A Homeschool Journey, Part 13: Extracurriculars

I mentioned in the last post of this series, Beyond the Elementary Years that extracurricular activities were a big part of our life. These pursuits served several purposes. First, they provided an opportunity for our children to be with other kids their age, and gave them experience with people of all ages. Second, extracurriculars were a means of exploring interests and participating in group activities that we simply couldn't do at home. And third, extracurricular activities enriched our children's learning experience with skills and opportunities that helped prepare them for success in life. Some of these activities were quite expensive; others cost less. All of them were worth the sacrifice in time and money.

First of all, there was church. Our kids went to church on Sunday morning, Sunday evening and, whenever possible, Wednesday evening. Here they attended Sunday School, Bible Club, and worship services. They learned to participate in worship from an early age and, as they got older, used their talents to serve the Lord -- singing in choir, running the sound system, helping with Vacation Bible School, or serving as ushers. They made friends, learned about the Bible, and had fun!

Our girls took ballet, beginning at age five. They didn't attend a recital school, where time was spent learning dances to be performed in costumes purchased by the parents. The schools they went to were serious schools of classical ballet. They started with one class on Saturday mornings, but as they got older and more advanced, they were attending class more and more frequently. They danced in a beautiful production of The Nutcracker each year (see my post The Nutcracker Years), and attended summer intensives with major ballet companies in other cities. They studied with master teachers who trained many of today's principal dancers in professional companies around the world. And they met, and danced with, some of those dancers. The girls learned grace and confidence, artistry and discipline, while developing strong bodies. Ballet may look like a delicate art, but those dancers have some serious muscles!

Our oldest son studied fencing for many years. It all started with an interest in King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. When he found out that "sword fighting" was actually a sport, his eyes lit up. Just about that time, we saw an advertisement in our local homeschool support group's newsletter for fencing classes. Naturally, we decided to investigate this activity and, after a class or two, he was hooked. He competed in a few local tournaments and did well. Then we met a former Olympic coach, who took an interest in him and agreed to teach him privately. This eventually led to us opening our own fencing academy, where our other kids learned the sport as well, with people of all ages. Our son competed in more tournaments, and participated in several national competitions. He even spent one summer in Atlanta, Georgia, studying with fencers from the U.S. Olympic team. Fencing taught our son discipline, focus, and confidence.

All three of our boys participated in Boy Scouts. The oldest didn't start until he was in 6th grade, but the two youngest ones started with Tiger Scouts and went the whole way through high school. One of the boys even attained the rank of Eagle Scout. They went camping every month, learning important skills and a love of the outdoors. Each year they participated in the Barefoot Mailman hike -- a 35-mile trek along the beach, commemorating the route of 19th-century mail carriers in South Florida. They learned to train for physical exertion, to pack only what was necessary, and to endure hardship. And they learned the sense of accomplishment that comes with achieving a goal. Boy Scouts taught them patriotism. It taught them to serve others. And it taught them leadership.

Two of our children were exceptionally talented, artistically. They enjoyed drawing and crafts from an early age and, even though I had some training in art myself, we thought they might enjoy taking art classes. After a little research, I found out about classes at our local art museum. So every Saturday morning, for eight years, we took them downtown for lessons in drawing and painting, taught by master teachers. They learned drawing and oil paining from life, rather than photographs -- still life, landscapes, and figure drawing from live nude models (yes, in high school!). And at the end of each class, the students would critique each other's work -- as they do in college and graduate school. They spent their summers working in top-notch studios, learning from expert teachers. And when our daughter went to college, she had a summer job as a teaching assistant in the school where she had learned from the best. Those teachers have, since then, established a new school, FAT Village Center for the Arts, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in serious art instruction.

For our military-minded child, we got involved in the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps. Click on the link to see a promotional video, and you may catch a glimpse of our son! In Sea Cadets, our son gained military knowledge and had many adventures. He attended USNSCC Recruit Training, and traveled to other states for advanced training, such as field operations, master-at-arms training, and Petty Officer Leadership Academy. He learned fire fighting and damage control, marksmanship, land navigation, SCUBA, and survival skills. He trained with the Coast Guard, flew in a Black Hawk, and spent a weekend sailing from Norfolk, Virginia to Fort Lauderdale, Florida on the USS Iwo Jima. And the list goes on! As he progressed in rank, he was given more responsibility until he was leading his division of over 100 cadets. In Sea Cadets, our son developed his natural gift for leadership. He learned how to more effectively interact with others. But most important, he learned the true meaning of Honor, Courage, and Commitment.

Our children participated in other activities outside of "school", but these were the ones that impacted their lives the most. They truly enriched our homeschooling experience.

Stay tuned for my final post of A Homeschool Journey!







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Hello Summer!

This morning I woke up to see these lovely little rain lilies cheerfully blooming -- the summer rains have begun! As another school year comes to a close, it's time to think about my plans for the next few months. Every year, I make a list of projects I hope to complete. And every year, the summer flies by with only a few things checked off. But if I don't make any plans at all, then nothing will get done! At least this way, I will (hopefully) accomplish something, and have some fun, too! So without further ado, here is a list of ideas I have for summer:

• Revisit the list I made back in September in my post, Come Along With Me. Now that berries are in season and more reasonably priced, perhaps I'll try making those mini fruit tarts!
• Lose ten pounds. Last week I started working on this, as described in my post, Going on a Diet. I found the four-day jumpstart very difficult to do this time. The first time I did it, I was pretty run down by the last day. But this time, I had absolutely no energy and just felt drained the first three days. By the fourth day, I was feeling a little better. Perhaps part of the problem was eliminating caffeine  (I do like my coffee and tea!). I certainly wouldn't recommend doing this jumpstart when one has a lot of physical work to do! But I am happy to report that I lost 2 pounds during those four days. Now on to phase two!
• Start walking again. My husband and I used to walk 2 1/2 miles several days a week, but with his busy work schedule we haven't kept up with it lately. I suspect that has something to do with our weight gain. So now that school is out and he has more time, we want to get back into our exercise routine. 
• Finish tiling the master bathroom. This project was started last summer, and we just haven't gotten it finished yet. We are using larger tiles than we used in our guest bathroom, and they are heavier and harder to work with.  But if we keep plugging away at it, I am confident we can complete the job!
• Work on baking the perfect loaf of bread. This is something I have attempted from time to time and, for some reason, I usually do it in the summer. I know what I am aiming for -- a healthy, flavorful bread with a tender crumb and a crispy, but not hard, crust. I have made some delicious loaves, but I still haven't come up with that elusive ideal. I will be working with recipes from Peter Reinhart's books Artisan Breads Every Day: Fast and Easy Recipes for World-Class Breads, and The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread as well as In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker's Odyssey by Samuel Fromartz. I may even look up Kathleen Weber's Della Fattoria Bread: 63 Foolproof Recipes for Yeasted, Enriched & Naturally Levened Breads, or Nancy Silverton's Breads from the La Brea Bakery: Recipes for the Connoisseur. How can you eat bread while on a diet, you ask? The secret is in portion control -- plain and simple.
• Do something creative each day. Whether it's drawing, painting, sewing, or playing my flute, I would like to make art, even if it's only for 15 minutes (which may be all I can squeeze in after doing all these other things!). 
• Spend time with my sweet husband. He is my best friend and the love of my life. It's always nice to have him home for the summer!

This is certainly not a comprehensive list, but a sampling of what is on my agenda for summer. What plans do you have for the months to come?

A Homeschool Journey, Part 12: Beyond the Elementary Years

In my last installment of this series, Our Homeschool Grows, I shared our commitment to continue this journey through high school. The elementary years had flown by with our first child, and by this point, we had five children. As the oldest was going into seventh grade, the youngest was two. Some people refer to this as the "terrible twos", but I like to call it the "terrific twos". We always enjoyed our kids at this age. They were full of curiosity and fun! Be that as it may, it was a challenge to juggle everything. But the children had learned the routine and knew that they were to get started on independent studies, and I would work with each one individually in turn. We would go over their work, and rework any math problems they had missed. We would go over phonograms and spelling words, and any other assignments they had. About mid-morning, we took a break for a walk around the neighborhood and a snack. The littlest ones played while I worked with the older ones, but I made sure that I spent time with them, too. They were eager to "do school" like their older siblings, so we did special, age-appropriate activities together while the big kids did their math. After lunch, we would read stories on the sofa, and the little ones took naps.

As the children progressed, we gradually added more text books and more good literature to their curriculum. We knew what courses were required for college admittance, and we planned accordingly. Some of the books we used were geared to Christians, and some were secular. We used what we felt were the best materials available to teach the subject at hand. Even though our reason for homeschooling was largely based on religious convictions, we wanted our kids to get the best education we could provide. Sometimes, the books available from Christian publishers were just not the best. One chemistry book we tried went overboard with "Christianizing" its material, giving a gospel presentation right in the middle of an explanation of atomic structure. We scrapped that one and went with a secular book that proved to be a better choice. Our belief was that God created math and science, and we didn't feel it was necessary to teach addition by counting the disciples' sandals or how many jugs of water Jesus turned into wine!

Each child was different, and each had his or her own special interests, as well as difficulties. We made it our goal to encourage those interests and to help each child overcome challenges. So while some aspects of their education were the same, others were not. Adjustments were made in curriculum to meet their needs. And extracurricular activities were a big part of our life.

Next up: A Homeschool Journey, Part 13: Extracurriculars

Going on a Diet

About five or six years ago, my husband and I decided to go a diet. Too many chips and too little exercise had resulted in too many pounds. They had crept up on us slowly. And before we knew it our clothes were too tight, his back was bothering him, and walking up a flight of stairs was becoming increasingly strenuous for me. Something had to be done. So together, we resolved to lose the extra weight. That Christmas, before consuming a large dinner with all the fixings and a few Christmas cookies, I opened a gift from my husband: The Flat Belly Diet Cookbook by Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass. We started on New Year's Day.

The first 65 pages explain the diet and how it works. In a nutshell, you eat three 400-calorie meals and one 400-calorie snack each day, making sure that you have "a MUFA with every meal". "MUFAs" are monounsaturated fatty acids -- those good-for-you, plant-based fats found in things like olives, avocados, nuts, seeds, legumes, and -- get this -- chocolate! The book has many delicious recipes, as well as helpful information like serving sizes and calorie counts. The authors start you out with a four day anti-bloat jumpstart, which does take some willpower to stick with. But after those first four days, in which we lost a few pounds to start the momentum, the food we ate didn't leave us feeling deprived at all. In fact, it was quite delicious, and healthy to boot! We changed our eating habits completely, and our efforts were successful. My husband gradually lost over 50 pounds, and I lost 15. We both achieved a healthy weight and started walking several times a week. My clothes fit me again, my husband's back stopped hurting, and he bought a whole new wardrobe in a size he hadn't worn since before I knew him. 

Lately, however, we have been careless in our eating, and we haven't gone walking much lately. Sometimes life just happens. As a result, the pounds have begun to sneak up on us again. Just a few, but enough for us to notice. On Friday I got all the groceries I need for the four day jumpstart (pictured above), and today we started with day one, determined to get back on track. It won't take us long to reach our goals, and this time I know we can do it! 

Come back again  for a progress report!

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!