Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Why are we homeschooling?

 

 



     While I haven’t faced a lot of opposition to the choice that my husband and I made to home school our children, I can certainly sense doubt from some. Tone of voice and body language say so much more than one might like to know. Individuals I don’t know, friends and even family have subjected me to the “doubt waves.”
  But before I get into specifics, I’ll give a generic answer for those who would like to stop reading here: We want to educate our children.

       The mind of a child is like a sponge. It soaks up everything it sees, hears and even feels… emotions. We want our children to SEE subjects in action  in real life. Not in a box… a school room full of children. One might argue we are putting them in a box, but quite the opposite is true. Our children will be more free to see things applied outside of “the box.” They need to be shown and not just told. Because they are learning at home, they know that school is never really out. It doesn’t end at, say, 3:30. It’s on going. And since we’ll be teaching them, we always know what they are learning. Sure, some parents  get “involved” in the child’s learning, but that soon fades, and you can never know the level at which your child is learning,  unless you are teaching and learning with them. I want to know what my child is learning, and I don’t want to be tempted to shrug it off as “that’s what school is for.”

God gave us these children to raise and I  can not see dropping off my most valuable asset of assets… my children’s minds, to someone else for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, 9 months a year. 7 hours… a day?! A DAY?! One child?! That’s enough to make me tired.

       We want our children to HEAR from us. 

A child needs to hear when he does well. A sticker alone doesn’t cut it. Neither does a quick smile and a pat on the back. Hearing positive words from a parent is more valuable to child than hearing it from a teacher in a traditional school setting. Both are valuable, however. Praise from my husband means more to me than praise from someone I just know or am even friends with. He’s my most important relationship (after God, of course.) Together we make the foundation for our family.  

  

We want our children to come to us with questions. And we want to be able to guide them in the right direction. We don’t want to leave such a wide gap open for someone else to do this. The most important relationship in a child's life (after the relationship between him and God)  is the one between him and his parents. And we want to do everything we can to develop this as strong early on.

Siblings are very important as well, but that’s another topic for another day.



     The things heard at school can be good, but also hurtful and mean. Such things can influence learning greatly. It’s very hard for a child to concentrate when he is thinking about the mean thing another child said to him at recess. Or the kid behind him that’s poking him with a pencil. Of course all of these things take place in every class room at one time or another,  it may not be often, but we still don’t want to subject our children at such a young age to distractions such as these, especially if we have a  choice in the matter. And  some kids are just MEAN!

    Among other distractions are hunger,  sleepiness or even not feeling well. We will nearly eliminate these issues by homeschooling. There are so many other wonderful reasons we chose this but I don’t want to make this post too long.


   We are not raising our children with cradled EMOTIONS, but allowing their emotions to develop at a proper pace. One that involves them to understand feelings and interpret them properly. It is easy for a child to cry at teasing because it hurts his feelings, which are still so pliable. We want to strengthen their emotions. Not harden their emotions, but strengthen them. Allow them to feel deeper, analyze them better and respond to them in a proper manner. Will they always respond properly? No. We all, from time to time, slip up, but we feel with this way of schooling we can better prepare them with what they need for proper emotional development.

     Of course the socialization question must be brought up. I once read from a great mind: “That’s one reason why we are homeschooling!” And it’s the truth. Our children will get plenty of interaction with other children, but it will be with other children who we know have parents that think in line with us. Of course they will also be exposed to those who don’t, eventually, but we want to equip them with the proper tools before “facing the world.” While learning how to socialize is important, it’s not an important part of learning. We’d like our kids to concentrate on topics at hand and  the two ideas remain separate. They will participate in things such as band and sports. They’ll be in church groups and also with home school groups. They will still be well rounded even though they are not participating in socialization within traditional school hours. 

   We are also able to move at the speed of the child, not the speed of the class. Traditional school is generalized, we want to be personalized. We want to cater to the strengths and weaknesses of our children and give them the right amount of everything they need to grow well and properly. We want them to not fear asking a question if something is not understood.

  Does this mean we don’t like public school or even private schools? No. This is what is right for our family.  Our children will be dual enrolled and probably take certain courses in the public school system one day, such as a foreign language. 


 

I do wish that more families would understand that they CAN home school. What makes the idea overwhelming is where to start. I’ve found the best place is to find other people who have homeschooled or who are homeschooling. They can generally relate to any fears, doubt or questions you have and help you work through them or tell you where to start.

 


     If you are unable to home school your child or children, I want to encourage you to get involved with them as much as you can. Stay motivated in their learning. Know what they are learning and show them how to apply the knowledge they have. You are still teaching your child even if not in academics. Be a good example. Do as you say.



  
      Homeschooling is right for us and it’s the way the Lord has put in our heart to school.  Not much is more valuable than one on one learning and teaching to us. It’s a priceless process. One that we are excited to embark upon.

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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Spin your cell.

 

 

 

 



       I wasted quite a bit of time this morning spinning my cell phone. I just casually spun it on the counter and realized it spun a lot longer than I thought that it would.  So I was partly intrigued and I was partly avoiding laundry and other things. Not to mention that if a song is playing while spinning, it sounds pretty neat. My best time is 1 minute 24 seconds. I’ll load the video below so you can see for yourself and then go and do the same with your cell. My phone is an LG Mystique from US Cellular. The kids kept wanting to touch it, so you’ll hear them a bit in the background.





 

 

 




You know you’re tempted to try this now… to see how long it can go. I’d love to hear times and what cell you’re spinning!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

It’s been a long time…

 

 

 

 

 

… wow… a long time! How did I let this happen? Oh.. summer is here, that’s how. I’m looking forward to Fall… or the more eloquent and sophisticated term (and also a girl’s name) Autumn. When change is taking place all around us and is so beautiful. Things just slow down in the midst of changing leaves and beautiful blue skies. Open windows with fresh air floating around and under sheer curtains… with no humidity. That’s the most important thing. Long walks with the kids crunching leaves and mom and dad with happy hearts and holding hands. Ah. I love Fall. I think I could go on and on about that season.

 


Trying to pick back up where I left off almost 2 months ago.

Alex and I were in a car accident-
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we are both OK. I turned my head when the air bag went off so I still have pain in my right ear. I lost my sun glasses in the mess. it wasn’t my fault if you’re wondering. It’s a bad intersection and I was already anticipating that she didn’t see me. Anyway… we have a new van now. Yay! 

Alex is growing wonderfully well. I weighed him two days ago and he was 19.8 pounds!!  I would share the slideshow I put together of his first year but I only have it on Facebook and it’s private. Sorry!



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Rock Around the Block:

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We got a sprinkler for the boys! And they love it, of course. I love taking photos of Andy. He’s never cautious about showing his emotions.
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My friend’s daughter’s 1st birthday party!


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I took more pictures at her party then Alex and Andy’s combined! I guess that happens when you try to host at the same time! Moving on….

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YES! We still love dinosaurs!

I cut my hair at the beginning of July. I was able to donate it to Locks of Love.
Alex turned 1 on July 16….



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A favorite from the 4th of July fireworks….. Alex’s last 1st holiday ;)
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Jack was out playing in the rain! It’s not too often that it rains and does not storm, so he got to go out with an umbrella!
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Alex on his birthday. Sorry I’m kind of jumping around here with topics. I am so far behind I need to catch up!! I must turn this back into a part of our schedule in the Fall… Fall.. ahh….
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Look, Mom! I ate all the cake!
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You can see a little bit of the double rainbow. The outter is harder to see.



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And.. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?! It’s startin’ to look like a triple rainbow!! Laugh…. it’s funny.




TAG: Billy Ray Cyrus. Not letting hubby take children to get haircuts alone anymore.
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Jack and Andy took swimming lessons this year for the 1st time. I put them in the same class. Next year I’ll probably split them up.

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Andy’s birthday party! Andy turned 3 on August 4! His cake was SO much fun to make! His and Alex’s I guess.

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Here’s Alex “pooing in blue.” Well, not literally in this photo. That would be kind of odd. They are great at poop catching but a little less than super absorbent in the pee department. But they are cute!
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So, you’ve seen my sonflowers, now here’s my sUnflower!
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Because curves rocks!  IMG_1477.share. IMG_1478.share.  IMG_1488.share. IMG_1491.share. IMG_1495.share.

Here’s Jack having a good time playing Blue’s Clues on his computer! Thanks to his great-grandma!
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Andy on his birthday….
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I love these boys!!

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Last day of lessons-
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Very neat photo… they are eating a chicken nugget…. yes.. a CHICKEN nugget.


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Hot summer day fun! But not as fun as a Fall day…. Fall.. yeeeees!

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Well, that pretty much sums up the photos. I don’t feel much like loading any videos right now. Such as Andy going down the slide at swimming lessons and him driving a tractor with me. Nope, I’ll just tell you about them for now because I really need to publish this blog so that I can move onto a new one tomorrow…. or later today.

 

Have a blessed evening!

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