Trish’s Blog

I started a blog post on September 1, our first day of homeschooling, but never finished it. Only now have I had the chance to come back for an update. Instead of changing tenses, I’m starting all over again. It feels a bit like writing an essay because I intend to give links as a reference for those interested in more information.

For starters, we joined the Texas Home School Coalition and receive email updates on what they are doing to preserve the rights of Texas citizens to educate their children at home. I felt this article was particularly noteworthy for those of you with questions about State Requirements and it also contains a link to a particularly entertaining exchange between THSC president and a “concerned individual”. If you don’t care to read it, that’s OK, at least I don’t have to waste words describing something already said well elsewhere. At any rate, I feel good to support an organization that actively looks after my rights and keeps me informed.

Another great organization that works on the national level is the Home School Legal Defense Association, and they had a short article that may ease your mind on what we’ve gotten ourselves into. We have also joined the Southeast Texas Home School Association and receive newsletters via email that are a great resource for what’s happening in Houston, Dallas, and Austin that make for great teaching moments and field trips. There are also conferences and classes and, and, and, way more information than I have time to go into. I am still sorting through it all.

And finally, we have joined a local support group (mostly because joining this group gave membership discounts to the aforementioned organizations) called Home Education And Responsible Teaching or HEART in Kingwood. There are classes and other activities to join with this group, but we are keeping a low profile this first year. So far, the biggest benefit to me has been the online calendar and the online forum. It’s nice to have an experienced community to turn to when questions come up. I look forward to meeting some of the families in person in the future, but for now, I just want to get my bearings without over-scheduling too many activities outside the home.

As it is, I take Sarah to Symphonic Band every public school day right smack in the middle of the day. That might cramp our style a little, but for now, Sarah is very happy to continue her percussion education. Just in the first two weeks of school she has learned “The Hey Song” and “We Will Rock You.” She is holding her own in a band with both 7th and 8th graders. It’s nice that she has a couple of friends playing other instruments in there, too. We plan to let her stay for lunch on Fridays for good behavior and keeping up with her school work.

Our first week of homeschool was four days long. Two out of the four days, we woke up on time and started at 6:30am and were done before lunch. The other two days we woke up late because of going to bed late the night before. We still managed to stick with the schedule, just started later and continued into the afternoon. Even though I am a night owl, I prefer to change my schedule in order to wake up early. It just feels better to get things done earlier instead of starting later in the day and feeling perpetually late. I have yet to go to bed at what most would consider a reasonable hour, but I’m working towards it.

Many have asked what curriculum we are using and how it is going so far. So I will give details, but the more you research homeschooling, you will find that as there are unique families and no two are exactly alike, so are there no two homeschools exactly alike. You can try to duplicate what we do, but without Zoe, you won’t get the authentic Haley Homeschooling experience. Zoe’s main job is to distract and detract from any kind of gathering or learning at the kitchen table. She is relentless and it’s a good thing she’s so cute or we would have sold her to the gypsies by now. I’m resolved not to stress out this first year until we gain some experience on what works for us and what doesn’t.

We begin with scripture reading and journal writing. After the first day, I realized that Seth should be allowed to draw a picture and write sentences underneath it for his journal. Since we have made that change, he doesn’t worry about trying to keep up with the older two, but works diligently. Another revelation came when I saw Seth falling asleep during our Citizenship lesson (we’re doing the Citizenship badge out of Zack’s Webelos Handbook) and thought I might have to make a change, but the next day, he knew all the answers. It shocked me that he had absorbed the lessons from the previous three days. Zack, on the other hand, forgot the answers which shows that I have to do something to help him retain the information. After we’ve said The Pledge of Allegiance and short lesson on Citizenship, we move on to English From the Roots Up.

English From the Roots Up is a spelling program that teaches the Greek and Latin root words. The first week we covered the difference between “definitions” and “derivations” and their root words. They are slowly understanding how to look up a word in the dictionary to determine the etymology of the word. We spend the time finishing flash cards with the definitions and derivations on the backs. We get through a card a day. Sarah is always rushing ahead, and I’ve given her permission to read the manual and work ahead if she feels like it. She is making connections between the root words and the magical spells in the Harry Potter books and the names of Gods and Goddesses in the Percy Jackson series as well as characters in the Fablehaven series. It makes it fun for her. I also have a few books from the library as examples of where they can read more Greek and Latin which they have cracked open on their own time after we finish school.

The Mathematics curriculum that we have invested in is called Math U See. Each book covers one concept at a time and claims to help children visualize what they are doing when working math problems. They have a good website for generating extra worksheets, have CD’s with a math teacher telling the parents and the children how to use the math manipulatives, and allow children to move along at their own pace. We have teacher manuals and CD’s bought used from Homeschool Heaven, but no student workbooks yet. They are ordered and on their way. I printed out placement tests from the websites so I could see exactly where my children are. And then on different days, I let them each watch the CD for their level. There are roughly 30 lessons in each book. Zack watched up to Lesson 20 and complained that it was so easy. Sarah watched up to Lesson 26 and said it was too easy, but that she couldn’t remember if she was supposed to multiply or divide at one point in the formula. Seth watched up to Lesson 5 and reported that it was so fun. I decided that I needed to get the book that I think they’re supposed to be in and the one before. While it is easy for the older two, I want them to have a firm grasp on the concept before moving up because on their placement tests they couldn’t finish the ones at the end. So likely, Sarah will review which operation she is supposed to do in the last four lessons of her book, master the concept, and then move to the book she is supposed to be in. We’ll see how they do once all the materials come in.

Zack had the notion to make banana cookies, so we turned it into a science/math lesson. He had to tell me the correct measurements for a double recipe. He and Seth did it together while Sarah put Zoe down for a nap. I just supervised and asked questions. Later that night, we gave some to our bishop as a thank you. I saw him today, so either he ate the cookies and survived or he didn’t eat the cookies. OR he gave them to someone else who may or may not have died. All I know is the boys had a blast having sole control over the cookie production. Seth wants to make strawberry cookies, but I kind of think that’s a waste of good strawberries. A strawberry is perfect as it is! Just pop it in your mouth! But I don’t think he’s going to let me off so easily. I have a few books from the library filled with Science experiments, and bought a used “Backyard Scientist” book to try out. Josh’s scientist father, Dr. Haley, will also be coming up with curriculum appropriate for their ages. Grandma Niki sent an extra credit assignment via email on Jupiter. The full moon was a couple of nights ago and Sarah went outside to find Jupiter (we forgot and the boys were already in bed), but said there were too many clouds. For extra, extra credit they are to explain the difference between astronomy and gastronomy.

Reading is next. I’m a fan of the Progeny Press Study Guides for Literature and found a bunch of used ones at The Homeschool Store and Homeschool Heaven. I mapped out for the first nine weeks, Sarah would read “The Witch of Blackbird Pond” and each week would have a set of worksheets for her to do. I figured that I would give her the option of doing one sheet per day or turning them in at the end of the week. She read the book through the first two days, did half the worksheets for the week on Friday, and still hasn’t finished them. I will have to retract and require a sheet per day. I’m still going to give her the worksheets and if she can get them done before the nine weeks is up, we’ll move on to the next book. In the meantime, I’ve picked up at non-fiction book “Witch-Hunt, Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials”. She doesn’t prefer non-fiction, but she may enjoy this since it is written with teenagers in mind about teenagers. The other books I have in mind for her are “The Giver” (she read it already, but I want her to do the worksheets to cover anything she may have missed on reading it on her own, “The Island of the Blue Dolphins”, and “Frankenstein.” I’ve got others ready to go that I may need to add to this year’s plan. I thought a book a semester would be enough.

The boys’ reading time consists of me reading to them “Cheaper by the Dozen.” I loved this book when I was young, and I remember being astounded when I learned it was true. So far, I think a few concepts are over their heads just because they are unfamiliar with certain terms and there’s plenty of sarcasm. We’ll see how they do. I’ve also got “Charlotte’s Web” (I still remember my third grade teacher reading this to the class after recess and I figured we could compromise between the 2nd and 5th grader) which Zack claims to have read already. They both love being read to that I don’t think he’ll mind. I plan to keep a bin of library books for them to read on their own. We haven’t decided what day will be library day because we pretty much go whenever I get an email notification that they are holding a book for me. We can always go when Sarah is at band. With Josh home all week, I have not had to take the other kids with me everywhere I go. It has been nice for them to go outside and ride their bikes for recess while I am out running errands for the hour between drop off and pick up Sarah times.

There are a few subjects that I have not introduced yet just because I’m not ready to present. We are using The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times and plan to go through each volume as the years roll on until we reach present day. I’m also a fan of the Green Leaf Press books, but have not purchased anything from them yet. I have a Texas History book that I plan on integrating into our Citizenship lessons and we’ll also cover State and Federal holidays. I’ve got a bunch of books from the library that have to do with Health that I will let Sarah read on her own. She will also do free keyboarding lessons in order to learn to type with all her fingers instead of just one on each hand. I also have Easy Grammar, Gram-a-Day, Writing Strands, and more books for reading assignments.

Other resources available to me that I plan to use are Church related. Maybe I’ll save that for another post. I’m falling asleep and it’s only midnight! Times, they are a changing. The long and short of it is that we are all fans of homeschool thus far. I will keep you updated on how things go. Feel free to leave a comment, ask a question, or visit my feed on FriendFeed where I get the most interaction on my posts.

Posted on September 6th, 2009 by trish
Filed under: Haley Kids, Homeschool