Homeschooling whys for Our Family

I love homeschooling my children.  Some nights like tonight I stay awake and worry though.  But I have a feeling no matter where they are I will worry about them and if I am doing the right thing.
I have so much on my plate right now.  I have 4 wonderful children I homeschool.  A house to clean and care for.  We have 8 pets and 2 fish tanks I care for daily.  And last but not least I have a husband who I have to love and provide some attention for, or our marriage would fall apart. I also have to teach a class to 9 students and take Nina to school weekly.

I have learned since I first fell in love, that love is something you have to work at to keep. It will be 10 years October 14th since I promised to love and cherish my husband and our love is still going. 
My children are the ones on my mind tonight though.  Their schooling takes up a good chunk of my time. 

Princess chose to be traditionally homeschooled this year and we went through a public charter.  The teacher assigned to us is awesome.  She found out we planned to read the Little House on the Prairie series for Lit and she brought in her own books for Princess to use.  We get to pick and choose what we want to do with very little over sight.  Princess and I are loving her new math program, though I think I should have picked a higher grade as most of the work seems like 2nd grade stuff.  She is studying ancient Egypt in History and when we are done with that we will be studying the human body in Science.

Fairy is still using k12 which is a public school at home program and I have very little say in what we do.  But she is enjoying it and I love watching her learn.

Buddy decided this year was the year he wanted to learn to read.  He is picking it up well though we are having to come up with some pretty active ways to learn reading.

Baby Girl wants to do school so bad.  So she will sit in on lessons with the other kids and I print worksheets daily so she can have work to do as well.  I do help her with them and she seems really interested in doing the worksheets correctly this year, though I do not expect it. 

All of that is just for normal learning and done by noon, but as soon as nap is over we are usually looking something up or answering questions, singing the alphabet, signing the alphabet or teaching the kids to cook. 

We are busy and happy, but it is a lot of work to keep on top of everything. I do not think there are enough hours in the day.  I feel almost always behind.  But watching my children learn and grow, which they were not doing in public school, is so much fun. 

This is why when people say I should put my children in public school I say no thank you.  My kids are active, everyday learners.  We learn everywhere we go.  The store, zoo, amusement park, regaular park, even the back yard is a place to pick up more knowledge.  While I could do that with them in public school it was not as fun for us.  Learning has become fun to our family again.

Homeschooling, keeping up with 4 kids, 8 pets and a husband, plus the house is hard work. It is not something everyone wants or should do.  But for those that do want this life all the hard work and love put into it is worth it. 

Busy Busy Week, First Co-op Day

This week has been crazy.  Monday started off well and all the children finished all their work.  Tuesday I realized I had not finished plans for our first Co-op day (I am teaching Early Reading and Math).  So I gave the older 2 girls their work for the day and started printing, cutting, gluing and planning the lesson. 

They did not do any of their work for Tuesday, Wednesday (I was still working in the school room but on Co-op stuff), or Thursday. 

Thursday we had co-op and it went off very well.  My class worked on lapbooks (never, ever doing that again for 9 children) and we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  Here are the two sites I used to print the lapbooks:

http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2010/03/chicka-chicka-boom-boom-lapbook.html

and http://lapbooksbycarisa.homestead.com/CHickaBoomTotBook.html.  Both have lots of fun stuff for younger kids.

I also helped out in water color poetry and drama, then we left to go to Jui Jitsu. 

Princess took Living History, Spanish and Drama.  Fairy took Living History, Lego Building and Apologia Astronomy.  Buddy took Early Math and Reading, and Art History.  Baby Girl attended Art History also.  The other classes the youngest 2 were in the Nursery.  The mom's who taught the classes were great and the kids had so much fun and were still telling me about stuff today.

Today we spent catching up on work and they will have to work some tomorrow to catch up completely.  Hopefully they will get it all done tomorrow.

Crazy Fun Week

Monday we started school like normal.  Everyone but Princess worked hard. 

Tuesday we had a class at CAVA.  Fairy had lots of fun and got to throw water balloons at her teacher because she finished her ScanTron test on time.  She thought that was the coolest thing ever. Since we all went I had Buddy, Baby Girl and Princess sit at some tables and do their work.  Buddy and Baby Girl finished all their assigned work.  Princess dawdled. She did none of her work at all.

After CAVA we attended our homeschool group Not Back to School Party and hung out till bed time.  There was ice cream, cookies, watermelon and water guns.  The kids had a blast.  They all loved hitting the school supply filled piñata also.  They thought it was the coolest thing ever.  I am so glad we got to go.

Today Fairy, Baby Girl, and Buddy got the day off so I could focus on Princess.  So she has been working since we got up with breaks for breakfast and lunch.  She is currently working on spelling words.  My hope is that we get her caught up for what I want done for the week, then she can start fresh tomorrow and have a good day. Oh and we need to go to the library, but that will probably have to happen tomorrow.

Tomorrow we may be heading to Princess' charter school for a back to school party after school, but I am unsure since it is the same day and time as Jui-Jitsu.  If we do it will be fun. 

Friday is going to be a regular school day.  Then we have Jui-Jitsu on Saturday and church on Sunday. 

Last week in Our Homeschool World.

My sister ended up in the hospital, so I took two of the children to her house with me, so Bumble Bee could attend her kindergarten class.  She was there for 3 days and 2 of those days were school days.  It is times like these when I am so thankful I homeschool. 

If we did not do our school at home someone would have missed school or been missing something.  I love my husband but he is not always the best at getting things together and done.

I took Fairy and Buddy with me.  The first day they did all their work and needed more.  So I was pretty happy with the outcome.  My husband was working with Princess and Baby Girl and they did no school work that first day.

On the second day we had orientation with CAVA for Fairy and I took Fairy and Baby Girl with me.  They had a great day.  Again my husband did not do school with Princess or Buddy.  SO the rest of the week they played catch up and did very well. 

Fairy is ahead in her progress and is working really hard.  I am very proud of her.

Princess is not doing to bad either.

And my husband did do one day of school with the girls because I got sick this week, and it was a successful day.

On another note.  Buddy and I are trying out a 34 day trial of Reading Eggs.  He is loving it.  I am so glad he enjoys it.  I am not sure yet if we are going to pay the program after the trial, we will have to see if I see a lot of progress and if we can afford it.  But he is having fun for now.  I know my girls loved the program, but not all kids are the same.

Why I Homeschool

I was asked today if I had ever written what I believe school should be like.  I do not think that there is any one right answer to that question, so I answered with what I want for my children.  Here is what I said.

I want them to learn in a setting that is relaxed and enjoyable. 

A place where even if something is hard and boring it can be done. 

I want them to be challenged.  I think that everyone needs to be challenged to learn and explore new things.  It should not all be memorization. 

I want my children to question the world around them, including religion.  I want them to explore and find out their own beliefs and be able to explain and truly understand why we believe the way we do.  Not just say because the Bible says so. 

I want my children's faith, joy and happiness to be greater and stronger than my own.

I want to raise them so they know they can be, love, do anything they want and be proud of it. Not ashamed and hiding.  While I may not always agree with them, I want them to have the confidence to stand behind who they are and what they believe and want for themselves.

I do not feel that public school can give this to my children so I homeschool. 

Homeschooling has given my children the ability to be themselves and learn at their own pace. My children are truly all over the board.


Basically I want an education that lifts my children up.  Teaches them to be strong individuals, and is tailored to their educational needs.

No school can provide that even with excellent teachers, of which I believe there are many.

This is why I choose to homeschool.  I want the whole world open to my children and we can explore everything.

School today and Hairbows

Fairy finished her SCANTRON test.  I think she did amazing. 

Princess is behind on finishing her work, but we think she may have a kidney infection.  I am about to leave for the ER once the kids get ready. 

Baby Girl worked with Ants and sang The Ants Go Marching One By One. We also read The Jungle Version on If You are Happy and You Know It.

Buddy decided last night to paint his wall with poop, so he has spent his day cleaning said walls.  Maybe one day my boy will decide he wants to use a toilet.  I can only hope.

Now on to hair bows.  If you are looking for cute hair bows then look no further than my friend Stephanie.  Here are her websites: http://www.etsy.com/shop/StephsCraftz?ref=si_shop, https://www.facebook.com/groups/stephsbowtique/ and  <a id="rc-f415530" class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f415530/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>

My 3 girls love their hair bows and bow holders.  Go check her out.

First Official Day Back

CAVA had their first official day back today so Fairy had to do school so we made it the first official day for everyone, though Princess's charter school Mountain Peak does not start back till the 21st.

 Princess on her first official day of 2nd grade.

 Fairy on her first official day of 1st grade.

Baby Girl on her first day of Preschool.

 

Bubby and his first day of 2 year Kindergarten.

Our crazy class.

 

 

Today the kids had a hard time settling in to the school routine, which is to be expected. 

 

We also went to Co-Op registration and they are signed up for all their classes.

 

So all in all today was a good day.