Adventures in Home Schooling

We have been home schooling for a month now, and so far I love it. It took awhile to get organized, but I am amazed at how disciplined we have been, the prolific creative expressions I have observed in my children and the cooperation they have exhibited in the process. I was terrified six months ago when I knew we were going to do this. Even though I am trained as a teacher, I feared that I would lack the organization, discipline and patience to be Mom and teacher to our four kids. Those fears have all but dissolved at this point.

We were on the road somewhere between Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks when we started home schooling. This led to some disorganization with curricula at first. However we were immersed in an extended field trip, hiking, going to ranger presentations and experiencing the world, which as far as I’m concerned has been extremely education in itself.

When we returned to Omaha for a couple of weeks I got on the ball, organizationally speaking. I already had most of the texts and materials for each of the four children, but planning and record keeping left a lot to be desired. I purchased “Teacher Planning Books” for Kane, Kolton and Karson each. In these books I have basic “subjects” which reflect Montessori planning: Language, Math and Cultural. Language covers reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, spelling and speech; Math is self explanatory; and Cultural includes science, history, civics, geography, religion and the arts. For each subject I plan accordingly for each child and we check off the work as they go along. It has worked like a dream. Each boy also has an accordion file in which he keeps his papers and books organized and separated from each others’ stuff. The larger items like text books go in a file box that can be moved to wherever we are working. We generally spend the mornings doing school work and lessons.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not the most organized or disciplined person.  I’m sure the organizational process will be constantly evolving as we go along, and I trust that it will help me grow in discipline as well. As long as I have plans made out for each child, they amazingly get going with very little prodding on my part.

Eleven year old Kolton is and always has been disciplined about his studies. He is always the first one up with me in the morning and eagerly jumps into his lessons with both feet. Therefore he is also always the first one finished with his school work and can be distracting to his siblings once they’re up and working.

Four year old Kalista is usually up next. We spend time going over her “sounds”, which is phonics based reading introduction. I have created two “sound books” that cover letters from the alphabet (not in alphabetical order) and the sounds they make. I’m using the Scholastic “Bob Books” and she is reading the first six of the twelve books to me, Ken, her brothers and their friends and grandparents. She has a “Sound Journal” in which she writes the sounds and words as she learns them. First I write letters or words in highlighter and she traces over them. We also count a lot for math and number recognition. One of the awesome things about having three big brothers is that they each read to her.

My late risers, twelve year old Kane and eight year old Karson come down and get to work next. Kane takes his time and produces quality work. He asks lots of questions and likes to discuss what he is working on. A few times a week we read from “A Brief History of Western Man” by Thomas H. Greer – my college Humanities text book. He takes vocabulary words, and we talk about the content from our reading. I also am having him read George Washington’s “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior” and instruct him to write his own translations of it to contemporary language. On his own, he is constantly reading anything from novels to instruction manuals (he’s currently following directions on a knitting project – a Christmas gift he’s making for Kalista) to his monthly National Geographic magazine.

Eight year old Karson just finished “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. He has been very focused on reading, and it has been nice to give him the freedom to read as much as he wants. Each of the boys read novels of their choice (or my choice if they don’t make one for themselves.) Once finished they write book reports. Today I helped Karson summarize his book. I took dictation as he told me the plot points of the book in sequence. Then he read it to me. Next time maybe I’ll have him record his own voice telling the story. What’s most important to me is that he processes what he reads.  Each of the boys has a reading comprehension book that they work out of as well. He read a story about Hank Aaron and answered questions about the reading. He is also working on writing in cursive.

Work time varies by each individual. Nobody starts or stops at the same time. They just get to work and take the necessary time to complete their assignments – again, with very little prodding from me. I am just there to give structure and to oversee their responsibilities.  Ken gives math lessons: Kolton and Karson are working from the same Saxon Math text and Kane is doing algebra.

Having our afternoons free for creative expression is something I absolutely love about home schooling. Kane has been knitting and Kolton has spent hours at his easel painting. Karson is immersed in another book, and Kalista plays, dances sings, draws or paints. We have suspended piano lessons for the year, but the boys sit at the piano and review their music. We have spent afternoons doing geocaching, which incorporates a GPS device to find hidden treasures that are placed just about everywhere. These afternoons are also times of cooperative interaction among the kids. Kane is teaching his brothers how to knit; Kolton has offered to share his easel and paints. Karson will read a book to Kalista. We generally spend this time in peaceful and civil interaction. It is so nice.

Don’t get me wrong, we still have plenty of bickering and discord among us. Conflicts are inevitable, but overall I have been delightfully surprised at how easy and enriching home schooling has been so far. We’ll be back on the road again soon and I know that with the structure we have in place, there’s going to be a lot of learning going on.

 Kane and Kalista working away at the table inside the RV
while at Glacier National Park.

Mount Rushmore by Karson

 

 

These are pictures of us at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. While we were there we walked a small loop and watched a movie about how it was made. My favorite  part of being at Mount Rushmore was the movie.

Devils Tower, Wyoming by Kane

Eight years ago my cousin, my family and I went to South Dakota and Wyoming on vacation. We saw several cool things like Mount Rushmore, a cave and the Badlands, but the thing that amazed me the most (and kind of freaked me out) was Devil’s Tower. After I learned that it was an extinct Volcano my irrational preschooler mind got scared that it would erupt. It was one of the strangest things I had ever seen.

Fast forward eight years along our August RV adventure trip when I learned that we would probably be going back to Devil’s Tower I got pretty excited. When I finally saw it again I thought “it looks smaller.” We did a hike around Devil’s tower that eight years ago was my very first mile hike then it was pretty hard but now after hiking seven miles on the Grinnell Glacier hike it was quite easy hiking one mile on fairly flat terrain. But with all of this it wasn’t like I didn’t learn anything new, because I did learn about porcupines from a ranger talk that day, and also we did the hardest junior ranger booklet we’ve done yet. I know that someday I’ll want to see it again.

 

Some German tourists saw us sitting together on a bench at Devils Tower and
asked us if they could take this picture.

 

Grand Teton National Park: Hike to Phelps Lake by Kolton

Kolton

This is me jumping off a thirty foot rock

Today we got in the car and drove down to a hike that went to Phelps Lake in Grand Teton National Park. We parked the car and then walked for about five minutes, trying to find the Death Canyon trail head. Then we began the hike. We walked about a mile to the Phelps Lake lookout point. We took a few pictures then we went on. We walked past a ton of mint plants, they smelled really good. At last we made it to Phelps Lake and we got changed into our swimsuits. I was the only one in the water and I played around for a while. Then we ate and walked on to a huge rock it was about thirty feet tall! Dad and I said we were going to jump off. Dad procrastinated for about thirty minutes then he jumped. “Now it’s my turn!” I said. So I got up on the highest point on the rock. I could not jump. It was like I was glued to the rock for another thirty minutes, procrastinating. Dad’s camera battery started running really low. I panicked then Dad started counting down: “5, 4, 3, 2” and then I started to jump and then stopped but it was too late. I tripped and fell over the edge, then I smacked the water. It hurt but it was amazing! Karson was sad. He wanted to do it but was too scared. It was hard for me and Dad to do it. Even Dad was scared. So we began the hike back and we all played in the water. We were all thirsty, so Dad and Kane went off to filter some water to drink.  Mom read and Karson, Kalista and I buried each other in the sand. Dad and Kane came back and I took a small drink of the water, and while Karson, Mom and I got our shoes on Dad and Kane started hiking back to the trail head. They were already way far ahead of us. Mom was tired so I volunteered to carry the backpack. It was hot that day and I was thirsty. I noticed that we were actually climbing a mountain. It was uphill and then downhill to our car along with the backpack. It was hard, but at about the half way point we met up with Dad and Kane. There was not much water left, so we hiked to the car and I drank a whole bottle of water. Then we drove back to the R.V.  Another amazing adventure!

Yellowstone: Freak Show of Nature

As we excitedly approached Yellowstone’s north entrance we drove past herds of pronghorn antelope. Closer to the park we had to stop and wait for elk to get out of the road. We made our way to the Roosevelt Arch at the entrance to the park and had to get out for a family picture. On the arch the words “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People” is inscribed. Words President Theodore Roosevelt, the great conservationist, used to claim that the common people of the United States had a right to national lands to enjoy and experience the wildness of unspoiled nature.  It’s a wonderful inheritance that we have decided to take advantage of to its fullest this year.





We made our camp at a site near Yellowstone Lake in the heart of the park just as the sun set.  It had been a long day of driving and we were all ready to rest by the time we finally got settled in and had dinner.

In the morning we rose and went for a ranger led hike which focused on the geological history of the soil, the trees and vegetation as well as the wildlife of Yellowstone. Kane and Kolton walked on either side of the ranger continuously shooting questions at him, making that ranger earn his paycheck that day!

One of the things I love about national parks is the Junior Ranger programs that each park has. It consists of age appropriate booklets with activities that help children (and adults) process what they observe and learn as they experience the diversity of the various parks. Truly educational in nature, these programs teach us about the unique anthropology, geology, history, vegetation and wildlife of each place. One of the requirements of most Junior Ranger program is that you attend at least one ranger led activity. We tend to go to at least one a day while in any given park. Once completed, the kids take their booklets to a visitors center and present them to a ranger who looks them over and makes any necessary corrections. The ranger then leads the kids in an oath to protect and preserve the national parks before presenting them with badges or patches representing each park.

Later that day we went to Mud Volcano for another ranger led presentation on the mud pots and thermal vents called fumaroles found around Yellowstone.  Yellowstone National Park just happens to be a giant super volcano that makes this place seems like a complete freak show of nature. The bizarre geological phenomena make one feel as if they have left Earth and landed on another planet.  One feature of the Mud Volcano tour included a vent called Dragon’s Mouth, where steaming sulfurous gasses belch out of a cave. The whole place smelled like rotten eggs making our kids plug their noses, make faces and giggle. Kane walked alongside the ranger throughout his presentation, grilling him for more information and answering all of his questions.

 

 

 

Fulfilling the age old obligation of going to Yellowstone, we spent the next day at the Geyser Basin and saw Old Faithful erupt three times. We saw several other geysers and hot springs. There were all kinds of warnings to stay on the path. One ranger held up his finger and reminded his tour group that “this is not a thermometer!” However there were lots of tourists who seemed to think that the rules of the park did not apply to them and were occasionally seen walking off the trails and sticking their fingers where they weren’t supposed to. There were also signs telling park guests that dogs were not allowed on the hiking trails. We witnessed a couple and their unleashed dogs on a hike being disciplined by a ranger. Hearing the woman give a lame excuse “Oh, I’m sorry we didn’t see the signs and our leash is back in the car,” gave us the opportunity to teach the kids that feigning ignorance and making excuses shouldn’t work for adults any better than children.

 



We took a short hike to a place called The Boiling River, where hot water pours out of the earth into the cool waters of the Gardiner River, creating a natural hot tub. We relaxed in the water and enjoyed watching all the people who came there.

By far and away our favorite place there was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. There were several vantage points from which you could see this beautiful place. We stood near the waterfall and hiked to Inspiration Point. We watched the sun and smoke from a nearby fire play with the color of the water flowing at the canyon’s floor at a place called Artist’s Point. Part of the hiking that day was strenuous including a trail with steep switchbacks and, as Ken puts it, “Like 450 stairs.” Lucky for Kalista, the ‘Daddy Express’ was running, and she got to ride a good portion of it on Ken’s back.

 

 

 



Juxtaposed with the weird volcanic features and the beautiful canyon, there were also forests and grazing lands for the abundant wildlife at Yellowstone which include bears, wolves, mountain lions, antelope, elk, coyotes, foxes and bison. The bison were the most visible of all the wildlife at the park. Vast herds of buffalo roam throughout the park, often stopping traffic as they slowly make their way across the roadways. I’m pretty sure those guys were messing with folks, as if to say “Yeah, I’m walking right in front of your car. What are you gonna do about it?” As I was giving school lessons and making dinner one night, a bison walked out of the surrounding forest and right past our camper!

 

 

 

 

 

Yellowstone was an awesome place to learn about geology and wildlife, the kids all earned their Jr. Ranger badges before leaving the park and we headed south toward Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons.

The Shores of Lake Mary Ronan

On our last day at Glacier we met a Kiwi named Chris who recommended a destination on the way down to Yellowstone.  A little resort just west of Flathead Lake called Mountain Meadows on the shores of Lake Mary Ronan, it was a terrific place to stop and rest between National Parks.

When we checked in the owner told us of the caretaker’s grandson who lived on the grounds. A 12 year old who enjoyed playing chess, sounded like a good person for Kane to meet. The next morning a knock on our door gave Kane the chance to meet Michael and the two sat at the picnic table playing chess and talking about books. My heart soared seeing Kane connect with what I would call “one of his people”.  After they each won a game Michael invited Kane to his house to see his Lego collection and books. Kane was away the whole day as the rest of us played at the lake.



The boys fished and swam and that evening we met a couple who invited us to their camp fire for s’mores.

After a couple of days at Mountain Meadows we packed up and headed south toward much anticipated Yellowstone National Park – which had big shoes to fill after our week at Glacier.