A Homeschool Journey, Part 11: Our Homeschool Grows

As the years went by, our family increased in size. And so did our school. As our students progressed through the grades, we made adjustments to our curriculum. And as we added students, a routine was established that seemed normal to us. One thing we knew for sure: This was what God wanted us to do. We never had the opinion that homeschooling was every parent's mandate, but it was our mission. And what had started out as a solution to a negative situation became something we did because it was so good for our family. We were committed for the long haul. And we began planning our strategy for teaching our children all the way through high school. But before I get ahead of myself, let me just address the elementary grades.

Our experiment with unit studies had been a success, and we continued with the Konos Character Curriculum, described in  A Homeschool Journey, Part 10: A New Approach to Learning, for another year or two. There was even a year when we were involved in a co-op with several homeschooling families at our church who got together on a regular basis for learning activities. What Konos really taught us, though, was how to learn. We discovered that the simplest thing could become an educational experience. And that discovery led to some fascinating pursuits. For example, one day the kids found some exotic birds that had escaped from a neighbor's screen porch. When they returned the birds to their owner, she gave them a beautiful lovebird. Before we knew it, our daughter was hand raising Danish violet lovebirds. The interest in birds continued, and my husband and the kids used their math skills to assist in building a loft for a flock of pretty white racing pigeons. They would take the pigeons miles away, release them, and anxiously await their return. The lessons the children learned, from math to biology, history, geography, woodworking, and responsibility, to name a few, were things that aren't learned in your typical elementary school classroom. When a child expressed an interest in something, we would try to find a way to encourage that interest and to facilitate learning. And God always provided just what we needed at just the right time.

With five children at varying levels, juggling schoolwork was something I had to manage daily. Once a child was able to read, he or she could work independently on certain subjects. The older children learned to begin their work while I gave my attention to the younger ones, and I would spend time with each child individually through the day. Curriculum adjustments were made to fit the needs of our family and each child. And while some kids used a different approach for this subject or that, we used The Writing Road to Reading and Miquon Math with all of them, transitioning to Saxon Math in upper elementary grades. Saxon's incremental approach and constant review were highly effective, as the children's test scores proved. And so we continued on our journey, determined to never give up.

To be continued in part 12 of this series!

Mom

She was 42 when I was born. She was a preacher's wife, a mother of five, a Sunday school teacher, church clerk, chalk talk artist, and Girl Scout leader. She sang alto, and sometimes she would sit down at the piano and play "What a Friend We Have in Jesus". Mom loved birds and wildflowers and passed her appreciation for nature on to me. And even though she occasionally threatened to "wring the cat's neck", I have a sneaking suspicion, based on the fact that no neck-wringing ever actually took place, that she loved our furry friends, too.

On Sunday mornings, Mom would be up early, peeling potatoes and preparing a beef roast for the oven so that it would be ready when we came home from church. And on Sunday afternoons, she usually made some kind of dessert -- a cake or apple crisp or gingerbread with lemon sauce. She made our home a comfortable, welcoming place. To Mom, people were more important than things. She always welcomed visitors and made everyone feel at home.

 Mom was able to turn hand-me-down dresses with worn out sleeves into stylish jumpers, or combine pieces of two different garments to fashion a new look. She crocheted baby booties and afghans and taught me how to crochet a scarf when I was young. And she created a whole wardrobe of Barbie clothes one Christmas, although Barbie's wedding dress never got completed as a result of my poor timing on a bad case of chicken pox!

Being the youngest of five children, and a great deal younger than some of my siblings, my experience and relationship with Mom was probably somewhat different than theirs. As long as I can remember, Mom had gray hair. As she got older, those salt and pepper strands grew more beautiful,  becoming a shining crown of silver. Her style changed from simple cotton house dresses to pastel skirts and jackets, but no matter what she wore, Mom always looked lovely.

After my brothers and sisters were married and Dad had passed away, it was just Mom and me. We would go shopping together in search of the perfect outfit for some special occasion, always an exhausting experience since she always seemed to be looking for something that she couldn't find. We would search through the mall for the elusive outfit, then usually proceed to one or two other shopping centers before finding what she wanted. Sometimes we would end up at the fabric shop, choosing patterns and material to make a satisfactory alternative. And then we would go out for supper and enjoy each other's company as well as the food.

Mom could be serious, and Mom could be silly. But she was always kind-hearted. She touched many lives in her 80 years on Earth, teaching, serving, caring, loving, and being a true example of a  godly Christian woman. Mom is in Heaven now, singing alto in the heavenly choir. And bringing smiles to everyone she meets.

A Homeschool Journey, Part 10: A New Approach to Learning

It was the beginning of our third year of homeschooling. We had completed kindergarten and first grade with great success (You can read about our second year in Part 9), and I was confident in my ability to teach my own children. I could see the benefits of learning at home for the student, but also for the teacher and, ultimately, the family! The kids were able to spend time together that ordinarily would not have been possible. And I enjoyed being with them, as well. With several children at different ages, I could see the difficulty that could arise once they were all in school. The concept of multi-level learning made a great deal of sense. Rather than having multiple children at different grade levels studying separate topics, we could all learn together as a family. What a concept! Naturally, the older children would dig into a subject more deeply than the younger ones, but the younger kids would learn the topic more thoroughly than they otherwise would as a result of working with their older siblings.

The freedom that homeschooling afforded led me to explore the idea of unit studies. And so began a new approach to school. We invested in the Konos Character Curriculum by Carole Thaxton and Jessica Hulcy and prepared for the year to come. I stapled a laminated timeline to the wall of the long hallway in our mobile home -- BC on one side, a cross above the door at the end, and AD on the other side. To this, we would add characters and events as we learned about them. Konos is a Christian elementary unit study curriculum that teaches Bible, science, social studies, art, music, literature, health and safety, writing composition, and practical living by studying biblical character traits. It is full of hands-on activities that encourage discovery and independent thinking. It also requires a good deal of planning and preparation on the part of the teacher. It is not a curriculum for mothers who want to hand their children text book assignments and be free to do their housework. Konos activities can be messy. But they can be great fun!

Wednesday was "Konos day", when we would do the messy activities. And on those days, we would not work on math, phonics, or spelling. Those were separate subjects that we did the other four days of our school week, along with some less messy Konos-related assignments. Wednesdays were just for the fun stuff! But oh, the things we learned! Even the preschool children could be involved in our school. We were cultivating a curiosity and love of learning in our kids. And before long, they discovered that if they could convince Mom and Dad that something would be "an educational experience", we were all for it! Despite only doing "school work" four days a week, springtime standardized testing proved, once again, that our efforts were succeeding. Our second grader had advanced two more grade levels in aptitude. She was reading beyond a sixth grade level, and the challenge now became one of finding age-appropriate books at her reading level. Our experiment with unit studies was enlightening. Konos had been a success.

Be sure to come back for Part 11 of A Homeschool Journey!