A Time of Change

 

As most of you know I have been homeschooling the kids for about 2 years now. I have greatly enjoyed it and although I had bad days the good always outweighed those days. I have really enjoyed having the kids all together. Watching them learn, play and just be together.

Without going into too much detail, the decision has been made to put the older kids in public school. I have to admit that I am not very excited about this at all. I am however trying very hard to be positive about all of this. I believe that God has called me to be a homeschooling, stay-at-home mom. I have to pray that if this is true then their public school visit wont be long. However, I am open to the possibility that this is not the case and they will be okay in public school.

In the mean time I will be home with just Emma for the first time ever. My plan is to homeschool her. Preschool obviously as she is only about to turn 3. Im hoping that if I can prove to my husband and I can effectively homeschool her then I really can do it with the boys.

I am praying that Gods will be done. That if public school is where He wants them then so be it. But if they arent thriving then hopefully I will be able to bring them home and teach them.

Please pray for my family as we embark on this journey. I will certainly need it, as will my boys!

Wireless Wednesdays

 Right now we are on summer break. My original plan was to start back to school in mid-July but there's still a lot going on with getting settled so I decided that an August 1st date sounded better. In the mean time we are messing around and hanging out together as much as we can.

With that in mind I have decided to try to implement a theme for Wednesdays. I'm going to call in "Wireless Wednesdays." For some of you this notion of never being "attached" to something may not be foreign but around here where we have 2 iPods, an iPad, a kindle, 2 computers, two Xbox's, a Wii, a super Nintendo, an original Nintendo, a PS2, a Nintendo 64, a gamecube, an original xbox, 2 dvd players and 5 TVs, we seem to never be away from an electronic device. I am just as bad with my iPad which I love. So I was thinking that it would be beneficial not just to me but to the kids to not have any of those devices turned on.

We are going to be implementing starting tomorrow. I am excited and nervous. Its not like there's nothing to do here. We live in a small enough town that I can go walking and take beautiful pictures, we have a big back yard with tons of room to play and we are about 2 miles from the lake and a beach where we could swim. I have no excuse other than pure laziness. I get all kinds of stuff done during the day yet there are days where I don't even realize the TV had been on all day or the kids have been watching videos for hours.

When I was a teenager I loved to read. I read mostly true crime books about serial killers ( I know how that sounds) which I still like to read. It seems like ever since I had Jordan that I'm just too tired or distracted to even try to start let alone finish a book. Now that I have the other two its just easier to sit and play games on my iPad than attempt to read, not to mention I need glasses. But I WANT to read. I have 10 or so books sitting by my bed waiting and don't even get me started on the list of books for the kids to read.

So Ill be posting in the next few days updating (for those interested) on this new experiment. I'm going to start with Wednesdays and go from there.

Changes

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” -George Bernard Shaw


We started our school year February 18th. I bought all the curriculum from Bibliomania this year. I decided to go with Lifepac. About a week into it Jordan tells me he doesnt like the English or the math that came in the Lifepac series. So we changed. I went back to Bibliomania and purchased Bob Jones Math 5 and English 5.

So we're back on track so to speak. I plan on supplementing history with documentaries as soon as we get our router back online. In the mean time we're using other things to "bulk" up our day. But this is whats nice about homeschooling. I have the ability to change whats not right for us. Jordan likes the Bob Jones math better because its a little more detailed and I like the Bob Jones English because the teachers guide gives me a better layout and I feel like I am actually teaching him.

As I have it planned now our last day of school will be December 13th. Then I guess we'll just take the rest of the month off and start again after the first of the year. I like homeschooling year round because I feel Jordan retains more. Conor is continuing ABCmouse.com and hes actually doing quite well. Emma likes to "do school" too as I also have her doing ABCmouse.

Change is hard for me depending on the situation. Im glad I have the choice to make changes as I see fit.

Its a New Year!

Clan Morrison Academy

Its a new year here at Clan Morrison Academy. I decided to go with Lifepac curriculum this year because it is a little more structured than we have previously done and I think we need that for now. I manged to get all I need for the year for half of what I had budgeted! I am excited.

Conor will be starting this year as well. Im going to put him on ABC Mouse. A learning website that tracks progress. He seems to like to work on the computer so I think this will be a great tool for him to learn on.

Emma and I will take time reading and working on the iPad. She's already very smart and picks up things easily so Im looking forward to working with her.

All in all I think it will be a good year. Im also looking forward to taking lots of field trips. We joined a homeschool group and I think that will also enrich our year.

Heres to the new school year!

Why arent you socializing?

Socialization:  a continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position.

As a homeschool mom one of the biggest questions I face is, what do you do for socialization? I find this to be a funny question. As if my kids somehow cant be normal because they don't spend all day with kids or even kids their own ages. Lots of people think that we are isolated at home all day with no contact to the outside world except what they are "allowed" to see via internet and t.v. Not the case. I love getting out with the kids. When people ask me this question I think inside," Go to your local school and look at the behavior you see and then ask yourself which behavior you want your kids emulating?" Please do not misunderstand me. I realize not every kid is bad and not all schools are bad.

So asking a homeschool mom where her kids get "socialized" is insulting. Where is a better place to learn identity, norms, values, behavior and social skills other than at home? My oldest is 11 and I think hes acquired a nice identity. Hes learned the values that I think he should be learning, and he has great behavior. My other two are learning things the same way that he did and are coming along quite well. I dont believe that sitting all day in a classroom would make them better. Thats not to say that those that send their kids to public school are doing anything wrong. I just love having the kids home. I love being able to see them learn and grow every day. I love being able to take field trips whenever I want. I think back to when Jordan was in school and how much I missed him throughout the day and how glad I was when he had a vacation.

That being said I have been trying to find a homeschool group here in Tulsa.  All the ones I have come across were either too far away or only met at night. I would like for my kids to be able to make friends and for me to be able to meet other moms who face the same issues I do while homeschooling the kids. Homeschooling isnt easy, if it was everyone would do it. I get criticized, looked down upon, and even told Im stunting my kids. Not everyday is easy and sometimes I wonder what the heck Im doing. But I believe that God has led me to this position. I also believe that He will get me through each day.

Recently I managed to get together with a lady on facebook, she started a facebook homeschool page. We've been talking back and forth about starting a weekly meeting somewhere in Tulsa. I talked to a local library and secured a meeting room. I'm really hoping that this turns out to be a great thing. The meetings will be every Friday from 1-3. It will be nice to get out of the house and start meeting new people. I absolutely cant stand to be cooped up in the house. It will be great to be able to plan field trips with other families. To have parties for Halloween and Christmas. Maybe even have prom and graduation. Or as the rest of the world would put it "to socialize" our kids. I am excited about this new venture. I am excited to meet new moms and to have our kids meet new kids. So here goes into a new journey.

What do they do all day?

I am fairly new to the homeschool scene. In the short time that I have been homeschooling I have had some people ask: What DO you do all day? So here a little sample ofa typical day here at Clan Morrison Homeschool.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays:
4:30 am- I awake and go to the gym for my morning workout.
6:00 am- I come home and get Mike up and off to work. I clean up anything that wasn't cleaned the night before and start breakfast.
7:00 am- I get Jordan up first and feed him breakfast.
8:00 am or so- I get the Conor and Emma up if they're not up already.
8:30 am- We start school.
1030 -11 am- We usually finish school around this time. Sometimes we watch a documentary.
11:30 am- Time for lunch.
12:30 pm- Quiet time. Its time for naps and just being quiet.
2:00 pm- We go pick up the other "extra" kids from school.
3:00 pm- We get back from getting the kids and start any homework they have.
4:00 pm- I start picking up and getting ready for Mike to get home.
5:30 pm- Other kids leave, I start dinner and we start winding down for the evening. We take this time to talk about our day and watch our shows or whatever.
8:30 pm- Conor and Emma's bedtime. Mike reads a story and get them situated.
9:00 pm- Jordan's bedtime. He takes care of himself. This is also the time Mike and I lay down to talk or watch a show.

Some days are spent differently. I don't have a set schedule when its our "off" time and on Wednesdays its a little different because I clean for my mom. I also try to take several field trips a month. Whether its the park or the zoo or something special I try to get out as much as possible. We use our front porch a lot.

With that said we've had some hiccups along the way. Nothing is perfect or ever goes perfectly to plan. I like having a schedule set up but there are days where it goes out the window. I like getting up early to get things done before everyone else. Some may think its selfish for me to go the gym first thing, vanity and all, but as the one who does the majority of the housework, pays the bills, makes the menu, does all the grocery shopping and takes care of the laundry I think taking care of my body is just as important if not more so than housework. 

I really like being home all day with the kids even though I may complain about it. There are days where all I feel like is someones maid, cook or servant. Homeschooling is a challenge but few things worth it are easy. I'm not saying anything bad about those who don't homeschool please don't think that. I'm just saying that it works for us and I wouldn't have it any other way.

First 6 weeks Down

We finished the first six weeks about a month ago but Im just now taking the time to sit down and talk about it.

We started school in mid-July. I had everything ready. I had plans to start Conor on pre-school but we havent progressed very far. I can get to that more in a bit. We started out the school year pretty strong. We had a few set backs and have taken less field trips than I would have liked but all in all the first 6 weeks were good. I use a free homeschool tracking system that lets me grade his work and track it too. Jordan did good for the first 6 weeks. Averaging A's and B's. I know a lot of homeschool families dont use grades for various reasons. I like to use them because it gives me a clear vision of how hes progressing. If hes passing the tests I feel like hes "getting it."

As far as Conor goes we started out okay but he slowly lost interest in what we were doing. About a month after we started school I started a babysitting job. The boy that Im watching during the day is 3 1/2. He is really not interested in school so Ive just been letting Conor and him play. For now that is working. I have some hooked on phonics stuff and some websites I plan on using in the next few months for him.

My husband and I had a long discussion about whether or not I should be homeschooling the kids into highschool. He thinks that I wont be able to do it because I dont know high level math and science. But I am trying to get into a local homeschool group to have help in this department. I truly believe this is what I am supposed to be doing. Hes also concerned about them having a childhood. I told him that compared to most homeschooled children my kids get a lot more than others. I try to make a point to get out as often as I can. Winter will be a little challenging because of the weather but I still want to get out and do things. Thats why I want to join the group. They have all kinds of activities and parties and such. All ages and lots of fun. I dont want my kids stuck in the house or only in the backyard. Theres a whole world out there I want to explore it.

Well thats the first 6 weeks. Ill try to get the next 6 weeks down as soon as we get done. That should be around the first of November or so.