The Revealed Home School Life

I never ever wanted to home school my kids. I've wanted them out of the house and in public school for a long time. This was the year I was going to have three in school/two at home. And then home school happened.

And let me tell you.

I love it.


Yes, it began because my kids' teachers were awful. It was a "last resort" kind of response to sub-par education, but it became more. As I was preparing and thinking about home school I wanted to talk to other parents who were thinking about home schooling, planning on doing it, or already in the groove. Luckily, I know enough home schooling families here that I feel I'm well supported. It's nice knowing people who also know that home schooling isn't as weird as we all thought it would be and who know that I'm teaching my kids and not using the excuse of home schooling to be lazy. Trust me, there's nothing lazy about home school. Well, I do sleep in later than I did before. But why in the world would I get up at 6:15AM if I don't need to shove my kids out for a bus at 7:30 anymore? Right?

One of these fabulous people I talked to has kids around my kids' ages. And get this, HE'S been home schooling HIS kids for a while now. His wife actually works with Nathan and he stays home with the kids and teaches them. His kids are way smart by the way.

I asked him why he decided to home school. His reply? "I felt I wouldn't get enough time with my kids if I sent them off to school."

Whaaaat?

That was the exact opposite of how I felt. I was pretty sure we all needed a break from each other, because we drive each other nuts. Plus, I wanted to write my books and sew aprons and clothes and quilts without interruption. Yep, there it is. I wanted some time for myself. With 5 kids there isn't much time to go around. Add to it a church responsibility that is like a full-time job and I'm amazed I have time to breathe, really.

"I felt I wouldn't get enough time with my kids if I sent them off to school."

Wow. I felt awful.

He continued, "There are so many things I want to teach them that I think are important and I thought if I sent them off to school I'd only have them for an hour or so in the morning and then a few hours after school and then it's bedtime. When would I teach them those things that I think are important?"

I began to change my perspective. Home schooling became more at that point. Yes, the awful teachers are a big factor in our decision and the main reason why Nathan agreed to home schooling. No, I don't spend my days constantly teaching my kids the big life lessons, at least not intentionally. But every day I know my kids are learning something, are realizing they can do something they didn't think was possible, are grasping concepts that were out of their reach the day before, and they're doing these things TOGETHER. And I get to see it happen. How awesome is that?!

Our home school days are infinitely better than our lazy summer days. We begin the day with a song, usually from the children's hymn book our church uses, but sometimes the kids ask for a "grown-up" hymn. Then prayer, the pledge of allegiance, the Oklahoma pledge, and scripture study are next. We just finished reading the kid's Book of Mormon, the one with pictures and descriptions underneath. They loved taking turns reading it to each other. Then we move on to other school stuff. Usually since I have them all together after scripture study we do one of the subjects that we can do together like history or science. Then we separate. I'll work with one or two kids depending on what we need to do. I might do math with Megan and Jeremy together while Emma listens to a book on CD or practices her writing. Then I'll switch and do math with Emma while Megan and Jeremy finish their math work that doesn't require me being right with them. Then I'll have Megan listen to Emma read while I do writing and grammar with Jeremy. We go like this, switching around until snack/lunch time. Usually after we eat the kids like to get back together and I read to them. Right now we are reading A Series of Unfortunate Events. We just finished The Wide Window and tomorrow we'll start The Miserable Mill. I'm excited because now Jeremy and Emma have no idea what to expect since the movie only covered the first three books. Nathan and I took turns reading the books to Megan a few years ago, so she remembers some of what happens. Then we do P.E. For this we try to be creative. They can ride their bikes, do archery, or take turns calling out random exercises and a number while music blasts from Pandora. The random exercise days are my favorite because it's so cute watching Emma try to do push ups while Jeremy totally rocks them. Plus, it's fun watching Lincoln try to do any of what they do :)  If they have been really good all day, they might get to do a special P.E. like Just Dance on the Wii or something I love which I stole from Pinterest (thank you, Pinterest!). Have you seen those workouts geared for Harry Potter movies? For example, every time Hagrid says, "I shouldn'ta said that," the kids have to do 20 jumping jacks. Every time someone does a spell, they have to run in place for 30 seconds. And on and on and on. My kids love it because they rarely get screen time. I love it because I can just write the exercises on the white board and go make dinner. They don't simply zone out while watching the movie, at least not for the first hour or so. After a while when they're worn out I let them sit and watch the movie without all the exercises, but we usually have a die hard who will try to make it all the way to the end doing each of the exercises.

The awesome part of all this? We start school 45 minutes later than the public school and end 45 minutes sooner (most days).

I'll write more later about what textbooks we're using. I wanted to include it here, but this is already pretty long. I just wanted to give an update here for those who were wondering what our home school days have been like. I know some of you who know me well wondered if I could really do it. I don't blame you, I wondered, too.

Harry Potter and The Whys of Life

Most of you know that Megan can read a book three times before I get through it once. She is an incredibly voracious reader. She ended the school year with more AR (remember that post?) points than any other kid in her class, and probably in the school, and received a special award for her hard work.

For the last year or so Megan and I have been working our way through the Harry Potter books for bedtime. A couple nights ago we finished Half Blood Prince. As we got further and further into the series and the books got darker and darker, I became more worried about Megan's ability to read these books without having nightmares. Her night terrors resurfaced a couple months ago and I've no interest in seeing them return on a full-time basis. The few she had brought memories of being helpless and frustrated to the forefront of my mind.

I think it was her first grade teacher that did a whole unit on fiction vs. nonfiction during reading. I'm grateful for this because since then, she's done so much better with "scary" books and movies. But still, these books get much more dark and scary than Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal.

*Spoiler Alert: If you haven't read the books and have no intention of doing so, you're all good. If for some insane reason you haven't read the Harry Potter books because you've been putting it off, you might want to skip the next two paragraphs.

We got to the chapter where Harry and Dumbledore are in the cave and the inferi are about to attack. I knew that no amount of fiction vs. non-fiction discussion would be enough, Megan wouldn't be able to handle it. I was right. I wasn't a full sentence into it and I had to stop and ask Megan if she wanted me to skip that part. It was the first time I'd had to skip anything.

Then came the confrontation between Dumbledore and Snape on the astronomy tower. I can't read that part without crying. I'm not sure how many times I've read the books. I read them with Nathan, each once. But I've also read them on my own for fun and also for study (before the last book came out I read each book and took notes on Snape, trying to find out if he was truly a Death Eater or not). I cried and cried through that whole section. When we finished it, Megan and I talked for a bit. She's a smart cookie, that Megan. On her own she decided that Dumbledore was asking Snape to kill him. She didn't fully understand why, but she knew Dumbledore wasn't asking Snape to not kill him.

It was so hard as a mother to not share with Megan all I know about the Dumbledore/Snape relationship. I wanted to comfort her, to explain to her the background information so it would all make sense. I wanted her to pity Snape and see him in a new light. Instead I had to let her grieve for Dumbledore and remain confused and upset with Snape.

If I'd been reading this book with another adult who didn't know what happens in the final book, I wouldn't have been as tempted to share all I know about what's to come and the whys of what happened. I'd be excited for them to read the next book and discover on their own what's to come. However, because it was Megan, my child who internalizes books the same way I do, because I could see the pain she felt and felt it myself, I wanted to ease her pain and explain it all away.

But I couldn't do that. How much more will she appreciate finding out on her own, the right way, than if I told her all I know.

It made me think of our Father in Heaven. He who knows all. He who knows all the whys and hows. Sometimes He gives us little glimpses, but never all the reasons and information. He lets us find out on our own and as we do, He comforts us if we let him. As we go through life and experience the horrible, or difficult, of seemingly unfair trials of life, we always want to know the whys. As Megan had to trust me that all would be well, and trust me when I said I couldn't explain it all right then, we must believe our Father in Heaven when He says all will be well if we trust in Him, despite how grim or sad or terrible things look and how few answers we have at the moment.

We've begun reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We're a couple chapters in now. I'm excited to be with Megan as she ends this adventure. I'm grateful I get to be with her as she learns all the whys and hows. I'm grateful I get to see her face as she makes these discoveries. I'm excited to talk with her when it's all done and over and we can sit and contemplate and mull over this world that was created for us to enjoy. Just as I'm sure our Heavenly Father is excited to sit and contemplate and mull over with us, when it's over, this earthly world that was created by Him for us to enjoy.

Tame and Quiet Children

This is how I feel today.


"I confess," replied Elinor, "that while I am at Barton Park, I never think of tame and quiet children with any abhorrence."

Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility

Motherhood

If you are a mom, will be a mom, want to be a mom, or even just like children, go here: The Misplaced Americans

Training Chickens Vs. Training Children

Did you know that I can train baby chickens? I can. I have twice taught baby chicks to turn clockwise and counterclockwise circles and peck at red and white dots in complex orders--all for food.

(I was also supposed to train a rat, but I didn't like the rat. Once it bit me in front of a guy I had a crush on ((way before I met Nathan)) and I made sure that rat died.)

I even showed my amazingness to Elder Bednar when he was president at Ricks. (Is it obvious I can't say BYU-I?) I showed Elder Bednar and a bunch of rich people who were thinking about investing in the college.

They thought I was cool.

Yes, I can train chickens.

But I cannot for the life of me train my children--or myself for that matter.


Does this make the chickens smarter?