Pause

We've had to put homeschooling on hold for this year and enroll the older girls back into public school. The reasons for this are many and varied. First - we hated the language arts curriculum we were dealing with and it was making my oldest daughter hate homeschooling. Second - we are currently living with another family while my husband finds work and we get a home of our own. Trying to set my family's schedule to fit another family's that is totally different from ours is frustrating, to say the least, and was causing me intense stress. Third - I am unexpectedly pregnant. Add that to the stress of an unemployed husband, living with another family, my asthma meds being too expensive to buy, etc. and I was about to have a nervous breakdown. So after much consideration and prayer, my husband and I decided to place the girls back into public school until he has work and we have a home of our own.

So far, the girls being in public school has reinforced my desire to homeschool. Dealing with the bureaucratic nightmare of Utah public schools is no picnic. Both girls are almost two grades ahead in math, but the school has no advanced math programs. And the schedule sucks, they don't get out of school until almost 4pm. By the time we get home and homework done, it's time for dinner, baths and bed.

On the bright side, Dad has finally found a job! On the downside, it is not enough for us to move out yet. But hopefully it is a sign of better things to come and we will be homeschooling again by next fall at the latest.

Husbands & Homeschooling

Today was a good and bad day.

Good because the girls and I maintained our morning schedule. I’m up at 5 and have an hour to myself. The daughter helping with breakfast is up at 6, the rest of the kids are up at 6:30. We’re done eating and dressed by 7, when we start our chores. Done with chores by 9, then read scriptures for 15 minutes and personal reading for 30 (morning reading is done silently to ourselves). All of this is done before Daddy gets home from work (he currently works 3:30 – 9:30AM).

Then Daddy comes home and usually causes a ruckus – this is why we need to be done before he gets home, because nothing gets done after.

I got very frustrated with him tonight when we were supposed to be doing our family reading time just before bed. I was reading chapter four of Charlotte’s Web and the older girls were listening attentively until Daddy decided to start goofing off… So we didn’t finish the chapter. After the girls were sent to bed, I kind of laid into him about needing to set an example for the children and that reading time is serious as it’s one of the homeschooling activities.

Will see how things go tonight.

Happy Days!

Today was an excellent day in the course of establishing our daily routine! Everyone got up on time, ate quickly, got to work on chores and we were done by 9am! I was so happy with the girls. After the chores were done, we read scriptures for 15 minutes and then whatever we wanted for a half hour.

Tonight, I read chapters two and three of Charlotte’s Web aloud to the family. Rebekah and Rose were attentive, but Rachel was being kind of a pain. Not sure what I can do to get a 2-year-old to be quiet during reading time at night. Will have to work on that. Robin (7 months) kept squealing during reading time, but it was nice to know she felt involved. After I finished, Dad read Mosiah 23 from the Book of Mormon aloud to the family. Then it was time for family prayer and bed.

If we are able to follow the morning and bedtime routine everyday this week, then I will add journals (for penmanship) to the routine next week.

Progress Is Being Made

Yay! The girls got all their chores done in two hours today! Happy days! Thus we were able to go to the library. Our library is being renovated, so harder to find things right now. But the girls were able to find books for their personal reading in the morning and I got a copy of Charlotte’s Web to read aloud as a family at night. I read it to Rebekah when she was a baby, but have not read it to any of the others. And of course, my husband has never read it. The girls got me to promise that any books we read that have movies made; we will have a family movie night and watch it when we get done with the book.

I’m at a loss for what to do about a curriculum. We got very lucky and were able to get the Saxon math programs we needed for dirt cheap from other homeschoolers that were done with them. But I haven’t had any luck with anything else. I’ve found several curriculums that I would love to try, but they’re too expensive, especially with my husband not having a full-time job yet (wonderful economy). For now, I think the best course is to use the internet to provide science lessons and experiments for us to all do together, work with the Saxon math, and then read various books from the library on other topics. Some of the books I’ll have the girls do oral reports on to the family and others write reports. Our local library has kits that have lots of picture books on a particular subject. I think we might get one of those each week this summer and check out some harder books for Rebekah on the same subject. For penmanship, I am thinking of journal and creative writing. The creative writing, I’d fill a jar with various ideas or themes. Have the girls draw one and them give them a specific amount of time to write on the subject.

Day Two

Today was a heck of a day on the homeschooling front.

First, we over slept (I’m supposed to get up at 5, the daughter helping w/ breakfast at 6, and everyone else at 6:30). We finally rolled out of bed closer to 9am. I blame it on the activities yesterday. We were wiped.

So we finally got out of bed and had a late breakfast of pancakes and bacon, followed by 45 minutes of reading to ourselves. Fifteen minutes are dedicated to personal scripture study and the remaining half hour is the person’s choice. I read some more of Guide to Homeschooling and Atlas Shrugged, Rebekah worked on a Charlie Bone mystery and Rose read several picture books from the library. Rachel took turns in everyone's lap, having them read some of their book out loud to her. It was a nice, relaxing time.

Then we got started on our house cleaning routine. We got a lot further than yesterday and would have finished but had to stop to get ready for Rebekah & Rose’s ballet recital dress rehearsal. So at 3:30pm, we stopped working and the girls got costumes and make-up on. Rachel & Robin stayed at home with daddy while I took Rebekah & Rose to rehearsal. We were there for almost four hours! I was so glad when it was finally over. But by the time we got home, ate something and got the girls to bed, it was 10pm. So I suspect we’ll have another slow day tomorrow that will also end early for their recital. Thankfully, ballet is all over for the summer and we can get down to business after that.

One of Dad’s uncles wrote me an e-mail today and suggested a book for learning how to teach. It’s a great resource and I’m so glad he reminded me of it. Teaching, No Greater Call is a book published by the LDS church primarily for Sunday school teachers, but it has principles that are true for the teaching of all subjects. It’s available in its entirety online for free and a wonderful resource I recommend to all.