Homeschool 2018-2019 Week 1: And So It Begins

Monday - Phew, I'm exhausted. The first day back is so much work for me. We could have done a slow re-entry and add in a new subject every couple of days, but Daddy was home after a morning MRI. I knew that the littlest ones had Daddy to meet their needs. I could focus on taking each child through new subjects. I was busy all day long but the kids had breaks while I helped others. It worked out in the end and by mid-afternoon we had finished 8 students and a full load of subjects.

Each child has a page listing their subjects. A number by the subject tells them how many days to do that subject each week. There are boxes for Monday through Friday. I sat down to help them assign work to each day. If they have to do handwriting 3 times they choose which days and mark those boxes with an "H". If Spelling is 4 days they'll mark it to do on 4 days and choose 1 day off of spelling. This gives them some practice planning their weeks. They can learn to spread things out evenly or to load up a few heavier days if they have a day they want lighter in work, like Fridays. I have 3 group subjects. Group 1 is history for 8th grade and under three days a week (I choose when to schedule this and everyone writes it on their own schedule). Group 2 is science for 5th grade and under twice a week. I schedule this. Group 3 is Physical Science for my 7th and 8th graders. It happens 4 days per week and I lead this but they decide what day to take off that week.

For Makayla, she is simply doing her scheduling in a planner. She has to take into account her work days. She can arrange her school work to be heavier on non-work days and lighter on work days, or not. At her new job she can be at work as early as 11am on two days of the school week. On other days she won't go in until 1pm at the earliest. This business closes at 5pm most days. She has the most flexibility and the heaviest course load. I work with her during Latin, oversee Chemistry experiments, and then help when consulted in other subjects.

Today if a child tackled a new course, book, or program I walked them through how to do it, or I taught a lesson if needed. Three kids got login information for their online math programs and I showed them where to find their work and the expectation - 30 minutes of work using a timer. I taught new math lessons to the other 5 kids. I did reading lessons with four kids - including Samuel, who is a brand new Kindergartener and super excited for his school work. There were Chemistry and Physical Science experiments to oversee. Stoichiometry equations to review in chemistry with the senior. New language arts programs for the oldest 4 kids to explore. New literature titles were chosen for a course reading challenge for several kids. Here are the books they chose:

• My Father's Dragon series by Ruth Stiles Gannett - Oliver
• Homer Price by Robert McCloskey - Daniel
• The Fairy's Return by Gail Carson Levine - Emma
• The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron - Joseph
• Hue and Cry by Elizabeth Yates - Makayla

Once all the school work was done we relaxed for a bit. Then Jason and I told the kids to get ready because it was time for Family Home Evening. The theme was For the Beauty of the Earth. We picked up some pizzas and headed to Dawes Arboretum. Dinner in the shelter house was followed by a hike in the woods on the Story Trail. Wheelchairs don't off-road well, but we took our time and enjoyed discovering things in nature. We did some cloud watching, saw fungi, butterflies, and so many trees, plants, and wildflowers. Next up was a visit to the swamp. Finally we drove the auto tour path to the tower, climbed the tower, and saw the hedge letters, and finished our auto tour through the park. 

Tuesday most of the kids fell right back into school routines. We don't have a specific wake up time this week. Kids can sleep until whenever. Most were up by 7:30am. They ate breakfast, got dressed, and started working through school subjects. They took breaks when they needed it or when they were waiting for me to finish working with another child. It was much smoother than Monday! Makayla headed to work at 11am, having planned a lighter course load for the day and completed it. My last lessons were a science experiment with the K-5th grade crowd and then All About Reading and Handwriting Without Tears with Samuel. He's so stinking enthusiastic about doing school that it makes me laugh. I was done at 2:15pm. Half of dinner was put in the crockpot . . . by my 5 year old Samuel. Yes, he volunteered. Meatballs and spaghetti made for an easy dinner.

Wednesday I started to see a few things that need adjusted.

Makayla asked for a more specific schedule for her high school language arts from the Good and the Beautiful. I found one online and printed it, but told her I'll tweak it this weekend and have an updated one for her next week. The mom who shared hers has scheduled a few things differently than we want it done, but it is great to have a jumping off point.

Joseph and Emma had chosen the shorter Elementary Geometry course in the middle school section of CTC Math to start with but neither liked it. I haven't previewed the lessons for that one yet so I can't jump right in to teach it a different way to see if it clicks. Emma decided to try the Elementary Measurement course today, which starts with circles, degrees, and converting degrees of a circle to fractions. Joseph decided to try the PreAlgebra course today. We will see where each of them settles in. Our entire goal this year is to solidify math skills up through PreAlgebra, so we have some flexibility.

I'm seeing personalities emerge in how kids work at their current ages. Caleb (age 7, grade 2) escapes upstairs to play after every single subject and doesn't do any school unless I require him to begin. Not surprising to me at all. He needs a lot of movement and likes to run laps around the inside of the house before he sits down to work. Daniel (age 9, grade 5) plows through several subjects before taking a break and talks a lot. A whole lot. He pretty much never stops and is a big source of distraction for some of the kids. Mason (age 6, grade 1) and Samuel (age 5, grade K) do school cheerfully when I call them and play in-between. Oliver (age 9, grade 4) likes to do his work right after breakfast, the sooner the better. Joseph (age 13, grade 8) paces his work out evenly with breaks. Emma (age 12, grade 7) is slower to begin but then doesn't want to take a break until everything is done. Makayla (age 17, grade 12) will work anywhere except the table. The couch, the floor in her bedroom, her bed - just don't ask her to come to the table. She sat at the table only once that I noticed this week - and only because she needed my help on chemistry.

As for me (age 37, grade Neverending) I'm just going non-stop. Today I went from language arts with a middle schooler to listening to a beginning reader to helping someone with math to my favorite part of Latin with Makayla (translating passages of a story that is ongoing through her course and almost always involves someone killing, dying, or getting injured - those bloodthirsty Romans!). While we were laughing and translating Samuel and Tobias were cooking and serving us toy food from the play kitchen and Rebekah was babbling at our feet. Then I was holding Rebekah and teaching history. I was doing math with Mason while overseeing Samuel and Tobias doing patterning with bear counters (aka. playing with math concepts). Handwriting and sentence dictation and spelling were all mixed together. After Makayla headed to work I got Rebekah down for a nap, made lunch, and listened to more of The Island of the Blue Dolphins with the rest of the kids. I'm typing notes for this post during the hour and a half afternoon medical care I do with Mason every day. The only school left to do is All About Reading with Samuel, a 10 minute activity that he'll happily do when I call for him. Chore time will happen around 2:30 this afternoon and between kids and I we'll knock out everything in about 25 minutes. I think for now I'm just going to close this computer and play chess with Mason while we wait through his care. He asked me to teach him chess over the weekend and we've played twice since then, in between other kids taking a turn with our chess set. Doesn't every 6 year old want to learn chess?

Thursday was smooth sailing. I keep waiting for the meltdown. I know that at some point it will sink in for various children that we've got school almost every week for the next nine months. Then there will be pushback and grumping and tears while they come to terms with life. It happens with at least one child every year. My job when that happens is to just hold steady, love on them extra, and remind them that we're in this together. We get to learn about things they love and are curious about, and we also get to learn those basic foundational subjects like math and writing because we'll use them for the rest of our lives.

Mason had his last day of physical therapy for a while. He's taking a break for surgery and we don't know how long after surgery the doctors will have him wait before picking it back up. There will be some changes when he does start back to PT.

Friday was interesting to watch unfold. Some of the kids had the foresight to schedule heavier days earlier into their week so they had a lighter school load today. Others had a heavier workload today. A few had an average workload. Kids finished at various times. They were all  happy to have survived the first week back. I asked several of them what they liked and what they aren't sure about liking yet and got some interesting responses.

One last thing we did today - we finished listening to Island of the Blue Dolphins. It was a great book with lots of things to make us think. We had some interesting conversations about what it would be like being alone on an island for years.

I have a full list of work that I need to do before I can call my week finished. I have today's papers to check, a language arts schedule to create for Makayla, some pre-reading to do, food to gather for a history lesson next week, science experiments to pre-read (supplies are already gathered), and papers to file from this week. I also have a primary lesson to finish preparing so I can substitute teach in Oliver's church class on Sunday, and papers for my Cub Scout Den Leaders to prepare for our planning meeting. Right now it is Saturday morning so next up is grocery shopping and a library trip. Next week I will try to get some pictures during homeschool, but really, unless I magically grow a third arm, it isn't very likely to happen.

How was your first week back to school? Do you have any questions for me about homeschooling a large family? Leave a comment!