Well, if we are going to be friends then you must know everything about me (or at least the parts I want you to). One part that is awful hard to hide is the fact that we are a homeschooling family. It just is the way our family operates now. We have homeschooled since the get go and haven't looked back.
It is the most rewarding and yet tiring thing we have ever done. Right now at this juncture in our life we are trying to figure out how to do middle and high school. It is a challenge when the subject matter is more involved and time consuming. I know that we should give my high schooler the responsibility of his own education, but he hasn't shown that maturity that needs to be there to carry it out. I'm hoping that in the next few months (not years) he shows that maturity and desire. But until then….
I'm totally enjoying learning with my kids. I sometimes have to stop and think, am I doing this for them or me? I'm learning so much. I'm constantly reminded how truly enjoyable learning can be. I just hope that I can share that with my children.
Right now our major course of learning (we do unit studies) is a general science study and poetry. I'm having fun relearning my love of poetry and really understanding science for the first time. I don't know how I missed all this great stuff!
My oldest is in math that I just give assignments and correct. Hopefully he understands it and when he doesn't dear old math genius Steve gets to step in and help out. My second child is still at a place in his math, where if I read the text I can help him out, but he is slowly getting to a place where I'm going to have to turn it over to dear old dad. I can handle the rest of the children--after all I'm retaking 4th grade math now for the third time. I hope by the sixth time through I get to pass it. ~big smile~
Writing is where we fall down. As much as I love to write, my kids just don't have that love. Even my husband keeps a blog and writes a ton of game reviews for his business, but my kids just don't have that love. Somehow I have to get them to write--hence the poetry unit. I have a sinking feeling that come due date, no one will have their poetry notebook in a state of readiness and I will either give in or throw a fit. And when you don't write, spelling is awful! My oldest has worse spelling than I do, but it is his own fault. He refuses to learn. The rest of them are pretty good. We also have a problem with a few of the kids handwriting. But I'm learning how to fix that problem and so are they.
Science and history are our very strong passions. I am more for the history part but I force myself to do at least two science units a year, and am growing to love it. Right now you could say I have a strong like for science.
We love history so much that when we studied Lewis and Clark we took a almost 4 week vacation and drove back to St. Louis and follow their trail (as best we could) back to Washington. Talk about a trip of a lifetime! You can read about it here . Just click on the icon in the middle of the page "Coup of Disharmony" or you can start it here.
One of our favorite subject is reading. We are a reading family. When I get around to it, I'm going to add book reviews to this blog. We need to find a new book to read as a family, but I kind of let January be a month off from a family book, mostly because of a ski trip and because I lost my voice for about two weeks. I had enough of a voice that I could teach the unit lessons and then I had to stop. It is coming back and I can almost sing again. I've got to find a new book to read as a family and although my bookshelves are full of great books, I just don't know what to read. I'll have to ponder on that this week.
Now if you really want to know about our homeschooling, check our website out. Somewhere in that large website you will find out all about us. But if you don't have time or don't really care, just remember this one thing--I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING and so do my kids! (sorry but I no longer support the website)
Doreen