and I think I figured out the history issue

So, I posted a couple days ago about options I was considering for history with Missa and Liddy. If you didn't see it, well nutshell is.....

Missa loves history and can't get enough, Liddy hates history and would rather spend her days doing math. I slowed down part 1 of Intro to World History (Sonlight core B) to try and keep Lydia interested and get her to do some of the work, and am supplementing way more than I have the time to do without my own grades suffering (in fact, in the course of my supplementing so much, I failed one college class and am struggling badly in another that ends today).

So, my solution? I'm dropping Liddy as a target for our history studies, and moving on in life with Missa. Also, I have the guide for the one-year condensed Intro to World History (Sonlight core B+C) and I'm looking at it now to try and see what I need to purchase in terms of spine books to switch over to the one year program instead. Missa can keep up with it just fine, and if I don't just go to the condensed core program then Missa will have me moving double speed anyway and I'll end up buying core C (part 2 of the program) likely by Labor Day. This way, well I may have a chance at keeping her engaged and moving at her pace, and then we'll move into whatever we choose next (not sure if that will be US history from Sonlight or if we're going to be finding a different program for history or following their interests or what we're going to do).

So now I need to start tracking down copies of 3 books that we need for the switch to the one year program. I think Missa will LOVE the pace too.

this momma is strange

Yes, that is purple hair...... it didn't take as well as I had hoped, so next payday I'm going to bleach it down as light as my almost black hair can go, and then do the purple over it again. I love being different like that!

What I'm reading for June

So often I only read the kids' books, I forget to take the time out to read for ME. So, at the library yesterday I picked up a few books that I wanted to read. Here's my lineup.



This one I chose because well, I have 4 kids and we don't always eat as well as we should. I need ideas on how to maximize the nutrition, particularly with my picky eaters. This is just one book I'll be previewing to see if it is worthy of being purchased to add to our home collection.



Now, I've read this one a few times before, but never really took it to heart. Now that our budget is starting to dwindle for future years of homeschooling while more kids are coming up into compulsary education and reporting age, I need to start buckling down on what I spend on curriculum. I need to cut back on what we buy to teach with so that I can afford things like gas money for field trips and stuff like that. So I'm going to read this one again and take some notes for me to remember of different ideas, and possibly purchase this book since I have checked it out at least 4 times in the past 5 years.



OK this cookbook says it is for ADHD and Autism, well guess what. It is a book full of recipes that are gluten-free, dairy free, and free of certain other common allergens such as corn, eggs, and soy. We have issues with gluten, soy, and dairy (along with citrus, red dye 40, and shellfish). So, this book is more to help me figure out some new twists on recipes the kids can enjoy that are friendly to our current allergies and intolerance/sensitivities. Again, this book is on my list of potentials for purchasing.



I've heard so many good things about this one that I just had to check it out. Enough said.



Missa has MULTIPLE learning challenges, many of which are included in this book. Specifically, the kid is AD/HD-combined and has dyslexia and sensory issues. Yup, I think this one will help me out. Don't know yet if I feel it is worth considering buying, but I'll decide that after I read it through real good.

So that's my pleasure reading for June. It all involves the kids in one way or another, but so goes my life. I gave up fiction fluff novels years ago, unless it is one that I'm reading to the girls. I love learning and getting new ideas in my free time, and hopefully I have enough time to read these books in this next month. If not, I'll renew them and keep going through July too.

help me decide what to do

In case you haven't already figured it out, we use Sonlight for history in our home. Missa and Liddy are paired up in a study group, and are doing core B (also known as Introduction to World History, Part 1). We are studying ancient world history, and we've added a lot of materials to it for hands-on elements. Missa is eating it up; she adores history and does very well with it. She can't get enough of history lessons and would love it if I would pick up the pace so she gets more material. Liddy, on the other hand, doesn't care for history so much. She'd much rather do math and skip history lessons completely. So, my moving slower is paced for her while the added material is to keep up with Missa. However, Missa is starting to get restless with so much added to cover the same stuff for soooo much longer.

So I'm considering a couple different things:

1) just pick up the pace in our core and if Liddy doesn't do it, fine.
2) split them up so Missa is going her pace in the core and Liddy is going HER pace in it too (so I'll end up doing 2 cores with a one grade gap, which is the ideal for combining kids)
3) add in Sonlight's core W to give a lot more depth to slow Missa down and keep her satisfied (core W is the one year World History in Depth program, geared to grade 8 for the most part)

Now there are problems with all 3. Option 1, then Liddy doesn't "do" history lessons really. She may here and there but yeah, that just irritates my teaching securities. But then, she's REALLY into math and reading, so if she's not getting it now she'll likely pick up the books from this core at a later date to read on her own so she'll get the material then. This option has possibilities.

With option 2, well that just creates so much more work for me to do the two girls separately. I'd burn out FAST from reading the material twice so each kid gets it at her pace, and then add in that it would essentially mean that I'm doing 3 full cores since my younger two are doing the Sonlight preschool cores now (I'm doing a combination of P3/4, P4/5, and core A at their interest and pace). I have 4 kids, and at this point my limit is two full cores.

Then there's option 3. It has the same disadvantages as option 2 does, with it adding a third core to my heavy workload of stuff I do already. But also, there's the added need for me to pre-read all the books first because Missa is only going into 3rd grade this fall. She may or may not be ready for the workload of core W, even stretched out to last the entire time we're doing core B and then core C. But at the same time, it would be an advantage because I'm taking that time to read it all first, then she and I read aloud together and it could lead to some great discussions.

Of course, there's other options that I could pick too, but these are the ones I'm stuck on right now. What do you think? I can't decide.........

what they are reading right now

Liddy loves books, and it is a challenge sometimes to find one that she can read that is going to challenge her at the same time. She's whipped through all our Sonlight grade 1 readers in just a few weeks, and has reread these books dozens of times. She LOVES the Dr. Seuss books. So after hearing her read one of those books yet again, I decided to test out my library stack of readers for Missa to see how her reading is. This is the book she's reading now........



She made it about halfway through it before deciding that she wanted to stop. That book was a *bit* of a challenge and a stretch for her, but she did very well with it.

Missa, on the other hand, has been slowly working all year long through the stories in this book........



She's not *quite* ready yet to tackle the book that Liddy is reading, and she struggles with the book she's reading now. We spend a lot of time reading together, me helping her with the words she doesn't know. She's about 1/4 through her book, we read stories a few times before moving on and revisit favorites that she's already read as we continue to work on her fluency.

Both girls' books are part of the Sonlight grade 2 readers set. I own the one Missa is reading, and Liddy's (plus most of the others) came from the local public library. I intend to buy the reader package here soon if I can scrounge up the money, giving Liddy and Missa both their own bible books (Missa will NOT part with her bible book any time soon, I already know this). But I thought it would be fun to share where my girls are in their reading (and even more surprising, Liddy's book is further into the reader schedule than Missa's book is but I think Missa's may be a harder book because of all those names).

When life happens.....

Yes, I am posting at 11:30pm. I got home not too long ago from the hospital, poor Missa has been in pain all day. She's described it as someone poking her in the stomach with a sharp knife. I didn't sweat it, and figured she'd be fine by this evening when she woke up at 7:30 with the pain. Obviously my day was SHOT.

She spent the day laying on the sofa, just kinda staring blankly at the tv and napping on and off. She didn't eat much today because it hurt, although she did go out front for a bit to watch the road construction (they are repaving the road we live on). She did have some relief early in the afternoon, or else she decided that the bubbles were just too tempting, and got up to say she'd do dishes for me when I said I had to get them going on. But other than that, she laid around, watching tv and napping and reading until Scott got home and decided that I needed to take her to the ER.

After 4 hours there, they determined that it *could* be appendicitis but said that its too early to tell and that it won't show up on any testing for a minimum of 24-36 hours from the initial onset of symptoms (which her only one so far has been the stomach pain). Since she has no fever (not like she does normally anyway when she's sick, last time she had a real fever was when she was in K and they sent her home with a fever of 104 and then an hour later she was at the ped's clocking it at over 106 while they scrambled to get it down again, they packed her in a lot of ice packs held to her body with a sheet) they felt that just some Tylenol would be sufficient, and sent us on our way. Thanks guys, next time I'll not bother wasting my time with y'all, I'll just wait for her doctor's office to open up the next morning instead since I could have given her Tylenol myself and called it good.

We didn't do any lessons of course, we just went with the flow of things. Tomorrow we'll try to pick up again if she's feeling up to it, we'll see how she's doing. If she's still in pain I'll take her to her doctor, but if it gets worse I'll skip the local hospital and make the drive with her and her 3 sisters to go to Children's Hospital up in Columbus instead. I'm not playing with Licking Memorial, they can't tell their bums from a hole in the ground.

preschool and learning goals- or why NOT to have them

I've been thinking a lot lately, thanks to a post I read over at the Sonlight forums last week. A mom asked on the forum there for the preschool cores what goals we set for our little learners to accomplish prior to the start of their K year. I answered, and then thought that it may be an interesting topic to cover here too just so anyone who reads this blog can better understand how we teach here in my home.

In our family, its not what the children learn so much as it is the journey they take to learning the material. We call ourselves eclectic unschoolers, which is a bit of an oxymoron. See, an eclectic homeschooler uses a variety of curricula to tailor the schooling as much as possible to their child's individual needs, taking current interests into account and changing up what doesn't work as needed. An unschooler has faith that a child will learn what they need to as they need and want to, and they provide incredibly rich learning environments and get their children involved in activities such as having a garden, taking care of pets, cooking, pursuing an area of the arts or athletics (or both!), and just about anything else you can think of. We are the best of both worlds. I use a variety of curricula as desired/needed for different subjects, particularly reading, writing, and math. Then I have curriculum for history and science, but we use it more exploratory. We may spent a year studying the same time period that is assigned to just 6-8 weeks in our history program, doing a lesson when they want to from the program or watching documentaries that go with the subject, finding information online, doing crafts and projects to replicate (sort of!) different things in our topic. Right now we're in Mesopotamia still, and the kids are waiting for me to feel the weather is good enough for us to go outside to try making mud bricks to build a small wall with. Yet, we don't pressure the kids. I suggest to them that they do some math or reading dailybut if they don't it is ok because I know that when they do, they will do multiple pages at a time and be more receptive to the work. I don't stress, and we have about as rich a learning environment as I can think of to do in our home with my physical limitations.

So, how does this apply to preschoolers? Well, my little Jojo, at the sweet age of 3 1/2 years old, is a preschooler now. She asked for some schoolwork like her big sisters do, I got her a few things to do gently with her. But I also thought about what my real goals with her are. I've never actually set goals for my preschoolers, as they have all be more than ready for K material when it comes time to start their K year at home. I had to really stop and think about what it is that I set out to do with my preschoolers, and here is what I came up with.

1. love learning Now, this sounds a bit odd to many, especially if you have children who go to public school. Those kids tend to HATE school by the time they hit 3rd or 4th grade, so loving to learn would be a foreign concept to some of these parents. However, this is one of my biggest goals for this age. Since we learn in a more organic manner, providing the tools for the girls to learn while not forcing them at the same time, it is vital that our girls be interested in learning more about things and know how to go about learning about what they are interested in. The preschooler's focus for this particular skill is to develop a love for learning about things. We do this by trying to always take the time to answer when one asks "why?" or "how?" or any question like that.

2. get down and dirty with life We do a lot of hands-on stuff. A LOT. Like I mentioned earlier, we are waiting on the weather to get just right for us to make mud bricks. We also are planning on building raised garden boxes this year and attempting to grow some food to take a little strain off our grocery budget. We don't have any pets due to Kimi having too many allergies to allow that, but we go to the Columbus Zoo regularly and they have a petting zoo for the kids, and the aquarium has a spot where you can get in line and wash your hands first to touch some of the sea life they have there (starfish, anemone, stuff like that). You can pet some reptiles there too sometimes, and we can ALWAYS see the animals. Last year, the girls couldn't get enough of the elephants (particularly the baby elephant). We cook with the kids. Just last week Missa made a lasagna with my help, she loves cooking and is pretty good at it for a kid her age.

3. develop a desire to be a part of our team Working together as a family is necessary in some parts of our life. With 6 people, that can make for a lot of messes. However, it also means that there are 12 hands to help pick up those messes, making the work just that much lighter for me. It also means that yard work is done faster, in theory. I have the ability to have the girls work in pairs to do different tasks, and if the job is too difficult for the little ones to help the oldest two take turns working with me while the one not working with me keeps her little sisters entertained. A preschooler can help water a garden, put the pulled weeds into a trash can, and pick up sticks. The extra 4 bodies means that grocery shopping can be done easier. The little ones help with getting things from the bottom shelves to put in the cart, and the oldest girls can push a shopping cart if I need more than one cart. If I go to Aldi, I can easily fill 3 or 4 shopping carts with food so having them able to push a cart really helps a lot. They all help bring in and put away groceries, with me standing at the van passing out bags they can carry until the last ones are ready to go in and then delegating who puts what kinds of stuff away and who unpacks bags for us to put the stuff away.

4. not let her get lost in the shuffle of our BUSY life Let's face it. With homeschooling and having 4 kids, me in college full time, and the various other things I do outside of typical housework and cooking, it can be hard to remember that the preschoolers are there at times. I regularly forget that my preschoolers need to have time focused on them too. It takes extra effort for me to remember this, and I use many different things to do this. I buy curriculum as soon as they start asking and I can afford it, giving me something to do with my preschooler. I have many books that I, my husband, or the oldest girls can read to a preschooler or toddler, and tomorrow I'll have All About Reading pre-level 1 for Jojo to do with me. She and I will take the time to do a bit of creative sewing to make a tote bag and matching apron for her, as well as make a puppet to go with it since I bought the basic package instead of the deluxe. At some point this week Sonlight will ship the handwriting books I got, one of which is for Jojo along with a math workbook that I have coming from them as well. I will use these materials as a way to remember to spend time daily with her as well as her sisters.

For us, the preschool and K years are the foundational years in our homeschool. These are the years that we have the most impact on the future of our little learners. What we do now to encourage or discourage them will shape the way they live and learn for the rest of their lives. Our biggest goals are to have the foundations they need for learning, living, respecting others, and loving God. If these foundations are laid effectively now, then later when they are learning the important academic foundation skills of basic math, effective reading, and the ability to write clearly and purposefully those skills will be easier for them and they will be more motivated (hopefully!) to work on it when they do not understand.

Learning does not stop just because one graduates from high school or college, or when they finish their studying for school each day. To live without learning is to die intellectually. My goal for these early years that all my girls are in with their schooling is to build the foundation they will need to not just learn effectively, but to WANT to learn constantly in their lives.