The start to school

I haven't blogged about this much.  Partly because if you know me, you know this has been an on-going vacillation and constant source of much prayer.  We decided to give homeschooling our best shot -- to which we will evaluate at the end/start of each year for each kid & see what makes the most sense for them & our family.  It's an enormous intimidating thing... to have "your kids' entire year of education" literally before you and knowing that you want them to get a fair shake, not even just that, but a really, really great education that starts them down the life long road of a love for learning -- I mean, can someone like me really teach?  I'm not a teacher.  My background is in business & mortgages.  And to be perfectly honest, I think somewhere along the lines, I missed that igniting passion for learning...  and I have feared that I wouldn't know how to make learning exciting & fun for our kids if we taught them at home.  Not to mention, how would we have any sort of structure here?  Life happens - we are distracted all the time - how would we find a rhythm that worked for us, where the kids could thrive & be challenged and excited about learning?  How would I not go crazy?  Well, hear me say...  this has flat out ROCKED & it is entirely by God's grace.  I knew if we homeschooled, He'd have to show up in big ways for this to work.  He knows our kids, our loud & chaotic household, he knows my personality & fears, lack of experience... you name it... trust me, no one is more surprised by the joy we've found in this than me. hahah.

My sister texted me about a month ago, telling me about K12.com  (before you think this is an info-mercial you're reading, you're not - just me sharing our experience so far.)  Holy guacamole!  ;)  AHHMAZING!  So you can check it out if you want to learn more.  I talked with the nicest, most helpful guy back in Kentucky who walked me through how the program works.  I was stoked -- it's a virtual academy (they have ones for every state & in other countries around the world; you can choose from charter schools that are involved and even some private schools too)... we do all our work at home, though there are field trips throughout the year with other families in the program.  I think there are about 1400 students total in Oregon from K through 12, enrolled.  It's completely free - they mailed us boxes of the curriculum & supplies, Jack has tons of online tools & virtual classrooms we do part of the time.  It is a blast and incredible.  I am blown away by the research that's gone into this to make it utterly awesome for kids.  To see how proficient they become on the computer, the total one-on-one pace that's perfect for us to cater to Jack's learning style (and Mags' too) & spend time til they've really mastered what they're learning, the fact that I operate as a "learning coach" and facilitator but yet he still has a teacher we talk with every week...   I'm not saying this is for every family, but certainly something that is working well for us & is for sure worth checking into if you're at all interested.  It gets two massively big thumbs up from us so far. :)

Anyways, we've had fun making a homeschool space for the kids.  Really, just using some re-purposed furniture in the garage.  (an armoire Jack had in his nursery as a baby & used to be an old gun cabinet in my parents' garage that my Mom painted for us - and this serves as a place to keep all our supplies & has drawers for each of the kids to keep their stuff), then we found an old kids' table & chairs on craigslist we painted.  Ken built some book racks (like giant spice racks) that hold whatever books are kinda with the unit(s) we're doing, and then we just set up a computer work space where they can do their online games/class.  It has been really exciting to see how much fun they're having!  And I'm having a ball too.  Really.  ;)  So, the kickoff to school this Fall has been a great one & we are so encouraged by the fun we're having while we learn.  It really feels like the start of a great adventure... :)

 Learning about the 5 senses in a science experiment:  hidden things under the apron there that they tried to identify without sight, by using their other senses...  we learned about scientists & how they observe things, we read the story about the senses, went on a hunt outside & through the house trying out different senses....anyways, they had fun with this one for sure!

Just a peek into one of the boxes that was (as you can see) packed full of brand new books to read with them! 

Here's all the stuff that arrived... all the lesson books, the curriculum, the supplies, the science experiment equipment, globes, maps, phonics stuff....  eesh, it was massively fun to go through! 

Didn't this turn out cute for them?  I love that it's just their size.  Why didn't I look for something like this sooner?  We found this one on craigslist for $20 bucks & it came with all 3 chairs.  Jack & Mags really wanted the table red & chairs blue & with some quick spray painting, voila.  Fun times. :)

Hope you all are having a great start to Fall & if you have kids that are school aged, I hope it's been a terrific kickoff for you guys too! :)