And Our Curriculum This Year…

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…hasn’t changed much from last year.  So we have a head start on our post this year – last year we waited until October 30th.

It does include a bit more homework.  With Miss Esmé doing bits of 2nd and 3rd grade in school, she has some unique challenges, like taking two spelling tests each Wednesday for a total of 40 words, and having two “review-ish” math assignments each weekend.  She has also been “struggling” to keep up with the written work in class, and what doesn’t get done during class (and recess) comes home as well.  So that is about an hour of kick-butt homework a day, or 4 hours of Esmé-dilly-dallying homework a day.

And there are days I am ready to demand we quit the madness at any cost, when I’ve been practically pulling teeth to get her to finish 27 problems of adding three or four numbers, each of two to four digits a piece, to prove what?  Or when she has to draw her problems (which thankfully are usually single-digit problems) as dwarfs or tropical fish with minute detail, once again, to prove what?  Or when her Math-a-Minute practices get slower and slower the more she practices, because she is adding to 12 or 9 or 13 instead of to 10, or halving even numbers and adding half and then half again or some other such game instead of simply memorizing her facts.

But we do have a routine of sorts now.  Sort of.  They involve my FlyLady 15-minute timer – though sometimes Esmé turns it off and hides it from me.  And so far her “I hate school because I have to do homework” rants are outweighed by the “I would hate to homeschool because I would never see my friends” comments, so I feel a little more at peace with our limbo state of existence.

So, what DO we do for fun when the homework is done?

Actually, the first is something we do before getting to homework, but “fun” rhymes with “done,” so deal with it.

The News.  Yep, I go straight to www.cnn.com/studentnews as soon as we get home from school and bring up the liberal slant of the day.  It’s a great way to develop critical thinking skills and learn that fiction can be presented as fact.  Seriously, in spite of their atrocious take on the debt ceiling, it’s an easy 10-minute way to introduce Miss Esmé to current events and help her see the world beyond her four walls, plus she learns awful puns to practice on her dad later.

Math.  Because she doesn’t get enough of it at school?  No, because she comes home telling me how she hates math, so I need to re-convince her that math is awesome.

• Life of Fred.  Cuddle-reading time always works for us, and Miss tolerates Fred’s quirkiness reasonably well.  Still meandering through the elementary series, we should be wrapping up and getting through the intermediate series this year.
• Beast Academy.  New to us this year, it is a good complement to the 3rd grade math Esmé does in school.  It gives the “depth” stuff to the subject matter being covered in a cool way; Esmé is still fascinated by the cartoon characters giving the lessons, and there are puzzles and games to reinforce the lessons.
• TimezAttack.  Though I sometimes wonder at the psychology of an ogre-giant-monster guy swinging a club at a girl every time she takes too long answering a problem, I try not to question computer games that make learning facts fun.  Because a paper and a timer, day after day, just isn’t fun.

Science.  Because she is fascinated by it.  Especially animals.  And hands-on stuff.  If I could afford science experiment kits for every day of the year, she’d be in science heaven.

• Noeo Science.  We are still working through Biology I.  (And I’m okay with that.  Though we’ve now passed the one-year mark.  Truly.)  As soon as it is done, it’ll be Chemistry I. And Physics I.  Because we love it and it comes with everything already included and we can just keep working on it as long as the world turns.
• Magic School Bus.  I succumbed and bought the whole DVD series on a super sale, so we have a handy DVD resource for just about any science topic.  And there are so many cool unit studies and freebies available online.  Like these free science plans from The Homeschool Belle.
• Jonathan Park.  We keep adding to our collection of this creation-based science audio series as we have funds.  And we’ve scored a couple of corresponding study guides in thrift stores.
• And we’ve just got scads of science early readers, science project books, DVDs, not to mention internet and library resources. 

Bible.  Okay, I’m just copying this from last year’s post.  Because really, nothing’s changed.  Though we do add devotionals and magazines and books all over the place.

• Your Story Hour.  We’ve had a set of Bible stories through the life of Christ, and it is amazing how much Esmé has picked up on biblical knowledge from listening to these at bedtime for several years.  We keep adding to our collection as finances allow.  Best prices I’ve seen are at www.libraryanded.com.  And if you want a free weekly sampling, you can listen in at www.oneplace.com – we regularly check there for the stories we don’t already have.  Great for all elementary ages.
• The Bible Story Set.  We invested in these a couple of years ago, and we still love the illustrations and the inclusion of so many Bible stories in this series.  I try to read one chapter a night.  Great for all elementary ages.
• Superbook.  I grew up on this series – which is cool since we didn’t have a television or VCR; I watched it at the bookstore my father managed…  Anyway, I hooked Esmé on one of the new revamped DVDs and am trying to figure out an economical way to get the rest.  Anyone have ideas?

History. Once again, lots of repeats from last year’s post. Why change something that’s awesome?

• Drive Thru History.  Our newest addition is part of this video series with a Christian perspective -  we’ve been catching up on Roman history, and it’s neat to visually correlate it to what we’ve heard in biblical and other history sources.  Now to keep adding to our collection as finances allow…
• Mystery of History.  We have Volumes I & II on CD and have listened 3 times through; I keep checking every SINGLE week on whether Volume III is out on CD yet, since it’s supposed to come out this fall.  I love the chronological, world-wide approach to history from a Christian perspective; Esmé enjoys the stories.  For now, this age, we are just listening, not expanding or doing supplemental material.  Great for long commutes and road trips.
• TruthQuest History (American History for Young Students III) – an introduction to a topic with an awesome booklist to choose from.  (STILL working on the same “year” after several years.  And I’m okay with that. Truly.) Even with our small secular library, there are stacks of good material on a bulk of the topics.
• Liberty’s Kids.  Which Amazon keeps selling at ridiculously low prices.  Esmé had already watched the whole series via the library, but since she enjoyed it and it seems all kinds of free unit study resources are coming out for it, it was definitely worth adding to our history line-up.

While it feels like we are on hiatus from most other “formal” subjects (including music and dance), life is full of learning ALL THE TIME.  We have a piano and an expanding instrument selection that get occasional use.  Unit studies and lapbooks provide inspiration on random subjects all over the place.  And Little Miss has an obsession with board games and Barbies lately.  Now that Esmé is reading with relative ease, the opportunities keep expanding.  I love this age.  Does the learning just keep getting better and better?

I still want to spend more time site-seeing our local area each week. 

And Esmé’s requested subject for the year is Spanish.  Help!  I am horrid at languages!  She specifically asked for Speekee again – and it looks like you can now get a basic account free, so I need to figure that out.  I’ll also dust off REAL Homeschool Spanish as soon as I get a moment to breath.

I am feeling overwhelmed writing this.  I think we will just do unschooling.  Except I’ll require Esmé to brush her teeth.

Ever Onward

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Five years ago, Mozi Esmé’s first post was published.  It has morphed over time, starting with happy baby updates for family, incorporating more mission-focused posts during our time in Mozambique, running wildly astray into book reviews for a period, settling into a preschooler routine, tackling homeschool product reviews, and lately trickling into… life just taking over.

One constant has been the homeschooling of Miss Esmé.  I tell people we started homeschooling at birth.  And I don’t mean reciting times tables and books of the Bible as I paced the floor with the ever-unsleeping baby – though I did do that as a sleep-deprived-sanity-tactic.  I’m talking about always researching the next developmental step and providing Esmé with appropriate tools to get there.  During infancy, we played classical music and flipped through black-and-white shape flashcards, progressing to bright colored ones.  At four months, I placed a marker in her hand and before she was a year, she was intentionally marking stuff up, much to my chagrin.  As she started to crawl, I was researching how to set up Montessori-style stations.

And so it’s gone.  I’ve relished the time, the magic moments, the amazingly deep spiritual conversations with my amazing big girl.

I’m a believer in the benefits of homeschooling.

And we’ll probably enroll Esmé in public school this month.

About-face?  I’ve struggled with writing this post.  Do I slink off into the night?  Try to justify it?  Get all cheerleader-y about this “new” direction?

I can give you a whole lot more reasons to homeschool than to public school.  I’m not here to convince anyone otherwise.  I’m not listing the reasons, the steps that brought us here.  Maybe next year, next week, things will be different. 

But I AM wondering this.  Are public school and homeschool mutually exclusive?

I see a resounding “yes” coming from the ranks of die-hard fight-for-homeschooling-rights homeschoolers, from those who choose to homeschool on moral grounds.  I cringe a little and duck.  We can get into all kinds of definition arguments, and I’m not feeling strong enough to weather the storm right now, especially when I can make your arguments as well as you can.

But we’ll progress, ever onward. God doesn’t always lead in the direction we’d think, amazingly enough.  This isn’t a cheerleader-y post, but rather one of submission.  That’s all.

Here’s the deal:  30 hours of her 168-hour week, my daughter will be in someone else’s care, with some input from her parents.  We keep tabs on what is going on; what we don’t like, we address.  The rest of the time (82 hours/week if you deduct my sleep-resistant daughter’s sleeptime), we are absolutely homeschooling.

So yes, you’ll still see homeschool-type posts.  I’ve got a curriculum lineup coming shortly.  You’ll see some homeschool product reviews.  You’ll also probably see public school activity posts.  It’s not some split-personality disorder.  It’s our life.

There.  Got that off my chest.  Now we can get on with all the photo posts of awesome summer activities.  Life has been full!

The Homeschool Misfit Awards

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It’s time for the Homeschool Misfit Awards!  I figure I should be up for a handful of them.  Like…

The Harried Homeschooler Award- "Good thing I don't neglect my kids like I do my blog."  or "Who are all these kids and why are they wanting my attention when I'm trying to blog?".  This is the blogger who has every intention of blogging regularly, but life just gets in the way sometime.  Her family expects regular meals.  What's up with that?

I’ve definitely got good intentions!  Skip the meals already, I say.  Or…

The Meme Forgotten Award - For those who begin a meme, mentally commit to following through weekly, and then promptly forget or manage it sporadically at best. 

Do I have to count how many memes I’m not keeping up with?

Thanks to NotSoSuperwoman for hosting these awards of awesomeness.  There are some very cool prizes, so if you are a homeschooler, be sure to take a look, nominate yourself, or nominate ME as we celebrate our misfitness!  Nominations are open until October 19, 2011.

Breathe. Just Breathe.

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My mind is swirling with unfinished work issues as I switch gears from working mom to homeschooling mamma.

I think I can put off the bank deposit and the grocery store trip until another day?

Maybe I should pick up fast food or pop a frozen pizza in the oven so we can squeeze in a cool science experiment I’ve been thinking about?

Or we should make it a home economics night and cook up that nice healthy dinner on our menu plan, hoping we can have it ready and eaten before bath and bedtime?

Perhaps I should sit Esmé in front of a vaguely educational DVD and tackle the stack of dirty dishes overtaking the kitchen first?

Homeschooling goals?  It’s all about survival…

Working full-time has definitely changed my approach to homeschooling:

1.  It is unplanned and sporadic.  I’m happy to cover anything at all.  I don’t need a schedule or plan to make me feel guilty about all we’re not getting to.

2.  It surrounds us. I stock up on educational materials when I find them on sale.  There is always something to grab and use when we have a free educational moment, like while Esmé is sucking her gummy vitamins to put off bedtime instead of chewing them, thereby remaining quiet and attentive for a significant length of time.

3.  It is child-influenced.  There’s so little time that I don’t want to spend it in a battle of wills.  I’d rather spend a half-hour doing something Esmé is enthralled with than 2 hours figuring out how to manipulate her into completing her assigned math workbook pages.

So, let’s talk homeschool-related goals.

Organization.  There’s gotta be a limit to how unplanned and sporadic we are, hey?  I want Esmé to get her closet color coordinated figure out how to put her laundry away – and we’ve been working on decluttering together as well.  For me:  Declutter the unused educational materials?  Develop a menu plan of healthy 10-minute meals Esmé will actually eat?  Figure out how to clean the house in an hour a week?  Find an hour in the week to devote to cleaning house?

Homemaking.  I figure this is Esmé’s year to earn her keep with housekeeping.  At least start making her bed.

Math.  In trying to get past Esmé’s math-worksheet-delay-tactics, I discovered the Life of Fred Elementary Series.  At the rate the Miss is going, she’ll be a step ahead of the publisher by school year’s end.  Ready for calculus next year, perchance?

Reading.  Esmé’s got 1st-grade skills here, but she’s not interested.  At the rate she’s going, I’ll have read aloud through the Junie B. Jones series by Christmas, and she’ll have memorized all the snake and frog picture books (sans words) in the library.  Big goal – convince her that “ballet” is spelled b-a-l-l-e-t.  She thinks I am making this up.

Bible.  Esmé will be able to plot every Your Story Hour Bible story on her maps – she’s already got the stories memorized.  At least the ones she likes.  Like Samson.  And Nicodemus.  And I will happily answer her many questions that come at the most inconvenient moments.  Like “How do you become born again?” while I am trying to find ginger in the grocery store.

Character Building.  We’ll have this obedience thing worked out.  Or I will have answered every single “WHY?” Esmé can think of by year end, thanks to Google.

Physical Activity.   I am going to run a marathon!  As soon as I wash the dishes.  And Esmé will stop being scared of her Heelys.  And will hold her breath underwater.

All the Other Subjects.  I will provide fair blog reviews of a diverse range of educational products, on schedule.  In the process, Esmé will be exposed to all kinds of topics she might not otherwise come across.  Like classical music.

And whenever she decides to adopt a garter snake or build an Eiffel Tower from Legos, I will provide bunches of books on the topics so she can peruse them ad infinitum.

Maybe I should just let Esmé set her own goals.  This morning I walked into this assortment of books neatly laid out on her bed.  I think she did a better job planning today’s curriculum than I would’ve done…


Check out the TOS Crew Blog Cruise for more on homeschool-related goals…

March 12 Homeschool Wrap-Up

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Theme for our studies this week…. St Patrick’s Day.  We wrapped up our ladybug study (more on that later) and started in on the green stuff.


A great book we read…. Small Green Snake by Libba Moore Gray.  Cute baby snakes, lovely sound effects, a pleasure to read aloud and a book that is requested multiple times.

 

One lesson or interesting fact we learned…. St. Patrick was a slave for six years.  After I explained the concept of a slave to Esmé, she started telling me all the things she would have her slave do for her if she could have one.  Gulp – I’m not letting her put one on her birthday wish list… :)

We had a lightbulb moment this week…. Esmé is starting to read words on signs and in stores – sounding them out and/or asking me for help.  I love it!  “Mom” is one of my favorites.

As Mom/teacher, I found this week to be…. Busy busy busy.  It’s hard to get beyond busy…

A favorite hands-on project…. Building with blocks – Esmé figured out the patterning thing to make a tall tall tower.  Then she played “frog pond” with her tower.



Favorite extracurricular activity (if any this week)…. Wildlife Safari trip – where Mom got to play tug-o-war with a lioness.  Esmé opted out.  It was pouring rain, but neither of us minded.



We laughed when…. she decided to be a Ying or some other such Dr. Seuss creature, using a feather duster.


Craft idea for this week….  The cut-and-paste St. Patrick’s Day activities at First-School, particularly the St. Patrick’s Day Candle Craft and the Irish Teddy Bear Craft



I am praying for my child to….  understand that beauty is more than skin deep. 


I am learning to…. use MySQL – and figure out all the reasons it’s better or worse than MS SQL Server. 

My favorite new resource is…. Pencil Fun Books.  I was in the local Christian bookstore when I noticed a few of these – vintage edition copyright 1971 – on the shelf.  My dad was a Christian bookstore manager when I was a kid, so I must have gone through all the books.

I grabbed one for Esmé and enjoyed it at least as much as she did.  I was excited to see that David C. Cook has a new version of the books – just do a search for “Pencil Fun Books.”



Pic of the week….  Take 2:  Puddles are to splash in.


Join in the Wrap-Ups with MamaBuzz:

Our Curriculum

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Checking in a little late, I thought I'd join in on Heart of the Matter's Not Back-to-School Blog Hop.  The first week was Curriculum Week.

Boy, has this been a topic of immense research and turmoil for me.  First comes the choice of what method of homeschool we're interested in:  unschooling, structured, eclectic, classical, CM, online, etc., etc...  Then what Esmé's learning style is, what topics we want to cover, what books to use, what we can afford, what and all that.

And I've gone through a few phases in choosing the route to go.

• I thought of going unstructured, just checking through some book lists and surrounding ourselves with books, games, etc.  Except I personally need more structure in order to stay motivated and involved in Esmé's learning experience!
• Or digging wholeheartedly into a full curriculum (Sonlight, My Father's World, and Timberdoodle were at the top of the list) - but nothing seemed like a perfect match.
• I was convinced that we'd do a personalized geography-based curriculum as a foundation for a timeline approach in the future, with Math-U-See Primer and Explode the Code 1 rounding things out.
• In the end, as I started going through our bookshelves, I realized we have TONS of resources already.  (THIRTY-plus workbooks in preschool-grade 1 level!  Not to mention all the printables available online.)  So we've decided to make a plan with what we already have - acquired via thrift stores, hand-me-downs, etc.  And that totally fits an eclectic mom with a 3yo whose interests change from week to week.

A few things I'm keeping in mind:

• Esmé is three, with 3yo interests and attention spans.  Yet she's easily working at a K level; most K curriculums I checked would probably be good review/reinforcement, without a whole lot of new concepts for her.  So I'm mixing up the preschool-grade 1 stuff for her as we go along.
• I work three days a week, which means Esmé is in a daycare/preschool environment three days.  She gets plenty of the typical preschool subject matter covered there.  (Also cool - she gets to check out lots of creepy crawlies and other fun science stuff.)
• She loves school-time with Mom, and I want to keep it that way.  So while school WILL be parent-led, it will very much be child-influenced.  Which means my plans are simply guidelines, not rules, and will be adjusted as necessary.

I have a 27-week plan (three weeks per month for nine months).  And here's what we've got:

Ballet classes.  Worth mention because this is by far the priciest part of the year.  I was convinced after spring's tumbling class flop (total nonparticipation and a bunch of not-so-friendly kids) that we'd avoid similar classes for a while, but Esmé has been adamant that she will do what the teacher tells her, and she is a natural at the dancing thing.  She's even willing to let me put her hair in a ballet bun (if I can figure it out).  So I'm praying that she'll connect with the teacher and the other kids in the class, and that she'll continue to love dance.  We start August 30th.

Bible.  The other area I splurged.  We bought The Bible Story Ten Volume Set by Arthur Maxwell, which I love because it covers all those little-known stories most children's Bible books don't ever get to.  We'll read a chapter a day.

I also want to focus on memorizing verses.  We'll use Songs for Saplings as a core, with free printables from Totally Tots.  These will tie in with our letter of the week.

And we'll read through The Ladder of Life series (about Christian virtues).  My sister gifted us with this - it is the series I learned to read with back when I was a kid!

We'll get back on track with a Kindness Mission each week.  Also tying in with our letter of the week.

We're continuing on our devotional book:  The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers 2.

Book Themes.  We started on Bo's Year 2 curriculum at The Itty-Bitty Bookworm in January, and we've dilly-dallied enough that we easily have enough book themes left to cover this next year.  While we will be abandoning the letter/color/shape activities, there are so many great book-themed activities and crafts included that we'll keep going with it, though I may mix the weeks around.

Art subject matter will probably stem from here, as well as one cooking project a week, a science project, etc.

Geography.  I've decided not to buy anything major in this area and to keep it simple.  I've assigned a continent to each month, with Month 1 being basic geography concepts and Month 9 being the United States.  We've got a globe so we can keep things in perspective, and I'm working on a picture book list for various countries.  Other activities we might throw in:  ethnic cooking, ethnic paper dolls, ethnic music, national holidays, etc.

I love the photos and quotes in Precious in His Sight by David Dobson, so we will definitely be incorporating that.

Math.  As a core, I'm going with a Grade 1 Number Corner program from Bridges in Mathematics that I picked up at a 2nd-hand store.  Very hands-on and visual.  We've got lots of supplemental games and workbooks, as well.


Science. I've got SO MANY science books that I can't pick one core - we'll keep going with our personalized Motion, Matter, Mitosis, and Me program - with 4 random topics/week in those categories. :)


Phonics/Reading.  I'm going to put the Hooked on Phonics program on our schedule more consistently.  It's an older version with cassette tapes that I can't find online now...

We also acquired an A Beka Book complete kindergarten reading program 2nd hand that we'll use.  As well as the Bob Bookswe have, and the many printable beginning reader books and phonics printables you can find online.  I'll share more as we use them...

Literature.  I have a serious book addiction that I am passing on to my daughter.  We are surrounded by books of our own, and I frequent 2nd-hand book sales.  We also have two library cards with 50-book maximums that I have been known to reach on multiple occasions.

My goal this year is to track the books we read and do more discussion of them.  The plan is 25 per week - 5 related to the book theme, 5 related to the geography theme, 5 related to our science program, 5 off of whatever book list I'm on at the moment, and 5 randomly chosen by Esmé.  We'll probably overachieve here, as we have a 5-book session each night before bed.

We already do poetry reading most days.  Right now we're working through A Child's Garden Of Verses: A Collection Of Scriptures, Prayers & Poems featuring Robert Louis Stevenson.

Music.  We are going to schedule a piano/keyboard lesson each week.  I've got three books I'll be working from, but initially I just want to have fun with rhythms, chords, etc.  The books:

• Alfred's Basic Piano Library: Lesson Book Level 1A
• John W. Schaum Piano Course: Pre-A : The Green Book
• John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course Part 1

I also want to focus on classical music one day/week, using grooveshark.com and other online sources.  And one day/week on hymns, using my church's hymnal and my rudimentary keyboard skills... :)

Workbooks.  Did I mention I have 30+ workbooks to pick from?!  We'll be using these to supplement phonics, math, and writing.  I've discovered it's pretty easy to get Esmé to complete 2 pages a day if I sit with her and provide feedback throughout.

I DID buy the Snip It! and Shape Builders books from this Mead Early Learning Set of Three Stage 1 Workbooks because they looked like a refreshing variation from the other workbooks I have.

Journaling.  Speaking of writing, I almost forgot.  Journaling is an important part of our curriculum.  Often I'll write Esmé's observations on life, or give her prompts to initiate discussion.  We do "thankful" lists.  And sometimes she does her own pages, with stickers, drawings, etc.  I'm hoping to transfer the journaling to an online blog this school year, and include her photos, as well!

Computer Time. I absolutely intend to use technology in education, and Esmé has her own laptop.  We'll be doing lots of JumpStart, Starfall, and plenty more, as well as the games on my iPod Touch.  In addition to the freeware stuff, two iPhone apps I've found very worth the upgrade are iWriteWords and FirstWords.

Goodness, what did I forget?  I was planning to keep this short!  We haven't gotten to homemaking skills, calendar/weather, PE/outside play, game time, languages (sign language & Afrikaans)!

I feel a little overwhelmed writing this, but it's really pretty quick once we get going, and we'll have lots of free-play time included. Flexibility is something I'm well practiced in!

Back to Homeschooling

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This week The HomeSchool Village has been discussing what they will do on the first day "Back to Homeschool."

Huh?!  I just figured the first day "back to homeschool" would be the first day we follow my super-duper elaborately-detailed amazingly-thorough school schedule!  Isn't that enough?

Yet after reading through some of the traditions other families have started, I figure this will be a good year to start our own.  We'll see what sticks, and we'll see what naturally develops over the years, but here's what I've come up with for this year...

• A poster with a favorite or theme verse.  Since Esmé is just three this year, I'll print a verse out for her:  "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Cor 2:9)  Then I'll rip out a bunch of magazine pictures ahead of time and have her pick out some of her favorite things to cut and glue onto butcher paper, along with the verse.
• Baking cookies.  I'll try to come up with a reasonably healthy recipe that she can help prepare.
• Picnic lunch.  And she'll get to help pack our picnic lunch.  That will be our chance to get outside and enjoy the summer weather while it still lasts.
• Discussion of the schedule.  I won't pull out every single thing I have planned for our schedules - we'll take it easy that first day.  (Hey, she's three!  We take it easy every day!)  But I DO want to go over a picture schedule with her and discuss what we'll be accomplishing over the year.
• A new outfit.  This may or may not coincide with the first day of school.  This year, Esmé is starting ballet lessons, so it'll be a ballet outfit.  And her ballet classes start on a workday for me.  So the timing isn't perfect, but I know it's something she'll love.

Here's to a great year!

Homeschool Thoughts

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Esmé's Mom here...

Yesterday was my first day "back home" in three weeks - I've either been working or traveling or visiting relatives the entire time.

And it felt less like a "return to normal" than a quick gasp for breath before diving under again today.  My inbox is as big as it's ever been, and I'm scared to open Google Reader.

But I wanted to say hi and mention a couple of things on the homeschool topic...

First - I'm now a complete convert for summer breaks!  I've been all for year-round homeschool, but there is just so much going on during these long daylight hours that trying to keep to a school schedule is a bit ridiculous.

So...  I've got lots of stuff lined up to do with Esmé as time allows, but I'm not going to stress over not getting it done or try to keep to any schedule for now.  It's all about enjoying the moments and going with the flow.  With some planned cloudwatching and picnics thrown in.

And...  I'm kinda looking forward to fall, when we can settle back down and start working towards some specific goals.  I'm a checklist gal, after all!  (My joy comes from the planning, it seems.)

Actually - I do have a few goals for the summer:  working on pencil-holds, and developing the discipline to finish an assignment.

I've been lax in the pencil-hold department - since I'm not sure exactly when the physical coordination allows for proper tripod pencil-hold.  But since Esmé IS writing, we're going to give Rocks in My Dryer's method a shot.

And as far as assignments go - we've resorted to extortion and bribery, but we ARE getting simple worksheets and tasks completed!  Esmé's MO is to demonstrate that she CAN do the work, and then quit or do it wrong because she's "tired" or "it's too hard."

(If you have a concern about expecting 3yos to complete worksheets, stay tuned.  I've got the same concern that I am working through - and have a post in mind called "The Discipline of Learning... or the Learning of Discipline."  Yep, we got all the answers here - not!)

The second thing (yeah, that was just one thing so far...):

I've been thoroughly inspired by the Christian homeschool conference we went to this weekend - a first for me.  I've learned a lot, and hopefully will share more as we go along, but here is one of the most practical pieces of advice I got.  It was from a session about choosing curriculum - and if you haven't already guessed, curriculum choices energize and exhaust me concurrently.

It was simple:  make your curriculum choice based on the outcome you desire.  The first step is to decide what you want your child to become.

(I want my child to grow in an attitude of service to Christ and others, and to be equipped with the tools to serve.)

Why wasn't that advice obvious to me already?

Because that attitude thing isn't my main purpose for homeschooling.

I believe Christian values and attitudes are effectively taught in the home, regardless of whether a child attends school or homeschools, and traditional schools can actually be a great place to practice the Christian values and attitudes learned at home.

So my homeschooling choice is primarily for academic purposes.  Personally, I think traditional school held me back academically, so I want a program that will challenge Esmé, interest her, and allow her to move as quickly as she desires.

And that's what I've been looking for in a curriculum.

The chance to spend more time on Christian values and attitudes?  That's a side benefit.  Not something I expect a canned curriculum to provide, but something I need to personally spend lots of energy and focus on myself.

I've been fascinated to hear why others are choosing a homeschool route, and I appreciated this prompt to think through exactly why we're homeschooling when looking at all the possible types of homeschooling (er... home education?) and specific curriculums.

Having defined it, I not only am narrowing down my own choices, I also feel a little more confident in discussing my choices with others who are evangelizing their own choices.  It's easier for me to acknowledge that what's right for someone else might not be right for me, and vice versa.

Here's to making the best choice possible for each of our kids, and the flexibility to change as circumstances change!