Homeschooling 2.0

This year is starting off much better than last. Now that I know what I'm doing and had time to research some more interesting resources, plus the ability to enroll the kid in more than two classes at the resource center... we're already rolling along.

So far, I've got a happy, interested, busy kid learning things and enjoying life. There is no comparing the kid I have now to the kid I used to pick up from school - I like this one SO much better.

Drama, vocal lessons and clarinet have all begun and are rolling along smoothly. Much better than guitar lessons, he seems to really like the clarinet. I have not even had to remind him to practice... yet. Spanish, math, writing, history and metal arts start up next week. PE too. Yesterday was the first day of Capture the Flag with kids he already knows - such a change from last year... it took us a couple of months to even know about the capture the flag game at lunch-time at the resource center.

Their new playground is going to be built soon - remember when I was asking people to help us vote to win the Pepsi challenge? Well, we won that! And this will be what the new playground will look like:



So... it's all good. So far. Next week's schedule really picks up and we'll see how busy it really is - I've got 36 official hours planned with the state, but there's really more than that. (The state only requires 25 learning hours).

Both Luke and I like the books I chose for our "home" portion of school. Except... I'm running into a few things here and there that I'll have to be better about filtering. The history book I picked, which I think, so far, is really pretty great - and Luke agrees with me... is "All American History" - it's a text book, a work book and a teacher's guide - the first time I've gone that route, and I have to say, I like the teacher's guide. Except... a bunch of the books it suggests for further reading keep showing up with a religious bend to them... not all, but some, and I know religion played a huge hand in shaping history, I just don't want the history being told from one religious point of view. So... I'll be reading a lot of history myself this year to make sure that isn't what is happening. It's ok, though, I like history, too.

Science, this year, is historical too, and the book we have, "The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way", starts out with the Bible's story of creation. Which... put Luke off right away. He wants science, not Sunday School. As did I, when I ordered it. But again, I think that is just a comparison of how people thought - before science, and how scientific thought evolved... to where we are today. Again, I'll be reading a lot of science it turns out, just to make sure this is series I want to continue as well as field all the questions. Oh well. Not my favorite subject ever, but it's not like we'll be dissecting frogs or anything. Our "fun" science books are by Bill Nye, The Science Guy - and I'm pretty sure there's no dissecting in those either.

Even Math is historical this year, the stuff we are doing at home - he's got real number and word problems in his class at the resource center - "Mathematicians are Poeple, Too" is where we are starting with that. Plus daily word problems and some logic and creative thinking puzzle books.

There will be lots of reading of literature and biographies too - we have a huge stack of those. King Arthur and Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. And something called "Word Ladders" which is a fun way to learn vocabulary. I was going to skip spelling this year, but Luke wanted a spelling workbook, so he has one after all. And some other language arts and writing books.



And ART. Art always takes a backseat to everything else, doesn't it? Why is that? In this house it should go first. But it never does. Why? I don't know. But for art this year, we have season tickets to the Seattle Childrens Theater. And studio time at a glass fusing studio. And trips to museums, and hopefully some painting and drawing here on the dining room table. I've been collecting some fun project ideas on Pinterest - this is my idea board - not all are for Luke, but he's welcome to join me in any of them if I ever get around to doing them. (do you do Pinterest?! You should!) Art is the thing we save for last, and then almost never get to. At least that's how it worked out last year. It's the same with my own art... melting glass and painting always comes after the house is clean, the yard work is done, and the schoolwork and internet work and soccer is done. Which is why I don't make much these days - that work never gets done. I will have to work on that... for both him and me.

But first, I've got a bunch of work to do... see how that happens? Perhaps I need to add "housework" and "yardwork" classes to our curriculum? Now, that's an idea!

Progress Report

What's new? It's been a week, there was a birthday (mine, still 29!), a Mother's Day (Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!), the kiddo made the select soccer team (yay!), finished all the state testing (oh, joy! but he didn't seem to mind), and we got more work done on the chicken coop.

Before I show you the coop, I'm going to ask you to do something for me. Luke's school (which as I've shared before, is more of a resource center, but it's still a school - an alternative school in the public school district), has no playground. That's because it's an old high school campus... but we've got all ages of kids there, every day... and no playground. And with budget cuts left and right, no chance of getting one either.... unless we win the Pepsi Refresh Project! Will you vote with us? Every day this month? I'd really appreciate it! Here are the voting details - it's super easy. Thank you!!

Ok, here's the coop - we got the roof on, and the egg box done, fixed the one screen door that was sticking, attached two ventilation door covers, and got sand in the run area. Not bad! Only 6 doors, plus roosts, plus a ramp to go...

Random Thursday Thoughts

Did you know... that if you have been hitting that "follow" button on all your friend's blogs... that you also have to update the widget in the sidebar to get them to show up? I did not. But now I do... so I'm happy again and will be better about "following" blog. I was so lost!

Also, do you know? Of a shopping cart solution for websites (like mine, BlueBetween.com) that will allow me to list items and also will mark them as sold when they are? That is my problem, I need them to be marked sold so they don't sell twice. Ideas?

Guess what! I'm so excited about the viking knit stuff. But... I'm waiting and waiting and waiting... for my end caps and findings so I can actually do something with them.

And guess what else! I'm so excited to start working on my Bead Soup Blog Party project... Ernie the fish is getting bored sitting around... but still, I'm waiting and waiting for my special supplies to show up. Since I never work with gold, I had to order some gold-filled things to go with my "soup". And it's still not here yet. Do you think the snowstorms all across the country are possibly holding up my mail? Probably, huh?



Oh, and don't you think?! That this One World One Heart thing is amazing? I have found several new blogs to follow and am loving all the comments I'm receiving. Fun! But there are far fewer people participating this year... it's not too late to join in, you know.

Oh, and guess what we did yesterday? Well, not we. Luke. Luke gets to do all the fun stuff these days. Anyway, HE started a metals class and is making a ring. He's learning to manipulate metal and use a torch to solder! How cool is that? We (and I do mean WE) need to learn how to make some fused glass cabs so he can learn to make bezels around them and make his own glass and metal works. Way too cool for a 10-year-old to be working on, don't you think?

And hey, speaking of 10-year-olds... we discovered this set of books that we L.O.V.E - and yes, it's about history and we both L.O.V.E them. Seriously. Your kid would too - so much better than those boring history books the schools are buying with your tax dollars. It's an 11 book set called "History Of Us" and it's interesting and engaging and we can't wait to read the next chapter. Really!



Well, that's it, my mind is blank again... isn't that a relief?!

Another Thing to Add to "The List"

I'm talking about the list of things I said I would never do. How many things are on that list? Oh, too many to count. It’s a 10 year list, after all. What is it they say? You are a great parent before you ever have any kids? Then you have kids, and you realize you knew nothing. Nothing at all.

So... homeschooling. It wasn't my first choice - actually it was my second-to-last choice - but I'm quickly coming to terms with it and I'm starting to think it's the best choice. For now. For my kid. And it's so much better than the last choice, which was returning to one of two schools we had already tried and had not been thrilled with.

It's only been a week, but he's happy. As in: smiling and agreeable happy. Which makes me realize, his teachers have been getting the best part of my kid, and when they handed him back over to me, it was the tired and cranky kid who was not at all interested in telling me about his day. I like this child of mine much better. He asks questions, shares what he's thinking about, makes funny jokes, bounces around, hums and chants when he's doing his math... it's a whole new side of Luke.

The other cool part is that we are kind of free. Free to make our own rules about how we want to live our lives. Not sure what that really looks like yet, but it's going to include lots of field trips, ski days, and art. Sleeping in if we want to. Baking cookies or whatever else we come up with. Lots of soccer. Guitar lessons for the both of us. Travel. Plus some really fun classes at the home school resource center - right now he's taking a clay animation movie making class, and next week starts a science/literature combo class based on the book "How to Eat Fried Worms". (No worms will be fried or eaten, we have been assured.) There are Spanish classes to take, and drama productions to be a part of… lots of interesting things to choose from. Or not, because we are free to choose now.

Not that he isn’t going to be learning the regular stuff: math, reading, writing, history and science – there’s lots of that too, but I’m amazed at how quickly he gets through those things. He’s happy because he’s not sitting around waiting for the rest of the class to finish up before he can move to the next thing. And he’s happy because he got to choose Ancient Greece and Greek Mythology as a subject to learn about. I also let him choose his science subjects: magnets, electricity, energy, and weather too.

You may be wondering about one other important thing: beadmaking. It’s still going to happen! I don’t know how yet, or when, but it will. On a somewhat regular basis. This is *one thing* I’m not going to eat my words about. That is one thing that is not going on the list. There’s glass to melt after all!

In Limbo

What's up? Not much. It's the time of summer where I'm either dreading summer ending, or planning my fall. Usually. Neither one is happening so much for me right now. For one, I'm still waiting for summer to arrive. It doesn't feel like it really has this year. And for two, I have no fall plans.

Don't get me wrong, I want to have fall plans... it's just that it's not in the cards for me right now. Instead of fall plans, I have potential... lots of it and nothing I can act on. I'm waiting to hear from a school to see if my kiddo got in or not, because if he did - onward! :: glass, beads, galleries, etc. If not... well, onward! to homeschooling - which could be fun, or not... but where to start? And do I really want to start if the lottery school is just going to call us any day now? (No, I don't.)

Ug! I'm in limbo. Which is one of my least favorite places to be.

I'm thinking by the first week in September, I'll know two things: summer will have ended before it ever really got here... and whether or not I'll be melting glass again or teaching 4th grade to the kiddo instead. (But if that last thing happens, I'm extending summer vacation for another month. How's that for a plan?)