homeschool - 1st semester

So at the end of the kids' school year in 2016, I started seriously considering homeschooling for 2016-17 school year.  I thought it was a perfect time to try it out.   I decided since it was our last year in Tennessee and they would be leaving friends and TN school anyway, we could just do homeschool and have a year of "just us" before we moved to next to extended family.  Also, I had dreamy thoughts of slow mornings, nature hikes and lots of family reading.  I was sick of my kids being gone so much and I didn't like that I only got scraps of time with them, I had to nag them to do pointless stuff for school that wasn't teaching them anything.  I started diving in to reading and listening to everything I could get my hands on about something call TJed.  (Thomas Jefferson Education)  In a nutshell, it's all about being a lifelong learner and being self-motivated to learn because you WANT to.  A big thing is the "inspire not require" motif and the "you not them" idea (be learner yourself and they'll follow your example).  I got so excited about it and over the summer I researched and made lots of plans.  I remember not sleeping very well the nights leading up to the first day of school because of the excitement and anxiety of the unknown.

Well, there were those dreamy things I mentioned and there were also really, really hard days.  I learned so much though and I know it would be easier the following years if we continued.  So what I learned is the more hyper I was about an idea or a schedule, the easier I fell apart when my expectations were not met.   If I put a lot of time, thought and effort into something - the worse it went for me.  Seriously!  Because I would build up in my mind how it should go and it never goes that way.  I had to learn to chill out and let my kids lead a bit more.   And I remember feeling a lot of guilt.  Every night going to bed feeling like we didn't do enough.  That was hard.

So the first semester was harder than the second because of my expectations.  I had a schedule written out that seemed perfectly doable and I don't think we did it once.  I wrote this in my journal a couple weeks in:  "I feel lost all day.  Like 'oh, let's do family reading - oh wait Luke needs to finish his job first - what should I do with Lucy for 10 minutes? - oh shoot Freddy needs to be changed again - yes, I can open that for you - oh you want to paint? ok - i think I'll just clean the kitchen really quick and then we'll do math.... "  yep, that is a good snippet of the crazy whirlwind of the daily thoughts in my head.  I just wasn't used to it but really we had so many good moments too.  I'm so glad I tried it.  I've always wanted to be an elementary teacher and so I got to be one!  And to my very own kids.

So - here is the schedule that I came up with that we never followed.  I learned to just carve out chunks of the day and not worry too much about time for each thing.  But seeing this helps me remember our Tuesday Co-op which was Memphis Homeschool Enrichment Cooperative that was started by my good friends Alicia Wood and Anita Fairbanks.   It was a lot of fun and my kids loved the social interaction with a ton of kids their own age.  They each had 3 creative classes and then lunch and a big recess.  It was great.   Then on Thursday we did Lighthouse Leadership Academy - which was a lot smaller and it was a TJed focused group.    I was the photographer for MHEC and I taught Luke's class (Love of Learning) in the LLA.  (the kids and I just called them Tues co-op and Thurs co-op)   Oh and the schedule says that dad did science on Friday - which he did and it was awesome.  He was an excellent science teacher and did lots of fun experiments.

Monday / Wednesday / Friday		Tuesday	Thursday
7:30  or 8:00	Morning Family clean/ personal jobs	Scriptures / Poems	Devotional
8:30	breakfast	breakfast
9:00	Devotional Family Read History BREAK	MHEC HOMESCHOOL CO-OP	LLA Wonders Class
10:00	Luke: Math Lucy: Writing
10:30	Lucy: Math Luke: Writing
11:00	Luke: Reading Lucy: Practice Piano
11:30	Lucy:  Reading Luke: Practice Ukulele		Lucy: Practice Piano Luke: Read
12:00	LUNCH		LUNCH
12:30	RECESS		Luke : Practice Uke Lucy: Read
1:00	Science / Why Sessions? / Math Games/ Kid School /History (if we missed it)/ Field Trips	LIBRARY	1:30 –  Piano Lessons             Luke: Math
2:00	(if staying home) Mon: MUSIC Wed: ART FRI: SCIENCE (w.DAD!)	PARK	2:30 – Uke Lessons             Lucy: Math

Back-to-School tea party the night before school started:

First day of school
math pancakes.  this was super fun.  (We also did a dance party to Will.i.am's "what I am" from sesame street.  It was kinda the theme-song for our year. )

 the girls got school uniforms.  hahaha

Read-alouds was my favorite thing about homeschool.  We read:

1. My Father's Dragon
2. The Jungle Book
3. James and the Giant Peach
4. Whatever After
5. BFG
6. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
7. Sarah, Plain and Tall
8. Peter Pan
9. The Phantom Tollbooth
10. The Whipping Boy
11. Little House in the Big Woods
12. Matilda (pictured above)
13. Island of the Blue Dolphins

Some time spent outside

this is someone's yard!! 

and their pig

Lucy with Joy and Maryanne with Cookie.  We met a really neat family at the park and ended up spending a lot of time with their dogs.  Dog sitting, walking them and just making playdates at the park.  Lucy even dressed up like Joy for Halloween.  :)

My other favorite thing about homeschool was the slow mornings and more time with siblings.

Maryanne's paint-by-number project 

 Lucy making mini donuts from a kit we brought home from Japan.   And Luke learning to embroider.

Acting out the unification of the upper and lower kingdoms of egypt.  

Myth of Osiris 

Learning about Jackson Pollock 

Luke's was called "Fury"

Dragon Craft from Disney magazine

We put this puzzle together a lot

Lucy was working hard on her geography.  She loved to play Stack the States on my phone and also practiced writing them on the blank map in the kitchen.

Tuesday Co-op 

(we only did this one the first semester.... which looking back might have been a mistake.  This is really where the kids made the best friends.  Especially Luke.  I just couldn't teach at both co-ops and try to move etc. that last semester.  But this one was really fun.)

Freddy was in "Tots"

Maryanne was in Adventurers and she had: Handwriting without Tears, Storybook Adventures and Food and Nutrition

Lucy was in Creators for the first half and Voyagers for the second half (because she made friends in the older class and it was a better fit for her).  So her classes were: A Bug's Life, Globetrotting and Sign Language (Voyagers)

Globetrotters Mexican fiesta

voyagers

Best friend:

Gentry Horner

Luke was in Philosophers and took: Current Events (very fitting since it was during the election), Crazy Chemistry and So you Think you can Think.

Current Events

Chemistry with the amazing ms. lindsay 

 

So you think you can think

Luke and his two best friends - Graham Horner and Daxton Owens

and cute Sophia whose mom told me she had a crush on Luke :)

Presidents Assembly Day

a very serious george washington ready for the wax museum

  

presidents day - these girls learned about the voting system with ballots and a voting booth

Entrepreneur Fair  / Christmas Party 

  They made and sold comics.

Field Trip to Backermann's Country Store 

(a Mennonite bakery& farm)  It was really cool. 

 

One thing we loved about Tuesday Co-op was that when classes were over - we went to Ellendale park to spend the rest of the afternoon.  It always made me happy to watch my kids play for hours and get nice and dirty.  

Thursday Co-op (LLA)

Friends!

Emery and Aspen Waite

Holland Monsen 

winner and loser

In Luke's "Love of Learning" class - we read 3 books (the childhood of famous american series) the first semester:  George Washington, Susan B. Anthony and John Muir.   We did lots of projects for each book and the kids basically got to pick whatever they wanted.

George Washington Fancy Manners Meal

Susan B. Anthony --- making bread ... Yeast Science!

Susan B. Anthony ---- Everything about cotton (guest: Charlotte Steward with cotton plants and a spinning wheel!)

This was for John Muir.   I think this was Luke's favorite.  He got really into glaciers.

Luke's glacier project

Ok - I am super super tired from doing this crazy, long blog and so I am going to stop here.  I will do 2nd semester another time and wrap up the year.  I'm so glad I'm documenting all this.  Not sure if anyone else will be but at least it's getting done!
G