It's a Cruel, Cruel Summer

I’m clearly not adept at giving regular reports on our progress. BUT, learning is happening. I PROMISE!  And so, I give you a really long summary of the past several weeks…ok months.

Large and Medium are on Lesson 29 out of 30 in their Math U See books, and unfortunately for them, I already have most of their next sets ready and waiting. Snicker Snicker.  Thanks to eBay (again) I found the teacher guides and DVDs for Large and Small, but will be picking up student packs containing their workbooks and test booklets, and Medium’s complete set next week. Small is excited to be starting the same program as brothers, which means getting to watch a DVD with Mom. Watching math videos does not excite this English major, but the fact that he is good at math already and has a positive attitude about it, makes me think maybe he will major in something in college that will allow him to buy me a vacation home somewhere tropical. This should become one of my goals in homeschooling. I’m almost sure of it.

Small’s reading is so precious to me. He learned to read at school from our beloved Mrs. J., so I can’t take credit for teaching him, but I do love listening to him as he learns new concepts like the sound ‘ight’ makes or ‘ing’. He just finished Bob Books Set 4 Complex Words and will start Set 5 Long Vowels this week. These will be a breeze since he already covered long vowels in his Spelling book. Harvard here we come.

Medium is no lover of reading, even though it is clearly EASY for him. He finally found a book series at the library that he loves: Beast Quest. Really, son?  After willingly buying two for him to read on the Kindle PLUS the one from the library, I’m making him move on.  He started Mr. Popper’s Penguins yesterday and I found an 89 page unit study online. Score! He sets the timer and reads for 30 minutes on my Kindle or his Ipod. He’s such a techie kid that if I can find a way to make it feel less school-like and more video-game-ish, the whining-complaining factor drops significantly.

Large finished reading Holes and thanks to my neighbor/jr. high English teacher/friend, I had a reading comprehension packet to go with it. Yay for supportive friends! He absolutely loved the book and movie, and convinced his brothers to dig holes with him in the backyard to “build character.” The coming-in-the-house-covered-in mud every. single. day. made it much less funny. The character-building had to stop. I informed Large that being grounded from all things with screens built more character than playing in the mud, and he determined they were finished with that part of their training. Well played big brother.  He’s now reading Tuck Everlasting with much less enthusiasm and an irritating amount of grimacing/sighing.

We’re racing through Large and Medium’s grammar books, trying to finish an entire year’s worth of material in one semester. That means usually two to three lessons per day, but because they have learned a lot of the concepts already, it only takes about 30 minutes to complete. I’m also skipping most of the writing assignments, focusing mainly on the grammar parts such as adjectives and adverbs for Medium, and predicate nominatives and direct objects for Large. I know, I KNOW. Writing is very important, but the plan for now is to just get through the books, and hit the writing assignments this summer.

That’s right. We’re not taking the summer off.

The boys are not on board with this plan and believe it to be the highest form of cruelty. They are used to having almost three months to let whatever information and education they’ve attained be rotted away by hours of SpongeBob, Playstation, and Ipod apps. I don’t have a concrete plan yet, but think we will take a few weeks off at the end of May, or early June, then start back by doing school a few days a week. I need me some sunny pool and lake time too, so hopefully with two days of math and grammar, with a little history and science thrown in, and daily reading, I’ll feel like we’re having the best of both worlds. The boys will probably feel like they’re being served a huge injustice. Maybe I can convince the Hubster that a new backyard pool is a necessity to homeschooling.  And that we can afford it. And that we will not make him spend every free minute of his time cleaning and maintaining it.

 Yes, this also should become one of my goals. Along with a trip to Disney World and a visit to the Olympics and Stonehenge. Goals are important. I should make a list.

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to......

I just got chills from Sesame Street.

Normally the TV isn’t on unless:
A) the kids are outside and I’m catching up on General Hospital  (don’t judge me)
B) we’re watching a Planet Earth video, or
C) school work and chores are finished.
This morning Small asked if he could watch something educational while enjoying his Cocoa Puffs (again, don’t judge). The first thing that came on was Sesame Street and which is totally educational! Well, ok Sesame Street is probably only educational for a four year old, but I didn’t consider it as brain rotting as Tuff Puppy, so PBS it was. I decided that this breakfast distraction was long enough for me to squeeze in some computer time.  Listening to the TV in the background, a song suddenly transported me back to 1979, sitting in the floor in front of my parent’s TV, watching my beloved Sesame Street. I still remember that it was on channel 12, which I had to manually twist a knob to get to, at 9am after Good Morning America. I loved me some Sesame Street.

“Somebody come and play. Somebody come and play today….”  Originally performed by a group of children in 1974, and sometime later by a lonely Ernie, this classic childhood anthem still captures kids’ basic need: playing with friends.  Normally hearing this song would just bring a smile, but the version I heard today was so beautiful because the children’s voices were from the PS22 Chorus of 2011.

Here, go listen. I'll wait.

Wasn't that awesome?

As I sit writing my blog, still having not started “school” for the day at 10:00am, I push the guilt away. Why? Because Medium and Small are outside watering their newly planted trees and playing with a toy airplane, while Large checks on the newborn kittens and their mother. They are outside playing together on a beautiful spring morning. When they come in, we will do "school". We’re using the Mystery of History curriculum and today we are studying the Sumerians. Small will try out their form of writing, cuneiform, on clay while Medium and Large will build a structure out of Legos following the Sumerians ziggurat. All three will do Math, Spelling, and Reading. Medium and Large will do grammar. They will all again, go outside and play. 

It is OK to start bookwork, or what we typically consider "school" at 10:30, or even 11:00. I myself am learning that at home, education happens everywhere, including a desk with a pencil, or the front yard with a water hose.

The Sea Was Calling

One of my hopes for homeschooling  was that if Mark had to travel for work, which he occasionally does, the boys and I could travel with him, or if not “with” him, then meet him at said town and spend time learning about that area. It seems like such a great idea, but I still haven’t pulled it off. His first trip this winter was to south Texas, but the weather was supposed to be rainy the few days he was there, and of course, we all got sick, so that didn’t happen.  In mid-March, he found out on a Thursday that he would be leaving on Monday to go to North Dakota. Perfect! Spring Break here we come. Except, it wasn’t perfect because he was going to an area over run with pipeline workers and would be staying in a “man-camp”. Cue pity-party and the wild desire to blow thousands of dollars on a last minute trip to Disney world.

After a day of moping around quick realization that Girlie couldn't go with us either due to her school schedule,  I did remember that since before we started our Ocean Unit study, the plan was to end it with a trip to the ocean. Said trip hadn't been booked because we just couldn’t work it out thanks to Mark’s unknown, going-to-happen-sometime-in-the-future travel plans. He's not a lounge on the beach kind of guy anyway, AND we were finishing our study..... mid-March! Convincing my mother, Nana, that she needed to go to the beach with us, my father to baby-sit my niece for her, and my cousin that she needed her travelling babysitter Girlie for the week, and VOILA! Galveston, Texas here we come! Girlie gets to go to Chicago, boys and I get to go to the beach, and Mark doesn't have to take a road trip (which he hates). Win-Win-Win!

I know the thought of an eleven hour car ride with three boys seems, well, not fun to most people. For us, armed with a DVD player, Nintendo DS’s, snacks, and plenty of pit stops it was easy-peasy. The most frustrating part was when we finally made it to Houston, (almost there!) we hit traffic, bumper to bumper, barely moving for miles and miles and what seemed like hours and hours. It was a little stressful, because by this time the boys were slap happy, and alleviated their boredom by being really loud which is not good when I’m trying to avoid getting rear-ended by the IDIOT  guy behind me.

Even though it was Texas’ spring break week, I easily found us a hotel room with an oceanview balcony. After the long car ride Monday, we decided to just chill there that night rather than venture out. We had pizza delivered, a luxury not available for us non-city-dwellers, and enjoyed listening to the waves crashing onto shore. We listened rather than watched because the thickest fog EVER rolled in right after we did.

Tuesday we hit Walmart for boogie boards and picnic supplies, then found a sweet spot on the beach. Again, for Spring Break, it wasn’t crowded at all. We saw no one drinking, very few string bikinis, and no gaggles of college bros and…girls being all spring-breaky. Galveston is basically one long narrow strip of beach, for about 8 miles, with parking up on the Seawall and steps leading down to the beach. By the time we got there it was noon and the fog STILL hadn’t burned off like it does with sunrise at home, but it had lifted enough to sit on the beach and see the kids in the ocean. We unloaded, slathered up with sunscreen, and the boys hit the waves with their boogie boards while Nana and I soaked up the sun. I did need to get some good shots of the boys’ ocean time, so I stood at the edge, awaiting the blissful feel of ocean water washing sand off my toes. The water was about the temperature of Antarctica. Ok, maybe not Antarctica, but definitely creek water-ish. This bothered the boys about as much as snow at Christmas, and when we finally coaxed them out for lunch, their lips were blue. Truly. By the end of the day, despite repeated sun-screen applications, we were all sunburned, happy, and starving. Dinner was at Tortugas Mexican Restaurant (no mystery why the boys wanted to eat here, Captain Jack).

Wednesday we celebrated Middle’s birthday at Rainforest Café, rode the Ferry, saw dolphins swimming wild and free, and spent another afternoon on the beach. Thursday, we packed up and drove home.

As field trips go, it was super relaxing, and they learned that seagulls will catch and eat pizza crust if you throw it to them off a 3^rd floor balcony, but will drop lettuce. That’s education, homeschool style.

Love is a Battlefield

There are days when homeschooling three boys fills my soul with such contentment I can scarcely believe my luck. When we’re praying for people at church and they remember things I forgot, when they whiz through several math chapters after finally “getting it”, when we’re outside geocaching together on a beautiful day instead of being in classrooms or offices miles from each other….

Tuesday was not one of those days.

Tuesday’s “day o’ irritations” began with Medium spilling an ENTIRE bowl of cereal, which he had accidentally filled to the brim with milk. Hey, no crying over spilled milk, right? We cleaned it up, easy peasy. After a severe berating from his brothers (yeah, like they NEVER spill anything), we proceeded with our usual school day. For lunch we were enjoying leftover spaghetti when Medium sat his FULL plate half on the counter, half off, and yes, the ENTIRE plate hit the floor, face down, after flinging it onto the nearby cabinet and refrigerator doors. Ok, deep breath. Everyone has one of those days when they seem to drop everything. Which he did. Again. When he refilled his plate. Another plate of spaghetti hit the floor. DUDE!!! At this point I’m wondering why I bother mopping EVER, but help Medium clean up this little accident, carry his plate to his seat, and refrain from hand-feeding it to him. I mean, really, what are the chances of another accident?

Good. The chances are good.

As the boys are heading outside to play, I sneak into the pantry looking for something chocolaty. It’s been a rough morning, yo! As I step out of the pantry, I am blinded in one eye as a softball sized hard foam ball smacks me in the face. Yep, Medium nailed it. Keeping any profanity from passing my lips, I stagger to the counter while he profusely apologizes over and over. He was aiming for the pantry door. I calmly ask through watery eyes why he would throw a ball as hard as he could at a GLASS DOOR??? Confused, he replied, “cause I wanted to?” At the point of flying into a Tasmanian devil  fit, I ask him to please go outside. No need for more apologies, just leave before bodily harm is inflicted. He must have sensed the calm was barely holding back the wave of hiney-chewing that was about to hit and wisely exited the premises. I never found anything chocolate.

Sing it, Pat Benatar. Love is a Battlefield.

Houston, We Have a Problem

Week three and four of homeschooling did not go quite as smoothly as previous weeks. I was told to expect highs and lows, just like in any other part of life, but didn’t expect a dip on the fun-train to happen quite so soon.

Last Thursday, Medium spent 24 hours with the dreaded stomach bug of puking and “trotting”, (to the loo that is). Between making bathroom runs and trying to keep the others on task, we didn’t finish everything I wanted for the week. I hosed the house in Lysol and wiped all game controllers and remotes with anti-bac wipes trying to keep his germs from CONTAMINATING THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE the rest of the fam.

And for a while, I thought I had won the battle. Cue Sunday morning, when my head is hurting a little and I’m cold. By Sunday night I’m up to 102.7 fever and feel like my skull is going to crack open. Monday I haven’t made the detailed list of the week’s lesson, so the boys get to paint while I try to get organized.  Tuesday Small is fevering along with me, and gets Medium’s stomach bug. My throat forms a uni-tonsil and by Wednesday things aren’t looking up as Husband departs the germfest for a business trip in south Texas. My parents become the light at the end of the tunnel when they “sub” for the day, with my dad taking on Medium and my mom snuggling on the couch with Small, listening to him read and helping with his spelling. Mom gives the boys a cooking lesson on how to hand-bread chicken strips, and I manage to cram one down my almost impassable throat, just because.

Thursday I start antibiotics for strep throat, and decide to clean my bathroom at ten at night. And by “decide” I mean I walked into my bedroom where three little boys were watching cartoons on my bed, and I ask, “Why do I hear water running?” Small bolts from the bed into my bathroom and sheepishly returns saying he got my floor a little wet.

 UNDERSTATEMENT I shout thy name.

 In a seemingly innocent act, he plugged the sink to wash something, got distracted, and left. The water, sensing that I was sick and home alone while Hubster lounged worked in the warm Texas sun, only flooded my side of the vanity, filling my makeup bag, basket of hair products, and the drawer of various hair electronics. Hubster’s side stayed inexplicably dry. INEXPLICABLY DRY!!!! What is that about? Two hours later, I walk into my closet only to hear the dreaded ‘squish’ of wet carpet. Apparently, the water went under the bathroom wall into my closet. With an internal ROAR and an external sigh, I turn on a space heater and a fan full blast, and crash into my crowded bed, ignoring the already musty smell permeating the air.

So, yeah. Last week wasn’t the greatest, but looking back, it wasn’t a complete failure either. The boys did schoolwork every day, and even though their chores slipped through the cracks, big whoop. We’re back on track today. Husband made it home Saturday afternoon with me still feeling cruddy, but thankful that I had a husband and didn’t have to live the single mom life every day. God is good, and so are Sunday afternoon naps.  

Random Recap

In an attempt to keep everyone somewhat up to date with our homeschool adventure, I will, with unpredictable regularity, give a recap wrap-up type thingy.

The arrival of Large & Medium’s math program and grammar curriculum last week helped me to get a better grasp on what they need to do each day. Rather than try to completely build their curriculum based solely on the Oceans Unit Study we’re doing, I decided to use Rod & Staff for their grammar. It is very old-school, but I kinda like that for some reason. Homeschooling for us so far is very much a “try it and see” approach. I’m eclectic in my fashion (or huge lack of), my hair (it’s normal to wear it styled differently every day, right?), the non-decoration of my home, so why should our school be any different?  I found the complete set consisting of teacher manual, student textbook, student workbook, and test  booklet for Medium, and the student text book for Large, all on the blessed Ebay. So far, what we've tried, I've liked, and I know they're learning, which is the whole point. For their math program, I went with Math U See, bought brand spankin’ new off the website, since the levels I needed were never on Ebay. Boo. It wasn’t cheap, but for each kid I got a teacher manual, student text/work book, and the best part for the math-challenged such as myself, an instructional DVD.

We have yet to establish a consistent daily routine but we’re only two weeks in, so I’m OK with that. The only thing that is very regular is I start the day reading a chapter from Proverbs from The Message translation, turn on the Keurig, and down my first cup of Donut Shop coffee with two sugars & some milk while the boys do their morning chores.  After that things aren't quite established. We try to do Bible as our first subject of the day, but since they aren’t always up and ready at the same time, sometimes I start whoever IS ready on a subject while the straggler finishes breakfast.

I usually settle Large and Medium into Math & Grammar as their second subject of the day. The one working on math gets the TV on, DVD at the right chapter, books ready in the living room while I start the other on that day’s grammar lesson at the front room table. Small has no established routine whatsoever , so I might start him on a simple addition page, a computer math game, a spelling lesson, toys in his room….whatever I decide or he starts playing with first.   The math kid and I watch the DVD together, practice a page on scratch paper, and then he works on a sheet to try the lesson on his own while I start my second cup of coffee and go back to check on grammar boy.  Unfortunately, this time which requires focus and concentration from both grammar boy and math kid, is usually peppered with constant interruptions from Small, who isn’t old enough to work independently for a long enough amount of time. He is accustomed to the routine of school, and to suddenly have so much free time again, like back in the good ol’ days of preschool, has just rocked his little world.

 Brothers are home, but can’t play? Mom is teacher, so he can’t ask out-of-the-blue questions when she’s sitting in the living room floor with brother?  Man! Not Cool! I must whine and roll around in the floor to pay her back!

After yelling  asking for the umpteenth time for him not to interrupt, I make sure both grammar boy and math kid have finished, then they swap subjects and places.  Sometime during the rest of the day they read from their novels while Morgan reads to me from his Bob books, I teach that day’s ocean lesson, go over the Spanish word of the day, and they play outside or on the trampoline in the shop if the weather is too cold or wet.  We have lunch, they do afternoon chores and “to earn” chores, and I sit on the couch eating a late lunch trying to make my eye stop twitching relax a little. Around now it will be time to pick up Girlie from public school, start dinner, and dreamily await my hubster’s return to the nest.

So. Are they ACTUALLY learning? What have we accomplished since we started two weeks ago, and with all of our books a week and a half ago? Well….

Large read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, completed 11 math lessons, 7 grammar lessons, wrote two short essays over ocean topics, took several ocean quizzes, and has started a Star Wars class for his brothers. (yeah, he enjoys this waaaaaay more than they do).

Medium is working his way through Moby Dick, has completed 10 math lessons, polished his lowercase cursive and learned the uppercase, breezed through  15 grammar lessons, two short ocean writings, two ocean quizzes, and has been given the requirement by his brothers that he wear pants during school time. His preference to skivvies-only apparently disrupts their thought processes.

Small has completed 7 spelling lessons, is reading the Bob books (little readers),  completed a review of letter writing upper and lower case, 11 math pages,  3 mazes, two color by number ocean coloring pages, and eaten countless boogers. We’re still working on losing THAT particular habit.

All three have learned 8 Spanish words, about life in a tidal pool, the different depths & zones oceans have (sunlit zone, twilight zone, abyssal etc), can name and label the 5 major oceans, the causes and effects of tsunamis, different ocean landscapes, watched Planet Earth & YouTube videos of sea birds diving deep to catch fish, and watched Planet Earth’s Coral Reef video.

See? See? They’re learning, right? 

Downing hot chocolate from the Keurig several times a day, taking longer and longer playtimes outside, riding bikes to Grandma’s for a cookie or Nana’s for a better lunch than whatever I’m offering have become their new normal.

And I’m thinking that is pretty Sweet!

Christmas Part Deaux

Tuesday, it was like Christmas!! Packages from Amazon, Math U See, and another book company finally arrived, all at the same time. Large's response to my excited squeals was that this was the stuff of Christmas nightmares, and that the only thing that could make it worse was if the boxes were filled with underwear too.

Well, fine then.

I'm a true blue book lover. For years I dreamed of owning a bookshop/ coffee house, but the closest I came was reading books about opening a bookshop (ah the irony), and writing a business plan. About that time, the economy headed south. God knew that wasn't the path that would be best for my family, and now I get to spend legitimate time researching books online, browsing Booksamillion and Barnes & Noble coffee scented aisles, and rekindling my love of libraries. Rather than asking myself, "What have I gotten myself into?", I keep thinking, " What took me so long to start homeschooling?"

Seriously.

Despite their difficulties focusing on the subjects at hand, we're all four really loving our little school. Prayers by the fire started our third day, with me, the very non-emotional chick, getting teary listening to their hearts being poured out with requests for people they knew with sicknesses, and thanks for me homeschooling. "Please help *** in surgery today." "Thank you for making *Bible class teacher*'s shoulder feel better.

Wipe eyes. Snort. Yep, got me right there.

I'm sure there will be days when I will want to lock the door behind them when they go outside so I can stress-eat a tub of cookie dough in peace. Until then, the Pillsbury Dough boy and his delicious bounty are safe.