I love the start of a new school year! Ethan, however, hasn’t caught that bug yet. He doesn’t know it yet but by the end of this school year, he’s going to be a reading machine! Well, sort of. The curriculum I purchased for first grade is through Sonlight and you can check it out here.  I choose the program because of it’s emphasis on reading.  If nothing else, I want to instill a love of reading in my kids. The Sonlight program uses maps a lot in conjunction with readings…for instance, read the book and find on the map where the story takes place.  It’s a nice way to bring those two things together.

Thanks for checking in,

Lynn

I can’t believe I haven’t posted in so long! Since I’ve been on modified bed rest (aka Lazyboy Rest) I’ve spent so much time on my PC that I’m often not motivated to type something this long. Today, however, I will make an exception. Just for you. :^)

We are finally getting comfortable with the new school schedule and set up. Ethan’s desk is here in the living room in front of The Chair. Our schedule has relaxed a lot over the last few weeks but we are still accomplishing goals and moving forward. During week 7, Ethan read his first book on his own! The look of amazment on his face at his own ability was priceless and for that moment I felt like I was on the moon. He asked for another and then another until his eyes began to water and he could no longer concentrate. It was a very exciting day. I’ve included a pic below of this fun day.

Not all in our homeschooling world is wonderful and great. There are days of frustration, tears and tantrums. From both of us. Within just a few days I went from feeling like I could do this homeschol thing until college to thinking to myself “When does registration begin at the school?” One morning, I felt a sense of longing as I watched the other mothers on the block walk their children to the bus stop–coffee in hand, of course–and wave goodbye to their offspring for an entire 8 hours! How glorious that would be! But then I reminded myself that I have boys and the conversation after they got off the bus would be the same every day: “What did you do at school today?” …..”um, Nothing.”. Ugh. I couldn’t handle that for 13 years. Chris gets a little bit of that when he gets home and talks to Ethan but I’m there to help remind him what he HAVE done.

Both the boys have become entralled with this book series that a friend suggested called “The Magic Tree House” series. These are very small chapter boks and we read one in about a day and a half. I was surprised to see Matt get into them as much as he does, some days more than others. Ethan, however, will sit with me for two hours while I read to him. I’m sure after the baby comes, we’ll have less time for it for a while so I’m glad we’re taking the time now.

Speaking of the baby…he’s still baking. I’ll be 33 weeks on Tueday and we have an ultrasound scheduled for Friday, October 6th. At this appointment, we’ll be able to see how big the baby is. I’m hoping for 5 pounds and some change. Since I’ve been since so quiet as far as contractions go, I’ve been able to be taken on a few more rides and get out of the house a little bit. It’s been very refresthing. Indiana fall is upon us and no one should miss it.

God Bless,
Lynn

Our fifth week of home schooing was a little out of the ordinary. On Monday afternoon, I began having contractions and ended up going to the hospital Monday night when I couldn’t get them to stop on my own. The doctor checked and found that they contractions were being productive so I was diagnosed with Pre Term Labor. I was there until Thursday afternoon. We were able to do lessons in the hospital on both Tuesday and Wednesday but three days of school was all we got in for the week.

Now I’m home on bedrest and we’re all adjusting to the new routines that will be with us until this baby arrives. I’m very happy to say that the boys are being wonderfully helpful to Chris and me. They understand that I can’t get up and do things for them like I normally do. Hmm…this may be a wonderful lesson in self sufficiency by the time this is over. :^)

Just for the record, this is not the same problem I had with Matt. Apparently, my body isn’t as made for carrying babies as I had hoped it would be. I guess Ethan’s pregnancy, which was textbook and wonderful, was the exception, not the rule.

Since today is Labor Day (not THAT kind of Labor, Chris reminded me this morning) we are getting ready to start another week of school tomorrow morning. I have to say that things were a lot easier last week since we do homeschool. Having to worry about getting Ethan to and from school, homework and all the other administrative things that come with traditional schools would have made the week even more stressful.

Thanks for reading.
God Bless,
Lynn

Another exciting week here at the Frank School! Well, not really exciting, but we survived it! :^) I’m starting to realize that instead of several “subjects”: Art, Phonics, Writing, Religion, Math, Science, Music, and PE, we really only have three: Phonics, Writing and Math. Phonics and Math are what we focus on the most and it’s where I see the most excitement, learning and challenges with Ethan. He still doesn’t like writing very much but I’m working on ways to make it more fun. The other subjects just sort of blend into everyday life. PE and Music are now weekly classes that he participates in so those are formal, but without much work on my part.

Some of you have asked me what Phonics entails in Kindergarten. Right now, we’re going through each of the letters and their sounds. Each day, we have a new letter–although not in order–and then he identifies the sound of that letter at the beginning of several words as well as at the end of several words. This has helped him realize that these letters and their sounds are what words are made of and if he listens closely, he can hear every letter in there. Vowels are last since they are the most confusing. It’s odd that you don’t notice how crazy our language is until you try teaching it.

Some days, Math is really boring but I’ve learned something very important about the way my son learns. I always thought Ethan was a hands-on learner and that seat work, such as worksheets, would bore the heck out of him. What I’ve found is that he really enjoys the accomplishment of finishing the worksheets in his Math book. Right now, we’re learning numbers 1-12; counting them and writing them…over and over. He is almost halfway through his Math workbook and at this rate, we’ll finish it by Christmas so I hope either 1.) Math gets more challenging in the near future or 2.) the 1st grade Math workbook transistions easily from the Kindergarten one. I picked up a “Kindergarten Math Activity Book” at CVS the other day with the intention that it would busy him while I was talking to my OB at my monthly appointment. It was well worth the $4 because the doctor was running an hour late and he sat there and did page after page in that book while we waited. I had no idea he was capable of putting that much attention into a workbook like that. Very suprising…and very exciting since I really needed him to keep busy. This week, we start working on Time and Money so I’m going to be glad to start using some hands-on things: clocks and coins!

Thanks again for reading.

God Bless,
Lynn

PS: All looks good with Baby Frank. We’re 11 weeks from our due date!

This was a bittersweet week for us here at the Frank School. This week marked the start of schools in our area, including the one Ethan would have attended. The kids in the neighborhood were gone every day and the sights and sounds of school buses up and down our street reminded me of where I thought we would be at this point. Six months ago, home schooling never entered my mind. I saw myself driving Ethan to his school and then Matt and I waiting anxiously for him to come off the bus every afternoon. I thought of all the one-on-one time Matt and I would have together while Ethan was gone each day. And then, of course, when the baby came the days would be challenging but I was comforted knowing that I’d only have two for most of the day rather than three.

On the other side of those feelings was the sadness that every parent feels when they send their first born off to school all day for the first time. I also felt this tug of something that I guess can be described as guilt/sadness for not being a part of his learning. The idea of knowing that I wasn’t a part of his education really bothered me. This is the biggest reason we decided to home school. These are my feelings about my children, and I know that not every parent feels a pull like this. I think every parent has their own comfort level on everything from safety to nutrition. Sending Ethan off to Kindergarten was out of my comfort level. I don’t look down on parents who choose to send their child(ren) to traditional schools; I respect their decisions just as I want them to respect ours. As parents, we do what works, when it works, for as long as it works.

Obviously, this week was hard on me emotionally as I dealt with these thoughts and feelings. I was comforted by seeing the success we had in school during what was only our third week. My friend Michelle reminded me that most Kindergarten classes spend the first part of the year getting all of the kids at the same level. There are still children who go to Kindergarten without knowing their letters and the sounds they make. I’m sure that’s the main reason we’re flying through the Seton Phonics curriculum. This week was our first 9 week review in Phonics and Ethan was able to decode his first word without any help! It was very exciting and more than I expected since the instructions didn’t require him to actually read the words. It was a thrill to see his hard work payoff when he realized what he had done!

We found a formal music program that Ethan starts this week. It’s called Harmony Road and we were able to do a 30 minute preview class. I was amazed at what he’ll be learning. It’s mostly a piano/keyboarding class with music and rhythm instruction. I never learned to read music and I know that there is a direct link between learning music and learning languages. Even in college when I learned ‘how’ to read music, I was never able to read it and play and instrument at the same time. The same for languages; I know how to speak it but when trying to speak it or hear it, I find myself translating word for word. I’m anxious to see how he likes it. We have no intention of forcing anything on him but as long as he enjoys something, we will support it–to an extent, of course. :^)

Matt finally began to understand the routine this week (thank GOD!). On one or two occasions, he was disrupting Ethan while he was trying to concentrate and after explaining this to him and asking him to take his toy/game/puzzle to another room he happily said “ok!” and moved to a different location. I was truly amazed. Matt doesn’t usually comply without struggle. He is also beginning to understand ’school’ time and what that means; which is a huge factor in our success!

As for me and the pregnancy, I have definitely entered my third trimester. I feel asleep once while Ethan was counting objects in Math and another time while the boys were playing during one of our breaks. All before 11am! That’s not normal, even for me! A couple days this week, we added a quick coffee run for mommy to the morning schedule and as long as the boys got to share a smoothie or chocolate milk, they were happy to ride along. I love the flexibility of it all!

Well, I think this is a book…are you still with me? Congratulations if you made it this far! Please leave feedback if you have anything to say…we love to know you all are reading this! Thanks for taking the time.

God Bless,
Lynn

I came across this article and it said so many things that I wish I could remember when people ask me why we have chosen to home school. This article really says a lot of what Chris and I feel Home Schooling should be. If you’re curious, please check it out:
http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=12776

Lynn

This week was a lot better than the first week…which I suppose is to be expected. Even traditional schools experience an adjustment phase. Not only is this the second week of homeschooling, but it’s also my 2nd week home with the boys five days a week. I expected that to be difficult for me to adjust to but since we stay so busy with our school schedule, we’re really never bored. I hope that continues.

One of the best things about homeschooling is the flexibility. A lot of friends/family have asked me what our schedule looks like so I thought I’d post it here for you to see.

6:30 Mom wakes up
7:00 Wake up Ethan
7:00-7:15 Ethan gets dressed
7:15-8:00 Ethan breakfast (Mom cleans up and starts Matt’s breakfast)
8:00-8:15 Opening prayer, Pledge and color page from ORANGE folder
8:15-8:45 Phonics in BLUE folder
8:45-9:15 Break/Free Play Time/Chores
9:15-9:45 Religion
9:45-10:00 Snack/Chores
10:00-10:30 Writing in GREEN folder
10:30-10:45 Free Play/Story Time
10:45-11:30 Math in RED folder
11:30-11:45 Mom prepares lunch/Book & Puzzle time for boys
11:45-12:45 Lunch, afternoon prayers
1:00-2:00 Quiet Time
2:00-4:00 Library, Science, review, reading
4:00 Start cleaning up house to get ready for Daddy

This is what I have posted on our wall above Ethan’s desk. We stay about 80-90% on schedule most days. Fridays are reserved for Field Trips but this week, we made it Wednesday. We woke up very early and went to the Indiana State Fairgrounds for their Opening Day Hot Air Balloon liftoff. The weather didn’t cooperate and the balloons were unable to fly but we saw one being blown up and one deflate. Both boys seemed pretty fascinated with the whole thing.

We use a Kindergarten curriculum from Seton Home Study School out of the east coast. You can check it out here: www.setonhome.org. The curriculum for Kindergarten starts at a very basic level, i.e. letters and the sounds they make and numbers 1-12. Ethan has been able to move pretty quickly through Phonics, accomplishing a letter a day rather than a letter a week as suggested by Seton. There is still a lot he’s learning from it: beginning vs. ending sounds, how words are built and left to right positioning of letters in words and words in sentences. He also really enjoys Math and has been zooming through the worksheets in the math workbook. I try to slow down and supplement the concept in other areas, like Legos (his favorite) and dot-to-dot activities but he is still very eager to keep moving forward.

The flip side to this coin is that he’s very frustrated with writing…both letters and numbers. Actually, he downright hates it. Unforunately, I haven’t found a fun way to practice writing yet. The only way to get better at writing is to practice and the only way to practice is to write. So that is my challenge: how to make writing more enjoyable for him. I continue to encourage him but he’s very particular about his writing and can tell when something isn’t perfect, even though I’ve told him he’s done a good job. With everything else going well, we have to have a few bumps in the road.

That is some information on our big three subjects. The other subjects: art, music, PE, science and religion are pretty much part of our daily lives so it’s less “school-like”.

Matt has done a lot better this week in allowing Ethan and I “school time”. With a little warning, he can usually find something to occupy his attention for the 30 minutes at a time Ethan and I spend focused on school. He’s always been very good at independent play, but sometimes needs help coming up with the idea of what to do next. Matt came over to ask me something this morning while we were having “class” and he called me “Teacher.” It was cute. I’m glad to know they can see me as both mother and teacher.

By the way, I saw that Chris posted about his own Adventure in Home Schooling on Monday. I was very proud of how well he did. He is so involved and supportive and just a huge part of our Frank School. I definately couldn’t do any of this without him.

Blessings,
Lynn

Well, it was fun but challenging.  The hardest part was getting Matt to be occupied enough to allow Ethan and I to work together.  It was hard to get Ethan’s attention when Matt was goofing off.  We managed to get everything I needed to get done before mommy got home.  We even had a chance to do an activity on weighing household items and seeing which things were heavier.  It was fun.

It was a good 1st week of home schooling. It was surprising how much he already knew. Now the challenge becomes figuring out what he can skip. Not to say he is the most brilliant kindergartner but, the curriculum is setup that they start with the most basic knowledge. He has learned so much from Goddard and Nativity already.

Phonics – We got through 3 weeks of phonics in 1 week, obviously he likes this subject and is doing well

Math – 1 week

Writing – 2 weeks of writing in 1 week

Art – 1 week

P.E. – He is in gymnastics and his teacher is working he hard (sit ups, push ups plus gymnastics)

Religion – 1 week

Science/Health – They both went to the dentist this week!