(Home)School's Out For Summer!

Ain't no doubt about it, teachers are EVERY bit as relieved as the students when that last day of school finally rolls around. Pretty sure I've been counting down the weeks since February!

"How do you like homeschooling?"
Uhhh... I feel like I'm supposed to love it...Like getting to spend this much time with my children is glorious and watching the "lights come on" for them is the most fulfilling thing in my life. Some days really were great, with neurons connecting and visible brainwaves floating across the room. Some days I felt like I was investing deeply in their core values and shaping their world view around things that are important to our family. Those were good days.

Other days were less than great, with stomping feet, thrown pencils, and scribbled papers. There were moments of defiant refusal to do anything I asked of my "students". My patience was stretched to the very limit as I continually prodded along the distractible, half-hearted efforts of my boys. My husband has received more than one phone call or text with my 2 weeks notice.

"Are you homeschooling again next year?"
I seriously re-evaluated whether or not to homeschool again next year. Some people have really strong opinions for or against homeschool. I'm not one of them. We homeschooled the past 2 years because we felt like that's what was best for our kids right now. I'm not committed to doing it indefinitely and I certainly am not trying to make a statement that I think everyone should homeschool their kids just because I do.

After weighing all the pros/cons of the different educational options, we decided to stick with homeschooling for at least another year. It's just what's best for our family right now.

School's Out!
There was a great sense of completion for me on the last day of school this year...probably because last year we fizzled out with no real "closing ceremonies" due to being super-duper sick with my first trimester of pregnancy. This year, however, the boys and I sat down together to remember some of the things we accomplished this year. I wanted to record it here for my own records so I can remember 1st grade and preschool in years to come. It was meaningful to me to see the cumulative effect, because there are many days as a teacher (or parent) that you don't feel like you're making any progress at all.

Academic Highlights:

• Caedmon memorized all the books of the Bible in order.
• Sammy learned all his letters and sounds.
• Caedmon's reading and fluency has improved so much. He went from sounding out every single word at the beginning of the year to reading level 2 & 3 readers from the library. 
• Sammy learned about 50 sight words and can read simple sight-word books.
• Caedmon completed 1st grade math and is 1/2 way through 2nd grade math- started the year memorizing addition facts and ended the year adding 4 different numbers with multiple digit addition
• Sammy could only count to 14 at the beginning of the year. Can now count to 100.

PE Activities:

• Both boys played baseball this Spring. Caedmon also played fall ball.
• Sammy played soccer in the fall.
• Both boys took swimming lessons throughout the school year.
• Both boys took ten horseback riding lessons and Sammy conquered some major fear of animals.
• We also rocked some circuit training in our living room on occasion.
• And of course, plenty of bike/scooter riding, climbing at the playground, & wrestling matches with Dad.

Field Trips:

• Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Tall Ships Tour- Redwood City
• Longs Marine Lab- Santa Cruz
• New Leaf Market Tour- Santa Cruz
• Happy Hollow- San Jose
• Ardenwood Farm Christmas field trip
• Deer Hollow Farm- Fleece and Milk
• Gizdich Ranch- apple orchard

Other Noteworthy Things:

• We are really bad about getting around to science & history. I need a more structured plan for these subjects next year.
• We have tried at least 4 different ways/curriculums to teach Spanish. I'm not doing back flips about any of them. Still on the prowl...
• We added a baby to our family this school year. All school was accomplished with a sleep deprived teacher in between breastfeeding and trying to get Karis to take a nap! :-)

Diplomas the last day of school.
This picture is Classic in every way.

Lake Tahoe

Today is the day. After a glorious week at Lake Tahoe, we will be heading home to San Jose. My amazing husband took the boys on an ultimate Boys' Club adventure this morning and left me at Starbucks to read, relax, and blog. Great way to end a great week!

This was a work trip for Andy, and we just got to tag along. Plus we got the added benefit of seeing Andy at lunch and in the evenings for family fun! The boys and I used our mornings for school. I use two different age-appropriate curriculums for the boys, but some fun activities they do together. Tracing letters on a paint bag was a big hit.

It has been all ABC practice for Sammy this week. Who knew there were SO many different games and ways to reinforce letter sounds and letter recognition?! Thank you www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com for all of the ideas!

 
The boys raced to find the letter I called out.

After we wrapped up our schoolwork, Andy took a lunch break with us each day. We picniced by the pool and swam for a bit. I love how Sammy wears these googles.

Check out how his ears are smashed forward. Funny kid.

 Caedmon's awesome version of a dive. Makes me laugh every time.

And his specialty, the backwards cannon ball.

On afternoons that it wasn't raining, we would head over to the playground. I think a summer uniform for boys should be swim trunks, flip flops/crocs, and optional t-shirts.

Caedmon has never met a stranger and jumped right in this family's baseball game!

I just can't get enough of these smiles...

All this activity required some refueling and nothing's better for that than a little ice cream...

...and a quick nap wherever you can catch one.

For a special treat our last night, we let the boys do this bungee jumping trampoline. They had been eyeing it all week so Andy & I shamelessly used it as bribery, I mean, an incentive for good behavior throughout the week!

His expression is bursting with excitement!

He figured out how to do a flip!

After we did homeschool all morning and activities all afternoon, we would meet up with Andy for dinner and some family fun. He even gave me some alone time to refuel on three different occasions this week. It has been lovely!

Andy had the idea to take the boys on a hike this morning before heading home. He's been sending me pictures all morning and my heart is just overflowing with gratitude. I feel so, so blessed that we've gotten to spend this week here, that our family is making such wonderful memories together, that my boys have a father who is fun & creative & invests so much in them. Those two little guys have NO IDEA how blessed they are to have a dad like Andy Wood, but I know full-well and I am so smitten with him. He is always surprising me with just how awesome he is.

I am headed home to San Jose with my heart refreshed and my mind filled with snapshots of great memories. 

Homeschooling: Round 2

We officially launched into our second year of homeschool yesterday and we just happen to be at Lake Tahoe for the week. Not a bad setting to kick off the first week of school! Our hotel room has a dining table that is perfect for school work in the morning, while the hiking trails, playgrounds, beaches, and pools provide lots of options for “PE” and afternoon fun! I know, I know, we’re ridiculously spoiled.

And, I’m a little tired.

The lazy, laid-back days of summer made me forget how mentally and emotionally engaged you have to be (all. day. long.) when homeschooling. I gotta build up my stamina again. Last night Andy mentioned something about wanting to read a book after the boys went to sleep. I just looked at him cross-eyed and opted for a mindless movie instead. 

I never did a year-end review of homeschool last year...partly because we fizzled out without much of a sense of completion. It was rather anti-climatic. Let’s just say, I’m glad that we had Kindergarten and Pre-K 3 as a “trial run” of sorts as I am quite certain I would not be in the runnings for any Teacher of the Year award. I could never shake the feeling that every day when we actually completed our school work (which was typically about 3 times a week) I deserved some sort of certificate of achievement. I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to lose that feeling once you’ve truly embraced your role as a homeschool mom.

In all honesty, last year was a bit of train-wreck for me personally. I came out of the gate really strong with all kinds of creativity and motivation. Then November rolled around. All of my energy from November through April was spent keeping afloat in a sea of grief. April and May gave way to morning sickness that left me on the couch asking my 6 year old if he could please make a PB&J for himself and his brother for lunch. Not the most awesome version of me. 

When another wave of guilt would hit me, I reminded myself, “It’s just kindergarten. He knows how to add and how to read on a first grade level. He’s gonna be okay.” 

And he is. We’re off and running with TWO whole days behind us! “Ain’t nothing gonna break my stride. Ain’t nothing gonna hold me down. Oh, no.” (Until we hit NOVEMBER...as a new family member will be joining us and I haven’t quite figured that one out yet.) But, hey, TWO whole days is worth celebrating! Ice cream, anyone? 

Homeschooling: October Review

We've been busy around the Wood Academy of Awesomeness. This month we focused on three main units: apples, turtles, and the five senses. Here are some snapshots of what we did.

APPLES: 

Starting at the top left and going clockwise:
1- I put a bunch of apples of 4 different varieties in a bag. Without looking, the kiddos took one out and had to determine which kind it was: red delicious, granny smith, gala, or golden delicious.
2- We made a graph to show the number of different kinds of apples we had.
3- We made/tasted different kinds of homemade apple juice. I love how engaged & excited Caedmon appears to be in this photo. Surprisingly enough, no one said, "Wow, Mom, what a cool experience! Thanks for going to all the work to let us make apple juice!" Oh well.
4- We made homemade applesauce. SO GOOD! At least Andy and I thought so.
5- We had an awesome time going apple picking as a family. More photos here.
6- Our "Words to Remember" for this unit were: "If I stay in Jesus, I will have much fruit." We made a Fruit of the Spirit apple tree and I tried to catch them displaying different qualities and make a big deal about it.

(not pictured)
- diagraming apples
- learning about Johnny Appleseed

TURTLES:

1- We made turtle sandwiches for lunch. Caedmon loved this and requested Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sandwiches the next day. I made them, but that was a one-time-only event because it took me FOREVER!
2 & 3- We painted paper plates and made turtles.
4- We went turtle hunting at a local park and actually found one!
5- We acted out being a turtle and going into our "shell" when predators would come.
6- Caedmon learned a turtle poem and was able to put each line in the right order in a pocket chart.

Our "Words to Remember" for the turtle unit were: "I don't give up. I persevere." We read/discussed  "The Tortoise and the Hare". And pictured above is Caedmon racing around our backyard without hinderance and then again with hinderances. It was pretty comical. We discussed the meaning of how the Bible teaches us in Hebrews that we should throw off anything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us so that we can run this race with perseverance.

FIVE SENSES:

1- Sense of touch: determine what's in the bag without looking.
2- Sense of smell: Sammy trying to identify soap by using only his sense of smell.
3- Sense of taste: Kids blindfolded and holding nose try to identify various foods (carrots, apples, cheese, bread, bananas)
4- Sense of taste: Dropped different liquids on tongue to determine if it was sweet (sugar water), salty (salt water), or sour (water with lemon)
5- Sense of smell: Caedmon trying to identify grass. I also gave them cinnamon, cologne, fresh basil, lemon, and onion.

(not pictured)
- sense of hearing: dropped various objects on floor while their eyes were closed. They had to guess what the noise was.
- sense of sight: tried to draw picture & write their names with eyes clothes.

Our "Words to Remember" for the 5 Senses unit were "God made us WONDERFUL!"

OTHER STUFF:

1- Finger painting to classical music. I love how this picture shows their personalities... 2 seconds in Caedmon was covered in paint while Sammy starts off slow and easy.

2- We talked about how God gives each person unique physical features. We used yellow, red, black, and white paint to try to make the exact color of our various skin tones. I was pretty impressed by their ability to mix paint.

3- Sammy forming the letter Pp with unifix cubes.

4- Caedmon working on math.

5- More finger painting...by the end Sammy got his hands dirty too. Just a little slow to warm. Notice that now the backs of Caedmon's hands are also covered in paint!

Reading: Caedmon has TWO more lessons to go in his "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" book. We will both be thrilled to have completed that!

Math: Caedmon is flying through the Math You See Primer book. It's honestly way too easy for him and I'm trying to speed through it to get to the next level book. AND, Sammy can count to 12. Huge progress, People!

Spanish: We watch "Language Tree" Spanish Level 1 DVD every day. So far we've been learning greetings, family members, colors, numbers, and a few other phrases and vocabulary words.

How much time do we devote to all this homeschool stuff? 4 days a week, 2-3 hours a day.

Beautiful Day

We're in the thick of a unit on turtles right now...

...so we went on a turtle hunt (and found one!). 

Nothing beats a picnic on a beautiful day! 

Free to roam, explore, and be boys. 

This made me a little nervous and I almost stopped him. But then I thought, 

"What's the worse thing that could happen?" He could have fallen into the 

muddy water 3 feet below and we'd have gone home soggy. Fortunately 

that didn't happen, but the fun and adventure far outweighed the risk!

Caedmon was all about climbing that day which inspired some funny 

comments like, "Mom, I may have the spiritual gift of balancing." And, 

"Mom, do you think I could be in the circus when I grow up?" 

My precious Sammy. 

Caedmon said, "Mom, I just thought of one more pose. Take another picture of me."

So here ya go, Folks. 

Beautiful day. Beautiful park. Beautiful children.

Blessed life. 

Homeschooling: September Review

Hello, October! It's good to see you. October means pumpkin patches, birthday celebrations (mine & Sammy's), a getaway with Andy, and fall decor. Why do I love fall decor so much? I just can't get enough of hay bales, scarecrows, and pumpkins. Growing up in South Carolina, October also meant the State Fair, leaves changing, and a fresh crispness in the air. Now that I live in California, there's a little but not too much leaf changing and it seems that one of our hottest months of the year tends to be October. Kinda different, but hey, California makes up for it with all of the rad pumpkin patches and apple farms!

Ok, so here's a little review of what's been going on in the Wood Academy of Awesomeness during the month of September...

We covered two major units discussing the Moon and Leaves.

One thing I love about the "My Father's World" curriculum that we are using is that it teaches foundational truths for life as a follower of Jesus in ways that kids can understand. Every unit has "Words to Remember."

For the Sun unit the phrase was, "Jesus is the light of the world." We talked about how Jesus gives light to all of mankind in a similar way to how the sun gives light to the earth.

For the Moon unit the phrase was, "I am the light of the world." We discussed how the moon doesn't have any light of its own, but rather reflects the sun's light. In the same way, we can be a reflection of the light of Jesus to those around us.

We learned the phases of the moon. 

We built a spaceship and took a trip to the moon. 

We even had a supply list of what we thought we'd need on that trip.

I read "Goodnight Moon" to the boys and gave Caedmon the assignment of writing a "going-to-bed" story. This is what he came up with. (My only involvement was transcribing his words.)

I thought is was a pretty cool story. 

For the leaf unit, the Words to Remember were "I will live and grow in Jesus." We talked about the importance of staying connected to Jesus in order to be able to grow into the people He wants us to be. We pulled some leaves off of a plant and watched them wither and die over the course of the unit since they were disconnected from the source.

We did all kinds of stuff with leaves: traced them, leaf rubbings, pressed leaves, etc... Below, Caedmon and Sammy are painting the outline of the leaves.

We read the story "Leaf Man" together and then collected leaves outside to create 

our own versions of Leaf Man.

I made one, too, and had to share it because I was so impressed by my creativity. 

It's amazing how smart you can feel when you compare your level of competency 

to that of a 6 year old all day! :-)

Caedmon is doing fantastic with reading. Today we are on lesson 90 of "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." (We started this last year.)

We are using the Math U See Primer book and it is probably too simple for Caedmon. We typically do 3 lessons a day just to get through the easy stuff. I think it will get more challenging pretty soon.

We also started learning Spanish using a Spanish DVD from Language Tree. This is brand new for the boys and pretty tough. But we're just getting our feet wet right now.

I gotta be honest, the "newness" of school kinda wore off by the end of September and I found myself with a rather uncooperative student on my hands occasionally. When that happens, it's pretty tough and discouraging. One day towards the end of our planned activities, Caedmon said "I'm not doing that," laid down on the ground and pretended to be asleep. It had been "one of those days" and I was so frustrated that I just left the boys in the playroom, went up to my room with my computer, and started Googling articles about homeschooling uncooperative kids. Thankfully, not every day is like that.

Also, occasionally I feel a bit envious of other moms whose kids are in school 6-8 hours a day. I think of the "freedom" I would have to run errands or get certain things accomplished if we had gone the public school route. But then I have to remember how much freedom homeschool actually provides. For instance, I fit our curriculum into about 2 hours a day 4 days a week. That allows us to go on awesome field trips and have family days every Friday. We've been to the Children's Discovery Museum, the playground, and this past week to an apple orchard. So cool.

Everything in life has it's perks and it's difficulties. I'm learning to fully embrace the perks without feeling guilty about it, and at the same time not to begrudge the commitment that homeschool requires.