Would you could you at the park?

We would not could not at the park, not in the car, not in a tree...

Wait...yes we could (okay, maybe not the tree...yet).  One of my goals with homeschooling was to instill the love of learning for the kids, no matter where they go or what they do.  What I didn't realize, was how versatile we could (and would have to) make our school days.  As the mom of 3 kids, the wife of a busy husband, and the business owner of a local event, life can get a little crazy sometimes.  Add homeschooling to that and I knew life would be busier than ever.

We have created a wonderful schoolroom in our home (posts on that later) and it is a great place for us to learn, but variety is nice!  We do some schooling locations out of necessity.  For example, the car is a fabulous place to work on division flashcards and read (for the 50th time) Green Eggs and Ham, while driving little sister to preschool, or taking our weekly trip to the library.  Other locations are just for fun.   Fun was my goal was with our "school at the park" day we had recently.

Mir goes to our co-op preschool 3 mornings a week, so this gives me a couple hours with just the older 2, 3-yr old free.  We decided to spend one of these mornings on a picnic table, under the shade, at the new park near our house.  This park has been incredibly busy since it opened at the beginning of the summer, but it was peacefully quiet this day.  There were a few moms there with their toddling little ones hanging out, but other than that, it was a quiet place to do our work.  Something about doing spelling words and math problems in the fresh air of a summer morning, made our entire day wonderful.  It also gave us a fun playground for recess time :).

As it got closer to noon, the park got a little busier, the weather got a little warmer, and the kids got a little more distracted, so I knew it was time to go (nevermind the fact that it was also time to pick Mir up from preschool).  We're definitely going to make this a habit for our school days...at least until the weather turns yucky.

The pride through the phone...

Yes...I'll admit it...I eavesdrop on my kids' phone calls.  I'm sure I won't be able to get away with it forever, but for now...it's no problem :).  Today is the day the kids from the girls' old school got their teacher assignments.  The 9 yr old girl phone calls began.  It seemed that everyone wanted to know who each other had for their 4th grade teacher.  The gossiping began...about the new teacher...about the old teacher moving grades...about who isn't going to have their best friend in their class.  Aly wandered throughout the house, but settled in her room during the phone calls, so I decided that it was time to straighten up her little sister's bedroom (next door to Aly's) so I could listen to how the phone calls were handled.  I have to say....the 1 sided conversation I heard made my heart smile :).

Some friends already knew about our new homeschool adventure, for others this was new information.  Through all of this, I heard nothing but excitement and joy in my 9 yr old's voice.  She was obviously being hit with a bunch of  "who, what, when, where and why" questions and she was handling them like a pro.  She took the news of several of her friends having the teacher she would have had (her teacher idol), amazingly well.  She was genuinely happy for her friends, yet not disappointed for herself!  I was concerned that this day might cause reality to hit and true colors of sorrow to show through.  It was the EXACT opposite!  She bragged about all of the cool classes she's going to get to take through her charter school, about how her schooling doesn't last as long as theirs and about how many more field trips she's going to get to go on.  I'll admit, it was on the verge of gloating, but she still kept her friends' feelings in mind.  She even comforted their disappointment of not being able to play with her at recess, by setting up playdates for after they get out of school.

I knew she APPEARED to be enjoying homeschooling so far.  I knew she had TOLD me she's happy with this decision.  I knew that she SEEMED excited about the future of our adventure.  Today just showed me that it wasn't all an act.  She really is happy, and in fact even proud, of this new step in our lives.  Made for one happy Mama :)

Note to hubby...

Change the time for the sprinklers so that "recess" time isn't ended early with wet, giggly kids.  Hmmm...oh yeah...that's one of the cool things about homeschooling...the memories :D

Final day of swim lessons

As summer is nearing the end, our schedule this week is a little crazy.  Today we had our final day of swim lessons.  For the last 4 or 5 summers, we have visited Miss Vicki's backyard for 10 straight weeks of swim lessons.  Today was our bittersweet last day until next summer.  While I dread sitting in the heat watching the numerous "Wonderwoman Spanks" and "Big Arms" every Tuesday and Thursday, when I see how much the kids have grown over the summer it makes me wish it wasn't ending.  Today was no different.  Sav rocked the butterfly stroke so much that Miss Vicki couldn't even come up with anything to correct her on.  Mir FINALLY, after 10 weeks of lessons, blew bubbles during her swim.  Seriously...we've been trying to get her to do this ALL summer long (actually...last summer also LOL).  She, of course, waited until the last lesson to show off her newfound talent (or at least to finally give up the stubborness).  Miss J (my niece) waited until today to finally decide it was more fun to comply than to fight it (and unfortunately Mom had to miss it...video camera to the rescue).  It was a great final lesson and I will be looking forward to sweating in the heat in 9 months.

So here it is...

A new blog.  We'll see how I do with this. I've always loved the idea of a journal, but have started and stopped at least a million of them. I especially loved the early high school one I recently came across. Unfortunately, because of my lack of follow-through on journal writing (and my miserable memory), I'm not exactly sure why my crush on the school rebel ended, but the pages that I DID write almost 20 years ago (eek) sure were entertaining!

I love reading blogs, but because I'm well aware of my weaknesses, I've always hesitated entering the blog world. Despite that, here I sit, typing away at my first blog post entry.

What would bring me to this point?? Nothing but some major changes in our lives and with those changes...

The pressure of entering a whole new world.

The idea of going completely against the "norm".

The idealistic theory of showing off a little of our life in order to dispel judgement of the unknown.

The love of looking back and seeing how much we've grown.

and I'm sure many others...

So what are these changes in our lives? As of the 2011-2012 school year, our family will begin homeschooling. Okay technically, as I've learned in this process, the state of California doesn't consider it "homeschooling". We have transferred Aly & Sav to Valley Oaks Charter School, through the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. There are several ways you can homeschool in California, but we've decided that the best option for our family at this point in time is to go through Valley Oaks. It is a school through the public school system where I, as their mother, am fully responsible for their education. We are still able to us our tax dollars on our children, and yet we have amazing power in their life of learning. We are held accountable to their education by regular visits with our resource teacher at Valley Oaks, which includes samples of the work the children have produced through their schooling. We also have some amazing perks by going through the school. While the curriculum we use is 100% our option, if we wanted to, we could have the state funded curriculum provided to us for free. The girls will have the opportunity to attend weekly enrichment classes which include things such as cooking, sewing, arts & crafts, gardening, farming, etc. This is an opportunity for them to hang out with friends and get to know others that are in this new world with them. There are also TONS of field trip opportunities through Valley Oaks, plus normal public school activities such as Battle of the Books, science fair, etc,. In addition, there is also a per child allotment to local vendors who provide extra-curricular activities such as dance, swimming, gymnastics, etc. The perks are simply too numerous for me to list here. When I first visited the school, I left there saying, "Wow, this reminds me of our co-op preschool [which I adore], but for older kids." The sense of parental involvement is amazing. The idea of making learning personal is everywhere. The feeling of learning and fun being practically equal is abundant. I fell in love.

Of course, this decision has not been an easy decision. For those of you who are interested, I will give you a little insight into how this all got started. If you'd rather not listen to more rambling, then feel free to stop reading here :).

Soooo...this whole adventure started with me looking for a program to help Aly keep up the math skills she'd gained in 3rd grade, throughout the 12 long weeks of summer. Math has been proven to not necessarily come naturally to her and I wanted to give her as much advantage in 4th grade as possible. A friend of mine, who happen to be jumping to the homeschool world for her own son, mentioned a math program that she had found. I checked it out and loved it for Aly. It happened to be created by a math teacher, for his own homeschooling students. Some who know me, know that I am a research-addict. When I'm curious about something, I research it ad nauseam. Seriously. It's like an addiction that I can't give up. It doesn't normally cause me to make life changing decisions, it just gives me insight into the way others think, feel, live or believe, which generally makes me stronger in my own thoughts, feelings, life and beliefs. This time was different.

Through this research addiction, I began to enter the virtual homeschool world. Now, you have to realize, I've known several homeschool families through the years, so the concept is definitely not a foreign one to me. I've always thought the idea was great, but I had never had a need for it because I loved our public school and was very happy with our situation. The crazy thing is...that still hadn't changed!! I still loved our public school and was very happy with our situation, yet I just couldn't get this homeschooling thing out of my mind. I kept reading the blogs, visiting the internet boards, talking with the friends who do this, and it just went on and on and on. Before I knew it, I was exploring the girls' learning styles, figuring out how that meshes with my (previously unbeknownst to me) teaching style, reading books galore on all the different ways people homeschool and just filling my mind with the amazing new world this information seemed to open up. I learned that I loved the idea of a classical education, but with a Charlotte Mason feel to it. I also learned that Aly's brain is not designed for spiral math, that history can be amazingly interesting and thought provoking when studied through living books, not random ol' text books, and that life is FILLED with learning opportunities everywhere you turn, but my kids couldn't see that full potential when they're in a room with 4 walls, 30 kids and 1 teacher, for 30+ hours a week.

Soon I was ordering some amazing curriculum, I was rearranging our home to provide space for a room of learning and fun, and I was feeling the girls out on this new idea of mine. Sav was a "go" from the start. She had only had 1 year of kindergarten behind her and while she enjoyed it, it wasn't something that she was attached to. It took a little more to win over Aly. She had been at her school for 4 years and that is alot to leave behind. Nevermind the fact that she was inline to have a repeat of her incredible 1st grade teacher (her teacher idol...and mine too), now teaching 4th grade. She had been looking forward to that for the last several years. Because I wanted to make this new adventure a fun one, not one that she resented me for, I left the option open to Aly. For a while, she was still going to go to her old public school this year and would try homeschooling next year, but after a visit to Valley Oaks herself, and a visit with some homeschooling friends, she came to me and said she was ready to make the jump herself. It was a big step for her...a big step for any 9 year old. A step into the unknown, away from what was familiar and comfortable. I'm happy to say that it's a step she's VERY proud of now! Within 30 minutes of our first visit with our resource teacher, she already had the name and phone number of a new friend, who was visiting with her resource teacher also (whose dad happens to be a Vice Principal in our school district).

Both the girls are incredibly excited to be starting this new adventure. We've committed for the 2011-2012 school year. We'll see how it works for our family and reassess our situation at the end of the year. In the mean time, we're having a blast getting everything started.

I could (and will) say TONS more on this subject, but I'll leave that for some other long-winded posts. This isn't something that I think everyone should do. I don't hate public schools, nor do I hate the school the girls' were previously enrolled in. I love teachers and think they are AMAZING. I just truly feel that everyone should make the right decision for their own family (in regards to EVERYTHING) and public school has been that right decision for us for the last 4 years. This new adventure is right for us at this point in time. For now, all I ask is that you keep an open, non-judgmental mind, and know that this is not a decision we made lightly, but it is one that we are very excited about :).