Back to Blogging- Homeschool Edition

Today the kids and I went to the zoo and skipped lessons since it was a glorious sunny and warm day in an otherwise terrible, gloomy, and cold Midwest spring. Along the way through the monkey exhibit there was a class of children Cabe's age following their teacher. I had to explain to Cabe what a field trip was, and then of course had to reassure him that he wasn't missing out on anything as we take way more field trips than any conventional school. But as the teacher stopped to snap a picture of her class by the exhibit, it occurred to me that I haven't done a very good job documenting Caleb's first year of school. Of course, I have an accordion file stuffed full of work proving that he has been learning over the past eight months, but I have very few photos. I am embarrassed to admit that in the scuffle of every day life it never occurred to me to stop and reflect on our day-to-day adventures. So my plans is to share what a homeschool looks like here in our home. To post the triumphs, big and small. The admit the aggravation and hair pulling. To document our projects, studies, and "field trips". If I can inspire a fellow homeschool mom, or provide insight to those curious to what our homeschool life looks like, even a little- I consider it a bonus. My main goal is to create a sort of year book for my children and family.

 To that end, I'd like to share a homeschool adventure we had last week. The kids, Papa and Grandma, and I piled into the minivan and drove 4 hours to the Great Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati. I knew the day would be tiring and rushed as we had to make the trip in only one day, but I was determined to be able to thumb through books and curriculum. Last year, for kindergarten, I bought all of our books online with only reviews as a guide. I still believe that reviews offer great insight while shopping online, (and I am known to obsessively to read them) but nothing beats looking at things first hand to decide whether or not they may work four my family. The above photo is only one half on the exhibitor hall! It was an exhausting three hours hunting down the vendors I wanted to check out (despite having looked up their booth assignments and such prior to going). But I gained a lot of insight in that time!

  First off, I loved seeing the crowds. It is quite reassuring knowing you are not the only crazy person out there doing this. It was nice for my parents to see that although our lifestyle is in the minority, it is a vastly growing one. I also finally realized what I was looking for in curriculum for my kids. Until now I used components of Timberdoodle kindergarten curriculum, some Charlotte Mason books, and lots of hodge podged worksheets from my stash from when I taught in public schools. That wasn't working admittedly and I need a curriculum that lays it all out for me. It was hard to admit that to myself as I rather arrogantly decided right at the start that as an educated teacher who was trained to actually write and create curriculum, I didn't need to pay hundreds of dollars to pay for it.

  Fast forward to the end of our first year and I clunked down the big money to have the freedom of popping open a teacher manual the night before to prep for lessons. It wasn't that I couldn't write extensive plans and such- but it was too time consuming and unrealistic for me (and most families I am guessing). I began to resent the time it required for me to prepare and with Sophia enetering kindergarten next year, I knew I couldn't keep it up with two kids. So in case you are wondering for Cabe, we went with My Father's World first grade deluxe, Real Science 4 Kids to supplement, All About Spelling Level One to supplement, Math-U-See Alpha to supplement, and a Bible study curriculum to supplement. For Sophia, we went with All About Reading Level One, that's all. I plan to have her follow Caleb's other lessons as far as her development lets her.

 Finally, after all the mind numbing curriculum shopping, we skipped out of the convention center without going to any workshops. The weather was sunny and seventy degrees, a stark contrast to the weather we have been having at home. There for we skipped over to Kentucky to walk along the river and to have dinner. Cabe thought it was pretty cool to have dinner in a different state. Even though we live 5 miles from Michigan and have dinner in "another state" quite often. Here are the kids on the bridge with Sophia mostly crying because the sun was hurting her eyes. Like I said, spring has been so horrible here that the sun is now foreign and scary, lol.