Homeschooling Heartcheck

Ah, Christmas break. A very nice time to sit back and reflect on the whys and hows of our homeschooling journey. I know some people might think I am still in the "honeymoon phase" but I am seriously so glad that we have been able to start this. There are headaches along the way. I mean, five people being together 24/7 can seem a little cramped. We do get on each others' nerves. I wouldn't have it any way, though.

If we were not homeschooling, we would not be able to pick and choose our own field trips. We would have to do what ever the school deemed appropriate for each age, and the boys would have to go separately. There are countless times that we either had to get a babysitter or only one of us go on a field trip with the kids because siblings were not allowed to come. There have even been a few trips where our kids were the ones with no parent along for the ride because dad had to work and mom could not get a sitter. So now we are able to do things as a family. If we decided to go somewhere, we just do it. We can rearrange our schedule to fit our needs. We have done school at night, and on Saturday, just to be able to do something that we wanted during the day.

This might sound a bit selfish, but I like the fact that our kids are learning from us. They are not being forced to learn boring crap that never gets used in life. Even their word problems in math are something useful such as: there are three boys in the family. Mom cooks nine pieces of bacon. How much bacon does each boy get? Very unlike the the stuff about how one canoe left port A at 5:00 heading north while another canoe left port B at 6:30 heading south. When will the two canoes meet? I have never to this day as an adult used anything to do with canoes or trains leaving separate places and meeting somewhere. Making sure everyone gets the same amount of bacon (or candy or chicken or whatever) is something I do frequently. I don't have to worry about them being told dirty jokes by their teachers. I still remember a joke that my pervert 8th grade history teacher told our class. I think one reason that the joke has stuck with me so long was because I did not get it at first, then when I finally did get it (months later) I had one of those EEEWWWWW moments. And as far as pervert teachers go-I do not have to worry about that. My kids are here.

We have had so many moments that would not have been possible if the guys were at school. Times that are not anything magnificent- just times of laughing together about our new Captain Underpants names (I am Flunky Lizardnose and over there is my husband-Pinky) or watching a movie together, maybe just watching the older boys read a book to Samuel or Samuel read a book to one of his stuffed animal friends. We have just had a lot of good "moments".

For the most part I have been very pleased with our curriculum choices.
Math-I can not imagine ever changing from Math-U-See I have had so many aha! moments myself with it. Like for instance, I always got confused as a kid about area and perimeter. One thing MUS teaches is that a good way to remember perimeter being the rim. peRIMeter-outer edges. Cool, huh?
Science- Once again I can not imagine changing. Apologia has really great books. Nathaniel will be in the more advanced books next year, but I have looked at the sample given on their website and am very impressed. It is not stuffy, boring science. It reads more like a real book (literature) than a text book. Not that I am saying text books are all bad, but most of the time I would not want to just sit and read one like it was something by Charles Dickens. These books are different. I have to hide our science book sometimes because Nathaniel and Benjamin want to read ahead. Who would have ever thought that????
English-Nathaniel is not too wild about Shurley Grammar. He would prefer not to do English at all. So sometimes English with him is quite the chore. I have to set a timer most of the time or he will waste the whole day on a writing assignment or vocabulary words. Benjamin and Samuel, however love it. Samuel is not actually doing it, but he is in the room when I am working with Benjamin. He can spot the subject noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and article adjective sometimes faster that Benjamin. (much to Benj's chagrin)
History/Literature everything else- When I first began researching homeschooling I really like some aspects of Konos and some aspects of Veritas Press I even told Mark what I really wanted was something that had the awesome educational value and classical styling of Veritas, mixed with the unit study style and the hands-on learning approach of Konos. In the end we went with konos because it would not require me to be teaching totally different things to each of the boys at the same time. Now I have found what I was looking for. Tapestry of Grace. It is a unit study that covers k-12. It is classical. They will be exposed to great works of literature of the English-speaking world. Most importantly, it is very Christian. They got the name Tapestry of Grace because they said all of history is like the threads of a great tapestry God is weaving. Everything works according to God's plan. We might not always be able to see what He is weaving into our lives, but we do know it is for His glory. I saw something on a TOG user's blog where you could order a free three week sample. I was blown away! This feels like home, so to speak. It is very teacher involved (ah, dang! no sneaking off for a nap during the middle of the day) and very meaty. The kiddos will be learning stuff I never learned in elementary or middle school. I really think it is awesome. Our first year we are going to be studying creation through the fall of Rome. I like the way they break it down into each year having having four units. Each unit has nine weeks. So it is organized in a way that keeps you on track.

It is late, so I must leave you my blogging buddies. Before I go I would like to ask, if you are homeschooling, what are some of your favorite A) aspects or benefits of homeschooling; B)curriculum choices or curriculum changes that you have made over the years.