Well, Hello There!

Well, I set out to keep a blog updated on this homeschool journey, and it's about damn time for my first real post.  I have written this post over and over in my head, at different times and stages of this school year so far and to be honest, I couldn't quite pin down what I wanted or needed to say and I never felt like I had the amount of time I wanted to sit down, process, and write.  Such is life, especially with kids, and that lack of time is felt even more when you have decided to be the educator of two of your kids for a year.  

I started writing, back in May, a whole post about why we made this decision.  I clearly never finished it.  I do plan to, though.  But for today, I would rather do a big word vomit about what we've been up to, things I have realized, and so on.  I think I will do a separate post pretty soon that's more detailed about the specific school-y stuff we do, and the general routine we are in.

So where should I start?  Here's some stuff I know now, some stuff you might want to know too.

Warning - Do Not Broad Brush.  
First, I want to just do a little disclaimer that the things I write about, and our homeschool experience is not going to be a general reflection of everyone's, or even most people's homeschool experiences.  I have discovered that we seem to squeeze into a tiny little corner of the home education world, and this said corner seems smaller than it probably really is because those that sit in this corner are pretty quiet.   Here are all the things we are *not* doing, and as a result a lot of the homeschool stuff (and by stuff I mean not only blogs and any step-by-step "how to" resources, as well as generalizations and stereotypes formed by non homeschoolers) that are out there don't really apply to us.  We are not:

• Homeschooling for religious reasons.  We are not doing this to shelter the kids from any non-Christian based education.  We are not a religious family and want the kids to question things and be open minded and come to their own conclusions later in life.  We haven't done this to incorporate Bible-based teachings or to shield them from learning about evolution or other cultures.  Quite the contrary.  I hold no judgement against anyone who is religious!  It's just not our thing and is not why we do this.  Although there has been a shift in recent years, most homeschoolers who are out in front blogging and sharing information are using Christian-based systems, incorporating Bible study, etc. - and most of the resources out there (curricula, outsourced school locations like Veritas) cater to this type of learning. 

• Homeschooling because we don't have any other options.  We are extremely fortunate to be close to a really good private school here.  We liked many things about it.  I met several incredibly inspiring teachers there who taught me a lot about how to parent and teach my kids (whether they would take credit for that or not).  It's not exactly extremely affordable (and tuition for four kids there adds up very fast), and I don't love every single detail or decision that happens there.  However, I do believe I would feel that discomfort with just about any school - because I've come to realize I have certain opinions and beliefs about the education system as a whole that probably don't fit well with the mainstream structure.  But the point is, we do have options in terms of choices for schooling the kids and I know that's not the case for every family that homeschools.

• Homeschooling with an all-in-one inclusive established curriculum.  I am not using any one curriculum exclusively for any subject, much less for all subjects.  They key word for our homeschool setup is flexibility.  I need it, and I want the kids to have it.  I don't want to feel like we are "behind" because we fall behind any pace that some hypothetical conference room of people in Pennsylvania has determined is necessary.  I want the space to go down rabbit holes and follow the kids in areas of learning that spark their interest and curiosity, I want the time to let the kids be KIDS and run around outside as much as possible on nice days and explore local museums and areas that interest us spontaneously because we CAN.  And being tied to any specific predetermined schedule would curtail the educational freedom I've set out to foster this year.  

• Homeschooling with online school.  We are in the digital age and there are a ton of online class and school options out there!  We aren't currently using any.  We may pick up an online writing class for Emma in the spring (she loves and is very good at creative writing) but I want to take this chance to be involved with them as much as I can while we figure this journey out together.

• Homeschooling without *any* curriculum.  I've read a lot about unschooling, I respect all who take that path, but I know it's not for us because I personally need a teeny bit of structure and guidance and the knowledge of what a typical learning path is for say, a 3rd grader in math.  It doesn't mean I stick to anyone else's plan, but I like to know where they likely would be in a traditional school setting even if it's just in the back of my mind - after all the plan was for them to return to real school next year.  We also found a really great language arts program that fits in very well with a lot of my thoughts on teaching kids about writing and I've enjoyed taking pieces of that and applying it here.  

When you add those five things up, we are (it seems) a small minority of homeschoolers.  I've said before on Facebook that this homeschool thing has felt lonelier in ways I didn't expect - and this is one of them.  Sometimes it feels like we are on more of an uncharted course, or at least a course that I can't find well worn in front of us from any bloggers, Instagrammers, etc.  And that's ok!  I am finding my own footing, the kids are finding theirs, and there's beauty in how we are getting there - even if it's been scary and anxiety-inducing and isolating some of the time.

Never Fully Prepared.  
We started "school" stuff back in August when most of our friends did.  I felt prepared enough, but not completely prepared, despite spending the bulk of my summer reading / planning / thinking / preparing / repeating that all dozens of times for multiple subjects/.  And guess what?  It's been 3 months now and I *still* don't feel as prepared as I would like to feel.  You wanna know what it reminds me of?  Getting ready to / having a baby.  On a much smaller scale - but that same feeling of "I am as ready as I am gonna be" followed by the thing happening (birth, or starting a new thing), and then managing it all as best you can while you continue to absorb advice, information, and adjust and adapt.  It's all fluid and also it's stressful.  But it's also very, very worth it.  I actually read this exact analogy as put forth by Julie Bogart, author of The Brave Learner and creator of The Brave Writer Program (which is the program that we have implemented various tenets from) and I just thought "THAT'S IT, EXACTLY.  This is the best way I can think of to describe my current state in all of this.   Only this time, at least I am sleeping through the night some of the time.

Avery, working on her own "fractured" fairy tale

Hard, and Worth It.  In the interest of total honesty, this homeschool thing has been harder than I expected in some ways, but also easier and more natural than I expected in many ways.  I take a great amount of joy in learning alongside them and in front of them, and in learning a ton about each girl.  I already feel like I have noticed small things about the way they individually process things that has allowed me to adapt things, and I really do think they are each learning well and at paces that naturally suit them.  That doesn't mean it has been easy.  My more "spirited" child has pushed back in frustration a couple of times in some areas, and I have taken advantage of the freedom we have to take a break and step back from whatever she is doing at that time.  We aren't on anyone else's schedule, so we have the luxury of time and flexibility, and I can't tell you how nice it is to stop and take a breath when we need to without feeling pressure.  It's made a world of difference.

School Stuff Doesn't Take That Much Time.  I had read this in the past and laughed, but it's true.  When it's just the two kids, and we do most of their learning stuff as a group, we just don't have to spend a ton of time each day doing stuff.  We do have a handful of things we try to accomplish on the days the three year old is at school - but we also have a lot of extra time to:  read books that interest us; collect random facts about random subjects; feel inspired by stuff; play tons and tons of games (you might be surprised how much they learn while they play games they are really engaged with); go on nature walks; try a new dance class in a new place; learn how to swing ourselves on swings; taking a stab at writing a script; working a puzzle; get a lot better at playing ukulele and violin; creating and creating and creating all kinds of stuff with art supplies and just general "found" things - and even stuff others might think of as trash.

Building Building All The Time

We Can Connect A Lot of Real World Stuff in Learning About Things We Love.  I will just go out and say this, our first big learning interest area/ jumping off point is Disneyworld.  You might yawn, or think that sounds lame or maybe not even "learny" at all, but consider:

• We kicked off our homeschool adventure with a celebratory trip there, so when we got home we were loving all things Disney;
• We learned about the history of the parks (U.S. and international) and things that have been successful and not so successful; 
• We have explored different aspects of art - specifically, concept art and concept artists and the different types of art that they are inspired by.  Exploration of the work of a more well known and influential Disney artist (Mary Blair) inspired us to connect her work to artists throughout history whose work may look or feel similar.  Her work makes really interesting use of shapes and very eye-catching and unique use of color combinations - we've already explored works of Paul Klee and Henri Matisse and plan to look toward other artists who used color and shape in interesting ways.  And this is the connection to just one artist we've read about with Disney!  Several more are on the interest docket as well as visits to our local art museums to see what connections we can make;
• We are going to discuss different types and styles of architecture found all around the parks and hotels and connect them to works throughout history and around the world;
• We will talk about the World Showcase in Epcot and the countries who have sponsored and built the pavilions there;
• We will talk about physics and engineering and how they are used to build rides, and how they can use some of those concepts to create their own models for their designs; 
• We will talk about "imagineering" and what goes into it - can't wait to see where this leads;
• We will talk about the animation process and the history of animation;
• We have talked about fireworks and the chemical reactions that happen to create these displays, as well as how fireworks began hundreds of years ago;
• We will talk about economics - how and why ticket and food prices are established, how gift shops determine what to stock, etc.
• We will have plenty of time to follow whatever other interests we pick up along the way with the explicit goal of making connections to the broader world and real world application as much as we can.  I legit am so excited for all of it.

Some Mary Blair-inspired art

Phew.  That was more typing than I expected for today.  I am not even certain it makes any sense, but who cares?  I hope someone enjoyed reading, even if that someone is just me three years from now.

Stay tuned, I will post a more focused discussion on our math and language arts stuff as well as our very general weekly routine really soon.

Have questions?  Hit me up, I am ready.