To Finish Or Not To Finish..,.

At the beginning of each school year, I sit down and write out all of my goals for the year. I make lists of the subjects and curriculum we will use, and I also list the extracurricular things we plan to do. I also write out the goals for my kids concerning their character and behavior training.

In December or January, I review all of this and adjust things as I see fit. Sometimes I switch curriculum, sometimes I drop or add a subject and I also evaluate our schedule. Are we doing too much... too little? It also helps to evaluate where we are in each subject and figure out how much we have to accomplish in the remaining year.

There are some subjects that we just never finish- like math and history. I have never gotten to the end of the book before the end of the year. If you are one of those who feels like you have to finish the book, let me give you my perspective.

#1- Public schools never finish the book.

#2 We as homeschoolers should be striving for mastery- not just completion. We should not be pushing our kids to "just get it done". We should be taking the time to make sure they know each subject well and can demonstrate a thorough understanding of each subject. Otherwise, why bother teaching it?

#3- When we push kids to hard, they balk and loose their joy of learning. We should be "lighting the fire, not filling the bucket".

#4- Curriculum should be a tool that you use, it should not be your crutch. You should be using your curriculum to aid the education of your kids. You should not rely on it so heavily that it does all of your thinking and planning. (I know that most curriculum is designed to do just that- it plans and organizes the subject for you, but you should be able to be flexible with it: add stuff in, take stuff out, skip this lesson, do this lesson later... you get the idea).


Ok, so what do I do when we get to the end of the year and we still have 10 chapters left in our history book? It's simple- we just stop, and pick up next year where we left off. Before I start volume 4 of Story of the World, we finish volume 3 from last year. It makes life so much easier, believe me. I don't stress over what we are missing, I don't rush them through a topic that they are enjoying just so we can keep our momentum. ( My son is totally digging the Civil War right now- we spent an hour today just discussing his opinions on the value of human life and whether or not it was right for someone to own someone else).


My ultimate goals are to teach my children HOW to think, not WHAT to think and to teach them how to learn. First through twelfth grade is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a life long love of learning. In the end, I don't want my kids to grow up and get a job. I want them to have a full and exciting life that includes financial independence and spiritual and emotional growth. I want them to know why they believe what they believe and how to eloquently express those beliefs to others. If I do my job right, they will be able to do that even if they don't finish their math book by June of this year.

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life's realities.
- Dr. Seuss

My husband has taken up 2 new hobbies this week: snowboarding and motorcycle riding (perhaps I should say "motorcycle fixing"). As I write, he is on his way to pick up his new bike. Well, it's not precisely new, of course. That would be way too easy. No, he likes to have "projects" in the garage at all times. So, he is picking up said project and will be using it as an excuse to get my bathroom dirty with grease and dirt. I think he likes to enrage me by making sure he leaves black grease smudges on the tub and walls. Snowboarding is easier to clean up after, as it involves, well, nothing. He is dry by the time he gets home.

Some of JP's work-mates want to get bikes too, but they all live in apartments and have nowhere to work on them. So my husband magnanimously volunteered his garage. It could very well be that by the end of the month, I will have several men traipsing through my bathroom with dirty hands.

I've discovered audio books from my library. I just download them and put them on my Clix (my MP3 player) and take it to the gym. Believe me when I say that it's a lot easier to listen to CS Lewis and Francis Schaeffer than read them on an elliptical. I avoid the headache.

I hate down-time, so I feel compelled to put my 30-45 minutes huffing on the elliptical to good use. I can't stand watching most of the shows on TV, so I usually read. Now I have a free unlimited source of audio books. Yay!

Go Green!!!

The King County Library system generously provides bags in which it's patrons can tote their books. Being environmentally conscientious, the library is proud to be "Choosing Green" and therefore the bags provided are %100 biodegradable, compostable. Hurrah.

Unfortunately, the bags are about as sturdy as a wet paper sack. Unless you are just carrying 1 or 2 books, they are worthless. The question that begs to be asked is, if I only had 1 or 2 books, why would I need a bag? And what self-respecting homeschool mom would be caught dead leaving the library with just ONE or TWO books?! The minimum must be 10 at least!! I never have less than 40 books piled in my basket at home.

We got our son a rapier for Christmas. He was thrilled, having been obsessed with swords since he was 3 and we took him to see Peter Pan (2) at the movies. We thought he would have impaled his sister by now, but he holds the thing reverently and only takes it out to gaze at it in awe. Unbeknown to him, this is the first of many swords he will receive. We plan to give him a sword every Christmas until he tells us to stop.

He has quite a collection of toy swords- his grandpa is very indulgent and makes him a new wooden sword every time we visit- but it's not just sword fighting he loves. He spends hours pouring over books about how their made, studying the history and technology of weapons. He draws them, builds them, and dreams up new designs.

I love this about my son- this whole-hearted love of something that excites him and makes his eyes sparkle every time he talks about it. He can tell you the history of each kind of sword- rapiers, cutlasses, sabers etc. He knows how they are designed and for what purpose it serves. He can tell you the technique that the sword fighter would use to fight and how another sword would be used in defense. Like I said, he loves swords (he likes guns and other projectile weapons, too).

Nate the Great

My brother plays the drums, and he posted a video of himself on You Tube playing a little diddy. I thought some of you would be as tickled as me to see it:

n8tr0n playing drums


(By the way, Charlie is fine. The vet said perhaps it was a back problem. not food.)