Forced Coloring

Most days, I am bewildered by Isabella. I can't really figure her out in terms of what motivates her and what she enjoys aside from playing. If a kid could win a "Best at Independent and Creative Play Award" she would have that one in the bag. I sign her up for various activities mainly because they sound fun, and also because she's not attending a school where they churn out perfectly socialized children (if you don't know me, please note the sarcasm). After all, I don't want my kid to be the weird one. So, I signed her up for a ten week art enrichment class provided by the art education students at Kent State University. Every week she'd walk out of class appearing a bit too underwhelmed for all of the effort I put into driving her there and back, so we talked about the class and whether she liked it or not. She said, "I just don't like people forcing me to color." It must be rough being six.

Even though those mean college students forced her to color, she was thrilled to show off her art work to her grandparents.

In case you can't tell, this mask is Walter, laughing.

The art show was a little too much for Isaac to handle. After we got home it took him an hour to recover from this "deer in headlights" expression.

Homeschooling: According to Me

When I told my sister we were getting chickens she burst out laughing. She said something along the lines of, "not only are you homeschooling, but now you are going to have chickens" and then continued to laugh. It's okay. I spend most days thinking I'm crazy, too.

Never in my wildest dreams did I even consider homeschooling. Not that I didn't love and adore Isabella after she was born, but I really couldn't wait until the day she would be old enough to go to school. I was counting down the years until I could go to graduate school, or get a job and finally become a real adult. Some days I dream about walking around campus again, being challenged by favorite professors, and working toward a goal to teach in a University, but I know that right now what I want most is to be present for my family.

The decision to keep Isabella out of public and private schools did not come lightly. After a lot of prayer and weighing all of the options, homeschooling seemed like the best choice. I told Walter I would do it for one year and then we'd reevaluate. Here's the thing, I don't do things like this half way, so if I say I'm going to homeschool, you better believe I'm going to research the socks off of homeschooling. Full speed ahead--there's no stopping me. I'm not joking, I have Isabella's schooling planned out until high school graduation. I'm not saying she's going to stay at home until then, but just in case. During my research I found that I cannot possibly prepare for the elementary years without simultaneously looking ahead to what she would need in order to successfully complete middle school and high school.

In addition to researching curricula, I decided to take a look at how other moms plan out their day of schooling at home. That's when I met some crazy people. Moms who wake up hours earlier than their children just so they can get a head start on the day...no way. Clearly, those moms drug their children before bedtime so that they can actually sleep all night--what a luxury. As wonderful as it sounds, there is no way I am purposefully waking up before my kids. Isaac has taken a liking to a 4:00 a.m. wake-up call, so I'd have to wake-up around 2:00 a.m. to get anything done...yeah right. I quickly gave up on reading all about other moms with perfect schedules because I like to enjoy my coffee and read a couple chapters each morning and there's no way anyone is going to make me feel bad about that. So, when we can, we take our time in the morning.

What exactly do we do? If you are knowledgeable of any homeschooling theory, we are a mix of Charlotte Mason and Classical Education. When people ask me what curriculum we use, I shy away from giving an answer unless I know that they are a homeschooling family. Basically, if you aren't familiar with what's out there in terms of building a curriculum, you aren't going to understand what I'm talking about anyway. Most people are familiar with on-line programs, which I am not opposed to, but they're not for me. After a lot of mind-numbing research I built my own curriculum and this is what it includes:

All About Reading, Level 2 -- This is a wonderful, multi-sensory approach to learning phonics. We will finish Level 2 in a few weeks.
All About Spelling, Level 1 -- A multi-sensory approach to spelling. We will finish Level 1 in a few weeks.
Story-time Treasures and soon, More Story-time Treasures
First Language Lessons For the Well Trained Mind, Level 1
Writing With Ease, Level 1
SRA Phonics -- This is not a book with which to learn phonics. I use it as reinforcement and as "busy work" because now I understand that teachers give busy work just to keep kids quiet. I employ the same reasoning.
Horizons Math 1, Book 2
Life of Fred, Apples
Tapestry of Grace -- This should probably have its own blog post since it is a very interesting program. Basically, TOG, as people call it, covers history, geography, literature, grammar, philosophy, art enrichment, Church history and Bible.
Apologia Science, Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
Drawing with Children by Mona Brooks

These are some books I've read that have helped me figure out what I'm doing and why:

The Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer
Educating the WholeHearted Child: Discipleship, Whole Books, and Real Life! WholeHearted Christian Home Education for Ages 4-14 by Clay and Sally Clarkson
For the Children's Sake: Foundation of Education for Home and School by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay



Some pictures related and unrelated to homeschooling:

Our first history unit is called: The Books of Moses, so we've read a lot about Egypt. Isabella had fun building this sugar cube pyramid.

We also did this science experiment/history project of mummifying apples:

Last week I thought I would try to win the Parent Award of the Day (since Walter is the reigning champion) so I took the kids to the zoo. It rained the entire time but we still had fun. This penguin was so funny because it followed Isabella's hand and did flips for her.

Since only crazy people go to the zoo in the rain we had the place to ourselves.

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Isabella's ability to read more complex words and sentences has really taken off in the last few weeks. She spends a lot of time arranging her books and planning what she will read next.

Stella is thinking she really just wants a second chance at snatching a chicken.

These are old pictures that never made it to an earlier post...

I've held Isabella off long enough--time to play the grocery game.

Sierra

Jesse

I'm not sure what the secret is to raising siblings who enjoy spending time together, but I do know, my parents got it right. I think I can speak for the three of us when I say that my siblings and I, genuinely enjoy our time together, and we genuinely miss each other when we are apart. Several  months ago, my sister moved to Texas. We are very excited for her and this new chapter in life, but we sure do miss her. And now, my brother is back at The Ohio State University, so here I am, wishing that we could be together for each and every Sunday dinner. 

It is expensive to fly to Texas. Especially for me to fly with two children who also require plane tickets, so I thought it would be Christmas before I'd see my sister again. I was elated to find out that she was flying home for a quick visit. And Isabella, well, I'm sure the pictures speak for themselves. She loves Jesse. They hardly separated from each other during her day and a half visit. The night we had to say good-bye, and the following day, there were many tears as I tried my best to console Isabella and assure her that soon we would get to see Jesse again. 

After Jesse moved to Texas, we started using Facetime, so that Isabella could practice reading aloud to Jesse. Isabella was very excited to read her latest story to her while snuggled together on the couch.

We went to the annual Art Show, where we discovered some very spoiled canines. I think people forgot that dogs were made to walk, they even have two extra legs, making them especially good at walking.

For real, this just isn't right. These aren't the only two dogs we saw being pushed/pulled around.

The following day was low-key. Jesse was back on a plane, and Isabella was sadder than ever. We are looking forward to Christmas and the chance to spend extra time with my sister.

This year I've learned that sunflowers may quite possibly be the happiest and saddest flowers all at the same time. Sure, they are bright yellow and turn their heads to welcome the sun, but they can't quite keep their heads up and then they become melancholy sunflowers. I'm ripping them out this week because they're depressing me. Now the chickens get to enjoy them.

This is a big week for us. Isaac will begin preschool on Thursday and some of Isabella's extra-curricular activities begin this week too. We are also celebrating the first few eggs from our chickens, and Walter has expanded their run because he thought they "looked bored".