The 14 Days of Homeschool

Out of my cave

It's been months since I've posted. I got hit with hand problems with Carpal Tunnel like symptoms which severely limited my on-line time. I also had a book due in November. Writing when it hurts to type is no fun. But I finally got it finished after getting an extra couple of weeks. The revisions have now been done and accepted and I don't have another book due until June. So yay!

Homeschooling has been going great! We love it and plan to continue on next year. My lessons learned so far:

1) Organization - I need to be much more organized. I met another homeschooling mom when we went to see The Wizard of Oz last week who turned me onto this website which has a free web-based lesson planner. I'm going to use this for winter quarter and have already started filling it in.

2) Overscheduling - I was too worried about the kids need for socialization and overscheduled us in September and October to the point none of us were happy. Less having to go out each and every week is definitely better. I'm not talking field trips, but things like a co-op with enrichment classes. Lesson learned!

3) Change is good! - The kids didn't like Prima Latina. I hesitated but finally bought Lively Latin. What a change! They love latin now. I am still using Prima Latina to teach the prayers though. I also added IEW's Poetry Memorization and it's been a wonderful addition to our day.

4) Science woes - With my deadline, the one thing that got dropped was science. We did two weeks of RSK4 Chemistry and that was it. We're going to get caught up over Christmas with a science intensive couple of weeks.

5) Math woes - The older two hate Saxon. They are up to lesson 70ish and right now the plan it to get through the entire text. I bought Life of Fred Fractions for my oldest to supplement. She's enjoying that. I know I won't be putting her into Saxon 87 now and need to research Pre-Algebra programs.

What curriculum we are using...

I've decided on a mish-mash of things after all my research. Here is what I have decided on for each of the lambs and will slowly be adding in subjects as we head toward September:

Oldest (10 yo - 5th grade):
Saxon Math 76
Prima Latina (then move into Latina Christiana I or Lively Latin 1)
All About Spelling (then move into Simply Spelling and/or Megawords 1)
Writing Tales 2 w/Growing with Grammar (not a lot of grammar in Prima Latina)
Mindbenders for Logic
Art with a purpose 5 (I'd like to do more, but am afraid of overwhelming myself!)

Second (8 yo - 3rd grade):
Saxon Math 54
Prima Latina (then move into Latina Christiana I or Lively Latin 1)
All About Spelling (then move into Simply Spelling)
Handwriting
Writing Tales 1
Art with a purpose 3

Youngest (5 yo - Kindergarner):
Saxon Math 1
Sound Beginnings (phonics and writing)
Five in a Row
Poetry (Mother of Divine Grace K syllabus list and method of memorization)
Art Appreciation (Mother of Divine Grace K syllabus method using Child-sized Masterpiece cards)
Art For Little Lambs

For all three (K'er along for the ride for some of it):
Biblioplan Ancient History (reading, geography, art appreciation, arts and crafts)
WTM Science with Real Science 4 Kids Biology unit
Religion
Crossfit Kids classes for PE
Music (Piano Lessons)
French (The two oldest have had three years of French and want to continue. I ordered the sample from The Easy French and am waiting for that to arrive. Still have no idea what I should do hear since I do not speak a word of French.)

It seems like a lot. I figure I can always cut or add as needed! That's one reason I started in July. I wanted to make sure we had more than enough time to get things done by the end of the school year!

Our first official day!

Today was our first day of homeschooling. No tears from any one of us so I'd call that a success. I made a few mistakes. Forgot to print out the morning offering prayer so we'd each have a copy. The kids remembered to bring their rosaries with them for our opening. I didn't. I spaced out that I needed all three Saxon book so was missing the facts sheet and the solutions manual.

My son whined a bit, but the girls did great. My K'er isn't used to sharing me so that was a new thing for her and something she'll have to get used to doing as well as keeping herself occupied when I'm helping one of the other two.

As for me, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. The past two months have been spent on book deadline and then in June I got hit with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It took 15 books so I guess I should be relieved it didn't happen earlier in my writing career, but it was much more painful than I'd ever imagined and as soon as I can manage some free time and/or a babysitter I need to see a doctor. I'm relying on an ergo keyboard, exercises and hand braces right now, but it's impacted not only my writing, but trying to get ready for our homeschooling.

In spite of my uncooperative hands, we did start and it felt great. I'm just crossing my fingers that things go a little smoother tomorrow!

Barely back

We spent spring break skiing and rock climbing. I kept thinking this could be our last official school spring break. It was a little strange, but that didn't keep us from having a great time. All three kids are skiing wonderfully and I was so pleased with their climbing. We did the same climb at Smith Rock we'd done last August and it was amazing to see how all three had improved both with their skills and in the younger two, their fear levels.

Unfortunately I got sick when we got home so I've been fighting whatever it is. I finally went to the doctors today. Sinus infection. At least I can take antibiotics and start feeling human again. But it's really thrown a wrench in all my plans.

On the homeschool front, I'm making more decisions about curriculum. Here's a couple of new things I've decided on:

1) History

Although I love Tapestry of Grace, in order to simplify things next year, I bought Biblioplan instead. It comes with a three day a week schedule which uses Story of the World 1 and has corresponding bible reading. That is exactly what I'd wanted.

2) Spelling

I actually about two things. All About Spelling and Simply Spelling. I want to use AAS to get the kids spelling where it should be. They would be considered unnatural spellers. And then we'll use Simply Spelling once they have a better grip of things.

Now my big task is to get it all organized! I think I need a FlyLady for homeschoolers to help me out.

Getting excited!

It's been awhile since I posted, but I've been busy making plans for next year. We made the decision to homeschool. It wasn't one thing in particular, but a whole lot of little things that led us to the "We're doing it!" moment. The lambs had a big part of it. All three were so excited by the thought of homeschooling. That seemed like half the battle right there!

So since my last post, I've been trying to figure out what I want to do next year and scouring the forum boards for information and used materials on the things I have decided on. What are those?

1) I want to continue with Saxon Math since the kids use that at school and like it. I want to study history chronologically in four years cycles per the Well-Trained Mind book I read years ago.

2) I also want our science to follow the same four year cycle so next year we'll be studying life sciences: animals, human body and plants.

3) I want to school year around to keep the kids' retention level.

4) I want Latin to be an important part of our curriculum. I'm waiting for the new revised edition of the Latin Centered Curriculum by Andrew Campbell to come out, but until then I'm gleaming what I can from boards, loops and websites!

I found Prima Latina w/DVDs for sale on the Well-Trained Mind for sale board. It was a great price so I bought it. I ordered an extra workbook from Beth's Bookstore. A week ago we started Latin! We listen to the CD in the minivan while we drive around. We watched the second lesson this weekend. So far so good!

I started with Rose's syllabus since I figured Kindergarten would be easier to figure out than 3rd or 5th grade. I'm almost done with what I want to cover over the year. I actually had a lot of the items already! But I do have a few more things I need to buy. Fingers crossed for a tax refund!

A Curriculum Purchase

I took the first step toward homeschooling. I purchased Writing Tales Level 1 for my son and Level 2 for my daughter. I want to have time to go through the Teacher's Manual. It says it's a full Language Arts program, but I want to see exactly what is covered and what isn't. They say you don't need a grammar course. I hope not since we would also be doing Latin and grammar would be covered there, too.

As for Latin, I'm leaning toward a program called Lively Latin. It looks fun and I could do it with both older kids at the same time. There's also a new Latin program called Song School Latin that's going to be released for younger kids and that might be good for my youngest. I'm sure she'll want to study what her older sister and brother are studying!

Me Homeschool?

I've started this blog to keep track of all I'm discovering and learning as we make the decision to either homeschool my three children next year or leave them at the private Catholic school where they currently attend.  I did register them with the school for the 2008/09 year in order to give my hubby and I time to discern what's best for our family, but I must admit, I'm pretty excited about the thought of homeschooling! I love the concept of a classical education for my children.

How did the issue of homeschooling come up?

Well, after I worked with my oldest to prepare for finals, including teaching her a couple new chapters, she needed to take early because of a family vacation, she asked me if I would homeschool her next year. I asked why she wanted to be homeschooled. She feels she would learn more one and one and be able to move faster with her studies. Soon my youngest, also a girl who attends preschool three days a week, said she wanted to be homeschooled for kindergarten. Finally my son, a second grader, decided homeschooling might be fun for him, too.

The thought of homeschooling is a bit overwhelming, but it's not a totally new concept for us.

Way back when when my oldest, currently 9 and in fourth grade, was going into Kindergarden I planned on homeschooing her if she didn't get into our parish school. I'd read The Well-Trained Mind (TWTM) and fell in love with classical education. I looked into Catholic homeschool schools such as Kolbe, Angelicum and Mother of Divine Grace. But we squeaked into the school due to a mistake by the office and decided to send her there. I, however, after-schooled that first year with a combination of various things from Catholic Heritage Curriculum (CHC) and MODG. During the summer after kindergarten, I used Story of the World (SOTW) with her. We loved that, but once September rolled around we put it aside and never went back to it.

And finally, a little about me. I'm a Catholic stay at home mom of three (3/98, 4/00, 1/03), who writes novels when she gets a chance. That means naptime and late at night. I've sold 14 books since 1997 and was recently (okay, two weeks ago) asked to write number 15. One concern I have with homeschooling is how that will work with my writing and deadlines! Something's going to have to give somewhere.

I'm also a trained catechist for two levels (ages 3-6 and 6-9) of a hands-on, Montessori-like religious formation method called Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. That's where the name of this blog, Notes from the Sheepfold, comes from. There is a work (one of my favorites) that uses a figure of the Good Shepherd, sheep and a sheepfold. The children hear the words from the Gospel and come to realize as they work with the figures who the Good Shepherd is and who we are. That Jesus calls each of us by name and lays down his life for us.

Last week I used the work with an extension for the Level 2 children (ages 6-9) called The Hireling and the Wolf. I'm not sure who got more out of the lesson the kids or me. (And that's one thing I love about working in the Atrium. It's really helped me with my own faith journey!) The Hireling running away from the flock when trouble (the wolf who personifies evil) appeared made me really think of my children's education. The school they attend has done a good job, but let's face it, they are paid to teach the children, just as the Hireling is paid to watch the sheep. I couldn't stop thinking about what the Church says about parents being the primary educators of their children after making that analogy.

I'm looking forward to learning more, exploring curriculum options and talking to other parents who are homeschooling or who have homeschooled in the past.