Like many of you, we used a Charlotte Stonemason, Classical education and in the Elementary years which meant that we learned together and there was very few textbooks to be found.  There were a plethora of living books, hands on activities and many, many read alouds.  It was great.

img_0088And then Connor hit heart school.  It felt to both Connor and I that the books became three time the size and so much more intimidating.  Information technology wasn't as intimidating as it looked, but I did need to do some training in learning from a textbook.  I likewise needed to railroad train him to be an independent learner and how to manage his time and resource.  This is otherwise known as Executive Function and is a actually important life long skill.

I heartily recommend that kids exercise Apologia's General Science in one yr during 7th form to teach these necessary Executive Function skills more than fifty-fifty the content of General Science. They need the time pressure level to cease a harder subject in a year and they need to larn how to learn from a textbook long before it becomes necessary to put information technology on a transcript.  I also recommend that parents never just give the volume to the student and tell them "good luck, hope it goes well", considering it won't.  I call back parents must go through the first 2-three modules making sure to teach them the skills necessary to have information technology be successful.

The other 24-hour interval, I came beyond this thread on the Well Trained Mind Forum and information technology has the best description of how to teach Executive Function that I take e'er seen. It's so proficient, that I don't think I have anything to add.  Explicitly Education Executive Function

When I quit piece of work to stay home with Connor, I received some flack. I was asked,"Why? You have so much to offer." Afterward dialing downwardly what I really wanted to say, I normally responded with something like, "I have always known that with my personality, I would try to hyper focus and over achieve on both my job and my kids, but eventually, something would have to give. I didn't want my kids to exist what gave." I recognize and know some amazing women who seem to do both beautifully, I am only not one of them. It's good to know one'south limitations.

When I started to homeschool, I received some of the aforementioned flack alongside the "Are you qualified?" and the always and so popular, "what about socialization?". Interestingly, I also started getting the, "Since you homeschool, you accept lots of free fourth dimension to lead women's Bible Studies or be free to babysit during the day." I decided correct there and and then that Homeschooling was my job, it was my priority. I was my children's teacher and that was my job. Being their Mom was my approving and privilege, but being their instructor was my task and needed to be treated as such.

Last year, I taught preschool at a local Charlotte Mason private schoolhouse, this year I will teach afternoon Kindergarten iii days a week. When I teach, I am completely focused on teaching. I don't practice anything else also teach. I don't check my phone or FB or throw in laundry or put dinner in the crock pot. I do occasionally accept to cease to clean throw upward, bloody noses or potty accidents. That'southward the same in both classrooms or homeschooling, much to my chagrin. Whether I am in the classroom or in my living room, my students should exist my priority.

Until my kids became contained learners, which was somewhere around 7th class for my twins, the hours betwixt 8:thirty and 12:30p.m Monday – Thursday were completely blocked off for school. I put laundry in before and subsequently school, I put nutrient in the crock pot before school started. Chores happened before school and on Fridays. Sometimes, I didn't become a shower until apex, considering it was time to beginning school.

My married man, parents and friends knew not to call or text me between those hours unless it was an emergency because I was unavailable. I was didactics and it was my task to be focused on that. I frequently told my kids that education them was my job during that fourth dimension and their job was to learn. I was giving my entire attending to them during that time and I expected them to requite me the same corporeality of focused attention.

Equally a teacher, classroom or homeschool, I need to have a plan, be prepared and be completely present. I know everyday seems like forever in the midst of the daily chaos, but I hope y'all will wonder where the time went. I don't regret whatsoever of the time I gave my wonderful students and I don't call up you will either. It is, by far, the hardest, all-time job I have always had.

I have raised three Engineers. Nerds, Geeks, Stalk loving kids. Despite their Engineering aptitude, they are also lovers of Art. When we first started talking about going to Europe several years ago, top of their list was the ability to see as much Fine art as possible. It is ane of the reasons we chose the Mediterranean.

For those who are wondering, I am neither an Engineer nor an Artist. From the beginning of our educational journey though, nosotros were determined to have well rounded kids. Kids well versed in History, Scientific discipline, Math, Music and Art. And then, we used a curriculum that had a adept base of History, Science, Music and Art. Then, nosotros followed our kids passions and interests and from the beginning they loved Art History and Art Appreciation.

I don't think I had ever been to an Art Museum until we started "God and the History of Art". In Denver, the Art Museum has gratuitous days during Bound Break and we started making that an annual tradition. When we went to Washington DC, their favorite day was the Fine art Museum at the Smithsonian, much to the chagrin of their, "Let's spend all the time possible at the Space Museum" begetter. Outside of "God and the History of Art" the only affair I added in those early years was,

Lives of the Artists and Getting to Know the Globe's Greatest Artists Series. The second link I borrowed from the library for book basket.

As the kids got to Middle School, my bff and partner in criminal offence, who has a Small in Art History, taught them in Co-Op and added, Artistic Pursuits. She encouraged them all to try their manus at art and did a not bad job of encouraging all of them that in trying the art projects, they would understand and appreciate fine art in a much deeper way. All 3 of mine took this to heart, but it was Caileigh who really soared and managed to become through the entire series by the finish of loftier schoolhouse and accept an AP Fine art History Course.

I can encounter how much richer and deeper my kids lives are considering of their appreciation of beauty and art. Information technology gives them a depth that I see missing in other Stem kids. It besides gives them a style to connect to others who might not be Engineers. I think music and art are universal languages that must exist taught to kids.

On Sunday, we spent a 24-hour interval in Sorrento and Pompeii, which is an absolutely beautiful region. There's a reason so many people lived in Pompeii (shut to 15,000), which is hilly surrounding a large harbor which is spectacular. There's lemon and olive groves everywhere. The Sorrento lemons grow the size of a football, they are huge, and almost everything is flavored with lemons.

On a side note, driving here is super crazy, I am so glad we paid for drivers or are taking tours. If they have traffic laws, they seem to uniformly ignore them. Crossing streets is a treacherous gamble.

We live in Colorado so we are used to stunning vistas, simply Sorrento took our exhale away. We spent a long fourth dimension just sitting in stunned silence.

Mt. Vesuvius is centered in the bay and dominates the landscape. Pompeii was originally a seaside boondocks but is now about an half an hour from the sea and is above the city of Napoli. The site of Pompeii is absolutely huge. I had no idea it was such a large town. In ninety minutes, we only walked near a 1/four of the site.

Another really interesting point about Pompeii is that they plant about 2,000 bodies but they think 15,000 people lived in the town, and then they estimate that 13,000 people escaped.

I was fascinated by the streets in Pompeii. They had no underground sewer system, but the entire town is on a slope so the downward hill streets were the sewer system. The cross streets were ready higher and there were large rocks for people to cross over without stepping into the muddy streets. There were drinking fountains every so often and were designed to spill over into the street to continually clean the sewage. My kids laughed at my fascination. It was just such good planning!

I also didn't realize how long it took archeologists to find Pompeii. They knew Pompeii existed from historical records, but as it was and so buried, they couldn't find it. If you look at the picture beneath you lot tin see a more "modern" building (in Italia, more modern is 1700) and is and so much higher. Many of these historical sites, similar the Roman Forum, were unabridged buildings underneath entire buildings.

The remaining mosaics were astonishing and the kids were impressed past their level of particular. Much more than detailed than the mosaics they fabricated in MFW CtG.

So much to see and practice in Rome, but today we did the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. Nosotros got a guided bout and it was fantastic. The tour guide is an architect from Italy and so he knew much most the actual building of these ancient wonders. Nevertheless, all I could call up almost and point out to the kids was, "Do you call up making the Roman arches out of jello boxes?". They liked the reminder the commencement time, but past the fifth Roman arch, they were over it.

The Pantheon – that's original, perfectly proportioned concrete from 2000 years ago. Amazing!

The Trevi Fountain – Cute!

The Colosseum

See the arches? It would take a lot of jello boxes for that arch. (MFW RTR)

My husband, Scott, is a huge nerd, I mean fan, of Rome so he was incredibly thrilled.

Did y'all know that the laurel wreaths worn by Caesar and given out at the original Olympics were bay leaves? There's entire groves of laurel (also known as Bay) in the Roman Forum.

They are excavating nether the Colosseum and saving the hugger-mugger portion which held the animals and criminals waiting to be executed. They approximate that at that place was over 66 elevators that created trap doors in the flooring to surprise those fighting.

All in all, an amazing 24-hour interval!

After graduating one kid from college and ii from high school, we decided to take them to Europe. Our version of a Senior Trip.

I am finding it funny the means my niggling homeschoolers are reacting to International Travel.

one. My kids are almost looking forward to the art in Europe. Is that normal? No, I don't call up then. Today, nosotros spent an amazing amount of time walking through Triptychs in the Vatican.

2. My kids Bible knowledge is fantastic. However, we clearly don't know the Catholic Saints. Who is St. Judith and why is she consistently holding a severed head? Why is St. Jerome depicted in a red hat alongside a lion? These are our burning questions from today.

3. Michelangelo art projects from fifth grade clearly held more weight than I expected. I merely read a book and taped paper to the underside of a chair and had them depict. Looking upwardly at the Sistine Chapel reminded them.

4. Art History is important. They explained to their Dad how they could tell the era of the painting from the elongated figures and the halos.

5. Fine art Astronomy is pretty awesome. We like the series of painting that not merely accurately depicted the phases of the moon but the placement of the planets. MFW'southward RTR was used a lot today.

We graduated our twins two weeks ago. I have been trying to write about it since then, but I just tin't yet. It was a wonderful day, and no, I didn't cry (past sheer willpower), and I loved that in that location were all the same people hanging out, playing board games and laughing 6 hours later. It was the perfect twenty-four hours. It honored our wonderful children and the blessings from their grandparents was a wonderful way to launch the twins. Instead of writing more than, I am just going to copy my talk from that day.

19 years agone, Scott and I started talking almost homeschooling. Okay, I started talking and Scott started cautiously listening. Eventually, he gave in and told me I had ane yr with Connor, so I better not mess up. No pressure level. 16 years later on, here we are. I am infinitely grateful Scott gave me that opportunity and supported us through those many years along with the many nights of crockpot meals, things in the refrigerator marked, "Scientific discipline experiment – don't eat", Science Saturday with Daddy, and a distracted wife who spent many, many, many nights debating endlessly whether Art of Problem Solving was better than Singapore or how was I going to continue Caileigh'south attention during grammar. I accept had the all-time chore and I am grateful everyday to have been their principal teacher grand-12th.

Caileigh and Collin have been very different students, and they required me to stretch and acquire to teach the same material to contrary personalities. For many years, Caileigh had a residual ball, a rocking chair or eventually just a duct taped square effectually her desk with a plea to but stay in her square and not problems her brothers. She sabbatum on the desk, nether her desk-bound, hung from the desk or just bounced. One of my homeschool mentors one time asked me whether my priority with Caileigh was to get her to be still or to learn and my answer was, "yes". Honestly, though, Caileigh was always the offset to think out of the box, literally in her case. She always saw the possibilities of what could be, never listened or even recognized the give-and-take 'tin't', continually asked why not, and brought so much joy to our lives. Caileigh was and is, a fierce fighter, an independent spirit and a empathetic friend. In the summertime of her 9th grade she was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune affliction and has battled with that for the past 4 years through nausea, severe fatigue, sickness and meds designed to impale her over active white blood cells.  She refused to permit information technology her ascertain her and took a full school load with straight A'due south, Captained a Nationally ranked Bible Basin team, accomplished two more Karate belts and was a proud agile member of the e'er so successful Up a Creek Robotic's FRC team. I am and then proud of her and have learned a ton about grace under pressure from her.

Collin has ever been our little man.  The starting time to say thanks, the caretaker and defender of the people he deems as 'his' and a steady and abiding friend. Gain his loyalty and friendship and it's yours for life. He is a quiet leader who leads by example. Fiercely competitive, he spent a yr losing to me on all the games to teach him to lose and win with grace. You're welcome to everyone who has had competed with or against him. Collin was a great little soccer player, and had a natural gift for anything sports related. In school, he was steady and calm, merely liked the schedule to stay the same and for me not to throw annihilation crazy his mode. He was definitely the student who learned methodically and loved history that included battles, fighting or conflict. Fiction was never his favorite, unless it was Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Much of his mandatory reading fourth dimension was spent reading biographies or simply books with a lot of facts. Collin may be placidity, but he has strong opinions and a strategic mind which has been beneficial every bit a Helm of a Bible Bowl Team or for Robotics.  He tin see the all-time, most efficient path and researches all of his options to make the all-time, most informed decision. In one case that decision has been made, though, nothing tin modify his mind. He is determined and I expect forward to watching how God uses him to change our world.

While I accept had the privilege to be their main instructor, I am grateful for all of you here that have taught, mentored, befriended, and coached Caileigh and Collin. You lot have been an integral role of their current success and a huge office of their futurity success. From my heart, I am so thankful for all of y'all and your influence in their lives.

I have 50 days until my kids graduate from high school. l days afterwards sixteen years of homeschooling. That takes my breathe away.

16 years of picking out curriculum. 16 years of doing school whether I wanted to or not. 16 years of making homeschooling my job. 16 years of worrying almost whether or not I was doing enough. 16 years of giggles over writing assignments. xvi years of read alouds. 16 years of failed scientific discipline experiments, seriously, why do only well-nigh 30% of experiments work? 16 years of my house looking more similar a library/arts and crafts room/science lab than a abode. xvi years of saying, yes, nosotros must do all of our chores and all of our schoolwork. 16 years of my husband providing so I could stay home. xvi years of the hardest, best chore ever.

In 5o days, we will be washed.

What has that 16 years brought us? Young adults who honey God and love others. Siblings who honey being with each other. A family home filled with love, laughter and memories. Young adults who are confident in who they are and in who God made them to be.

Practically, it has given our oldest(and us) plenty scholarships to go out of college with no debt and a swanky job in NYC starting in Baronial. The twins have been accepted into their dream schoolhouse and programs in Applied science. They take been accustomed into a highly selective Engineering Honors dorm and plan and have close to a full ride in scholarships each. They have been leaders on their Robotics team and have won 2 State Regionals this year and are going to Earth's.

Looking dorsum, I call back information technology has been worth all the claret, sweat and tears (theirs and mine) that we accept all put in.

You might be at 50 days of just starting homeschooling or 50 days before you finish your commencement twelvemonth of homeschooling. You might be at 16 years of homeschooling with four more to go. Wherever you lot are at, have a moment and await back at the wins. And then ofttimes we are looking ahead at what needs washed that we fail to look at the wins, the accomplishments, the niggling things that brand every solar day worth it.

Last night I was on a console discussing how to homeschool through high school. Information technology's been awhile since I take washed annihilation even resembling public speaking, so I was a little nervous. When I become nervous, I talk more. (Such a bad habit! I found myself telling myself to talk less, heed more than. Hopefully, I didn't come up across as a stage pig. Apathetic! Anyway, I digress) Every bit I was leaving, I was struck with the thought one time again that, "There are many ways to successfully homeschool.".

Strangely enough, the other 2 ladies had both used My Male parent's World at some bespeak, and all three of us were, more than or less, Charlotte Mason inspired homeschoolers. All three of united states had at least ane-ii kids who were engineers or engineers to exist and each of us had kids who all had pursued some sort of formal education beyond loftier school, whether that be a University, Customs College or Vocational Schoolhouse. We all also agreed that as much Bible memorization and Worldview Training as possible was all-time. And there the similarities ended.

One the spectrum of formal academics with hard and fast rules and guidelines to more than breezy learning, I, of course was the almost formal and one of the ladies savage in the eye and the other on the side of less formal. On the scale of grace giving homes, I fell on the least grace given. (No shocker at that place. I always fall on more than justice, less grace. I continue to piece of work on being more balanced only it doesn't come up naturally or easily to me.) Our transcripts looked unlike, mine being a year to year transcript with weighted and unweighted grades and the others with transcripts ordering theirs by discipline, not year.

Even with the major differences in style, these ladies clearly accept successful homeschools. Their graduates take gone on to more formal learning subsequently high schoolhouse and all are successful in their called careers and are happy. It sounded like they have maintained potent relationships with their grown children and all are happy to accept homeschooled. Their children have taken unique paths but have a stiff faith. That, my friend, is the very definition of a successful homeschool. Kids who have maintained their organized religion, have pursued learning with a career goal in heed, alongside maintaining good for you extended family relationships? That's winning.

My more formal education style with stringent deadlines isn't the only mode. It'due south how I am most comfortable in leading my kids, just it doesn't ascertain a successful homeschool. Homeschooling, by information technology's very nature, is not designed to produce cookie cutter kids. Information technology'southward choosing what is best for your family unit and within that family, what is best for each individual child. Each family and kid is designed uniquely past God and we demand to respect and encourage that uniqueness. Thinking that there is only one right educational philosophy or ane right curriculum creates stress and it's but not true. A curriculum or style that's correct for your family unit may be harmful to another family. Permit'due south allow God to lead us in developing those uniquely wonderful little people regardless of what curriculum the Jones' apply, or how far ahead the Smith's girl is. Our job is to follow God's atomic number 82 and to practise our very best day in and twenty-four hour period out and prayerfully, nosotros, too, will have successful homeschools and graduates.

I am a firm believer in consistency. Consistency in parenting, consistency in schedule and consistency with schoolhouse. I am not a slave to it, only having a consistent schedule allows me to exist flexible when I need to. Training consistency in my kids means that equally they get older, they understand what they need to do, and tin can do information technology on their own. They know that Mom is never going to okay with the TV being on during the school day so they know not to ask. They know that nosotros do our major chores on Fri so they just naturally become upwards and practise them even if I am not here. They know that barring airsickness, high fevers, hospital visits or natural disasters ( we had a huge inundation here a couple of years agone), we practice schoolhouse.

Later nigh the historic period 5, they stopped questioning whether we were going to do schoolhouse considering we always did school. Schoolhouse is my master priority and it mostly gets done no matter what else is going on. Consistency just makes everything easier. It also keeps y'all on rail. Information technology's harder to get backside if you lot always exercise schoolhouse and you lot treat it as your first priority between the hours of viii a.thou and 12 p.k. With littles, I saw how this consistency gave them confidence in knowing what's next. My kids liked knowing that subsequently Bible and LA and Math, we had a snack. They could count on that. They knew afterward tiffin and outside play we had a tranquillity time. No muss, no fuss, that'southward what we did.

As they are all almost adults and are planning their own lives, I see them starting to create that same level of consistency. They figure out how to prioritize their lives, schedule it and and so get it done. They don't think information technology's special or unique, it's what they always accept done.

Consistency in parenting tin be much harder and fabricated me piece of work on keeping an even keel. No meant no, regardless of what was going on. Bailiwick stayed consistent between one child and the next, and day to twenty-four hours even if one twenty-four hours was easier than some other. We fabricated the rules, posted them with the appropriate consequences and so stuck to it. Our expectations were the same whether nosotros were at home, at church, or at the grandparents. Was information technology hard? Yeah. Was information technology worth it? Absolutely. Our kids knew that disobeying was going to become them the same level of consequence no matter where nosotros were. You could ask them what the consequence for disobedience was and they could quote it. Consistency is central in parenting.

There are no magic pills in homeschooling or in parenting. There is no guarantee that our kids are going to plow out the way we want them to, simply I do call back that beingness consequent with our kids is a house step in that direction. Consistency gives stability, it helps us to clearly see the deviation between correct and incorrect, it gives us, as parents, credibility. It allows our yes to mean aye, and our no to hateful no every unmarried time.