Happy Holidays!

With the holidays upon us I have time, okay maybe not have time, but I am taking the time to reflect on the year and the changes I have made to our lives. Please note that these are my personal feelings and as I do not judge the people who use public education(my own 2 older boys currently go to public school), I ask that you just read and not judge.
Homeschooling...where to begin. I feel this pull at my heart. I feel like I am compelled to take the education of my kids into my own hands. I feel unsettled that so many people accept the status quo that is American education today. I hate that parents just settle for something that is lacking because they can't understand the alternatives. Why have we come to accept education that is sub standard? Are we really okay with the testing and low standards? How did we get to this point that we are many, many levels below where we were years ago? How is it that in Civil War times the literacy rate, including slaves, was higher than it is now?
It pulls at my heart. This is NOT to say that there aren't many wonderful and dedicated teachers, because there are. I hope that I was once one of them. It is simply a case of their hands being tied by what is acceptable to teach and what is allowed. The standards are accepted, set, and taught.
Another really huge issue for me has been the total degradation of morality. What is now considered the norm revolts me. I'm not sure if it is the blatant lack of clothing that young girls wear, the nasty music they all listen to, or just the disregard for authority and decency that is the worst. When did it get this bad?
So they will be unsocialized you say? What part of school offers them the kind of socializing I really want them to have? I hear more horror stories than I hear success stories in all honesty. Should peer pressure be okay? Should I want my kids to mix in with children I would otherwise NOT want them to be friends with because it will make them "better people?" I'm sorry but that is not a risk I want to take. I have seen the village and I prefer it to NOT raise my kids thank you.
Lastly, school days are too long. Where did evening family dinners go? The ridiculous rat race to over achieve and be a part of 100 different activities for the sake of beefing up your college application has dissolved the very essence of family. How sad that we have to carve out time to speak to our kids. Is it any wonder that we lead the world in teen suicides? Our kids can't be kids. They are over scheduled, technologically terrorized, unplugged creatures that we don't recognize. Does it make sense to have your child spend more waking hours with strangers than yourself? Who shapes your child into the adult you want them to be when you see them for just a few hours per day?
At any rate, those are my reasons. I am not attempting to put my kids in a bubble and isolate them. I have just found that there are better ways for my kids to learn and learn to be lifelong learners. I like to be the central figure in their lives and shape them, especially my girls, into the best people they can become. Here's to the journey!!

Memory Work

Sounds old fashioned, right? Well it is! As old as learning your ABC's or your name. Memory work is a must for young kids because they literally absorb facts! Why not get them out of the way now so that down the road they are already on the shelves of their figurative grocery store?
I am employing two great resources for this. The first is the book Living Memory by Andrew Campbell. This provides tons of great memory categories including Latin Proverbs, poems, phrases, and math facts. I also use history facts and dates to keep them reviewing all year. The system is an easy index card box file! You can read about that here.
Soon we will be needing a second box for days 1-31 as we are filling the weekday slots with items we already know well. Is it working? It certainly is! There are times I move things back into more frequent positions but for the most part they are retaining and even my preschooler has blurted out random names like "Beowulf" and "Saxons"! I suggest it for all facts that kids need to study in various subjects. A simple 5 minute review everyday and long, arduous study sessions will be a thing of the past!
What are the merits of doing this though? Well simply put, children need the facts in their minds before they can begin to manipulate them. They need a frame of reference to put history facts into in their mental time lines. Andrew Campbell sums it up this way:
1. Memory is a basic human faculty.
2. Exercising one's memory brings better mental health.
3. Memory implies order.
4. A good memory is a key to writing.
5. To speak well, one must remember well.
6. A good memory is essential to mastering classical subjects like Latin and math.
7. Your memory is your personal laptop.
If your child is trained say by age 7 to know all the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts wouldn't life be so much easier? Then they can move ahead in learning to understand how math works by without being bogged down by trying to recall the facts. Wouldn't a basis in Latin words help an SAT taker decode unfamiliar vocabulary? Certainly! Even if your child isn't able to recall things off the tip of their tongue, it will be in their mental stores, on a shelf, to be easily accessed at a later time.

Christmas is coming......

So here we are in December and Christmas is right around the corner. Black Friday brought mad shopping and here we are on the downhill slide picking up small things here and there to fill in. How is the school related? Well it leads to the kids wanting to do more crafty and seasonal things. Here are a few of the things I have pulled together to make the days go by with the holiday spirit in them!
First we are doing holiday read alouds. This one has been a real favorite for me and the girls. Another great book is this one which is a bit weird but amusing.
what would Christmas be without this favorite?
This is one story they could hear over and over again even when it isn't December! A favorite craft book seems to be the Usborne Christmas
Actvity Book and coloring cute pictures they find on the internet while I read aloud. These crayons are fabulous for doing window drawings and tracings and are getting a real workout.

I'll post more as we go through the month including a few really great recipes for cookies!