Homeschoolers: Give Me Some Advice

If you homeschool and are interested in giving me some advice on the subject, I'm all ears.  It appears that the option to homeschool the girls has been put back on the table by my husband and I'm once again exploring the possibility and weighing pros and cons.

To give you some background, both girls have attended private school, public school and are now enrolled in our local Catholic school.  Since we live in NJ we have the luxury of not being required to have the girls enrolled in an accredited school for homeschooling so that pretty much leaves me open to the possibility of picking and choosing what curricula I want for each subject.  I'm intrigued by the idea of getting all of our materials from one place.

A year and a half ago I went to a homeschooling conference which soured my husband on the idea of homeschooling the girls.  Part of what turned him off was how some of the curriculum seemed to be saturated with Catholicism in every single subject, so I need help finding materials that offer balance.  His concern is that we will turn the girls off of their faith and send them screaming into the hills if we ram religion down their throat at every turn.  I see his point and think it's valid.  Even the Catholic school doesn't have every subject dripping with religion.

For Math, I want something that is straight up math that is easy to understand.  We have used workbooks from Seton and Saxon in the past.

Grammar needs to be something that is solid.  I like CHC's Language of God series and have been using it with Madeline at home for a couple of years now.

I'd love to find a good vocabulary program that incorporates greek and latin roots, prefixes and suffixes for Madeline.  I learned so much from a program like this when I was in 6th-8th grades and it carried me through high school and college.

I need suggestions for a good science program that incorporates hands on experiments and labs.  It can be a faith based text or something secular.  I do not want anything that denies the existence of dinosaurs or claims that carbon dating is inaccurate and that the world is only 6,000 years old.

How important or unimportant is it to find or join a homeschool group or co-op?  My girls do have friends who are homeschooled so it's not like they'd feel like they're the only ones.

I feel like the decision to homeschool or not to homeschool is just huge.  I've have felt like I've been called to homeschool my girls since Madeline was about four years old, but I haven't had the easiest time convincing Bryan that it's the best decision for the girls.  Now he's the one suggesting that I homeschool them so I'm once again contemplating what we should do regarding the girls' education.  I think the thing the holds me back the most and causes me to worry is I'm afraid of what happens if I'm a failure at this endeavor.  Part of me feels like this is one of the most crucial decisions I can make as a parent.  It's odd, I can't imagine doing anything but homeschooling Katie when the time comes since she misses the NJ school cut off date, but I worry so much about how the girls who have been in school will adjust.

My biggest concern is for Ellie.  She has been in three different schools over the past three years and homeschooling would have her once again switching to a different learning environment.   I suggested possibly keeping her at the parish school for another year or two and just homeschooling Bryan but he's concerned that Ellie will resent that decision.  All I know is I want some continuity for her with regards to school and moving from one school to the next year after year simply isn't the best thing for her.

So please, if you can offer me any advice or words of encouragement please leave them in the comments or email me.

Quick Takes: Volume 49

~1~

Bryan went to Orlando for another business trip this week.  Usually it seems like the days drag on when he's not home, but this time around it wasn't so bad.  I do, however, wish he was home the night of election day.  It was a bit nerve wracking watching the results come in, but fortunately I had Bryan's friend texting me as we watched our hope for a new President fade away.  Bryan was probably relieved that he wasn't fielding texts about the election from me or his friend while he enjoyed a company event at the House of Blues.

~2~

I'm really dismayed by the election results.  I'm very concerned about the direction our government is taking and I'm worried about the ramifications of the HHS mandate for the Catholic Church.  Will my girls have a school to go to next year?  Will the government bankrupt the Catholic Church in this country?  Will we or our children wind up becoming martyrs for the faith?  I told my husband's friend that I really don't want to be a martyr.  His response was Ephesians 6:10-17.  It was what I needed in those early moments of despair.  So yes, I'll put on the Armor of God and fight the good fight and hope that when I've finished running the race I will hear "Well done, good and faithful servant."

~3~

This past election has taught me that I am not doing anyone a favor by keeping my political opinions quite on my blog, FaceBook or Twitter.  You'd never know it to read this blog that I'm politically charged and I think that will be changing down the line.  I used to be quite passionate about my politics from grade school through college, but I had toned things down in my conversations with others so as not to ruffle the feathers of those who disagreed with me.  If you hold bleeding heart liberal values at your core, I'm no longer going to politely keep my mouth shut when you start spouting your toxic self-centered ideas.

~4~

I've been wondering lately how many of those who voted for Obama really understood what they were voting for.  Did they realize they were trading away some of their freedoms when they chose him?  Is it worth trading precious freedoms, that others have given their lives defending, for you to get "free stuff" [which you will pay for with increased taxes]?  Nothing the government can give me is worth trading away my basic freedoms.  I recall a class on the political spectrum where it basically showed how each ideology takes you from total freedom (Anarchy) to total loss of freedom (Communism).  The more you expect government to do for you the more freedom you need to give up for those services.  It's something to think about when you're gunning for free contraceptives or whatever the free item du jour is that a candidate is offering up.  Is it worth "saving" a few dollars a month [basing this number off Target's $4 generic Rx drug price--I'm sure there must be generic birth control pills that don't come with fancy ads] to trade away say freedom of religion for yourself and your neighbor?  I don't think so.

~5~

Let's shift gears away from the politics.  Katie is cutting another tooth.  She had one of the upper teeth right next to her middle front ones come in early this week.  Only part of the tooth has broken through.  She's been pretty cranky this week, but I'm hoping she be back to her happy self soon.  Between the teething and her searching for Bryan she was not a happy camper.

~6~

Inspired by Auntie Leila, I decided to start cleaning my messy, messy bedroom.  I spent a few hours in our room yesterday and I'm amazed at how much better the room is looking now that I've removed a lot of the clutter and boxed up some of the girls' outgrown clothing.  Maybe I'll post some pictures of our room once I have it all in order and am back from our vacation.  Right now my room is the cleanest that it has been since before Katie was conceived.  It's been a while!

~7~

We're packing for our Disney vacation.  We're driving down there and will be gone for a little less than a week since Madeline's travel soccer schedule is sort of dictating the length of our trip.  I'm hoping that Katie will tolerate the long ride and that Oscar will not destroy the kitchen while we're gone.  Our neighbor is taking care of the dog while we're away so he will have the kitchen all to himself.  Bryan has set up video cameras so he can check in on the house and dog.  Sounds exciting, right?

5 Minute Friday: Quiet

I have lots of days where I just feel like I don't have enough time to blog so when I saw this little 5 Minute Friday thing, I thought I'd give it a shot. Here are the rule:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..

OK, are you ready? Please give us your best five minutes on:

Quiet:

Oh quiet, why do you elude me?   Quiet is such a rare commodity in our home.  And, when there is quiet it invariably means that someone is up to something, unless, of course, it is nap time.  Isn't that always the way it is with a toddler?  Right now I'm getting to listen to the unquiet that is a toddler ripping through my CCD teaching bag.  Ugh!

When it's the good quiet, the baby is sleeping and the big kids aren't home quiet, I find that I can get the most accomplished, that is until the quiet is punctuated by the ringing phone, the barking dog, or the door bell ringing.  As much as I crave quiet, I know it is better that in this season of my life that I hear the sounds of little ones and not so little ones clamoring through the house.  One day I'll have lots of unpunctuated quiet and then I'm sure I'll crave the unquiet that I have now.

So I'll enjoy the bits of quiet that I get now, but will do my best to relish those that are anything but.

STOP

See more 5 Minute Friday posts over at Lisa Jo's.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life...

{pretty}

I just love this picture of Katie and Madeline.  It amazes me how much these two are attached to one another.  Kitty loves her Maah. [That's what she calls Madeline.]

I am loving how cute Ellie looks in her uniform with the sweater cardigan.  I didn't think she would need more than one of these, but she's been living in it the past couple of days now that it's cold.  I think I'll have to make a trip to the uniform shop to buy her a second cardigan.

{happy}

Bryan's birthday [All Saints' Day] means pumpkin cheesecake and that makes for a house full of happy people.  

This past Monday the kids FINALLY got to go Trick or Treating.  Hurricane Sandy and it's destruction caused Gov. Christie to postpone Halloween in NJ to November 5th.  It was so cold out that Katie and I only went to a few of the neighbor's houses to trick or treat.

{funny}

I love this pumpkin costume!  I can't get over how cute each of our girls has looked as they waddled around in this costume as a one or two year old.  Katie really seemed to like wearing this costume.

Katie wasn't too pleased with Oscar stealing her costume idea!  She kept yelling at him, but Oscar didn't care.  He was just excited to be dressed up.  He's such an odd dog.

{real}

The cheesecake cracked as it cooled so I decided to cover it up with what Cake Wrecks would call plastic flotsam.   So I went to my cake decorations and found a happy birthday and a few big Christmas tree lights.  It works, right?

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more pictures of contentment.

Preparing for Advent: Make An Heirloom Jesse Tree

After I wrote about how my family celebrates Advent using a Jesse Tree, Lisa linked to her beautiful hand made Jesse Trees, do-it-yourself Jesse Tree Kits and her awesome pattern for the same.  My girls love having their own paper Jesse Trees on their bedroom doors, but I loved the idea of having beautiful handmade Jesse Tree that can be displayed somewhere on the main level of the house. During Lent we have a felt Jesus Tree that is in a prominent location and the girls will go over to it and discuss the different bible stories that go with each of the symbols on the tree.  I imagine they might do the same with a Jesse Tree of this sort.

Lisa was gracious enough to send me a copy of her Jesse Tree pattern so I could make one for my girls and tell you about it.  The pattern is very straightforward and is very easy to follow if you have some basic cross stitching or sewing experience.  Over the course of an afternoon I sat down and cut out all of the patterns and the felt for the ornaments.  This beautiful Jesse Tree is certainly a project.  Personally I find cutting out the pieces for the pattern to be the easy part, but sewing it all together is where you need to find a bit of time to get the job done.  This isn't a project that you want to start a day or two before Advent.  If you have a toddler in the house, like me, you'll want to give yourself a bit of time to make this.  I find craft projects like this are best done when little ones aren't around to "help".

I had hoped to have most if not all of this Jesse Tree finished so I could show you how well it turned out for me, but after being sick and then having to tend to sick children I'm afraid I haven't gotten much further than cutting out the ornaments.  Comparing this pattern to the Jesus Tree I made two years ago I'd say they're very similar but I like how complete the directions are with Lisa's pattern.  I also like that these ornaments are stitched together.  I learned the hard way that gluing felt doesn't work well when I made our Jesus Tree and that meant I wound up having to make several of the ornaments twice.

Lisa's pattern comes with the readings for the Jesse Tree.  After paging through our Catholic Picture Bible,I'm pretty sure you can match up most, if not all of the readings with this bible.  I also compared it to the Holy Heroes Jesse Tree.  For the most part, the symbols and reading from the Holy Heroes version match up with this one.  To keep my girls happy, I'll be making a few additional felt ornaments to coordinate with the Holy Heroes Jesse Tree.

If you think you'd like to make a beautiful Advent heirloom for your family check out Lisa's Etsy shop Navy Mango.  If you're not the crafty type and you love the look of this great Jesse Tree, you can purchase a ready made one from her.

Fewer Gifts Means More Thought

Last year I told Bryan that starting with this Christmas (2012) the girls would now get just three gifts from us instead of an undetermined number.  It gets overwhelming year after year to see way too many gifts piled up under and next to the tree on Christmas Eve.   We decided that three gifts makes perfect sense since Jesus was presented with three gifts by the wise men.

For about three years I have been cutting back on what I buy for the girls and every year I find myself on Christmas Eve taking a few of the presents I had brought for the girls and setting them aside for later because there was simply too much under the tree once gifts from my parents, my brother and other family members were added to the mix.  It seems like the more the girls get the less interested they are in any of what they got.  I'm convinced that it can't be a good thing to have so many gifts that you whine about having to open all of them.

I experimented with the stockings last year.  Instead of testing the strength of the sock hooks I use to hang our stockings on the mantle, I decided at the lat minute that each of the girls would get the following in their stocking: 1 candy or treat item, 1 toy, book or DVD, 1 faith based item, 1 candy cane and a $5 gift card to Target.  I was concerned that the girls would be disappointed that the stockings weren't filled to the brim, but instead they were quite content with what they received and actually played with the things they received.  Going forward I'll be sticking with this five item stocking stuffer list.

The three Christmas gifts idea seems easy when you think about it--just buy three gifts and you're done, but I'm finding that it requires me to put more thought into what I'm buying.  Rather than just buy several things each of the girls wants, I have to stop and think about what I should buy and whether or not what I select will be the best choice.  I have determined that each of the girls will get one gift that kind of skirts the three gifts idea a bit.  They will all get a package with several books as one of their gifts.  The girls love to read [Katie just likes to chew on them and tear pages] so I know they'll be happy with a box of books.  I am now down to my last gift pick for Madeline and Ellie.  It's just a matter of picking that final item.  Oh, and as much as I hate doing it, each of the girls will get one small $10 or less item from Santa which will likely be a book or a small toy.  I can't express how much I dislike the Santa farce.

So overall, I'm finding that what I thought would be so easy is a bit more difficult than I had imagined.  I do feel a lot better knowing that I'm almost done shopping for the girls and I already have most of what I purchased wrapped.  I suspect this three gift limit will get easier over the years as I get used to buying them less.

Book Review: Saint Kateri Tekakwitha

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha:Courageous Faith is the most recent book in the Encounter the Saints Series.  With the recent canonization of St. Kateri, the arrival of this book was quite timely.  As soon as my eleven year old spotted it sitting on the kitchen counter she exclaimed that St. Kateri is one of her favorite saints and she asked if she could read the book.  I was happy to see her excitement to read about another saint.

My daughter devoured this book over the course of two evenings.  We then discussed the book and she told me all about St. Kateri.  Her excitement over the book had not ebbed.   In fact, I think she has gained and even greater appreciation for this favorite saint.  Prior to reading this book she knew relatively little about St. Kateri aside from the couple page story she had read in her Saints for Young Readers for Every Day book.

As with other books in the Encounter the Saints Series, this book offers pronunciation guides for many of the names of persons and places which may be foreign to the reader.  I think this feature is so very helpful.  The book also has a handy glossary in the back making it a nice addition especially if you plan to use this book in a homeschool setting.  There is also a lovely prayer to St. Kateri at the end of the story.

I found this book to be well written and interesting enough to keep young readers turning pages.  The book is targeted to children between the ages of nine to twelve, but I think that a stronger reader in the second grade could probably read through this book.  In fact, I'm contemplating having my seven year old [second grader] give this book a try in the near future.  I think this book also has potential as a read aloud story for younger school aged children.

Overall, I think Saint Kateri Tekakwitha is a nice addition to the Encounter the Saints Series.  Young readers who pick up this book will get a chance to know St. Kateri better.

I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher, Pauline Kids, in exchange for my honest review.  Visit Pauline Books and Media for more information on this book or to purchase a copy.