Full Schedules, but never too full for......

It's August and school has started. If you're on social networks, like Facebook, you can see it by all the 'first day of school' pictures posted by parents. How about you homeschool mommies?  Did you take first day of school pictures, too?  I hope so. Why not?  It's a good way to see how the kids grow and change from year to year. We have a picture frame with a picture for each year of school. And it's so special to me because I can easily see their physical growth from the time they were five years old until their cap and gown graduation picture at eighteen years old. Yes, we have a homeschool graduation with cap and gown.  And they get to choose any color cap and gown that they want. Our daughter just graduated, and I'm surprised she didn't pick a tie-dye cap and gown. I'm telling you, she would've tie-dyed it herself, like she does with most of her T-shirts. She chose, instead, a pretty baby blue....although, I would've been fine with tie-dye. Homeschool graduations are far from boring, though, with our graduate slide shows and personal dedications.

So now my graduate has started college. Her plan is to stay home and attend our local college for her Associate in Arts degree. Then she plans to transfer to a university when she has a better idea of what she wants to do. Right now she's thinking of going into education or be a sign language interpreter, but that could change. This semester she's taking a sign language course, which may give her a better feel for that field. She's registered as a full time student this semester. She's also working part-time. And she now has a boyfriend. Yes, a boyfriend. If it were up to me, that would not be happening. Only because she will always be my little girl and it's a little hard to accept that she's growing up. Having said that, he's a really nice young man. Her mom and dad approve. ;)  We're really not concerned with her making a bad choice in that department. Dad doesn't have to put the fear of life into him. Instead, we trust we've raised her smart enough to be with someone who will honor and respect her. This week we got to see a lot less of her. She was either at school, at work, on a date with her boyfriend and friends, or with her nose in a book or computer. After a summer of just hanging out together at the beach, watching movies, going out for ice cream...or just hanging out at home, this is a new routine.  We will need to get used to her full schedule...but never too full for some family time here and there.

Moving right along to our next child still at home and homeschooling is our son in his last year of homeschool high school. He's got a full load as well. He's also working part time. He works with his sister, who is in a supervisory position at work and is the one who does the scheduling for all employees. This can be a benefit for both of them when they need a particular day off. It's also a benefit that they get to drive to work together or play tag with the car as one arrives to work while the other one is leaving work. Noah is also dual enrolled in high school at home and college. He's taking English 1101 at the same college as his sister. At home he's doing math, anatomy, pre-calculus, worldview, and a Literary course. He also meets with his local Sea Cadets on a weekly basis and serves in the children's worship team at our church. Full schedule for him, as well....but never too full for family time here and there.

Last but not least is our youngest, Samantha. We homeschool Samantha all year. Because of her Down syndrome, it's just best that we don't take time off from school for more than a week or two at a time. She did take a week off each summer month. Now that we're officially starting a new year, we're working on some lesson reviews. For math we're reviewing her first grade homeschool curriculum.  We use Time4Learning curriculum for Math, Language Arts, Science and Social studies.  In Language Arts we're reviewing 4th grade and then moving on to 5th grade. This is one of the things that I love about this curriculum. She can work at her own pace and at the grade level she is really at. She's not struggling to keep up or moving ahead before understanding a lesson.

We've added a P.E. day to her schedule this year, which she is really excited about. We have a homeschool sports organization that is simply amazing. There are about a hundred kids on each P.E. day meeting at different parks around the city. Kids are taught about almost every sport, including archery, which is a favorite. But most importantly, kids are taught to encourage and respect one another and work as a team. I'm also looking into adding a science day at the park with a group of kids from our homeschool support group. We did this a few year ago with a few families. The kids learned a lot from the park naturalist. It was nice to get out once a week and do school at the park.

As you can see, each of us has a pretty full schedule.  I don't know how people are still asking about homeschoolers and socialization. Looking at our homeschool support group's calendar, we're going to have a hard time saying no to a lot of events and activities planned for the year. Already this month we've registered for a field trip to the zoo.  Even my daughter in college is coming with us. We're excited about this field trip because it's been a long time since we've been to the zoo, it's been a long time since we'be been on a field trip with this group, and we'll be seeing lots of old friends we haven't seen in months. And we're happy to have a day planned ahead for family time.

What does your school year look like? What are you doing differently this year from last year?  Please comment below. I love new ideas or comments.

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Graduate Slideshow

Well, I've been talking about it for weeks and graduation day came and passed. It was a beautiful ceremony. We have a lot of homeschoolers in our church. So we have our own Graduation and Promotion Homeschool Ceremony.  We had five high school graduates and 3 kindergarten graduates. All girls. And we had approximately 35 kids promoted from one grade to the next. Our main focus in our graduation and promotion is character. Each child is given a certificate highlighting a character or two that they have shown growth in throughout the school year. Mom and Dad will have written out a short blurb regarding their child and their growth in these areas, and this is added to the certificate.

We invited all our family to the event. It was a big day for our daughter! We are the only homeschoolers in our family and this was everyone's first time at a homeschool graduation and promotion. I've participated and been in the audience of many graduations, and let's be honest. We wait and wait for our graduate to make it to the stage for his or her diploma. And once that's done, we can't wait for it all to be over.  At least the graduations I've been to have been a long drawn-out event where we just listened to names we don't know being called out.  A homeschool graduation and promotion is different. And maybe I'm a bit biased, but it was fun and interesting listening to each character trait being read for each student.  And to watch the expressions on the kids' faces and their reactions was priceless. Our family was impressed with the sweetness of the whole ceremony. And I even had one of my nieces ask me questions on how to homeschool her babies. The audience cheered and applauded each student as their character trait was read. The kids were eager to hear what their parents had written. And the parents were filled with joy to celebrate the end of another school year. In this case, the parents have played a major part in the character building of their children through much daily prayer and discipline, through highs and lows, through moment by moment opportunities to teach academics and good character. Of course, academics are important, but academics will only get you so far without good character. Wouldn't you agree?

The best part of the whole celebration were the much anticipated slide shows. Each homeschool high school graduate had a slide show for all to view, followed by the parents saying something to their graduate, and the graduate honoring and thanking their parents. It's safe to say that there wasn't a dry eye in the house. My daughter's slide show was a complete surprise for her because mom put it all together for her.  Well, actually, I selected the pictures and the songs, but my nephew did an amazing job of putting the whole thing together. And still, once I saw the finished work or art, I had to acknowledge that it was God who produced, directed and edited the whole thing...not just the slide show, but her life. In the end, all I could say to my daughter is this is the end of just one chapter of her life and I eagerly await to see what God will continue to do in her life.

Summer Courses and Summer Lessons

My daughter's homeschool graduation ceremony and party are both this weekend.  I'm looking forward to this week being over because it will mean some free time for me. Finally!  The kids are done with school and have had a lot of free time...too much free time, if you ask me.  So I've registered my son for a couple of courses.  He just started an online HTML Basics For Beginners course that can take him three weeks to complete if he does one lesson a day.  He can work at his own pace. I'm thinking it will take him a little longer since there are days that he works and may be too tired for a lesson or he may take a day off here and there. He has asked for more hours at work during the summer, and that's fine with us. He needs to start saving money for a car now that he has a driver's license.  I've also signed him up for an online course on creative writing help.  This is an online course with a certified teacher. I'm thinking it will be like a writing tutor. I've been wanting to try this writing course out for him and summer is the perfect time for it.

Our youngest daughter we always school year-round because to homeschool Down syndrome means we cannot take too long of a break. In addition to her online curriculum, we also continue with copy work and dictation. She also loves to read.  Her greatest motivator is music and watching a movie like Frozen. So if she wants to listen to music or watch a movie, her schoolwork must come first. She hardly ever fusses about doing her school work, though. 

As homeschoolers, though, you know that learning happens naturally, even when we don't plan on it. For example, Memorial Day my husband had the day off, which doesn't happen too often. The kids also made sure to request the day off from work so we could spend the day together. We slept in a little that morning, but around noon, we headed out to a beach an hour away. We hadn't been to this beach before and wanted to check it out. Well, as we were about 5 miles from our exit on the highway, we heard a loud pop. Sure enough, a flat tire. I had just finished asking my husband a few minutes earlier if he had taught our daughter how to change a tire. What a coincidence, huh?  Apparently it was a screw that was already in the tire and popped out, creating an instant flat tire. I'm just so glad this happened while my husband was with us, because we didn't even have a spare tire in the van! Fortunately, a friend lives close to where we were stuck and he came and gave my husband a ride to the tire store to get the tire plugged.  My son took the tire off, and my daughter put the tire back on.  We were on our way to the beach soon enough and had a fantastic afternoon. Who would've thought we'd have a lesson that afternoon, not just in changing a tire, but in patience and God's provision.

What will your summer look like?  Do you homeschool year-round?  

Breaking the Mold

It’s getting closer to homeschool graduation day for my oldest daughter.  It’s a bitter-sweet time. One of our friends is a photographer, so last week we went to a local park/beach and she took pictures in her graduation gown, with her best friends, and some pictures doing the things she loves most, which is soccer and long-boarding. Some of the pictures were near the beach because she loves the beach so much.  As I posted some of the pictures on Facebook, some of my friends who don’t homeschool commented on how different her pictures were from the average graduation pictures they’ve seen. And each of the girls were wearing different colored graduation gowns.  I explained that as homeschoolers, we think outside the box and break the mold.

Our homeschool support group has a graduation and promotion ceremony every year. As a matter of fact, we also have a yearbook.  For the graduation we have the option of standing with our graduate and speaking or pre-recording a message to her.  I’m going to opt for the pre-recorded message because I’m afraid I’ll start crying.  I realize I’m done with her academic education.  And I’m closing that chapter of our lives. That doesn’t mean she’s done with her own education, though. Whether she chooses to continue with college and university immediately, later, or not at all, she will continue to learn and grow in so many ways. She is just beginning a new chapter in her life, but learning will never end.  I am excited for her and I am looking forward to this new phase in our lives and in our relationship.

As homeschoolers, we realize that education does not need to be confined to what we learn within four walls. Whether you’re homeschooling, roadschooling, worldschooling or unschooling, there is a vast amount of information to soak in.  As our kids are growing, the trick is to foster a love for reading and learning, to encourage the inquisitive minds kids have and to get excited to learn new things with them.  Show them by example how to get excited about new things. We’ve made and are continuing to make beautiful memories learning together.

My son and his friends had a blast this week with their science experiments.  I didn’t mean to make a pun there.  There were no explosions, but it was fun.  In his Chemistry course he was learning about Kinetics and Catalysts. He was so excited as he took videos and pictures of the different reactions to the mixtures.

In one experiment he and his friends mixed Hydrogen peroxide using yeast as the catalyst. They also used different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. They added soap and watched the reaction of the oxygen being released as the process was sped up by the yeast and the oxygen escaped into soapy bubbles. The soap was used to make the release of the oxygen observable.

These are the kinds of memories I will always treasure. Our curiosity spills over into learning as we research, experiment and have adventures together.  Homeschooling is more than a way to educate my children. It’s  a way of life for us. It’s natural learning. And when it’s graduation day and you put a slide show together,  it’ll be so much fun to have all those pictures that reflect the fun, the memories and who your children are. Like our daughter’s graduation pictures reflect who she is and the many things she enjoys doing.