids were super excited for their first day of homeschooling and had been ogling the worksheets and tasks list that awaited them in their respective school folders. The initial thought was to go through our calendar and daily chores exercises after they all woke up, dressed, and ate breakfast. Sports Nut was up early, showered, dressed, ate, and then SAT. Waiting on the couch for his two sisters. Whoops. We couldn't get in to his other school work because he was leaving shortly for first hour band class at the middle school. As an impending 6th grader, Sports Nut was excited about playing the trumpet in band. When we decided to homeschool, I was excited that Sports Nut could still take band at the local school. It worked out perfectly that band is first hour so he'll be home by 9:45 and then we'll have the rest of the day to ourselves. So he and I sat and talked about the very first book he's ever read cover to cover, The Hunger Games. (Remember the above comment about not judging?? This is a kid who has never wanted to read. Two weeks ago he was given this book and has been reading it. Content aside, I'm elated) Eventually Drawing Diva and Mini Marvel made their way downstairs and we rushed through the calendar and chore chart before Sports Nut ran off to the middle school. We also had a lovely extra child for the morning. A friend's son was starting kindergarten yesterday and moms were expected to stay for the first couple of hours. I had the pleasure of snuggling their 10 month old while they were gone. Of course Drawing Diva and Mini Marvel were excited to have a guest and focused their energy on keeping Baby entertained. By the time Sports Nut was home and Baby returned to her mother, it was almost time for the local homeschool group's Tuesday park day. Unfortunately it was raining here, so the park day was out. During my somewhat obsessive every-five-minute check of Facebook, I noticed that a friend on the west side of the state mentioned the weather near Lake Michigan was beautiful. Feeling giddy, I suggested a field trip to the beach. Sports Nut and Mini Marvel jumped for joy; Drawing Diva burst into tears. What about the worksheets? What about the SCHOOOOOOL???? Enter: compromise. We all sat down to do some worksheets and free writing and accomplish some of the day's chores. When Drawing Diva was satisfied that enough work had transpired, we packed up and headed to Lake Michigan. The afternoon was perfect. The kids had a great time in the sand and waves and sun. It was wonderful to watch them and felt deliciously naughty to be there the day after Labor Day.
We got home late last night,(late for a school night), but on my drive home I realized that was okay. No one had to be at school early the next morning. Another homeschooling friend also pointed out that we hadn't played hooky, Tuesday was just gym day.  So I just reveled in what the day had brought without letting guilt spoil it. Not a bad feeling.

Begin at the beginning

Today marks a monumental first in our family. While all the children of Michigan march back into school buildings this morning, my three offspring will be sitting in our newly Christened school room, expectantly waiting for me to learn them up right. I feel like that's the picture people have when I tell them we've decided to homeschool our kids after 6 years of sending them to public school. In actuality, I'm planning to do more living in the world than schooling at home. Please let it be known that we are not teacher-haters. We know many wonderful teachers who do amazing things with and for their students. Our concern stems from how restricted those teachers are by funding cuts, paperwork, overcrowding, under staffing, and how it was personally affecting our children. Also, when I say we know many wonderful teachers, I must also point out that our children have actually been able to land said amazing teachers roughly 28.5% of their combined school years. But this is not a blog about the trials facing conventional schooling, this is a blog about our first year of learning together, at home and abroad. First days bring excitement and nervousness, and we are feeling that, too. At this point I am planning to take more of an unschooling approach to learning, letting the kids dictate the direction we move in. In order to give them more freedom, we don't have a set curriculum. I do have a few books that we are going to use as guidelines and this turned out to be sound foresight as my first child-led directive was to get them some worksheets to fill out, stat. That is called irony, dear children. Let that be your first lesson.
I call this blog Three Steps Closer to Crazy in honor of my three children. We have two type-A first-borns, Sports Nut and Drawing Diva. They are 5 years apart and of differing genders, thus the anomaly of having two first-borns. By the third child I figured out a way to effectively clone myself; enter Mini Marvel. Mini Marvel is a typical youngest: unapologetically energetic and full of life and mischief. Together with my husband they make my life puzzle complete (and little insane).
So here we go, jumping in with both feet. Except Mini Marvel, she always goes head first.