Keeping it Real...How home schooling is REALLY going!

   

     Hey all! I've been wanting to update you on how school is going but I've had a hard time finding a moments rest. The first day of school started with a bang! We sat down to begin and soon realized that we had some visitors. Wasps had made a nest inside one of our slide outs in our trailer . I killed as many as I could swat,  maybe 5 or so and I got the kids in the car and drove to Home Desperate, I mean Home Depot. We bought the most expensive wasp spray ( hoping that if I spent enough the problem would go away) and made a B- line for home . I kept the kids in the car and ran inside to face our new nemesis. They were mainly in the master bedroom so I sprayed as many little buggers and we vacated the premesis. We played at the park and went out to lunch before returning . I only found 2 after that and Ian killed the nest when he got home. It was an extraordinary first day of school. Not at all as I had planned , which has been a theme this year .

First day of School!

      It was an adjustment for my oldest to homeschool out of books.  He has been accustomed to work on a computer . His early weeks were very long school days. Math was taking us for.....ev....er. My magical Algebra book that I was so hyped on, didn't work for us. Turns out we weren't ready for Pre- Algebra. The curriculum magazine told me we were but that was a lie! It was hard for me to accept at first. I thought maybe he had forgotten things over summer, or he was just trying to torture me. I finally found a free placement test online for Saxon math.
 http://www.sonlight.com/saxon-placement-tests.html
        I was able to get him a new math program a few weeks into our school year. I was bummed that it didn't work out with that other curriculum  but I am really happy with how he's doing now in Saxon Math. It still is the subject that takes him the longest but it has gotten so much better. Latin has turned out to be his favorite subject. Which has given us an opportunity to learn how to make flashcards . That's one of my favorite parts about homeschooling. Finding practical things to teach my kids, like study skills. 

     Teaching two kids out of books is still hard for me. I feel constantly torn between the boys but something that has helped immensely is coming up with a lesson plan for the week and giving it to the boys Monday morning. It has helped them to be more self sufficient . Another homeschooling momma gave me this idea. So they know what pages they have to complete this week and when their test will be. They can get ahead if they're feeling ambitious and they don't have to keep asking me "what's next?" Also, they color in the box when the assignment is complete. I think that's actually their favorite part of the lesson plan.

 

  I think we're definately in a groove now . But there are moments when I want to tear out my hair . Things I have to repeat constantly are " Yes you have to write in complete sentences." Or " Yes you have to do all the exercises ." or " Why did you skip this?" or " Capitalize you're sentences." or "Where is the period?" My favorite answer that has come up so far in the school year is this one.......

See the 4th question down. Poor kid even spelled butt wrong

      Then there was the devastating day when my son got a 60% on his English test. He didn't even attempt to study. If your grades fall below an 80% average in this house, video games are off limits. We were headed to a friends house for a Friday - homeschoolers video game day. Oh he was so upset. Tried to strike a bargain with me, pleading and begging. No luck,, he missed out that day and his friends were just as disappointed as he was. You better believe he studies for his English tests now. How do we figure out grades? I'm glad you asked! Around here, we do a lot of bookwork. All work is checked and corrected immidiately. So they can't just slop answers down or they will be redoing it all day long. Since they put so much time into their bookwork, they are graded on classwork and then I average their test scores in with their or daily work score. 

  On top of this school mania we have started soccer 3x a week and fall baseball once a week. Then we started up guitar lessons because I have been thinking about it for 2 years. So we finally  signed up for that too.  Of course Awanas has started back up  on Wednesday nights and we have to do that because it's date night and we parents love our date night! We've even squeezed in a field trip to the Denver zoo. So that in itself has kept us off our rockers , busy.

Linewives at the Denver Zoo

 

     We were hoping to leave Denver at the beginning of November but it looks like we'll be here a bit longer. So we signed up Waylon for preschool . It's only a few hours, twice a week, but he loved it. That one day he got to go before catching some sort of sickness from preschool. Oh well. We look forward to the time that he goes . We got so much done those 3 hours that one day. Cuz in the end, I'm not anti-school . I'm pro- happy kids and whatever it takes to make your children happy with their learning career. I'd do it.

Running into Preschool as fast as he can