Homeschool Prom ~ 2016

Nothing signals the arrival of spring and the end of the school year quite like prom!

Last year we had four high schoolers attend our homeschool prom, and this year only two, since one daughter has graduated and the other is no longer being homeschooled.  It felt small, but still wonderful.  Here are our handsome boys:

Neither of them chose to ask a date to prom, but they have several good friends who are girls, and a bunch of them just went as one big group.  So thankful for these friends!

More friends....

Me and my boys.  How I love them!

New Routine Going Well

Overall, our new school "schedule" is going well.  Still working with one boy on how to add in his work for a co-op class to his weekly schedule, and another son and I forgot about his online literature class yesterday.  Oops!  But overall, I think it's working.

God was so good to impress upon me my need to resign from MOPS.  Even without that responsibility, and with working hard to maintain reasonable boundaries in other areas of life, teaching and managing the learning is going to be more than a full time job for me this year.  I have a feeling these next three years are going to be very intense.  Right now we have a sophomore, two in middle school, one in upper elementary, and one in lower elementary who is still solidifying his reading (and needs daily lessons with mom).  Next year we will have two in high school.  The year our daughter graduates we will have three in high school, one in middle school, and the youngest in fifth grade.  There's just no doubt about it, getting your children ready for college, and for LIFE!.....is a big and busy job.  One I wouldn't trade for anything, but it can seem kind of overwhelming at times. 

I now understand so much better how to pray for my fellow homeschoolers who are homeschooling through high school.  And if you are not a homeschooler yourself but have friends who are (hence you are reading this blog!), they could really use your prayers and support now more than ever!  When you are schooling high schoolers, you feel that others are more "critical" (for lack of a better word) of what you are doing.  They don't think you can mess up your kindergartener too much, but think you are more likely to screw up your high schooler at home.  Even when this attitude is not expressed in words, homeschool moms have a tendency to "hear" it anyway.  As a lot, we are pretty critical of ourselves.  And the stakes seem much higher.

So it is doubly reassuring to be reminded that God is in control!  Not me.  Not my husband.  Not the color-coded schedule.  Not the curriculum we use.  GOD.  He has started a good work in each of our children, and He will be faithful to complete it.  Faithfulness is His nature.  He cannot be unfaithful.  And, He loves my children even more than I do!  And He has a plan and purpose for their lives far beyond what I can conceive and try to prepare them for.

Whew.

It's not up to me after all.

(but I'd still appreciate your prayers!)

First College Visit Today!

To a local university.  The scheduled informational meeting and tour are designed specifically for homeschoolers, and since it is for 7th graders on up, I am taking our two oldest children (8th grade and 10th grade).  Neither of them may end up attending there, but I am looking forward to the experience and pray it will motivate and encourage them!

Whew!

Busy, busy week.

Thankful for each task that made up this week, and thankful each task is done. :0)

This past Wednesday was the first night of "REAL moms", which is the women's group I am involved in that used to be MOPS. We have 36 women signed up, and got off to a great start (I think, hard for me to judge from the front of the room). It is always very hectic for me before the first night of REAL moms, but once we get the year started things tend to gel into a manageable rhythm. I love the women who come. They bless me!

Special Announcement: This is the last week we are schooling in the kitchen. I am hereby stating my commitment to BE USING THE NEW SCHOOLROOM A WEEK FROM MONDAY! I had hoped to do all the painting at once, so I'd only have one cleanup. But I have abandoned that plan in favor of getting the bookcase half of the room completely organized so we can begin using it, while my hubby finishes the part under the stairs where the couch is going to go (that part still needs to be drywalled). He is working as I type, and is doing an excellent job. It's just that each part is taking way longer than we'd hoped. We are buying a huge bookcase this coming Friday, just like the one that we already have down there, and I have marked out all of next weekend to clean and organize so our schoolroom is ready to be used on Monday. Very excited that this is the last week we need to have notebooks spilling off the kitchen counters and table!

Soccer season is in full swing. Love watching my boys play soccer!

It has been quite an adjustment these last few weeks to our daughter's high school routine. Her online Spanish class requires daily correcting (done by the parents - fortunately my husband has taken this on! LOVE him). Two or three times a week we have to upload quizzes, tests, or audio files (where our daughter speaks Spanish for her teacher to hear if she's using correct pronunciation). Spanish homework takes her at least an hour a day, which is a new subject added to all the "regular" work she is used to from last year...math, grammar, writing, science, etc.

She is also in an online Literature class that requires daily reading and answering literary analysis questions. We ended up making a folder for her on each of our computers, that contains all the links to her online classrooms, as well as links to the part of each website that contains her homework assignments for each week. The first couple weeks of school my husband or I looked those things up for her, and printed out whatever she needed. But now she has taken charge of all that herself. She has begun setting her alarm to awaken before I get her brothers up, so she can get a head start on her work in the morning when her brain is fresh. I am really proud of her!

I started formal writing with son C this year, and he has taken to IEW like a fish to water. He absolutely loves to do his writing homework! Yay!! Still haven't re-introduced reading lessons to Little Man. Just couldn't manage the storing of all his reading materials in the kitchen. Next week, in the new schoolroom!!

There have been many challenges to the start of our school year, but I'm thankful for each subject/curriculum that is working well, and just so thankful we can continue learning together at home for another year. God is good!

Kindergarten and Eighth Grade Graduation

Before our daughter jetted off to WA, we finally had our FLIC co-op (Families Learning In Christ) end of the year get together, at which time we also celebrated Little Man completing kindergarten, and daughter G and our friend N completing eighth grade. Yes, it took us all summer to find a date that worked for all three families! (imagine how hard it would have been if our co-op had been bigger?)

Little Man is my last baby to graduate from kindergarten. Throughout the year as I would think about him being my last to have at this age, I would sometimes feel sad. But now that first grade is about to start, and I have the gift of hindsight, I am just really grateful that God has allowed me to take all five of our children through kindergarten at home, and I look forward to the next year with him! Not sad at all anymore, but thankful to have reached this milestone. Little Man received a graduation certificate and a big balloon.



Then we moved on to the eighth graders. The moms/teachers shared.


The dads/principals gave a charge as these two begin their high school years. (pictures in back of G and N throughout the last two years of co-op)


G received a graduation certificate and a bouquet of flowers.


N with his parents.


And the third family in our co-op, who will be moving on to another co-op this fall. How we have loved learning with them the last two years!


This family is moving on, and N is transitioning to public high school, so there are changes for all of us.

Lord, please help each of us as we adjust to the changes You have planned for us. Help us to be grateful for what is past, and to embrace what is ahead. Thank you that YOU are unchanging, the same yesterday, today, and forever!

Homeschooling High School

We have always intended to home school our children through high school, but this winter, with 9th grade for our oldest fast approaching, we had to "officially" commit to that course of action. And we did, but it was a very big deal to me which consumed hours upon hours of thought and prayer and later, planning. I was confident of our daughter's ability to manage her time and study well, and I was pretty confident of my ability to provide instruction (either myself or someone else), but I was not very confident of my ability to be the guidance counselor, to make a four year plan for high school that would adequately prepare her for college, to make sure I had graduation requirements and college entrance requirements all covered. If I made a mistake and ruined her future, there would be no-one else to blame!

It was an entirely new hat to wear, and has taken some getting used to. I have been blessed to have had several homeschool friends and mentors with children slightly older than mine, but none of those I know well and in real life have chosen to continue homeschooling through high school (not a judgment of their choices, simply a fact). So it has been and will be another learning curve for me.

I am thankful to say that we now have a four year plan in place for our daughter that I have shared with a public school counselor and a private school counselor, and has passed muster! It is academically rigorous, but with electives tailored to her gifts and interests. It is not set in stone, but it's a framework that we feel much peace about. And I, personally, am very relieved that the initial intense learning and planning is over! She will have two online classes next year with certified teachers other than me (Literature and Spanish I). She has been in our virtual co-op for three years and is used to the technical aspects of an online class, but these classes will be much more demanding and grades will have to be earned by her (read that: daily homework, and at least in Spanish, homework will have to be uploaded to the teacher prior to class) and awarded by someone other than me (a great experience for homeschool students!). Also, many colleges want incoming freshmen to have experience with online classes, so this will more than cover that!

There are many homeschool co-ops in our area that are tailored to high schoolers, but after praying about it and even visiting one, we felt that it was not a good fit for the four year plan God gave to our family. We will continue with our writing co-op on Friday mornings, and do the rest of our schooling at HOME, together. At least that is the plan for now. ;-)

So, all of this to say, if my posts have seemed sporadic and picture-less until recently, it's because my brain cells and time were otherwise occupied. And if you are a homeschooler planning to homeschool through high school, let's support each other! And if you are not a homeschooler but you know someone who IS, please pray for them as they embark on their high school journey, especially if it is with their oldest and they've never done it before. And if you know of a homeschool family who is sending their high schooler to building school for the first time, pray for them as they make that huge transition. And how is it possible that my baby is about to enter high school?!?! ONLY FOUR YEARS LEFT?!?!?! Excuse me while I freak out for a moment......

Last but definitely not least, I am so thankful that God guides and directs in every decision! He is good!