What's Going on in There?

Kendall working a puzzle during some down time.  (I don't know what is wrong with this pic!)

Our bulliten board

Maddie reading a book.

Grace and Shadow working on some flash cards

I've had a few friends and family members ask me what it looks like when I am teaching school at home.  Do the kids have desks?  Is there a chalkboard?  Do they sit and write and do worksheets all day?  Well, I guess it's probably different for everybody.  We don't have desks.  First, there's no room for them and second I was never a big desk person when I taught public school.  The best way I can explain how I teach "school" to the kids is to say I teach it the same way I teach them anything.  When I taught Kendall and Grace how to fold laundry I didn't schedule a time to do it.  "Okay, from 8:00-8:15 we'll fold laundry".  I did it when I had laundry to fold.  We practice every time there's laundry until we master laundry folding skills.  Guess what?  Still not there yet.  :-)  So school work is similar.  I don't always have a great real life example to teach by, but we go with the idea of working it into our day instead of working our day around it.  We're on day 8, and so far so good with that theory.  Who knows?  Next month could be completely different.

Kendall and Grace singing the "Conditinents and Oceans" Song

H2O

This morning Kendall and I read that half your body is made of water. Kendall says "Really, half your body?" "Yes, half," I said. She pauses for a minute and I can tell she's really thinking hard about something. Then she asks, "Which half?"

Second Day Blues

I wish I could say the second day was as good as our first. We just started out on the wrong foot and never got back around to where we should be. It was raining this morning and when Kendall woke up and saw that it instantly put her in a bad mood. Now when I taught school and I had one kid in a bad mood it was not such a big deal. After all, I had 24 others in a good mood. Usually the bad mood kid would come around because who wants to spend all day in a bad mood when you have good mood kids to hang out it. I found out very quickly when you have one student that is not the case. It is hard to work with a sour puss. There were some time outs and writing lines today for refusal to participate and do work. The little ones were cranky today too which made the day no easier :-) It's a new schedule and a new life and we're all adjusting. We'll get there. We'll have a better day tomorrow and we'll have another bad day down the road as well. On the plus, when Byron asks Kendall what we did today she was able to tell him some of the things we learned. So even a sour puss still has ears that work.

Our First Day in Pictures.

This photo slideshow made with Smilebox

And Away We Go!

If you are a Christian you believe that you should follow Jesus with all your heart.  Along with all the good stuff that comes with that like heaven, peace in your soul, endless joy; comes some hard stuff.  Turning away from sin,  choosing to be in the world, not of the world, and for us; homeschooling.  I could sit here and tell you that homeschool came as an easy decision to us through prayer, bible study, and wisely counsel.  That would be a lie.  Oh we had a lot of prayer, bible study, and wisely counsel.  However, I have been testing God's patience since 1976 and I didn't disappoint this time.  See, Kendall liked school.   I liked school too.  And since we're on the subject I believe that public and private schools have an important place in our society.  I have taught public school and I know I made a difference in some of those kid's lives.  That's not being pompous, that's just the way it is.  There are parents who need the services of public school so they can go be doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers, etc. during the day whose services we all use.  So I hope I don't protest too much, but I am just trying to give you an idea of where I was a year ago and why I had to be dragged kickin' and screamin'.  Don't get me wrong.  School starts on Monday and I am EXCITED!!  Kendall is too.  It's going to be a great year of learning and growing and fun.  I beg you though to please don't ask me my theory on this or that, my definition of a great homeschool environment, or my homeschool philosophy.  At least not yet.  I'm just not ready.  :-)  Try me again in May.  In the meantime tune into our blog.  It's going to filled with all our triumphs, flops, funnies, and frustrations.  It should be an interesting year.