"The Story of Ferdinand"

It has been a few days since I wrote a post. Mainly because it has been whirlwind of activities in our house, town, state, and nation. And writing a post kept proving to be difficult with all those things swirling around in my head.

So, now that we've completed our first reading comprehension and spelling unit of "The Story of Ferdinand" by Munro Leaf, I have a clear subject to blog on.

This is a great book to read just to read to children. It teaches them many things, but most importantly that is okay to be different. The book is loaded with fun vocabulary words. Though I didn't do vocabulary. I do plan to expand on our reading comprehension units with vocabulary, geography, dictation and spelling. This specific unit we did only dictation, comprehension and spelling. Totally missed the bar on geography! Spain will be on our list to study.

Kara worked on 15 spelling words all week. Writing them, reading them, spelling them out loud. And today, was test day.

I am quite happy about her first spelling test.

Believe me, it took every ounce of me to not "remind" her to capitalize Madrid. I knew that once we went through to correct the words, she'd slap her head, and she did.

I'm a big believer in self-correction when it comes to spelling. I believe it helps hone in the idea of the words when children correct their own works. I made sure she used a crayon so she couldn't just "correct" the words. LOL

She was quite disappointed that she missed Madrid. Such a simple mistake. I didn't mark her down for capitalizing "sharp." Her logic was sound in why she did it. But I did remind her that words that aren't proper nouns or at the beginning of a sentence, aren't to be capitalized.

Language Arts will be on our schedule next week.

Cheers!

Home School is Weird!

The truth came out today about how Kara feels about being homeschooled.

"It's weird!!!" she exclaimed from the bathroom.

Now, I understand how she would think this. Most of her friends attend what would be considered a "normal" school; private, public, or charter. Some ride a bus. Some have homework. And there are a few that have told her it's weird. Which makes me even more angry, but that's for another post about how bullying doesn't only take place in the classroom.

Needless to say, I asked her to clarify what was "weird" about being home schooled. Cause I know that she hasn't been exposed to the weird home school kids, yet.

She explained it wasn't normal. And to a 6 y/o, anything that isn't "normal" is "weird."

I asked her if she thought her Farm School classmates were home schooled. She said they weren't.

AH HA!!! The culprit misconception has been exposed!

I proceeded to tell her that I can bet that they are all home schooled in one facet or another. And that some are taught by there moms, some by their dads, some by other parents that do a coop situation.

Home school is becoming less weird to her.

She said that she wanted to still go to Farm School, but not be home schooled. But unfortunately for her, that is not possible.

A) Because Aaron and I have decided this is how her education is going to play out.
B) Logistically speaking, she can't be in two places at once.
and
3) We are the parents and get to make this decision.

Yes, some of you will read this and think "Well it's not what she wants." Okay, you raise your kids that way, we'll raise ours this way.

We aren't a dictatorship, but my 6 y/o daughter does not know how things affect the future. She only knows instant gratification. As most children do. I don't blame her! Immediate gratification is awesome, but not always the best route.

Would you let your child take off in your car without first teaching him/her how to drive it? No. Well, most parents wouldn't, at least.

She said she was bored with home school. Yeah, I picked up on that last week!!! So we are breezing through the math so I can get an idea of exactly where she is. She was okay with that.

She also doesn't like to hear my "teacher" voice. Never knew I had one. Guess it makes sense though. I told her that there are times where I have to use the "teacher" voice, because in that moment, that is my role. She agreed (or at least shook her head to appease me).

She made cheese and butter today at Farm School, with the milk the got from Friday. (she didn't like it)
But will kids in a "normal" schooling situation typically get to do that?? No!
I'm okay with "weird." I embrace it! Normal isn't my thing.

It's not even Kara's thing!!!! Have you met my singing artist fashionista?!?!?

My Children are the MOST Amazing Children!

All I have to say is that I am so glad today was a test day!!! Or as Mason heard it "Treasure Chest Day" HAHAHAHA
We .. when I say we I mean me .. I have decided to do a 4 day a week schedule.
This being our first week, it went rather smoothly with the curriculum.
When I finally have possession of our Language Arts and Reading curriculum, we'll see how it all pans out.
But for now, it worked FABULOUS.
And today, was test day.
Spelling and Math.

I am so incredibly proud of how Kara is working within this new schedule.
She is thriving!
Bouncing back to her beautiful being that I know she is.
She is being courteous again.
Polite to others.
Helpful to her brother.
The sassiness has almost ceased.
And, no, she is not 100% home schooled!
So I know that she is around other kids and adults without me around.
She is being respectful again.
And she is obeying, kind, generous, thoughtful, and smiley again!
Yes, almost all of that had left my beautiful favorite daughter.
Which is one part of the reason we decided to home school.

Parents have deep impact on children's behavior.  And yes, I know they have to be acclimated to situations without parents around to be able to practice these attributes. But what was happening is that while Kara was expected to do all those things, and usually did, she wasn't academically performing to her level.

I know my child. And I know what is best for her. Not anyone else (except for Aaron and God). Between us three, we are able to proceed in the direction we are going without any issues! And it has been FABULOUS!

Kara is working her hardest and performing better than before. I will not look back to the past of education with her. Because it was just not fitting to our expected mold for our child! And no parent should have to just "accept" the system in which they are thrown, just because!

Many people voiced concerns about Kara being able to concentrate at home, receive one on one attention, or have us give special attention to Mason. Won't this overload us? Won't it cause problems with raising our kids individuality?

I can assure all of you, that Kara is receiving a more individualized education than we could've ever dreamed of before. I can also assure you, that my children are not being neglected. She is working hard, concentrating and focusing. And when it is "school time" while Mason naps, she is focused on learning!

I am one proud momma of my favorite daughter and favorite son!!

Starving for Reaffirmation .. God ALWAYS Provides!!!

For some reason, I got a double whammy with being sick.
And winter hasn't even made it's full appearance yet.
It's no biggie though.
I mean, I can still do the laundry, make the meals, clean up after the kids, do my job for my realtor boss, edit pictures, home school Kara, take both kids to their schools on their respective days, sleep, eat.....

Only when hopped up on dayquil and espresso ...

No problem.

If my heart jumps out of my chest, just blame the dayquil, I don't want espresso to get a bad name! :)

Today, while Kara was doing her worksheets, I was having one of my moments, where I doubt my decision to home school. They are coming less frequently as I see the benefits in my child's self esteem and performance, but they, no doubt, still come.

So I love this one blogger Mom, she is amazing!
My hero actually.
Look, I'm working with one kid, she has 4!!! FOUR kids!!!

At any rate, I pretty much stalk her.
Her blog.
Her Facebook page.
Whatever I can!
See, I'm obsessed, just putting it out there for you..

But that's neither here nor there.
What made me doubt this home school thing was this........

This is our station for home schooling. It is CHAOTIC to me!

I need organization! I need help in organization!!!!!!! Can you help me?!?!

So as I was doing my daily stalking of her Facebook page, I saw that someone had made a comment after me on something I had commented on.

Her comment was a Website about the academic performance of home school kids.

EXACTLY what I needed to read!!! Click HERE to read the article!
I think for a many days to come, I'm going to need reaffirmation!

And I praise God every time he places information in front of me to reaffirm our decision!

A Flow

We started our "normal" part of school today.
The CURRICULUM!!!
I was kinda dreading this day, because I wasn't sure if Kara would sit and listen to me being a "teacher."

But she did!

And she told me she liked it!

And that made me smile.

We did penmanship using Handwriting Without Tears.

Reading and Language Arts

Saxon Math lessons 21-22

And she did her journal entry for school (something I'm making her do for reflection and penmanship exercise).

A normal day at a "real" school, this would take all day. 

(and that is without the fun science she is getting at the farm school)

But for us .. it took 1.5 hours!!

NO STINKING JOKE!

 Gotta love her enthusiasm! :)

The best part about homeschooling (and not that you can't do this anyway) but it's the implementation teaching the values, morals, and Biblical beliefs we hold near and dear. We are using our Sunday School lessons from church and studying them deeper, and with more activities. Can even put this part of our day into our Geography unit of the world, that we begin tomorrow.

I'm still trying to figure out our schedule and what will benefit us the most with where we spend our time and how. 

But for now, and by now I mean today. We had success!!!

Farm School .. Take 2

What a beautiful day it is today in Palmer, Alaska!
I have to say, the weather couldn't have been better for my daughter's first day at Louise's Farm School!

This morning she said her tummy was hurting .. nerves.
She was scared, and contained her excitement very well.
I knew she was nervous.
And bounding all that up would make anyone's tummy hurt.
Her biggest concern was making friends.
One of the issues we had at her last school was how she always felt left out.

Today, when I dropped her off (about 10 minutes earlier than the rest of the kids), the teachers greeted her.
Ms. Megan came right over and asked Kara to help her with something.
Kara got to walk the farm dogs home.

She didn't even give me a hug and kiss when I was leaving .. *tear*
But I didn't want to mess up this already fine transition into a new environment.

All morning I thought about her at school....
Wondering if she was being shy or friendly...
Was she making friends or feeling left out ...
Was she enjoying herself..
Would she eat the snack that is prepared at the farm for the kids...

Finally, it was time to pick her up from school
And she was happy!
A smile filled her face!
She LOVED Farm School!
As Aaron and I knew she would!
And she can't wait to go back Monday.

Oh, and she got to ride on a tractor, feed and chase hens, care for baby bunnies and learn about corn and wheat!

Edit .. Kara's journal entry for the day!

Wrong Side of the Bed

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
Missed yoga again.
Did not want to go to work.
Didn't even want to make breakfast for my kids.
I was so tired.
I was cold last night.
And on top of all of that, Aaron was snoring.
SOOOOOOO irritating.

I dragged my derrier out of bed, got dressed and made my way downstairs, to realize I never set out Kara's school work.
You have to be kidding me!
So I fumbled through the workbooks I have had her working in. Got that situated.

Mason says "I'm so so so so hungry, Mom."
And of course he doesn't want what I'm offering.

Luckily, my girl is very flexible. :)

Dropped the boy off at preschool, and the girl and I headed to my office.
There's a room there where she can do her work, read, play, or watch a movie.
And, bonus, they have snacks on Thursdays, because there's a realtor meeting.

Homeschooling is proving to me, that I am so disorganized.
Also that I am way more lazy than I originally thought.
And that if I don't have a plan ready for action, oh man does chaos break loose oh so quickly.

I do not do "chaos."
EVER!

Luckily, both my kids were tired this afternoon and they BOTH took much needed naps.
And that meant I was able to get some of the house picked up and cleaned. It's been neglected.

I sat down for about 45 minutes, which could have been a catastrophic mistake.
Thank God it was a sun shining day!
And I was able to take my kids outside for some fresh air.
Okay, let's be honest, I needed the fresh air!
The kids just needed me to be mom.

Lesson .. NEVER skip morning cup of coffee!

Owls, Witches, and Pumpkins OH MY! Our trip to the library!

Today, I took the kids to the library.
It was a good experience.
I have decided as part of our weekly routine, we will be going to the library once a week.
This will give me time to update my planning for the week, as well as give Kara some exploratory time to find new reading material.
Side bonus: I don't have to pay for it! She brought home like 3 Fancy Nancy books!! SCORE

At any rate, I decided this morning today would be the day Kara got her own library card.
Not sure why this is such a rite of passage for kids, but for some reason they feel amply grown up having their own card that means something.

She was very proud of it.

We left the library around an hour or so after we got there.
Let me just say, this is a first for me.
Usually I'm so irritated with my kids noise level that I am ready to leave as soon as we arrive.
I have had my children "shushed" in a library before.
So I'm not entirely sure why the children's section is wide open to the general areas of the library.
But anyway....

We left with our loot .. Kara checked out her very own books and was given her own bag!
Such a grown up child!

I borrowed an audio book, "Anne of Green Gables."
I'm so tired of radio and cds.
Just changing it up a bit!
Every time I turn on the radio, all I hear is the request for money. I'm SOOOOO sick of it!

ANYWAY...... We popped "Anne" in and listened to chapter one on our way home.
The kids happily looked through their books.

I couldn't wait to get home to setup my "reading" station.
You know .. where teachers display books that are fitting to the week, season, and so on.

I also couldn't wait to do the pumpkin craft that I planned out in my head while at the library.

Hungry and tired kids delayed that plan .. so I fed them (of course) and put Mason down for a nap and Kara laid in her bed reading through her allowed 6 books. (We do amount by age.)

Then once everyone was well rested, I had put together the craft and we read a couple of the books I had picked out and did the craft.

I'm a huge fan of book to crafts.
So, of course, I picked a book that I knew would facilitate the image of the mosaic pumpkin.

Very cute book by the way! I highly recommend you read it to your kids. It's really not SCARY! I mean .. it is for the Owl, Witch, Crickets, and kids in the story! :)

At any rate, the kids sat down at the table for the craft and glued and glued and glued!

Not quite "mosaic" art pumpkins, but still a fun activity none the less.

Farm School Visit FAIL

As a mom, I forget that sometimes my desires aren't quite what my child wants.
Separating those emotions into parenting style ones can be very hard to do.
Especially when you are the parent of a child who is very much an independent little person.

Today, we went to visit Louise's Farm School.
It's an awesome little place located on a hay farm, that was once an operating diary farm (the lingering scent of cows is all you need to know that).
We walked around the premises.
In the classrooms and out.
Even got to visit with some newborn little bunnies. Only about 2 weeks old.
Saw the classroom where Kara would be with her peers.
And I was sold.

I love the things they do with the kids.
The environmental science basis.
The fact that they have Alaska Pacific University grad students teaching the kids in a 1:6 ratio.
I wanted to sign myself up.
And Mason wanted to sign up, too.

But Kara, not Kara.
She wasn't sold.
She said it looked boring.
It was stinky.
And that she didn't think she'd have a good time there.
I'm not sure she is separating the ideas of only being there part time, for only part of the day three days a week, with full time attendance at a different school.

Dealing with kids is rough sometimes as a mom.
What I want for them, what needs to be done for them, isn't always what they want.
Their best interests are always at the core of my heart and decision making.
I also don't want to crush any independent spirit that is forming.

Knowing (almost 100% guaranteeing) that Kara will, in fact, have an amazing time at this school, I made a deal with her.
Look, everything you read about "making deals" with your kids says not to.
But in this situation, I want her to try.

Children really are extreme creatures of habit, aren't they.

So I asked her to try it for seven weeks. (the remainder of fall semester)
And if at the end of the semester she didn't like it, we would find some other exciting thing to do in the spring.
And if at the end of her first grade school year, home schooling was just not working for her, she could be honest with me and her dad, and we would put her back in public school.

In my opinion, we are the parents.
Our decision will always be the final one.
But I don't want my children to think that they don't have a say in their lives.
Remember when I wrote this blog?
I am raising adults, NOT children.

And it is NEVER too young to instill in them a rightful understanding of proper and logical input in the decisions that are being made in their lives for their futures.

I'm just a mom, doing my best, trying to make sure my kids get the best education they can with experiences unlike any other.

Accidental Service Project mixed in with Our First Day

Today we officially started our homeschooling education. Though it was very basic.
I am waiting to meet with Kara's Advising Teacher at her school to see where we need to go.
Since I don't have access to her testing and scores, I'm not at 100% where her reading level is and her math skills.
This morning we just did some basics, and will do basics pretty much all week until I can figure out a routine.

We worked on
1) Penmanship: She has crazy handwriting. One of the reasons we were unhappy with her previous school. The way they were approaching penmanship in her class was OUTRAGEOUS!!! So I decided to it the RIGHT way! Yes there is a wrong way and a write way to teach proper penmanship. Two black lines drawn on a white piece of paper for a first grader is a WRONG way. How else do they learn to control the size of their letters? Or prevent their "s" from slithering away!?
2) Rhyme Time Phonics: We did some basic Rhyme Time Phonics, which also included some spelling. Though, Kara can read some pretty tough chapter books, and summarize, she has a bit of a problem writing words correctly. This triggers my knowledge of understanding Phonics. So we're working on that part.
3) Math: She did some basic math. Pretty darn close to what they were doing at school. At least, as far as I could tell based on the work she was bringing home.

Field Trip: We went to the Palmer Fire Dept for a tour of the trucks.

Accidental Service Project: After the fire dept tour, I took the kids to the park. NO RAIN!! YAY!! As we were playing, Kara had pointed out how much garbage was on the ground. There wasn't a garbage can around .. seriously!!?! A park with no garbage can??  Anyway, I had a grocery sack in the car, grabbed it and Kara and all the little ones ran around the park picking up the garbage. Service project without a production! :)

Look, I'm so new at this, I have NO IDEA where we are going with this homeschooling business. If you handed me a classroom with 24 first graders, I could probably whip together a lesson plan with future planning in no time at all. That's what I was trained to do. Why? Because in a situation like that, you teach to the middle with some variances to below and above average performance.

Now, I'm working with one child. Which means I am catering my ENTIRE lesson planning to her abilities. It's a little bit more challenging because this means there is no "middle." There is Kara!

As our days go on, I know there will be more structure, and we'll eventually find our flow. At least, I hope we will!

Extra reading for you.... I am still trying, occasionally, to talk myself out of this decision. And believe me, I have come up with a good amount of reasons to not home school. But also a good amount of reasons to home school.

This blog post has 50 reasons to home school .. and I think I've said about 37 to myself. Anyway, enjoy!

Edit: We also decided that we are going to keep garbage bags in the car now, for those times we come across a littered area. :)

We're Choosing to Homeschool .. SO WHAT?!

Since we've made known our decision to homeschool our kids, we have been getting an array of responses. From extreme support to complete opposition.
True colors of people and their "conditional"support really comes out when you choose to do something that is out of the context of being "socially" normal.

The truth is, it doesn't matter what anyone thinks about our choices for our children.
Yes, a little support would be nice.
But keep your constant opposing views to yourself.

The one thing I have learned through this process (and the insane amount of research I have done) is that people will always choose to live and believe in their own little bubble world.
What does it matter to you how I raise my children?
If they aren't out breaking the law, doing drugs, causing havoc, then what is your concern?
If they are reading one-two-three grade levels above their "grade," then what is your concern?
If they are being taught morals, values, and beliefs of our family, instead of learning what kids bring to the classroom, then what is your concern?
If my kids are well rounded, polite, well behaved children, what is it your concern how we educate them?

In Alaska, our resources are AMAZING when it comes to choosing to homeschool.
I'm not sure why, but I would assume probably because the remoteness of where people live.
Providing curriculum and getting it into the hands of parents that don't have access to public schools seems like an ideal situation to me.
Not that we don't have access to public schooling.

The homeschooling stigma is a very negative one.
One that I would hope our family and friends would know that we would never become.
I won't closet my children.
I know that educating them in this way they will get an even better education than the educational system could ever dream of providing.

So, for all you naysayers, that just HAVE to have an opinion about homeschooling. Do your research FIRST? Then show me studies where homeschooling is more negative on a society than positive.

Oh and just so you know, both my husband and I have master's degrees in education. What two better people to choose to homeschool their kids than us??