Back to School

Where or WHERE has the summer gone?  I blinked three times and it was the end of August and time to stare at school books again!

We loved our summer vacation so very much.  I heard bits and pieces from Moms here and there who were getting ready for a school schedule again.  Not us.  We’d have happily continued sleeping in and soaking up the sun for another few months at least.  Maybe, until next May when Spring rolls around again, you know.

But it was August and time to start school.

In the middle of our remodel mess we took a weekend trip to Ohio.  I could not believe how perfectly the timing worked out! My cousin, Tiffany was due to have a baby and scheduled for a C-section on a Friday.  Instead, she went into labor meaning a Monday birth.  We were stalled waiting on countertops anyway so David got to go with me.  It was the most delightful weekend, taking pictures of a darling baby girl and just resting  in a clean space!  My uncle Marvin and Aunt Jan spoiled us completely.  Their house is so clean and restful and refreshing.  After working so hard through dirt and inconvenience, you can only imagine how it felt to sit in a clean room on a comfy couch and be served marvelous food.  Saturday night they took us out for pizza at a local diner that serves gluten free pizza.  Liam pretty much thought he was in heaven!  We never go out for pizza because he’d be stuck so it was incredibly special for our entire family.

We arrived home, finished up the kitchen Monday and started school on Wednesday.  It was sadly minus the normal fanfare and special feelings.  We just kind of did it.

In spite of the lukewarm feelings floating around, school has been going pretty well. It’s a bit of a crazy juggling act some mornings trying to teach fifth grade, first grade, and taking care of a baby. Zara is a charm though and since she loooooooooves to be held, I can usually keep school going as long as I can keep the flash cards and spiral bound books out of her reach.  Thankfully she still naps in the morning so when she’s asleep things feel pretty calm.

We made a few curriculum changes for Adam this year that I’m hoping will be positive. He’s still doing Saxon Math (I am sold on Saxon!) and Abeka Language Arts and Spelling.  We switched to Apologia Science which he and I are both loving! Because I was completely unconvinced that I could manage two grades and a baby and the life that is ours, we chose to do the Bob Jones video course for Adam.  He loves it!

David looked at my load and thought it might be wise to enroll at least one of the boys completely in the Abeka video program, preferably Liam since first grade is the most intense.  I was dubious for several reasons.  While they get rave reviews, I know what too much video time does to our boys.  During a psychology class in college, our instructor explained how much our brains are affected by screen time.  Did you know your brain waves slow down even more when you’re watching a video than when you’re sleeping? So I’ve never hooked up the boys to EEG’s, of course, but I do know that a lot of screen time makes them really restless and much less focused.  I kept wrestling with a few questions I don’t have answers for:

How does video learning affect long term retention?

What does it do to their eyesight?

How does it affect their social IQ?

If it’s true that increased screen time can be related to certain behavioral issues, how does doing school that way not fall into the same category?

I also did not like that Adam has been getting the lion’s share of attention ever since our homeschooling saga started and Zara’s normal baby needs mean she gets second slot.  Putting Liam into the video program felt like I was putting Liam smack into neglected middle child syndrome.  I wanted the chance to spend that one on one time with him.  We talked about it some more and decided to give it a try the traditional way. And if it didn’t work, we could always switch next year.

At 9:30 when I am trying to teach new concepts to Liam and Adam has a question and I’m holding Zara while she squirms and fusses because she’s tired and I really want to push through a few more minutes so Liam has a tiny bit of independent work and the washer is beeping because it’s done and ready for the next load …. let’s just say I question my idealistic views a lot. But then an hour later Liam snuggles up against me on the couch and carefully sounds out, “All have joy,” while Zara snoozes upstairs in her crib and Adam announces his signature, “Fini, fini, finished,” as he sticks one textbook on the shelf in exchange for another and the towels flap outside in the sun …. let’s just say some moments I think life couldn’t possibly be more idyllic. But Tuesday and Thursday afternoon when it’s time for History class and I get to head upstairs to make lunch, I KNOW we made the right decision for this year.

I don’t feel that video schooling is automatically a bad thing. Not at all.  In fact, some of the most intelligent homeschooled people I’ve met have used it.  I suspect it’s much like other things.  There is a risk / benefit ratio to everything.  Different children respond differently and learn differently. And while the above may be valid concerns, there is NO WAY I can compete with the teaching style and amount of information and review that is presented by someone who has a degree in teaching and an interest in a particular subject.  Adam makes fabulous grades in History and I KNOW it is because they present the information so well and review facts in fun ways.  It’s amazing! I also think the screen issues lessen somewhat as children get older.

I would love to hear from you if you’re doing online or video programming for school and to hear how your children do with it.  And if you’ve done both, I’m especially all ears to hear the pros and cons! Perhaps I could lay all my fears aside and enjoy an easier life! 🙂

My favorite curriculum change was Bible.  The past two years Adam has done an extensive Bible Memory program, but no dedicated study.  We found a Bible Study course called Sword Study at the curriculum fair that we really liked.  It’s designed for families and you get age appropriate books, but each study the same book of the Bible.  It beings with an overview (aerial) of the book, then goes into the “street” view before “digging under the rug.” I love that instead of just studying, it is also teaching them how to study! They also have a daily time of prayer using the ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication).  It’s been a great thing to see the boy’s ability to talk to God broaden outside of the “thank you for today” and for us to spend time together praying.

David gets the boys up at 6:30 and in less than ten minutes they are upstairs, dressed, and their bed made.  (How do dads do that??) They do Bible from then until 7.  Three days a week, David is at camp by 7:15.  On Wednesday and Thursday he eats breakfast here and goes over at 8.  So either way, he gets to do Bible with them and we eat breakfast afterward.  Sometimes with him. Sometimes without.  It is amazing the difference this has made in our school days.  It is so much easier to get started between 8 and 8:30 when everyone is wide awake and motivated instead of dragging around while their very non-morning person Mom tries to get things moving while inhaling coffee. It may be one of the biggest gifts he gives me this year! It’s an amazing feeling to finish up around 1, knowing we’ve done a full day’s work and the best part of the afternoon is here for them to play.  They don’t take breaks and we wait to eat lunch until we’re finished so it’s usually 2 before I feel as though I can start the rest of my day, but it works for now and I’m loving it!

Sometimes I think wistfully of the days when Adam jumped into the big white van and headed off to school and I wasn’t always inundated with way, way, way more than I can possibly do or think in any given day.  But then I remember the crazy mornings of hurry up to get ready for school and oh, goodness, what am I going to pack in his lunch, and the hyper transition and squabbling that happened when he got home from school and I feel far less wistful.  There really are pros and cons to everything! For now, this is our life and I love it!

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