Changing Blog Hosts

After much research I’ve decided now that I want to become more active in my blogging so I’ve switched to a format I like better, Blogger.

Here is a link to the new site, I hope you’ll follow me there. 

http://thisrealmomslife.blogspot.com/

Our Curriculum

I started off thinking that I needed a boxed curriculum where everything was laid out for me which is what led me to order Sonlight.  After using it for a few weeks over the summer I realized that while I liked not having to do the scheduling work and Megan liked all the reading, Michael did not and was fighting me at every turn.  As much as I wanted it to be what worked it didn’t so back it went.  That left me wondering what to use.  I knew what I wanted to teach but wasn’t sure how to accomplish it.  Here’s what I came up with.  I’ve included links if you’d like to check them out.  As our year progresses I’ll review how these things are working for us so check back for updates.

1. History – Story of the World 1, the Activity Guide, and tons of great books from the library thanks to many recommendations of the WTM group – http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/history-and-geography/story-of-the-world/volume-1-ancient-times.html
2. Math – Horizons 3 & 4, but I’m already wishing we had gone with Saxon.  Maybe next year.  http://www.aophomeschooling.com/horizons/grade-3/math/
3. Science – Exploration Education, Physical Science Intermediate Level – http://www.explorationeducation.com/intermediate/overview.htm
4. Grammar – Grammar Island,  http://www.rfwp.com/series3.htm#59
5. Vocabulary – Wordly Wise 3000 (book 2 & book 4), http://www.wordlywise3000.com/
6. Language Arts – Writing With Ease (book 2 & book 4), http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/language-arts/writing.html
7. Logic – Primarily Logic, http://www.amazon.com/Primarily-Logic-Judy-Leimbach/dp/1593631227/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282742646&sr=8-1
8. Shawn is reading the kids the Chronicles of Narnia series.
9. I am also incorporating spelling, handwriting, cursive, hands on activities, and field trips.

That seems like so much yet there’s more I want to add in.  I’d love to start a 2nd language and have purchased the Trail Guide to World Geography program that I want to get in the rotation somehow.  Phew, I’m exhausted just thinking about it!  :)

Small Victories

I am all about celebrating small victories so here goes -

Today was the first school day since we started that I didn’t have a meltdown to contend with.  It’s amazing how much we can accomplish when we don’t have to stop for an hour and regroup.

I will count today as a good day!!

Learning Curve

We’ve been officially homeschooling for 3 days now and I’ve discovered many things in that short time.

1. Patience is a virtue.
2. Michael despises Handwriting.
3. Megan despises memory work.
4. Allie will NOT be ignored.
5. I plan way too much.
6. Things take waaaaay longer than I anticipated.
7. My kids are awesome

The past 3 days have been stressful as we all try to adjust to school at home and Mom as teacher  (especially for Mom!!)  but we’re learning.  Michael spent yesterday afternoon grossing Grandma out by telling her how when making a mummy they use a hook to pull the brain out through the nose, today we made cave paintings (see pics below), and Friday we’re taking our adventure on the road to the Smithsonian.   I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Our newest journey, Homeschooling

The path here has been a long and winding one.  It has included meandering aimlessly through a public school system that didn’t know what to do with our children,  a very brief pitstop in the online charter school world, and is finally ending up at our current destination.

Homeschooling.

I have spent many months reading everything I could get my hands on regarding this subject, especially as it pertains to gifted kids.  I have agonized over this decision and questioned what I knew was right for us because I was all too concerned about what our friends and family may think.  I’ve weeded my way through the expansive curriculum out there to figure out what to teach, how to teach, and when to teach it but I finally have a plan in place and am anxiously awaiting the start of our school year!

We are all looking forward to a year of learning about Ancient History, Grammar, Logic & Problem Solving, Writing/LA,  Science, Multiplication, Division, Fractions and best of all being able to think outside of the box and explore subjects of interest in depth.  We will be reading lots of great books and doing lots of fun activities.  Including visiting the Smithsonian and Science Center as well as creating a replica of the Nile and flooding it througout the year!

We will be part of a co-op, Michael will play soccer, I’m looking into Girl Scouts for Megan as well as Art classes.  If you’re reading this please rest assured that our children will have ample interaction with other children of all ages and will be no more socailly awkward than their parents are. 

I will be using this blog to update our journey so check back often to see what fun things we’re up to!

The Trouble with Labels

I’ve contemplated writing this for quite a while because in today’s society everybody believes their child is “gifted” and as parents we are often taken with a grain of salt when we state the amazing things our children can do.  I also didn’t want to come across as arrogant or a braggart.  The fact is though that I have gifted children.   The big 2 have been tested in school and I have reports that tell me this is in fact a true statement and not just my own delusion.

However, “giftedness” is a label just like any other.  It can open doors but it also can create a whole host of problems.  Having a bright child is not an easy thing.  Just because they don’t struggle academically doesn’t mean that they don’t struggle.

• They know they are different and so do their friends; and just in case some didn’t know they now get pulled out of class twice a week to go to seminar.
• Teacher’s expect much more of them and when they don’t live up to those expectations then the teacher believes something must be wrong.
• At 9 & 6 the anxiety and pressure they feel to live up to these higher expectations can be   extremely overwhelming.
• There are a variety of emotional issues stemming for the items above.
• They lash out when their work is different/harder than their friends.  ”It’s not fair!”

I walk a fine line of encouraging them without putting too much pressure on them.  I live with the school systems crappy gifted program that is doing nothing to help my kids.  I pray every year for a good teacher who will challenge them and keep their love of learning intact.  I struggle with making the right decisions for them without being that parent.

As a society we want to put labels on everything.  We need to know what something is so we can “fix” it.  I am as guilty of this as anyone.  The trouble with labels though is that things aren’t always that cut and dry and having a label, no matter what it is, is never easy.  I wonder, by labeling our children are we putting them in a box?  Are we keeping them from living up to their potential? Are we influencing who they are and who they can one day become?  By having a label do we see the person or just that asterisk next to their name?

My kids are amazing, not because they are gifted but because of who they are.  I hope that throughout their lives people are able to see that in spite of the labels they wear.

Finding Me

Often times I hear women say that by becoming a wife and mother they have somehow lost themselves.  While I have felt twinges of that from time to time, I question what is really meant by this phrase.  How do you go about “losing yourself”?  Aren’t you by merely existing ”you”? This phrase is normally muttered with a negative connotation but if you take a moment to stop and think about it is it really a bad thing to lose yourself in your family?   Society has programmed us to believe that being  just a wife and mother is not enough. We are pushed to be and do more, to “have it all”, and we over extend ourselves to the point of exhaustion trying to achieve it.  When it comes down to it though I do have it all, the all that matters most to me.  I have an amazing husband who loves me and 3 healthy, happy kids who I adore and would move heaven and earth for.   By simply being in my life they have made me “me”.   I am not the same me I was as a carefree teenager, I am not the same me I was as a newly married 20-something, and I am not the same me I was as a 1st time parent.  I am the me I was always meant to be.  By being just a wife and mother I have found me.