Homeschool Memoirs: Pets

Today's theme at Homeschool Memoirs is pets: "Tell us your pet history. What was your first pet? Which was your most memorable? How about today? How many pets do you have? Do they help or hinder your homeschooling?"

My first pet, as family legend goes, was a kitten named Poof. One day he was there and the next day—poof!—he'd been run over in the driveway. The first pet I remember was our good mama cat Susie, who gave birth to a few litters before my parents took her to "Lollypop Farms." They said that this was a happy place where animals could run around free and happy. When I was in college and later and would tell this story to friends, they would laugh and say, "Are you serious? Do you seriously believe there is such a place as Lollypop Farm?" I was suddenly confronted with the idea that my parents might have used Lollypop Farm as a euphemism for euthanasia. This seemed uncharacteristic of my parents, but it did seem silly to believe in such a place. Imagine my delight when I discovered that Lollypop Farm is real and still thriving all these years later!

Anyway, as a child we had an evil cat named Chippy (Susie's spawn), two fleeting kittens named Bilbo and Gandalf, and a Toy Fox Terrier named Mandy. Back then everyone had pets. I don't ever remember knowing anyone who was allergic to cats or who didn't have a dog. People just had pets. It seemed natural to me that Dr. H. and I would have pets as soon as we were married, so we started out with three cats. These were really Randy's first taste of pet ownership, besides a bird he had in elementary school. When our cat Sebastian was killed, Randy experienced his first real taste of losing a loved one. This, I believe, is one of the great benefits of pet ownership. Dealing with the loss of a beloved pet prepares one for losing a loved one. Within a few years after that, Randy lost three out of his four grandparents.

Since then we've had an assortment of pets in our home. Our kids have buried one beautiful cat, Pudding; a couple of hermit crabs; and a hamster. We have a little pet burial plot in a corner of our backyard. Several fish have been flushed down the toilet. We currently have residing in our home: our sweet Australian shepherd, Daisy; two cats, Hamlet and S'more; Brooke the hamster; and Shelob, the tarantula (it resides in my son's room). Sometimes I fantasize about our home being completely pet-free: no food to sweep up, no litter box to change, no expense of food and vet, no dog to take out every morning, no jarring barking. And hindering our homeschooling? Yes, they do. Daisy's sudden sharp barking sends my head spinning, and the kitten tearing through the house like a Tasmanian devil is rather distracting.

But the benefits of having pets far outweigh the annoyances. They are good to have about, adding a depth to our family life that makes us even more grounded. And all that good responsibility, nurturing, and companionship that goes along with pet ownership—it's all true.

Homeschool Memoirs: Happy New Year

I'm glad for today's task at Homeschool Memoirs: "post about what you did for New Year’s and what your traditions are each year."

I've done this post already, and not coming up with anything clever suits my mood today! Friends, food, and bags-around-the-clock: you can read about our New Year's Eve here.

(For more New Year's Eve traditions, click on the Homeschool Memoirs link. And for more great reading, the 158th Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Why Homeschool.)

Homeschool Memoirs #17: Chores

This week's Homeschool Memoir asks for how we do chores at our house: "how you order your day with school and getting housework done. How do you decide which chores should be done by which child, of which age?"

We've tried various approaches through the years. While we don't do this consciously, I would say that we use the phrase "family responsibilities" rather than "chores." My kids have had the kind of thorough immersion in historical fiction that when hear the word "chores," they think of milking cows and sweeping the hearth. They also know that "chores" is supposed to bring about a batch of grumbling. It's all a matter of semantics, really; however, our goal is to foster the idea that we all have to work together to make our home run smoothly. Thus, the term family responsibility.

Our kids have certain responsibilities—cleaning their rooms, making their beds, setting the table, etc.— that are directly tied to their allowances. Here is a post about our allowance system that really explains the whole process. For other jobs, I just ask, and they do it. Perhaps I should rephrase that. I don't "ask" them: "Hey, would you kids like to pick up the living room?" Rather, I tell them: "It is time to pick up the living room." Sometimes I'll make jobs fun by playing a game of I Spy ("I spy something brown and bumpy that belongs to Duncan") or picking up color-by-color or by having each pick up a certain number of things ("Everyone pick up 22 things, even if they're not yours.").

Something that I used to do frequently when the kids were younger was called "15/15." For this, I would set the timer for 15 minutes, and we would all clean. When the timer when off, we'd stop and play. They absolutely loved this system, and I have no idea why I don't employ it more regularly. Perhaps today I'll start it again!

Our house goes through various phases of cleanliness and clutter. If we have a particularly busy week, we'll have piles of stuff everywhere. I would be fairly horrified for anyone to walk in my house right now. But then we'll have weeks like this one, when activities are at a minimum and we can attack the chaos. I do daily maintenance, of course. I was a Flylady follower years ago, and she taught me the basics of managing one's home: shine your sink, get dressed, put on shoes, declutter for a few minutes at a time, etc. I am still fairly consistent with all of those things.

Basically, we've trained our kids from toddlerhood that they are a part of this family, and that in order for our home to run smoothly, they must help. They know that they can't watch TV or get on the computer, etc., unless they have done what I've asked them to. As they get older, their responsibilities and expectations increase. I have been really happy in the past year to see that our 15-year-old regularly cleans his room, including vacuuming, without ever being asked. I can't remember the last time that I reminded him to get his room clean. I think it all comes down to years of training, consistency, and, well, a kid who likes a clean room.

* Guess what? I'm hosting the next Carnival of Homeschooling here at SmallWorld! I've been an avid reader of the Carnival for a couple of years, and I'm excited to have a chance to host finally. Any blog post you write that has to do with homeschooling can be submitted by using the form here. If you've never submitted, just look back over your past posts and find one you especially liked, and send it in!

Homeschool Memoirs #15: A Thankful Heart

This week's Homeschool Memoirs calls for 27 things we're thankful (U.S. Thanksgiving being on the 27th this year). And so, as they come to me...

1. My husband, Dr. H., who is practically perfect in every way
2. My oldest, who never ceases to amaze me
3. My daughter, who lights up my life
4. My youngest, who is a happiness giver
5. My parents, who raised me in love and security and who gave me wings
6. Incredible friends. Really, really amazing, lovely people that continuously bless my life.
7. And the Village People. You know who you are, and if you're wondering if you are, the answer is yes.
8. Our homeschooling support group. What a treasure.
9. Being able to homeschool: the freedom to do so, the means and desire to do so.
10. Our home
11. Living in Tennessee
12. Two vehicles
13. Dr. H's job that he loves
14. My extended family: my brothers and their families, in-laws, aunts, uncles, etc.
15. Our fantastic youth minister and his wife (we needed them for a very long time), and our minister and his wife
16. My children's friends and their families
17. Flowers, leaves, and other beautiful creations
18. The Smoky Mountains
19. Excellent health in our home
20. Coffee
21. Heath bars
22. Books
23. The library
24. Financial stability in an economically rocky world
25. Jesus Christ, the Example
26. Did I mentioned having been raised in a loving, secure, educationally-minded, Christian family?
27. Did I mention my sweet, precious family—Dr. H and the kids— who are so much more than I could ever have asked for?

Blessings abound.

Homeschool Memoirs #14: Award the Categories

This week's Homeschool Memoirs is "to post the category that best describes each of your family members and write something about why you nominated them in that category." So here goes…

Best Cook: Dr. H.
I wish he cooked every single meal! But then I guess I'd have to go find a job that earns money, and that would be really icky. So, I'll just appreciate his weekend cooking!

Best Sense of Humor: Jesse.
He is just funny, and he totally has our sense of humor. He is always cracking me up. He just gets it.

Most Creative: Laurel Rose.
This girl is amazing. Whether it's coming up with a costume (above), sewing, art, crafts, doll clothes, cooking or myriad other mediums, she is constantly creating something.

Always Smiling: Duncan.
He just always has a smile on his face. He does get mad and grumpy, but he can't stay mad and grumpy. Within a few minutes, he is almost always smiling again.

Most Faithful
In spite of her piercing bark when someone pulls in the driveway, Daisy is the absolute best dog. She loves us so much that it just breaks my heart.

Best Cricket Catcher
Every morning there is one hideous camel cricket that appears in our kitchen. Fortunately, our new kitty is a champion cricket catcher. It's not a pretty sight to see what she does with it.

Ugliest.
Really, it's a tarantula. Need I say more?

Want to see other awards? Click on the link above. And don't forget to vote for ME for the Best Variety Blog at the Homeschool Blog Awards!

See Memoir #13 here: Mom Help
See Memoir #12 here: Let's Play a Game
See Memoir #11 here: Field Trips
See Memoir #10 here: 10 Timely Facts
See Memoir #8 here: Study Spot
See Memoir #7 here: Snacks
See Memoir #6 here: Summer Photo Essay
See Memoir #5 here: My Favorite Things
See Memoir #4 here: Something New
See Memoir #3 here: Routines
See Memoir #2 here: Agendas
See Memoir #1 here: All About Me

Homeschool Memoirs #13: Mom Help

This week's Homeschool Memoir asks for our "Mom" help: what do we do when we need a break?

First of all, my day usually goes best if I have a couple of hours in the morning to myself. I do the majority of my thinking work (paperwork, stuff for American Heritage Girls, lesson plans, email communications, blogging, etc.) between 7 and 9 a.m. If I don't have that time in the morning, I am generally a bit off for the day.

Besides that, my break time is almost always on the computer. The absolute best way for me to veg out is by playing some kind of word game on Facebook: Prolific (like Boggle), Wordscraper (like Scrabble), or Word Twist (thanks a lot, Marci!). I pretty much lose all of them all the time, but it's fabulous for vegetating. I also have my daily rounds of blog reading, which I save for times when I need a break.

Another way that I clear my head is by cleaning. I'm not by any means a neurotic cleaner, but sometimes I absolutely have to reduce the clutter level in the house in order to restore some kind of balance in myself. Every stack of papers that gets sorted, every surface that gets wiped down, every wilting plant that gets watered helps me feel a bit steadier.

I'm seeing some vacuuming in today's plans.


See Memoir #12 here: Let's Play a Game
See Memoir #11 here: Field Trips
See Memoir #10 here: 10 Timely Facts
(I opted out of Memoir #9)
See Memoir #8 here: Study Spot
See Memoir #7 here: Snacks
See Memoir #6 here: Summer Photo Essay
See Memoir #5 here: My Favorite Things
See Memoir #4 here: Something New
See Memoir #3 here: Routines
See Memoir #2 here: Agendas
See Memoir #1 here: All About Me

Homeschool Memoirs #12: Let's Play a Game

Today's theme at Homeschool Memoirs is all about family games. I just happen to already have a post called Favorite Family Games, which I'll repost here:

Randy and I both grew up in game-playing families (although his was primarily a card-playing family), and we are determined to carry on this tradition with our own kids. We like all the traditional games: Life, Monopoly, Yahtzee, Candyland (must be played with real candy placed around the board), Hi-Ho Cherry-o, Clue, Scrabble, Cranium, RummiKub, Mancala, Mastermind etc. We are always on a quest for new games that at least 2 out of the 3 kids can play, depending on their ages. I also love games that add an educational flair to our school day. Here are some of our favorite finds:

Secret Square: This is a great game for ages 3-10 or so. It's sort of a 20 questions game, in which 25 picture pieces are laid out in a square. One player hides a token while the others try to find it by asking questions about the picture it's under. If the player asks, "Is it an animal?" and the other player says "No," all squares with animals are removed, and so on. This process continues until players have narrowed down the square that hides the token. The game is simple, yet calls for thoughtful questions to win quickly. Requires no reading. Unfortunately, this game isn't sold new anymore; however, you can buy it on eBay or other used sites. It's worth perusing the web to see if you can find it somewhere!

20 Questions for Kids: This is a game that all three of our kids can play, and I enjoy it, too. This is a basic 20 Questions in board game format, with 150 question cards. Each card has a person, place, or thing with 20 clues about the subject. Players take turns trying to figure out the clues ("I am a city in France" "I have a large tower in me"), and both the reader and the guesser advance based on how many questions are asked. Occasionally we'll get a card that the kids just don't know, so we just skip that one.

SomeBody: This is another game that works well for several ages. Each player (up to four players) gets a game-board body with re-usable stick-on body parts. You take turn reading questions from the 50 body part cards and 50 muscles and bones cards and place the appropriate body part on your chart if you get the answer right. This has really helped the kids (and me!) get a great visual of where are organs are located. Even the parts, which are like Colorforms, keep sticking on fairly well after many uses. My only complaint is that there aren't enough cards/questions. I suppose I could make some of my own...

Apples to Apples: This game is way too much fun, and you can play with a huge group of people of all ages, or just a few people. The object of the game is to be the player who has the word card that best defines a given word. Players are dealt five red apple cards and try to make the closest match possible to a word on the judge's green apple card. For example, you may have the following red apple cards in your hand: the Mall, Video Games, Getting a Haircut, Thanksgiving Day, and My Family. Your task is to convince the judge (who rotates) which of your cards (My Family, for example) best defines the green apple card, which may be, for example, the word Frightening. You must persuade the judge to pick your card over your competitors' (why is My Family more frightening than Mt. Everest?). Probably good for ages 7 and up, although a particularly verbal younger child could play. We have the Junior edition, which is great for all ages. The regular version has a lot of words (particularly people) that kids just wouldn't understand (Richard Nixon, Central Park, etc.).

Snapshots Across America: This is a great way to get a hands-on U.S. geography lesson while learning a little bit about each state. The object of the game is to travel to collect famous attraction cards while traveling across the U.S. by car, train, boat, or plane. This is another game that all the kids can play, although Duncan needs a little help and tends to quit before the game is over.

Sequence: Yet another game that everyone can play, including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We play the adult version; I'm not sure what the benefit of the Junior version would be. The object of the game is to get a sequence of 5 chips on the board, matching a card in your hand to a space on the board. Lots of strategy involved and great to play as partners.


Set: This is a game of visual perception, which is challenging for us because we are more words than picture people around here. Each card contains one of three symbols in varying numbers, colors , and types of shading. The dealer arranges 12 cards and the players, at the same time, scan the images for logical "sets" of three cards. This one has to be played carefully because younger kids can get frustrated easily. I really love this game and think it's fantastic for logic, but I prefer to play it one-on-one with a child. For some reason, this brings out the not-so-pretty-competitive side of my kids!

So those are a few of our favorites, besides the old stand-bys. We're always in the market for new games, so leave a comment if you have a favorite, and--in the spirit of Apples-to-Apples--convince me that we should try this for our family!

See Memoir #11 here: Field Trips
See Memoir #10 here: 10 Timely Facts
(I opted out of Memoir #9)
See Memoir #8 here: Study Spot
See Memoir #7 here: Snacks
See Memoir #6 here: Summer Photo Essay
See Memoir #5 here: My Favorite Things
See Memoir #4 here: Something New
See Memoir #3 here: Routines
See Memoir #2 here: Agendas
See Memoir #1 here: All About Me

Homeschool Memoirs #11: Field Trips

This week's Homeschool Memoirs asks for our favorite field trip. Field trips are, of course, one of the huge benefits of homeschooling. I couldn't possibly list on the field trips we've been on, but some recurring favorite ones are:
• The Symphony (we're headed to the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra this morning, in fact)
• Local historic sites like Fort Loudoun
• Children's museums, like this one in Oak Ridge
• Nature centers like Ijams
• Plays, especially those at the Oak Ridge Playhouse

But I do have two very favorite field trips. The first: In the Smokies. I know that for millions of people, coming to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is a very big deal, even a once-in-a-lifetime trip, like Yosemite would be for us. But for my family, the GSMNP is our big backyard. We go there often, and I never cease to be amazed at the sheer beauty of creation. We've gone to the Smokies mostly just for hiking and camping, but we've also gone for numerous field trips put on by the park rangers or other sources.


My second favorite field trip thus far, to Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown , was one we took last year to go along with our year in American History (up to 1800). That was such a fantastic trip, and it's all detailed in the link above! I'm hoping that at the end of this year, when we "finish" American History, we'll be able to take a trip to Washington, D.C.

Wanna play? Visit Homeschool Memoirs at the link above!

See Memoir #10 here: 10 Timely Facts
(I opted out of Memoir #9)
See Memoir #8 here: Study Spot
See Memoir #7 here: Snacks
See Memoir #6 here: Summer Photo Essay
See Memoir #5 here: My Favorite Things
See Memoir #4 here: Something New
See Memoir #3 here: Routines
See Memoir #2 here: Agendas
See Memoir #1 here: All About Me


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Homeschool Memoirs #10: Ten Timely Facts About Me

Today's theme at Homeschool Memoirs is "Timely Facts": "This is our 10th Homeschool Memoirs so this week it’s going to be about 10 timely facts about you! Write 10 interesting, crazy, weird, fun facts about you!"

1. I cannot pour a cup of coffee without spilling.

2. I sleep with a pillow over my head.

3. When I was pregnant with my daughter, my favorite food was cream cheese and green olives on an onion bagel.

4. I have skied in the Alps.

5. I hardly ever shave my legs in the winter.

6. I have incredibly strong fingernails that never break and grow fast, but I am not a fingernail kind of person.

7. My creative writing thesis from graduate school is one of my favorite things.

8. I am most comfortable with college friends and homeschooling friends.

9. I follow a certain schedule every morning, and I don't like for my schedule to be interrupted.

10. I really do LOL, especially when friends are posting pictures on Facebook from college.

Wanna play? Visit Homeschool Memoirs at the link above! Want to read more fascinating facts about me? Click on the link on my sidebar right under my profile pic!

(I opted out of Memoir #9)
See Memoir #8 here: Study Spot
See Memoir #7 here: Snacks
See Memoir #6 here: Summer Photo Essay
See Memoir #5 here: My Favorite Things
See Memoir #4 here: Something New
See Memoir #3 here: Routines
See Memoir #2 here: Agendas
See Memoir #1 here: All About Me

Study Spots in SmallWorld

First of all, this is our house. (Actually, this is our house in April, not October, but it's dark and rainy outside right now so this photo will have to suffice.) The door in the photo goes into our sunroom, which is our craft room. This room holds all the playdough, paint, construction paper, glue, inventing supplies, and other essentials like cast-off calendars and wallpaper sample books. We don't use this room in the winter because it isn't heated, and it gets positively filled with junk each winter. One of my early summer projects was to clean this room, which I did quite thoroughly. I love having a room where all the messy projects can be done, out of sight.

We've always done school in a variety of places around the house, mostly the dining room table and the living room couch. This year, however, we've changed things around. Another of my summer projects was to figure out how to use our attached apartment, which was, until this year, my parents' winter home. I made the bold move to turn it into our schoolroom, and I cannot express how much I love have a separate space for schooling! I've taken the majority of our kids' books, games, puzzles and other materials out of various places in our house and put them in our new room. Finally I have the space to put up my book rack, so that our daily books are easily accessible.

I also moved our old dining room table in there. We do the majority of our work either at the table or on the couch in our new room. I can't believe what a difference it makes in my personal sanity to have all our materials, for the most part, in one place. I love being able to stick maps up on the walls with abandon and not have to pick up stacks of books and papers for meals. Laurel especially thrives on organization, and she's really enjoyed making our new space more "official," with cubbies and nametags. (This is the girl who likes to play school.)

Of course we do school other places in and around our home, too: outside and in the kitchen, especially. And Jesse, our high schooler, does the vast majority of his work sitting right here, at the computer.

See Memoir #7 here: Snacks
See Memoir #6 here: Summer Photo Essay
See Memoir #5 here: My Favorite Things
See Memoir #4 here: Something New
See Memoir #3 here: Routines
See Memoir #2 here: Agendas
See Memoir #1 here: All About Me

Homeschool Memoirs #7: Snacks

Today's theme at Homeschool Memoirs is snacks: "There are so many different kinds of snack foods, store-bought and homemade, and I would like to invite you to share what snack foods your family usually snacks on throughout the week."

Um, I'm a boring snack mom. I have pretty much no snack policies, except no candy for breakfast. We all snack lightly every couple of hours. I think we are those people called "grazers." My kids fix their own snacks for the most part. Laurel loves to prepare snacks, so she'll often try various seasonings on popcorn or arrange a plate filled with an assortment of snack items: pretzels, some sort of cracker, fruit. I usually have yogurt, an apple, or a half of a peanut-butter sandwich as a snack.

Of course all snacking depends on what we have in the house to eat. A common cry in our home is, "We don't have any snack food!" But of course what this means is, "We don't have anything that I want to eat at this exact moment."

Probably my kids' favorite snack would be a plate of strawberries with Cool Whip. (Actually, they'd love to have just a giant bowl of Cool Whip, but I can't quite justify that.) But most of the time we just have boring snack food: cereal, pretzels, graham crackers, grapes, celery, carrots, popcorn. I lack the creative snack-mom gene.

Homeschool Memoirs #6: Summer Photo Essay

Today's theme at Homeschool Memoirs is an official good-bye to summer: Post a summer photo essay. Here is a small selection of photos that highlight some of our summer's activities:

Flying Dolphins swim team. (Photo by Lynn Freeny)

Hiking in the Smokies.

Wading in the river.

Father/Daughter overnight at the Lost Sea.

Cave exploring at Cherokee Caverns.

American Heritage Girls Geology Day.

Guitar playing.

Swimming at Indian Boundary lake.

Camping.

Canoeing on Seneca Lake, New York.

Two weeks at my parents' home in New York.

Hiking at Watkins Glen, NY.

Celebrating Mom and Dad's 60th anniversary on 8/8/08.

Tree climbing.

Shakespeare on the Square.

Wonderworks, Pigeon Forge.

Birthday Girl, 11.

Scouting Family Camp: American Heritage Girls, Boy Scouts, and Cub Scouts

And the last day of August, swimming at the Big South Fork.

Want to play? Visit Homeschool Memoirs!

See Memoir #5 here: My Favorite Things
See Memoir #4 here: Something New
See Memoir #3 here: Routines
See Memoir #2 here: Agendas
See Memoir #1 here: All About Me

Homeschool Memoirs #5: My Favorite Things

(Yes, I changed the spelling in my post title. I can't help it; I'm not British or Canadian.) Anyway, this week's Homeschool Memoirs asks for a few of our favorite homeschooling-related things—anything from magazines to memes. And so here are a few of my favorites:

1. Definitely in the #1 spot: my friends. I have an amazing group of homeschooling friends. I shouldn't just say "I"; I should emphasize that each person in my family has incredible homeschooling friends. These people are essential to both our homeschooling journey and our journey in general. They are, indeed, our village.

2. My support group. We have around 220 families in our support group, and it is an awesome thing. Although there is vast diversity in our approaches to homeschooling, socio-economic status, education, political views, spiritual views, etc., we all have one very big commonality: we have chosen to homeschool our children. And that in itself is huge. If you are a homeschooler, you know this: you can walk into a room and find 10 people who are dressed just like you, talk just like you, and have kids the same age as your kids. But if there is one person there who homeschools, she'll be the one you strike up a conversation with, even if you appear to have nothing in common on the outside. And to have 220 families who understand....that's just bliss.

3. Sonlight. I love Sonlight curriculum. I love excellent literature. I love reading aloud to my kids. I am so thankful to Laurie B., the woman who first said the magical word "Sonlight" to me nine years ago.

4. Our library. How difficult homeschooling would be without a good public library! (Or even a bad public library.)

5. Homeschoolblogger.com. I'm not part of that community anymore, but I am thankful for it as it introduced me to the homeschool blogging community.

6. The Carnival of Homeschooling. This is a great place to find a wide variety of posts about homeschooling, from snippets of daily life to philosophy to methods.

7. The Homeschool Lounge and Heart of the Matter. I don't visit these as much as I did when they first began, but I think they are fantastic resources. The Lounge is a great community, and folks there are just waiting to answer questions!

8. CurrClick. I download the freebie every week. OK, I haven't actually used any of them, but I know I will one of these days!

9. Lapbooking at Squidoo. Simply the most amazing lapbooking resource I've found.

10. Enchanted Learning. I haven't used it yet this fall, but normally this is a site I use heavily.

11. Bookshelves. And, my newly designated schoolroom that has enough open space for a solid wall of shelves.

12. The Great Smoky Mountains. It is amazingly peaceful to live in such a beautiful place. Even on the most hectic days when we have to run out a zillion times to go here and there, I can always see them. Just knowing there is a place 20 minutes away where we can shut out the bustle of the world has an instant calming effect on me.

Of course, homeschooling wouldn't be homeschooling with my three favorite things and their daddy.

(Do you have a list of favorites? You can join in at Homeschool Memoirs anytime!)

See Memoir #4 here: Something New
See Memoir #3 here: Routines
See Memoir #2 here: Agendas
See Memoir #1 here: All About Me

Homeschool Memoirs #4: Something New

This week's topic at Homeschool Memoirs is "Something New": "This week I hope you’ll share something new you’re using, why you’ve decided to use it, and if you have used it how you like it. Make sure to include the publishing information and where you got it from so others can look into if they like."

Here's the thing: I'm not really doing anything new this year. I'm doing Sonlight Core 4 with my younger two, with major additions/subtractions, but I've done it before with my oldest. Pretty much everything we're doing is listed here— and pretty much none of it is new to me, anyway. Now that doesn't mean that teaching and learning isn't fun, but this year I find myself at the "if it ain't broke" place. Everything we used worked well last year, so we're continuing on with the same things.

But here's a new factor in our program, so I'll talk about this a bit. My 15-year-old is taking his first class at our local community college. If you aren't familiar with this practice, it's called "dual enrollment." Basically, he's taking classes that will earn him high school credit and college credit simultaneously. Requirements for being a dual-enrollment student vary from college to college. At our local community college, high school students have to take the ACT and score at least a 19 in each subject area. Other colleges require just a transcript. Our local community college has somewhere between 400-600 dual enrollment students, so he's by no means the only high schooler taking classes.

This semester he's taking Music Appreciation for his fine arts credit. We thought this would be a gentle introduction to college courses. So far he's enjoying it tremendously. Tomorrow he'll have his first exam, so I guess we'll see how he's doing after that.

Supposedly the biggest advantage in dual enrollment is that it allows students to get a jumpstart on their college careers. I don't really think about it like that. I see this as an opportunity for Jesse to get a more thorough study of subjects that I would not necessarily teach at such depth. That he gets college credit is a bonus but not a driving force.

Because our state has a lottery (in which those making the least amount of money spend their small earnings in the feeble hope of winning $23 million), our community college has a fantastic grant that pays for most of one class ($330) per student. So basically, the average high school student can take a college course for about $30 plus the textbook (which could be over $100). Not a bad deal!

See Memoir #3 here: Routines
See Memoir #2 here: Agendas
See Memoir #1 here: All About Me

Got something to say about your own family? You can join Homeschool Memoirs at any time!

Homeschool Memoirs #3: Routines

This week's Homeschool Memoirs asks for our routines. I'm not sure we're far enough into the new year to say, "This is our schedule and we're stickin' to it," but so far it's like this:

Mondays: Monday deserves its own category, since we are gone for much of the day. We'll have our enrichment classes at our co-op, leaving home at 9 a.m. and returning at 1:30 p.m. Duncan will be taking Human Body, Weather Disasters, and Nifty-Fifty States. Laurel will be taking cooking, botany, and basic essay writing, which I'm teaching. Jesse will stay at home and do his regular assignments.

Mornings:
* Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: mornings at home. We start school about 10 a.m. Jesse does his own thing. I alternate between reading aloud from either history or Bible with Duncan and Laurel and helping Duncan with his work. Laurel works independently when I'm helping Duncan.
* Thursdays: Jesse does his own thing. Laurel has a performing arts class from 10 a.m.-12p.m. During that time Duncan and I will go to the library and do school there.

Afternoons
* Tuesday: Jesse has a class at the community college at 12:25; Laurel has flute at 1 p.m. We pick Jesse up at 1:45 and return home for another couple hours of school.
* Wednesday: Duncan has Boot Camp (at a local gymnastics center) from 12:30-2 p.m. My wonderful friend Donna will be his chauffeur. I'll have some one-on-one time with Laurel and then take Jesse to guitar lessons at 2 p.m. Jesse has chemistry from 4-5:30.
* Thursday: Jesse has a class at the community college at 12:25; American Heritage Girls and Cub Scouts 2nd and 4th Thursdays from about 2-6 p.m. (including set-up and clean-up).
* Fridays: We'll have a group of girls here to work on their God and Family award for AHG from 1:30-2:30; Jesse has geometry from 1:30-2:30 (he can walk to class); Boy Scouts on the 2nd and 4th Fridays at 7 p.m.

Evenings
This is the most remarkable thing. Except for church on Wednesday nights and Boy Scouts twice each month, we have no regular evening activities! I'm excited about that break in our schedule!

See Memoir #2 here: Agendas
See Memoir #1 here: All About Me

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Homeschool Memoirs: Agendas

This week's Homeschool Memoirs entry feels a bit like cheating because I just did this the other day for Heart of the Matter's Friday meme. The assignment today calls for our Homeschool Agendas for the upcoming year, and here is mine.

Since I've done the majority of this assignment already, I'll elaborate on a few things. I reference our "enrichment class" program several times on my agenda. We have a fantastic program in our support group. We offer about 40 classes on Mondays (10 per hour), ranging from art to Hands-on Shakespeare to lapbooking, with everything in between. There are roughly 10 kids per class, although some have as many as 20 and some as few as 5. Parents must stay and must volunteer at least one hour each week. High schoolers can be dropped off.

I usually teach 2-3 of the hours; this semester I'm taking a break and just teaching one class (basic essay writing for 5th-8th graders). I normally teaching some kind of writing or grammar class, but I've also taught Readers' Theatre (great fun) and a geography class for early elementary. Last year I taught American Lit for high schoolers, and that was a fantastic experience. I plan to teach British Lit next year. (Great experience but I did need a break!)

(This will be the first year that my oldest isn't participating in Monday Fun, although he is taking chemistry and geometry, both taught by homeschooling dads, on different days. Yesterday Jesse had his first college course. He's taking music appreciation at our local community college, and he loved it.)

Homeschool Memoirs also asks for a Bible verse that inspires us each year, and again I'll link to another post: rooted and established in love.

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