The End of April

It's the last of April, and, judging from the 182 photos in the April folder, we've been busy!

Easter with our parish, Easter with extended family on both sides, gardening, outings, driving, Spring, Astronomy, Rocket Science, and Awesome History, it's been a wild ride!

Also, we saw the Avengers movie.   Actually, I forgot to mention it, but we saw Pacific Rim:
Uprising last month!

Tomorrow starts May and we are heading into our busy time of the year.

This is the last week of college classes for Klenda and Zorg,and next week is the last class for Mxyl, so they are all heading into finals.

Rockets!  What's next?

We are building our rockets to launch at NASA Goddard next Sunday, and that will be the end of Kid's Astronomy and Rocket Science.  Awesome American History is winding up as we approach present day.  We've started talking about what we want to study next year!

And, of course, the Emperor is starting to wrap things up.  His seniors will graduate in about a month, and his other students will finish up a few weeks later.

Also in May we have 4 family birthdays, our anniversary, a much anticipated visit from Angel (from Switzerland), and the big annual visit to the graves.

I love May!   It's chock full of family, friends, flowers, and classes, often with beautiful weather to boot.  And by June, I will want a nap.

Just In Case You Think I am Excessively Organized

Not My Bookshelf Ever

On Monday I was looking ahead to a long empty week.  No more Chemistry, what would I do with myself?

Just then I got a text from a friend asking if she could come along to the museum on Wednesday. 

Ha! I started to text back, We aren't starting up Adventurers until... I had to look it up. 

Wednesday!

So we went, and it was super fun and great and we had 4 families there.

And look at that!  We are starting Awesome American History on Friday!

Well, at least I know what to do with myself. 😊

Home School Scheming

Or planning, we could call it planning! Last week I attended a delightful tea with about a dozen other homeschoolers.

It was part meet and greet, part curriculum swap, and, for me, part advertising for the things I want to do next year!

Have you heard about Awesome History? (Spoiler: it's AWESOME!)

Do you have a high schooler that wants to learn Chemistry? It's a thing! Do you have a younger kid who likes Chemistry?  It's another thing (but in the spring)!

Do you crave adventure?  Adventurers is for you!

Long story short, I filled my high school Chemistry and got about 5 or 6 more families interested in Adventurers, and another 5 or so interested in Awesome History.  I figure that's as many as we can comfortably fit, so that's pretty perfect!

My plan for Awesome History is to continue and finish A Child's History of the World in the fall (Awesome Modern History), and then find a new book to do Awesome American History in the spring.

Plus the scones were fabulous!!

Plans and Resolutions

Rather than jump back into our regular schedule, we've been spending most of the week on personal projects.  For the kids that has meant reading, playing games, doing art and video editing, and working on their movie, Abydos.  For me that has meant planning like a maniac.

The pictures are from a fun game called Say Anything.  The question was, "What would be the coolest skill to have without needing to practice?"

Oobs answer was, "Leg sweeping!"

 He might be the youngest of four boys.

Leena, on the other hand, said, "Singing!" 

I don't think you have to illustrate your answers, but the Zoomlians do.

I've  finished plans for 3 interlocking co-ops: Adventurers (field trips), Awesome History (Middle Ages!), and Masters of Disaster (weather and earth science: hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, etc.).

They interlock in the sense that some of the field trips relate to the other classes at critical times.

I'm very pleased!   I just need to plan out my religious education stuff...

And, of course, plan out a schedule that accounts for Mxyl and Klenda being off at college on certain days, as well as the co-ops, and ice skating, and swimming, and library trips,  and possibly other time for education.  I'm mostly there!

My friend, Shelli, tells me I'm a planner, and I think she's probably right.  The key for me is that I only have to do the big planning once, and then I'm happy for the rest of the semester.  I actually have a hard time doing a lot of planning on a regular basis.

While I was planning, I was going back and forth through my archives collecting posts from the last time I did Masters of Disasters.  That was such a fun set of classes!  In fact, two of my all time most popular posts (Earthquake and Tsunami and  Earth Science) are from that series!  It occurred to me that I ought to collect the different series and put them in the sidebar so that they would be easier to find and use. 

Then it occurred to me that was an excellent project for a New Year's resolution!  My dear MIL used to make resolutions that were specific projects (like "this year I will research and buy a new car"), and that always seemed to me more sensible than my usual vague "eat less and exercise more" resolves.

So, there we go: I resolve to organize my science and history series into usable sidebar links!

I'd also like to eat less and exercise more. I just need to make a specific plan....

More Planning

Awesome History Plan

Not too much blogging lately because my planning brain has come back from vacation . 

I was worried about this when it hadn't turned up in the last week of August, but now that it has been rampaging around my head for 4 straight days, I'm almost ready to send it back to the beach.

Almost.

This semester I am doing the Awesome History co-op, teaching high school Biology, running Adventurers, and teaching Religious Ed (3rd grade). And, you know, home schooling the Zoomlians.

I am not naturally an organized person, but, in self defense, I have gotten more organized every year.


Which means this year is the most organized I have ever been in my life! 

Master Plan to Conquer the World or at Least the Fall Semester

Actually, that's true every year, but you have to realize the first time I made a plan of what to do with my kid (Baby Mxyl) I couldn't do it because I couldn't find the stuff to do it with, or the table to do it on!  

 I started pretty low on the organization continuum.

And now I have lists! And charts! And calendars! And labelled bins!  And color coding! (Color coding, seriously? How did I do that?) And I can (usually) find everything I need when I need it!

If you are a naturally organized person, feel free to roll your eyes. 

If you are not, or are a younger version of me, I'd like to offer you and my younger self this advice:

3rd Grade Religious Ed Plan

1 Start small. I started by finding the table (it was in the dining room).

2. Have a plan, but don't "marry" the plan.  You don't have to follow the plan when something better comes up or your kids need something different, but having one will help.

3. Don't plan too far ahead.  My detailed plans are only for this semester, and they get less detailed as they go on.  My Religious Ed plan is only for the first few classes because I need to see if my plan will work

4. Follow joy.  If you or the kids are consistently unhappy, you need a new plan.

5. Lastly, realize it's a process.  My cabinets and closets are still messy.  I still forget stuff.  I don't floss every day.  But I'm still more organized than I was!

Adventurers Fall Schedule

Yet another win for last week, I set up the Adventurers schedule!

If you're new to the blog, we live near Washington DC, home to an astonishing number of free world class museums, monuments, and other cool stuff.  

Adventurers, now in our sixth year,  is our weekly foray into this fascinating world!

Here is our field trip advice.

Here is our 2015 Fall Schedule:

9/9 Air and Space (space side)
9/16  Air and Space (air side)
9/23 Natural History (mammals, dinosaurs, insects)
9/30 Natural History (geology, gems, oceans)

10/7 Apple/pumpkin/broccoli picking at Larriland (pay for what you pick, free parking, usually takes most of the day)
10/14 Air and Space Udvar Hazy Annex (in Virginia so the driving will take more time, $16 parking, a good one to car pool)
10/21 Arboretum (Fall foliage, free parking)
10/28 American History (Spark Lab and the new Innovation Wing) This and the Arboretum may be switched depending on timing of peak leaf color

11/2 (Monday, All Souls Day) Arlington National Cemetery (visiting my family's WWI and WWII graves and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier)
11/11 (Veterans Day) American History (Star Spangled Banner and military history)
11/18 Library of Congress
Skip Week for Thanksgiving

12/2 Botanical Gardens (holiday train exhibit)
12/9 Gingerbread Contest and Party

Adventurers Schedule

This is our fifth year of weekly field trip adventures, and we are still finding new places to go!  This year we are skewing a bit older (we tend to alternate older and younger years). 

If you're curious, my advice for field trips in the DC area is here.



Fall Schedule:
9/9 American History (transportation, immigration, Star Spangled Banner)
9/16 American History (US memorabilia, military history)
9/23 Natural History (Ocean Hall, Minerals)
10/2 Wednesday Apple and Pumpkin picking at Larriland ($? you pay for what you pick)
10/7 * National Archives (see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution) or White House and Monuments
10/16 Wednesday Maryland Science Center ($2 a person for their home school days, usually $16!  You can also get a 45 minute class for an extra $3.50, but you'll need to sign up now to get in.)
10/21 Library of Congress (I may bail and let my older kids tour while I take my younger kids out to the Botanical gardens and the duck pond.)
10/28 National Arboretum (fall foliage)
11/4 * Capitol Building (besides needing tickets, there is an airport-level security screening to enter the building, but it's a really neat tour!)
11/11 American Indian
11/18 * Cryptologic Museum (up near Fort Meade)
Thanksgiving Break
12/2 Botanical Gardens (They will have the holiday trains and fairy houses!)
12/9 Christmas/Immaculate Conception Party  (Bring cookies!)

Spring Schedule: (These are tentative and weather-dependent; I'm just putting it out there to give you an idea of my plans)
2/24 Bureau of Printing and Engraving (this is where they print money - last time we went they were printing $100 bills, so we saw over a million dollars cash!)
3/3 The Walters Art Gallery
3/10 Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (first full week of Lent)
3/17 Baltimore Museum of Art
3/24 National Arboretum (Magnolia blossoms)
3/31 Cherry Blossoms ($1 a person to ride the tram)
4/7 Franciscan Monastery 
Holy Week/Easter Break
4/28 National Arboretum (Azalea Walk)
5/5 Shark Tooth Expedition
5/12 DC Monuments walk: FDR, MLK, and maybe Lincoln Memorial
5/19 or 5/21 Wednesday Shark Tooth Hunt

College Daze

One reason that I'm backed up on the blogs (not just mine, I haven't had time to read blogs!) is the adjustment to our "full load" schedule.

When Mxyl turned 16, he became not only  eligible to drive, but also to take college classes at out local community college.  So he did!

Continuing his interest in computer animation, he is taking a computer graphics course and an art history course.  This means he's off at college twice a week for 5 hours a shot!  He's having a great time and learning a lot (foremost how to juggle time, homework, and deadlines).

He's also taking Japanese in a separate, online course.  And all the rest of the high school stuff.

Did I mention he just got elected Senior Patrol Leader for his scout troop? And he's doing art lessons. And Youth Group. Plus, he's teaching himself how to play guitar.

And he, along with the rest of the Zoomlians, are doing the co-op, Anatomy and Physiology, and Adventurers with us.

Amongst other Zoomlians, Klenda is learning Spanish in preparation for a trip to Spain next summer, and she's doing art and piano lessons, and Junior Ladies of Charity and the rest of her stuff.

Zorg is beginning preparations for Confirmation next year!  And he's doing Spanish (for an eventual trip to see Tia and Tio), Art, Geometry, and his regular stuff.  And he's been elected Patrol Leader of his patrol of his scout troop!

Leena is doing Art, Piano, Spanish, Junior Ladies of Charity, and the rest of her stuff, all while keeping up her sunny smile and social whirl.

Choclo is doing Wolf Scouts, and Oob will soon be starting Tiger Scouts.

I am working through Anatomy and Physiology, and not reading many blogs!

It reminds me of when I had many kids under five: it's like drinking from a fire hose.  It's all great, fun stuff, but there sure is a lot of it!

It should settle down as we find our rhythm, but it's kind of wild right now.

More Adventure

From here on out, scheduling is heavily weather dependent.  It doesn't just matter whether the day is sunny or rainy, it also matters how cold our winter is and how early spring arrives.  These are the things I hope to do, but the dates themselves are subject to shuffling.

3/6 National Zoo Weather dependent, of course, but early March is often a great time to visit the Zoo.  You get early spring, lots of animals and no crowds.  Also you don't overheat while tromping back up the hill to your car!

3/13 National Arboretum  The magnolias should be in bloom!

3/20 The Baltimore Museum of Industry (costs money, but parking is free), or a second round at the Walters, or the Cherry Blossom Festival

3/27 Holy Week Cherry Blossoms or the Franciscan Monastery I'm hedging my bets as to when the cherries will blossom!

4/3 Skip week:  Easter Break

4/10 The C + O Canal  It was so nice in the fall, I'd like to see it in the spring when the water is higher.

4/17 Fossil Hunt  (Shark's teeth) down by the Bay

4/24 Monuments on the National Mall (Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, maybe more)  This will be a hike!  It's one mile from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, so we'll see how far we get (and if I can figure out how to park in the middle!)

5/1 National Arboetum: The Azalea Walk should be at peak bloom.

5/8 Back to the Bay for another fossil hunt!   Just a note about shark tooth hunting: after Memorial day, they will charge a ridiculous amount of money to visit the beaches.  Also, summer and fall are jellyfish season, as we have found to our pain, so this will be our last visit for the year.

5/15 FDR Memorial, MLK Memorial, and the Tidal Basin

Plans for Adventure

This is the fourth year in a row that I have done Adventurers!

This started out in 2009 as a weekly field tip with the oldest kids in my home school co-op (which was a way to keep the co-op running with an ever widening age range).  The co-op has been gone 2 years now, but I keep going by simply publishing a list and a meeting place for car pooling.

I lived near DC for eight years before I found the nerve to take independent trips downtown. I was afraid I 'd get lost.  I was afraid I'd lose a kid.  I was afraid I couldn't find parking.  Worst of all, I was afraid I would have to parallel park!

None of that happened!  Now I keep inviting other families so that they will know where to park, what fun things there are to do, and what the best times are to do them.

This is the schedule for January and February, they are all Wednesdays, except as noted:

1/9 National Gallery/Natural History: We'll start out at National Gallery and move the younger Zoomlians over to Natural History when they get restless (they museums are next to each other).  The older Zoomlians (who have been asking to spend real time with the art) will stay at National Gallery, then meet us back at the van.

1/16 The Walters Art Gallery up in Baltimore.  We will be starting a new Medieval unit, and the Walters has the best Medieval collection since the Cloisters.  We may pass through their Egyptian stuff (Choclo is still on a mummy kick), we won't miss the Hall of Wonders, and we may also visit their Japanese collection, what with Mxyl studying Japanese.  Maybe we should just move there.

1/25 Friday March for Life The Emperor is doing this one with the older kids and the Youth Group.

1/30 Skip Week!  I have my portfolio review that morning.

2/6 Air and Space Udvar-Hazy Annex We'd planned to go in the Fall, but never made it. This one is free to get in, but you are required to park on site for $16.  A great place to car pool, but worth it regardless!

2/13 Ash Wednesday Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

2/20 Museum of American Art  I've never been there, but, if it's not fun, we'll bail and do the US History museum.

2/27 Sackler Gallery/African Art/Smithsonian Castle  These are all adjacent.  This is another trip where I may leave the older Zoomlians with the great art, and take the younger to go play in the Moon Garden.

Best Tips Ever!

I don't usually link to other people's posts, but this post from Jen offers the best tips ever for living a happy life when you are very very busy!

Kid of the Week

Klenda is this week's Kid of the Week! This honor has been dispensed on a rotating basis for the last year or so.

The Kid of the Week gets to plan almost all of the meals (I choose Sunday dinners), choose the week's cookies and be sous chef for the week.

Certain rules apply.

1. You can't choose a dinner that we had last week. This keeps us from eating nothing but hot dogs, pizza and macaroni and cheese.

2. Tuesdays and Fridays are meatless. Meatless Fridays are an ancient way of remembering Christ's sacrifice on the cross. We also offer up eating meat on Tuesdays for an end to abortion.

3. There needs to be one soup.

4. There needs to be at least one new recipe. The picture shows Klenda looking through Cook's Country for a new recipe this week. She picked Chicken Lo Mein.

5. Then there are the ordinary rules: always have a veggie, a starch, and a protein; don't have the same starch or meat twice in a row; plan easy meals on complicated days and so on.

The benefits to this system are several. 1. I don't have to plan all the meals. 2. Everyone gets their favorite foods from time to time. 3. No one complains about foods that aren't their favorite because they know someone else really liked it. 4. The kids are learning how to cook and plan (I actually find planning harder than cooking). 5. The Emperor and I each occasionally take a week so we get out favorite foods, too!

The one down side has been my own fault. I do have the kids plan each week, but I often am in a rush and don't have them cook with me as much as I should.

The Plan

It's always nice to have a plan to laugh at later, isn't it?

I need to have a plan. I don't have to follow the plan, mind you, but there needs to be a plan. My wake-up-sweating-with-the-creepy-feeling-at-the-back-of-my-neck nightmare is having 6 kids look at me and say, "What do we do now?" and I DON"T KNOW! If that doesn't sound like that big a deal to you, the last time it happened, while I was floundering around trying to come up with something, the kids amiably went off and finger painted. With Crisco. On the floor. That was a while ago though.
Actually, it happenned not long after I figured out that I needed a way to organize my house since it didn't matter how many cool ideas I had for the kids if I couldn't find any of the things to do it with (or a flat surface). Having kids taught me organization the hard way!

This year we started planning with the cloud organizer I mentioned. We put the kid's name in the center and circled it. Coming out from that central circle were spokes for each area in the kids life: exercise, social skills, spiritual growth, math, anything that came to mind. These spokes had more circles listing goals in each area and these had more circles sprouting off for how we hoped to meet those goals. I've since come across this mapping technique (the picture) which I think could be useful.

Anyway, I now had a list of what I wanted to do. I also had a table I made on Word that is just a weekly schedule divided by half hour. I know that our family likes to be able to mix things up. I also know we are better at book work in the morning and that we get tired as we go along the week. It looks more structured than it is. We will switch around days as needed, and when we are on a roll with one thing, I'll ditch the rest of the schedule. Science and History take variable amounts of time in the afternoon, and we will actually skip them when friends stop by.

Things in italics mean that they are every other week (we do go to Mass each Sunday, but the time varies!). PT is prayer time, BT is Bible Time. Ldry is laundry! Office is the Liturgy of the Hours. I couldn't get the document to transfer so I ended up taking a picture of it (click to enlarge).

Annual Post Mortem

I actually haven't done much with US History besides collect great books from the library. The fact is, my brain stuck in relax mode. I think I kinda maxed out last year with too many evening commitments.

Everything was good and important: teaching CCD, Dominicans, DJM, another DJM group, Scouts/Girls' Nights, and working every co-op Wednesday. The thing is, I'm an introvert and it was all energy being expended. Add to that some family health crises and I overloaded the system a bit. As in, gee, we have TWO free evenings this month, isn't that great?

I did some great stuff with the kids last year, but I didn't have the energy and creativity I wanted to have. And I had very little social life!

We also went more places and did more stuff than we ever have (field trips and stuff) and I think that was great. There have been a lot of years where I wasn't able to do that because of pregnancy or tiny ones, so I think it was the right year for that.

Still...

I've cut back a bit: cut out teaching CCD, cut back on co-op (only 20 weeks this year), cut back on DJM, cut back on teaching Dominican Novitiate, and my term as moderator of my Dominican chapter ends this year. And no one in my entire family will have any health crises. (Hope that works!) And I'm going to vegetate this summer and not feel guilty.

So far this summer, we haven't done too much relaxing. The first two weeks were the obligatory doctor and dentist appointments plus the camping extravaganza and the retreat and house guest.

I noticed that when that was over, I did not spring into action and clean the back basement. Or teach the kids Spanish. Or whip myself into shape with a fabulous exercise routine. In fact, I wasn't really in the mood to do anything I had planned to get done this summer.

I took it to prayer and felt God was telling me to rest and recover. It was like He took me back through the year. I suddenly remembered that last Fall, I thought my Dad wouldn't be here for Christmas. I saw all the meetings and teachings and all the great stuff that came out of that. I saw all the medical stuff with my kids, and all the trips we took and things we did. All the birthdays and anniversaries. All the swim lessons (we got a membership to an indoor pool and did 3 sets of swim lessons back to back September through March) and the oldest three finally swimming independently.

You know, it's a lot. It's enough. I think the back basement will still be there in September when I am ready for action again.

This summer I'm going to focus on resting in the Lord and enjoying my family.

A Week of Mondays

Monday I: The Emperor goes back to school. I consider our usual Monday schedule and decide we'd better ease into things. We go light on the seat work and put away a lot of Christmas stuff.
Score: Kids: Very Happy Mom: Very Tired but Satisfied

Monday II: We run our usual Monday schedule. Much whining ensues. But we end up getting a lot done.
Score: Kids: Moderately Happy Except for Those Who Have Forgotten Everything They Ever Knew About Long Division Mom: Very Tired

Monday III: First day back to co-op, do you remember where your back pack is? Everyone has a great time, but the vital trip to Target I tack on to the end was really pushing it.
Score: Kids: Very Happy Mom: Very Tired but Happy

Monday IV: All set for back to normal... and someone has a fever. I jettison the schedule and decide that if we can get the thank you notes done and the floor swept and the most vital e mails out and everyone is still alive when the Emperor returns, I shall consider it a triumph.

Guess what? I did all that and blogged!!! I think I'll have one of the kids walk behind me for the rest of the day, whispering, "Remember, thou art mortal!"
Score: Kids: Very Happy Mom: Very Happy and Kinda Tired

Moral of the Story: I think part of being happy while home schooling (especially when you are going through a rough patch) is recognizing what you have done instead of thinking of what you wanted to do.

Some days it does feel like the most you've managed is to keep the kids from killing each other. Guess what? Teaching them to get along is something they will use more often than long division (we hope). In school, they call those affective goals.

Oh, and be sure to teach them long division. Again.

Mowing the Lawn, Living in Reality, Stacking the Deck

I mowed the lawn this morning. For a long time I didn't like to mow the lawn. Maybe "I resented mowing the lawn" is more accurate. It was a half unconscious annoyance.

Eventually I followed that nagging discontent back to it's source and found, as is often the case, a nasty little lie in a dark hole. Dragged out into the light, it went like this: I do most of the cooking and cleaning, ergo the Emperor should do the yard work.

Really? Even if he has grass allergies? Even if he hates to do it? Even if he does other, more important stuff around the house like take the kids so I can blog? Even if I actually kind of like to mow the lawn? Even if it provides me with some much needed exercise, fresh air and a task that stays completed for up to a week and makes me feel really good to have it done and it lets me think without interruption for nearly an hour? The lie evaporated and now I just mow the lawn. It's Living in Reality instead of the irritating misery of stewing about How Things Should Be.

One advantage to letting go of How Things Should Be, is that you can do a lot more of what you actually want or need to do. Here's a good example: I hit the point (on the scale) where I knew I needed to exercise. So far I have found very few ways to exercise that I actually want to do, and most of those, conveniently, are things I don't have access to: ice skating on a lake, for example or fencing, or swimming, or horseback riding. Well, I still needed to exercise, but, of course I didn't have time. More importantly, I needed to increase my prayer life, but, of course, I didn't have time for that either and the time I did have was maddeningly inconsistent from day to day. How Things Should Be: I should be able to exercise (and pray) every day at the same time doing exercises I enjoy. I can't, therefore I can't exercise, I'm off the hook! No heart disease for me, it's not my fault! Ditto for prayer!

It turns out, there is a way of Living in Reality that solves these problems: I stack the deck. I schedule exercise and prayer times throughout the day (3 times each) at times that might work. Do I ever hit them all? Not in the 2 or 3 months that I have been doing it. All it takes is a kid to get up early, someone to get sick or something "special" to be going on to knock out any individual prayer or exercise time. But, it also hasn't yet happened that every time was knocked out! Even if I hit a day where I can't do any of them, I will know that I did my best, and that was what God asked me to do. How's that for Living in Reality? God never asks you for something and leaves you no way to do it.

If you are curious, the 3 exercises I actually, regularly, do are 1. walking/running/chasing the kids on bikes on the way to Mass in the morning, 2. the Core program, and 3. Wii fit (I like to think of it as Wii fit into our jeans again sometime real soon now). And mowing the lawn!

Home School Blocks

This is how it works:

We always start with Prayer Time/Bible Time/Violin Time (usually also nursing Oob time).
The other kids can then take a 15 -30 minute break while I play with Choclo.
Now we start the blocks. I have 4 kids, so there are 4 blocks of time. Everything in a block happens at the same time.

Block 1:
I spend time with Myxyl, maybe doing some math.
Klenda works independently in a workbook, reading a book, or on a project.
Zorg does a chore say, cleans a bathroom.
Leena does something fun, either pouring water in different containers or her own idea

Block 2:
I spend time with Klenda, show her how to make designs with a compass
Zorg does independent work
Leena washes walls
Mxyl draws robots

Block 3:
I play Dolch knights with Zorg (sight word game)
Leena does her wipe off alphabet book
Mxyl cleans a bathroom
Klenda plays with sculpey clay

Block 4:
I do math manipulatives with Leena
Mxyl works independently
Klenda washes windows
Zorg draws on more index cards (he is making a game)


This leaves me time to do stuff together: Child's History of the World (I read while the kids draw about it, or do related activities), and an enormous unit on the human body (lots of experiments!). It also leaves us with large swaths of time free in the afternoon for kids to do their own thing.

Home School Style

Ive been reading the book 100 Top Picks For Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing The Right Curriculum And Approach For Your Child's Learning Style.

After taking the quizzes, it looks like I fall under the "unit study" type and the "unschooling" type in about equal measure. Oh, there is a strong dose of "eclectic" and some "Charlotte Mason" thrown in, to be sure, but I pretty much run shrieking from "traditional schooling" and "classical curriculum." If I really want a label (and I don't) I could go with Melissa Wiley's "tidal" style.

I'm not so interested in the labels as the different approaches. I've been thinking a lot about the why and the how and the what we do around here. Mxyl is entering 5th grade. We had a light year while I was on bed rest. We now have Oob the magnificent who does not ever want to nap along with Choclo who forgot, over the summer, how to amuse himself during home school time.

Time is increasingly precious and it is forcing me to distill the essence of what is important. This is good, I think I needed the squeeze. Here is what I am thinking:

We are raising people who are unique and eternal. I need to be focussed (and keep them focussed) on who they are becoming. For example: it isn't enough to tell a kid to stop smacking their sister with a brick (to be fair it was a cardboard brick) just because she is annoying them. I want them to become a person who does not respond in anger to petty irritations. It isn't enough to "do math," I want them to see in math the beauty of the rules which God used to construct the universe.

How to? I need to tighten the scheduling to provide one on one time with each kid. I am going to do homeschool blocks 2 or 3 times a week.