So why has Gollum taken up residence here?

I've enjoyed working through the Lord of the Rings both as a read aloud and as a Omnibus book this year. My sensitive kids who at 9-13 weren't sure when we started that this series was a safe read ...but as "What hasss he gotss in his pocketssees" took over we've been fine..now thanks to Dad's read aloud voices,... we have "niccee fissshheesss, niceee Hobbitssess" ,  now the only pause in how to finish the Two Towers is to see what Gollum gems will bet us past the spider...umm no so easy when some family members still do roof patrols in their room each night trying to rid the world the house of all daddy longlegs...

A Long Journey

Its been a long journey to find out how to work this home-school thing. Lots of false starts, lots of work, lots of things I wish I had known at the start. But this year slowly order seems to be growing.

Its not that we have it perfect, its not that I have the right planning system, because I now only seem to use a spreadsheet, and largely wing it.

Its not that we've cracked the secret of homeschooling three kids by lunchtime, and have done lots of cool stuff after-wards. We do get rewarded with dessert if we make it through the days school though.

Nor is it that we have found the perfect most amazing curriculum out, but now I can see how what we have been led to use fits together and its been good, yes in its own way fun and rewarding, but it has been a long road to see how all the pieces that used to seem so competitive for our time interweave.

Slowly I'm starting to drop the pressure and work towards a simple " We will do the work today that God wills." I'm not good at it, but I can see that its a lot better than trying to plan and make that planning happen. Especially for someone with a track record for being way to stressed out about it all.

Appreciating the Patchwork

Our homeschooling journey could easily have been described as a pull between two poles. I love the Omnibus from Veritas in truth I love their whole history and bible program. But I also love the idea of a freer CM style learning, based on good books, nature study, relaxed learning and quiet peaceful days.


In the past we have swung between the two and our own blend of block studies. Each has its advantages, each has its downfalls especially when I add in the quirks of my kids and myself. Often I've felt like a failure from jumping between the two and a whole lot of  variations in between. But along the way we have learned, and I think that I'm finally coming to a balance between the two styles.

For the younger ones living books and narrations largely replace the cards and worksheets. I still use the worksheets where they take what we are learning a little deeper but often its reading, narration and any interesting activities. I know we overdo the formal stuff - written narrations are way to common, but they work, yes I agree ex-auditors really shouldn't be left to home-school alone.

With the Omnibus this term we have taken the selections for about nine weeks, and stretched them so that we start the introductions to most of the books in week 1 ...and finish most of the books in week 10. Slow reading, time to sit with a book. No more hard weeks of reading that is pulling us down. ( OK in truth that's only the Histories ...but that was a long time of not wanting to read.)

We still have our writing project and art project Fridays. Hopefully next week I'll mark them in time for evening presentations. For this week its a Monday presentation. They are great fun, and yep I get to see what really had made a difference for the younger ones. With Omnibus this is the time to play with the writing questions and essays.  the also give me a day to catch up, and a day we can bump if there is a home-school group activity, skiing or a long weekend. No more  inflexible Monday to Friday schedule with these interruptions sending me into stress mode.

I still have three kids in different places in History, Bible and Literature .. it really is a patchwork, but  its working out. They have something that is theirs and that is good. But now we are far enough in to have conversations at dinner and discuss Homer and Virgil. Just because someone asked a question, and we are all far enough along in the journey to have it start to come together. It wasn't in depth, but to see the various personalities interacting was worth the struggles, and is also worth the patience of going at their own pace.

Embracing Summer

It's been a long year, lots of change, lots of growth, lots of good. Its also been a year or many ups and downs.

Challenges to our faith from the politics of our local church. Politics that dropped the Word in favor of many words. That put individual agendas on top of God's agenda, but politics that forced us to dig deeper into God, learning growing and trusting.

Challenges at my husbands workplace with difficult co-workers, and seeing a world or options in the wider organization. Alongside it good busyness developing an out-door recreation program for PE, us teaching ballroom dancing, finishing off the second year of a creation based, hands on, web based learning science curriculum for his students all this and teaching a full courseload.


Overcoming the challenges and frustrations of the ways we don't work well together as a homeschool and working towards a more positive home-school attitude. Along the way working through the issues that leave us feeling stressed and doubtful.

A string of financial hiccups - not the painful problem of job loss, but a year of niggles, and unexpected bills that have left us stretched and unsure.

Yesterday was the day to call summer school. Optimistically to say that for the next month or two we'll work on some school, rest, play , love laugh. Hubby has another 7 days before he is free to join us.

I'm looking forward to changing gears, tidying up the garden from the rain of the last two weeks of early summer, enjoying nature and focusing on God. Hopefully along the way we can see a complete change in how we school from the structure we have needed on the past to a freer, more encouraging focus of enjoying what we do. If so our early end to the school year will be well rewarded.

I didn't see that coming

Change hit our home-school this week. I didn't realize we were heading for change... or that we needed it. Or even that it is real. I've been settled with my weekly blocks of learning. Having just one or two things to think about and plan made life easy and comfortable.

Last weekend I looked over the subject list and while they were all good things to study none felt right for this week. Nothing made sense in terms of what we were studying although by Monday morning I had a plan of sorts.

Across the week hiccup after hiccup disrupted the plan. Along the way a new plan evolved. Firstly a recognition that nature study was important. Then a realization that those subjects that incorporate beauty (poetry, music and art works) were missing.

Slowly its began to dawn that interspersing out days with reading and discussion doesn't need to be stressful. We can simply keep a pile of books and read the portions that we need to do throughout the day. With weekly writing projects we don't need written narrations, crafts or experiments on every subject. Where we do we can slot them in as required without having a big block for afternoon studies. I didn't have to be tied to a schedule. If we lose a day to skiing, the pools, sickness or just needed to get on top of life it was OK. My biggest challenge in homeschooling has always been dealing with the challenge of having an afternoon disrupted and wondering what to do about it. Many weeks have been lost simply on the realization that by Tuesday we weren't going to be able to finish the plan - and then what did I do.

The realization that we could use our existing program CM style without taking on board the whole plan of Ambleside is appealing. For some reason I've always felt I had to do all of Ambleside using all their selections. When we got to the stage of having alternative preferences it came apart.

Now I'm feeling content with our curriculum choices but seeing the option for a stress free implementation. No detailed plans. No schedules that we have to meet, no deadlines. No more subjects than we are happy learning from. It sounds refreshing and good, the kids are keen... and so we head forward.

I wonder where this journey leads.

Writing

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

by the Artist age 12

Hi! I am a country mouse called Matilda. You see I live in the country. I have always believed that the best saying or motto is, “It is better to be poor and eat Beans, Bacon, Cheese, and Bread, than live in luxury and eat cakes and ale in danger.” One night at dinner my cousin Georgina and I were chased by two massive mastiffs or watch-dogs. They were big and scary.

We had been enjoying the remains of a great feast with roast duck and pork, ale, and wines, cakes and all other things nice to mice, even rare fruits. It was such a nice feast I began to enjoy myself. The big rows of houses had scared me. I heard my warning bells ringing when the barks of the dogs filled my ears, but when I questioned Georgina, she was not worried. This was her house so she was not scared, she was hungry, and besides, this was her house.

You see Georgina had invited me to dinner after she had visited me in the country. She said to me in an angry tone, “Matilda! I can never understand you! You have only beans, bacon, cheese, and bread, to offer me! Nothing better! But if you came with me, I could show you what luxury is.” She pulled out a grape from her pack which she had brought for the journey. Then she continued comparing her grape with one of my beans. For it was true, all I had to offer was beans, bacon, cheese, and bread. “Matilda, please come with me. We will also see the rest of the family in Madrid, Spain. Our family in town could come with us, and we could have a great big family reunion.” She was still examining my bean in disgust. So with a sigh, I consented, for I was the only one out of the family who lived in the country.

I had tried welcome her very much when she had arrived, but it had been no use. I had offered my food freely, all I could find, but she only turned up her nose at the food, even my bacon. Now I will never leave the country. I don’t want to get hurt. Not even Georgina can take me to town.

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

by the Naturalist age 8

Now there was once a country mouse that had his cousin, a town mouse, over for lunch. The town mouse did not like the country. As to the bread, corn and bacon the country mouse served him, he only ate bacon.

He said “You live a very poor life. Come to town, and live with me and the family.”

The country mouse conceded.

So said! So done! They headed off for the city.

They got to the grand house, where the town mouse lived that evening. They went to the dinning room and were enjoying a hearty meal with all the big family. Then they heard barking. The country mouse said “What is that?” The town mice said “It is only the dogs of the house.” “Only!” said the scared country mouse. Then in walked two big Mastiffs.

The mice ran away and the country mouse said “Good-bye I am going back to the country.”

“What the!” said the town mice.

Then the country mouse said, “Better poor with peace the luxury in great fear.”

Weekly learning report

Its been a good week. We didn't get to as much as I had hoped, but routines (apart form unexpected vet trips) are starting to form and we're starting to bring some of the fun back into our days.

During the course of the week I found this blog post by Cindy and it really spoke into the reality of what had been going wrong. I've been trying so hard for so long to prove that we could home school them, that they would do great and that it wasn't another hair-brained idea from two kids that had left reality some time back. The result and the isolation of not being able to talk to my family about what happened in our home-school wasn't pretty.

This week we've been finding the fun again - working together in writing - we used Rapunzel as our model, and managed to do the outline, dictionary skills, parsing, diagramming and sentence shuffle parts together kinda working at different levels. My Naturalist wasn't impressed at the size of the story though and is objecting.

We also fund ourselves working together at some of the Artist's Latin sentences - partly because she is just starting verbs so the sentences were writing everyone's range and partly with corrections because it takes a difficult thing and makes it fun.

In our notebook studies - bible, history, literature and science I've had to realize this isn't going to be a quick run through. There are too many options to follow rabbit trails. This week we looked at character studies of Andrew, Polly and Digory. We will follow them or at least the two kids through the story and see what thier journeys are. We sidetracked into a discussion of Who the Serpent in the Garden was? And we moved slowly forward in science. We also enjoyed reading How the Whale Got his Throat, and as our family read-aloud picked up the Hobbit.

So all in all its been a good week - and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Week 4

Four weeks into term and we are starting to see a settling into the year, an expectation and a sense of fun. Finding the balance between fun and learning seems to be a challenge for us. Slowly I'm finding the patience to work towards balance and towards the end of this week could see some positive changes.

My Artist managed to dig herself back out of some of the bogs that have been developing in maths and writing. As long as we manage to talk through a lesson before we begin she has a good lesson and manages to get through her work confidently. When we don't umm :-(. Her writing program is a bit like that as well. By the end of the week we had a good rhythm of talking through the lessons before we began and she did well. She definitely wants to step up to the mark and to do well and its encouraging to see that. She finished the first year of Henle 1 last week!! So now we are back to verbs, I've missed having to think through what form of the verb to put in a sentence - strangely.

The Engineer - well he made it through his morning subjects in the end - and for him that is a good week. I'm hoping that his confidence in doing school also grows. I can see him enjoying the increased freedom in our afternoon studies, especially if he gets to read more and write less.

And the Naturalist - he had a fun week. I've finally let him loose on CW Aesop and he's having fun. He is such a contrast to his siblings, so structured and focused. He's my only kid that can seem to play around all morning and still turn in all his school finished first.

For Me - 4 months after we started re-decorating, I'm up to date with my girl in terms of Latin (Yep Mum finished the first year of Henle this afternoon.) and Greek. So now I can find my own rhythem to the day wihtout being overloaded. Its strange after years of trying to design the perfect schedule or routine I'm finding that having a lot more flexibility and some daily goals to be easiest. Just a list of things to acheive and keeping the decks clear enough that I'm not interuppted with distractions. Maybe there is more than a little trace of my Engineer's wandering nature in me not that I want to admit it.

A New Year on the Homeschool Front.

Monday we start back up.

Refreshed from our summer break,

A clean fresh year with lots of promise,

New schedules printing,

Lots of hope.

I'm both looking forward to this year and anxious at the same time. Looking forward because their have been many changes in attitude over summer. Anxious because the change of heart is untested.

This summer has seen lots of thinking through what we need to do, how we can best do it, how to find the balance that we need, and how to go forward.

There are a couple of posts in the works from this thinking. They should appear soonish.
I'm also playing with the idea of a planning blog where I can collect my thoughts, and focus our purposes before we dive into the new year.

The Atmosphere of School

Since we started schooling the kids my greatest struggle has been finding the balance between enjoying learning and trying to get it all done.

I look enviously at peoples blogs and e-group posts where they seem to be able to let go and allow the children to explore and discover. Where belief in the journey is enough to allow the kids freedom to learn without the pressure to finish the chapter or the page. In the last week I have looked at the exams on the Further In and Higher Up website and been amazed at what can be achieved under a pure Charlotte Mason regime, but I am not a Charlotte Mason home-school mum - I love her ideas for nature study artists and composers, poetry and literature. I love the idea of narration for history, bible and science. But I also want to tease things out a little further to discuss and enjoy.

I also want my kids to also have the discipline of Latin and Greek, logic and progym, to be comfortable with Maths. Classical Pure or Latin Centered tugs at my mind and says this way. Veritas' programs intrigue me I love the projects and the learning they pull together. At least I love some of them but the worksheets, tests and red tape leave me and the kids in overload.

My heart suggests that there is a way that allows it all, but maybe for me it can't be a strick this much by this time regime. I hate the daily need to nudge my kids back to their studies. Yet somehow we need to build in the discipline of learning.. so how. Again I am sure that it is a balance and a weaving together of our days - maybe I just need faith in the process.

Normally my solution to this is to re-schedule - constantly I have the feeling that the answer is not to plan or at least not to micro-plan to let go and let God. The only problem is I'm not so good at that.

Another day on...

Today was another good day. A bit of a crash day for me but still encouraging. My engineer is still absorbed in engines and technology - but he wanted to piggyback the younger ones Quia time and review his Latin words. Maybe there is hope ahead.

For the other two it was a good solid day, relaxed by the lack of stress, and mum not running from child to child.

I'm looking forward to seeing what he has done in his note books today. Tomorrow will be the real test - day three is normally when our plans come crashing down around us.

Day one - unschooling one

My engineer had his first unschooling day yesterday. Reporting ot Dad at the end of the day not me. So for the rest of us it was a chance to relax a little, work, and feel like we all achieved something.

My Artist with good intentions and a timer got through her first full day of school in weeks. She often gets bogged down in one or more subjects and like our middle son we have pulled our hair out iwth her in the past. Now she is focused and when not confusiated doing well. She re-started Homer A yesterday after much consideration and unsettledness. Well restarted with the promise of gleaning things from classical compositons (CC) so that we get the grammar application - CW and the variety of writing projects CC.

My Engineer spent most of the day reading and narrating in his room. He had to show Dad that he had worked at theend of the day - so he set himself a daily Aesop fable to narrate, did some work on drawing and writing about a combustion engine and an hydrolic ram. Drew an owl, and narrated from the book he was reading. And read from the history encyclopedia on early smelters. You can see why he has the nick name he has. Bit he also kept to the rules and was polite and well mannered. So all in all a promising start.

My Naturalist - simply got on whith what he had to do and blitzed through his day. I need to give him a ticklist since I rubbed the family one off the whiteboard and he likes to know that he has done what he needed to do. This is a very indenpendant boy. I need to work more with him today, but yesterday I had the freedom to tidy up several of the piles of bills and other stuff that has been building up.

For me - I got on top of life a little for the first time in weeks. Tidied up, sorted out the finances for the last couple of months, found the bills I need to pay this week. That sort of thing. I even managed an hour or so outside in the garden pulling weeds. I feel far more relaxed than I have in a while.

And for the icing on the cake spring is seriously in bloom... this is from last year but already this tree is halfway to this point.

Another battle - a new ending

Slowly we are moving forward again. slowly.

My boy has turned from the defiant challenging I don't get it lad of last week to a listening, trying to be good. At least the discussions are promising. We aren't always succeeding, but he is trying.

He did manage to do his morning work today with a good attitude, and in a timely way. He wanted it to be right.

This afternoon the effort got to be a little much, and we had to work hard to not fall back into old habits.

I want to be hopeful, that soon we will round that corner where schoolwork becomes something that we do, grow in and occasionally enjoy without all the fuss.

A Round of Goodnights

Last night as I made my way through the goodnight routine, two of my kids settled into bed with new books from the library,

My youngest - simply wanted to be in control, and to have cuddles, he's still feeling the effects of the last cold/flu that swept through the house and is tired.

My Engineer is dreaming of making a hydrogen driven go-cart with his mates - or one mate. He is so excited! I'm just not sure that the reality of the situation and his talents at this time live up to his dreams. OK in truth I see a petrol motor filled with water and? but his efforts in planning and designing are amazing. Time to bring the physics teacher Dad on board I think.

My Artist brought home a book on drawing pets. She was really excited to see how to draw cats and dogs and fish. I think she had made a couple of drawings already in the 3 hours since we had gotten home. It adds another dimension to the theory of Artistic pursuits.

There wasn't much sleep for the first part of the night but lots and lots of dreaming.

A New Progym Curiculum

A few months ago I recognized that my Artist Daughter was struggling with lour writing program. Classical writing was causing her more than it's share of con-fus-e-a-tion (her word for anything that gets too hard.)

Try as she and I might we simply couldn't keep the objective of the weeks exercises in our heads while we completed it. So for the last couple of months we have been working on grammar with an older text called Mother Tongue, and playing with the occasional writing program. The fun came back into my Artist's writing.

At the same time I gave in and brought the scary background books on classical education and the progym. Scary both because of the cost, and well, was I up to reading them. So far I've worked through wisdom and eloquence, and looked at classical composition by D'Angelo enough to start fleshing out our own progym.



But just as I came to pull the plans together a post of the Latin Centered board caught my eye. Someone posted about another progym program Classical Composition by Jim Selby. We tried out the first half of the sample lesson and had a lot of fun. My artist can use her creativity rather than getting bogged down in the analysis and the grammar, which more often than not had us struggling with the how much are we required to do. So I'm looking forward to its arrival shortly, Beth is looking forward to its flexibility, and I'm pleased that it is straight forward enough that I can add or subtract lessons as we need to. (Actually knowing what I am looking for when it comes to mark her work is a bonus. )

The Samples are here if anyone is interested Classical Composition.

Now we are one more step closer to having a comfortable, encouraging plan ....