Sorry for the absence and that's all I have to say about that.
It is another homeschool year to begin. I feel like an old hat at starting and still a inexperienced fool at finishing. Sadly, of the 3 years we have begun homeschooling, we have finished in a public institution. Mostly from the results of self doubt, frustration, and lack of support. Always while preparing or what I like to call overloading my senses with way too much information, I come across a mission or purpose statement.
Why do this? To put it in writing, because I want to. I have wanted to and knew I would since the day I was planning my wedding. This is what my intention was, goal, the envision of my future, prodigy, etc. I AM that mom. At the end of each year, I would feel defeated, why am I not.
I know why we stopped, but the frustrating part is within the public institution even within 2 weeks, there was no sense of satisfaction with their product. It was just that at least I am not the one failing them, I will allow the institute to fail them, just as it failed me. Yes, they would read better and add better, but the missing part that was not being provided was thinking.
Where was I going wrong? I feel as though I have touched on every type of learning style and approach. I have tried a few. I have done workboxes twice now. I have tried to keep it simple, kept it fun, and have stuck them on the computer. I have child centered myself to a tizzy. The reality is I have 4 children in a small house. I must live and eat and let them play in this space that we school. The least bit of chaos and disorder sends the world we know of into a tizzy of fret and despair. I have uncluttered and sorted and organized, to the point of enough. For us this enough is just barely enough for us and way too much for the house. What is a mom to do!
I can say that, as always, I excitedly started my kids back to school right after I picked them up from their last day. Well, maybe the following Monday. Mentally, I knew they needed to be deprogrammed, but in practice I just couldn't do it. Let's say, forethought and planning was at a maximum, Just enough!
I must be eclectic. As summer progressed, I would boast, oh, we are eclectic. The reality was we would do a collection of stuff on Monday and then maybe again 2 more times a week. Combing the pins, I just knew if I could make a workbox system, everything would really flow together. Cleverly, I used the milk crates and vinyl folders and cute labels. Instead of doing school a few times a week, we now accomplished it just on Mondays. I must not be doing something right!!!!!!!!
As I mentally torture myself through this whole administration aspect and planning portion of homeschooling, I actually got the blessing to overhear a conversation on several topics of reading and writing. The lasting statement I heard from another mom with older elementary children was I wish I would have read this book before I ever would have taken them out of school. What is this book, I have to know! Invading myself into the conversation, I learned for the first time about Susan Wise Bauer and the well educated mind. I was given just a name and I went home in a mission. It was fine, I had plenty of time, I wasn't schooling as it was.
I got home and found
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/ and was amazed with the information. Now, we are expecting #5 at the first of the year and I am just tired on top of it all. So I printed up a few articles, got a highlighter, and crawled into bed. Immediately, it was like my mind had been on a 2 year celery diet and I was just been given a steak dinner. I had to chew it, but it was remarkable. It spoke to me, this is what I have been searching for.
I found it.
I have purpose! I homeschool my children through thick and thin, because I want to educate them to think and learn on their own. I want them to be prepared for any university to continue to explore and discover, without the hurtles of being ill prepared for general education. I refuse to allow my children to have the substandard education that was available to me and is still available to them.
Focus, now, focus. At first, let just say, the book is complete from birth to senior year on equipping you with the knowledge of resources and very heavy. As I read, I was jotting every bit of information down. After 3 days of reading, collecting, and organizing, I realized!
The method is actually very simple. My brain can stay focus. Focused, because reading material is in lined with history. Full pictures are being painted, not partial. Best of all, the book provides listings of references, reading list, etc. to help you narrow your choices that will maintain the method.
By default, I started planning the year's schedule, the weekly layout, all the way to the daily expectation, a first! For the first time ever, we will begin school at home the Monday after Labor day. until then, I am preparing them to use their brain in a new way, so we a cutting TV down to 1 hour a week and we are filling them with audio books. I want their minds to feed off language, not images. I want them to create their own images. These next weeks, will give us plenty of time to train in being responsible around the house.
I love you for visiting and commenting. I look forward to sharing our adventures as always.
~trish
