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.