The Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week…
We have done our second week of school, started back to ballet, and started tennis lessons.  It sure was nice over the summer not to have to go somewhere nearly every day!  :)

In our homeschool this week…
We are now doing all of the subjects we will be doing this year except for my son's online history class (Omnibus III that he takes through Veritas Press) which begins after Labor Day and the speech and debate class that both Noah and Mary Grace will take with a group of students from our homeschool support group and which also begins after Labor Day. 

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
The advice I have for right now is for myself!  My advice is to take it one small step at a time and not to get too overwhelmed with the kids' school work, my own work, keeping house, doing laundry, chauffeuring back and forth to tennis and ballet and church that I forget that I'm doing all of this to honor God.  My husband I believe that it is God's will for our children to be homeschooled.  Sometimes I forget to obey and honor God in the things I do, and I try to get it all done in my own strength.  That never works! 

I am inspired by…
Folks who can get up early, work all day whether at home or at an outside-of-the-house job, get in bed late, and get up and do it all again the next day!  I am not a night owl!

My favorite thing this week was…
Tennis lessons!  I had no idea I would enjoy tennis so much, but I do!  I also love the fact that the kids and Scott and I are all learning to play so we'll be able to play together.......eventually........when we all learn to actually hit the ball over the net on a regular basis! 

What’s working/not working for us…
Getting up early is not working for us!!  But, alas, we must get up a bit earlier than we did all summer in order to get things done before we lose the ability to concentrate later in the day. 

Questions/thoughts I have…
I wonder if one day my children will want to homeschool their children. 

Things I’m working on…
I'm doing a project or two for work (I work from home for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.) that I'm really enjoying!  I'm also working on a quilt for my little nephew.  I love to quilt!! 

I’m reading…
Several books.  It drives my hubby crazy because he likes to read one book, finish it, and then read another.  My son is the same way.  My daughters and I, though, like to read several at a time.  That way we can read a mystery when we're in the mood for one, an adventure book when we're in that mood, an informational book when we're in that mood........ 

I’m cooking…
Oh no!  I'm probably "cooking" my tea bags till they're dry!  (Went to check tea pot on the stove.)  Just in time! 

I’m grateful for…
My house!  Even after being in my house for 3 1/2 years, I'm still thankful for it every day!  I can't believe that after years and years of waiting to be able to build and 4 months of building, I finally have the house I dreamed about for so long!  It's not fancy or huge or any of those things, but it's just right for my family and me.  And I'm so thankful to have it!

I’m praying for…
A good school year.  I want this school year to be the best one we've ever had.  I want to be more organized, be more cheerful, keep a better schedule, have dinner cooked when Scott gets home, keep the house clean (well.....at least decent), and to have more time to relax and spend time with the kiddos on the weekends.  (Might as well aim high!) 

Follow Me on Twitter! (Please?)

Hello Friends,

Just a day or two ago I set up a Twitter account for myself!  Now I need followers.  :)  If you are on Twitter, I'd love to follow you too.  My username is @HiltonWendy. 

If you're wondering why I decided to join Twitter, I'll tell you. For two years I served on The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's Homeschool Crew.  I not only enjoyed using and reviewing lots of great products, but I also enjoyed getting to know the other moms on the Crew.  It was so much fun to communicate with other homeschooling moms and find out how they "do school," how they schedule their days, and how they get things done (like chores, outside activities, and church activities). 

I created a blog for myself so I could post the Crew reviews.  I also started doing some blog posts about various things I wanted to share about my family and other topics.  I had no idea how much I would enjoy blogging!  I don't have as much time for it as I'd like sometimes, but I really do enjoy posting and visiting friends' blogs to read what's going on with them as well.

Through friends I made at the magazine while working on the Crew, I was so blessed to be able to begin working for the magazine first as conventions coordinator and then as assistant to the publishers.  Now, I'm beginning to help the marketing department with some social media things as well. 

Those of you who know me might think it's funny that a "technologically challenged" person like myself is doing social media.  I thought it was funny too!  The thing about it is that I'm a "people person," so I love the communications part of it.  It's just the technical part that sometimes gives me a bit of trouble!

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that I'm trying to branch out and learn new things partly because it's just plain fun, and partly because I feel like it will help me do a better job for the magazine.  So last year I started a blog, and now I'm signing up for a Twitter account.  Who knows what I'll be up to next! 

Having a Ball with Homeschool P.E.!

It's true!  I think we are going to have a great time with homeschool P.E. this year!  Do any of you other homeschooling families out there do physical education classes of some kind?  We've never really done any kind of structured P.E. class.  We have studied about health and nutrition, but that's about it.  It has gotten to a point, however, where I feel like my kids need more than that.

While my kids were younger, they were very active just playing outside and swimming and doing those kinds of things.  I felt like they were getting plenty of exercise just running around being kids.  Now I feel like it's time for something more, so we decided to take tennis lessons!

We had our first lesson this past Monday.  Noah (age 14), Mary Grace (age 8), and I along with another mom and her three kids all met at the tennis coach's house for our first lesson.  (The tennis coach has his own tennis court right beside his house.  Isn't that neat?)  The other kids that we met took tennis last year, but the other mom and my kids and I were brand new at it.  We moms made an agreement that each of us would be willing to take lessons if the other would.  :) 

Anyway, it turns out that we all love tennis!  I was totally surprised!  My husband and I had tried to play tennis together just for fun when we were first married and didn't have kids yet.   I don't remember it being an experience that I was good at, and I certainly don't remember thinking that it was much fun.  I was a little reluctant to give it another try (even though it's been 20 years since I've tried it!), but I figured it wouldn't hurt anything except perhaps my pride to give it another try. 

Our first lesson was promising!  Noah was better at it than Mary Grace and I were.  Mary Grace did a great job for her age and size, though.  She got a bit discouraged because, being the smallest and youngest one in the group, she felt like everyone else did better than she did.  If she will keep at it, I think she will improve quickly. 

Noah did very well for someone who has never played tennis before!  He was highly motivated because one of the other boys taking lessons with us is Noah's age and size and has taken tennis for a year already.  Nothing like a little competition to get a teenage boy fired up!  I did pretty well too, although I wasn't nearly as "spry" as the kids! 

We decided that the kids and I will take a lesson on Monday mornings along with the other homeschooling family.  Then my husband Scott will take a lesson with Noah on Thursday evenings while I take Mary Grace to ballet.  That way all of us (with the exception of Hannah) will be taking tennis lessons and will hopefully become good enough for the 4 of us to play sometimes.  This will allow Noah to take 2 tennis lessons a week while the rest of us get at least 1 lesson a week.  Mary Grace already takes ballet twice a week, so I feel like one tennis class a week is enough for her right now. 

So for the first time in........well..........ever we are all excited about P.E.!

Do your kids do any kind of P.E. class?  Do you do it with them?  I'd love to hear your stories and suggestions.  And I hope you enjoy what you're doing for P.E. as much as I think we will enjoy tennis!

Our School Year Begins!

Good news!  I finally chose, ordered, and received this school year's books and materials!  In fact, we started school last week.  :)  After a week of schooling, I'm feeling encouraged. 

We have managed to start our school year with a successful first week.  I'm praying that we will be able to "keep up the good work."  I've never been super great at keeping a good schedule and getting everyone's school work done every week, but my goal this year is to do just that.  I want to try to get one week's worth of work done with each child every week.  We do normally end up finishing everything at some point each school year, but this year I want to do it without falling behind and catching back up several times during the year.  I'm hoping that by admitting that right out in the open, I'll be more motivated to follow through!

This year Hannah (16) and Noah (14) are doing 9th grade.  For some subjects they use the same materials.  For the subjects that are a bit more difficult for Hannah, I allow her to use something else.  First, I'll list what they are both using.  Then I'll list the ones that differ.

Hannah & Noah (9th grade)

Spanish--Rosetta Stone

Science--Switched on Schoolhouse

HistoryLiterature/Bible--Veritas Press

English (grammar)--Switched on Schoolhouse

Hannah

Math--Math Mammoth

Handwriting--The TV Teacher's Alphabet Beats

Noah

Math--Switched on Schoolhouse

Handwriting--The Italic Handwriting Series

Typing--Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing

Noah is also taking tennis lessons (twice a week) as well as participating in our homeschool group's speech & debate classes.  Tennis begins today.  I decided to give tennis lessons a try myself so that (hopefully) the kids and I can all learn to play, and then we'll have each other to play against and practice with.  I hope it goes well!

Speech & debate class begins after Labor Day.  I want Noah to try both speech & debate.  Once he gives them a try, I'll allow him to choose to continue participating in both or to choose one or the other.  I think it's important at his age for him to be able to speak to a group of people using good grammar and enunciation and looking them in the eye.  I hope he enjoys it, but he's going to have to participate anyway!

Mary Grace is doing 4th grade this year.  She's getting more independent with her work, but she still likes for me to do some of it with her.  I'm going to allow her to take more responsibility for her own work this year, but I am also planning to keep letting her read to me and to keep helping her with math since that's not a strong subject for her.   I figure it won't be many more years until she doesn't really want my help on a regular basis, so I'll try to spend some time helping her and listening to her while she still likes for me to do it!

Mary Grace (4th grade)

Reading--Mary Grace is such a strong reader that we don't really do a particular program.  I like for her to read aloud to me every day to be sure she is pronouncing words correctly and understanding what she reads.   She likes for me to read to her too, so I also try to spend some time reading aloud to her each day.  She is continuing reading "The Rose Years" books to me.  (The book series about Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, Rose.)  I am still reading Little Women to her since we didn't finish it last school year.

Math--Switched on Schoolhouse

Science--Switched on Schoolhouse

Bible--Switched on Schoolhouse

History/Literature--Veritas Press

Typing--Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing

Handwriting--The Italic Handwriting Series

Mary Grace will also be taking tennis lessons (once a week) as well as continuing her ballet and tap & jazz classes.  This will be her 7th year of ballet (she started at age 2), and she's really enjoying it!  She added tap & jazz last year for the first time, and she wants to continue those this year too.  She'll have ballet twice a week and tap & jazz once a week. 

Mary Grace will "try out" participating in speech & debate classes with our homeschool group this year too.  I don't know how fully she will participate in speech & debate at her age, but she really wants to give it a try.  The class is "officially" offered to students age 10 and up.  Hopefully she will at least be able to participate to a limited degree.

We've planned to do school 4 days a week this year.  That means a bit more work each day, but that allows us one day off each week, so we feel like it's worth the trade.  Most weeks my sister and her children come to visit most of the day on Monday.  Our 4-days-a-week schedule will hopefully allow us to have tennis lessons on Monday mornings before Melissa and her kids come over.  Then when we get home and they come over, we'll have the day to visit (and the girls have ballet later in the day on Mondays) without having to worry about trying to squeeze school in there somewhere. 

Of course we may end up making changes here and there as our year progresses.  That's our plan right now, though, and we'll see how it goes!  I pray that we (and you!) have a great school year!