Time Management

With my beloved husband deployed for 12 months to Iraq, we are finding that in many ways this deployment is going much smoother than the last.  We feel more secure in our home and our neighborhood (although I can’t really explain why), and we are able to visit family fairly often.  There is less crying this time around, as the girls and I know what to expect and communication with daddy is almost daily, as opposed to sporadic monthly emails last time.

The one thing that has not changed this deployment is my seeming inability to manage our time well.  When he is home, we have a more set schedule formed around his work.  We try to work on projects and participate in activities for homeschool while he is at work, so we can have the time he is at home to spend together.  He also has to get up early for PT, and so I usually go to bed when he does.

It seems that when he is gone, our lives lack a certain alarm clock.   For me, it is at bedtime.  I no longer have a set bedtime and often find myself indulging in reading or researching way into the night.  Then, the next morning I am tempted to sleep in and spend most of the morning moping around the house.

The fact that I am in the exhaustion stage of my pregnancy does not help much.  I find that mornings and early afternoon are the worst, where my energy is needed the most.  It is almost a catch-22.

As our regular activities are starting up for the year, it has forced me to take into consideration the rest I get so that we are not late or missing an opportunity because of my lack of discipline.

It is activities outside our home that help us to pass the time and understand the need to manage our time inside the home.  When you are responsible for a job, or accountable to friends and family, you understand the need to manage your time wisely.  If we stayed home and did not have outside obligations, it would be far too easy to become lazy and unkempt (for me anyway).

So here is our schedule for this week:

Monday:

am- Clean and tidy up the house, work on some lapbook projects

pm- Family book discussion at the library The Boxcar Children

Tuesday:

am- PWOC (for girls, preschool and homeschool rooms)

pm- computer school and bible lesson

Wednesday:

am- work on bible verses and any other projects

pm- AWANA

Thursday:

am- Denna’s storytime at the library and Raven reads or does computer school

pm- errands, laundry, clean at church

Friday:

am- any leftover projects

pm- Art Class in afternoon, then game night, bible lesson, reading time

Saturday:

family day (no outside activities)

Sunday:

church

Tuna Salad Pitas

Ok, so the picture didn’t turn out as pretty as I had hoped, but these healthy pita sandwiches are delicious!  And your kids will never know they have zucchini in them.

Ingredients:

1 can or pouch of Tuna in water (drained)

2 TB light or fat-free Mayonnaise

1/3 C shredded cheddar cheese

1/3 C shredded raw zucchini

Mustard- to taste

1/2 C shredded or chopped lettuce

1/4 C chopped green onions

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 tsp Curry Powder

Mix all the ingredients together.  Serve in whole grain pita pockets.  Makes about 4 sandwiches.  If you don’t like curry powder, you can try dill and a dash of paprika.

Exodus lapbook. . . so far

It has been fairly crazy at our house lately.  With the announcement of another blessing on the way and my husband’s deployment, we have little time or thought for school.  Audio books and board games have been a constant staple these past few weeks as we tried to monopolize the time left with daddy.  One thing we were able to keep going was our Bible reading at supper-time.

We are reading through the Bible chronologically and studying the customs and civilizations we come across along the way.  This summer we were able to study the plagues on Egypt, along with Ancient Egypt and it’s many wonders.  As we headed into the dessert with the Iraelites, we are currently exploring the Tabernacle and the movement of the Shekinah glory cloud that appeared above the Ark of the Covenant.

Through all of our studies, we have been adding bits and pieces to make a lapbook.  I call it the Exodus lapbook, for that is the book we are reading.  It also contains some elements of Genesis and our Egypt study, however, and will probably stretch into the procurement of the land by Joshua and his men.

This is the cover of Raven’s lapbook, depicting two Egyptian citizens.

This will be on the cover of Denna’s lapbook, which we have not assembled yet.

The Ten Plagues page, which opens to show each plague and the Egyptian gods that were being confronted.

Raven’s Ten Commandments page.

Denna cut the “stones” out herself, and asked me how to spell Ten Commandments.  She did a great job!  She placed 10 circle stickers on her stones to show there were 10 Commandments.

We have several more pages we are working on, including a map of the wilderness wanderings, the Tabernacle, The First Passover, and the Glory Cloud that led the people through the wilderness.

Some other interesting pages to note:

Feasts of the Lord (the feasts of Israel and how they relate to the ministry of Christ)

Messiah in the Passover

The Priesthood

Materials we have used for our lapbook:

Ancient Civilization printables- this is where we found the Egyptian faces

Hands-on History Activity Pack Old Testament (I got this as a prize!)

Paper Dali – this is where we found Raven’s Egyptian people

Ancient Egypt Lapbook- Jimmie has made a wonderful list of resources on Squidoo

Misconceptions of Homeschooling- Part Deux

In my last post, I conquered the 3 top misconceptions about homeschooling that I have come across.  This post is dedicated to a few notions that are not always verbalized, but sometimes insinuated in comments and discussions I have heard.

4.  Homeschoolers think their children are too good for public school.  (or the flip side) Homeschoolers have kids that don’t belong in public school.

There are just too many reasons parents choose to homeschool for one to make a generalized assumption about their children and public school.  Some parents see homeschooling as a last ditch effort for a struggling child, or a child with severe behavioral problems.  Some find that homeschooling allows the child to excel beyond his grade level, where he was being stifled in his classroom.  Some choose homeschooling for the one-on-one teaching time and the ability to craft the curriculum around their child’s learning needs.  Still others see school as an institution designed to conform children rather than educate them.

I will state for the record that I do not want my girls in public school.   Some of my reasons are ideological in nature, meaning they don’t have to do with any specific school, teacher, or topic.  Some of my reasons are specifically based on children, teachers, and classrooms I have encountered.

Do I think my kids are too good for public school?  Well, depending on your definition of ‘good’, yes.  I think their time is too precious, spirits still too fragile, and characters and education too important to be wasted in public school.  While I don’t feel like we are “better” than people who send their children to public school, I do feel the benefits of homeschool  far outweigh the sacrifices in our family.

5.  Homeschooling is expensive.

While it is true that homeschool families still have to pay the taxes to support public school and pay for their own curriculum, there are actually some things that save us money by not sending the kids to school.

We didn’t have to buy any school supplies this year.  Though we may need tape or glue later on, we will shop the clearance items left over from the start of school sales.  We didn’t buy any back-to-school clothes. We don’t have to pack lunches or buy school lunches.  We can take our vacations when my husband has leave, and plan them during the off-peak times of the year.  We can travel to visit family on weekdays to save money and traffic hassle.  Plus as homeschoolers in our state, we get all the discounts that teachers would get at stores (Office-Max, Barnes & Noble, Joann’s, etc).

Homeschooling can be as expensive or as cost-effective as you want it to be.  You can buy the big expensive curriculum in a box with all the science kits and textbooks.  Or, you can use your public library, nature center, 4-H club, and the internet to cover all the major topics.  You can sign up for expensive gymnastic, ballet, karate, music, and foreign language classes.  Or, you can take advantage of free book discussions, family fun days, community speakers, friends, and foreign language podcasts for extra activities.  We personally use the library and the internet more than any resource we own.  Our expenses this year including art class, swimming class, and possibly music class will be around $500.  That doesn’t include gas, clothes, or food because we would need those anyway whether we were homeschooling or not.

And the final misconception (which is either phrased in a question or stated as a reason for never wanting to homeschool):

6.  How can you stand having your kids around you all day and not be out there seeking your own fulfillment?

Can I just say “Oh, my goodness!”  I get this at least every other time I speak to someone that is unfamiliar with homeschooling.  It is not always phrased in this manner, and doesn’t always include the fulfillment part.  But many times it is implied that I am a pitiful barefoot housewife who has no dreams and has given up on a career and satisfying work.  They also seem to think that being around my children automatically makes me either insane or super-mom.

I guess you could call me a super-mom, but it would be far from the truth.  You could also look at me with pity, but the sympathy would be lost on me.  When I decided to be a stay-at-home mother, it was with great joy and satisfaction.  I would be the stable hub from which all activity flows in and out of our home.  It was an even greater joy when we decided to homeschool our children, because I couldn’t imagine being without my little girl all day.  In society structures before the 20^th century, it was well known that the family was the glue that held a country together.  It is only in the last 120 years or so that we have lost touch with our extended family, and even more recently our immediate familial relationships.

The fact is, we enjoy being together.  I enjoy having my kids around.  We have FUN as a family, and we treasure the adventures and love we share.  We still have our moments of anger and frustration, but for the most part I am thankful that we can spend the better part of the girls’ formative years together in the unit God designed for life.

As for fulfilling myself through a career or something else, I can understand where the idea comes from, but I respectfully disagree.  Teaching children is a wonderfully rewarding career no?  And I get to do it every day, for every grade level and age you can imagine!  Our culture has placed great emphasis on the equality of women, and on the achievement of success in the workplace.  Both of these things can be useful goals, but if it is the end of our hopes, we can be very lonely in the end.  I believe a satisfying life is not one lived in pursuit of the career, friends, money, house, or fun.  A life that is spent tending to the responsibilities we have to our God, family, and neighbors can be the most satisfying and fulfilling experience of all.

Misconceptions of Homeschooling . . .

I have many friends and family who are curious about why we keep our children out of school and how we manage to stay sane while providing them an education.  Many times, a lack of experience with homeschooling leads to some misconceptions and odd notions about us and homeschooling in general.  In this post, I speak only for our family, and I list these only to help foster an understanding of what we really do, and why.  I am not advocating homeschooling as the only right way, and certainly not trying to offend or talk down to people who send their children to school.

1. Homeschooling shelters kids from the “real world” and doesn’t allow for socialization.

This is the most common idea I find among those unfamiliar with homeschooling, and also the most dangerous.  It is dangerous because it can become true in certain cases.  However, it would be extremely difficult and would require absolute control over a child’s life.  I have found that in 99.999% of homeschooling families, the opposite is true.  In our family, our girls are engaged in countless outside activities, classes, and groups.  Also, since they are still young they are not allowed to stay home alone, which means that wherever I go, they go.  This amounts to an array of experiences in the “real world” including some I probably would rather them not have.

For an example, I will give you a typical week in our life.  In one week during the school year, we would:

- go grocery shopping (usually to 2-3 stores, using coupons and following sales)

- do our weekly cleaning at the church

- go to Awana bible club Wed night

- go to swimming class, art class, and/or free gym time at homeschool group

- go to the library 2 times a week, and family book discussion once a month

- go to doctor appointments, run errands, visit neighbors, play with neighbor children, visit the nursing home, go to church, etc.

You get the idea.  I have found that the hardest part about homeschooling is actually staying home and spending time together as a family!  Plus, all the volunteer work and errand running we do puts the girls in real community situations, and not a fabricated society built around a certain age/grade group.  They love to interact with people of all ages and races, and find it easy to relate to people outside their own social class, because they must in order to work and play in their community.

Some amount of sheltering does occur.  We do monitor what media, toys, people, and technology goes into and out of our home, decided upon the age and maturity of the girls.  I would say that every parent has a boundary when it comes to what they allow in their home, and for different reasons.  Exposure to certain media and social situations in not healthy for young children, and can have adverse affects on their emotional and social well-being.

2. Homeschooling is School At Home

Another common idea I find is that many people imagine homeschooling as a mini school at home.  While this is true for some families, most homeschoolers focus more on the home in the word homeschooling.  Our family, though we have tried the store-bought curriculum with workbooks and teacher manuals, has never really been structured.  Even when I tried to schedule subjects and lessons, we found that the pressure to finish was too daunting, and not a lot of learning occurred.  In order to make the school at home model work, I would have to shut down the rest of our life for hours at a time.  The model that learning only occurs in structured time blocks with textbooks was one of the reasons we decided to homeschool in the first place, so this model in not something you will see in our house!

Right now in our home, the only indication you will find that we homeschool is our shelves lined with books, and the fact that our kids always seem to be at the door when the post man or UPS man brings a package.  We do have a few textbooks lying around as useful references, but you will find no desks, no chalkboard, no flag, no school room, and definitely no red grading pens!

3. Unschoolers are lazy parents that don’t make their kids do anything.  They just let their kids to whatever they want and don’t teach them discipline/work ethics/etc.

We have just recently entered the world of unschooling, as I was just as naive and unsure about it as the next person not too long ago.  The first thing I learned about unschooling is that there are as many definitions for it as there are people that do it.  There are also some very vehement rants and warnings against Christians using unschooling methods.  All that I can do is explain what unschooling in our family means.  Unschooling to us is not child-led learning per se.  We will allow our kids to pursue interests and experiences, but that does not mean we will not be involved in our children’s learning.  It does not mean we will never teach our children anything.  It does not mean we will not ever use a textbook, workbook, class, teacher, or curriculum.

6:4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 6:5 You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. 6:6 These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, 6:7 and you must teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up.  -Deuteronomy 6:4-7

This is the best way to explain our unschooling journey.  It is based on a model set forth by God in the days of Moses.  In the passage above, the people of Israel are instructed to teach their children.  They are not told to set up classes and subjects, but to teach their children the commands and decrees in the law as they lived their lives.  I know this passage is primarily speaking of the things of God, but I see a connection to other learning.  Education of any type can be accomplished in real time, with real experience.  It does not have to occur during a set time frame with set curriculum and lessons.  Separating a concept learned from the process of learning actually creates an absence of application.  You create an intellectual knowledge of a subject without an applicable knowledge to be used in real situations.

So to answer the topic of unschooling parents being lazy or not teaching anything, I would say that it a possibility in some cases.  For our family, we are trying to focus primarily on learning while living our lives.  We create an environment and situations for learning in real time, through real experiences.  As a family, we explore the necessary skills and knowledge to function in this world and understand the Lord we serve.  As individuals, our children are free to explore and understand the direction God has prepared for them in this life.  I guess a better term for our style would be God-directed, family schooling.

In my next post, I will try to tackle more of the misconceptions I have come across in our years of homeschooling.