Homeschoolers Knew it all Along!

I saw this article today on Facebook and really enjoyed it.  While I often think that people are making a huge stretch to constantly think that what works in a small Scandinavian country will work in a big and diverse one, I did agree with this teacher.  Breaks are really good for both parent and child and moving children to learning independence is vital in their journey to adulthood.  As a homeschool mom none of this is new to me.  Teaching and learning are a marathon not a sprint and working against children and not with them will never help them master anything and causes frustration for both parent and child.

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2013/11/26/ctq_walker.html?tkn=UZNF8EtKeWip7I2g5o6YlJQGE7BFNCYJMV8m&cmp=ENL-TU-NEWS1

Clean Up Days

I always take Thanksgiving week off!  I need a couple of catch up days going into the holiday season so I take the days before Thanksgiving and do some deep cleaning.  It seems to be an almost given that home schooling homes are not messy per se, but definitely not immaculate.  I think this was the hardest thing for me as I started home schooling.  When my oldest children were in school, I would send them off to school on Monday morning and clean all day.  Then I would sit down with a cold drink, some handwork and a TV show before they got home just to enjoy the clean house.  I have to say I really miss that!  The boys and I keep the house functioning, but the mess builds up as deep cleaning goes undone.  So today, I started in Joshua's room, he's the youngest and 11 and a pack rat!  Are you getting a picture?  I probably should have taken a picture.  I have company coming for Thanksgiving and some of their children are sleeping in there so we had to deep clean.  AAGGGHH!  Joshua and I spent 6 hours in there cleaning and dusting and getting rid of some of the accumulated trash - I mean treasures!  We took a big black trash bag full out of his room and it looks amazing now.  It won't last long though as his imagination starts to work to fill the space we just created, but it sure feels good today to have his room REALLY clean for a couple of hours.  Maybe, I should go in there with a cold drink, some handwork and a movie! :)

Change is Hard

I have been home schooling for 12 years.  Things change every year and you would think that I would be used to that by now.  That small changes wouldn't throw me for a loop anymore.  Yesterday Joshua, my youngest, looked over at the table where Matthew (#3) used to work and wanted to know if he could move over there.  Matthew has been working in the dining room for over a year now because it is quieter down there and he can spread out.  So yesterday, Joshua moved to the other table and is no longer sitting beside me everyday for school.  He has sat beside me everyday for that last 7 years!  It is such a little thing so why have I been near to tears for two days.  Because he is growing up!  Because I only have one more year with Matthew and he too will be off to college.  Where have all the years gone?  When I had four children under 12 and was learning to homeschool, I thought this day would never come and if it did I would have a party.  Now, as my children grow up and continue their lives mostly outside of my home I find myself teary instead of happy, melancholy instead of exhilarated.  These last 12 years have been such a gift from a loving Father that I have not the words to thank Him.  I thought I was doing this great service for my children when in fact it has been so much joy for me.  I know they must grow up.  It is the way of things, but I am grateful for endless days together.  I am grateful for meals and books shared for loving memories and all the blessings that have filled my home all because I chose to bring my children home and to enjoy them to the very fullest every single day.

Park Day

Yesterday was park day!  It was so nice to get out in the sunshine and forget for an hour.  Forget about the messy house (after five days of school the house looks like a tornado blew through -oh my!), the grading still to be done and the million other things on my very long list.  It was nice to visit with amazing women who also have a messy house, but who love their kids and are doing their best.  I love watching kids playing and running around and organizing games amongst themselves.  I have been home schooling for 12 years and my youngest is the only one who regularly goes to park day anymore.  I am by far the oldest mom there and yet even when I go thinking that I will try to be a support and a help to the other mothers I find myself getting back in the car with a smile on my face.  I've laughed and talked and been lifted and I just feel better.  So here is a plea to all home school moms everywhere.  Get out and join with other like minded moms.  They need you and you need them.  Park days are wonderful and today I am grateful for the amazing women I am privileged to know!

A Glimpse into our World

So it is cold here in beautiful NC!  OK everyone who lives in cold climates it is cold for the South :)  It was 30 degrees when we woke up this morning and my husband turns the heat way down at night so when the boys started their school day today they piled up in front of the heat vents with blankets.  Please note that they are both still wearing shorts.  Somehow, I have not gotten the message across that when it is cold you actually need warm clothes!  They are actually moving, but slowly today.  Is it possible that when you live in the South you turn into part reptile?

Monday Mornings

Does anyone else have a hard time getting started on Monday mornings?  I have tried every system known and nothing seems to stem the Monday morning crazies.  We have tried planning the week on Friday so we have time to get to the library.  We have tried and been mostly successful with planning the week on Sunday, but there still seems to be residual weekend stuff spilling into Monday mornings.  And then there are the Sundays that are too busy to plan school for the next week and we have to do it on Monday morning.  Aaaaggghhh!  This is one of those weeks and I feel like a loony person.  Somehow when I start the week behind, I never feel on top of things.  Thank heavens the weather is nice and the trees are full of color here in beautiful NC.  Maybe that is why God made the seasons, so that when we are dying on a Monday morning in the fall we can look out the window and the beauty just takes our breath away.  Then when we feel like we can't be cooped up with kids another week spring comes and everyone heads outside without coats and a miracle happens.  Maybe, we'll go out and play in the leaves and watch for a miracle!! :)

Mentoring

A woman at church called me today with that desperate sound in her voice.  Could I come over today and help her figure some things out that weren't working with her homeschool?  In twelve years of homeschooling I can't tell you how many times I have done this.  I must admit though I always leave feeling like I haven't really been much help.  Oh, I go over curriculum and offer suggestions and encourage them that some of that stuff can be dropped out and yes it is ok to skip this or that and it is ok to be at different levels in different subjects.  But in the end there simply is no substitute for prayer and time.  How do you tell a struggling mom to drop to her knees and plead with the Lord for guidance?  It just doesn't feel immediate enough.  How do you tell her that it takes time to overcome your own preconceived notions of what school looks like?  Note that I didn't say education.  How do you tell someone that is just starting out that in twelve years you too will see things so differently than you do today?  It is constantly intriguing to me that God created us in such a way that I cannot put what is in my mind and heart into someone else's mind and heart.  They must learn for themselves.  So tonight for me mentoring is not about a transference of knowledge, but about  lifting the hands that hang down and strengthening the feeble knees.  And I am happy to tell other moms that things get better, you get better at judging what is really important and what can be let go, you get better at understanding your children, you get better at listening to the Lord and following His guidance, you get better at making learning a lifestyle and not a curriculum choice.  So tonight as I head to bed I will remember her in my prayers and hope that the Lord through His grace strengthens her as He does for me.

Validation

I came across this article today on my Facebook and I loved it!  I loved it so much I bought the book!!  Sometimes I feel like a lone voice crying that we need to be tougher and raise expectations for our children.  They can do better than what most of them are doing.  As I read this article I remembered the day when my oldest son was in his freshman year of college.  He called home to fuss at me a little :)  He had written a paper, I don't even remember for what class, but he said he didn't do a good job on the paper and I would have given him maybe a "C" and made him re-do it.  The teacher in his college class gave him an "A" on the paper.  He said it wasn't fair that home school was harder than college.  I gently reminded him that I am his mother and I know full well what he is capable of doing and I expected him to do his best, and besides wasn't he happy that he could write "A" papers in college!  He grudgingly admitted that he was happy he knew how to write, but still!!!  Why, oh why, do we think that our children are so weak that they can't be held to high standards?  If Mary and Laura Ingalls could stay alone for a full day at 9 and 7 and even manage and out of control cow, then why can't our children work hard and be exceptional.  They are really no different from children 100 years ago except that back then kids were held to high standards and today we just keep lowering the bar afraid that we are going to hurt their fragile egos.  Well, here stands one lone real life home school mama who is holding the bar high and expecting great things from her very real life every day kids!!!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304213904579095303368899132.html

Homeschooling in Crisis - Lessons Learned

I have been absent of late.  As a family we have faced a new crisis.  On August 1st my husband was told that the company buying his company was not going to keep the Biostatistics department and that his last day would be August 3rd.  So all my plans of homeschooling through the summer have fallen by the way as we emptied Jeff's office and he came home to look for a new job.  I have heard people talk about homeschooling through a crisis, but minus having a baby I have never really done it.  Now I have!  Some people say to keep homeschooling some say to just stop until the crisis passes.  I'm not sure I have a specific choice, but I have definitely learned a few lessons along the way.

First, we did keep at least putzing away at schooling.  We had no idea how long Jeff would be out of work so the thought of stopping all school was a little too scary especially with a high schooler.  Putzing for us usually means math, reading and some writing, but everything else drops out until things get back to normal.  I did lose all my summer plans which was ok.

Second, I can't share office/work space with my husband.  I have been married to this man for 25 years and we have shared everything, but he and I cannot work in the same space!  He seems to know this instinctively.  He has never wanted to work from home and on the rare days that he does he is miserable.  He just gets more done at work.  I, on the other hand, being a mom and having very little control over my life am more flexible and go with the flow of events.  You know if you homeschool how this is.  Mom's who homeschool recognize that even the best laid plans can be blown apart in the  matter of minutes with a sick child or broken appliances or whatever else decides to blow up today.  My sweet husband does not know how to "go with the flow"!!!

Third, I learned that even in trial the Lord holds us in the palm of His hand.  Jeff ended up with three job offers in less than a month.  One of the recruiters he worked with told him that this is unheard of - if you are lucky you get 1 job offer in the first six weeks of unemployment.  We were able to stay in North Carolina and Jeff has the same commute as before with almost the same salary.  Jeff was unemployed for five weeks and we had to pull very little money out of savings.  We feel very blessed and know that it is the Lord who is blessing us.

Fourth, things eventually get back to normal.  We are back to normal school days, except of course that both boys have colds and my 97yo grandmother is dying so I am making multiple trips to see her.  OK - maybe there is no such thing as normal! :)  But learning continues anyway even when things are less than ideal.  I am so grateful to be able to homeschool my children.  I am grateful that they see that life isn't perfect and doesn't revolve around them.  I am grateful to watch them pick up the ball and work where needed and comfort where needed and then on their own study and work even when things aren't ideal.  They are amazing people and I am so grateful to be their mother and to spend so much time with them.  Even on my most tired days there is no other way I would have it!

My Annual Planning

So today starts the beginning of my annual planning marathon, and, of course, I am writing about it instead of doing it.  My 16yo son is away at church camp and my 10yo is ensconced in his room with an audiobook and Legos.  In my twelve years of home schooling I have usually followed an annual plan with what I call structured flexibility.  Meaning I make a plan and then am flexible when things go awry as they are apt to do or when we need to slow down for mastery.  I also do not go crazy when I have to tweak the plan for the above reasons.  I have also had years when I didn't make a plan for whatever reason and those always end up being bad years.  I love the first chapter of Genesis because the first thing God teaches us is that there really needs to be a plan.  He created the earth from a plan and took chaos and organized it into a world.  So to with us.  We need to make a plan and take chaos and organize it.  I know many people aren't good at organizing, but when it comes to educating children working with a plan is always better than not working with a plan- at least for me!  Pictures of my chaos to follow - just so you see what real life looks like at my house!

Common Core vs Classical Literature

So Dwane at Visual Latin posted this on his Facebook the other day.  I have spent a good amount of time (in between driving to swim practice) these last couple of weeks reading about Common Core.  And yes, this is going to affect homeschoolers very soon so if you are thinking this has nothing to do with you think again.  As I have been reading, I am so saddened by the deletion of classic literature from the curriculum.  In high school, the reading is 70% non-fiction to 30% fiction.  Some of the recommended readings are EPA reports and White House Executive Orders.  Forget Dick and Jane killing an entire generation of readers.  This will kill all the rest!!  I know I am old fashioned, but some days I long for the time before technology when real entertainment was family reading after the chores were done, and when teachers took time everyday to read aloud to students of all ages a really good story!  Thank heavens for homeschooling where the teacher can still read aloud everyday those very good stories.


http://www.earlytorise.com/where-the-real-secrets-are-found/#

Why I homeschool year around!

It sounds dumb, but I am feeling very defensive this summer.  People keep asking why I homeschool year around and they keep telling me we should all take a break so I am writing out my reasons for schooling year around mostly for myself, but also for anyone else who feels they have to defend why learning should be a daily affair all year long.  My first reason for schooling year around is that I love to travel and so do my kids and we love to travel in spring and fall so while other kids are sitting in classroom wishing they could be out in the spring sunshine we are out in the sunshine.  This past year we were able to go to Denmark to pick up my oldest son as he was finishing his mission for our church.  This was a guilt free trip since I had schooled almost all summer.  My second reason is that we live in the south!!!  Summer is our winter and my red-headed lily white kids don't like to be out in the heat, and sun, and bugs.  So instead of having them sit in the house in the air conditioning doing absolutely nothing, I do school with them at least part-time.  Another reason is that I like to shift gears in the summer.  This summer I am doing a fine arts summer with the boys.  Matthew still needs one fine arts credit for high school so I bought Christine Perrin's Art of Poetry, and Carol Reynold's Discovering Music and we are spending a good chunk of our school time doing these two programs.  BTW, I love the Art of Poetry.  Poetry is hard for me, but Christine does a great job of breaking down the elements of poetry and giving poems with examples underlined so you can start to make the connections.  Joshua is finishing his Artist pin for Webelos and doing a lot of sculpting. I never seem to get around to fine arts during the year, but summer is a perfect time to slow down and do some different kinds of things.  I also like to continue math all summer even if I shift gears and do different kinds of math and lots of review.  By doing math year around good students can test out of the first third of a math course that is review for students who have lost months of math skills over the summer.  My oldest daughter got a whole extra year of math in doing this.  On the other hand, children who are struggling get some extra time to master concepts and facts that they need a little extra time to master.  So for everyone who loves to take a break in the summer - take a break and enjoy and for those of us who hate the heat and want learning to continue let's keep at it and look forward to fall travel, cooler weather, and a summer of learning.

PS - I saw this today (6/28/2013) by Christine Field and it is really good.

http://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/hla/viewOnlineEmail.jsp?emailId=3ef2fff669fb7c63e302a901e9b434913m65586623ef

Homeschooling High School

I have been working on finishing this post for two weeks now and today is the day!  We are in the middle of summer swim season here in beautiful NC and that means we are swimming or at swim meets or trying to keep our house clean between all the swimming for what feels like every minute of the day.  Every year I think I can get it all done and catch up on some chores in June, but mostly I end up hanging on for dear life and getting further behind!  So here is the post on high school.

I recently spoke at the LDSHE Conference on high school recording keeping and I was reminded how very scary it is to home school high school.  I remember well the day when my now 22yo son was finishing 8th grade and told me he didn't want to go back to school.  I was overwhelmed and scared and I had no idea if I could teach him at a high school level.  I was shaking in my boots and really that feeling didn't go away until he was accepted to college.  Fast forward eight years.  I have now been homeschooling high school for 8 of my 12 years of homeschooling and although I don't know if I am any better at it I do know I am much more relaxed.  I know homeschooled kids can get into college and I know how to keep records to show what we have been doing all this time and I know that different kids home school high school differently and that's ok.  I also know that our Heavenly Father helps us all along the way.  I have been blessed to interact with some wonderful people in my journey of homeschooling high school and Heavenly Father has given me help in the very hour that I needed it.  My children have had wonderful people who have been willing to tutor them, teach them and share their knowledge with them.  It has been a wonderful blessing to watch my children grow up and become amazing adults.  So for those wonderful ladies who were in my class and anyone else who is overwhelmed with the thought of high school here are some of my favorite resources in no particular order:

A Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer (also any of her CD's - Susan has some great talks on independent learning, high school and record keeping).  Now lest you freak out, I do not do everything in WTM, but she lays out how to do a high school education that is thorough and rigorous so you can get a good idea of what needs to happen in those four years from her book.  I especially love her literature and history reading lists.  She has a fabulous resource section in the back and she covers testing and gives you lots of websites for further research.  I also love A Well Educated Mind also by Susan that helps with the literature study.

Teaching the Classics by Adam Andrews (this is a teach the teacher program for literature - we are more math/science at our house, but Adam and Missy make it pretty straightforward and yes you really only need a library card and their program although we bought all the books our kids read so they could start their own classics library).

Tapestry of Grace by Marcia Somerville (this is a great classical program with lots of teacher helps covering history, lit, geography, government, fine arts and philosophy - I don't use everything here, but the program is great).

My math preference is Jacob's Algebra and Geometry.  I have ruined one child with Saxon math the next did just fine with it, but when my third was struggling with Saxon we gave it up in favor of Jacob's and things are going better, but we are still tweeking here.

I have only used Apologia for high school science so I have nothing to compare it to, but my daughter who took 5 Apologia science courses is a junior in college majoring in physics and she has no complaint about her high school science education.

For government studies we loved the 5000 Year Leap and the Making of America both by Cleon Skousen.  I also used A Patriot's History by Larry Schweikart.


Here are some elective things my kids have really enjoyed:

The Uncle Eric books by Richard Mayberry
Personal Finance by Dave Ramsey
Secrets of Great Communicators by Jeff Myers

I have farmed out foreign language for all three of my high schoolers.  I speak a small amount of German, but not enough to teach high school and I found the CD programs to be pretty worthless even though they were expensive.  Tutors are very expensive, but it is the best way to actually learn a language and have someone who is able to explain the intricacies of the grammar of another language and speak to the child and help them correct mistakes as they are learning.

I also have a wonderful art teacher here that I really love.  She is super cheap and amazing - did I mention that Heavenly Father gives us blessings! :)

One of my favorite finds was Lukeion.  They are a husband/wife team that teach ancient history, ancient lit,  Latin and Greek.  My oldest was a total history buff and he quickly out paced me so I had to supplement him somehow and that is when we found Lukeion.  The Barr's are amazing and William loved them.  They are both retired college professors who are homeschooling their own children.  They do online classes that are interactive.  They meet at the same time each week and you have to be "in" class at that time.  Their classes are very well done.  I highly recommend them.  Did I mention that Heavenly Father blesses us in the very hour of our need?  I have used their College Research Writing class for all my high schoolers even the ones who didn't like history.

I hope this helps all you wonderful moms out there who are struggling with the idea of home schooling high school.   I hope it also helps to know that a very ordinary mom with no particular training just a strong love of the Lord and of her children has been able to home school two children all the way to college and has one more only two years away.  May God bless you in your labors!

Family Work

So last time I wrote an article on the perfect house, but I skipped the process of how to keep up with the things that have to be done.  So today I am writing about family work which is the process that has worked for us for years.  Now I have to go back a little and tell you that I have tried every chore chart and system in the book, and none of it worked.  I made cute charts and Excel charts and had stickers and check marks and rewards, and none of it worked.  In fact, some of it made things worse.  Not only did I have to keep up with all the chores, but I also had to keep up with who was doing their chores and who was not and then I had to discipline the ones who weren't doing their chores.  Then I read an article on Family Work - here is the link http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=151.  This changed my life!  Now that sounds dramatic, but it really revolutionized how I did things in my home and made my life and my home run so much smoother.  This is how it works.  If I am working my children are working.  I call it family work, they call it "boss around" which I have taken in stride and embraced my inner oldest child who is bossy anyway :)  So we tackle each room as a family.  When dinner is over, everyone gets up and starts to work.  Someone clears the table and another puts food away.  I usually load the dishwasher because I have this freakish ability to pack things in very efficiently.  Someone else washes counters and someone else sweeps and in ten minutes the dishes are done.  We have continued the dinner conversation or talked about a book or sang songs through the whole thing and no one is fighting or complaining.  The work is done efficiently and I don't have to keep up with who did their chores and who didn't.  We do all the other common rooms basically the same way and the children are responsible for their own rooms.  Twice a year or so I go into their rooms for a "mommy clean" which they have to help with and which they hate, but it gets the drawers and closets cleaned and they are good for another six months.  Bigger chores get handled the same way whether it is the yard, cleaning the garage or spring cleaning the deck.  All the work gets done and I don't resent the fact that the kids are laying around while I am working.  The greatest benefit has been that the children realize that they are an integral part of our home and we couldn't homeschool without all their work.  They love home schooling so on the occasions when they get cranky I remind them that I am not super mom and if they want to home school they have to help.  Another benefit is that my big kids have gone off to college fully capable of taking care of themselves.  I don't like housework any more than anyone else, but I have learned to truly love the time I spend working beside my children for the good of the whole family.

The Perfect House

Housekeeping is always an issue when you homeschool.  I have seen this going around the internet and it made me smile so I thought I would put some thoughts down about the more mundane but essential part of life - keeping the house clean and functioning.  http://thestressedmom.com/2012/03/10-habits-for-a-well-run-home/  Now, lest anyone accuse me of being a messy homemaker I want to nip that in the bud.  I love a clean house and I mean love it, but one of the obvious negatives to having all your children home all day is that it is almost impossible to keep your house completely clean for longer than 10 minutes.  The thing I learned about myself a very long time ago was that I could be a good mom or have a clean house, but I couldn’t do both.  If the house was clean I was constantly yelling at my kids to not make a mess and I didn't want them to get stuff out (this was all before I started homeschooling).  One day I had an epiphany and I made a conscious choice that I would rather be a good mom than have a perfectly clean house.  And yes I have read the Fly Lady and many many more in my quest for a clean house.  After fighting this fight for 22 years now I have learned a few things about myself, about the process and about the value of a clean home and the relationships involved therein.  First, I learned I didn't like myself when I was yelling at my kids to keep things neat.  I also learned that I need quite a bit of sleep to be a sane person so staying up until 1am cleaning house was simply not an option.  So something had to give and the answer for me was the house.  It doesn't have feelings and really my family didn't care as much as I did.  So on the far side of 22 years of parenting and 12 years of homeschooling I am here to say that a perfect house doesn't matter.  Yes, we all need systems to keep food on the table, dishes clean, clothes on our children and the dog hair vacuumed off the floor.  However, I don't think that a perfect house is worth contention and hurt feelings nor keeping children from feeling that we actually like having them in our homes.  Now I am sure there are many people who can do both, but I don’t happen to be one of them.  Second, I learned how little children especially care about the house.  I also learned that family work is the key to keeping the house running.  I am going to write a separate post about this one.  I learned that good relationships are built when you work with children and not against them.  I love that my big kids love to come home and what they want is yummy food not a pristine house. They also want back rubs and to sit on my bed at night and talk about what we are reading or doing.  I am so glad that I let the clean house go and spent the time with my children talking, reading, eating, working and cuddling not worrying about a perfect house!

This is a marathon not a sprint

My sister, who is starting to homeschool her oldest son (4yo), texted me this morning saying, "Public school is looking pretty good day!"  So this post is for her!  This is an idea that has been rattling around in my brain for quite some time.  There are lots of reasons that people home school and often it is a stop gap measure until they settle down in a permanent situation.  Some of us, however, take up homeschooling as a lifestyle choice and for us it is a marathon not a sprint.  Now lest you think I am a runner, let me stop you right now.  My sister-in-law runs marathons and my sister half marathons and other crazy races like the Ragnar; I am the un-athletic one in my family.  I do, however, understand the principles of pace.  When you choose to homeschool full-time, it is all about pacing yourself.  Over the twelve years I have been homeschooling, I have watched a lot of super moms give up and put their children back in school because they were running a sprint.  They went total gang busters out of the gate and made all these super lessons and spent hours and hours planning lessons and making cute cut outs and planning huge things.  I learned really quickly that if I was going to homeschool long term that stuff wasn't going to work for me.  So after a few times of falling on my face I settled into a pattern that works for us.  We simply make learning a part of everyday life.  We turn off the television and the electronic junk and we learn.  Some days are these wonderful aberrations of the perfect day and the next day as we struggle through I wonder what on earth I did different today than yesterday.  The answer is absolutely nothing!!  We are flawed and imperfect human beings and so are our children so why should we think that education should be perfect every day.  So what I have learned with two children graduated out is that it simply doesn't matter.  Good days come and so do bad days and in the end these beautiful children that we sacrifice to love and nurture and teach turn out to be just great.  We are doing God's work and His hand is in it even when it doesn't look pretty and in the end He took my meager abilities and mixed it with lots of family love and helped my children be amazing.  So my message to my sweet sister and all of you who feel like public school is looking pretty good is simply to hang on.  The harvest is great even when the larborers are few and exhausted!

My thoughts on testing

It is April here in North Carolina and that means annual testing at my house.  In NC all home schooled children are required to test every year using nationally standardized tests.  I personally hate achievement tests.  I hated them growing up when we were all required to sit at our desks and listen to the teacher drone on for the umpteenth time - "Fill in the bubble make your mark heavy and dark and if you want to change an answer erase your mark completely."  Where did all this come from??  Achievement tests to me are about the stupidest thing we do to children.  This is no measure of the knowledge of any child I know and only frustrates and humiliates children who do not test well or cannot communicate what they know in little round bubbles that must be colored in heavy and dark.  My high schooler's test is full of political correctness and some time I want someone to tell me what in the world that has to do with intelligence, reasoning, or the ability to communicate.  We do these tests every year because we are required to by law and I am also trying to teach my children about being good citizens and obeying the law, but I ignore the results of these tests completely.  I know full well what my children can and can't do because I am with them every day.  I know that children develop at different rates and not on a linear scale.  I also know that my ten year old has math days and non-math days.  There are days he gets up in the morning and for whatever funky reason he can't do math.  When these non-math days happen we simply read math books, biographies of mathematicians or play games, and then return to the math book the next day and he is fine and goes gang busters.  But if he tests on a non-math day people would think he is innumerate which he is not.   I know testing is not going away anytime soon so my April's will continue to contain this silliness, but I am so grateful that we live in a free land where we can homeschool our children and minimize the damage these tests can cause.

PS- I found this article today (April 20, 2013) and thought I would add it here.  Great article!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/17/eighth-grader-designs-standardized-test-that-slams-standardized-tests/
 

Thomas Jefferson's Great Example

“To read Latin and Greek authors in their original, is a sublime luxury. I thank on my knees him who directed my early education for having put into my possession this rich source of delight; and I would not exchange it for anything which I could then have acquired, and have not since acquired.”– Thomas Jefferson

Dwane at Visual Latin posted this today on his Facebook and I love it!!!  I also love this quote from the book The Real Thomas Jefferson, "Young Tom was five when schooling began in Goochland.  He later recalled sneaking impatiently out of a classroom that first year and kneeling behind the building to repeat the Lord's Prayer, hoping thereby to hasten the hour of dismissal.”  Tom stayed in Goochland when his family moved, under the care of an Anglican minister who was his tutor and in 5 years he could read Latin, Greek and French and he later added Spanish, Italian and Anglo-Saxon.  (Real Thomas Jefferson pp. 14-15)  Thomas Jefferson didn’t always love school, but he had a wonderful tutor who required him to keep at it and it blessed his entire life.

I hear so many homeschoolers who think that children should never be unhappy or dislike their schoolwork, or that they should guide their own studies.  It is difficult to push children through learning curves when they are learning new things or to require things of them that we as their parents we know they need, but it is always worth the effort.  And children who were unhappy at being required to finish a math or Latin lesson or practice scales one more time are forever grateful to a mother or mentor who required them to stretch beyond what was fun and pleasing at the moment to the great luxury of a strong mind or a skill well learned.

One of the things I love about my kids getting older is the words of gratitude for making them do the hard things.  It is truly an amazing feeling to have an adult child send a college paper home to mom and see remarks from the professor about how good a writer they are and I smile at the thought of this same reluctant writer as a child telling me they would not write no matter what.  The time spent lovingly coaching a child through the difficult moments of learning is worth more than anything else I could have done with my life.

 

 

 

Snow Days

I love snow days.  OK so it didn't actually snow in NC yesterday, but sleet and freezing rain will shut everything down for a while.  So yesterday I cleaned everything and did laundry in case we lost power and then I had time today to have a nutter in my school room.  One of the hard things about homeschooling is that it is messy.  I'm not just talking about science experiments and art projects.  When you teach children, you aren't cleaning your house so things get messy.  So today I had a nutter!  I don't get to do this very often, but the school room was seriously making me crazy so I took down boxes and books and dusted and cleaned out.  I got rid of pens that don't write, highlighters out of ink and sharpened every pencil.   I cleaned out papers and books - it is a funny thing as children grow up and children leave home and all of sudden you don't need this or that curriculum or book.  Home school moms really do work themselves out of a job, but with eight years still to go and a house full of broken pencils I am grateful for an occasional snow day to have a nutter and Monday I am back to math, history and read aloud.  I love homeschooling even with the mess and I love snow days!