Tuesday's Post on Monday Night

Tuesday, August 7---How do you homeschool?Scheduling, classical education, unschooling, getting the kids to help with chores, how to be "mom" and "teacher" at the same time, special needs, teaching an advanced child, how to teach the tough subjects, teaching high school, teaching with babies and preschoolers in the house, budgeting for homeschool supplies, notebooking, etc., etc., etc...

I'm not sure how to answer the question of "how I homeschool." We start around 7 a.m. after we've read the Bible and said a short prayer. The little Elf does most of his subjects now at his desk in the family room downstairs. We used to do everything in the kitchen, and it was more convenient that way because I could see both little boys' papers at the same time, and we could look at the same books at the same time. But baby J is getting bigger and something else needed to be worked out that is fair to everyone. Now Elf and the Emperor have desks on the opposite sides of the room... it just worked out that way due to the room's configuration and the fact that there are some "givens" like doors, hallways and a woodburning stove to work around.

I am technically only homeschooling the Elf. Emperor is going to go to the local elementary school for kindergarten. It used to be we would plow through our homeschooling subjects in the morning, have lunch, and then Emperor would get on the bus to preschool. Now, the Emperor must be driven to school by 8:20 (no bus service!), and G will be leaving at 7:20. No idea when Patrick is leaving yet, but it will be a different bus at a different time. I would guess around 6:20, because that would just be the most perfectly horrendous number I could think of at present. Too much new craziness will be introduced into our house soon, schedule-wise. I am not sure frankly how it will all work out.

Now, my big budget-breaker in terms of homeschooling supplies are the Bob Jones Bible curriculum things. Yes, I have spent over $100 on that one subject because I bought the kit AND an extra notebook. But I love it so much. I am really logging that down as social studies, but I could fairly log it down as literature instead. A lot of reading, reasoning and learning about Bible culture and times. Elf is learning to use a table of contents and finding the chapter and verse.

The easiest subject for the Elf is mathmatics. He will certainly be done with second grade math by Christmas time. He certainly did not get any such talent from me!! Our most difficult subject is English, which you would THINK would be the easiest subject. Poor little Elf really tries. His spelling is, um... creative. We work on that. But it remains creative. The grammar is also very strange. I think that's an autism thing, though it could be developmental as well. I am just working on basic "write a sentence" kind of stuff and some easy worksheets from Sam's Club. Not a defined curriculum. It is such a tough subject for him that whatever's out there for cheap will be something new to him. Every time we do it; even if we did it yesterday. Interestingly enough, he can READ very well. He is, I think, about where he should be in reading. He does need help with some words in the KJV, especially the whosoevers and the like. Some of the words he is starting to just recognize like the word "spake."

Thankfully, the getting kids to help with chores isn't a big deal here. The Elf folds all the washcloths. Emperor feeds the cat each night. They make their beds and clean their toys. That's about all I expect at this age, along with some basic babysitting while I make dinner. (OK that's not really "babysitting," more like "entertaining and keeping out of Mom's hair"!!)

Ok I'm going to hit "POST" and go snoop everyone else's blog before bed. 'Night!

Mrs. C.