~Building family memories takes work. Not all memories can be great, but the overall effect is usually priceless.

~Coffee is essential to my being able to keep a civil tongue in the morning. I mean it. No control whatsoever.

~50/50 coffee only results in more pots of coffee and more bathroom breaks. (Just kidding S!)

~Maps of Washington DC are misleading. The place is HUGE.

~There are no parking garages close to where the tourists want to be. This makes the walking around the already HUGE place even worse.

~Despite the heat, distance, and occasional temper flare-up, kids really love this place!

~A six foot tall person can walk under Abe Lincoln’s statue’s leg and not bump his head.

~There is a neat bookstore at the Lincoln Memorial.

~If one wishes to tour the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, get the tickets the day before if possible. They are free, but you have to have a ticket and they go quickly.

~Never underestimate the power of a long black wall etched with names. It was DC in August and I was covered in chills. So many names…

~There is a statue of Einstein tucked away that is really fun.

~The Smithsonian Museums need a full day each. We did the Museum of Natural History and only saw half. We dragged ourselves away exhausted but thoroughly happy.

~Most every attraction is free. Most everything else is not.

~The traveling was about two hours too long.

~Home is most beautiful after an absence.

A note of thanks: We stayed with family on this trip. I can never thank them enough for allowing our intrusion. I only hope they enjoyed it half as much as we did.

I used to love a good road trip. I still love the idea of a trip. Yet no one told me that traveling with family is like deploying a small army… Provisions must be provided. Latrines must be scouted. Enough clothing, and personal paraphernalia to require the additional rental of a small trailer must be washed, sorted, packed, and crammed into every available space. And even after all of that… one tiny germ could completely devastate the entire mission.

It is down to the wire…

All that could be done is done…

This time I think I might actually get to go!

One of the things I love about homeschooling is choosing curriculum. When I saw a friend post about the not-back-to-school blog hop it got me to thinking about how we found ourselves on our current path.

We didn’t find what works for us until halfway through last year. I really didn’t expect to take any particular approach to homeschooling. I had initially decided to create our own path by pulling from many sources and changing direction as needed. This was fine but I felt adrift and the kids were confused. Last December I was blessed by a former homeschooling mother who asked if I had ever heard of The Well Trained Mind by Wise and Bauer. I had, but I had dismissed the classical education method as too much writing, memorization and mundane work. She loaned me her copy for a week to see what I thought. As I read the book that week I was constantly running over to my husband to read passages aloud as he brushed his teeth or tried to work. I would catch myself actually saying out loud, “Yes!” as I read about her opinions of public education. I ordered my own copy along with the recommended history books before I saw my friend again the next week. When I told her how much I loved the book and that I planned to begin this curriculum as soon as possible, she gave me her entire set of books for the next three years! What a gift!

I am so excited to begin this year with these books. Homeschooling doesn’t have to be about schedules, workbooks, or any certain curriculum, this is just how our family works best. I still believe in using every teachable moment that presents itself, and regularly build in unschooling days so that we remain fresh and do not get burned out. Yet having a clear path lets me relax in the knowledge that I am not neglecting my duties as their teacher, while giving my children the confidence they need that they are still learning as much as all of the schooled children. Perhaps in the future I will need to re-evaluate our needs. If that happens, I will be happy to do so. Until then, we will be plodding along the classical path.

This is what we use:

Spelling Workout, Spelling Power, First Language Lessons, Writing with Ease, Singapore Math, The Story of the World, Prima Latina, Rosetta Stone, Geology(a mix of things for this), violin lessons, cub scouts, our public library, the internet, and lots, and lots of field trips!

“I just can’t right now.”

This whining statement will get two different responses depending upon which child I hear say it. Playing favorites? No way. My children are different and in order to help them I have to understand those differences.

Please Step Away From the Lesson!

My son needs a quiet, clutter free space and a quiet, clutter free mind in order to reach his potential. Place my son in a chaotic, ramped up atmosphere and he’ll get overly excited and emotional. Once he’s in that state, learning is next to impossible. Moments like this can quickly spiral into paralyzing frustration. Unfortunately, he thinks his trouble is related to his ability to comprehend the subject.  If I can convince him to set aside his work for an hour and wait for things to settle, everything clears up miraculously!

Keep on Keeping On!!!

My daughter needs no help in taking time for herself. She is a pro at setting things aside for a while. What she needs is a set of tools that will help her to complete projects. Cut from the same cloth as her mother, (Lord, help her!) she is disorganized and a born procrastinator. She is also extremely creative and naturally thinks outside the box. Tedium is her enemy so I try to help her focus her creativity on how many ways she can do a mundane, routine task differently. With a little luck and a lot of good attitude on her part, she can have the task done before she gets bored.

To me, these learning tactics that help to push through difficulties are more valuable than the subject matter of the moment. If I can teach my children how to manage their own learning styles and meet their own educational needs, learning becomes fun, and they become educated without unnecessary struggles.

Where’s my bumper sticker?

I’ve learned so much this year. Homeschooling has been a very natural and fun endeavor. Every member of my family is sold on the experience. Here are a few things that I am going to get into over the next few weeks:

1. My kids need me to teach less and inspire more.

2. They retain so much more homeschooling than they ever did at school. This one-on-one thing really works.

3. I really like my kids! And they like each other! They get along together very well!

4. Socialization is not a problem. Their lists of friends has only lengthened.

5. There are days that go nowhere, but that is okay too.

6. There is so much more than teaching “requirements.”

I’ve really missed blogging. Hope to tap into these and so much more soon!!!

There, I said it.

I tend to naturally say that instead of “Merry Christmas” not because I am overly P.C. but because it is easier. I grew up a catholic in a protestant town. I learned early on that broadcasting my faith and differences was a sure way to draw unwanted hostility and worse, sympathy or fear for my soul! Now, after years of keeping my faith private, I naturally shy away from any overtly religious statement unless I know without a doubt the recipient is of a like mind.

In our home, we celebrate Christmas. We put up a tree and decorate it as soon after Thanksgiving as possible because we love to do it that way. My nativity goes up next and we talk about the birth of Jesus as we set the statues out. The wise men are set in a different spot across the room and will travel across it to their destination. They arrive on the Epiphany, January 6th. On the night of January 5th, we leave the kids’ shoes out for the kings’ visit. King’s Day is from my husband’s Spanish/Italian side of the family. There, it is the biggest day for gifts. Personally, I think that makes perfect sense because of the kings’ gifts to the baby Jesus. When the kids asked why the kings visit them and not other kids, I told them because the kings knew your daddy, they now know you too.

Yet we also recognize the seasonal holidays here.  I love to light candles and decorate with evergreens for the winter solstice, and teach the kids about the longest night of the year. I’ve told the oldest about how the early Christians replaced the pagan holidays with Christian ones as they spread Christianity throughout Europe. She was surprised to learn that it was very likely that Jesus was not born on December 25th and his first home was not covered in snow as we see in all of the nativity scenes here. We talk of the magic of Santa and how I still believe that there is something magical about the spirit of the season that causes us all to give gifts and decorate our homes. Most of the traditions are so old,  people don’t remember where they originated or why we do them now. When my daughter asks very pointed questions about the “truth” of Santa, I tell her that she is asking the wrong person. Whether I believe or it or not, the answer would be the same: Yes! There is Santa! Then I look at her and ask her if she truly believes parents could pull this off on the same night, year after year, in different homes all over the world? She always laughs and says “No way!” A child’s Occam’s Razor: It is more likely to her that reindeer fly than for all the parents of the world to pull off this huge act every year. When I look at it that way, I start believing a little too.

So, if I say ‘Happy Holidays!’ in passing this year, please don’t launch into a lecture about the reason for the season. We all have our own reasons and just because I recognize the other reasons for the various holidays of this time of year doesn’t mean that Jesus isn’t mine.

Confessions of a home-schooler Call us crackpots,
but our kids spend their days at beaches
and museums, not in school
By Andrew O’Hehir

Update: The picture I have here shows the Emancipation Proclamation and the Sacagawea joins Lewis and Clark ornaments we did today.