I read an article on a homeschool site that said to actually jot down a typical day in our home. First I thought, and rightfully so, that we don't have a "typical" day. Most days are different. But, I figured it couldn't hurt and I can go back at a later date and look at this and most likely chuckle. :)
8:00:maybe I should put the "ish" beside it, wake up
8:05:COFFEE
8:10:start to look at my/our day and ponder how much will actually get done
8:30:breakfast for Jason
8:35-9:00:listen to Jason babble about different things and smile because he gets so
excited about everything
9:01:decide I too, should probably eat said breakfast
9:02:start my breakfast, check email, chat with Kevin, play with Avery, think how I
really should be starting laundry
9:30:Meander upstairs and gather dirty clothes
9:40:shower, dress
10:00: start laundry and decide if I REALLY want to do dishes
10:01:NO, so look at the days school lessons
10:30:art project of some sort, different things, not always what you might consider
art
11:00:get laundry out and dry it
11:10:see what time it is and wonder if we can get any school in prior to lunch
11:15:decide no, and think about lunch
11:20:listen to Jason babble more and watch him play with Avery
11:30:start preparing whatever it is I've decided is lunch this day
12:00-1:00:lunch
1:00:math, whatever we're currently doing, right now, Teaching Textbooks.
1:30:spelling which includes him spelling out loud this week's words and some sort
of activity/worksheet, sometimes fitting some good dictionary skill building into
it
2:00:language arts/phonics, whatever we're currently doing
2:20:reading and some sort of reading comp
2:45:some days it is history, some days science, some days geography.
3:15:music most days, sometimes other things
3:45:finish up anything, any paper etc that didn't get finished earlier in the day or
perhaps week
4:00-4:15:done for the day with actual proper school
4:15-4:30:listen to Jason babble and play with Avery
4:30:remember the laundry that got washed and dried but not taken out and folded :)
4:45-5:00:think "OH MY GOSH" I need to look at dinner, Kevin will be home in an hour
or less!!
5:-6:00:make dinner, unload dishwasher that hopefully got loaded and washed earlier
6:00-6:30:dinner time, always at the table
6:30-6:45:clean kitchen and unload and load dishwasher
6:45-7:00:make sure everything has been done and I've made Kevin's lunch for the
next day
7:00:watch and listen to Jason babbling to Kevin
7-9:30:depends, sometimes, okay,usually, that is tv time and he gets to play video
games, age appropriate
9:30:time to get ready for bed
10:00:bed
No, not every single day is exactly like this day, but it's close. No, we don't have a "proper" "public school" day. Yes, my son is learning more than you could imagine and yes, he is socialized. :) I'm pretty tired after all this typing and only one cup of coffee so far this morning, so it's time for this Mama to get off here and do some of the things on this daily schedule!
January 28, 2013
January 21, 2013
Life
In the past several days(couple weeks)I've read numerous homeschooling blog posts about the day/week/month-etc in the life of their home. Also about difference in opinions in what the best curriculum is and do you blank or blank with your child/children.
First of all in relation to curriculum, I realized probably mid way through our first year doing it, which was 2nd grade for Jason that it truly was no different than the "one size fits all" public school we'd taken him out of. Kids aren't a one size fits all. I'd guess most kids aren't. We did try a different area for 3rd grade in Calvert, but it was no different, or better than A Beka we'd tried for 2nd grade. I slowly began to NOT do a year long grade(1st, 7th etc) boxed set curriculum because Jason varies. I no longer do that. I think every single subject this year is from a different company. Different curriculum. We also don't do one particular grade. We have various grades per subject, depending on his level. We only use christian based curriculum for the most part. Always for science.
And second, when I take a glimpse into our daily and or weekly lives, there are times where I wonder how on earth the boy ever learns anything!! There are days where we never change out of our jammies. Does that mean he isn't learning? Um, NO. We do have some structure to our school, but for the most part, it isn't "you have to be dressed and sitting straight at your desk quietly" for us. There are absolutely days where after half an hour, it just isn't working that day and I announce that we are done. But at the end of any given week, even though one day might only have been an hour, he's done the weekly work and learned the week's lessons. For us, learning isn't just about reading it or doing a worksheet, it's life period. Our everyday lives, things we do that teach him just as much as reading or writing. Not that those aren't important! :)
In reading blogs lately I realize more and more that a typical homeschool day for most families is pretty much like ours and yet a world different! I have never regretted choosing to pull my child out of public school. My hope is he will not step foot in one until college! I have no intention of bad mouthing public school and there are absolutely some wonderful teachers out there. I am friends on facebook with my 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Lewis who absolutely is one of those teachers. :)
And now it's time to do a bit of schooling for our Monday. Nope, we didn't get started before lunch which is more than not the norm for us. :)
First of all in relation to curriculum, I realized probably mid way through our first year doing it, which was 2nd grade for Jason that it truly was no different than the "one size fits all" public school we'd taken him out of. Kids aren't a one size fits all. I'd guess most kids aren't. We did try a different area for 3rd grade in Calvert, but it was no different, or better than A Beka we'd tried for 2nd grade. I slowly began to NOT do a year long grade(1st, 7th etc) boxed set curriculum because Jason varies. I no longer do that. I think every single subject this year is from a different company. Different curriculum. We also don't do one particular grade. We have various grades per subject, depending on his level. We only use christian based curriculum for the most part. Always for science.
And second, when I take a glimpse into our daily and or weekly lives, there are times where I wonder how on earth the boy ever learns anything!! There are days where we never change out of our jammies. Does that mean he isn't learning? Um, NO. We do have some structure to our school, but for the most part, it isn't "you have to be dressed and sitting straight at your desk quietly" for us. There are absolutely days where after half an hour, it just isn't working that day and I announce that we are done. But at the end of any given week, even though one day might only have been an hour, he's done the weekly work and learned the week's lessons. For us, learning isn't just about reading it or doing a worksheet, it's life period. Our everyday lives, things we do that teach him just as much as reading or writing. Not that those aren't important! :)
In reading blogs lately I realize more and more that a typical homeschool day for most families is pretty much like ours and yet a world different! I have never regretted choosing to pull my child out of public school. My hope is he will not step foot in one until college! I have no intention of bad mouthing public school and there are absolutely some wonderful teachers out there. I am friends on facebook with my 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Lewis who absolutely is one of those teachers. :)
And now it's time to do a bit of schooling for our Monday. Nope, we didn't get started before lunch which is more than not the norm for us. :)
January 03, 2013
Still here!
Haven't written in a quite a while. No particular reason other than the fact that the holiday season is always so hectic. It does help quite a bit since we decided to take the month of December off from school. This taking all of July and all of December off schedule has proven to be quite nice. We do take other time off during the year, but these are our two big amounts of time off.
I probably should have looked prior to sitting down to type this, but I didn't, and therefore do not even know when I last blogged. I suppose it doesn't matter and I'll just make this a "CO Lidh 2012 update" sort of deal.
The arrival of 2012, and actually the ending of 2011 found me sick with a horrid sore throat and fever. I was not amused and it certainly was not the way I'd intended to bring in the new year. As it turned out though, it was sort of nice just being lazy and sitting around in jammies watching old movies and bowl games and the parade. It did take us til the 2nd week of January to get all the Christmas decorations taken down, but so what?
The arrival of February meant hearts and chocolates. We were supposed to spend 3 days in Denver but ended up not doing so. We had a nice and somewhat romantic weekend at home. Sometimes you just need quiet time with your spouse to be romantic.
March brought warmer weather than we'd seen in years in our part of CO. Everything started blooming and growing and we ended up having to turn our sprinkler system on! It also brought with it Chris and Michelle and Sable arriving on their stop from Biloxi and Tech School to their assignment in Hawai'i. Sable was/is a big sweetheart! We enjoyed them being here for a couple of weeks. Sable stayed with us longer until she was able to fly to be with her parents. :)
April and May really went by fast. We did spend a weekend in Denver in early May. We went to the Denver Zoo on Saturday and it was 90 degrees! There is no shade at the Denver Zoo. We ate dinner at an Italian place and fell in love with it. Sunday found us waking up to a high of only 50 and thick clouds. Of course we had tickets to the Braves/Rockies game and had no intention of missing that. Braves won! The weekend was a lot of fun only to come to a huge halt with myself and Kevin being hit with a bad, bad case of food poisoning. I don't miss that.
June found us celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary. Since I'd had major surgery a week prior to our 25th and therefore there was no celebrating, we decided to do it for the 26th. Michael watched Jason for us and we saw a movie and ate at another Italian place we love and spent the night at a hotel downtown. Kevin had ordered a cake from a bakery we love and the entire time was nothing less than perfect! It also found the Waldo Canyon fire which forever changed Colorado Springs. It was horrific and so many folks still have not recovered.
July found us adopting Miss Avery and our lives have changed for sure. We love that girl so much and we think the feeling is mutual. She is funny and sweet and playful. She is supposed to be a Lab/Shepherd mix but we are unsure of this.
August found us back to school and starting 5th grade. It also found Michael starting college and moving back into the house. It also found Kevin marking one year working at 1st Bank.
September surely happened but I surely do not remember much about it! October came around and Halloween of course. Avery wasn't sure about this deal of people ringing our doorbell constantly. :)
November came to be and found much warmer weather than one in CO should ever have. Crazy warm. Kevin was promoted into management and now has 5 or might be 6 people working for him now. I am very proud of him. He is such a hard and dedicated worker. Thanksgiving was great albeit too warm. Avey quite enjoyed having turkey. :)
December found us still warm and dry. We did end up getting snow a few times and even snow Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. We had a fabulous Christmas and loved the cold and snow. Somehow the 31st found me sick again this year and much the same as last, sore throat and fever. I'm going to start boycotting the 31st if this continues to happen. :)
Now it is indeed 2013 and a new year is upon us. Jason and I will be starting back to school on Monday and we're starting 6th grade. He is very excited about this.
For now, happy new year to everyone!
I probably should have looked prior to sitting down to type this, but I didn't, and therefore do not even know when I last blogged. I suppose it doesn't matter and I'll just make this a "CO Lidh 2012 update" sort of deal.
The arrival of 2012, and actually the ending of 2011 found me sick with a horrid sore throat and fever. I was not amused and it certainly was not the way I'd intended to bring in the new year. As it turned out though, it was sort of nice just being lazy and sitting around in jammies watching old movies and bowl games and the parade. It did take us til the 2nd week of January to get all the Christmas decorations taken down, but so what?
The arrival of February meant hearts and chocolates. We were supposed to spend 3 days in Denver but ended up not doing so. We had a nice and somewhat romantic weekend at home. Sometimes you just need quiet time with your spouse to be romantic.
March brought warmer weather than we'd seen in years in our part of CO. Everything started blooming and growing and we ended up having to turn our sprinkler system on! It also brought with it Chris and Michelle and Sable arriving on their stop from Biloxi and Tech School to their assignment in Hawai'i. Sable was/is a big sweetheart! We enjoyed them being here for a couple of weeks. Sable stayed with us longer until she was able to fly to be with her parents. :)
April and May really went by fast. We did spend a weekend in Denver in early May. We went to the Denver Zoo on Saturday and it was 90 degrees! There is no shade at the Denver Zoo. We ate dinner at an Italian place and fell in love with it. Sunday found us waking up to a high of only 50 and thick clouds. Of course we had tickets to the Braves/Rockies game and had no intention of missing that. Braves won! The weekend was a lot of fun only to come to a huge halt with myself and Kevin being hit with a bad, bad case of food poisoning. I don't miss that.
June found us celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary. Since I'd had major surgery a week prior to our 25th and therefore there was no celebrating, we decided to do it for the 26th. Michael watched Jason for us and we saw a movie and ate at another Italian place we love and spent the night at a hotel downtown. Kevin had ordered a cake from a bakery we love and the entire time was nothing less than perfect! It also found the Waldo Canyon fire which forever changed Colorado Springs. It was horrific and so many folks still have not recovered.
July found us adopting Miss Avery and our lives have changed for sure. We love that girl so much and we think the feeling is mutual. She is funny and sweet and playful. She is supposed to be a Lab/Shepherd mix but we are unsure of this.
August found us back to school and starting 5th grade. It also found Michael starting college and moving back into the house. It also found Kevin marking one year working at 1st Bank.
September surely happened but I surely do not remember much about it! October came around and Halloween of course. Avery wasn't sure about this deal of people ringing our doorbell constantly. :)
November came to be and found much warmer weather than one in CO should ever have. Crazy warm. Kevin was promoted into management and now has 5 or might be 6 people working for him now. I am very proud of him. He is such a hard and dedicated worker. Thanksgiving was great albeit too warm. Avey quite enjoyed having turkey. :)
December found us still warm and dry. We did end up getting snow a few times and even snow Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. We had a fabulous Christmas and loved the cold and snow. Somehow the 31st found me sick again this year and much the same as last, sore throat and fever. I'm going to start boycotting the 31st if this continues to happen. :)
Now it is indeed 2013 and a new year is upon us. Jason and I will be starting back to school on Monday and we're starting 6th grade. He is very excited about this.
For now, happy new year to everyone!
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