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

Want to join in the fun? You can join Homeschool Memoirs at any time!

August at SmallWorld Reads

Although I do consider this blog my blog headquarters, I also post regularly at SmallWorld Reads, my reading and writing blog. I love the world of book blogging. I have found stacks of interesting books by reading book reviews, and at this moment, Dr. H. is putting up yet another new bookshelf. That would make about the 232nd shelf in our house.

Here's what's been happening over at SmallWorld Reads, in case you haven't been visiting there, too. Not only was August a month filled with lazy summer days at our home, but it was also a fabulous month for reading—due largely to a long vacation.

Books read and reviewed in August were:
Atonement (Ian McEwan)
A Death in the Family (James Agee)
Liars' Club, The (Mary Karr)
On Chesil Beach (Ian McEwan)
The River King (Alice Hoffman)
Secret Between Us, The (Barbara Delinsky)
Serpent Handlers, The (Brown and McDonald)
The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall-Smith
Jimmy's Stars by Mary Ann Rodman* (juvenile lit)

Books Read but Not Yet Reviewed
The First Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

Favorite of the Month:
A Death in the Family
(First Runner Up: Atonement)

Least Favorite:
The Secret Between Us

Where I Played
Weekly Geeks: Bookish Photos and Author Photos
The Sunday Salon: Lakes and Snakes and Reading Bliss
Sunday Scribbling: How I Met..., Observations, Ask, and Do I Have To?
And most Saturdays at Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books

Three Beautiful Things: Camping

There are a lot of beautiful things about camping, especially camping here in East Tennessee. We usually go to the Smokies but this time we went to the Big South Fork in the Cumberland Mountains, north of Knoxville. And here are just three of the beautiful things about this weekend:

1. My girl amidst a gaggle of giggling girls.


2. My boy with his band of merry men.


3. A look of pure joy and contentment on my husband's face, and a boy who thinks his Daddy is the greatest guy on earth. (I agree.)

My Daughter, Eleven

What I remember most about this day eleven years ago? How when it was all over and everyone was gone, late at night, and I looked over at her lying next to me, and she was looking at me so intently with those big dark eyes. And that's the look that I still catch across a room, as if she is just looking at me to check in, to reassure each other that we are both really there.

Happy Birthday to my treasure. She is more than I could have asked for, had I known the words to ask.











In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal
Darkness turns to light and the world is at peace
This miracle God gave to me gives me strength when I am weak
I find reason to believe in my daughter's eyes.
~Martina McBride

College Essentials

Heidi at Mt. Hope Academy, one of my favorite blogs, had a beautiful and thought-provoking post a few weeks ago, titled "Childhood Essentials." As she explains the post, "As I travel down the road of deliberate parenting, I've thought a great deal about my childhood and what I want for my own children. So many things find their home on my childhood essentials list, and yet so many things are strangely absent."

I kept intending to take time to make my own Childhood Essentials post, but lately I find myself thinking much more about College Essentials.

Jesse started his first class at our local community college this week. He's in the dual enrollment program, which means he's getting both high school and college credit at the same time. He's just taking one course, Music Appreciation, to get his feet wet. So far he loves the course.

But community college is just a temporary spot. His real college experience will start in less than two years. He'll be graduating a year early because, well, why not? He wants to, and his first ACT score will earn him a decent scholarship. Hopefully his next ACT score will bring in a fantastic one. I know, I know: there's more to college than being ready academically, and, frankly, he's pretty mature and wise. And with two more years yet at home, I feel confident that he'll do well emotionally in college, as well as academically.

So now the pressing question becomes: where?

Lately more and more people from my alma mater have joined Facebook, and it's like this big continuous reunion. People are posting photos, stories, and questions ("whatever happened to...") every day. There is something tremendously satisfying about shared memory.

I went to a small, private college of less than 1,000 students. I absolutely loved it. (OK, sometimes I hated it, too, but only in an anti-authority kind of way. Anarchy and all that.) Living on-campus, in dorms was mandatory unless you were over a certain age (maybe 23?), married, or a commuter (there weren't many commuters back then). Suffice it to say, you pretty much knew everyone. And although you know everyone's name, you don't necessarily hang out with everyone. You meet your people.

And that's what I want for my kids: I want them to have People.

I had good friends in high school, and I have some great memories from then. But in college, you live and breathe each other. It is this amazing world of its own that I don't think can ever be duplicated, except perhaps to some degree within your own family. But it's not the same, even in your family. There are people from my college years who know pretty much everything there is to know about me, and they love me anyway. We have a warehouse full of shared memories stretching over hours, days, months, years—memories that are so powerful that one "remember when" on Facebook comes into focus with perfect clarity.

Throughout the years many people have remarked on the friendships I've sustained with college friends as if it were something unusual. I have to wonder how much that comes from going to such a small college. My mom friends and I discuss the College Experience sometimes. We have differing views. Some of them lived at home and commuted to the closest university. Some lived on campus and loved it. One hated it. But very few had, well, People. A village.

I realize when I have these thought processes that I always go back to the people. Academics? Yes, I had a fabulous academic learning experience in college. Our Humanities program in particular was outstanding. It was like advanced Sonlight: good literature, history and art all bouncing off of each other.

But academics were, for me, just one part of the whole experience. And isn't personal fulfillment based largely on relationships? God created us to be relational—to love, interact, encourage, and help each other. And so that's what I keep going back to: I want my kids to find lifelong friends. Friends that know them for who they really are; friends who want to have reunions every year; friends who can say "remember the time your car rolled..." in twenty years and don't even have to finish the sentence.

Yes, I know. Ultimately, it's our children's decision about where they go to college. But as a parent, it's my job to provide them with insights that come with experience.

So free university (lottery scholarship and faculty discount) or expensive private college? Check back next year.

Word-Filled Wednesday

I've noticed the past week or so that the spiders are starting their autumn spinning. I almost walked through one like this a few days ago, but this is a photo I took last September. The spider's intricate web is one of those things that just makes me say, "Wow."


"O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures. ... Every one of these depends on you to give them their food as they need it. When you supply it, they gather it. You open your hand to feed them, and they are satisfied." (Psalm 24, 27&28)


(For more World-Filled Wednesday posts or to submit your own, visit The 160-Acre Woods.)

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.

(If you'd like to join Homeschool Memoirs, click here!)

Three Beautiful Things: Rain, Barbies, Book

1. The sound of a good, drenching rain, one that looks as if it's going to stay all day.

2. My daughter with her Barbies spread all over the living room floor, all geared up for a full day of Barbie world.

3. Still thinking about the beautiful writing in an amazing classic I read last week (and wondering how I never heard about it in umpteen years of high school, college, and graduate school).

Monday Memory: The Reunion

I've blogged before about The Reunion, but lately there's been a new, ongoing reunion of sorts as more and more of my college friends are joining Facebook. I've reconnected with people I haven't seen in twenty years, and the world becomes even smaller and cozier. What a nice feeling. I've been inspired to pull old photos out of albums and frames, and I've enjoyed looking at photos that others have posted from our days at Milligan College and later.


I'd love to have a Reunion at my house, but I'd include not only these friends, but others that I've reconnected with on Facebook now, in my adult life—people that I'm learning I have so much in common with.

I don't know if we'll ever have another reunion, although I expect we will. But I do know that I have been blessed so abundantly in this life with friends and memories of incredible times spent together. And that is a continuing prayer for my children: that they will be blessed by beautiful friendships.

Word-Filled Wednesday

We began our ninth year of homeschooling today. I've never agreed with those "experts" who insist that each family must have a written vision statement, but if I were tied down and forced to pick a family vision statement, it would be these verses from Ephesisans 3:16-21. The first one is from the NIV; I've included the verses from The Message as well, because I like the different perspective.

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

(From The Message):
"My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us."

I really can't imagine a better blessing for my children as we begin this new year.

(For more World-Filled Wednesday posts or to submit your own, visit The 160-Acre Woods.)