We began homeschooling five years ago.  Five years ago! I remember how intimidated I was when we set out on this journey.  And I'm not going to lie, it isn't easy!  But I love it - even on the hard days. 
 
So in celebration of our fifth year of homeschooling, I'm posting the most common questions / remarks I get when people find out we homeschool.  Its all you ever wanted to know about homeschooling but were afraid to ask.

1. Why?  This is occasionally followed by "Are you crazy?!?   Families homeschool for lots of different reasons.  Mine are these: 1) to be able to infuse our faith into every day.  We start with Jesus.  We often pray during math when our attitudes go off track.  We memorize scripture.  In science, we discuss the Creator as well as the creation.   2) To shelter my daughters.  Yes, you heard me right.  I said shelter.  They have no idea who Lady Gaga is and I'm ok with that.  Does this mean if I take them to the park, they stand in the corner and don't know how to interact with other children? Absolutely not.  Try us.  We'll meet you at the park any day.   3) We can make our own schedule.  We aren't tied to the routine of a school system.  4) To ensure the girls get plenty of one-on-one attention with their studies.

2. Does the school system give you your books?  No.  We are "off the grid" of the public school system, so to speak.  I pay for the girls' curriculium, co-op fees, field trips, etc.  I report our grades and attendance to a "cover school".   There is the option of registering with the local school system if you choose, but even in that case they provide no support / supplies.  You homeschool on your own dime.

3. How much does it cost?  This varies.  You can buy used curriculum (or piece together your own!) and homeschool very frugally.  Or you can live stream teachers and use DVD drives that are much more expensive.  I have met families that do both very successfully. 

4. I could never do that.   Odds are, you probably could.  You probably taught your child their colors and to count before they went to school.  You trained them to use the bathroom.  Homeschooling is a natural extension of parenting.  Again, it isn't easy....Think of it as parenting on steroids.  But its doable. 

5. I'm not smart enough to homeschool my child!  A sweet homeschooling mom once passed on this gem of wisdom, for which I am forever grateful: "You only have to be one day smarter".  Its ok that you don't know everything.  You don't need to.  You need to know how to learn.  You need to teach your children how to learn, how to search out things they don't know. 

6. I'm interested in homeschooling...Now what? Read, read, read.  Read books on homeschooling.  Read homeschooling blogs.  If possible, go to a homeschool convention or a curriculum display, or visit the home of a homeschooling family.   My favorite books as I was beginning to homeschool were "The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling" by Debra Bell and "The Well-Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer.  I periodically reread these to get inspired.

7. What are the legal requirements?   The legal requirements vary from state to state.  In Tennessee, the requirement is 180 days of instruction, for 4 hours a day.  You must register with your local school board as a homeschooler, or with a cover school.  A great source to find the complete laws for state is at www.hslda.org.  Click on your state on the U.S. map.

8. Do you follow a routine?  Yes.  We have a set time to get up and have breakfast.  I read to the girls while they eat, then we brush teeth and get dressed.  Then we have our Bible lesson, memory verse and prayer, before beginning our academic "subjects".  We do them in the same order every day, but I don't schedule a specific amount of time for anything.  We do have exceptions...on Fridays (if our co-op isn't in session) we have pajama day.  We also stay in our warm pjs any day it snows or is just generally freezing.  I also like to plan surprise field trips that the girls know nothing about until after breakfast when me and daddy say "Field Trip! Get in the car!"

We typically take a week of for fall break, two weeks at Christmas, a week in the spring, and a long summer break.  Other families school year round or adjust their schedule as the need arises due to new babies, illnesses, and extended travel.  As long as the requirements for your state are met, you can do school when / where you want to.

9. Its ok, as long as they get socialization.  Oh, the "s" word.  Socialization.  For some reason, people ( and I include my past self in this group) have the idea that if a child doesn't spend 7-8 hours in a school setting, he/she will be incapable of interacting with their peers.  I can tell you from experience this isn't so.  Homeschoolers have the advantage of interacting with a great variety of people.  My girls get equally excited about a play date to the park or a visit to their great-great Aunt and Uncle's house. Their homeschool PE class groups all ages from 1st grade to 12th in one class, a fact which worried me until I saw how well the older kids interacted with the littles: coaching, encouraging, instructing.  
  That said, I do seek out opportunities for the girls to be with other kids, mostly for pure enjoyment.  We love our Friday homeschool co-op, where they can benefit from the talents of other moms and dads.  We have participated in Girl Scouts, art classes, and field trips.

Kindgarten, Shmindergarten!

 I haven't blogged about our homeschool adventure in a while...I actually haven't blogged about anything in a while! You'll be happy to know we have been doing kindergarten, even if I haven't been writing about it!

Bella has done amazing, I am so very proud of her! Her behavior has really improved this second half of the year as she realized what we expect of her during school time.  She is reading really well and has developed a love of being read to, which thrills my soul!

Because we breezed through the first part of the year and got in some extra lessons, we finished our Kindergarten curriculum with several days of school left to complete our 180 day school year.

We had a "Fire Safety Day" where we talked about, of course, fire safety in our home.  We talked about how to evacuate and Bella practiced calling 911 on mommys phone (with Mommy pretending to be the 911 dispatcher!).  Then we had a science experiment to demonstrate the three thing fire needs to burn- heat, air, and fuel.  We ended the day by reading several fiction and nonfiction library books about firemen, and the next day we walked down to our local fire station for an up close look at the fire engines with our friend Paul the fireman!  It was a fun way to finish our Kindergarten work.

So then, because we had about 17 school days left and because the books were just sitting in a box waiting for us, we just jumped in to our first grade curriculum! We finished up our school year on May 17.

Overall, I am thrilled with our first year of homeschool, and I feel as excited about it as I did at the first of the year- maybe even more so!  I love the time we get to spend together, getting to watch her learn, being able to weave our faith in to every subject, and exploring things together!

A New Home

 

 

After months and months of waiting, two broken contracts, and a lot of prayer, we finally sold our old home in Dec 2012 and moved in with my parents.  We were determined to patiently wait for our new home to appear in the local real estate listings, since at the time there wasn't anything available that met our size / location / price range requirements.

Much to our surprise, we didn't have to wait long.  Through a friend of a friend, my dad learned of a home that was getting ready to be put on the market.  The owner graciously offered to let us come and see the house before he listed it with a realtor.  We went to see the house without knowing a lot about it.

It was an older home, built in 1920, with wide woodworking throughout and a floor plan that we loved.  The kitchen was recently updated, and the roof was newer as well as the vinyl fencing outside.  That said, the home also had some challenges...The entire downstairs (excepting the kitchen) was blue carpet.  Country blue.  There was only one bath and it was downstairs.  And the bedroom and the yard were small.  Regardless, we really liked it.  Once we heard the asking price, we loved it!
We came back later that evening with my parents, my sister, and a family friend and walked all around the house again, and the next day my husband let the owner know we would take it.  We closed in January, and then the fun really began!

Although the house had been well-maintained, there were still some updates we had to make.  The biggest was installing central heat and air.  Next we ripped out that old blue carpet to reveal heart pine flooring throughout the entire house! The floors were sanded and refinished, the entire house painted - with the exception of the kitchen and old bathroom, and upstairs closets were remodeled.  We added a half bath upstairs, a full bath downstairs, moved the laundry up from the basement to the first floor...it seemed our projects would never end! 

But finally we were finished and here we are, snug in our new home!  We absolutely love it!

What else is new?

.....actually there are lots of new things going on for us right now- the fact that I am woefully behind on blog posts not being one of them. So here is a little catching up!

School:  Bella and I wrapped up our first semester of Kindergarten this past Saturday.  Can I get
 a Hallelujah?  And I have to admit that even though it went well (at least in my opinion!) we were both ready for We are still about 19 or 20 days ahead as far as our curriculum goes, which leaves
us plenty of wiggle room for the spring.  Bella is doing well in all her subjects.  She has memorized several Bible verses and is familiar with most the major characters in the Bible.  She has learned her math addition facts up to a 6, can tell time to the hour, count by 5s and 10s, and we are working on differentiating between those pesky dimes and nickels!  She is reading well, we are up to two-vowel words and working on some special sounds.  She can name all the continents on the map and we are working on the oceans and some of the Seas.

In our deficit column would have to be arts / crafts...sometimes I am really well prepared for this, some days we just paint!

For our last day of school this fall we had "Disney Review Day"....Beauty and the Beast Phonics worksheets, 101 Dalmations math worksheets, and orienteering on our map of Disney using a compass rose.  It was fun!  We followed up with a field trip...not to Disney though!  I took Bella, Abby, and my niece to Candlelight Christmas at Rocky Mount.  They got to learn about how Christmas was celebrated in 1791, and they even tasted ginger bread! (Not the cookie, the bread!)

Out of the Old, into the New
As many of you know we have had our home on the market for quite some time.  I am very, very happy to report that after two broken contracts, the third time was the charm and on Dec 17 we closed!  We are thrilled to be officially homeless! My parents graciously took the four of us in, rearranged their belongings and their privacy, and so we have a place to stay rent free!

I have honestly been surprised at how little any of us miss the old house...My husband was a bit nostalgic about it being "where we brought them home from the hospital"....call me cold but that hasn't bothered me!  I miss them being babies, not so much where they were babies!  And the girls haven't asked to go home at all....which is really a no brainer considering they loooove being with Nana and Pappaw.  Our old home was very nice, and I was so thankful for it, but I was so ready to move for so long, I can honestly say I do not miss it.

Now, on to the new!  We were prepared to stay here and wait out the perfect home -knowing that this time of year there isn't a lot on the market.  But, through a friend of a friend of my dads, we may have already found our next new home!  I don't want to jinx it, so no more on that now.  I will try to update when I know more or if things become official

School on Vacation? Oh, yes we did!

 I have to admit, one of the things I looked forward to the most about vacation was a break from homeschooling!  Even though I love doing it, it takes a lot of time and discipline (and this is just Kindergarten, for crying out loud!).  So I was so happy to spend my evenings reading (for fun!), doing crochet, or just hanging out with my family- no organizing flash cards, cutting out game pieces, getting worksheets in order, rounding up math manipulates...

But then, at the same time, I had this nagging feeling in my head...we were missing so many school days!  I know, its a sickness...but I got to searching online and found a way we could kill two birds - or rather butterflies- with one stone!

Field Trip!

On Wednesday we visited the Coastal Discovery Museum for a Butterfly Discovery Walk.  I had called ahead and made reservations, so our group consisted of me, the hubby, Bella, Abby, Rachel (my sister!), Ashlyn (my niece), and my Mom. 

Our tour guide, Larry, started out the Walk by talking - in simplified terms- about the anatomy of the butterfly, and some of the differances between butterflies and moths ( for insance, a moth builds a cocoon ; a butterfly builds a chrysalis) , and the process of metamorphosis.

Larry demostrates how a butterfly's eyes allow it to see in all directions at once!

Then we all got to go inside the butterfly enclosure.  There were four species of butterflies at this time, including the Monarch and the Frittalary.  Our guide pointed out the caterpillar eggs- tiny white specks that are about 1-2 millimeters in size! Once we had walked through the enclosure, we got to look a the different caterpillars themselves.

Bella gets up close and personal with a caterpillar!

Hmmm...is this the "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"?

Next, we got to see some chrysalis's . Some had already hatched, others weren't quite ready. It was amazing to look through the paper-thin chrysalis and the see the color of a Monarch butterfly's wing folded within.

 

 

Some of the carnivorous plants, including the Venus Flytrap, planted outside
the butterfly enclosure.

The girls really enjoyed the afternoon, especially getting to be around so many butterflies! And I really enjoyed knowing we were having fun- and learning, too!

Oh, if we could only stay at the beach...

 

Yesterday we returned from our annual fall trip to Hilton Head Island, SC.  We spent seven nights and eight days relaxing, unwinding, eating seafood, playing the in ocean, riding bikes, and spending time with loved ones! 

 

Bella plays in the waves!
 

 

Abby runs everywhere she goes!

Bella and Kenneth playing miniature golf.

Me, Kenneth, Bella, Abby, and my niece Ashlyn on the beach. 

Me and "Big Pappaw"- the name our girls gave my mom's father.
We celebrated his 82nd birthday while we were at the beach.

On the top of the Harbour Town Lightouse- a tradition!

And apparently I spoke too soon....

This is a post I would really, really rather not write, because just thinking about it makes my stomach unhappy.  But as blogs can't be entirely happy news, here goes:

I posted earlier this month that we had a contract on our house. (again!). On the 6th of this month we had our home inspection.  The inspector was very very thorough,  spending about three hours going over our house, appliances, water heater, roof, attic, basement, etc...It made me a little nervous!  Thankfully, he only found a few minor issues, for instance one loose shingle. 

The next day, Kenneth was literally on his way to our realtors office with a signed, accepted offer on a house we liked in Erwin.  It was an older home and needed some updates, but had a huge fenced yard, great location, and -better yet- a great mortgage!

Before Kenneth could even get to the realtors office, she called him to let us know that (once again!!!) our buyer was backing out.  Yes, for the second time, a buyer backed out on us.  We were dumbfounded.  The buyer's realtor said the decision had nothing to do with the home inspection (duh!) but that the buyer was "financially unable to purchase".  Which doesnt make a lot of sense since she had a preapproval letter from her bank...

So, once again, I was devastated.  It didn't help that our realtor told us she'd never had this happen to anyone twice.  Great.  Aren't we the lucky ones.  And I was really angry at the buyer, because she had listed several things she wanted done to the home before closing, such as the porch painted, the t.v. wall mount taken down (and holes filled and painted!), front porch stained, etc.  So my husband has been coming home fron 12 hour shifts and working really hard to get all this done. 

This is one of those things I do not understand, a seemingly answered prayer that is suddenly taken away. And while I am still very frustrated and disappointed, I am trying to remember that all things work together for good for those that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.  So somewhere, someday, I believe I will understand why this happened!

So, the house is still on the market.  I am trying to look at the bright side:  the porch is freshly stained and painted, the deck is freshly stained, the home is obviously sound as it as been inspected (twice!) in the last six months.

But it does tick me off every time I walk by the flat screen tv sitting on my sofa table, where I usually sit my fall decorations.