My Headmistress

She's a little thick in the middle, prefers blue, doesn't take any nonsense, and holds me to a high standard. She's my Head Mistress.

Short and sweet, this is how I record-keep our school year from the administrative end.
Headmistress keeps me in line. Within her D-ring files are color-coded tabs for basic sections.

 These are  plastic dividers with custom cottage-made tab labels (a.k.a. packaging tape and used index cards) here is the breakdown:

YELLOW:
Schedules- individual student schedule templates
Calendars-the year divided into 36 weeks of school & planned breaks
Habits-
Goals- non-school programs and general home school goals
Exams- my "ExamLand" version. Each year gets a progressively finer home.
AO Masters- Booklists & 36-week schedules from the AO website for the current year only.

Then the subject Tabs in mainly blue.

The trick comes in organizing multiple students in different years.
Each subject has a student tab on the top of the page divider. Each child has their own color, as you can see in the very first picture from the top of the folder. For instance, the Literature section pages look like-

• LITERATURE (blue tab on right)
• Bowery Bird (pink tab on top)
• 36 week AO Y4  Literature schedule (2 page spread)
• Mockingbird (green tab on top)
• 36 week AO Y2 Literature schedule (2 page spread)

BLUE:
YO- World Book Preschool Curriculum Guide & stuff.
Language Arts-Charlotte Mason is a bit all over the board with it's Language Arts. It's wonderful, yet can be confusing to track.

Continuing with BLUE subject tabs:

Foreign Language-
Math-schedules
Science- AO reading schedules and Building Foundations of Scientific Study flow-chart
Literature- weekly schedules as for other subjects that I made. I just highlight the assignment after we've finished it.

History-schedule, original maps, and original timeline figures for Our Island Study
Geography-schedule

Then comes

PINK:
Term Studies-really, I have a separate binder for this, here I just keep a simple schedule
Nature
Handicraft
Art
Music
Shakespeare-the 3 plays AY4 will do.
Plutarch- Anne White's Guides here for the year with smaller tabs.
PE-Information for their PE class through UVU
Affidavit-formal declaration of public school exemption
Supply List-where I list books & supplies to get as we can and a pocket for receipts to turn in.
Inventory-

Kindle- a how-to reminder and list of the Yesterday's Classics huge booklist to refer to.
Field Trips- a record & reminder if tickets are needed
Free Reads- record for our family of what year they were read (so I know who is old enough to not remember it later...)
Contests-
Resources-local PERC hours, etc.
Incentive Programs- Pizza Hut, etc.

So there it is! I open it every morning to the subject we're on it and she stays there till school is over. If not, I feel I am sailing without a course.

Annual Fairy Tea Party

 

Our local library holds an annual Fairy Tea Party in their ballroom upstairs in the old BYU Academy. This year they had a display of fairy houses and photographer there with woodland backdrop. As usual there was a fairy promenade for all the little girls to go and courtesy to the Fairy King in front of his throne and show off their outfits. Each girl got a wand, charm, and fairy feast. 

 

 

Four ballerinas came in and performed also. It's a fun formal event for little girls and LOTS of grandmas. At $5 a ticket- I didn't mind waiting in line for an hour (and it was sold out soon after ).My favorite was overhearing one of them saying "Grandma is fery silly today?" A cute event my friend re-created in her home when she moved out of state, she enjoyed it so much :)

 

 

 

Term Studies Board

 

I got this idea to paint a cork board black and rotate school-related topics from  Mt. Hope Chronicles. I use ours specifically for our Term Studies (selected from, but not following the calendar of Ambleside Online). It hangs in our kitchen or slides behind the school closet when company comes. (Don't want them to know we're learning about art for heavens sake!)

 

This has done the following for us:

 

1. For the chill'ns: it gives a visual reference point or "place to put new information" as we talk about these people and their contributions. All those new floaty bits of info have a place to alight.

 

2. For school: it reminds me who/what we are on for this term as it slips from my head easily without the daily/weekly schedule other subjects have.

 

3. For me: it gives a constructive distraction when lunch turns into a zoo.

 " ...Besides writing lovely little poems, and modeling for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Christina Rossetti also worked as a prostitute...Ah! Excuse me, I misread. Worked with prostitutes-- in a reformitive nature I'm sure..." 

 

 

 

So on here I stapled a list of this term's people:
Composer: Aaron Copland
Artist: Winslow Homer
Poet: Christina Rossetti
and Shakespear is a permenant fixture

I also have a calendar for Y0 to mark off the days we remember to read our scriptures with a sticker (don't judge me, we're back on the wagon again), a clear plastic page with artwork by Homer to switch out weekly, and a list of the people as well as our month's Hymn and Folksong so I won't forget.

The February Freakout- it's tradition

Is it going to stay warm or get cold?
Am I ruining my kids lives for homeschooling or should I keep at it?
Am I normal or going insane?

It's February.
It's the crux of the school year.
Rumors in the roost have it that it's the worst time of year when mother-in-laws (who used to be school teachers) visit, best time for bubble-baths to be taken mid-school day, and mostly likely time for home school mothers everywhere to freak out as they compare their immaculate September spreadsheets to lacking mid-year realism.

We've been homeschooling four years now, and I've noticed this pattern in myself, and-thankfully-honest others around me commiserate. I thought that this year would be a piece of cake with not  being pregnant, juggling a public school schedule for siblings, or having a baby under 1, but it's not been. I had heard somewhere that 3 years is what it takes to really make a difference somewhere. That teachers need about that time to really be competent in their classroom. But, my materials are new to me every year for my oldest, I am adding new students every 2 years, and these students aren't staying the same developmentally--it's always changing! Some things get easier, but it's not the same every year. I needed to not be so hard on myself. So if this feeling is predictable--is it normal?

For myself, I am drawing a conclusion: YES.

First, a few reasons why this happens in February so we can not just blame ourselves:

• The excitement of the new school year is gone--as is the delight of the holiday season.
• The weather is blah and unpredictable here, and air quality terrible. Field trips have tapered a bit, and we're just inside a lot.
• It's the middle of the year and we feel like there is so much more for us to do yet.
• We compare our kids to others in different situations, with different goals and priorities.

The way I've come to terms with this is:

• I am going to start school earlier in anticipation of unpredictable days during the year.
• I'm going to just enjoy what we are doing instead of checking off a list and 'catching up'
• Even when we have visitors we are going to do some school each day (reading, writing, math)
• I'm going to recognize more often that teaching good habits, exposing to inspiring material, and offering a variety of experiences will outweigh  x test score by the time my student finds their area to focus on. It's just an entirely different approach.
• I am also turning over more ownership of their learning, to the student. More here.

I think that this mid-school year insecurity is natural and healthy. Our students are about 6 months older than when we were beginning the school year and we see what they are capable of now-generally more. We see that what we started in September with gusto and dropped is really missed.

It is a great point to question what we need to change and more realistically see what we can still accomplish. I thought that my Y4 student should have been able to do all her work independently by now. But if I had seen the whole year as a transition and training for her to work on her own, it would have made me much more understanding and practical in my approach. But I can see it on the horizon now--and it's a beautiful glimmer in the bleak February days...

10 Happy Homeschool Sanity Reminders

We are together as a family A LOT.
We are in our home together A LOT.
Some days we get on each other's nerves A LOT.

It's not burn out, it's something different. It isn't homeschooling, it's something different.
Whatever it is, for our family it's cyclical, so I've been pondering how to remedy the situation.

These are things, when going well, I think will help me. They just happen to fall well into Charlotte Mason's Principles.

Education is a Discipline*

  *these require discipline--at least for this mom

• Be Consistent and Clear with Expectations  

 Or; This is the random day I think your room needs to be spotless or you're never having a playdate again!

When my children know what to expect and what is expected of them, there is less haggling over assignments, or chores, or whatever. That equals less stress for me not only because people are more cooperative, but because I am not re-thinking every natural part of our day.
I also need to view chores not as a chore, but as time spent with people I love, teaching them to master the inevitable.

• Balance Caring for Others with Caring for Yourself  

Or; Make sure your hair is brushed before you worry about someone else's.

If I don't take care of myself, I have nothing to give, and for some reason this usually manifests itself in the form of  patience.
Some things I've noticed I need--not just want, but need:
rest, quiet time to myself daily-without interruption, exercise, looking my best, remembering to eat lunch, going out on dates with Mr. Owl, spending time with other adults, and intellectual stimulation, and some creative outlet I can drop relatively quickly if something is burning.

• Be Positive-or at least appear to be

Or; I love the way you wanted to make your baby sister happy and gave her an open cup of milk to carry around in my bedroom-3 hours ago...

 Moms really do carry the emotional thermometer for the family, like it or not. When my attitude slips, it is multiplied in other's actions. So this is not a Pollyanna pipe-dream, but really a point of self preservation.
I need to remember to smile, laugh, respond to others positively, be content with where I am, and expect success from others.

Education is an Environment

• Have a House of Order

Or; What idiot gave the Maid and the Cook the day off the same day this week!!!

When there is a cleaning routine in place, plenty of good food prepared, and clutter contained it is easy for others, including myself, to feel at peace in our home.

•  Make Home a Haven

Or; "What's burning?"
       " Welcome home, honey--How was your day?"

Ha, ha Mr. Owl just said that today...again.
But what is even better than a clean house, and I'm learning just as important for our sensory-oriented family, is an inviting and cozy home. Something safe and welcoming and delicious to come home to.
Not anything that costs more, but is pleasing to all the senses: a scented candle for smell, soft clean bed for touch, an anticipated meal for taste, a family photograph for sight, and mellowing music to hear.
These things are so simple to say, but easily escape me when my mind gets full of other stuff.

• Create more than Consume Creativity

Or; I just made it to the next level of Planet vs. Zombies--isn't that great Mom!

This is why I am constantly doing battle with the iphone, and laptop, and television, etc. Because it comes down to whether our brains are just toying with another's creation, or learning to develop our own. (Mind or toys--I don't really care, just do something on your own!)
Having things to create with accessible that make this an available option helps. So I try to be patient about the fabric scraps and paper scraps and marker on the furniture, because a sterile environment can't produce anything.

Education is a Life

• Learning is Exciting

Or; Shakespeare is here in Midsummer Night's Dream, alluding to the baptism of King James VI when a lion was to pull a chariot into the royal dining hall but didn't because they were afraid it would alarm the ladies--isn't that fascinating/interesting/funny/fun?!...Are you getting any...of this?

Learning is fun, but I must balance my expectations so that we aren't rushing through what is interesting to them and trudging through what they find boring.
I have to remember not to talk too much and spoon feed ideas. It's OK if they don't get it all now, discovering it on their own is more valuable even when especially when it takes awhile.
I have also found that school subjects are boring when we just aren't delving deep enough but skimming too much, or hurrying because it's time for the baby to wake up.
Oh, and I must remember never to announce outloud "this is so fun/fascinating/interesting/funny" or certain people will be sure to proclaim it not--no matter what. However, my laughing outloud when people aren't paying attention to the story has peaked interest before.
"Oh you missed that? Too bad, it was so good." Really, I'm not that cruel... most of the time.

• Life  should be Fun

Or; "This is your spelling time, and I already know what "b-u-t-t" spells, so quit asking me."

For our morning break I try to go out and play soccer or just spin the kids around till I'm too dizzy to stand. They love the physical attention and time together, and frankly, I find I do too.
We all need something to look forward to. I am realizing that holiday fun isn't something extra, but it's what kids live thier days for and spend their nights dreaming about. So I should put more effort into these built in diversions from the day to day.
Spontaneous smiles and a chance to be silly for 2 minutes are things I should look for and grab when possible.
Applauding little successes and celebrating family milestones are other great opportunities not to be lost.
This stuff is so obvious--why do I forget? Oh yeah, because I'm reading a good book.

• Love and Appreciation go a long way

Or; You made lunch for us so I didn't have to. Toast, and eggs, and Kool-Aid--my favorite!

Simple civility, when gone is h-ard to get back, let alone deal with. If we can keep love in our family with simple courtesy and spontaneous service it changes the whole tone of our home.
Looking in the eyes of people I love when they talk to me, stopping to really listen, hugging especcially my older kids more, and taking their opinions seriously communicate how much I value the people I am blessed to be wife and mother to.
The spiritual feeling can't be ignored either. Some times the Holy Spirit is the only thing that can fix an indiscernible problem, so inviting the spirit more often needs conscious effort.
And Family Culture is something that can help us feel secure and significant in who we are.

• Have a Common Goal

Or; Let's all get in the car and find out where this week's forest fire smoke-cloud is coming from!!

Whatever works. (It just makes an even 10.)