School at home....

This year after the move and a having a baby, and pretty much having our lives turned upside down…. I knew we had to homeschool again. But we were going through a lean time as far as money goes and we just didn’t have any money to put out for curriculum.

I found an online charter school that looked really great. The curriculum looked decent and the people that I talked to at the school seemed really nice.

We filled out the application, and did the pretests {that in itself was an ordeal} and got everything sent in.

3 weeks… a move… and in a house with no furniture we got our curriculum and started on this new way of learning.

It is so different from how we homeschooled before and a lot more time consuming. There are online classes, check points, and a lot of busy work. It’s hard to go to the library… our favorite place to be… even trying to get out of the house for park days or our own field trips is hard because we have to work around s much. Pretty much it’s school at home, and I don’t like that.

After the first week I was hating it. The boys really didn't seem to care, were really good to check the boxes but they have no interest in actually learning anything. They just want to get through the days’ work to get onto reading or playing with Legos or going to the park. And really I don’t blame them. I was looking over the stuff and it is pretty dry.

They are not excited to learn, they are just checking off the boxes.

So I took a deep breath and called the school to let them know that I would be dropping the school. I am waiting for some new curriculum, but while we wait we are trying out “unschooling” and while we are doing that the boys have found some new interests.

I think that it’s scary jumping off and trying new things.

Have you ever changed things so drastically that it scared you??

Code of Conduct

I am so blessed to be part of a great support for homeschoolers in my area. I have met some really wonderful women who will be my friends for years to come. I know that even after I move I will still have contact with many of the women that I have met through the homeschool group that I am in.

This is a big group and it has many branches for different things. If you just want to be involved with field trips you can do that and nothing more. It's the same thing if you just want to be a part of the Science Fair, or Spelling Bee. There is even a great Co-op, that you can be a part of if you want to.

My thing is the "Statement of Faith" it is not something that I agree with. I respect it and I understand why it is written the way that it is but I can't put my name to something if I don't agree with it.

The group I am with is a Christian group and they encompass most of the Christian's beliefs, everyone from Catholic, and Protestant to Baptist.

I too am Christian.

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My views on certain topics are a bit different from other Christians.

With in my Co-op if you want to teach a class you have to sign the Statement of Faith... I can't do that so I can't teach. {do you see where I am going with this??}

I am a good person, and I feel like most of the women that I know would trust me with their children, many I have had over to my house.

And yet I can't teach because my signature is not on a piece of paper. I respect these women to much to force my beliefs on them and definitely not onto their children. But what does math or geography have to do with religion?

I know you are asking... "well.... why don't you just start your own group?"

Good question!! I am. But not until we move. We are not here in Florida permanently and I didn't want to start something that I couldn't see though.

And when I do start my own co-op {still thinking of a good name so any suggestions would be great!} I am going to have families sign a "Code of Conduct". Mainly for modesty and behavior.

I want people to know that they are welcome and can fully participate without regard to religion. I would hope... as most homeschoolers are... that everyone would be respectful of everyone and what they believe. But, I am not going to turn away someone who can teach a math class just because they believe something different than I do.

I may not put my 5 year old into a class that is learning about the Torah, that's not what we believe, but if that mom {or dad} knows how to make science fun and interesting for my child, I will be the first one signed up.

I think having a "Statement of Faith" that is so strict on the rules of what people have to believe to be a part of something, possibly without meaning too {I hope} ... turns away many good people who want want to be involved and have a strong support system with out having to have their belief system put into question.

{if you have any question on what I believe, and why it contradicts the "Statement of Faith" please leave a comment or you can email me at peachylg{@}yahoo{dot}com. You can also find more information here}

Kinder-Steps Dropout

{Orginally posted March 7, 2009}
It's official... I pulled James out of school.

Let me start at the beginning... For a while now James has not been wanting to go to school. And the other day we were sitting down just talking and he turned to me and said, "Mom, I really don't like school." We talked about it more and came to the point that he wanted to learn at home. I told him that he wouldn't see his teacher or his school friends any more, and he was ok with that. We talked that being at home didn't mean watching TV or playing all day, he would still have to do some school work and work really hard on his reading. He said ok. {I wanted to salvage some of the love of learning that he had when he started school} So on Thursday, I went and pulled him out of school.

I had really mixed feelings about it. I know I want to homeschool. But the pressure of society to make you think that you have no idea what your own child needs is strong. I think we so many just follow the crowd because it's easier. And the idea of having 6 hours free is very appealing. But I don't think my child would get the education that I want him to have. This will be a learning thing for me too, and I'm kinda scared, but excited too. James has been really interested in Galileo lately, and now we get to explore that.

We have officially entered into the realm of homeschooling....

The best part was that night when he said his prayers he said he was thankful not to go back to school. I don't know that I will ever truly know what happen to make him want to come home now, but I know I made the right choice for him.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

Last week was crazy with the launch and an appointment that I had. So we took last week semi-off, we learned about the first Thanksgiving, but there were no spelling and only one small unit on math. We did a TON of reading and a fun craft.
We finished up on Indians and did some Indian writing on our "animal skin." James' story was really good about hunting and sharing the tent with his friends.

Here is the craft that we did. Plastic Cup Turkeys

The cups were kinda see through, so I had the boys paint the INSIDE of the cup. This kept the mess to a minimum


I had the boys trace the feathers and then cut them out. This is really helping their fine motor skills develop. Tommy had a hard time tracing the side that was blocked by his hand but after a few tries he got it.

And the cutting

Here is the finished product. I think they turned out really cute! {and the boy are happy with anything that has googly eyes :) }

Tommy decided that his needed wings, so he cut a couple extra feathers and made wings for his turkey.

One of the books that we read was "You Wouldn't Have Wanted to Sail on the Mayflower" This really got us started on a great discussion! We talked about the Pilgrims and what they did before, during and after their voyage. We talked about the Indians, and about the living conditions. We talked about boats and the parts on the boats, and how crowded it was. The boys' favorite parts was finding and talking about the poop deck. The told dad that night and he giggle too.... I guess boys never really grow up.

We are taking this next week off {kinda} and we are going to enjoy this holiday with family. But I guess that's the wonderful joy of homeschooling... you are never really off because you can learn anywhere and any time.