Anxiety and other 'A' Things- AKA Fruit Basket Turnover

How often we think we have everything under control and God, in His mercy, continues to redirect and mold our life.  He redirects in a way that is really answer to prayer, but not how one is expecting.

That would be life at our house this week.

We took Joy-Bug to public school in order to enroll her.  See this post for background.  She was tested and came out below average for second grade.  You need to know she has been in third grade this year.  I knew she had learning issues, but this was somewhat confirming and somewhat saddening.  The principle wanted her to be in second grade.  But, after his explaining all the third grade pressure that would be on Joy-Bug next year (as in not passing a test would make her have to retake third grade), we knew we needed to regroup.  We can not have her two years behind her peers.

So, we came back and called the local Christian school.  You'll remember that we really liked it, but felt it would be too challenging for Joy-Bug.  Well, they met with us and put her in second grade- ADHD, anxiety and all.  She has two teachers and only SIX students in that class.  There is also pull-out tutoring for her to get her up to snuff.  And, to top it off, they gave me a coupon for half off tuition this spring!  So, God is obviously in that!  Joy-Bug brought her first folder home last night and had FIVE WORKSHEETS COMPLETED.  Dan and I cried tears of joy!

In the meantime, we were still not happy with the plan or lack of plan, for Kae-Kae and her completion of eighth grade and impending high school in eight months.  We have prayed diligently for three weeks and in the middle of the night, God gave us the answer.  We enrolled her in Morning Star Academy- an online school.  This means she will graduate from their school and be able to circumvent the state requirements for where we live.  They have a non-college track which just means she has to have Algebra I and Geometry, and NO FOREIGN LANGUAGE.  Kae-Kae tested and was below grade level on everything.  Even though this program is online, I know it is going to take me sitting knee-to-knee with her, which means we have to have a plan for my other two children.

Sooooo, we put them in Christian school, too.  About two weeks before Christmas break, Gracie-Girl stopped touching paper.  Yep!  That is right.  Which means, she will not cut, paste, color, handwrite, etc.  This is just too much for me to manage- child number three as special needs.  So, even though she was in homeschool as a first grader, she also tested low and will begin Kindergarten on Monday.

So, now that the fruit basket is turned over, I have a 7th, 2nd and Kindergartener.  Little Guy is the only one on grade level, which is K4.  We are also paying private school tuition for FOUR children.  And, I am only kind of a homeschooler- I will be helping Kae-Kae all day.  Little Guy will only be going to school for 2 days a week, but you can't really homeschool a four year old.  We will just play soccer and wiffle ball!

So, I am hanging up my hat as Homeschooling Heather for a while.  Maybe to return at another time, or ready for whatever new adventure the Lord brings, as Kae-Kae gets to where she can do more and more of her own school-work during the next six years.

Thanks for listening-
Heather

2011-2012 Homeschool Grand Reveal

I know you have been waiting with baited breath to see what Kingdom Arrows has put together for our 2011-2012 school year!  OK, maybe not.  But, I have!  Here it is.  Of course, you know that a list like this does not come together without much prayer, research, consulting friends, speaking with curriculum writers, etc.  This process of planning my school year usually takes about 2 months. 

*GASP*

But, for me, and other moms who shall remain nameless, it is almost a hobby, and an enjoyable way of life.  It is also one of the many reasons I wanted to homeschool.  I know there are certain curriculums whose goal is being able to "open and shoot."  And, I wanted you to hear it from me, that is GREAT.  I am thankful those Christian writers and developers are out there.  Many people don't want to pull it all together, or they have more than four children, or they need to work part-time while they homeschool, or they are a single mom, etc. So, these companies are meeting a valuable need in our homeschool community. 

But, here are the plans for Kingdom Arrows.

Kae-Kae, grade 8, 13 years old

• Sonlight, core 200- Church History and Literature.  This is OUR FIRST HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT!!  Under our umbrella school, we can count this as high school world history.  Sonlight has a weak writing component, but Kae-Kae is so strong in writing, since doing IEW for six years, we will just be doing some additional assignments.
• Latin Alive, Book A- OUR SECOND HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT!  I tried teaching the first lesson and threw in the towel.  I bought the DVDs, and that was a good plan.
• Singapore Math- Lord willing, books 4A-6B, over the next 15 months.  Remember, we have had a crash course in math this year, leaping from second grade Math-U-See up to Saxon 7/6.  Thanks to Dawn, as I was thinking about starting pre-alegebra this fall, I decided to schlep over to the Singapore website and see what in the world was such a big deal about this curriculum.  Well, (hanging head), I realized that being one-third of the way through Saxon 7/6 got us to the end of Singapore 3B.  Yep!  Those Asian countries are serious about their math.  So, we are doing a double tap year to plow through all this math and get Kae-Kae ready for Algebra next fall.  Oh, I and I will let you in on a secret- it is going to be Video-Text Algebra.  Go check it out, it may change your life.
• Rainbow Science-finish year one and do as much of year two as we get to before high school science.  This is a well-written course, and is stretching Kae-kae more than any other science course I have seen.  She reads it and usually can't answer the questions, so I skim it and we talk through it.  The whole first semester is physics, which is an entirely new area for her.  Also, the teacher's guide is thorough and I recommend it.  This is written to be a seventh and eighth grade curriculum, and I believe it. 
• Continue working through Phonetic Zoo- A
• Extras- The Thinking Toolbox, Analogies 1 and 2, 4-H, nature journaling, weekly art lessons
• Continue with flute, piano, and begin ballet again.  Kae-kae earned one of two partial flute scholarships for the fall at the college where she takes lessons! 

Joy-Bug, grade 3, 8 years old

• Josuha through  Malachi and Ancient Greece, from Simply Charlotte Mason
• Right Start Math, level D
• Institute for Excellence in Writing- starting her on the Unit 1 and 2, Key word outlines, etc.
• All About Spelling, finish level 2, go to level 3.  I am now an affiliate, so click through on my side-bar to purchase it and I make a little egg money.
• Animals and Their Worlds and other nature journaling, weekly art lessons
• Speedy Spanish
• Pinao, Ballet, 4-H

Gracie-Girl, grade 1, 6 years old

• Josuha through Malachi  and Ancient Greece, from Simply Charlotte Mason
• Right Start Math, Level B
• All about Spelling, finish level 2
• Animals and Their Worlds and nature journaling
• Speedy Spanish
• Ballet, 4-H

Little Guy- 4 years old

• Animals and their Worlds and Nature Journaling
• Whatever his big sisters do!
• Soccer

Share your post with our Great Reveal Blog Hop all this week! This blog hop is co-hosted by Olive Plants.  She has a fun giveaway this week, too.  You do not have to have a blog post to participate!

Heather

An Honest Look

Hi- I wanted to welcome all you new readers to Kingdom Arrows! 

I know I have new readers because my numbers have gone up, but ya'll are the quietest group.  Most of you subscribe, but I would love for you to click through a leave a comment so I can get to know you.  I am sure many of you have a blog and I would love to come for a visit.

Just so you can get to know be better, I thought I would post a "Real-Honest" Photo.

Nature study, Math-U-See, All About Spelling, Writing with Ease, and a few other goodies are there.

I know all you homeschool moms are really good to put away each item as you use it, instead of letting it explode until lunchtime.  Some of you even have homeschool rooms, but this is how it goes here. 

What kind of homeschooler are you?  Put away as you use it OR keep it out until lunch just in case you need it again?

Heather

My Homeschooling Secret

About a year ago, just as Kae-Kae was beginning to go "down" with Severe Anxiety Disorder (as in we were already having many problems), I was very discontent with homeschooling in general and specifically.  Now, sometimes discontentment can come from the Lord, if He is wanting to shake you from your niche or place you have been for a long time.  Oh, and sometimes that "shaking the bush thing" actually comes because you have been praying for an answer for a while, and it takes some time for you to see that God IS answering that prayer.

That is what happened in my homeschool.  Part of my issue was that Joy-Bug is such a different learner than Kae-Kae.  She was in first grade and Joy-Bug pushes me like crazy.  She is an avid learner and is all hands-on, all the time.  For instance, right now she will literally sew from 7:30AM to 8:00PM, we have to make her get off the machine.  So, this alone shook my tree.

Additionally, I was always looking back trying to figure out what was wrong with Kae-Kae and what I did to cause her problem.  Remember, at this time, I was being told it was LDs, Auditory Processing Disorder and vision issues, so she was just in a lot of therapy for those things.

Well, I began to go back to my roots, and study Charlotte Mason again, Ruth Beechick and a new to me philosophy of homeschooling, Thomas Jefferson Education.  Although my husband had classical training, part of his PhD is in Rhetoric, the classical model of homeschooling (at least before seventh grade) was sucking the life from my whole family.  Somehow, I had to make homeschooling work with child #1 who was having bizarre behavior, child #2 who does not sleep, child #3 who is probably the smartest of all of them, and child #4 who was just a little guy building lego guns. 

So, I lowered the pace last year and read many books and waited.... and prayed.

And here is my homeschooling secret.

Dum-De-Dum

I live a life of learning what I want and include my kids. 

And it is working marvelously.  In fact, I would say it is a big piece of the healing for Kae-Kae this fall. 

What this looks like in my family is this, I wanted to learn dulcimer so I am, and I got my children a cardboard dulcimer.  They love to play and go to Dulcimer Club with me. 

I want to learn about nature, so we are Birders, Tree Learners, and making nature journals (including me) and we have JOY in homeschooling again.  Not to mention my little secret of my kids writing, narrating and drawing for their journals.

I love Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge (blog post to come), so we go, and we have to stay another day since everyone is having a blast learning!  A homeschool mom's dream field trip.

We have circle time as a family, another TJEd secret.  I will be doing a post soon explaining why it is so wonderful with mutli-aged learners and an time for mom to learn, too.

Now that does not mean that my kids aren't doing learning on their own.  Kae-Kae is in flute, choir, and piano (another victory, she starts again this week!)  has her reading from Diana Waring and does her school packet everyday.  Joy-Bug has more academics than I am comfortable with for a second grader because she LOVES it.  Gracie-Girl, kindergarten, is learning to read and write, nature journal and be a ballerina. 

Oh, and we stopped Suzuki violin back in November.  I believe in Suzuki, it is a great program, but is definitely more classical philosophically, which is not my personality.   It was killing me to practice an instrument I know nothing about, 45 minutes a day with two perfectionist daughters.  BTW, my relationship is better with these girls since I gave it up.  I have told them they may go back to violin when they can take lessons and practice without me being their teacher.  I have also told them they can begin regular piano lessons this summer if they like. 

Remember that homeschooling IS the journey of life and is going to be shaped by your (mom's) personality, passions, energy level and long term goals.  Homeschooling is not just something we do for 4-6 hours a day.  You have to be able to keep the pace of a marathoner for a long time, as if 12 years was not enough, most of us have 20 years of homeschooling to accomplish because of our multiple children.
So, that is how it works in our family.  Does that mean this is the only way?  Absolutely not!  Does that mean that your way is wrong?  See my friend Kathleen's post about something similar here, but this realization has brought peace, joy and love of learning back to my home and I wanted to share it!

Do you have any secrets that have helped you along the journey of life/homeschooling/parenting, since it is all really one thing??

Heather

Bible and Prayer

As I have been praying about our new school year (yes, I am 2 weeks late due to the flu), I have realized we have fallen a bit lazy in the Bible and prayer part of our school.  That sounds really academic, I don't mean it to be, but you know, if you don't make a plan, it won't happen.

So, as I regrouped for the new year, I am feeling like our Bible time has gotten a little pushed under other things in importance.  We have been doing  24 Family Ways, which has been a very good, practical application of scripture for my children.  However, it only has about 3 verses a day and several application questions.  I do feel like my 5 and 7 year old have grown in some of the areas we have been studying.

But....I do want The Word in my children's hearts and minds in a stronger way.  So, here is my new plan.

I am taking a Bible reading plan found here.

I bought the ESV on MP3 for $10.50, unabridged and non-dramatized and we will truck through the whole Bible this year, Lord willing.  We are only 11 days behind, so I think we can still catch up.  For Christmas, I got speakers for my MP3 player, so I plan on using those or just using my laptop here in the kitchen.  We often listen to books on tape for breakfast or lunch, so this will not be a stretch for us to just change over to scripture. 

Now for the prayer part.  Again, even easier for this to slip through the cracks.

I have added Kids on Mission prayer alerts that are sent via email, for free, weekly.  Click here to sign up.  I have also signed up with Voice of the Martyrs to have them email me their weekly Prayer and Persecution prayer alerts.  Click here.  Both of these come in around the middle of the week.  While we talk about these prayer needs, I plan to stick post-its up on the countries on our map so we can refer to them throughout the week. 

I want my children to know the world is bigger than our small town and our immediate family, although I still hope to come up with a better plan for tracking those prayer needs, too.  We have tried all sorts of different plans for Bible and prayer, but we move, or technology changes, or the kids get a little older, yadda, yadda, yadda... So, here is to 2011.

Heather

Free Math Computer Games

I wanted to let you know about a site that my friend Melody told me about. 

It is called Fun4theBrain.  It has online math facts games, and you can turn the volume OFF!  You can choose which function you want to practice, and which set to drill.  For instance, fours and adding. 

Joy-bug has reduced her math drill time by a minute and a half since she started doing Fun4theBrain.

I do require my children to set a timer for 30 minutes anytime they are playing computer games.  If not, they lose their privilege. 

Check it out!

Heather

Fashionable Wipeboards

After and absence of many weeks, I plan to come back to blogging. This spring has been unusual with the amount of sickness, and not normal homeschool schedule from week to week.

I have been encourage to post specifically about my Fashionable Wipeboards, which I have noticed several of my friends have put in their homeschool rooms. I bought the largest picture frames from Wal-mart, which are 11x15 frames, took out the back and used clear caulk around the edges to secure the glass to the back of the frame. Then we hung them. Our family has three we use for things like scripture memory, prayer requests, Greek paradigms, etc. We don't have a homeschool room, so they hang in my kitchen. This allows my kitchen to still look like a kitchen. I don't like the feeling of homeschooling over-running my kitchen/den, because then I feel like I am working all the time. I have posted some pics.