How We Homeschool

I have so many friends asking me how we homeschool.  It still cracks me up when people ask me, I'm certainly no homeschooling expert.  At the same time I understand, you just want to ask everyone you know so that you can wrap your head around it. This will really be our first official year of homeschooling.  At the same time, we have been homeschooling our child since birth, so have you. So please if you are interested in how our year will work, please know that I write the following series of posts humbly.

You may believe some myths as you read through this, and I want to address those from the start.

1. I am super organized. 
Um...anyone who has stepped into my house can see that this is not true.  I love the IDEA of being organized, but have a very hard time keeping things that way.  I'm one of those weird people who loves math and turned out loving art.  That's how I feel when it comes to being organized.  I want to be methodical and super well planned, but then that artsy side of my brain takes over and my brain gets foggy and I just don't know what's going on.  However, I am a pretty good parrot.  If I find something that works for someone else, I can usually tweek it a little and make it work for me.  Pinterest is my bestie.  That is why I am sharing this.  I think I'm going to do a post on just our planners. Why?  because they make me happy, they make me stick to the schedule and document, and because I've used it now for a year and love it. So, if you want to steal you won't have to start from square one.

2. I am patient.
Does it take patients to homeschool? Yes.  Am I patient? NO!  My poor kids.  I am not super patient with them.  But it is a learning process for all of us.  I am being sanctified right along with my kids.

3. I am Supermom.
I'm homeschooling, trying to run a very small art thing on the side, and soon I'll be taking on a couple of foster kids.  It seems like a lot, and it is; it overwhelms me at times.  But here's the thing, my kids still nap, or at least go in their rooms and leave me alone for a few hours.  I just had to get onto Sterling a minute ago because he won't rest, and he is over tired.  Some days that's a fight, but it is worth it!  They also go to bed at 8pm and don't get out of bed until 8am.  They may wake up before that and they may not go straight to sleep, but they have to stay in their rooms until.  Mommy's got things to do, or sleep to be had; whatever, it keeps me sane!  We also try to keep extra-curricular activities within reason.  Unless they find something that they are superSUPER talented at, we just can't be running a taxi service all of the time.  I mean if we have a prodigy on our hands then we will do everything we can do to build upon their talent, but there is no way that one child will be excellent at soccer, baseball, golf, tennis, football, cross-country skiing, figure skating, and Irish dancing so we won't be doing all of those.

4. I love having my kids at home all of the time.
Nope these kids, they drive me crazy sometimes a lot of the time.  But to me it's worth it.  I can see the goal of what I want to accomplish through their education, and as it stands, they won't get what I want for them from anywhere else.  My son cops an attitude when he has to copy a sentence.  I have to teach math while fielding questions about where Ann Elizabeth's doll's shoes are.  It's a wonderful hard though, a wonderful, beautiful hard.

So pretty much all of you unorganized, impatient moms whose kids drive them crazy but are thinking about homeschooling.  You can do it!!

Our Method
After looking and researching so many other options, we came upon classical schooling.  I read this book and fell in love with this model.

I just got a new camera and I'm in love, in love I tell you.  It's been a long time coming, I've been wanting it for about two or three years, I finally bit the bullet!

Anyway... back to school.  I love that the classical model works with a child's natural ability.  You've heard children have a natural ability to memorize right?  Well think about all of those things in high school you had to memorize, do you remember them now? Not likely.  This is because a teenagers brain is really past the stage of being able to memorize lots of information.  Instead teenagers are built to explore more complex issues.  They begin thinking about the bigger picture.  Teenagers love to solve problems, make a difference, debate.  Teenagers have a desire to argue?  That is new information, right?

The Classical method of learning is nothing new.  Educators have educated pupils this way for centuries, in so many areas of study, even beyond the regular "school" subjects.  Ballet and instruments are usually taught in this way.  First you must learn the language and mechanics before you begin practicing a skill.  So my five-year-old may will be exploring and memorizing many complex sciences long before he has the reasoning to understand the why.

Another thing I love about Classical education is the attempt to integrate the subjects.  History is not separated from the other subjects.  The books and stories we read and the art we do directly ties into the history.  Even math and science are integrated into the other subjects as much as possible.

Curriculum
The biggest question I get is, "What curriculum are you using."  The Well-Trained Mind gives loads of suggestions for curriculum.  We are starting with her suggestions for first-grade.  I in no way would ever consider the Sterling a first-grader. However, academically I think he is ready to begin study of all of the subjects, and his reading skills are at the point that we really need to do a more formal approach to schooling.  (I'll talk about preschooling some more later.)  I have selected what I feel to be the best or most suited for our family this year.  At Christmas and the end of the year I will re-evaluate and make selections for next year.  If we don't like something we will change it.  In the next few posts I'll clue you in as to what we are using and let you know my thoughts after using them for a few weeks.

History and Art 
Math and Science