Long Time, No See

This blog has been dormant for a year.  Upload issues and laziness brought posts to a halt.  Dad has been asking me to get back to it for awhile now.  And since we no longer live in the same town as the grandpas and grandmas we love, I decided I should try to get back at this blogging thing.  So here we go! 

So, much has changed over the past year.  Our family basically started doing crazy things.  Things we said we would never want to do, when asked.  1. We moved to a town that is considered undesirable by many.  2. We started homeschooling.  A year ago I would have said "no thanks" to both of these.  Funny, how God changes your heart and mind sometimes.  I'm still, almost daily, wondering what on earth we have done.  But I know we are doing what we should be doing, both with the move and the schooling.  For this initial "back to blogging" post, I give you a peek into what a homeschool day really looks like.  This post describes a pretty typical day for us. The photos are completely out of sequence.  Dang it!  I tried to upload them in chronological order, but alas, they posted differently.  I will not let my posting frustration stop me from blogging, I will not let my posting frustration stop me from blogging, I will not let....

We do quite a few hands-on activities in science and social studies.  The girls love this, and often want to spend extra time on these things.  Given that, we usually do these subjects last so that they can take as much time on them as they would like.  Today, they were designing their own set of laws (code) on a paper "stele," similar to what Hammurabi did when he ruled Babylonia.

A perk of homeschool is that you can learn around the house.  Often reading, science and social studies take place on the couch, with a cozy blanket.

Same girl, same couch.  Only I took this picture right after she woke up. (Again, sorry for the out of order-ness of this post!  I am annoyed!)  I wake the girls up at 7:00.  Often they get up on their own.  Then I let them lounge around, get dressed, eat breakfast, lounge a bit more, before we get rolling at 8:00.  Since we started homeschooling, I don't recall a morning when either of them was sad or difficult to get out of bed!  Crazy, crazy, crazy!  They are up, happy, compliant, relaxed, and ready to get the day started.  Pure pleasantness.  It. Is. Awesome.

We have tons of storage in this house.  And the previous owner left us a bunch of plastic file boxes in the basement.  It's like God was preparing this house for us to homeschool, because we have a perfect spot and just enough bins for all our books in the kitchen, the center of our homeschool morning!  I get all the boxes out, first thing in the morning.  Then as we finish subjects we put them back in the cupboard.  It's helpful to be able to visibly see our progress each day, as we put boxes away.

More learning on the couch!  The girls do science and social studies together, with some minor modification to make the material suit both of their age/grade levels.  By the time we get to these subjects each day, the students are starting to get a little silly.

After we finish our "school" (around 11:30 a.m.!!!)  The girls usually finish up some household tasks while I make lunch.  Today, it was folding laundry.  I haven't folded a basket of laundry myself in a lllooonnnngggg time.  And they never complain.  Housework has become part of their routine.  Glorious!

Here is what my plans look like.  Not that you care, but anyway.  I thought planning would take a lot of time, but it's not that bad.  Usually I plan for the next week while the girls are doing some of their independent work.  And much of the curriculum is mapped out and predictable, from a planning standpoint.  It's been pretty doable.

Again, on the couch.  Only this time, it's 7:05 a.m.  Bennett just woke up and is using her "lounge time" to read her current school selection, The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Huge book.  She is sucked in.  School before school starts, because she likes it.  How great is that!?

Homeschool does not come without small frustrations.  This one happens regularly.  I have a sweet little girl who spills things all the time.  She regularly spills her glass of water on something during school.  Even if the cup is no where near the school stuff, she will find a way to spill.  It's just the way it is.  Sometimes I stay calm.  Sometimes I blow my top a little.  Today I blew my top a little.

The same little girl is often a hilarious delight during the school day.  She is a little wiggly and needs a change of scenery to focus sometimes.  Her favorite spot for math is in the room behind this pocket door.

A good portion of our morning happens at the kitchen table.  Every morning we cover it with what the girls call "the giant shower cap."  Then we get busy!  I love having a raised view of the backyard as we work.  The natural light and big windows make it seem like we are not so "stuck" doing school.

At 8:00 a.m. I set the kitchen timer for 30 minutes.  Each of us then knocks out some household tasks that need to be done.  I cannot believe that the girls don't complain about this one bit!  It is incredible.  And it helps me to teach them without thinking about all the other things I cannot get finished or stay caught up on.

Here is Ains, working hard behind that pocket door.  It's a great spot for her.  Sometimes she goes up to work in her bedroom too.  It's been cool to see both girls figure out what works best for them.  They decide how to study their spelling words.  They decide what order they want to do their work and where.  I think it's one of the best things about homeschooling...learning to self-regulate.  We are six weeks into this "experiment" and it has been a better experience than I expected.  This post is long, so I'll leave it at that for now.  Hopefully, you'll be seeing more from our crew in the days ahead!