We drove over to the town of Wendell last night after work for a special meeting of our church the community center there. It was very nice and after the meeting, we were invited to a friend’s house to hear some stories about Peru from Kenion, one of our ministers. It was all quite uplifting and very good for the kids, but we ended up not getting home until about midnight. There was another family there who have their kids in the government schools, so we were all complaining about the difficulty of getting up early after a late night on a school day. Some expressed a little bit of surprise that it was an issue with homeschool families such as us. I am not really sure how other homeschool families organize their days, but we have found that if we do not plan the well, there is no way to accomplish everything. That is especially true at this time of year. The kids are well into their annual research reports. Standardized test come around at about the same time as do some special efforts we make to assure we are finishing the year up well in math and science, so a late night during the week can often mean significant extra work in the evening or on the weekend. That all being said, this late night was well worth it both in terms of education and inspiration.
The good news for the kids, though, is that we have a finite finish date. When we finish for the summer, we are truly finished. Before the end of the year, we pick one area on which the kids will work during the summer. We try to never picked a subject or a project because the kids are behind it. We have always picked something which would allow the kids to get further ahead than normal and/or learn something special or new. Mavis Beacon typing was one of the first things we did during the summer. It was a bit tedious for them at first. Then, as they got better, people started commenting on their typing skills and they actually looked forward to the chance to get better. We started our Mark Kistler’s Draw Squad drawing program with the idea that it would be a summer homeschool material, but it was way too much fun, so we quit calling it school. We still do it during the summer (with different books), but it does not count as their summer material. We have not really settled on what we will do this year, but I am leaning toward Spanish because I want the kids to finish their second year of Rosetta Stone so they can take the CLEP test and move on to French.
I hope to be able to post the annual research reports at the same time I write the May, 2008 Homeschool update.
Audrey
“we have found that if we do not plan the well, there is no way to accomplish everything” AMEN!
Dad
And I should have added, “And get up early!”
Bryan
Ken & Lorena!!
I continue to be amazed at your dedication and commitment in home schooling Kelly and Christian! I always enjoy reading about it, but I’m thankful that my kids did well in the “government schools”, as I’m sure I had neither the smarts nor the drive to home school them.
(is that “nor the drive” or “or the drive”!?!?)
😉
Dad
Thanks, Bryan. I am absolutely clueless about how this is all going to turn out. I know your kids got the best educational opportunity available and took advantage of what suited each of them. I am thinking about it. Good grief. Two or three NCAA national champions, a Ph.D. Aeronautical Engineer, and an artist. That is impressive by anyone’s measure! I hope my kids do so well. They certainly were not ill served by their schools or their parents!