Home Economics

First home ec day--making pasta with our signature crock pot marinara sauce.

Random

Have you noticed how the word "random" is used these days?  I kind of like that sort of youthful slang, especially compared to some other terms. . . Anyway, my computer battery is running low, so this post will be poorly edited and random.

We've had three weeks of school, and they've gone well.  But I can already tell that I'm going to feel reluctant to record anything less than positive on this blog, so I'll start by trying to be brutally honest.  Our first week of school--when Emily was "doing school", and no one else was, she was really into it.  Then, when the junior academy had "back to school night" and it was time for friends and acquaintances to begin their new school year, Emily had some wistful feelings, and started to say she wished she was back in school.  I'm not going to strong arm her into anything that makes her unhappy, so we talked about it, and I asked if she wanted to return to the classroom.  She said, "no, let's wait a while."  It was abundantly clear that my daughter is a big fan of "fresh beginnings".  She loves the idea of a new start, with new everything.  Now, here she was with week-old school books, and kids at school were having a fresh start.  She had to laugh when I put it that way.  But to be honest, she felt left out and displaced.  

Also, unexpectedly (to me) was the fact that although our schedule is full, and predictable, she likened it to playing several computer games concurrently. . . .instead of playing one game, and playing it fully, she felt like she was playing several games half-heartedly.   So, that sense of "belonging" isn't happening yet.   With my motherly protective instinct alerted, I was on the phone looking for clubs that would fit into our schedule.  4-H never returned my phone call, and Pathfinders occurred to me.  We're still considering it, and pondering the necessity of adding still more commitments to our already over-committed schedule.

That particular crisis is over, although we're still considering Pathfinders.  It's been a couple weeks since the junior academy started, and Emily tells me she's getting into the swing of things, and doesn't feel so displaced.  The youth symphony is her favorite activity, but she also likes going to the school in the afternoon for choir, band, P.E., and handbells.  She has reflected that if she went back to school, she still wouldn't necessarily feel as if she "belonged".  That's the down-side of such a small community--there aren't many choices as far as friendships go.  She has several good friends, but the cohesive group of friends she went to school with for the last two years has dissolved into different locations.  

We had our first meeting with the charter school's teacher who will be Emily's mentor this year.  Emily took an online placement test, which serves as a baseline, to be sure we don't spend the year watching TV, eating bonbons, and "unlearning".  She'll take the test again in the spring.  It probably took all of 30 minutes, and Emily scored high enough that I hope she left room for some improvement.  We were assured that our academic program is very rigorous--Emily is taking as many units for credit as she is allowed to take, and we'll just consider the rest of the classes good learning experiences.  I had some questions about whether or not grades were assigned. . . .they are; so, Emily will have a bona fide transcript with letter grades on it.  Now, I need to pay attention to test scores, and grading criteria.

A week or so ago, when I was searching for a place to "belong", I contacted an old homeschool friend with a daughter close to Emily's age.  They were having a homeschool get-together that day, and we were invited.  The group meets quarterly, and the purpose is to promote reading.  The kids get together and play games, enjoy a snack, then share the books they've been reading by giving an oral report or description.  It was a hot day, and the kids got all sweaty playing together outdoors.  It filled me with nostalgia, because like most homeschool gatherings, it  was family groups, not groups of same-age kids.  Kids four years old were playing games with 16 year olds. . . .and yes, that does work, when the older kids have learned to be gentle and inclusive.  We hope we'll be able to participate in the quarterly get-togethers with this group.  It was fun to listen again to tiny people describing their favorite books.

The next post will be about how we've learned to organize schoolwork for the days vs. the weeks (Emily and I are incompatible--I want to give weekly work, she wants daily.)

Education and Career Planning

How could I have omitted this subject from the last post?  Yes, this is a fun course.  Emily doesn't have a firm career plan yet, so this course is a nice way to explore possibilities.  She has a workbook with exercises in it, and online activities.  Her interest inventory showed potential in these areas:  conductor, playwright, librarian.  She was asked to write an essay envisioning her life in ten years.  She expects family to play an important role, and that will figure in her career choices.  At this point in time she thinks she'll major in music, but is open to new ideas.  She also loves the idea of being a professional organizer.

Subject Reviews

After quizzing Emily a bit about her responses to curriculum, here is a summary.  She says she doesn't dislike any subject, but it was a relief to put Health away for now.

French--her favorite, even though she doesn't think she's doing well.  It's the Rosetta Stone program, which is considered an "immersion" method.  She spends more than the prescribed 30 minutes a day on this one.  It's not conversational French, unless saying "the man is on the roof" is relevant to a conversation.  She doesn't yet want to practice her vocabulary on a fluent French speaker, but she's coming along!

Literature--Emily loves this one.  We have started with a Shakespeare play that she's very familiar with:  A Midsummer Night's Dream.  She likes to read it aloud, and is enjoying the analytical activities.  

Home Ec--this one is fun, too.  The current Lifepac unit is on "Christian Character and Appearance".  It's pretty simple to read and answer the questions.  In addition to this, we've reserved every Friday for cooking and sewing.  Last Friday was our first home ec day, and Emily prepared a lovely pasta dinner with salad and garlic bread.  We never got to the sewing portion of the day, but were incredibly busy nonetheless.  She will create a new recipe collection for herself.  We started a recipe notebook when she was in 4th or 5th grade, which we still use regularly, but she likes a fresh beginning, so will now keep a card file.  I don't really enjoy cooking or sewing, so this course will offer me a refresher!  It's fun to do it with a partner.

Writing and Grammar (Bob Jones University Press)--She surprised me by saying that she likes this one, even though it's hard. She took her first test yesterday and got an "A".  Language and writing are her natural gifts, so I shouldn't be surprised, and I am glad she enjoys a challenge.

Geometry (Teaching Textbooks)--After a week, the program is still in the introductory phase, but she says it's fun.  The lectures are about logic, inductive and deductive reasoning, and postulates.  It reminds me of the Chronicles of Narnia, when the professor scratches his head and says, "Logic!  No one understands logic!  What DO they teach children in school these days!" (Okay, that was a paraphrase, but you get the idea.)  So far the CDs which elaborate on the solutions to the problem set have not been needed, but we're glad to have them available, and will probably use them later.

History (Streams of Civilization: Ancient Times)--Emily likes this one, too.  She especially enjoys segments on ancient Egypt and Greece. We haven't gotten to the Egypt portion, but she has devoured two supplementary books, "The Golden Goblet" and "Mara, Daughter of the Nile".  Last evening we watched a Discovery channel DVD on "Egypt's Lost Queen".  It was fascinating, but viewing so many mummies (up close and personal!) disturbed my sleep a bit.  Emily said it disturbed hers, too.  Hatshepsut was depicted as a villain in "Mara, Daughter of the Nile", so we were glad to hear what is truly known about her.  She experienced much loss in her life, and the conclusion was drawn that it was probably her stepson (also nephew, since she married her half brother Tutmoses II) who had her image eradicated wherever possible.  The researchers believed he did this not out of hatred, but to ensure the patrilineal monarchy.  In other words, he tried to minimize her impact on history, and make her into a non-entity to ensure that his son (and not her daughter) was regarded as the rightful ruler . The researchers also determined that her cause of death was probably a tooth abscess, and that she experienced osteoporosis, and had a malignant tumor in her hip.   She had a prosperous rule, and built many structures.  She is a fascinating historical figure!

Religion--Yes, she enjoys this one, too.  She's a great reader, and we sometimes wish the old-fashioned class "elocution" was available.  I guess it has morphed into a component of drama. For now we are simply reading Patriarchs and Prophets aloud together over the weekend.  I have some precious memories of Sabbath afternoons spent at my sister Susan's home, reading The Great Controversy.  We seemed to have a room full of people, although I don't remember who was there.  We each had our own book, and each person read a paragraph, taking it in turns around a circle.  We would discuss as we went.  Susan died shortly after we began the Desire of Ages.  Our reading last week was regarding the rebellion in heaven.  It's odd--it sounded so political, as in fact, it was!  It seems like evil should be easily recognizable, but too often it's insidious.  

Freshman orientation and the first week

Today marks the end of the first week of school!  Between my job and getting Emily established at her various "enrichment" classes, I'm run fairly ragged!  I look forward to something resembling a boring routine!

Our first day of school was busy.  We now refer to it as "freshman orientation".  Because I had the whole day off from work, I decided we needed to touch upon each subject--something that won't occur on any future school day.  Emily was really excited to begin, and willing to do a lot of work.  By the end of the long day she felt like she had done a week's worth of school work, and I felt guilty!  We have now experienced each of the subjects, and have a better idea how to pace them.  We've put "health" on hold until second semester, when she will have completed her "education and career planning" class.   That has balanced the curriculum for now. 

The first piano lesson took place on Monday, and we had a joyful reunion with Gail, who formerly not only taught Emily piano, but also taught our homeschool choir for a year, when Emily was in 6th grade.  Oh, we've missed piano!

Last evening was the tryout for the "Youth Symphony".  Emily was horribly nervous!  We had a 45 minute drive to get to the practice location.  She played a couple scales for the director, Mr. King, and then a classical piece "Fiocco's Allegro", a light-hearted piece that shows off her quick fingers.  She didn't have time to demonstrate her sight-reading ability, but did play a couple more impromptu scales at Mr. King's request.  He placed her in 1st chair, and she beamed at Wayne and me when she was seated for the rehearsal.  It's a very small orchestra, and I hope more kids join.  They had five violins, three trumpets, a french horn, flute, some percussion, and that's about it.  The parents held an orientation meeting while the kids practiced, then we had time to observe the rehearsal.  They sound GOOD!  This commitment will have us driving a lot.  The symphony practices (for now) from 6 pm to 8:30 pm each Tuesday evening.

Today was the first day of school for the local junior academy.  I delivered Emily there in time for choir, then waited until choir finished to make sure she had a place to go for her "study hall".  After that was PE with the 9th and 10th graders (the school board said "yes" to our request that she be allowed to participate).  Finally, it was time for "handbell" tryouts, so she got to audition again.  There are three empty handbell spots, and eight students who want to fill them.  The other handbell spots are filled by students who played with the group last year.  We haven't heard the answer yet.  It makes me a little weary to think of driving her to school at noon four days a week, then picking her up at 3:45.  I don't know why that should bother me--we just finished two years of 8:15 drop off, 3:05 or 3:30 pick up.  Maybe it's because I want full homeschool charge of the schedule.  Still, when I reflect on my 20 hours/week work commitment, and think of how Emily would use unsupervised time at home (on the computer), I'm glad to have her participating in classes with other kids her age.  I think it will create a better balance for her.

The next post will address Emily's response to her various classes and subjects.  I may enlist her help with this blog, so her point of view is really well-represented!

The Taming of the Schedule

Our school begins in a week. That seems early, but first semester will be over by Christmas break, and we'll finish mid-May. I work 20 hours a week as a home health nurse, and Wayne works intermittently as a dentist, at the local clinic. We are blessed with much time at home, so you wouldn't think our schedule would be so difficult, would you? I'm the main teacher, though, so I need to be home when it's time for the book part of schoolwork.

Emily loves music, and likes to be involved in musical activities. Some families are involved in sports, but for us, it's music. I'm the musical equivalent of a stereotypical "soccer mom". This year, besides violin, we'll have piano, choir, band, handbells, and youth symphony. The hours she'll spend at the local junior academy for musical enrichment will occupy half the school day Monday through Thursday! So, all the academic work needs to happen in the mornings. We also need to schedule violin and piano lessons in the morning. Of course, we don't NEED to do all this, it's a choice. When Emily started traditional school in 7th grade, she was like a starving person at a smorgasbord -she wanted to try EVERYTHING. She was in violin, symphony, youth group, basketball, jazz band. She had somewhere to go three nights a week. On Monday when she went to school, she didn't come home until 9 pm! By 8th grade she figured out that all that wasn't necessary, and she relinquished symphony, youth group, and only went to jazz band sporadically. So, this year, she only plans to be out one evening a week at the youth symphony. Actually, now that I think about it, It sounds downright relaxing!

Families who homeschool more than one child seem to be about equally busy--they either have all the kids do the same music and activities, or they find friends to help with carpooling. We haven't worked out the carpooling thing; we are often available to provide transportation for Emily's friends, though.

Our plan is to have "school" in the morning, and I'll be available for classes, as well as limo service. At noon I'll take Emily to school for her musical enrichment classes, and she'll take schoolwork to do during downtime between classes. After I drop her off, I'll go to work for 4 hours. I'm blessed with a flexible job, and spend 12 hours a week doing paperwork in the office. Then, I'll pick her up and we'll both go home. It should work! When my work hours get out of control, Wayne will be available for limo service, too.

We're waiting for answers to these questions: When will piano and violin lessons be? Is there room for Emily in the handbell choir? Will the school allow her to participate in PE during her 4 hours onsite? When these questions get answered, we'll feel like we have a handle on the schedule!

Choosing Curriculum

Before we could decide on what textbooks to use, we had to sift through a lot of information. I studied the California education code, high school programs, and boarding academy honors programs. I also studied admission requirements for homeschoolers at any college I could think of. In California, homeschooling is not recognized in the education code. To homeschool within the law, families must take one of the following routes: enroll their children in an independent study program, or a charter school, or create their own private school. Over the years we have used each system. We decided that for the high school years a charter school would be the safest, and would confer the most benefits. We also had to spend some time deciding how important we believe the "university A-G courses" are to Emily's future. (We decided they are not.)

English language arts
geometry
health
home economics
education and career planning
PE
violin
French

In addition to the above courses, Emily will take piano lessons, and be involved in a concert band, choir, handbell choir, and youth symphony. She'll also study religion, but won't receive credit because she is enrolled in a public school. We researched the colleges Emily is likely to attend, and they want to see religion on the transcript. To accommodate this requirement, we plan to keep a detailed portfolio of all subjects she's studied, volunteer work, musical experiences, and work experience.

For English, we decided Bob Jones University Press has a good program with their "Writing and Grammar". It's rigorous and thorough, and the book is a "worktext", which we like. We will use separate study guides for literature, and are kicking off the school year with our favorite Shakespeare comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. In October we have a trip to Ashland planned, so we can see the live production of this play at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

We're excited about the geometry text, because it looks so user-friendly. It's from a publisher called "Teaching Textbooks" and it's designed for the homeschooler doing independent study. . .a good thing, since I never aspired to be a math teacher (and would certainly never qualify!). It has numerous instructive CD's, and support for every aspect built into the program. Prior to this we have relied on Saxon math, and the "DIVE into math" CD's. In 7th grade, Emily's teachers suggested she accelerate the pace, and finish algebra 1/2 during the summer, and do algebra 1 in 8th grade. She did so, with two other classmates, and they used the DIVE together. (BTW, we read that California will require all 8th graders to take algebra 1 by the year 2010. What happened to the good old days when algebra was a freshman course? Did we all turn out too stupid?)

For health we are using Lifepac's "High School Health" booklets. We are also using Lifepac for home economics. It looks thorough, and I look forward to a refresher course! We're also using a sewing book called "Stitches and Pins" which starts with the most basic sewing. I think everyone should have a few of these skills under their belt!

French will be covered by the Rosetta Stone program.

For world history we're using "Streams of Civilization" volume 1. It's a highly readable text, with enrichment activities that look fun. We'll also include supplemental reading for each era, and history DVD's from Netflix when they're relevant to our studies. The first supplemental historical novels are "The Golden Goblet" and "Mara, Daughter of the Nile". It's funny--I hated history in school, and now I love it!

Making the Decision

Wow.  I can hardly believe it.  It started as a suggestion at a violin lesson--we chewed on it, prayed over it, considered the possibility, then thought some more.  For about the fortieth time Mr. Moes said, "you could homeschool."  He has been telling us for two years that Emily would have more time to practice her violin if she homeschooled.  

Homeschooling is familiar territory for us.  We did it for Emily's kindergarten through 6th grade school years.  School--the traditional classroom kind--cropped up and surprised us as the right thing to do for 7th grade.  Now, once again, just when we thought the final transition was made, and we were locked in for two more years at the local junior academy, we find ourselves in the homeschool world once again.  And excited about it!!

It's hard to pin down the decision to a single factor.  Emily's two years in school were GOOD.  She had excellent teachers.  Besides traditional academic subjects, she learned non-academic things she wouldn't have learned at home.  And some of them were good ;-)  She had the opportunity to work on projects cooperatively in groups, the chance to mentor peers, exposure to different teachers, and the chance to experience a highly structured environment with strict deadlines and concrete parameters.  Emily really enjoyed receiving recognition for her achievements (by someone besides mom and dad--yawn!).  She learned to type with correct fingering!  She went from a super-fast hunt-and-peck typist to clocking in at 110 wpm.  Mrs. Johnson, her keyboarding instructor, still doesn't believe Emily came to school not knowing how to type.  Emily's finished work in math turned out much neater for school work than it had for homeschool, and she learned that she is profoundly motivated by grades.  Wow, she's turned into a super-organized person!  That would have surprised me two years ago; not a big profound surprise, but an eyebrow-lifting one.

Some of our decision to homeschool was based on our warm memories, and the desire to be in charge of scheduling.  It is so fun to plan schedules and curriculum!  I love scanning resources, reading reviews, evaluating samples, and figuring out what will work best.  When Emily went to the classroom two years ago I had severe withdrawal pain as homeschool catalogs arrived, and there was nothing to buy!  It was hard, too, to be fairly uninvolved in the educational process for two years.  She is such an independent student that her parents had almost no part to play!  I guess that is what we were paying tuition for. . . but I love learning along with her.  I hated history in school, and now I love it.  I'm still waiting for that to happen with math!

It was hard to tell Emily's good friend Heather that she wouldn't be at school with her in the fall.  I think it was harder still to tell Lance, her homeroom teacher.  He has become a cherished mentor.  I've always been good at doing what people expect, and it's hard to swim against the current.  It's funny, though, because at this point we're not wondering if we've made the right decision--we believe we have.

The next entry will be about curriculum choices.  We won't address the "s" word in this entry--that's bound to crop up in the future.  "Socialization" (with a capital S) is one of the favorite criticisms of homeschooling, and we're homeschooling an only child!  Loneliness, and solitude, and boredom, oh, my!!