Homeschool Friday

I’m feeling very proud of myself since we’ve gotten back from vacation.  There has been no sloffing off (is that a word?) being lazy, or skipping things in our house since we’ve gotten back.  At least in the school area.  School has been started at least by 9am every morning, and everything gets checked off of my spreadsheet list every day.  I love the lists and structure of it.  I’m that mom.

We started 2nd grade math this week.  Silje was so pumped about that.  She said she couldn’t believe that she was doing 2nd grade work!  I casually mentioned that she’s been doing the second grade spelling list since the beginning of the year, and most of her books are for 3-5th graders.  I didn’t say this, but even though she’s doing 1st grade grammar, I don’t remember learning half of what she is in that subject until college, so I wouldn’t exactly consider it elementary work. She looked up and said: “So am I in 1st grade anymore?”  I said that she was in 1st grade until this fall.  “But I’m not doing anything for 1st graders.  Everything I’m doing is for 2nd grade and up.  So when people ask what grade I’m in, can I say 2nd?”

Hmm… I thought about it for a minute.  “Ask Daddy when he gets home”  was my response.  I really had no clue how to answer that question.  Knut didn’t have an answer either.  Both of us just laugh when she asks us now.  We can teach her, but we stink at labeling where she’s at.

Another landmark that was reached was Silje made the halfway mark in her Rosetta Stone Chinese course.  She started it sometime last summer, so she’s been at it for nearly a year soon.  Since she is so young, my goal, which I wasn’t even sure was attainable this year, was to get her through half of level 1 this year.  It’s not a child’s course, although I would say if a child could read, he/she could do it.  So basically, anything else she gets done in this subject is frosting.

The course she’s doing is very conversational, though.  She freezes up when people ask her to count in Chinese, or name off the colors, or other strictly vocabulary questions.  She doesn’t know any of that.  I’m sure they’ll get there in the program, but for now she’s learning more conversational things.  She’ll say “hello” or “goodbye” to anyone who asks, though!

I’m super proud of her, but as much as I’d like to brag all post long, things aren’t always perfect.  It’s been about a month since I did some intensive work with Silje going over each and every letter of the alphabet and having her write them correctly.  All of a sudden this week, her lowercase “a” looks identical to the lowercase “d.”  The lowercase “n” looks identical to the lowercase “v” but with an added tail.  So it looks like somethings don’t get to be checked off the list.  They get to be revisited again, and again.  It’s ok, though.  We’ll just have to step it up a bit when it comes to handwriting.  In spelling and grammar, I’ve started marking her wrong if I cannot distinguish her handwriting, and making her write it again.  She keeps saying “But Mo-om”  (hear the tone?) “You know what I meant.”  Yes I did.  However, until you show me what you meant, it’s wrong.

In other homeschool news…

I’m so excited that Solveig (the baby) and I will be able to go to a homeschool convention in 2 weeks in Duluth, MN.  I’ve never been to one, and I’m going to learn so much!  I’ve been going over the catalog, and Knut (aka “the principal”) is helping me pick out which classes to attend for the weekend.  I’m surprised to read that I won’t be able to nurse Solveig, even covered, while I’m in a class.  They have a separate room designated for nursing mothers that I will be required to go to in order to feed her.  While I appreciate the consideration of a quiet space, I’m annoyed that I may have to miss part of a class if she’s hungry.  Of all places where nursing seems appropriate, you’d think a homeschool convention with other parents who like to keep their kids close, would be the most welcome.  I do not wish to offend or make a “thing” out of it; I’m just surprised. I mean, it was pretty concretely stated in the catalog/handbook thing.

The sessions that we picked for me to attend are:

“If I’m Diapering A Watermelon Then Where’d I Leave the Baby?” by Carol Barnier.  She’s going to talk about “stories and strategies from the heart about a home run by a highly distractible mom.”  Yup, that’s me.

“Raising Children to Be Intentional Christians in a ‘Whatever’ World” by Zan Tyler

“What Are You THINKING? Learning Styles and Beyond” again, by Carol Barnier.  This woman, from her websites has very active boys, and I’m looking forward to gleaning her wisdom as I have 2 of them coming up in our school next.

“Raising Dangerous Sons in a Safe and Mediocre World” by Todd Wilson.  This is especially geared for those with sons (obviously) and reprogramming ourselves out of the “keep everyone safe” mentality of our society, and enabling our boys push the envelopes and become the strong men that God designed them to be.  It should be interesting.  I have a lot of questions.

“The Quiet Schooling of Nature” by Sonya Shafer.  Using the Charlotte Mason philosophy, she’s going to talk about doing nature studies with kids, and using the nature in our back yard to the best advantage.

“The Natural Approach to Teaching Thinking Skills” by Debbie Strayer.  She’s going to introduce strategies and techniques for incorporating critical thinking skills into all subjects, and preparing students to be able to defend their faith.

The keynote speaker for the evenings of the event is Dr. Larry Guthrie, who has quite the biography listed here. He sounds like a good story teller, amazing educator, and has done just about everything.  That should make the evening sessions fun!

As you can tell, I’m pretty excited to be going.  It’s going to be one wild weekend for this homeschool mom.  Or at least as much fun as you can have wearing a baby, and shuffling over the the nursing room every few hours.  I’m convinced that will be a blessing in disguise, and there will be some amazing other nursing moms in that room who I’ll be able to meet and be best friends with and be truly inspired.  Maybe I should bring a book just in case…

Can you tell I’m a little nervous about starting kindergarten with David next year?  I don’t know why.  He’s so enthusiastic about school.  Silje is just so type A that I’m certain that I’m not going to get off so easy with the other kids in school.  They cannot possibly all be as disciplined as she is.  It brings me vividly back to feeling so confident as a mom of one little girl who slept well, ate on a schedule, and was overall very pleasant.  Then God handed me a little baby boy who did nothing on a schedule, and was very colic-y.  It was a wake up call that each child is different.  I’m bracing myself for the wake up call in the homeschool area these upcoming years.

Since I’ll be carpooling with other homeschool moms, and staying in a hotel with them, it feels like a girls’ weekend out.  Plus Solveig of course.  Thank goodness she’s been sleeping at night!  She better sleep well when we’re there too!  Did I mention before that she’s been sleeping from 7:30/8ish pm until 5 am all by herself in her cradle, and waking only once at midnight for a quick snack?  At 5 am I let her come into bed with me and we snuggle together until 7:30.  It’s been heavenly.  Oops, wrong post.  This is about homeschooling.

So, while ‘schooling’ my infant, I ‘taught’ her how to sleep by herself for long periods at night.  Is it in the right context now?