The Hatch School Diaries - Entry Four

Unschooling.  Yep.  Unschooling.

When we first started this whole homeschooling journey I thought unschooling sounded a bit too hippy.  My inner dialogue sounded a lot like....

"Let the children lead the learning.  You've lost your mind.  Seriously.

All they'll do all day is play on their Nook or watch you tube videos. 

Or play the Wii. 

Unschooling.  You've truly lost your mind."

And up until Christmas we shot ourselves out of a cannon and finished a reasonable amount of math and history for an entire school year in a mere four months.  That's while also keeping up with our reading, language arts, and science.  And travel soccer.  And church.  And.....And.....

How awesome are we?!?

Yep.  So Christmas has come.  And gone.  School is back in.  And we are incredibly unmotivated.

Over the past four months I pushed way too hard at first and then eased off to what felt acceptable.  It was that first two months that we accomplished way more than necessary before I realized it was too much.  And I relaxed.  Now, I am questioning the schedule.  Why do we need to get three point four math lessons in each week until April?  If we finish early, what do we do next?  Start next year early, and keep up the crazy?

What would happen if I let them explore?  Not laze about....but pursue interests.

They jumped at it.  Of course. 

And so the unschooling experiment is started.  I have given them this week to try it. 

Here's the funny thing.  Today, I had way more stuff to get done than time, and the youngest cried.  That we didn't make time enough to watch about Alexander the Great and he has to wait until tomorrow.  That he didn't get to learn more.  That caused tears.  Seriously.  Can you imagine? 

Hatch School Diaries - Entry Three

This morning it struck me that my favorite time of our homeschool day is the very beginning.  I procrastinate getting started every morning.  Need just one more cup of coffee.  Look through my plans.  Curl up under the quilt with the dog.  And finally realize we simply MUST get school started if we are to count it for a day.  So we gather on the couch.

And we pray.

At first we all went around saying things off the top of our heads.  The boys eventually ended up fighting over who got to go first because they tended to have the same prayers, but neither wanted to appear to be copying.  Now we say one thanksgiving, one plea for forgiveness, and one prayer.  So this morning, I was struck that despite all the hemming and hawing over starting our day, it really is one of the best parts of homeschool.  Today went as follows:

Patty -

Thanksgiving - A beautiful tree, home, and always for my family (I was looking at the tree all lit up just as we were starting.)
Forgiveness - Impatience and a lack of grace extended towards others
Prayer - Reminders of Christ's presence, guidance, and His love for those in need

Key -

Thanksgiving - Family and food (This prompted a talk about how a Liberian family we know of told our church that they eat when they have food; not when they are hungry.  We tried to imagine.)
Forgiveness - Being disobedient and disrespectful
Prayer - The military, Sadie our dog, and for a good day

Kelly -

Thanksgiving - Family, our dog Sadie, our tree (Kelly's favorite holiday by far is Christmas.  I cannot emphasize how much this kid loves all things Christmas.)
Forgiveness - Being mean to Key
Prayer - For the Liberian priest's family, and those going through bad lives, you know, those in darkness, Mom?

Last week we talked about Rwanda during prayer time.  It is the one point in the day when we take that pause to think outside ourselves, and we are grateful, and I would not have this if we weren't homeschooling.  Because of our prayer time each morning, I know my children's hearts like I have never known them before.  As much as we talked and I tried before homeschooling, being with my boys day in and day out changes things in a way I did not begin to picture.  I am truly grateful for this time with them. 

Oh, and we always end the prayer time with the Lord's Prayer.  (Vocabulary lesson for the day - why we say trespasses and why Presbyterians say debts.  We've been attending a Presbyterian Church.  Stepping out of our box.)

Mammograms

Yesterday I got up early, well, for me anyway, and went to the center where they squish your breasts and take pictures.  This being my first time and all, I was understandably nervous.  But once I got there, had the courage to drive over and walk through those glass doors, I was greeted by women.  That got it.  That knew this was my first time, and showed me kindness and grace.  And the nurse, she told me she knew what it was like to be me, because she had been in my spot.  Had gotten this same test done.  Had gotten the results that said come back.  Knew how I felt.  Her test had turned out fine in the end.  But her sister, well now, she had been battling cancer spreading for eleven years now.  When the sister first found out, she prayed to see her daughter graduate.  Now that daughter is twenty six and getting ready to graduate.  For good.  So the sister is nervous about the answered prayer that has been honored all these eleven years. Is it all, this fight, going to end?  I told my nurse that God answers so much more abundantly than what we even know to ask for.  Who knows the days on Earth or hairs on her sister's head?  And she said yes. 

The sister has survived with this cancer ridden body for so long because of experimental testing and drugs.  She has been the guinea pig for any study they accept her to.  Her reason?  If they can learn something from her own struggles, it might help her daughter one day.  So she keeps signing up and she keeps pressing on.  I ask my nurse if her sister has had quality in those eleven years?  And she said yes.

The weight has come and gone and come and gone.  Along with the hair.  But most of the time, yes, it has been good.  Not easy.  Worth it.

I got back in my car and I started driving home, and suddenly tears sprang up, and I couldn't figure out why.  Until I thought back and I realized how many women have died being the help for the next woman to fight the fight.  Never before had it struck me so intimately how much these women sacrifice so that I can have the better chance, the better treatment, the better quality drugs.  So to all those that fight in any form - not just for second base:) - thank you.  Truly.

Hatch School Diaries - Entry Two

My laundry had overtaken the hallway, so it just gets even dirtier as the temporary backdoor floor mat.  The bed is unmade and the clock reads 6:29......pm.  My dining room is school central, hence any entertaining is done in the kitchen until further notice or college acceptance.  I have hung exactly one picture in my whole house and three windows are still uncovered for all peeping toms interested. 

I absolutely love homeschool.  Love it.  I keep asking Key if he is getting more out of school now, and then I look at him waiting for what has a correct answer.  He figured that trick out early, so he always says that why yes, homeschool is much more indepth in its learning.  I have no idea what the true answer is, but I do know that we feel productive, and so far this is what we have accomplished:

In 28 days we have.......

Kelly -
Learned to read simple books
Gets the hang of word families with short vowel sounds. 
Finished twenty pages of phonics
Read seven books in whole on his own
Completed box one of The Bob Books
Made 40 or 50 word flashcards which he practices several times a week
Copied page after page of words, sentences, dates, and favorites stories
Currently copying his reader b/c Key copied the Declaration of Independence (Kelly cannot be outdone)
Finished fifty math lessons
Made flashcards for addition facts through his twos
Listened to lots of history books
Listened to Johnny Tremain on CD
Illustrated 11 out of the 13 episodes of The Revolution on Netflix
Dictated four pages of knowledge about the colonists
Labeled our map of the 13 colonies
Dated the first half of our timeline for the Rev. War
Helped make Johnny cakes
Designed a farm out of building blocks
Visited Brattonsville
Visited Augusta's Rev. War sites, including George Walton's house
Designed and created a boat out of recycled materials
And that's off the top of my head.

Key -
Read Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
Read Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Read Indian Captive by I can't remember
Completed two of the three book reports
Tested out of or completed 45 math lessons
Practiced math facts
Played on Khan Academy
Copied the Declaration of Independence
Learned how to diagram subjects, predicates, predicate nominatives, and articles
Written a blog entry on his knowledge of colonial life
Taken notes for 11 of the 13 episodes of The Revolution on Netflix
Listened to lots of history books
Read lots of history books
Described events for the first half of our timeline for the Rev. War
Visited Brattonsville
Visited Augusta's Rev. War sites, including George Walton's house
Designed and created a boat out of recycled materials
And that's also just off the top of my head.

But what's even bigger than all that stuff I listed, is that at the heart of this adventure, we are getting to know each other.  I know so much more about their learning styles, what makes them click, how beautifully they are becoming young men, what frightens them, what their desires are, what they pray about, who they have become and how much I hadn't noticed until now.  I am finding also how much I do not know about so many things, and I am learning with excitement and anticipation about math and science and history.  Our world is fascinating and until now I had not taken the time to truly explore it.  And wow!

What is hardest is letting go of public school and all its trappings.  Its standards and its resources and its schedule and its order.  Those things feel safe, but outside that safety is this experience that our family is living into.  Today we looked through their yearbook from last year.  I miss those kids and those people.  But I don't miss that day.  The one that starts early and frantic and stressful and involves me turning the boys over to others and exhaustion by Thursday afternoon.  So letting go is my theme.  And it is harder than just the physical act of walking away.  I am, in essence, deschooling my brain. 

But homeschooling/ unschooling/ schooling is turning out to be one of God's greatest blessings to me so far.  We'll reevaluate come those long cold days of February:)....

Hatch School Diaries - First entry

For those of you that said you wished you could be a fly on the wall of my house when I announced our decision to homeschool....

The Hatch School Diaries

We have logged thirteen days, (we need 180 each year) and none have been exactly the same, but generally, for those curious, a homeschool day so far goes as follows:

9am - We begin.  Breakfast has been eaten, beds made, teeth brushed.  I have had at least one cup of coffee and possibly taken a walk.  Possibly.

We meet at the dining room table and start with prayers.  All of us take turns offering up our praises and requests, then we recite the Lord's Prayer or I say a simple prayer to get us moving.  (I had to put a stop to the daily request for more Legos.  That was my little Kelly's constant heart's desire.)

After prayers, math is first; This just felt natural to all of us.  At 10 o'clock we take a short break, then move into language and reading.  That carries us until noonish.  Break.  I make lunch and they go run around outside, do their soccer drills, or play legos.

By 1pm we are sitting in the living room where we listen to a book on cd that Key is reading.  It relates to our history unit, so Kelly gets information from listening as well.  Then on to history, which is currently colonial times and the Revolutionary War.  They have assignments to do and I assist with each as needed.  Around three we tie things up and turn our house back into a dining room and living room.  I have a closet, a big wooden tray, a stack of books, and a portable bin to help us attempt at containing clutter. 

I collected my school lessons from a variety of places - stores, used book sales, friends, and online.  I have found tons of great resources are free on the computer once I get to digging.  The library has become a staple for us at least once a week.  I chose various curriculum from advice of friends, teachers, and veteran homeschoolers.  Some of it I like; some of it is getting scrapped as soon as I find a better alternative. 

For the social aspect and special interest classes, we have lots of options.  There are two support groups here in town and four total in my county alone.  I haven't researched them to tell you details, but some do play dates, field trips, etc.  Some do weekly teaching co-ops and prayer groups.  We will pick one eventually.  The boys both play soccer and are out at the fields four or five days a week.  We have neighbors with children, and we have friends from school last year that have made a point of coming over to visit.  For music and art, those will be incorporated into their education as we get more comfortable.  So far they have been listening to Bach during math, and will read about him this week.  I also have planned crafts for both of them, but for truly educational art, we will probably do more further into fall. 

Also, you'll notice I have left out science.  No worries.  I decided to try concentrating on either history or science, but not both at the same time.  So first a history unit, then a science unit.  The two overlap at times and we will certainly let that happen naturally.  For the year we have four units for each subject ahead of us, and the Revolutionary War unit has proven fascinating.  Next up will be a unit focusing on biology.

If you ask the boys, they are happy - really, and while I am a bit overwhelmed with all to be done, I love having the time with my children.  I know not everyone has this opportunity, and I am grateful a million times a day for mine. 

And p.s. - It is wonderful, but we are not perfect.  Things go differently than planned all the time.  Today we made Johnny Cakes for afternoon snacks, and I just about set off all the smoke alarms.

Any more questions?  Ask away!  I'll try to answer all that I can.

Worshipping Air

We moved.  To the most precious town this side of heaven.  Sorry, I know that's cheesy, but we are still the newbies and are completely enamored with the growing season and the farms and the food and the people here.  My new favorite person is this little old lady with dentures that I met at church last Sunday that told me if I sat next to her at the potluck, she promised I wouldn't leave wonderin'.  Town is a five minute walk and farm country is a one minute drive in the opposite direction.  We are the third to last house before the sidewalk ends, so either way, you get to go somewhere.  And it really is beautiful here.  Green.  Trees.  Flowers.  Interesting historic homes with porches.  Southern homes.  Old trucks.  New trucks.  Lots of trucks.  Churches.  One two doors down and across the street and one on the other side of the neighbors on the right.  And land.  Land in every direction, just about.  You could call it God's country, could easily hear Him breathing there.

So...Yesterday I was driving home in my newly repaired vehicle through a not so attractive part of a city near us.  We go to the city for big stuff and for things like a CarMax car warranty.  So when we hit it, the edge of the city, and we kept driving in, my oldest leaned forward. 

And he said. 

Mom, we don't fit here.  And it is, I don't know.  Just.  I don't fit.

And what he meant was that the place was run down and ugly and tumbling and had weeds all over but no trees and lots of empty strips of stores ran together and it just looked like a place of little hope.

Made me appreciate our new home and big yard and the tree lined sidewalk into town.  A place where my boys can roam and wrestle with the neighbor's dogs and swing on ropes hanging from trees.  A place that for us, offers new hope after a long hard haul.

And then, I thought of a dinner we went to once where I had to explain God to a group of Hindu women.  And they told me about the Catholics in India that were surely more serious than me.  They worshipped nothing.  No statue or picture of their God.  They worshipped air.

Air.

And I thought, God, He floats even in a place looking like little to no hope.  In places where a picture or a statue or a fancy replica would not belong.

May not be my version of heaven.  My pretty new house with my quiet corner and grass growing in the proper places.  My place to breathe Him in.

But God, well, He still floats there.  Just on the edge of the city.

Just like He floats near me.

(And He floats in India too.)

Settling in York - hopefully

Helen of Troy and Joey of Friends (Troy and Joey) are cutting through the side of my current residence.  I can feel the vibrations of the saw on my feet as I sit inside my hopefully permanent home.  And oh, how I pray this is it.  We really like it here.  No more moving from house to house, touring the potential of places but not seeing it all into actual reality.  We want to get to stay to use this house.  Fit into it.  Pare down our things.  Make it simple, uncluttered (except for the boys' rooms), beautiful.  Our new beginning in this old city. 

This house sits in downtown York.  Besides moving home to be near Mom and Dad, York is the best place on Earth.  At least, for me it is.  We can walk everywhere if we want, or we can drive and get there faster.  A trip across town?  Five minutes.  Fifteen walking.  Restaurants (a chicken BLT pita slathered in ranch dressing to die for), a theatre, flowers, gifts, outdoor store, antiques, churches, etc., all just down the street.  A very pretty street, at that.

And how could I not mention Walmart, one of only two choices for groceries?  Walmart?  Why yes please.  Boys got their haircut there just yesterday while we talked to the sweetest young couple that had come into the city from Hickory Grove, a place too small for its own stoplight, much less its own Walmart.  When we left, I saw them walking around the store still holding hands.  Ahh, you have to love Walmart and young love.  (I would like to find a local barber in support of small business, but Miss Ann at the Smartstyles captured my boys' attention, so we may be going to Walmart for awhile longer.)

And the people.  Oh, so welcoming.  So kind.  So willing to let us make York our home.  We haven't found that everywhere.  Feeling accepted so early on truly is a blessing not all towns give.  Our neighbors?  Two Texas ladies with British accents in the big yellow house on the left and a family with their three youngest out of twelve still living at home on the right.  The ones on the right cut our grass and feed our kids almost every day.  I'm going to have to go back to Walmart soon to restock their juice box fridge they leave open on their porch.  (I told my boys not to go up there without permission, but Miss Debbie told them to have all they want, so you can guess who they keep listening to.) 

So, back to you, Helen of Troy and Joey of Friends, please do a good job on that side of my house so that we (being Michael) can actually buy it once and for all.  Like I have said already, I really like it here.