It's Only Been, I Don't Know, Forever?

We're back!  We're moving!  And it's about time to start school again.  No, I'm not kidding, we start school tomorrow.  I already have the stack of books sitting beside my chair for the first two weeks and everything.  All we need now is the schedule to be tacked to the wall and we'll be good to go.

So what's coming up for us this year?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  This year we're going to be starting a whole bunch of things on the homeschool front.  We've kind of scrapped our old unschooling ways in favor of more involved pursuits.  However, it's going to be a really fun year and I think the kids are going to absolutely love it!

But before we get to that, I'm going to talk about Pinkie.  This year is going to be Pinkie's sophomore year in high school.  Yes, high school!  She's studying landscaping at our local vocational school, and she's in love with it.  Part of that was being able to drive a tractor, but most of it is her love of working outdoors and being involved with plants.  It's always been a thing of hers, ever since she was pretty little.  She's always been into plants and animals.

But what about the homeschooling crew?  We're checking out a new program (well, new to us) called Build Your Library.  It's a secular literature-based curriculum, so basically everything we need.  I found it through a group called Secular, Eclectic, Academic.  I don't remember how I encountered them, but I used them to vet out other literature-based programs available.  While I have to say I wasn't worried about "truly secular" curriculum by their definition, I think I definitely found my home with Build Your Library.

So, why did I choose this one?  I'll be honest, I loved some of the book selections and I got excited that the creator chose things like The Hobbit and some other more modern titles.  It also helps that it wasn't a small fortune to purchase the books (though my aunt did do us a huge favor and got most of them for us used!)  As I explored the curriculum and learned more about the creator, I got more and more excited.  The woman who put it all together is really my kind of person.  She loves to read, but she's also into fantasy and science fiction, and we even watch some of the same shows.  She reads comic books, too, and goes to the local Comic Con.  There's definitely something appealing about a curriculum written by someone that's my kind of people.

Truth be told, I wasn't even looking for a curriculum when I started finding them.  People just started referencing them and I got curious.  This resulted in me checking them out, and then finally starting to really get drawn into the idea that these kinds of curricula even exist!  Next thing you know I was trying to figure out in the budget how I was going to afford to provide one for my kids, and then the whole idea of unschooling went right out the window.

Against what everyone recommends, I've decided to do a different level for each of the kids.  This is in part because of my own personal discomfort at the idea of having them work off "grade level" and instead having to modify the whole thing to make it appropriate for all of their skill levels.  On top of that, there's something nice about being able to give them each the individualized attention of their own plan and assignments.  Yes, it's more work, but I think it will result in each one of them getting a little bit more individualized attention.

So this year Bear is going to be in level 1.  That means we're going to be studying the ancients in history.  This is paired with some great literature, including a couple books that actually tie into the history, something that must have been challenging to find.  It's hard to find a book that appeals to that age level and matching that period of history.  There isn't a ton of lit written in that period.  This is all put together with a nature study, which seems like a really good "introduction to science" kind of thing.  Finally, we'll be adding our own math and phonics, sticking with what we're already doing, since it works so well for us.

Creeper gets to study the middle ages, though we're going to be including a little bit of a gloss-over for the ancients.  We've done it before, but it's been a little while, so this will be a review.  More than anything I wanted to get the timeline figures up there for him so he can have a full timeline when he's finished.  He's also got a great lit selection, which I've really been enjoying.  Science for him will be broken up into Earth science and space.  It should be a fun year.  Also, he'll be doing the same math and phonics, just like Bear.

Finally, there's Link.  He's doing the first level of American history.  I could have had him work on grade level, but as one of the things they learn is the 50 states, half in each year of American history, I thought we should start at the beginning.  His books are pretty good too, and they provide the link between his history and science.  For science he's doing biology, and it seems like there's a little bit of emphasis on diseases, which should be fun because I'm highly interested in infectious disease.  It all just packages together so neatly!  This is also going to be his last year in the elementary math books, as next year he's going to be doing pre-algebra.  We're also going to be working on finishing out his phonics curriculum, so that should be one thing to mark off the list.  I still can't believe he's already in middle school!  They grow up so fast!

And we're not homeschooling in isolation during the day either!  My aunt is getting some time in with the kids via Skype this year, which is huge.  Now, I'm not excited about this because it means I have a little less to worry about every day.  Yeah, she's taking some of the burden on history and poetry and almost all of lit.  However, this is a chance for her to build a strong relationship with the kids!  When they grow up and think back about their family, they're going to remember all those times working on the computer with their aunt.  She's a great, engaging reader.  She's always ready with funny comments to keep things lively.  The help with homescooling is just an added bonus.  It's also great to be able to have a resource who used to work in education and knows tips and tricks that I'd never even thought of before.  I don't know what we'd do without her insight.

Okay, time for a little nostalgia...  Thinking back about my aunt helping me out, I keep going back to the same thought over and over again.  Years back, when I was still pretty young, she made me a collection of poems.  She illustrated the book and everything.  I had that thing for years, and my parents might even still have it in their basement somewhere.  It was my favorite thing to pull out to read, and I still have one of the poems, a very short one, memorized.  It's one of those things that stuck with me for years.  Having my kids work with my aunt, it feels like it's that kind of thing, only less physical and tangible.  They may not have had a book to pull out and look at, but they get to see and talk to their aunt daily, which is great.  When they grow up they may not have memories of a collection of poems she made, but they'll remember reciting the poems they memorized to her.  They'll have memories of the books they read together and all the conversations they had.  They're going to be close, and that's wonderful.

But that's basically it for our planning this year.  I'm sure I'll have more to write after we've kicked off the year, which is tomorrow!  I still have things to do to get ready, like writing up narration cards and getting all of that sorted out, but we're almost there.  It's down to the finer details now, and anything that doesn't come along perfectly smoothly will be sorted out as we get rolling.  These first couple of weeks are going to be a challenge, but we'll get there, and it's all going to be so much fun!

It's morning.  Sunshine is splashing in the window.  The house is pretty peaceful and quiet.  That's how it's starting to be every morning.  While I used to roll out of bed, tired and annoyed, somewhere around 11am, I'm finding that I like my morning ritual of being up by seven, woken by the kids as they get up and request breakfast.  It's quiet and peaceful.

It used to be that someone else would get up with the kids.  My family was so scattered with people on different sleep schedules.  Often times I would be up late with someone, and in turn someone else would have to get up early with the kids.  I hated it.  It felt like I was missing so much, but I didn't know what else to do.  My life kind of demanded that schedule.

When the co-op started a couple weeks back, I had to make a drastic change in my life.  I was up in the morning, ready to go, though exhausted, at 7am.  We were out the door an hour and a half later and I was expected to function, be aware, and be a good mom.  That first week was trying, I'll admit.  I was exhausted, understandably so since my sleep schedule hadn't even begun to change over.  I felt so out of place and I almost hated my new sleep schedule before I really gave it a chance.

Almost three weeks later I'm finding that I don't feel driven to try and wake up early on only one day of the week.  Most days the latest I sleep in is 8, and that's only because the kids sleep in too.  Most mornings I'm up not much after 7am.  It's been nice.  It makes the day seem so much longer, and by 10pm, I'm about ready to call it a night.  I'm starting to feel like a normal mom these days.  I have to admit, it's pretty wonderful!

Now my mornings are a very different creature.  I wake up to the kids asking me if they can have breakfast most mornings, if I don't wake up just before they do.  It's the same thing every morning.  They wake up, get dressed, and ask me if they can have breakfast.  Every morning I tell them the same thing, that they can make it when they're ready, as long as they're quiet.  Chesh works overnights, so they can't be loud while he's trying to catch up on sleep during the day.  They go from breakfast to wanting to color, look at books, or ask me a million questions.  Mornings are surprisingly quiet around here, aside from on co-op days.  I'm actually enjoying my mornings, even though I always swore I was never much of a morning person.

Co-op days, on the other hand, are all kinds of chaotic.  We all get up at 7am and there's a mad dash for my older two to get dressed while I get the littlest breakfast.  As I'm getting dressed and doing something with my hair to keep it from my face all day, the older two join the littlest for breakfast.  Then there's a bustle of activity as I get the little one ready and my older two brush their hair, check their bags to make sure everything's packed for class (though they do most of it the day before), and I go about putting my older son's hair back in a ponytail, since class is probably so much easier when his hair isn't in his face.  He hates his hair pulled back in a ponytail.  Then my daughter decides last minute that she wants me to do her hair too (which thankfully I've anticipated and started on the hair earlier), so I have to figure out something for that.  Thankfully, most days a ponytail is good enough for her.  I'm thinking I've got to get some pretty barrettes or hair clips for her too because then we'll have so many more options while her hair is still too short to do much with.  Once it's longer she and I may have to get up earlier so I can do different things for her.  I double check my supplies in the diaper bag (which I'd already stocked the day before), fill the littlest's sippy cups, and hand my older two juice, fruit snacks, rice cakes, and apple sauce while they make their sandwiches.  Then my little snails and I head out to the car.  I've decided my older two are racing snails, while the littlest is just your regular old sluggish snail.  They're at the car with everything packed up and in the car before my littlest and I finally make our slow descent down the stairs.  Once we've made that last step, however, everyone races to the car.  The older two hop in the back and the littlest tries to convince me he's old enough to ride in a regular car seat so he can get into the seat himself.  It's not going to be long before he's in a forward facing seat, so maybe that will change.  Once everyone's in and buckled, we're off for the half hour drive up to the co-op while I'm eating something quick for breakfast on the way.  One of these days I'm going to actually start making breakfasts, I swear!

One would think I wouldn't like the co-op days in comparison to the calm, relaxed mornings every other day.  I've never been much for getting up in the morning to hit the ground running.  Everyone knows I prefer to relax in the morning and slowly work my way into whatever I'm doing for the day.  Strangely, I like the co-op days so much more.  I kind of wish we did the co-op more than once each week!  I can't even imagine what I would do if we didn't sign up for the co-op again next semester!  I think I've got to start looking for more activities to get the kids involved in so we'll have more opportunities to get up and go in the morning.  That way the kids can have more fun activities to do every day and I'll have all the more reason to get everyone up, going, and out the door in the morning.  Who would have thought it's the crazy mornings where we've got to get ready and out the door would be my favorite?

For years I thought these early morning starts were just too early.  It was torture to have to get up before 8am, and anything before 9 was just unlikely.  Now I think 8am is sleeping in and anything after 9 is just unreasonable!  I'm working towards getting up at 7am every morning, and would be willing to get up earlier if need be.  I think I might just get into the trend of being a morning person.

The funny thing is I used to use early mornings as a reason why my kids don't go to school.  I didn't want to get up early to get them fed, dressed, and out the door in time for school.  Now I'm realizing that's not a problem for me at all, and probably wouldn't be.  The problem comes in at putting them on the bus.  Of course, I can work around that by driving them to school.  Then the problem would be leaving them at school all day.  In general, my reasons for homeschooling go far beyond getting up in the morning.  I have no problem dropping them off in their classes at the co-op, but that's a family-oriented event, very different than dumping your kids in school and leaving to spend the day doing other things.

I guess this dynamic change to being a morning person has really made an impact on my life.  It's made me realize that my laziness in the morning has absolutely nothing to do with my choice to homeschool.  If anything, since the co-op, it's been even more of a motivation not to be lazy, to pick up and start doing the things I need to be doing.  It's given me the gift of enjoying my mornings with my children, whether it's a crazy, chaotic morning on the go, or a lazy morning where I can hang out with my kids while drinking tea and being as lazy to make my own breakfast as I want.  Morning's are perhaps the best time of the day for me, right up there with watching my kids head off to bed, tired and excited for whatever tomorrow will bring.

Changing Schedules

Over the summer most school kids go through the change.  Lack of school means later nights and sleeping in.  They go from a regular routine of school every day to a chaotic time of freedom.  Some kids go to summer camp, but for most, it's just lazy days of summer where they can play, rest, and do whatever they want.

For homeschool kids it's a little different.  There isn't necessarily a rigid school schedule, so summer creates less of a break.  Some parents even continue homeschooling straight through the summer, something I'd thought about time and time again.  In Texas summer is too hot to enjoy, so we might as well just take our break during cooler weather.  It would only make sense.  However, the spring, summer, and fall season transitions in and out of the school year don't have much impact on our family most years.

This year things are different.  We've got someone new living in our house.  His work schedule and my partner's work schedule conflict just a little, and since he doesn't drive, that leaves me to play taxi.  It's only going to get more complicated when the kids start the homeschool co-op in the fall.  I feel like my lie is falling into a predictable schedule, something I'm not used to with my chaotic, free life.  I'm used to coming and going as I please and not holding to any real routine.  This is a huge change for us, especially as it means changing nap times and bed times.

First thing in the morning my partner gets up with our friend and drives him to work.  When he comes home he falls back into bed and sleeps for a while longer.  I sneak out of bed, get up with the kids and somewhat supervise breakfast while checking my e-mail for any work-related information.  I generally hop on Facebook, the evil that it is, chat with a friend for a while, post some kind of update about what's going on that morning, and get to work on something or another.  Lately I've been trying to read as much as I can about homeschooling, pick books I want to read once I get a steady income coming in, and things of that nature.  It's summer time, so I can get away with that.  Otherwise it will be sitting, knitting in lap, while I go over lessons with the kids, have arts and crafts time, whatever is on the schedule for the day.  Lunch time hits and we eat, if I can wrangle the kids to the table to sit down that long, and my partner plays video games for a while before getting ready for work.  Halo Reach is a particular favorite of his right now.  After lunch we try and relax for a bit before it's time to get on the move.  This is when the baby gets his nap in for the day.  About 2pm we start the process of getting everyone on the move.  There's a baby to change, kids to get dressed, and my older son needs to hit the potty before we hit the road.  Normally my kids don't bother to get dressed before noon.  I try to encourage it, but they enjoy being able to go through the morning in their pajamas.  I see no reason to force them into something different. Then we hit the road around 3pm so I can take my partner to work and pick up my dear friend from his job.  The rest of the afternoon is play time for the kids while I try to get something done.  Over the summer, this is the ideal time for me to sit, relax and knit, or work on my novel for Camp NaNoWriMo.  Once we start up with homeschooling again, this is probably going to be the only time of day I have to write my articles for work, blog, and do whatever else comes to mind.  I've got an idea percolating for NaNoWriMo in November, and that will probably take up most of my afternoon relaxation time for the month.  Of course, I'll only have a couple hours since dinner needs to be on the table by 7pm, kids in bed by 9, which is about the time my darling friend watches the kids for me so I can pick up my partner from work at 10.  This schedule, of course, changes.  I have dance classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.  Rehearsals and events on weekends mix things up too.  However, we're falling into a routine, which is unusual for me.

I know time will be even more at a premium when fall comes around.  All three of my children are taking part in the homeschool co-op this year.  There's a wonderful local group called Open Minds.  I've been looking into them for nearly a year now, and finally I've gotten off my tail to make the enrollment deadline.  They'll be in classes from 9am to noon every Tuesday and Thursday.  It will be a wonderful way for the kids to connect with children their own age and learn while they're at it.  I have a feeling this will make our lives a whole lot happier.  It's hard being a homeschooling kid when all your friends go to school!

With our new routine we've learned a few things.  First, my kids need to get to bed earlier.  They spend too much of their time looking like zombies with an unpleasant attitude to match.  The older too need to stop taking regular naps during the day, no matter how much they need it, because they don't sleep at night, and, honestly, once the homeschool co-op starts up, they won't have time for a nap between getting home and driving everyone to and from work.  At least the baby will get his nap, but he cheats.  He sleeps in the car.  I need to start planning good hearty breakfasts, and lunches that can be made on the fly.  I'm going to need to come up with good options for dinner too.  We're going to have to work on getting an easy to work with routine going, that also includes plenty of time to keep after my house, something we're all slacking off on.

Of course, in order to do that we're really going to have to look into our options for storage.  We don't have much storage space.  No matter how much we take to Goodwill, we're still going to have stuff that needs to be stored.  I'm going to have to save up for dressers for the adults.  I need to pick up some toy storage units for the kids.  We need to make this house look more like, well, a home and not just a storage place that people live in.  Eventually I'd even like to get some of my own posters for the wall!