Who says learning has to happen at home?

Need proof that homeschooling is becoming much more mainstream than it has been in years past?

Red River Ski Area in Red River, NM had a whole week

deemed as "Homeschool Week" and offered great deals on lift tickets!

It just so happened that we were looking for a good excuse to go skiing and that was it! ;0)

Before we began homeschooling, I found myself using opportunities while on

vacation to teach. Any parent can do this, whether you homeschool or not.

Going to the beach or mountains or NASA or NYC? There are a million opportunities to learn!

Yes, we had fun skiing on this trip but we also had opportunities to learn & teach along the way.

No better or more fun way to learn if you ask me! :)





Reading & Math got done during our very long  drive.
Roadtrips are a great way to incorporate Geography too!



This natural rock formation sparked some good conversation....

Art in the snow? Why not!? :)
Simply fill bottles with food coloring & water
and let the kids paint in the snow! :)

Both boys skied and that's something they can't do in Texas!

Seeing the pride and excitement on their faces was all I needed from this trip.

Until next time..........

Blessings!



Bees & Honey!

We had the opportunity to go to a 'bee farm' (is that what they're called?) for a beekeeping class with our homeschool group and I'm always up for an adventure so I decided to take Wyatt. Honey ranks in the top 3 of his favorite foods so this was perfect for him! :0) (It ended up that Steve had to take Wyatt instead as I needed to make a trip to Oklahoma for my grandfathers funeral.) They had fun and both learned about bees and honey in the process. Kudos to my hubby for not only remembering to take my camera but also getting some great pictures!  

Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492......

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the most 'crafty' person. I just don't have the knack for coming up wtih some of these crafty ideas. But, I also know that some of the lessons I remember best during my school career involved hands-on projects to help drive them home.

 (like the huge teepee we made out of paper sacks in 3rd grade to learn about native american symbols and drawings

 - see my brain isn't completely gone) :)

So, today was a great opportunity for a project and I'm so thankful for the internet. What a great source for these kinds of things!

 

I read a short story to Wyatt (and Jonah as he played with cars in the floor) about Christopher Columbus. Then I had a timeline of the ships voyages so we plotted the route(s) on the globe.

After that we began making our boats: Nina, Pinta & Santa Maria

Painting is always a hit. I'm pretty sure we could include paint in anything and it would be fun instantly. Jonah helped too. :)

Here's a couple of pictures of the masterpiece:

This was really a very easy project. (my favorite kind)

Items Needed:

Egg Crate

Paint (acrylic) & Brushes

Toothpicks

Paper for the sails

Clay or Playdough

Cut apart the egg crate into 3 'shells'. Paint them with any color paint you choose and

set them aside to dry.

Take 6 toothpicks and break 3 of them in 1/2 so you then have 3 full toothpicks for the large sails and 6 halves for the smaller sails.

Cut peices of paper into squares. (6 peices will need to be a little larger for the big sails)

Cut 18 smaller peices for the smaller sails.

Lay out the peices of paper and put a small line of glue on the paper/sail then lay a toothpick on it and sandwich it with another peice of paper for the other side of the sail.

Repeat this with all of the paper/toothpicks until you have 6 small sails and 3 larger sails.

Once the glue dries and the paint dries, put a small glob of clay or playdough in the bottom of each boat. Insert the toothpick into the clay for the sails to stand upright.

Ta-Da! You have a Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria!

Why do we homeschool?

I think every homeschooling family has to ask themselves this question at some point.

And, the answer may change from year to year. And that's ok.

I bet every homeschooling family gets asked this question....and sometimes maybe even in a rude, condesending tone.

For the last year or so we have seriously considered this as an educational option for our boys and began asking ourselves why we would want to do this. Of course it's easier to send them off to school for 7 hours a day....or is it?

We homeschool for a variety of reasons and are there days that I shake my head and think to myself  "I give up --- why am I am doing this?" or ask God why He led us to this journey- YES! Then I remember our journey in public school and I remember the prayers I said and the feeling of peace I had when we finally decided this was the right path for us.

We homeschool because, first and foremost, this is what we feel God has led us to do. The idea of homeschooling was brought to our attention before we ever had kids and the concept was interesting. Then, as the years went by and our oldest began kindergarten the concept became more interesting and began to appear on our radar more and more. By the middle of his 1st grade year, we made our decision and felt good about it.

We homeschool because I don't want someone else being with my kids for 7 hours a day. That turns into tens of thousands of hours over the course of their school career. I have been with my boys since day 1. I taught them how to eat with utensils, how to brush their teeth, how to say their ABCs, and taught Wyatt how to ride a bike, tie his shoes and write his name. I could go on and on. Homeschooling is nothing more than an extension of parenting.

We homeschool because I like to know what they are and are NOT learning. Nothing made me more angry when our oldest was in school than for him to come home and not understand how to do something and me have NO idea how to help him because I didn't know how it was being taught in the first place................OR for things to seem to be fine until report cards came home and then I find out that he's been having trouble with XYZ.
By my teaching him, I see what he's learning. I know immediately if he understands and if he doesn't, we spend more time on it because I don't have 20+ more kids that I have to deal with.


We homeschool because while some people are certain that public school is the only and best way for kids to be 'socialized', we don't agree. I'm not sure how putting 20+ same age kids in a classroom, clammering for 1 teachers attention is really socializing. We are raising our kids to be adults. With homeschool they get to socialize with all sorts of people or all ages. Do we sit inside our house every single day all day long? No way! We go to meetings and get togethers with our homeschool group, we go to the park and on nature walks, we go to museums and to various stores etc.
 These are all places to learn.


We homeschool because we were given these 2 boys to raise, nurture and teach.
I find its hard to do those things when we are not together.


Now, all of this being said, do I know that we'll homeschool in 8 years or even in 2 years? No.
We will take it 1 year at a time and pray about it along the way.
There may come a time that we don't feel this is right for our family and then
we'll research other options. Does this mean that everyday I have it all together and feel 100% great about it? No. Somedays I wonder if I'm doing a good enough job. Afterall, I'm pretty sure that I'm more strict on my kids than a teacher would be. ;0)


So.....one day at a time the adventure continues. :)


Blessings,
Shannon

Getting behind....

I just don't have enough hours in the day it seems.
Last week we went to the Bob Bullock State History Museum for homeschool day. There were lots of kiddos there and we had fun! Jonah even enjoyed it. Of course of everything Wyatts favorite parts were an airplane and replica train station from Abilene. ;0) I took pictures on my phone and I don't have them on here of course. Use your imagination. ;0)
Yesterday was a rough day.We have days like that when everything seems 'off'........then I remember that we had those days with public school too. Those are the days that I have to remind myself that we aren't a traditional school and I have the freedom to make changes and we end up changing gears. Sigh.....


Today Steve taught and I escaped to Starbucks with my computer to edit the over 900 pictures I shot in Lubbock 2 weeks ago. I spent 2 hours there and might have made a dent. I came home to Wyatt and Steve doing Yoga on the Wii. That counts as a class I guess. ;0)


Ok.....more to do. I'll try to keep this up better.
Blessings.....

Getting behind....

I just don't have enough hours in the day it seems.
Last week we went to the Bob Bullock State History Museum for homeschool day. There were lots of kiddos there and we had fun! Jonah even enjoyed it. Of course of everything Wyatts favorite parts were an airplane and replica train station from Abilene. ;0) I took pictures on my phone and I don't have them on here of course. Use your imagination. ;0)
Yesterday was a rough day.We have days like that when everything seems 'off'........then I remember that we had those days with public school too. Those are the days that I have to remind myself that we aren't a traditional school and I have the freedom to make changes and we end up changing gears. Sigh.....

Today Steve taught and I escaped to Starbucks with my computer to edit the over 900 pictures I shot in Lubbock 2 weeks ago. I spent 2 hours there and might have made a dent. I came home to Wyatt and Steve doing Yoga on the Wii. That counts as a class I guess. ;0)

Ok.....more to do. I'll try to keep this up better.
Blessings.....

Week 1 under our belts

We successfully completed the first week of homeschool and there were no fatalities or serious implications. That's not to say there wasn't some frustration as times. Such is life.


I'm finding out that I'll have to tweak somethings as the year progresses. For example, our school day seems to go better when I insert a 20 minute break in the middle that I didn't originally intend on having --- a time for free play and a time for me to throw in a load of laundry, call a client back, read to the boys or all of the above. Another thing I may change is our history lessons. Right now the lessons are about the Middle Ages....Rome, The Celts, etc. That neat and enjoyable but also some of it seems a little....ummm....boring. (especially for a 7 year old) So, I found another history program that is geared more towards a visual learner where not only will we HEAR about history but Wyatt gets to DRAW things that happened. Sounds FUN! Part of the greatness of this is that I have the flexibility to be able to change things as we go.


The biggest challenge so far is homeschooling with a toddler in the house. After asking some of my fellow homeschool moms, I'm not alone here. This is apparently the #1 challenge for homeschoolers. I feel like I need to help Wyatt with his schoolwork (reading directions, reading chapters, dictating spelling words etc) and I don't have the freedom to devote to Jonah - age 2. And, because he's 2, the thought of him sitting still and playing or coloring for more than 10 minutes is unrealistic. I'm finding a balance and activities that he can do and soon, this kink will be worked out. I hope. :0)


The biggest joy is seeing Wyatt's face literally LIGHT UP when he learns something! Today during spelling he was struggling with word and then it clicked and he was SO proud...........I was too! Of course then he automatically played it off like it was no big deal but I knew. A mom always knows. ;0) I am SO happy to get to learn alongside him and see him learn. That must be the biggest benefit and it makes all the work, planning & frustration worth it.


Happy Labor Day everyone!
Blessings
Shannon

The adventure begins.....

For months.....maybe even years....I've looked forward to this day. To the day when I could teach my son and watch him learn. What I didn't expect was that I would learn alongside him. :0) I'm thankful that God has given me peace and paved the way for us in this adventure.

Today was our first day of 2nd Grade. It was much more laid back than the first day of Kindergarten and First Grade. I still took the keepsake "First Day of School" picture but there was no backpack involved.....or shoes either for that matter. I snapped a couple of pictures and we went back in the house to begin our day. No tears...from me or him. No hurried goodbyes. No wondering what he really learned at school.  

My 2nd Grader

  Before we even began homeschooling, I got the question from several people "How long are you going to homeschool?" My answer continues to be: As long as it works for our family. But, right now, I can't imagine anything better......and the beauty of it is that if something isn't working for my boys or me or our family, we can    s l o w   down or take a break or speed up or tweak it however we need to. I love that!

So some people may wonder what a 'Day in the Life' of our homeschool day looks like. I can say that everyday is probably going to look a little different from the day before. (again, PERK!) In addition to our schoolwork, several days a week we have activities and events with our EAGLES homeschool group. Other days we will explore the world God gave us by going to museums or nature walks or bike rides. The traditional schoolwork we have on our agenda each day includes:

Spelling - Handwriting - Daily Trait Writing - Geography -

History  of the Middle Ages - Math -

Building Thinking Skills - Science - Reading

My hope for this blog is not only to exercise my writing skills but also to give a glimpse into this world that I've found SO many parents are interested in but terrified of jumping into. I was that parent not long ago. And, you might even laugh at some of the happenings in our classroom. I expect to hit a few snags and bumps......but we'll make it one day at a time.

Until then....enjoy a few pictures!

Math....and I've never seen him enjoy it so much!

Using a Cinnamon Scented pencil makes writing a little more fun

2 Thumbs Up at the end of our day

Blessings --- Shannon