The Quirky Mama's guide to surviving the first year and a little bit of homeschooling!

Seeing as we are fast approaching the end of the first term of the second year we have been homeschooling. I thought I would write some quick notes about what I've found out so far.


Numero Uno:

When strangers come up to Louise or us  and asks what school she goes to  and she / we tell them we homeschool people tend to give you a look like you are crazy- as a side not we probably are  ; )


Numero Dos:

I once came across a homeschool blog called (may not be quite exact) 3 kids and a gluestick....and it really does sum up our family experiences that you really don't need to buy anything special to start homeschooling a child, Adam is probably 3 times more expensive to send to school than keeping Louise at home and homeschooling her by the time you factor in school lunches and money to the school for x,y and z.


Numero Tres:

There's lessons in  every day life. For example we stopped our Maths lesson yesterday when it was hailing and we talked about why it was hailing, why the hail turned to water when it hit the ground? why is it different to snow etc

Numero Cuatro:

Louise has really enjoyed looking back  at what she has accomplished, such as her attempting to learn her alphabet. So we definitely intend to film more of her learning so  she can see her progression.


Numero Cinco:

Practice, practice, practice!

Louise definitely accomplishes things quicker if we spend time doing the same things every day. We read and do 3 spellings everyday.

Numero Seis:

Oops I was actually gonna just post five but this is a big one for us, have activities on hand to keep the toddler entertained at the same time that school commences. Otherwise Marie demands that she want's her Playmate back. For some reason turning your elder sister into a horse is much more fun than watching her do her school work!

Aw, is it really the end of Autumn?

I do really quite like Autumn, I like the fact that there's beautiful colored scrunchy leaves on the ground that the kids can entertain themselves with outside whilst we run errands and that the nights draw in early and we can all snuggle on the sofa and the kids aren't trying to come up with arguments that it's way to early for bed because at 8 or 9 o'clock it's still light outside! Yep, that old chestnut. And this Autumn has been fab because it's been so mild but today feels like we are definitely into Winter.

I caught the weather forecast this morning whilst feeding Marie and on the weather map there was snow flakes coming down and at about 11 o'clock we opened the back door to see the hailstones coming down and they were literally bouncing from the courtyard into the kitchen.

My Mum and Dad also came over this morning so Louise spent most of the time at the dining table reading to Grandad. She loves sharing with others what she can do and she happily read the entire Husky Adventure tale to him. She was also head of heels that they came bearing gifts, My sister Bethany who is 17 found a white sparkly top ( completely up Louise's street) that she wore when she was a couple of year's older than her and my Gran had sent down via my Mum a knitting doll ( a knitting Nancy to be precise ) which completely made her eyes light up.

I just have this feeling.....

I'm gonna be dreaming of coffee machines all night long.


On Sunday evening I had a telephone call from the manager of a local restaurant/ cafe opening in town, offering me a waitress position.The hours slot in well with homeschooling and family life so that's all good.

Today I had a training day on how to make coffee.

I'm pretty sure that if it was a coffee making comp my coffee would of come last.


Oops.

What can I say prehaps I'm coffee making retarded.


Tomorrow I have a shift with the general public. Is it wrong to hope it's quiet tomorrow ? so that the manager assists that I can practice on whole batch of his  coffee.

Roll on tomorrow.

Has it really been Wednesday since I last posted?

I've applied for what feels like a bazillion (if that's a number?) jobs and I'm fed up looking at my CV. Malcolm's taken Adam and Louise to the cinema and they are watching some adventure film, Louise has gone on the promise that she sits and watches the whole film, somehow telling them last time they went that she wanted to go home because the film was too scary, only to confess when she walked through the front door that she had been bored didn't go down very well with either of them!

Guess what?

Tomorrow is Monday and we can start homeschooling again, is it  normal to feel this excited?

this week has been so loooooooooooooooooooong!

It's rained....

it's been cold.....

we've been stuck inside....

the oldest two kids have fought and played together in equal measure....

 and I've missed having the routine that homeschooling brings to the house.

Plus, its new project time (last half  term was Dinosaurs) and I've got a whole heap of advent stuff planned!

Why we homeschool, the back story.

Louise's catapult she made during a science lesson.

 I've been homeschooling Louise for what seems like forever but it's actually been just over a year. When I met Malcolm he told me that he had been home schooled, I was Impressed his Mum had done a fantastic job with teaching him and he really academically wise was just as smart or smarter than the average guy that went through the school system. My only other experience I had of knowing someone who was home schooled, was a friend that I had when I was 9 whose mum took her out of school to home school her, I  didn't have the greatest time at school and remember asking my Mum the same evening I found out she was being home schooled if I could stay at home and be home schooled as well. She told me something along the lines that she wasn't clever enough to teach me. So,off I went back to school the next day and my friend came back to the school 6 weeks later telling us all that her Mum didn't have the time to teach her ?!

I received a letter from the  local council  for Adam in the Easter before his 4th  birthday asking me to fill out a form telling them which school I wanted him to attend in the coming September, so I filled it out with the preferred school and sent it back ( we actually moved between the Easter and that September and he ended up going to a different school).

Home economics - Making flapjacks.

Within a few weeks of him starting school we had comments from his teacher in the playground at lunchtime when I picked him up.

Why wasn't he ( a boy who just turned 4 that July) interested in writing his name ( in a book over and over again for 10 minutes or more every day), he should be?  Why is he just wanting to play and not sit down and do his worksheets?

After about 6 weeks we were called in for a parent's consultation with the head and his year teacher and found out that they had ( behind our backs) done an IQ test  and according to them the score he got meant that he would struggle ever to do anything. I burst into tears, Malcolm more level headed just sat there quietly angry at the picture they were painting of a boy who had these fantastic ideas and who was able to grab a variety of different concepts. We promptly after that moved him to a better school, which we for the majority of the part was happy with but it still took him til about 7 or 8 years old to really be ready for learning in lessons.