What does home school look like?

A lot of people seem shocked that we home school. 

A lot of people.

 

I won't get into all of our personal reasons for why we home school right now...but I want to offer a glance into what home schooling look like at our house.  We don't have a mini-classroom where all the boys sit at a desk all day long.  In fact, it looks something like this:

 

Music class:  we took the family to a Pentatonix concert in July.  We had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed hearing music created just with voices.  (I loved the cello-boxing as well.)  We also include our church singing and piano lessons as part of our music curriculum. 

 

 

 Science class: This nature study brought to you by our backyard! 

The boys love exploring the forest and the plants and animals back there.  We are willing to follow interests away from our curriculum to encourage a sense of wonder and curiosity.

 

 

Grammar:  We do have some subjects that require paper and pencil and a flat surface,

but the boys often choose where to work.  

Yesterday, one boy chose to work on his Latin Road to English Grammar in our school room.

 

Meanwhile, another worked on his in the living room spread across the coffee table.

 

 Reading:  My heart melted when I saw this one reading his literature assignment while swinging in the hammock.  So, when we have reading assignments (which is often with Tapestry of Grace!) the boys curl up to read wherever they are comfortable.  Of course, the older ones will often have questions to answer so a flat surface nearby is helpful.

 

Science:  The kitchen table often becomes the science lab--unless we're outside. 

I'm really liking that my 8th grader is working more independently this year.  He just asks for supplies and off he goes!

 

 

The computer is usually busy for one reason or another.  

We use Quizlet to learn Tapestry vocabulary words. 

Ezra uses Teaching Textbooks for math which is all on the computer (except for the tests I make him do on paper--I just can't let go of the paper trail!) 

And our most wonderful use for the computer is our online co-op. 

We start again next week...and I'll post about it later.

 

So, home schooling fits into our lifestyle and our home.  We did repurpose our dining room (that was rarely used) into our school room a few years ago.  It was a great decision.  It's good that our school stuff has a place to live and can be collected at the end of the day and put away.

 

And the next time you hear me say something about home schooling,

think of these pictures.

The First Day of School

We (the boys and I) agreed that we would ease into school this year.  Start with a couple of subjects and add a new one every few days.  This was a great plan!  We'll start with the subjects we rarely finish (like math) so that we have a head start on those.  Yay!  It's going to be a great school year!

And then.....

One is going to camp and one will be gone with a friend.  My husband and I sign up to help out at the church's booth at the county fair.  Okay, time to shift some plans.  I need some one-on-one time with Ben as he learns the dialectic ropes for Tapestry of Grace, our humanities curriculum plan.

So, today is the first day of school here.  We are just doing math and non-Tapestry Language Arts.  And I have tears.  Really?  The first day I've asked you to do any school work in 2 months and I get tears?  And on math review stuff?  Do you really not remember this?  The morning progresses and nothing seems to be happening "as planned".  The bug man was to come at 10 am and came closer to 11.  I was supposed to be going on my weekly prayer walk and didn't make it 'cause I was waiting for said bug man. 

So I finally get all the boys through all their school work...and I say "Let's go to McDonalds to celebrate the first day of school!"  And guess what:  McDonalds is under construction.  They were probably still open but I didn't want to mess with lunch-time crowds in a construction zone.  So I drive to the next closest McD's (less than 5 miles down the road) and it's under construction, too!

So here's what I learned: I can't plan for everything everyday.  Sure, I'm a planner/organizer and that is not going to change.  I like to have a plan.  I just need to embrace (or try to enjoy) days like this when nothing really goes how I had planned at all.

The good news?  The King is still on His throne; I am still His child.

We've been busy...

Time just goes by too quickly here...so much going on!
We are just wrapping up our studies about Ancient Greece and wanted to share another peek into our work.

 

Benjamin made a model of a Greek temple with Ionic Columns.

 

After days of saying we'd make a mosaic, I found a craft kit of pictures with peel and stick foam squares.  It was wonderful!  Kept these three boys busy for four days--so it was $7 well spent!

These pictures are just the first ones each of them completed.

 

I was especially impressed with Caleb's dexterity in handling the small squares and putting them exactly on the poster where indicated.  I helped with the yellow on this one.  There was a lot of yellow!

We also performed a rap about The Odyssey, but I'm having technical difficulties in getting it on here.  Mark is going to try to help me.  Then we'll share it here or on Facebook (or maybe both!).

Next week is our last week of Greeks and we are going to do some Olympic games with our friends.  Hopefully, I'll remember to post pictures of that.