Wednesdays...

Wednesdays are our elective day at school. Martial Arts, visual arts, Legos and comic book drawing... Too bad for Beckett 3 out of four of his classes are taught by the same teacher - who happens to be out sick today. So how do we handle an unexpected rainy morning off? With ducks in our back yard... Keep in mind we have 3 dogs. All of whom we're pretty furious about having wildlife in their space. Fun times! Wish I could figure out how to post the video....

Lists

Last week was a rough week.  For parents, kids, home school, unschooled and traditional schooled alike...  It was a rough week.  I feel as though we got nothing accomplished.

Spring has finally hit the Pacific Northwest and the afternoons have been beautiful, even if a bit chilly.  Its hard to stick to routines and homework when its finally blue sky and sunny outside after 6 months of gray and rain.  Kids were crazy, parents had more than usual to get done (it seemed) and all anybody wanted to do was play outside.  So we did.  Which left our to-do list a bit on the uncrossed off side....  But the good news - its still there, uncrossed off this week...

We've been homeschooling for exactly a year now. And I'm frustrated.  I've looked at blogs online and evidently homeschooling your first year is alot like teaching your first year.  Its difficult.  You have to get used to the kids, the structure (or lack of it) the curriculum, the learning styles (both his and mine)...

So I gave myself a little grace last week.  We went to an enrollment meeting for the Montessori kindergarten program for our younger child last week.  I think its a great fit for her - and I actually think its a great fit for my homeschooler, but i'm not quite ready to give up yet.  He's making some pretty great progress in lots of areas, and honestly my biggest reason to put him in Montessori is so i'd have some time away...  Sorta selfish - understandable, but selfish.

So last week, during our sunshining, grace giving, break taking week I decided to restructure our entire homeschool (believing that we even had a structure to begin with)...  I put a list on the chalkboard in his room.  A list of his work to accomplish between Monday and Thursday at dinner time... Fridays are a day for hands on science or art to complement our studies of the week, assuming he completes his assignments. Otherwise Fridays are work days - BOO.    Most of his assignments for this week are review. I want to see how he does.  I want him to learn accountability and responsibility.  I want him to take charge of his learning. So I made a list.  Spelling, writing, geography, math.  A few worksheets, some computer time, some free writing,  a new book to read...

Along with a school list, he has a responsibility list.  Daily tasks that need to be completed for him to earn any sort of screen time.  Our lives have been taken over by all things Minecraft, and while I can agree that some parts of the game are useful, it has completely consumed all the extra room in my 8 year olds brain.  So we've set new limits.  We've gone over new expectations.  We've reviewed consequences, some of which he's already experienced.

So looking back, maybe last week wasn't such a failure. Maybe it wasn't so awful.  Some time off gave us an opportunity to re-evaluate, re-structure and re-new.  Now we have new priorities and a new outlook.   And along with some sunshine and blue skies, isn't that all we really need??

Sun Days

Some days when you homeschool in the Pacific Northwest, by the time March rolls around you take sun days instead of snow days. Here are some shots of our gorgeous afternoon. 

Offline...

I'm off Facebook.  Initially for Lent.  Possibly for good.  I'm in love with Pinterest.  And I could report my daily activities to anybody via my Instagram photos.  But I'm off Facebook.  I was overwhelmed with information.  With thoughts and ideas and beliefs that weren't really even mine.  I don't need to have my already busy life busied with other people.  Period.  Kinda funny really.  Pinterest is full of folks I don't know who are doing amazing things that I would never think of and are clearly more organized, more crafty and more talented than I am.  And I love them.  Facebook is full of my 'friends' some of whom i've known for 20+ years and they post updates about their lives and activities and it drives me crazy.  Maybe because I know thats not how life really is.  Nobody is that perfect.  I know they are not that perfect. 

I hope to update this blog a bit more regularly.  A sentence or comment here and there...  Something.  Something to keep us folks that don't seem to fit into any one box moving forward.  I don't subscribe to any one group.  I don't call myself an unschooler, but I struggle somedays to call myself a homeschooler.  I'm a wife, which sounds pretty ordinary, until you learn that I also HAVE a wife.  But she wears dresses and makeup and carried our babies.  I'm in jeans and a hoodie with a beer watching the game.  So nope, not that box either. She is the breadwinner.  She pays the bills.   I'm in charge of the house.  The kids.  The shopping.  The doctor visits.  I'm the mom...  But nope, I don't really fit into that box either. 

So here is my blog.  Honest.  Boring.  Funny.  Sad.  Who knows?  Probably alot like life.  Everyday is a little bit the of routine and a little bit of different.  I'm raising 2 kids, 3 dogs, 2 cats and a wife.  Life isn't easy, but its worth it. And I promise to write about it.