reading now: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Beach came home from Minnesota asking if we could read To Kill A Mockingbird. She told me many of the girls on her team had been talking about it. Most of them are older than Beach (I believe she is the 3rd or 4th youngest on the team) and they had read it for school. Whatever they had been saying about it made her curious.

Not able to turn up a copy at home (To Kill A Mockingbird is the favorite book of 2 of the 3 older children & they tend to hoard their copies.) we hit a local thrift store. Beach combed the shelves until she turned up a copy of her own.  

We are a few chapters in and I can already tell the book is a stretch for her, but not in a bad way. I get the feeling with books like these no one is 100% ready going into them...  

school and life as one

Here is what I know today, 6 years down our homeschooling path: learning is our life and life is our school.  As I was trying to figure out how to share what Beach has been up to in the education department I realized not only have I been too busy to post about school I have been somewhat ashamed for how little "show+able+work" we were getting done. But when I look, really look, and listen, I know we are on the right path here.     

 

Part of what has been making me doubt myself is how easy it is. 

Homeschooling can't be this easy!! We must not be doing it right.

But that is just it, it is this easy. In the middle of the chaos of meet season we threw out all the stuff we felt we didn't need. All the outside expectations went away, with the intent to reinstate them as soon as we had time. I know that is laughable but true. 

Without all the other stuff weighing us down we have hit a prefect stride and a lot of things have fallen into place. With improvements in her vision via contacts Beach, for the first time since Kindergarten, is close to reading on grade level! it makes everything so much easier!!! 

   

Beach is even spreading her wings and taking a class without me. She is taking art lessons with my friend Sarah, who also happens to be Sophie, Boo's best friend's mom. Sarah picks Boo up on Tuesday mornings after dropping Sophie at school. Takes her to the adult art class Sarah teaches. Boo watches and listens and helps take care of little B. Then they go back to Sarah's house for a whole day of painting. I usually show up after freeing Sophie from school to run gym taxi for all of us. 

The quality of her art is impressive. What is even more impressive is what the Art Day does for Beach. Sarah is a gentle and patient teacher and Beach is a hyper focused little soul. Together they get lost and found in art.

   

Sarah gives my child something I cannot: art and younger siblings. 

When Beach is with me we play with science, numbers, and words. STEM is one of our new favorite ways to spend time.

 It is a good thing I took these pics because someone went and ate the bridge!

 Book work is here. We spend no more than 2 hrs a day in books. 

(not including literature) 

I might have already mentioned that skill wise Boo is ready for Algebra but now isn't the right time...so until it is time her math is all fun and games, the abstract and the practical. As far as math/game books we absolutely love Mathmania!!!    

 Boo spends a lot of time playing in the land of the tree house. Making tiny items out of clay for her small people. 

Her papa and her made the tree house together after she found a similar item at the flee market but refused to pay the $30 price tag the vendor was asking.

Typically she wakes early. Plays and reads in her room.  Feeds her rabbit and plays with her bird before breakfast. We do a little book work, play a game of cards, and some house chores. Maybe run errands, prep dinner, bake, or go for a walk, some days we do all of the above. We eat lunch and read, play a few more games, watch a documentary or an old movie. By 2 we are in gym mode. Boo takes a shower, fixes her hair, and has a snack while watching kid programs on PBS. By 3:29 she is with her team running laps around the floor warming up for the 4 hr practice. Home by 8-ish pm for a small dinner and bedtime.   

 It is all so seamless.  Everything feels exactly as it should. This is what I was looking for when I was searching for answers about what home schooling REALLY was like. I wanted to know what it felt like. 

It feels like living :) 

reading now: Stargone John by Ellen Kindt McKenzie

it's that time of year again

It seems this is the time of year the benefits of homeschooling really pay off. 

I have a sick kid. A busy sick kid with lots of travel days for gym ahead in the next few months. I listen to the moms on the bench as they fight the school system and the gym for some sort of middle ground. Trapped are the kids rushing to gym, rushing to school, rushing to homework... trust me there are plenty of times I am jealous of the curbside drop offs, book fairs, and back-to-school nights but not right.

Right now I am grateful to answer the more than normal amount of inquires about homeschooling from other moms. Grateful I feel as comfortable as I do with how well Boo is learning and doing in and out of school work these days (minus the tummy trouble). 

I am grateful for the mess of art and cards piling up from a few days of taking it easy.  I am grateful to read a book based on a mood or a need/want of humor and commonality. To read it in a cozy bed- cat optional.

I am grateful for a pediatrician who laughed about her not needing a to fake an illness to get out of a boring class or a doctor's note excusing her from missing school. Glad for the slow, calm drive home- no need to hurry all things can wait.

I love that we did stamp art while watching a documentary Jonestown, Paradise Lost on Netflix. I love that the new clarity of Boo's contacts have suddenly given her the ability to write within the lines on a sheet of paper. Crazy right? It's something most of would never think about being an issue but with 2 drastically different images coming into her brain the lines didn't make sense so she ignored them, until now! I love that she hasn't spent years being hounded about the whole thing by a well meaning but misguided teacher.

Most of all I am grateful for the time we have and how perfectly 11 years old she is. That is the true freedom of being here, childhood has a chance to stretch aaaallllllllllll the way out. 
  

reading now

Yes, quite an interesting pair. We finished White Fang a few days ago and started Henry and Beezus just yesterday. But I think the contrast represents the adventures of being 11 years old rather well. 

reading now: The Cavendish Home For Boys And Girls

what Boo read

Monday morning reading retreat

reading now: The Tales of Beedle the Bard

how we organize our school days with numbering stations

On school days at our house laid out on the kitchen table you will find piles of of books. Each pile a different subject that contains the books and supplies needed for that's day course work. 

At some point before we begin school Boo will happen by and number her stations in the order of how we will work through them. I have override power but seldom do I have to use it. She is pretty good at putting her work in a workable order.

The average school day we have 5 to 6 stations/subjects. Some days we don't clear the table and that is okay. In fact yesterday was one of those days. We didn't school on Monday so I put out 2 days worth of work and hoped for the best. In the mix was Jr Great Books Little Daughter of the Snow with an art project, history with a Nova special, and science with a 3D art project. We also had other reading, a new spelling list to learn, and math. That is a lot of work!    

And we may not have gotten through it all (sorry math!) but once again that is the beauty of home school. We can get to next time or fit it in at breakfast before the next school day.

 Hands down using numbered stations is our favorite and most productive way to organize our school days. Not only does it help us meet our daily goals it helps us meet our bigger long term goals. Currently we are on week 3 of school (we started the week before most of the states schools started) and we are on track to complete our first series (4-5 week plan) of educational goals. Feels mighty fine :)