The Plan

What a misnomer of a blog title! The truth is, there is less plan and more ideas or goals.

How long are you going to homeschool?
We will commit to one year at a time, no more, no less. We will continue to do so, reevaluating our situation, personal goals and individual children's needs each and every year when deciding what to do that year.

What curriculum are  you doing?
I am doing what I like to call "unschooling with structure" which pretty much means that we will decide on monthly and yearly goals for what the kids and I want to accomplish this year. We will do a LOT of field trips (even a trip to the grocery store can be pretty educational if you pay attention and do it right), a lot of science experiments (Magic School Bus and Pinterest found) and a lot of reading and math (with games, novels, and probably GASP worksheets). I am also looking into Story of the World on CD so we can listen in the car for history, and maybe an online educational software like Time4Learning or similar.

Will you have a set time for learning?
In a nutshell, no. All time will be for learning, but no time will be set for learning.

What are you going to do to make sure your kids aren't weird homeschooling kids? (this was an actual question from a teacher friend of mine)
I don't have to do anything. We will continue to foster friendships that my kids have made with both homeschooling and public schooling friends, they will learn how to interact with new people in every day situations because they will actually be in these every day situations, they will learn to speak to adults with interest instead of fear because they will see them as peers instead of authority figures, they will be enrolled in enrichment classes (art, dance, sports, theater, swim team, music) as they find interest in these activities. They will have the time and freedom to play like kids, explore their own individuality and interests and best of all, their clothes, speech, appearance, interests, expressions, and beliefs won't be stifled or squelched by the arbitrary rules of an institution. So I ask, what are you doing to make sure your students aren't being institutionalized?

What are you doing with your younger children while you teach your older one?
I have three kids, ages 6, 4, and 20 months. The two younger will be in a mother's day out program twice a week so I will have that unrestricted focused time with my son. However, I hope that the two  younger will learn with the older! It's a family affair! Oliver is already teaching Henley her letters, and reading her books at night and teaching her simple math, which she somehow recalls and recites to us.

Do you have questions for us?

Public to Home

My son, Oliver, asked if he could wear his superhero cape again after a year of it being tucked away in a bin of dress up clothes. I almost burst into tears.

You see, capes aren't allowed in public school - not even if it is some sort of special superhero dress up day - it's too distracting. My five year old, who had been wearing a cape every single day for the past two years, had to put such childish things behind him when we entered him into public Kindergarten last fall. It was not our first, second, or even third choice, but it was the only choice we had at the time. I was finishing my lactation consultant prerequisites and had not even enough time for my own studies, much less the studies of my three young children. And so, we enrolled him, last minute, in our local elementary school located a 5 minute walk away from our house.

The good: he learned how to read, to write, to do simple addition and subtraction, and he made a few friends that stuck up for him when kids were mean. All in all, it was a good school year, and a successful one. He found a love for art that we never knew existed and he was never in trouble.

The bad: he would  meltdown every day after school, fight with his siblings, kick and hit me on the way home from school, and fight homework tooth and nail. I felt like the course work was a bit stringent, and we stopped requiring he do it months before school ended. His teacher and I never really got along. There were words back and forth for months, and she had terrible grammar and spelling. I mean, for a person, not just a teacher.

All of this would have been tolerable,  and we would have just chalked it up to a bad teacher and hoped for better next year, but the kicker was this: Oliver begged to be homeschooled.

So, the adventure begins.