Summer, Summer, Summertime. Summatime

Wow. I haven’t blogged since December. That isn’t to say that I haven’t had loads of witty comments, or never-ending stories of homeschooling bliss, because I have. I just haven’t felt the muse strong enough to sit in front of the computer and type it out. Laziness? I has it.

What brought on this blog out of the blue? Today is our official last day of school for this year! I think I hear angels singing. It seems like we just started (ahem, that was July, deary) and here we are, finally FINALLY finishing. Well, finishing is an inexact term. Medium and Small did completely finish their spelling curriculum. Medium is a natural speller. Honestly, I don’t think I taught him anything this year, but we did go through all four books, Level 1-4, of All About Spelling, so that counts. Small completed Level 1 and 2, but still struggles with basics. Next year (and by next year I mean whenever I randomly decide to start again, probably in July) before moving onto Level 3 we’ll do some major reviewing. I’m actually debating switching him to Abeka for Language Arts, but haven’t quite given up completely on All About Spelling. Both Small and Medium are just a chapter away from the last chapter of their Math U See books, which we will finish next week. Yes, we’ll still do math after today, but compared to an actual full school day, a few minutes of math for those two will be gravy.  For Grammar (or English, Language Arts, Communication Arts….whatever you prefer to call it) they both are still working through Rod & Staff, 2^nd grade and 4^th grade, but R&S does soooo much review I’m completely OK with stopping before we finish the book. I read all the time how most public school classes don’t completely finish a book and am trying to let myself off the hook on it. We touched on the important things in the remaining chapters and are calling it good, for now. Medium loves Rod & Staff and wants to move onto 5^th grade in it, but as stated above, Small might be making a switch to Abeka. Roadtrip USA Geography has been so much fun and they’ve learned a lot, but my lofty goal of doing two states a week instead of the recommended one didn’t pan out. We’re ending with our study of the Midwest States, and will pick it back up to finish when “school” resumes. Mystery of History is the same: finding a good stopping point, picking up again next year. The only difference will be with Large because….

He will be an 8^th grader next year. I know, you’re all shaking your heads thinking, “but just yesterday he was sucking his thumb while twirling your hair for naps.” But sadly, he is a full-fledged teenager now, which his brothers love to tease him about, with much-appreciated comments about the beginning stages of “pit hair”, but I digress. Most 8^th graders study some form of Civics/American History, and since he and I are WAY more interested in the government and its sorry state of affairs how it works, he won't do history with little brothers and I’m currently on the hunt for a great curriculum for him.  He’s finished in Grammar, at a good stopping point in typing, and finished his last “literature” book this week. BUT, he is not as far along in Science (Apologia General Science) as I would like, so in addition to finishing up Zeta in Math U See, he gets the added bonus of continuing science for the next few weeks. He tends to complain about every. single. subject. And assignments. And moving off the couch. And coming out of his room. He doesn’t believe he needs to know proper grammar, how to type, how the digestive system works, or how to convert fractions and decimals, but by golly, HE’S GONNA! I tell him often to try to be the smartest version of himself, to try to learn as much as possible and not discount information as irrelevant or unnecessary just because his 13 year old mind doesn’t see a need for it. I'm patiently chalking his lack of interest in education to typical early teenage boy behavior and will tolerate it, for now. I'm hoping having the summer off, when he finishes his durn math and science, will be a refreshing break for both of us and he'll come into 8th grade with excitement and a smile. mmmmhmmmm.

Is this a daily struggle? Yes. Am I going to continue to homeschool him? Yes, because it is completely 100% worth it. The little moments of annoyance do not, in the bigger picture, compare to the many many moments of laughter and happiness we have together while being free of the public school schedule. I would say bring on the sleeping in, going where we want when we want, but thanks to homeschooling, we have that already. So I guess I can say, bring on floating in the lake without doing math first, and visits to Branson without turning the trip into a writing lesson. Let's all take a moment to breathe deep, because it's Summer Summer Summertime. Summatime. Time to sit back and unwind. 

Holiday Road

I can’t even call this a monthly wrap up. I’m so bad at giving regular reports.

Spelling.....the icky poo dread-fest on my part. I think it is because 1) I am required to stay with the varmit kiddo the entire time, instead of teaching and being able to float to the next kid, or to the kitchen for a secret snack, and 2) my dry erase magnetic board is sitting on the floor.  I haven't found a place I want to hang it, forcing my old creaking bones (and let's be honest, fat butt) to sit on the floor for two 20 minute spelling sessions. Frankly, it's hard to get up. Small just isn't getting it, either.  He still struggles with the whole double the f,l,s (off, sell, dress) and the ck (snack) from Level 1 even though we're several steps into Level 2. I think I'm pushing too fast. Boo.

In Math Medium just finished 15 (!!) while Large is on 13 and Small is on 11. I am trying to not push him on this like I am spelling and think I may need to reverse.

Grammar for Small and Medium is going at a decent daily pace. They’re pretty much on schedule with finishing their books in May. Notice the proper use of they’re and their. I’m so in the right (not write) field.  Large is also cruising through his Writing & Grammar, while hugely despising knowing the difference between transitive verbs, intransitive verbs, direct objects, objects of preposition and so forth. I am aware that this isn’t something he’s going to need in “real life” BUT if he wants to go to college, he’ll be able to whiz through the grammar part of the ACT or SAT like a fat CAT. Oh yeah, I went there.

Large is also doing typing (he complains), and science (he complains). Picking up a trend?

I'm trying to do two days of geography and two days of history, but when we're busy, it's a pretty day, or we have any miniscule excuse at all, these get pushed to another day, also known as we're barely doing each once a week. Barely. Ok, haven't done either in weeks. There. Happy? We would have studied North Carolina this week, but had to make an emergency run to the vet. That’s a whole other blog.

Reading: Large is reading Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of Greek Myths, that somewhat goes with our history, when we do it. Sigh.  Medium only wants to read Beast Quest series or Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. I’m making him read a kids version of the Odyssey since he constantly said he hated Harry Potter. Blasphemer. I compromised to wait a year on HP, if he will start reading more classics. We shall see. Small was getting headaches every day so a visit to the eye doctor landed him in stinkin’ expensive totally cute reading glasses. He’s reading Frog and Toad, and loves to read. I heart him, so much.  I love the word reading. Reading. Please read to me more my precious reader. Books, books, and more books.

For Bible we’re taking a break from Bible Study Guide for All Ages curriculum as we talk about Bible Virtues and Christmas. This week we talked about generosity, as every recent shopping trip has been more about, “why can’t I buy this for myself”, or “I want this for Christmas” instead of thinking of others.  It’s making me more than cranky at the stores and Christmas Spirit? Fuggetaboutit. Scrooge, Grinch, you-all-are-the-most-ungrateful-children Spirit is more like it. I must succeed in making them not rotten. I must. This is a can’t fail. If they’re adults that hate to read (shudder), can’t spell (please no), or stink at math (like their mudder) but are generous, kind, considerate, hard-working men?  I’ll take it. Will I be happy? Probably not. BUT, if they are highly intelligent, super book-smart, lazy hand-out expecting twits? I HAVE FAILED. Hands-down, worst homeschooler ever.  If they’re financially successful, but stingy jerk-wads that think they’re better than everyone around them? I HAVE FAILED. More than just worst homeschooler, worst parenting ever.  Therefore, with prayer and Bible study, I’m going to change their little gimme gimme hearts.

Girlie is enjoying her junior year, as much as one can enjoy a junior year filled with geometry and chemistry and public school-filled drama, has been applying for jobs, and is in a cheer tumbling advanced class where she is kicking booty. She tends to suffer the same I-want-itis as the boys when it comes to shopping. Gah. Blasted kids.

It’s December 1^st and we haven’t put up a single Christmas decoration. I have finally taken down the fall stuff though. Totally counts. We have watched Home Alone twice on the road, and I say quotes from Elf and Christmas Vacation alllll the time.  

"That there's an RV Clark."

"I'm in a store and I'm singing! I'm in a store and I'm SIIIINGIIIIING!"

"I like Smiling, Smilings my favorite."

Maybe this weekend we’ll get our Holiday on. Maybe.  What about you, tens   thousands of readers? Have you decked your halls already?

Baby Come Back

We’re on week four of school and the boys still haven’t adjusted back to the daily routine yet.  Yes, daily school work commenced in the summertime, the last week in July.  The boys had reached their typical end of summer fightyelltattle routine which in the past would make me sooooooooo ready for public school to start. Remember that Staples commercial with the dad joyously riding a shopping cart, buying school supplies while “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” was playing? Yeah, that was me. Until last August. When my baby went to kindergarten. Um……..what?

No little boy around? What is this? I have had at least one little hand to hold while speed walking into Target or smudged face smiling at me from the back seat  for……ever it seemed like. Small had gone to preschool, but that was just a half-day… barely time to do anything before picking him up at noon. Now the house, my life, would be empty for EIGHT HOURS?  I know, this should have been a “Ceeeeelebrate Good Times, Come on!” moment, but it wasn’t. I had more time to work at my part-time jobs as church secretary and adjunct instructor for a Jr. college, more time to go to the gym (which I did, and nothing shrank. Boo.), more time for kid-free lunches, shopping with friends… all of the things society says should have made me heave a huge sigh of THANK YOU and cry FREEDOM. It didn’t. I didn’t. I just felt lonely, and that something in what should have been the ideal life, was off. As the weeks progressed, and Large was begging asking to be homeschooled with Medium soon joining in, the thought slowly built. Why should we all be unhappy? Homeschooling is a legal option. Not that it is needed or required, but I do have a teaching certificate. I could do this! We homeschooled January to mid-May, taking the rest of the summer off, until the end of July. It was great. We all loved it. Then I made them start school when everyone else was still out for summer break. Hey! It was too hot around here to do anything else. To the previously public schooled kid, this is WRONG. They’re doing their work, but with much more nagging reminding from me and eye rolling-outside escaping-any excuse not to do school finding from them. Gah!

Schools in our area started last week.  Large is feeling a little pull back towards public school, mainly because as months pass, he’s losing connections with once close friends. I try to keep up with them, but busy lives make it difficult to work out. This too makes me sad, but I’m hoping now that public schools have started, and everyone is on normal routines, finding Friday nights to go to football games together or have friends over will be easier. We’ve also joined a local homeschool co-op, where new connections can be made. Large has forgotten all the reasons why he wanted to be homeschooled, like having no time to hang with his friends at lunch, and just remembers all the good things, like hanging with friends at lunch. (Yes, I see the logic.)  It’s similar to when a teenage relationship ends. After a little while, the memories of the ex’s eyes or great smile overpower the way they chewed with their mouth open and laughed like a donkey. Those things are still true, just not as strong when they aren’t right up in your grill all the time.

Now, if I could just think of a way to remind him what a Jr. High boys’ restroom visit is like….Oh wait. That’s my hallway bathroom already. Think of coating the floor lightly in hairspray, then misting it with pee, adding in a few bobby pins, bb’s, and legos. Voila. I’ll leave you with that image of what last Friday’s cleaning session was like, for me. Did I mention I’m really really glad the kids are homeschooled?

Born in the USA

·         I’m not as geography-stupid as I am math-stupid, but the gap between the two isn’t huge. In our classroom hangs a large world map, and as of this week, a large USA map. Learning is happening. At least, for me.

·         We’re studying geography this year. YAY! I’m actually EXCITED about using Confessionsof a Homeschooler’s Roadtrip USA curriculum. With each state studied, we get to try a recipe. For Connecticut,  Cafe HomeschoolBoys  will whip up Hamburgers or Clam Chowder. I checked the recipes suggested for Oklahoma: Chicken Fried Steak and Dirt Cake. Does she know us or WHAT?!

·         One of the lessons is to learn the 50 states and their capitals. The curriculum suggests using the song to the tune of Turkey in the Straw that Wacko on Animaniacs sings. You can watch him sing it here.

·         Because Wacko’s version is SO FAST, I made the boys a Power Point to slowly click through as they learn the song. If anyone else teaching the capitals wants to use it, comment me. When I uploaded and linked it here, it changed the font and made it look less cute.

·         How is it possible that High school through Associates Degree through Bachelor’s degree, I never had an actual geography class? I must have been a pro-avoid-that-class scheduler.

·         Does anyone that lives outside the Northeast part of the U.S. actually know which tiny state is which?

Ain't Nothin Gonna Break-a My Striiiide

Procrastination. Is that the cause of our non-schooling summer? I really really wanted to continue blasting through, thinking we would take a few weeks off, which turned into two months. Here we are, mid-July, and full school just hasn’t happened. Blah.

Sure, Large reads most days; not the literary classics I had planned, but whatever his heart desires. This summer his heart desired Rick Riordan’s newest release Throne of Fire. Thanks to Mr. Riordan’s books, he has learned the names and some details about Greek and Roman gods, so at least there’s that.  Medium *acts* like he’s reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins, (yes, still), but usually has to get a drink, go to the bathroom, randomly roam outside, doze off… you get the picture. Reading is not his gig, especially when he wants to play an uneducational app about slicing fruit or flying a jet pack. Small read to me daily when trying to earn a new (shudder) video game, quickly meeting his goal, then sadly realizing that thanks to Medium’s avoidance approach, the chances of the three of them finishing their required books to get the game, wasn’t going to happen. Bless his heart.

This weekend, I buckled down and marched boldly into mapping out our entire school year.  I spent any spare time during the week pouring over homeschooling genius’ blogs about organizing the day, the week, the year, and finally settled on trying the approach I stumbled upon at the ever helpful Facebook. Thanks to Chelli at The Planted Trees I now have the subjects, weeks, and a rough yearly outline done! Yay! I would do a happy dance but my spine is currently misshapen thanks to hunching over the laptop for hours. Maybe when all this planning business is finished I’ll put off starting school a day and get a massage take the kids on an invigorating nature walk.

I have the bones of the schedule worked out, but not the actual dig-into-the-books lesson break downs. That’s the goal of the next two weeks because…….

We will officially start back on a full schedule July 30!! For my own “I school year round” attitude I want  have, we’re starting in July.  If we started in August, after finishing in May, we would be on a standard school year schedule. Which we’re obviously not. Obviously.

The tentative, written-in-pencil-only weekly schedule looks like this:

I know it is hard to make out with all of the erasing that occurred. Fam is the time block we do together as a well, family, lasting at the most two hours. Reading is when I will read to them while they eat breakfast or work quietly at something or other. The numbers in parantheses are the amounts of time I *think* a subject will take. Memory Work involves poetry, math facts, Bible passages, etc. Friday isn't scheduled into the school week because that will be field trip/catch up day, until we join a local homeschool coop which meets on Fridays starting in September. 

Last semester I let them pick the order they completed their subjects. For Large and Medium I will probably stick with this, because they liked having some control over their school day and it helps them learn responsibility and planning.  Small will have a modified version, where he will pick the order of some of his subjects, but they will be put into time blocks. For example, in the morning, he will have an hour of Grammar, Spelling, and Reading, all of which he will complete with me. He can pick which one he starts with each day, but they will all three be completed in that time block. As this is only our second semester at this homeschooling thing, and I still consider myself a newbie, if something doesn’twork, we’ll change it. No biggie. Flexibility and Perseverance….my homeschool sanity chant. I'm in FULL PLANNING MODE and..

Ain't nothin' gonna to break my stride
Nobody's gonna slow me down, oh-no
I got to keep on movin'
Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride
I'm running and I won't touch ground
Oh-no, I got to keep on movin'

Break my Stride  by Matthew Wilder

Mmmm, coffee

The best iced mocha I have come up with:
1. Brew one cup of coffee. I use the Large cup setting on my Keurig, (which is probably 8-10 ounces?) into a tall, 16-20oz cup that can withstand hot or cold beverages. No glass!
2. Add 2 packets of Splenda
3. Add 5 ice cubes
4. Add 1/2 cup milk (see why you need a really big cup?)
5. This is where I get technical: add one Mississippi of Hershey syrup. It doesn't need to be exact, and I never measure. As you're giving your coffee a good squirt, say "one Mississippi", and that's probably enough.
6. Stir and sip that deliciousness!

You can adjust the amount of milk to fit your "really big cup", as I do depending on which one is clean. In the summer I still want to enjoy my morning beverage, but the thought of drinking something hot is very un-yummy compared to this refreshing, caffeine-laden refreshment. Mmmmmm.

I know you are diggin' my Oklahoma State cup too. I do love it so.

Believe it or Not

Having had kids in public school, I understand both sides of the public school v. homeschool debate. The boys were blessed with teachers, for the most part, that cared about their students, classroom atmosphere, learning new techniques, and wanting the best for the student and parent. They were not a reason for homeschooling. Those teachers were the reason deciding to homeschool was difficult. Knowing that Large loved most of his teachers so much and enjoyed their attention for six years, that Medium only got to spend time with a few, and that Small only had a semester with one of the best still makes me sad. Those teachers warm my heart when I think of them. They are doing their part to educate the future generations, using the tools that they have been taught themselves, and within the constantly changing rules and guidelines they have to follow.


It is those rules, guidelines, and other governmental crapola that is, in my mind, working against teachers. Making test scores the ultimate goal, attaching pay raises to test scores...it isn't right, and it doesn't work. Where else in society are people regulated to rooms based on their age and not their intelligence level? What profession has employees sitting in offices doing work based not on their ability, but their age. What business gives the hired hands standardized fill-in-the-dot tests and punishes their boss if scores are low, even if profits (actual learning) and employee contentment (student happiness) are high?


I love reading Deb's blog, Not Inadequate.  She's a funny, quirky, homeschool mom who is currently living out of various Vacation Rentals By Owner, while travelling the US, giving her kids a real education by reading about geoducks (snicker snicker) because they saw one in the Pacific Northwest, or "researching" bison by watching them walk down the road near Yellowstone. One of her blogs included a video that I absosmurfly loved because it clearly and entertainingly shows why the current education system doesn't work. I unabashedly copied her, including it in this blog for my three many readers to enjoy.




Sir Stephen, I love your accent and ability to draw more than a stick person.


I'm not saying I will never put my kids back into public school, because I don't know what the future holds for my family. We decided to try a semester of homeschooling, and are all so hooked as of now we have most of our books to start the next "year" at any time. :-)