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At Hill Prep we are gearing up for another year of teaching little girls at home. This year Mary Anneliese is going to be in third(ish) grade and Patterson is two. Now that we have finished two years of educating at home, I feel like we will be making a few changes for the coming year.

Patterson is now old enough that she is no longer content to watch movies and color while we “do” school. She wants to be involved. And so I will step up the activities I have her do while we are doing MA’s lessons. Pitter Patter will get her own books from the library, and we will do corresponding art projects. She will be involved in her little music class again (sort of a Kindermusik-type class done at our church), and this year she will start a Mommy and Me gymnastics class. She will still be involved in a missions class at church on Wednesday nights and church on Sunday mornings. The rest of her time will be spent playing, napping, eating, and doing whatever else her two-year-old heart desires. I have tried very hard to keep her engaged in learning without overscheduleing her time.

Now, for Big Sister. We are starting on our third year of home schooling MA, and I have finally begun to relax a little. In the past I have felt the need to prove (by mountains of worksheets and projects which I have stored and can pull out at any moment) that we are indeed learning something. I felt like over-documentation was a necessity. The problem is, no one ever really needed to see all that work. I was just wasting time that we could have spent reading or taking lessons of some sort or writing creative stories. This year I will change things a little.

We will still do plenty of school work. However, I have given my girls much more freedom to choose their extra-curricular activities, and they have chosen many. I’m okay with that. Mary Anneliese is doing a ballet class two days per week. She began gymnastics today, and it is her new favorite thing! She will do soccer in the fall and spring and cheerleading in the winter. We will again do choir and missions class on Wednesday nights at church. It’s definitely going to be a busy year, but I can’t wait for it all to start.

But we will do school work, too! And lots of it. For those of you who are interested in our curricula specifics, here we go…

Math: We have a few lessons to finish in Saxon 3rd Grade, and then we will start Saxon 54. There are differing opinions on Saxon. Some people think it’s too boring because it’s so straight-forward and the worksheets are plain black type on a white page with no illustrations. That happens to be exactly why I love it. It is very teachable and very learnable. Since it is spiral, it repeats concepts throughout the year so that the student doesn’t forget them. The worksheets are indeed plain, but MA gets distracted by too much fluff. If I give her a page with pictures, she will spend fifteen minutes talking about the pictures before she ever starts on the math problems. The to-the-point Saxon pages work well for us.

Bible: Last year we read Genesis-Joshua straight out of the Bible. We used The Message translation so that MA could understand it better. Our daily format was for me to read aloud while she followed along in her Bible. She was free to interrupt at any time and ask questions. I stopped often to make sure she understood the deeper meanings of scripture. At the end of the reading we talked about why the passage was important, how we could apply it, what God was trying to show us, etc. I wouldn’t trade that time with her in the Word for anything. It was one of my favorite, most special things we did. This year we will pick up in Judges and go through maybe Job. We’ll see how far we get. Since MA has not made a profession of her faith in Jesus, we will also use a workbook called Now That I’m A Christian that our church provides. It discusses several elements of the Christian life and why they are important.

History: I’m a big, big fan of Story of the World. We will start Volume Three this year, which will take us from the Renaissance through the early modern times. I use the activity book that goes along with it for discussion questions, maps, extra reading suggestions, narration, and other activities. I make my tests from the review questions. We usually read one chapter each week aloud, then I have MA read it the next day by herself, we do review questions, maps, and narration. On Friday we do our history test. This format works well for us and she has always done well in history. We usually check out DVDs from the library that go along with each week’s lesson, and we look for story books that reinforce what we are learning.

Reading: We are frequent visitors to our library. We go at least once, sometimes twice, weekly. I don’t allow a lot of “fluff” reading, but rather require most chapter books to be classic literature. We often read biographies or historical accounts that go along with our history text. We always have a read-aloud book going. It is a book above MA’s reading level that I read aloud to her. I believe this teaches her how to read and understand texts above her current reading level. It teaches her to understand complex sentence structure. It also teached vocabulary skills.

Spelling: I have considered All About Spelling, and in fact had decided to use it when my friend let me know that she had written a spelling curriculum. I am going to review it to see if it is something from which MA could learn the spelling rules well. I did not really do a very good jobwith spelling last year, so I have a lot of ground to cover with spelling this year.

Grammar: We used Shirley last year, and I really do not like the outcome from it. I feel like we spent a LOT of time with Grammar, but don’t really have a good understanding of the ocncepts. MA can sing the jingles beautifully, but she has a disconnect between what she sings and how to identify parts of a sentence. We are on the lookout for something different this year. Suggestions? We used Jessie Wise’s First Language Lessons in first grade and thought it was too elementary. I need a learnable middle ground in grammar.

Science: We loved Considering God’s Creation last year. It can be used as a two-year curriculum, and since we didn;t finish last year, we will complete it this year. It is a creation-based science book, which gives scripture references for each chapter. LOVE THAT! I found some of the vocabulary to be over MA’s head, but I supplement a LOT with books and DVDs from the library that are more on her level. Science has turned out to be a very fun subject for us, and we enjoy adding in the extra material from the library.

Fine Arts: We will once again be participating in Briarwood Ballet. This year we will be doing two classes weekly. We will be attending several theater productions at the Birmingham Children’s Theater and at the Riley Center in Meridian. I would love to add in piano lessons, but will first make sure our schedule will allow it. We have added a lot more outside activities this year, and I want to be careful not to over-commit. However, I feel like music is one of the most important subjects she can master, so I will definitely look for piano lessons if at all possible.

PE: I am very emphatic about my girls getting an hour of exercise each day. (I wish I was so emphatic about exercising myself!) We will have ballet and gymnastics, which will cover three days. The other two days we will play outside, jump on the trampoline, ride bikes, roller blade, play at the park, or play on the church playground. PE doesn’t have to be structured or tedious. Play can and should be fun at this age.

Home/Social/Service: I require my girls to do chores around the house. I believe that this teaches them responsibility. It teaches them to be grateful for a clean house. It teaches them how to organize, de-clutter, and keep only what is important. I monitor their social activities to be sure they are engaging with other children often enough. I also expect them to be good servants of other people. We look for opportunities through our church and other places that they can minister to the needs of other people. We have cooked food for our friend who has a ministry to the homeless in our city. We have raised money for Sweet Sleep, an organization that provides beds to orphanages. We have visited with elderly people who don’t get many visitors. Without being purposeful about our service to others, we tend to get distracted by busyness. I have to make it a priority or it will not get done. I’m trying to teach my girl that serving others is indeed a priority, and we need to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

** (Edited to add) Memory Work: Memory Work is a big part of our curriculum. We memorize scripture passages and classic works of poetry. I try to make our memory work fit in with the time period we are studying in history, but that doesn’t always work out. We will memorize several Psalms, as well as poetry by Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Christina G. Rosetti, and Robert Louis Stevenson. MA doesn’t love memorizing things, but she does love it when she sees it in a book and she can repeat it from memory. I have written previously on why we memorize and how we memorize, so I won’t repeat all of that in this post.

Educating my children is one of my highest priorities, second only to being a good daughter of the King and a good wife. I take it VERY seriously, but we have a ball doing it! It is something God has definitely directed us to do, so much so that we would be disobedient if we chose any other path right now. We love the fact that we can teach our children at home! We realize and respect that this calling is not for everyone, just as the calling to public or private schooling is not for everyone. We are glad to have the option, and we will continue on until God tells us otherwise. Blessings to you as you begin your school year, in whatever form that may come!

I’m linking up with the Not Back To School Blog Hop at Heart of the Matter and also at Angie Smith’s post Learning on a Quilt at Bring the Rain. If you are visiting from these, you can click on the “schooling” tag at the bottom of this post to view other posts about home schooling. Thanks for visiting!

Since we’ve been recovering from our whirlwind week today, we’ve been pretty low-key at our house today. We have mostly stayed inside, taken naps, eaten goldfish and worked on some toddler projects. PattiGirl LOVES “doing schoolwork” with her older sister, so she was excited about having projects of her own.

There are days when homeschooling is hard. Really hard. There are days when it isn’t necessarily fun. There are days when every step of the way you feel like you have weights tied to your feet and you struggle to take even the slightest step forward. Distractions are everywhere. EVERYWHERE! And you feel like your focus has been kicked to the curb with this week’s trash.

This week has been like that. I had grand plans for this week. My lesson plan book was so nice and filled up with the things we were going to accomplish. Math drills, art projects, history tests, piano practicing, science labs, Bible memorization. We started off with a bang. Monday went like clockwork, and we checked everything off our list. But by Tuesday, the wheels were slowly coming off the wagon. We slept late. We needed to go to the grocery during school time. Patterson was in a whiny mood and wanted me to hold her all day. The housekeeping fell behind. Wednesday we had to miss Patterson’s music class because she had gotten sick the night before. The girls were playing so sweetly that I let them play instead of starting school on time, only to pay for it by being behind all afternoon and having school run into the evening. It led to whining and bad attitudes from everybody. Including me.

I wish I could say that things were better yesterday. That we had somehow managed to get back on track and turn the week around. We have not. I skipped out on lunch with my girlfriends because we needed to catch up on schoolwork. Jonathan was supposed to get home in time to see the girls before bedtime, but he ran late and they were both in the bed when he got home. I missed out on seeing a friend who recently moved away, but was back in town tonight because I needed to stay home and oversee homework. The house is a mess. We have a field trip today that will be fun, but will probably keep us from getting anything else done. And we have to take Patterson with us on said field trip and keep her entertained the whole time.

Homeschooling is not always easy. It can be isolating – most of my time is spent with my girls, and I have very little time for friends. It requires constant, and I mean CONSTANT effort to keep everything going in the direction it should. Some days, when God is smiling on you, it is easy peasy lemon squeazy. Other days, it is a struggle from the minute you get out of bed. And it doesn’t let up until you try-going-to-bed-at-a-decent-hour-but-you-can’t-sleep-so-you-get-up-and-blog-about-it-at-1:30am. Sigh.

Why do I keep doing it? Wouldn’t “regular” school be so much easier? These are the things I think about at this hour. And then I am reminded that I do it because God has called me to do it. He has made it abundantly clear to Jonathan and me that this is the course He has for our girls, at least at this point in our lives. And He reminds me that while, yes, “regular” school might look easier (at least to one who does not “do” school), He has not called me to do what is easier for my children, but rather what is best for them. And right now, this is what is best for them. (This is not to say that traditional school isn’t best for some people. It’s just not what God has called US to right now 🙂 And so, in a few hours we will start it all over again. We will do our best to remember that many people would love to have the opportunity to homeschool, and we are blessed to be able to do it. We will look forward to the fun times that homeschooling brings us. We will be grateful for the blessing that homeschooling is to our family.

One of the biggest decisions we will make in regards to raising children is how to educate them. This post is not meant to proselytize you into homeschooling. Believe it or not, I DO NOT believe that homeschooling is for everyone. However, if this is the path God has for you and your children, I’d love to have you learn from my biggest homeschooling mistakes in the hopes that you can avoid the pain of repeating them.

Homeschooling has been, for our family, one of the biggest blessings we have received. But it wasn’t always easy. In fact, the early days brought on a lot of frustration for me as well as my little ones. When we started homeschooling, we didn’t know anyone else who homeschooled. I had NO ONE to guide me through, save the Susan Wise Bauer books that I checked out of the library. Unfortunately, I made more than my fair share of mistakes. But even with a rough start, I thankfully learned a few things quickly to make our life together more manageable. I hope this little confession of my biggest homeschooling mistakes helps you avoid similar pitfalls.

Expecting Too Much of Myself and My Child

While many people begin their homeschooling journey with fear and insecurity, others jump in with excitement and big plans. I fell into the second camp. While a healthy level enthusiasm is good, I fell into the trap of wanting to teach her EVERYTHING. RIGHT NOW. If this sounds familiar, can I encourage you to slow down and take a deep breath? Homeschooling is a marathon, not a sprint. If you set the bar too high for you and/or your children, you will have everyone feeling like a total failure when you start to lose steam. Pace yourself. You will have many weeks, months, and years to teach all that you want your children to know.

Buying Too Many Materials

One of the best pieces of advice I received as a prospecting homeschooler was to attend a homeschooling convention. At these conventions, you can visit the vendor hall and view curricula, books, and other materials before deciding what to invest in. The problem is, as a new homeschooler you really don’t know what you need. I easily justified in my mind the purchase of too many materials. You will not need every map, ruler, coloring book, or laminating machine that you come across. You can easily rack up a hefty total for these things if you don’t carefully consider whether you’ll actually use them. My advice is to take your time perusing the options. Look carefully at curricula and textbooks to decide what you really will need to teach your child. Avoid the temptation to make your dining room look like a traditional classroom, unless you really will be using the things that will cover the walls. Purchase only the basics, and make notes of what you might want to add in the future. Utilize FREE resources like your local library and educational apps and websites. Get your year started and spend some time learning how your child learns best. ALL THE THINGS might actually turn out to be a distraction for your student. Stick to the basics to begin with and add to your stash as needed.

Buying Only New Materials

New textbooks and materials can be very costly. It’s easy to feel like you need to buy everything at the homeschool convention, but using a little self-control can save you big money. When you find a new curriculum or textbook you want to use, look at eBay, your local library, or find a Facebook homeschooling buy/sell group. You can cut your book tab by over half by using used materials. Be careful, however, to ask about condition to be sure answers haven’t been filled in, etc. Also, be sure you know which pieces of a set are included and what you’ll need to purchase separately.

Sticking With a Curriculum That Doesn’t Work For Us

There are so many good choices in curricula, but not every book works for every child. Sometimes we make mistakes and purchase something that simply doesn’t work for us. While that can be costly in terms of money, not switching to a better fit can cost your child a love of learning. Try your best to purchase wisely, but don’t be too slow to make a change when something isn’t a good fit. There are too many good options out there to be miserable.

Giving Busy Work to Fill Our Day

Because you FEEL like school has to look a certain way and take up a certain amount of time, it’s easy to fall into the trap of filling up your day with busy work. Listen to me, mama: there is not one thing wrong with doing school for three hours, if that’s all it takes your child. Do not give into the urge to make your babies do worksheet after worksheet or project after project, just so you feel like you’ve done a complete school day. If it takes your child only a few math problems to get a concept down, stop giving more required work than they need. If your kid is a smarty pants who thrives on math work, then by all means, let him do his thing. But if they would rather have their nose buried in a book, let them move on to another activity that they enjoy. If they can’t wait to get outside and play, let them have that time, too. Children learn from doing all sorts of activities, even playing. Don’t give in to the temptation to fill a 8:00-3:00 day with book work. It usually isn’t necessary.

Teaching for Tests 

I set out as a homeschool mom to teach my children to love learning. I just knew that if I could help them fall in love with learning, they would never stop learning. Sounds good, right? It was and is a good approach, but somewhere along the way we fell into teaching so that they could pass tests. It was an easy transition, so I didn’t see it coming. We didn’t test at first because I thought my little student was retaining everything I taught her. But after a few months I realized she couldn’t remember half of what we’d learned. I decided to give tests to give her some accountability for listening and retaining information. She began to remember more of what we studied. I felt like we were winning. Somewhere along the way, though, she began learning just enough to pass the tests and then forgetting it all when the test was over. She’s a sly one. We had to learn a new approach that included not only listening with wonder and excitement, but also remembering longer than testing lasted. For us, that meant reviewing more often and helping her connect the dots on why this material was important. When we know our “why” our “how” and “what” become easier.

Not Plugging in Socially

It’s no secret that socialization is one of the hot topics of homeschooling. How will they ever learn to behave around their peers? Most homeschooling parents quickly learn that their children will do just fine socially as long as they are still involved in field trips, church activities, sports, or other extra-curricular activities. What I failed to realize, however, is MY need for socializing. It is super easy to slide down the slippery slope of thinking you’re fine at home, doing the thing God has called you to. You click along, doing your daily school routine, not realizing the isolation that creeps in. One day you look up and realize you haven’t left the house in days and haven’t been in touch with friends in far too long. And now that your children are home with you all day, how could you do any of that stuff anyway? Mamas, I want to encourage you to make time with friends happen. Make date nights with your husband happen. Make beach weekends with your sisters happen. Go to that ladies night out with your church friends. You need it. You cannot keep pouring into your children without being filled up. That well will soon run dry. Get over the guilt and realize that you are a better homeschooling mom when you take time to engage with people who do not live in your house. Isolation=desperation. Nip that in the bud.

Expecting My Home to Stay Neat

Since we were home all day, I mistakenly assumed that our home would stay cleaner. Not true. We lived in that home all day, every day, and it stayed messy! Not unclean, mind you, but messy. Sure, the dishes were done, the floor scrubbed, and the laundry clean, but our tables and counters constantly held stacks of papers, buckets of art supplies, and open lesson plan books. Nothing was neat. There were always projects in process. I could either be constantly frustrated at the mess or learn to look at it as a beautiful sign of the homeschooling way of life. I wish I could say that my mind changed instantly. It didn’t. It took me lots of months and even years to accept that being home meant being disorderly. However, over time I learned to accept more messiness and my family learned to keep things neater. We meet in the middle.

Defending My Decision To Homeschool

Not everyone will be as excited about your decision to homeschool as you are. Not everyone will hear from God on this subject like you have. People will not get why you don’t do things the way everyone else does. While homeschooling is becoming increasingly more common, you will still face tension. You might face questions, and even criticism, from friends or family who don’t understand your decision. You will, no doubt, hear retellings of every homeschooling-gone-wrong story that has ever been told. Usually a simple explanation of your desire to homeschool will ease the tension. However, sometimes that isn’t the case. It’s easy to feel the need to defend yourself and your students to anyone who doesn’t agree with your choice to homeschool. Don’t fall into the trap of needing the approval of other people. You can really send yourself into a tailspin by needing other people to accept and agree with your decision, because you simply won’t get that from everyone. As long as you and your spouse are in agreement, and you feel like God is leading you to it, don’t concern yourself with the acceptance of everyone else. Sometimes you have to lead your family into unchartered territory to experience great blessing. Peter had to get out of the boat to walk on water, but he is the only one who got to experience Jesus in the storm.

You will, no doubt, experience mistakes of your own when beginning your homeschooling journey. Try as you might to gain wisdom from others who have gone before you, you will find that you too have blown it a time or two. I sincerely hope that you can avoid some of the things I have mentioned, but just in case… learn to give yourself grace.

Peace to you and your family as you make the homeschooling journey!