Falling Down The Rabbit Hole

^ ^ How I feel about starting to homeschool? ^ ^

(Disclaimer: I'm about to talk at length, and at times rant, about homeschooling, which I'm sure isn't everyone's cup of tea so please feel free to just skip if you feel so inclined. ;) This post is more for my own journaling/remembering purposes than anything else, so be forewarned!)

Scared.

Kind of excited.

Not sure where we're going to land, and whether or not we'll be right-side up or not when we finally hit bottom.

That's how I'm feeling about finally deciding to go ahead and begin homeschooling my oldest this year. It's a leap of faith for me.

We really prayed and thought long and hard about what to do about school for Olive. There  has always been this unspoken expectation that we would homeschool our kids, mostly since I was homeschooled all the way through highschool and it's what I know. I really enjoyed my homeschool experience, and believe it's a great way to learn, but I wanted to be really careful to check my motives and make sure a choice to homeschool my little ones came from a sincere desire to do so, and not from any strange, outside pressures telling me I had to, if you will. 

It's a long touchy subject that deserves it's own post, but growing up there seemed to be this attitude and atmosphere in my childhood homeschool experience (at home and in certain groups) that you should somehow be afraid of public and private schools if you were a more conservative, Christian family. I also always sensed this idea that the really good families, who really loved their kids and were really serious Christians should homeschool their children. 

I personally disagree with that philosophy now, and truly believe that no two families, no two children are created alike. There are so many different circumstances, personalities, and challenges to be looked at before making a decision on how to educate your children, and a family should never EVER be judged, (especially by Christians for goodness' sake,) for the choices they make in regards to homeschool or not. 

Where was I before I started this rant? Oh yes...

So, we were seriously considering sending Olive to kindergarten this year. We are blessed to live in a low-crime, family/neighborhood oriented community and the school systems are well rated, not to mention there are some very large, fairly affordable private schools in town with good pre-K/kindergarten programs. Olive is our social, outspoken, outgoing child. She loves people, she loves to compete. I know she would love being in a classroom, and would do really good work for a teacher.

And perhaps one day we will go that direction, but what really made the decision for us this year to keep her at home was the coming of the newest member of the family this January, (right in the middle of the school year!) The programs we were most interested in for Olive this year only met for half days three-to-four days a week. It would be a lot of driving for me, a lot of really early mornings, in the freezing, unpredictable Michigan winter, with a newborn. Not the best circumstances for Olive's first school year.

^ ^ Teaching this one is going to be quite an adventure! ^ ^ 

So this morning I clicked the "order" button online for a hodgepodge of curriculum. We're doing this. 

I'm not so much nervous that I'm incapable of teaching Olive the things a kindergartener should learn, as much as I'm nervous about Olive's and mine personalities clashing. We are both stubborn, and that often leads to frustration, which isn't a fun, learning-friendly situation. And I really want learning for her to be fun! So my main goal in piecing together curriculum this year was to keep the emphasis on the things that I know she enjoys most. 

The core of our plan this year is Sonlight's Kindergarten program (which isn't so much curriculum as it is literature. It teaches a wide variety of subjects simply through reading a lot of really good books aloud.) Since Olive loves to be read to, I knew this would be a good place for us to start. I'm looking forward to reading with her! Hopefully it feels more like "fun" than "work" for her.

We are going to use Saxon Math 1 to start introducing arithmetic skills, and this spelling workbook since Olive already has her letters, their sounds, and some basic phonics skills already learned.

Olive loooves art. I did a lot of research looking for a good art project guide, and I hope I landed on a winner with Art Lab for Little Kids. There's 52 projects and it has really positive reviews. I'm excited for this one.

For music, (and this is probably a little silly) I bought this CD that has famous opera arias translated into English. I studied piano and classical music for 8 years and have a great love for it that I hope to eventually share with my kids. (I'm still working on Matt, haha.) We listen to a lot of music around here, especially in the car, so I figured I'd try to sneak a little classical music appreciation into their lives in a not-too-pushy way. ;) Hoping it doesn't turn out to be super corny.

We also ordered Sing the Word From A-Z (which was recommended by Sonlight for kindergarten.) My mom taught us these same 26 alphabetical Bible verses when my siblings and I were little and I've never forgotten them. More than anything I want my kids to learn to love and revere God's word, and I hope through the form of learning the verses as songs that this will be a fun way for my kids to begin what is hopefully a lifetime of enjoying memorizing scripture. 

I'm also hoping to get the kids out (while the weather is still good, anyway) for a lot of fun little field trips and nature walks. It's so good for all of us to get out of the house and into fresh air. There will also be weekly library trips and I plan to get Olive involved in the library's fall story time program. She really enjoyed that last year. I would love to get her involved in dance or gymnastics but we're still looking into whether or not that will be feasible this year.

Anyway, that's about it. I'm excited and praying that this will be a very fun, learning filled first-time experience with homeschooling (for both Olive and me!) 

Any homeschooling moms out there with stories, tips and/or ideas on homeschooling a kindergartener for the very first time? I'd love to partake of your wisdom! 

31

And the world gave a collective sigh of relief that we made it through January and its short cold days, miserable flus and viruses and post-holiday blues all in one piece. On to short little February in all its pink and red glory, please!

Olive is obsessed with jigsaw puzzles. We bought her a set of four 25 piece puzzles months ago which she mastered within a week. So a couple of weeks ago we bought her a 50 piece puzzle, to see if she would have the patience to work through it. I sat and watched her as she put it together in a matter of 20-30 minutes. She would not allow me to help her in any way.

Last week we bought her a 100 piece puzzle, "for six year olds and up." It took her just under 2 hours to complete it (and that was a straight 2 hours of undivided concentration, yelling at me anytime I offered to help her out with a difficult piece.) She has done that 100 piece puzzle twice a day every day since we got it for her and can now put it together in about 10 - 15 minutes. 

She's only three years old, for goodness' sakes.

I know there are lots of other three year olds out there who do things like this and more, but I never thought I would be raising one. How do you raise a kid who is smarter than you already (and knows it?) As I've stood back and watched Olive concentrating with all her might and succeed with a puzzle that she shouldn't be ready to do for another three years, I've started wondering if a lot of the behavior problems I struggle with in her are due to boredom. So I've started trying to give her more than I think a 3 year old can handle to see how she deals with it. 

And I think I'm on the right track so far. We've started reading "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and even though it's very wordy and there are very few illustrations, she just soaks it up like a sponge, begging for "just one more chapter." We're working on reading and writing and she's doing exceptionally well. I'm seriously considering signing her up for piano or violin lessons. 

I just ordered her a couple of 200 piece puzzles. 

And I pray. A lot. That God would give me the patience, wisdom, discretion, love and humility that I so desperately need to raise Olive up, to (hopefully) love Him and others. I go to bed so many nights worried that I don't have what it takes, but He has a way of quietly reassuring me that He knew just what He was doing giving us to Olive and Olive to us. And I really do believe Him.

Tuesdays

Since the middle of August, Olive and I have made it a weekly tradition of heading to the public library early on Tuesday mornings. We have been having the best time. I love watching her fall in love with the whole experience.

My memories of going to the library as a kid are still so vivid. I remember the thrill of really "getting it" for the first time that ALL those books were at my disposal and how rich that made me feel. I remember the pride in owning my first library card, and reading my first thick chapter book by myself ("Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder.) I remember the warm contentment that was going home with a pile of new books from the library and the anticipation of spending a quiet afternoon getting lost in other worlds and other times. I think that's one reason why Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" has always resonated so deeply with me and has remained my favorite book of all time. That first chapter of the book where she describes the feelings Francie had for her library have always been my feelings. 

I've grown up with the hope and desire that my children will be great readers. So I'm planning on making these Tuesday dates with my 3 year old a tradition that will last until she's graduating from high school. 

Tiny Dancer [is Growing Up Too Fast]

Some of you might remember this post on my old blog? Can you believe how much she's grown? Like, holy cow. I'm pretty sure I just sprouted a new gray hair.

Yesterday Olive had her first ballet class. She loved every second of it, and I'm a proud mama because her teacher told me she did a good job (I was nervous as this was her first ever class experience. And to say my girl is strong willed is pretty much the understatement of the year.)

Yeah, that's her "enough with the pictures, Mom" face.

She was so excited about getting a sparkly sticker for good work in class.

I'm so proud of my girl! Hopefully this love of dancing continues (as well as the good, cooperative behavior!)

"vintage" children's books

one of my homeschooling-mom friends was getting rid of some old books and homeschool supplies, and invited me to come look at the goods and take my pick. among some other little treasures, i grabbed up these cute vintage-y children's books...

i'm smitten with the illustrations - especially the ones with the 1960's style color palettes.