Indecisive

The 2 girls who are in public school were home this week for thanksgiving vacation. We didn't do much and did not do any "school". We did read every day so at least like I felt like we did something. I did work with Nala on math. Hubby and I were trying to decide if we should officially bring the girls home now instead of waiting for january. I don't know what to do with everyone all day right now. We don't have money for any sports or classes now, I feel like the girls will be bored watching tv, which is not what I want either. I want their days to be filled with interesting and fun moments, the kinds of things that capture their attention at school. I just don't know how I can compete.

Starting Over

Here I am 2.5 years later. I came across my blog by accident, forgot I even started it but wishing I had continued with it. I don't know if I will but i wanted to try this again.

Where do I begin? Well we're in GA now, came here as a homeschooling family, loving it and starting new however things were not what we expected. The homeschooling community seemed so different and somewhat secluded than what we were used to in NY. In addition, we chose to live in a suburb community away from the city, 30 miles to be exact, away from everything it seemed. There were no free museums from what I found, a few free days but nothing like we had in NY. My girls didn't have any friends like they were used to. We tried to find our place here. The girls joined a homeschooling girls scout troop and there were park days....but it just wasn't enough. About 6 months into our life here I found out about a program called GVA, GA Virtual Academy. Basically School at Home....Books, manipulatives, and a computer is provided to students. Everything is laid out for you. No curriculum planning. It was great...or so I thought. Maybe a little too structured. Nala enjoyed it but Nina didn't like it. It was "fake school" to her. They missed the camaraderie between her NY friends. I just didn't know how to make it work, how to keep them busy, or how to give them the socialization that they craved and needed. That September 2009 I registered them at school....and it wasn't so bad. I worked a lot of overtime, had time for myself throughout the day, got some sleep, paid off some bills. The girls seemed to enjoy school, did well at their academics and enjoyed extra curricular activities such as ballet, tumbling and cooking classes.

Fast forward to May 2010, Nala, now 9 years old, said that she wanted to be homeschooled again. She was not being bullied or harassed at school. She wanted to continue the adventures we had our first year with amazing trips and easy days. I was surprised, excited, and scared. I was due with baby #4 in July and didn't know how i would homeschool her. In addition, my husband was back and forth between GA and NY for work so I didn't know what was going to happen. How could I homeschool just 1 child? What about my other 2 in school? Could I really go from no children at home to 4 at home? All of these questions however I decided to just start off with her and see where it went after that. We did GVA again which is now GCA--GA Cyber Academy. It was still very structured and was way more books this time around but it's a big help to me. After I work my 8 hr shift, I give Nala a list of things to do, maybe 2 hrs of stuff. She takes breaks in between by reading or having a snack. I take a 2 hr nap with my 4.5 month old son. When I get up we review her work and start new lessons. It may vary with me staying up for a little first and do a lesson or two and then going to sleep. Either way Nala works independently and does very well on her own.

Our experience isn't going quite how I wanted. I'm still having a problem with the socialization. We don't have money for activities right now. We did re join the group from 2 years ago but she still feels like a newbie and no one there is quite her age. I guess this is still a work in progress......we've done some trips but not like I want. I want more of the museums, art, history, and music that we were able to incorporate before. Have I once again made a mistake with this? Now my other 2 kids....I've brought up the topic of them coming home with us and they still want to be in school. They enjoy it. I've been thinking of what I can do. I have some ideas.

So with my husband finally home permanently and on my side, we have decided to bring the 2 girls in public school, Nina and Natasha home in January. We will have money for a few classes for them and are building a friendship with another homeschooling family their age.

I really think I can do this and I really want to make this work. Why blog? This is for me and my kids. To document our adventures in learning and to show them how much I love them.



Nala won 3rd place in her first Science Fair.
The Effects of Salt on the Temperature of Boiling Water.

April 16, 2008

So I finished my quarterly report and sending it off tomorrow. I had Nala tested in March using a CAT 5 test. I wanted to get an idea how she's doing. I felt like I wasn't doing enough however she tested 96% and on a grade level 3.6, her math was low, she did not finish the section....looking back I already knew this: I knew she was having a problems with math but we've been working on it daily. I knew she was well beyond first grade reading level because of the books she reads on her own. Nala has definitely improved with math. We have moved on to double digit addition and subtraction and she's doing well.

I've been working with Nina on reading and writing letters and numbers.

I just recently began working with Natasha on counting and colors.

Even though we don't do social studies, history, and geograpy in a structured way like I hear others do we read alot and that's where most of history comes from. Every now and then I may find a lesson on science and incorporate it into a history lesson or geography. I keep comparing myself to other parents and comparing my kids t0 other kids thinking we have to be similar to someone else but it's really what works for our family. My kids are great and doing really well in this homeschooling environment and I think I'm doing a good job teaching my kids.

MARCH 9, 2008

We officially pulled Nina out of preschool last week. So we're homeschooling 3 kids! wow....busy. I'm just trying to keep Nina really busy with activities and trips. She was used to doing alot in school and I know she really enjoyed it. With the activities that gets us out of the house 3 times a week I felt limited by some trips because it would end later in the day and I couldn't stay out as long because Nina needed to be picked up from school. I just wanted everyone to be together. I've been at this homeschooling thing for about 5 months now so although I don't consider myself a pro I am comfortable with attempting to school everyone. So Natasha isn't doing much, I'll read to her and pretty much let her watch some dvds while I'm working with the other two. I just haven't figured out a way to get her involved. She only sits still for a few minutes. I did pull out some of the Leap Frog learning dvds so now at least I can feel like she's really doing something. She does know how to count to 10 and 1-5 in spanish (Thanks Dora!)

I got Nina a kindergarten workbook that has reading, writing and math concepts and she really is enjoying it. We set up a space in the basement usually and I tell Nina to go through the book and pick out what she wants to do. Honestly she knows her letters, numbers and colors and shapes. The only next step right now is reading. We usually practice for about 10-15 minutes a day. I have these really simple books that present site words all thoughout the book. She even knows about 5 site words: I, go, no, like, cat...I think that's it for now. I try to assist her with writing her numbers since that's about the only other thing she can work on without me standing over her.

While Nina's doing her workbook Nala and I will do something....today we did some work, yes on a Saturday! We have been on trips the past 2 days and I wanted to be sure she knew the spelling words we've been doing all week (she does) as well as review time and the circulatory system. She's been interested in learning about Bill Cosby so for the past month (slowly but surely) we've been reading a book I have. After we take turns reading a couple of paragraphs (it's really a long book and we just highlight some important parts) Nala will write a few sentences about what we read. Today I pulled up some comedy, interviews from Bill Cosby on you tube as well as shorts from the Cosby show with Olivia (Raven Symone) Of course they loved this! They were laughing and making comments. I wish I thought of that sooner....you tube isn't so bad! We've been using it as a learning tool from time to time, even finding out how to play a german game we were researching.

Tuesday January 29, 2008

Monday was our Foreign Lands Club meeting. Nala decided she wanted to present games that children play in Germany. I was so proud of her, she presented it pretty much all by herself, with an introduction and description of how to play the games. They were actually really fun games, maybe we'll play them sometime.

At this class was the first time in 3 months that Nala really started talking to someone there. She asked to sit next to her and then I saw them talking after lunch. We were also able to stay to hang out and play outside which I'm sure helped. Nina was with us today and her and Nala talked and played with a couple of girls their age. I was really happy because it really seemed difficult getting to know people here but I realize it just takes time.

Today I tried an unschooling approach. Nala helped me clean the house. She enjoys cleaning the wall mirror (I never enjoyed that as a kid) and she liked cleaning the dust off of my walls as well as the windows. Both her and Natasha vaccumed as well. Nala helped out a little with cleaning the playroom and decided she wanted to write after coming across a story she wrote in school. She asked me to print out some lined paper with a box at the top so she could write a story. She sat down at the table in the playroom and wrote a story, asking me to spell words for her her once a while, I did as I finished up throwing out junk in the playroom. After lunch she watched tv while skating around the basement. She's been practicing skating backwards and doing really well. She asked me what am and pm meant and I besides just am for morning and pm for afternoon/night I really didn't know much more. So we looked it up on wikipedia and we talked about the definitions. (FYI: am, ante meridiem is latin for before noon and pm, post meridiem is latin for after noon. I didn't know that. cool. another plus for homeschooling. Even I learn things too.) After Nina came home from preschool, they skated some more, colored and drew while watching tv and we played monopoly jr before bed. (which is a really great game. It's fun and the kids get money they can count. Even Nina counts with the game. Natasha just grabs the dice and tries to throw it across the room)

I really didn't make a big deal about the tv and I will try to relax more with it and see what happens. I've been talking to others and reading blogs all weekend and everyone is saying tv will hit the back burner as the kids see that I'm not keeping it from them. In addition, I'm hoping they will find more interesting things around the house. Besides I have no problem with the actual programming. I love the Disney Channel. I even read to them, Nala asked to read and I almost let her but I realized I missed reading to them. Nala likes to read to everyone and I've been letting her but I decided we can all read books to each other.

Unschooling and some other thoughts...

I've been thinking about different styles of schooling. My style seems to be more electic, not like traditional school because I try to really allow Nala to decide the plan for the day however not like unschooling because we have a weekly spelling list with daily "tests", sentence writing and repeat writing of words. I read something recently on someone else's blog which is what made me re think styles again.



I love the whole idea of unschooling and child led learning. I have a general idea of what I would like to do with Nala but if we do other things instead I'm ok with that.....now (at one time I was not ok but I find myself getting more comfortable with it). I like taking our time on things such as the Charlottes Web lapbook and the human body lapbook we're working on.

What my problem has been some days is when Nala decides she doesnt want to do anything but watch tv all day long. I offer some reading time on some of her favorite books, perhaps playing a game she likes but the response to all are no. She wants to watch tv. How do I handle that? How would an unschooler handle that? Do they not have days like these?



I don't like to fight about doing work. I don't like to force my daughter to do work. If she doesnt want to do something I try to find out something she does want to do and go with that. I don't see any point in making her do something just because I want her to do it because she won't get anything from it if I force her. Learning is something I want to be done with enthusiasm and with love not with force and threats. However on these days that I mentioned where everything I suggest is brought down with a I don't want to do that, I want to watch tv, I feel like my only reaction would be "well you need to do something so lets see what that will be"...to allow her to watch tv all day long would not be a good decision in my opinion.



I spoke with a friend who is pretty much like me, electic, and she suggested that I should have Nala write about what she watches; what happened in the show, what problems came up and how problems were solved. It seemed like a good idea because instead of just zoning out in front of the tv (and helps me to feel like she's actually doing something on days she doesn't want to do anything) she's learning writing skills and practices handwriting. I mentioned it to an unschooler who thought it was a bad idea and could lead to resentment on my daughter's part. Nala actually enjoyed it the first few times. There have been a few times when she said she didn't want to do it but for the most part there didn't seem to be any problems. She does have times she can just watch tv for enjoyment so maybe that's why there haven't been more problems then there could have been.



My goal when I started homeschooling was to make this a really amazing experiencing for Nala. To allow her the decision to play an active role in her learning and present her with choices and activities that would interest her. I would try my best to go with her learning style and do the things that best fit what she liked. For instance, she told me she doesn't like doing math sheets. That was good to hear because I didn't like forcing her to do them. So I found that she liked to play Scrabble, dice games and "store" instead, so that's how we do math and it works for her, therefore it works for me and she's learning, I know she is.



I think for the most part she is learning what she needs to learn. I'm comfortable with allowing her to choose what she wants to do for the day, the week etc. however still trying to decide how much influence I should have when giving her the freedom of her education, afterall she's only 6.

SATURDAY JANUARY 26

The Sweet Honey in the Rock concert was really good. It was my first time seeing them live. I wish we had closer seats, I wish it lasted longer than an hour but I'm just so happy I got the see them. The kids got bored a little, I think because they were so far away but you could see they were interested every now and then. They sung along and clapped. It was a great experience. Sweet Honey's new album Experience 101 is for the kids with lots of soulful rhythms and history, definitely something we can use in our daily learning.

Thursday I met up with a new friend, someone I met in a homeschooling group. I brought over my 3 girls with her 2 boys and did "school". My friend has a different style than me, much more like traditional school. It wasn't bad, just different. She speaks Spanish and did songs, days of the week, colors all in Spanish with the kids. I really enjoyed that part and realized that although I don't speak Spanish fluently I know the basics and I can do the same thing with Nala because she is very interested in learning to speak Spanish. Originally I had something set up with another Spanish speaking mom to get together a couple times of week to have informal spanish lessons with her children however she was sick this week. We'll see if I make it out to see her.

Nala shared here Charlotte's Web lapbook that we've been creating while learning about spiders and pigs. She really does know alot about spiders and I know that came from her interest as well as taking alot of time reading and learning about spider body parts, pig body parts and some other facts.

Friday we finally made the recorder lessons at the Y. Nala really enjoyed it however she really needs to practice more because what I see happening is her not reading the music. I saw her writing the notes in with a pencil and I encouraged her to learn to read the music. I told her it will get easier once she practices every day but by writing the notes in is not a good idea because she won't learn how to read it. She listened and seemed to understand. I'll have to make more of an effort to remind her about practicing.