Raising Up Hackers (Part 3)

So I told S everything I was thinking and how I was very overwhelmed. He asked me, in his always calm manner, "Brenda, what are we required to teach them?"

So I read the state law to him. In Texas, we are required to teach reading, spelling, grammar, math and a course in good citizenship.

He said, "Then teach those things....and Bible...and let the rest go."

WHAT???

My mind immediately starting arguing why I HAD to teach _______________, and ___________, and _______________. It literally took me two days to wrap my head around just teaching what was required.

Why do we have to make everything so hard?

I told him all the reasons why I couldn't/shouldn't/wouldn't skip certain subjects. He told me I could do what I wanted, but if it were up to him, certain things would just be hit once a month or so. Teach them, but not daily.

Hmm. So I really had to think all this over. When it was time to make lesson plans, I sat down and made a list:

What I teach that's required: reading, spelling, grammar, math, good citizenship. 

What I teach that's extra: history, geography, writing, handwriting, typing, science, art, current events, Bible. 

Do you see an issue there? That doesn't even include the time we spend on music education (which I don't teach), physical therapy, vision therapy, and homemaking skills, etc.

How would a sane person think all of the above was possible, with two students, a one-year-old, a house to run, and a husband who works 2 jobs? I mean, why would I think I should have enough time in the day for all that?

Now remember...all those links I posted yesterday were still buzzing through my head. Especially the theme of children loving to learn and being able to learn what they are interested in and how it really doesn't all have to be about college prep.

What to do?

All the things I have studied and learned about homeschooling high school tell you to tailor your child's education to their interests and talents. If your son is very interested in a certain career, lean heavy on the math and science or whatever will be required of him for that job/degree. If your daughter wants to work with animals, get her into a program at the zoo or local vet.

The problem was, up until a few months ago, Sweetheart showed no special interest in anything. The question of what she wanted to be when she grew up was a big ol' question mark. But recently she has been writing a book. She talks about it all the time. She works on it any spare moment she has. She has her friends involved in it. And the thing is, she's still working on it! For months this has been going on.

Sweetheart, historically, has changed her mind as the wind blows. When she was 10 she begged me to decorate her room in pirates. She read about pirates, she played pirates, she drew pirates.

For 2 weeks.

I knew her well by that time. Well enough to know we would not be decorating her room in pirates. So this writing thing has pleasantly surprised me. She loves writing. She loves reading too. She's even told me she needs to learn to spell better so her writing will be easier. Wow.

So S and I talked about what a waste of time it was to spend time every single school day on science for her. She loves doing experiments. She hates slogging through the book and writing out answers on all the little flappy things I print out (a notebooking companion I bought). Come to think of it, Little Bit hates writing on those flappy things too. But she LOVES going outside to look at the stars. (She's studying astronomy this year.)

Am I killing my children's interest in science by the way I'm teaching it?

Why yes. Yes I am.

If I'm really serious about having my children love learning, I need to change up the way I am doing a few things. 

It took me nearly a week to be able to say that. That notebooking companion I bought is GOOD. And it helps them retain! And I was so proud we're making it through that astronomy book on schedule. Look how much we've done! Look how much I've been able to check off! I think we're actually going to finish the book this year! They just need to stop their complaining. I know what's best for them. Sweetheart NEEDS to do this book because it's getting her ready for high school. It's only going to get harder/worse from here so she better get used to it. It's just what you have to do!!!

Says who?

That little voice has been getting louder. Who says we HAVE to do it this way? Every homeschooler I know uses this science curriculum in 7th or 8th grade. It's what you do. Really, Sweetheart should have done this book last year. Really, we're behind!

So this week we just left science off completely. Mama hasn't had enough time to process it all into a plan of action just yet. The wheels are still turning.

My next step was to find out what Sweetheart was interested in learning (besides writing). I'll share our conversation with you next time.

Fun Fridays

It just sort of worked out this way. Every other Friday, we will be meeting with friends to do 2 fun things.

One thing is our Keepers of the Faith club. Last year, my girls and the girls from our friends the Holiday family formed a Keepers at Home club. It was awesome!

Our girls and the Holiday girls showing off their club work for Pawpaw Holiday last year. 

But the Holidays moved a little over a week ago. What would we do about our club now???

Well, before we knew they were going to move, Carrie had already asked about maybe joining our club. So...now it's Carrie's family and us. Which, even though we miss our friends, is really nice. I am very glad we didn't have to stop the club because we all really liked it. (And the Holiday family found some clubs in their new hometown they can look into.)

(We still really miss them though.)

So last Friday we had our first meeting of our "new" club. We just sort of explained what the club was about to the girls, talked about some of the badges they will be earning this year, and did a craft. Oh, and I served awesome brownies that looked like meatloaf. Yum!

 Somehow I missed getting a picture of Emily. We had the girls make the first page in a scrapbook for their Keepers activities. Now we just have to be really good about taking pictures at our meetings so they will have stuff to scrapbook about!

 Matt kept Bee busy by reading her a Lego catalog or something. All I know is I overheard, "See? That's the BAD guy. We don't like him!" So, she was really getting an education during the meeting! :)

And when she got tired of Legos, we found a way to contain her.

The other fun thing we will be doing every other Friday is science. A friend from our old church is homeschooling her daughter and niece. This is their first year homeschooling and the girls are really de-toxing from public school. Working together is seen as cheating. She asked them to write 5 sentences in their journal about their favorite color. She told them, "write what you think. you cannot do this wrong" and they were just paralyzed.

Well, we are both using Apologia's Elementary Anatomy and Physiology this year. I really wanted to make sure the first meeting was fun. They need to know school can be fun! (And you can still learn!)

We did the first experiment together, which is to make an edible cell.

Anything involving jello and candy sounds like fun, right?

And then, just to kick things off--we traced their bodies and had them glue cut outs of their organs in them.

So, we will get together twice a month to do the experiments and other fun stuff with them. Oh, and go on some field trips too.

Looking forward to these two fun things this school year!

Oh! And H-Mama, I have a fun field trip planned for us too when we get to Japan, OK?