The Homeschooling Honeymoon

Our first week of homeschooling….check!

I know many people have a lot of questions as to what our days and weeks look like and I feel much the same sense of 'it's impossible to describe' feeling I get when people ask what it's like to be a stay-at-home mom.  It's just too much to try and describe without spending five hours over coffee.  Thus, the  blog.  I hope to just give you guys a week by week description of what our days consist of and hopefully that will answer many of the questions at some point.

First things first, I am LOVING this whole classical education/Classical Conversations thing-a-ma-jig.  When I first read The Core, written by the founder of Classical Conversations, I liked a lot of what she said and agreed with most of it but I still found myself overwhelmed by how "different" it was from your typical modern education, and the education I had and was used to.  It really takes a whole mind shift to get this.  That's why when I tell people about the memory work, it can sound so boring and seem so mundane for little kids and it's anything but.  (Side note: This is not meant to be a whole explanation of the classical model.  If you are really interested in that, I would suggest reading Leigh Bortin's book (The Core) or Susan Wise Bauer's stuff like The Well-Trained Mind.  Fascinating, I tell you.)  Anyhow, I'm just giving you the lowdown on how we are doing our own version of a classical education.

For this current blog post I'll just tell you what class is like each week for Katherine.  So our week basically starts on Thursday, when Katherine has class.  Her entire campus consists of about thirty-five  4-12 (I think that's around the ages) year olds, divided into classes of not more than 8.  Now that's a class size I can get excited about ;).  There are other campuses in the greater New Orleans area, some smaller some bigger.  There is a trained "tutor" for each class that leads the parents and children in the classical method.  The parents sit at the back while the students sit at tables of two students per table.  Basically, the tutor runs the class and the parents help out when needed and get ideas of how to reinforce what is learned at home.

First, the tutor introduces the new memory work for the week.  This is what our Week 2, Cycle 3 memory work looks like:

The basic idea of the first three years of a classical education, called "the Grammar Stage", is to essentially take advantage of a child's natural strong memory at this point to fill their heads with the facts of our world.  The next stages, the Logic stage and then the Rhetoric stage, are meant to go deeper with these facts.  But most important at this young age is to give them "pegs" of a basic framework of knowledge from which they launch a more comprehensive education.  Again, I'm a newbie at this so if you are really interested, go to a more experienced source :)

Class for the Grammar Stage is from 9-12.  First, the students learn the new memory work for the week.  Katherine's favorite is the "Timeline" song.  By the end of the year, she will hopefully be able to sing 161 of the major points of world history- and her mother will, too, God willing. Lol.  Daddy loves this part as well.  When I first listened to the entire song (it's about 12 minutes long), my first thought was there was NO WAY she was going to be able to do this.  But now, even only two weeks in, I can see how it's possible.  Mostly because, get this, JAMES can sing it so far.  Haha!  We listen to the song maybe two or three times a day and it has hand motions with it (complete with accurate American Sign Language) to help cement it in their little brains.  All I have to do is complete the sign and James starts singing it!  Fascinating!  And there is nothing cuter than a three year old with speech issues saying "Indus River Valley Civilization".  I'll even hear him playing with his trucks and he'll say, "Mycenaeans!"  Omgosh, I could die.  And the kids think it's just a big game.  They like the song and Katherine already loves sign language so this is definitely scratching an itch.  She is so proud of herself.  James can also tell you the four types of tissue in the human body.  Lol.  That kid.  But it has shown me how incredible their memories are at this age.  

An important part, too, that needs to be understood is that it's not most important that they even understand the full context of what they're saying.  That comes later.  Right now, it's just get it into their brains where they can access it at any point in the future.  A very brief understanding of the material is given to the students, but there are no tests, no assessments.  It's just supposed to be fun.  So, for example, Katherine knows that one type of "epithelial tissue" is the skin.  But she doesn't know everything about epithelial tissue.  The first three years is a basic introduction.  

Another important note is that the memory work is broken up into 3 different cycles, with 24 weeks per cycle.  It looks like this:

Taken from the Classical Conversations website :)

We are currently on Cycle 3.  Next year, we'll be on Cycle 1, etc.  The ideal is to introduce the student as early as possible so that they get more rotations of the same material and are thus able to dive deeper and deeper with the material.  When they get older, it's more complicated and I'm totally not up to speed on that level.  Clueless.  I know they stress excellence in writing at the later grades and I think it's in 7th grade or so where they are challenged to draw the entire globe by freehand by the end of the year.  Awesomeness.  Again, I'm like 'How could someone do that?" but then in the curriculum guide they give you examples of students who have done it and the same old, 'Okay, I guess it's able to be done!' runs through my brain.

Okay, so back to class :)  After the memory work for that week is introduced, the kids do an art project.  Last week they studies the basic shapes and drawing.  This week they completed a "mirror images" project.  Such cool stuff.  Later, they'll study a famous artist each week and then replicate their art style. And then they'll have I think about 12 weeks where they learn the tin whistle.  

Next, comes the class presentations.  Every week each student is expected to give a brief (no more than five minutes) presentation on a topic.  The first week was introducing yourself, this week they were supposed to give a book summary of a book they liked.  Each week the tutor presents them with public speaking tips that hopefully will begin to sink in with more practice.  This weeks "tip" was to focus on volume, projecting one's voice so your entire audience can hear.

Then comes my favorite part! The science project! Each week a very simple science project is completed by the students.  This week's science project was studying the difference between convex and concave lenses in the form of water.  First the students, wrapped a piece of wire around a pencil to form a place where water could gather.  Then, they dipped their wire into a cup of water, getting a drop to stay in the middle.  Finally, they used the drop of water as a magnifying lens of sorts (convex lens) to read a card with tiny print that had a different inspirational quote on it.

Katherine wrapping the wire around a pencil.

 "It makes the letters bigger!"

 "My hypothesis was correct."

"Can I bring this home to show Daddy? He would love this."

After the science project, they have a review of the memory work. This week the tutor led them in a game of "Zap!" where she divided the class into two teams and then reviewed the memory work from the past two weeks.  Katherine loved it.  So fun.

After class, the whole school is invited to the playground where they eat lunch together and play until they're tired and want to go home.  Katherine has made such good little friends and I've met some amazing people who are so wonderfully normal and they just want the same thing I want- an education that is rigorous but not time consuming, an enforcing of Christian values, a lot of playtime for their kids, just an "adventure" in education.  It's going so well.  Obviously, though, we're only two weeks in.  Lol.  We'll see, but I'm just glad we're at least starting out on a positive note!  Next week, hopefully I'll have time to tell you what we do the rest of the week.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section below.  I feel like I jumped around a lot, but like I said, it's so much information.  Sorry!  Blessings upon your week.

School Daze and Other Radical Life Choices

      'Tis the days of school- freshly pressed uniforms, neatly bound notebooks, smudge-free book bags and the like.  According to her age and according to the system of education, Katherine should be knee-deep in all of the aforementioned.  And yet, here she is, still at home.  Why oh why have I not taken advantage of the fact that I could at least set one of my birds free to attend a local institution for close to 40 hours a week and have more time with the other fowl I find myself surrounded by one a daily basis?  The answer, my dear friends, is we have chosen to homeschool our oldest chick for this year.  Now, before you go all "that's crazy" on me, hear me out.  I'm no crazier than anybody else out there, I just choose my crazy differently.

 
     Actually, I have trouble remembering how all of this started.  I will admit I never quite had peace with starting Katherine in one of the local schools.  It isn't because they're bad (just stop it), or dangerous, or anything else of the sort.  I think I've gotten better at listening…..especially to other moms.  And I've been listening the past couple of years, to what life is like in elementary and beyond.  And to be quite honest, I just felt we weren't ready for that yet.  Wouldn't that be enough of a reason?  I find myself questioning this taken-for-granted mentality that every child is ready for formal schooling at age 3, 4, 5, or 6 or whatever.  Or that every family is ready for it.  The funny thing is, I'm typically quite traditional in my beliefs.  Most would probably consider me socially conservative, strongly Catholic and the like.  And yet, there is a very real part of my personality that is fiercely independent in thought. I usually have no trouble going against the flow if I'm convinced it's not the best for me or my family.  And so, this whole elementary school decision kept creeping closer and closer and I just never felt like it was the right move.  Enter the camper.

The "what", you say?  The camper.  You know, this baby:

Except it would be a little (ahem) shorter, without a tiny garage, and it would actually be small enough to be pulled by our minivan.  Haha.  Yes, perhaps I mean this:

    Can't you just see it?  The fam in the back, Cory pedaling us to freedom in the woods…..in Asia.  You guys, jump on the bandwagon of non-traditional living.  I swear, this is the golden ticket to modern bliss.  But, in all reality, it's kind of where we're headed.  I mentioned my misgivings about starting Katherine in kindergarten and how I just wasn't ready to be saddled with so much schooling for the next fifty years of our life.  Isn't there another option?  So Cory said, "why don't we homeschool her for a year and buy a camper and travel."  And I said, "I love you and you must be getting more sleep than me to come up with something so brilliant."  Because, you see, it's conversations such as this that led to Cory and I even starting a dating relationship.  We're both have an amazing ability to be slightly….off.  We dream about living in other countries; we dream about the unconventional; we dream about doing something different!  And it's where we click.  There is a part of both us that thrives on the "to hell with it! let's break the mold and try something new!" and apparently we're passing it on to our children because when we mentioned homeschooling and a camper to Katherine, she seemed to believe it was the most astounding idea ever.  Not that she has much of a clue about any of the options.

I'll also admit that the first couple of months of leaning towards that choice were fraught with doubt and questions of sanity.  Not only did we find out soon after that we were expecting another baby bird to be due right smack in the middle of the school year but I realized I have no earthly idea what homeschooling was all about.  So I messaged all of my homeschooling friends and asked questions.  And listened.  And gradually, a vision of sorts started appearing.  We've decided to join a local community called Classical Conversations that is part of a much larger national program.  The children meet for class once a week and this program helps parents teach their children in the classical method of learning.   I hope to continue blogging regularly to give people more of an idea of what it's like so that people can see for themselves because, honestly, it's overwhelming to me to try and explain what our lives will be like this year (as if I even had a clue).  I do know that we've ordered math books, history books, spelling, language arts, drawing, started Katherine in piano, and narrowed down our camper search to one beauty that we're salivating over until we take the plunge hopefully next month or October.  It's all so…..EXCITING!!!  And that's where I feel the presence of God in all of this.  Sometimes you have to follow your gut and trust that God will lead.  And He has.  In so many wonderful ways.  To the point where Katherine and I can't wait until class starts and we journey together to learn about this incredible world He has created.  

Here's the thing, though.  Many people are HIGHLY uncomfortable with the idea of homeschooling.  And I say, I'm HIGHLY uncomfortable with the choices some people make about traditional schooling and their kids.  I'm tired of hearing about the perpetual diagnosis it seems every kid in America is receiving in first grade.  And the medications, and the tutoring on top of seven hours of school and an hour or two of homework.  And the rush, rush, rush.  And the no time for play, and dream, and create because everything is so over-scheduled for a seven year old that he or she has no time to just "be bored" which I think is one the healthiest things in the world.  And I say…it can wait.  I say no right now.  I'm not saying that would be Katherine.  I don't know, and I don't even want to find out.  I just want more time with her.  I want more time as a family.  James will be in preschool and I will have a one year old and a new baby.  And it will be alright.  Or it won't and we'll start school next year.  Either way, it will be on our terms and not because everybody else is doing it or the school system says it's time.  And, think about it, say we homeschool Katherine for one year.  She will still have TWELVE more years of Catholic schooling.  I think that would be sufficient.  Even if we had a blast this year and decided to do it through 3rd grade (gasp!). She would start in fourth and have NINE more years of formal schooling.  Plenty.  Doesn't that put it into perspective how long kids go to school?

Here's the last little thought I wanted to leave you with:  just because we are choosing this route for this year, doesn't mean I think YOU should.  Get it?  I don't think people that send their kids to school are making a mistake, I don't think you don't like your family or that you're pushing your child too fast too early.  Actually, I don't think about your choices much at all to be quite honest.  I have enough choices to make for my own flock.  I think sometimes when you choose something non-traditional for your family, people can sometimes get their feathers all tangled up.  As if we're saying something about other people's choices.  And we're not.  I actually think most people should send their kids to school- it's a system and it probably works best for most people.  So let's just be okay with your decision and ours.  Nobody's trying to hurt their kids or hold them back.  We're just living and that takes on many forms for all the different kids and families out there.  And, you know, it's all okay.