School Choice

Every year, we consider whether we want to homeschool for another year--it's very much a year to year decision around here (OK, honestly, sometimes it's day to day!). With the way our school systems are set up down here, we have to be thinking about it before the school year is even half over--to put the kids into public school for the next year, we have to enroll them in January/March, or else we are probably not going to get into the public school we would like (even if it's the closest one to us). Usually, we have gotten to this point in the year and have not been interested in changing our situation.

This year, though, that has changed. We are in our sixth full year of homeschooling (which sounds like a long time to me!), and I'm getting tired and discouraged, and a bit overwhelmed. I am strong in believing that homeschooling was the right choice for us up to now, but at this point, I'm thinking we're ready to move on, both for my benefit and more especially for the children.

We haven't decided yet, and just thinking through it for the past few weeks is alternately stressful, liberating, overwhelming, depressing, and a little bit hopeful. If we choose public school, we have just a few more days to get their names in for the lottery. We are actually considering private school as an option, too, for a variety of reasons (the main question being which child to sell so that we can afford it...just kidding! But if they are in school, I might even be able to work some! which, in turn, might help pay for that option).

Obviously, there is a lot more going on in my head than just the above, but it's too much for a blog post (and will get too overwhelming to put on paper!). I just wanted to share in a general way that this is going on, and if you are the praying type, I'd appreciate your prayers as we make this decision. In the next week and a half.

haiku

Here is Caroline's haiku (with assist) from today's Writing Wednesday:

pink and red leading
inside is white and creamy
my radish does grow.

Michael's (no assist):

A dog, sitting in the
dirt, look quick--what's there?
Nothing but a hole.

one nice thing about homeschooling

After months and months of stifling heat and humidity, the weather has finally broken. The high today is only (!) 86 and the humidity is way down. Our house is finally open again and everyone wants to be outside enjoying it. Cabin fever, I believe, is the technical term for it.

So, we do a little bit of school, then have extended recess. And then do it again. They're happy; I'm happy; life is good.

travel plans

I so rarely go anywhere at all by myself that when I do get to go, it's a big deal to me. I just bought plane tickets this morning to fly up to Memphis for Labor Day to see my friend Mylissa! It will be a fun trip, but also some work--I get to shoot Mylissa's family and also some of her Habitat families (if that doesn't ring a bell, please go visit her ministry's site and feel free to support a very worthy cause!). That will be a unique experience, without a doubt, and one I am really looking forward to.

Speaking of which, I'm reminded that I haven't harped on blood donations in a while. Next time you donate, ask about signing up to be a bone marrow donor. When I donated in January out in LA, the City of Hope group had a packet that made it super easy to sign up--no extra blood, just a cheek swab that I did myself! I am officially signed up to be a bone marrow donor; you are eligible up until you're 62, I think. Find out more information here. Apparently you can sign up online, but it costs $52; when I signed up as part of the blood donation, it was free. I guess a pint is worth at least that much?

In other news, I have my semifinal big box of homeschooling curriculum arriving today. I am excited to sort through it and really get down to brass tacks on setting up our year!

waiting for Harry

There are millions of people reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows right now, but I am not one of them. Trust me, it's not because I don't want to. I am just waiting for Ed to bring my copy in the mail. Having the patience to wait for that delivery today must mean that I'm older... I think. Andy has already promised the children that once it comes, they won't see Mommy for the rest of the day. What a wonderful husband!

So I'm filling in the time with minor things like blogging and mopping the floor.

In other news, water/sewer construction continues around us. Thankfully, no large machines have driven over our water line this week so we haven't had a breakage in, oh, say... a week. I watch the trucks and loaders drive back and forth past our house (our quiet little street is now a thoroughfare because of our proximity to their staging area, the once green triangle across from the park). Someone spent several days making large stacks of concrete pipes across the street and in our neighbor's yard. Thankfully they chose not to use our yard for a stack; I think our water line would have been crushed under the weight. We think these are for desperately needed storm drains. We were one of the chosen houses to receive new sewer lines all the way up to the house since the clay pipes in our back yard are apparently deteriorating (surprise!). There is a fresh scar of dirt through our back yard, marking the new line of pipe.

Michael had his official end of year homeschool evaluation, which was really more of an evaluation of my record keeping. We both passed; so on to the next year. I've placed orders for mounds of books to add to our collection and am looking forward to digging through it. One major change for this year will be using a full fledged science curriculum instead of winging it like we did last year. This is mainly because I discovered that I'm not all that great at science and if I want the kids to learn it well, I will have to follow someone else's instructions. We'll be officially adding Caroline into the mix (instead of letting her participate whenever she feels like it) and she is very excited about it.

regression

My father reminded me that I am overdue for a family update (or any kind of new post, I guess). I am afraid that I don't have much to share with you, but here is where we're at:

My dear friend Mylissa just flew in from Memphis for a visit, which was lovely. It struck me that although we've been friends since our oldest were toddlers, this is only the second time that one of us has stayed the night at the other's house--the first was this past summer as our family stayed with hers on our way out here. We had an enjoyable, pretty low key visit, and Mylissa is right back in the thick of things back home... check out her doings at Habitat for Hope's site.

Michael now understands the rudiments of the four basic math operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). He really enjoyed the new concepts of "greater than" and "less than" which we hit last week. The concept of alligators is thanks to my fourth grade math teacher, whose name I unfortunately cannot remember. He has been introduced to the characters of The Lord of the Rings and has developed an intense interest in the same. He's been begging us to read it to him but we resisted, saying he needed to read The Hobbit first, thinking that would delay him for quite a while--until he was emotionally ready to confront the Black Riders. Well, it delayed him about two days. He spent those days hunched over The Hobbit, following Bilbo There and Back Again, and then demanded that we start on the series. He really read it, too--I asked pointed questions about what happened and he knew. The child amazes me. What's next?

Caroline has moved on from teaching herself addition to teaching herself subtraction. If you have preschool children who are interested in math, or who are not interested in math, or elementary children struggling with math, whatever, I highly recommend a set (or two) of Cuisenaire rods. These things rock. Michael was already doing some mental math when we started with them so he doesn't seem to need them very much, but Caroline started out playing with these, just playing, then moved on to building "trains" ("What do you put with a purple rod to make an orange rod?"), then asked for worksheets, and has never looked back. I taught her nothing about addition and very little about subtraction--and she just gets it. She rarely if ever needs the rods for addition at this point. Did I mention that these things rock?

By the way, for those of you who knew we were on the fence about schooling for next year, we have decided to keep Michael and Caroline at home for another year instead of trying to run the school choice gauntlet long distance. It would have been doable, but Michael insists that he wants to continue homeschooling and I think we'd like to go another round.

Elanor has had an interesting couple of weeks and bears the dubious honor of having this entry named for her. She potty trained quickly at the end of October/beginning of November last year. It was truly an effortless experience. I've trained two children, each with their own little quirks (Michael's: needing constant coaching and encouragement to stay on the toilet long enough to make a real "deposit", hence the need for "poo poo stories"; Caroline's: several months of losing bladder control every time she lost her temper, which if you knew her back then, you know was about four times each day), and, until last week, Elanor had none. She was perfect. Last week, however, Elanor apparently forgot that she was potty trained. She started having accidents everywhere. At the kitchen table. On a chair in the playroom. In the bathroom. Hanging off a gate outside of church. In her bed. Several each day. Total regression. Thankfully she seems to be over it. But she is sleeping on a towel.

It made me think of a blog post I read last fall--look here. I thought then, and think now, that the author has a really good point. We do love to think of God as "Daddy" and "Father" and he has encouraged that. But I know from watching Andy that any good father spends quite a lot of time coaxing his children, humiliating himself, and cleaning up their messes. And doing all those things with patience, love, and consistency. Elanor may have backslid on her potty training... and I confess I rolled my eyes more than once... but how often do I backslide in my own faith? Does God roll his eyes over my accidents and mistakes? I doubt it. Like Andy with Elanor, he cleans me up, loves on me, and sends me on my way, hoping that this time I will make it.

cleanliness

Here is a question for you: why is it that, at any given time in my life, I can only have one room in my house clean? I'm serious. For some reason, one room in my house can look like a Martha Stewart magazine spread (OK, never in this life, but it will be tidy and dusted, etc.), but every other room will look like a cyclone came through. If ever I am missing a child, I will just assume they have joined forces with Dorothy and are wrestling her for her silver slippers (yes, they are actually silver for those of you who never read the book).

Example: last week I was caught up on laundry. For all of one day. You wouldn't think that five people actually wore that many clothes, but they do. So laundry was all put away... but you couldn't see my desk upstairs. This week, my desk is like a pristine wilderness (or it was until Michael started cutting snowflakes and left his artwork on it), but I have a huge basket of laundry to fold in the kids' room. Plus my own clothes which need to washed today before they escape the laundry basket and take over my bedroom. That's just two rooms; I haven't even mentioned the bathrooms, which were clean last week (not the same day as the laundry was done), or the kitchen, which was spotless for about two hours until we decided to actually cook a meal in it. I won't even mention the playroom. Well, I'll mention it, but only to say that it is probably a lost cause, unless I can get ahead of it while we are taking our Christmas break from school.

Speaking of which, it's time for parent-teacher conferences around here, so as both the teacher and the parent, I will give you your Christmas update. Michael is doing extremely well in class this year. He consistently aces his spelling tests and really seems to understand how the phonograms work. His math is also excellent: he understands the concept behind multiplication quite well, but needs to practice so that the facts are at his fingertips. Same with addition and subtraction. He is adoring history and reading. Can't pull his nose out of a book, especially if it has anything at all to do with the ancient Greeks, the Trojan War, or Odysseus. He has almost finished his first grade study of animals and will be ready to move on to the human body in January. Did I miss anything? He needs to spend more time running around outside (those books again) and his teacher needs to get a better grip on arts and crafts so he can cut things apart and glue them together again. (Although I am proud to say that I helped him make a Christmas wreath for our door yesterday!)

Wow, that was dry, wasn't it? Suffice it to say that Michael seems to be enjoying this year of homeschooling. He has told me that he wants to continue it next year when we are back in Florida. Will we? I do not know. Since we are missing the school choice lottery, his chances of getting into the school I would like (because it has a full time gifted program and yes, I think he is gifted) are probably not great. It is also possible that this year of first grade may put him ahead of his peers and I'm shooting myself in the foot here anyway. I have to say that I like homeschooling a lot more than I thought I would. I love the idea and the possibilities, but I am not sure I love the idea of doing it for the duration. Michael is a very easy student. So is Caroline, but I have to go educate. More on this later.