Homeschooling Curriculum

One of the things that kept me busy last week was drawing up the curriculum for our first month of school. This is our fourth year of homeschooling and we've definitely had our ups and downs. My goal has always been to give my children an education that would challenge them, prepare them for college, and keep them interested in learning. I've stayed away from boxed curriculums because I find that one child might be "two grades" ahead in spelling, "right at grade level" for math, etc. Also, "grade level" is a subjective description and does not flow universally from one curriculum to the next. So, we've tried a lot of different programs with a lot of different styles over the years. This year, I think (she said, with fingers crossed) that we've got it dialed in.

Creating a curriculum that you've pieced together, however, takes a lot of time and energy. Doing a month of daily planning for two kids kept me away from the internet for much of last week, but it was definitely worth it. Based on our first day's experience, I think I'm right on the money this year. I think they'll be challenged but not overwhelmed, which is exactly what I was after. The great thing about homeschooling, however, is that if I need to change it, I can!

For fun, I thought I'd show you what Valiant is doing these days. This is his actual assignment sheet for Monday, 9/14/09. As you can see, because this week (Labor Day week) is a 4-day week, in order to stay on track, he'll be taking the Biology test from Chapter 2 on Monday morning, before he begins Chapter 3. Most of these first few chapters are review for him, so we're just getting test practice as much as anything else.

Math: Pre-Algebra – Chapter 8: Measuring Length: Lesson 55 - Making A Table - computer and workbook

Biology: Test from Chapter 2

Biology: Life Science – Chapter 3: Cell Processes – Section 1: Chemistry of Life. Read pages 64-73, then write and define the review vocabulary new vocabulary featured on page 66; write and answer all reading check questions found throughout the text; in writing, complete the self-check questions in the section review

Spelling: Wordly Wise 4 – Lesson 8 – Word List – study words and definitions – Write Each Word Once, plus do Exercise 8A – “Finding Meanings”

Writing: Read Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, write an essay choosing from writing prompts provided.

Typing: Mavis Beacon – 15 minutes

History: Story of the World – Volume 1: Ancient Times – Chapter 5– The First Sumerian Dictator– read section and answer worksheet questions.

For Math, we use Teaching Textbooks and I love it (we had good luck with Singapore Math in past years, but I wanted something more intense and independent for Valiant). For Biology, we're using the Life Science textbook by Glencoe (we've used Cyber Ed for years, but the Physics and Chemistry got too hard too fast for us). For History, this year we're using Story of the World for both kids, but I have also purchased textbooks for US History and the Constitution for Valiant to begin a unit on that (it is on hold for now...I want to see how our history program goes for a few months).

So, there you have it, in case you've ever wondered what we actually do as homeschoolers (and I know some of you have!), now you know! (And those of you who've been worried that I'm not pushing them enough can breathe a sigh of relief. Seriously. I'm pushing.)

Fascinating, isn't it?

Challenges as Homeschoolers

As you might be aware, we're a homeschooling family. We haven't always been, however, and my children have different goals for their homeschooling. Buttercup, at 10, sees herself going to traditional high school (at least at this point) and Valiant, at 13, has decided to skip high school completely and begin at the community college when he's 16. To that end, I think self-discipline and organization will be very important skills for them to have; Buttercup, because she intends to enter the institutional learning environment and she'll need to be able to respond to the demands that environment will make on her and Valiant because he'll be in an environment where no one will be checking up on his performance, his attendance, or his success. Working towards that end, I actually wrote down my schooling guidelines for them last week.

Yep, you read correctly, I wrote down my expectations and the consequences for failure to meet those expectations and we sat down and went over them, one-by-one, Monday night. So many people have the misguided notion that homeschoolers all have a laissez-faire attitude about schooling, I thought you'd like to see how our family approaches it. (Later today, I'll share a snippet of Valiant's curriculum - he's an 8th grader by traditional measures) For now, I thought you'd like to see my expectations for our school days:

1. The school day will begin at 9:00 a.m.
2. There will be no television or computer time before school or chores are finished.
3. Chores (including getting dressed and other personal hygiene chores) will be done before school work begins. Even Monday chores can be done before 9:00 a.m. if you focus. Failure to be ready for school on time will result in a ½ hour earlier bedtime that night.
4. Each day’s school work must be finished on the day it was assigned unless you are sick or excused (ahead of time) from completing that work on time. You will not be allowed to play until it is done.
5. Fighting, rudeness, or other attitude issues at the school desk or in the school room will result in revocation of play privileges for the day AND early bedtime.
6. We will not go to Museum Day if our school work is not completed before it is time to leave at 1:00 p.m.
7. When you are done with your assignments for the day, you will bring your completed assignments to me to be checked BEFORE you ask to play. If there is work to be corrected, it will be corrected before you head outside, upstairs, or whatever.
8. Assignments called “Reading” can be done at bedtime.
9. I know the neighborhood kids will have various days that are single days off or half days or whatever. Our schedule will not be affected by that because we take other vacations throughout the year that they don’t take. That means you will need to stick to your curriculum sheets and, if your friends have the day off, get your school work done early so you can join them.

...and you think your children have a mean teacher!

Have you heard about the girl on page 194?

It is not a secret, but it is not something I talk about much anymore. Did you know I used to be anorexic and bulimic? Well, I was. For three years, in fact. I exercised feverishly (4+ hours each day, without fail), ate little to nothing most days, and then, if I did go out and eat "normally", I injested massive quantities of Ex-Lax to get rid of it. (If you thought bulimics only vomited, you'd be wrong.) At one point I weighed 90 lbs less than I do now. That was too hard to maintain, so I mostly weighed 80 lbs less than I do now. (Disclosure: I am 5'10" and currently wear a size 12 or 14--you can decide how thin I was then.) I decided I didn't hate myself enough to die to be thin, but I've had issues with food and scales ever since. (Food, I've learned to enjoy. Scales? I hate them and don't have one in my house and don't step on them at the doctor's office unless I'm under duress. Then, I step on the scale backwards and have a note in my files warning the nurse and doctor not reveal my weight or any change in my weight. I seriously don't want to know.) Meeting and eventually marrying Superman, a man who did not feed my insecurities was a wonderful gift. Carrying and bearing my children just continued my healing. (An awesome OB/Gyn who didn't ever comment on my weight was a blessing, too.)

There is NO SUCH THING AS A PERFECT BODY. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder and, let me tell you, Superman thinks I'm perfect exactly the way I am.

So, back to my point...why am I telling you all this? Because I think our society is doing something terrible to women. Because I think we're not all supposed to be one thing. I think some of us are meant to be slender, some of us are meant to be average, and some of us are meant to be curvy, just like some of us are meant to be short in stature, average in stature, and tall in stature. If you line up a bunch of 5 year old girls, you can already determine body type and make pretty accurate guesses about what they'll be built like. The problem? As a society, we've decided only one thing is attractive and anyone who doesn't fit that mold is "less" somehow, dooming them to a lifetime of trying to conform to whatever is perceived as "ideal". Why do we do this? In my own children, I have one that has struggled with body image because he was super skinny until he stopped growing taller, at which time he filled in. I have another who gains weight right before he shoots up and hates that he gets that belly before he grows. Then there is the girl. She's been told by a then-8-year-old peer that she was fat. Not only was that unkind, it was untrue. This little girl comes from a family that is very slender and small, very slender and very small. Buttercup comes from a family that is neither. I'm 5'10" and Superman is 6'4"...that means our children won't be petite, no matter what.

So, what is happening that an 8-year old is telling another 8-year old that she's fat when she's just normal? I think we've lost sight of normal. Seriously. What is normal for this little girl and her family is not even close to healthy for my family. Trying to attain their "normal" would be terribly unhealthy for all of us. (And yes, both Superman and I could stand to lose a few pounds...we're talking about the active kids here!) "Normal" does not mean "the same". We're not made from cookie cutters, and as someone who spent years and years being ashamed of being tall and strong, I can't believe we're still trying to say we should be.

The Girl on Page 194 is simply a picture that Glamour magazine printed in the September issue that got them more of a response than they've ever received before. Why? Because she's "normal". She's not built like an athlete, a waif, a child, or a boy. She's built like a woman, not a child.She's built like a woman who doesn't live at the gym and who does enjoy food. Finally, even with her belly and her thighs showing in all their "imperfection", she looks joyful. In an interview on the Today show, she said it best herself, "I'm not saying that size 2 isn't normal...but MY normal is this."

Television, movies, magazines...they all show us the current definition of "attractive". But who decides these things? Every time a picture like this comes out, people cheer. Then things go back to normal. Photographers like the way angles catch the light, so they like thinner models. Um, okay, but then why are we letting them tell us that thinner is our ideal. If we're not trying to be models, what does it matter? Fashion designers say curves ruin the lines of their clothes. What? Aren't clothes meant to be worn? If putting a body in your clothes ruins them, then obviously you're not designing for people. If the clothes I try on don't fit my shoulders or my legs or whatever, then maybe, just maybe, there is something wrong with the clothes rather than something wrong with me.

Hi, my name is Erin and I am a recovering anorexic and bulimic. I've not punished my body for being the way it is for almost 20 years, but every day is still a challenge.

The picture? Me in my exercise clothes as drawn by the daughter of a dear friend. The artist was roughly 5 and I think she was trying for anatomical accuracy by adding the belly button, because I haven't worn anything low-waisted since before the birth of Charming.

I know you've probably been wondering...

...where I've been since last week. All I can say is I've been working at fast-forward speed this summer and last week cinched it. My attention was split in so many directions, the blog had to take a backseat. Blogging can't be allowed to get in the way of things that require your attention in real life.

So, I'll be telling you of many of the things that went on in the Nagle5 household last week, catching you up with our doings, but first things first.

Charming headed back to the dorms yesterday...we were eager to see him leave and sad to see him go, if that makes any sense. This part of the journey, the recognition that you've done what you set out to do and raised an independent, capable adult, is a difficult one for everyone. The temptation is always to keep the adorable boy in your mind when you're dealing with the young man. You think you know him and what he wants and what would be good for him and, in some cases, you do. It is not, however, my life. I've already been 18 and made the mistakes that come with that territory. Charming is chomping at the bit to live an adult life and sometimes found himself resentful when he found himself living the life as one of the kids. After a year of living the college life and then coming home for the summer, it is clear to all of us that he is done being one of the kids. He's ready to take his changes and make his own mistakes and he needs our support to do that.

So, we spent this past summer redefining our relationship. We consigned that baby boy to our memories and acquainted ourselves with the man he's becoming. We were teaching ourselves and him to manage expectations for his behavior, his contributions to the maintenance of the household as well as the maintenance of his own life, and his level of interaction with the family. Lessons were learned by us all: You can't tell everyone that certain things aren't up for discussion and then be frustrated when no one will jump in and fix those things when they go awry. It is unreasonable to want the family dinner if you won't be home at mealtimes. We couldn't tell him to handle a situation himself and then second guess how he handled it. All of it was hard...seriously hard. There were tears and recriminations, yelling and sulking, stewing and pouting. This was uncharted territory for all of us. We've never seen it done well in our own families and so we found ourselves reinventing the wheel. If you look back to my Friday Photo Flashbacks, you can see me working through the entire thing in the form of those photos.

In the end, Superman and I feel happy at the progress Charming has made, confident that he's truly on his way and confident in his abilities to manage his own life, without our interference. It is clear to all of us that he won't be calling our house "home" after college. It isn't right for him and we're okay with that. He knows we love him, he knows we support him, and he knows he doesn't have to live here to have that love and support. We're truly his biggest fans. Oh, he'll always have a place to sleep when he comes home to visit, but it won't be "his" room.

There you have it, the biggest thing I wrapped up at the "end of the year". Bittersweet, isn't it?

Oh, the picture? May 1991. Don't blink because time flies...and yes, Charming, you were naked!

It's Summer New Year's Eve for me...

I know the calendar doesn't agree, but I don't care. This is it, this is the end of the year for me. Maybe it is because we were raised to follow a school calendar that followed the harvest. Maybe it is because my birthday is in the Fall (next month!). Whatever the reason, the week leading up to back-to-school and Labor Day has always felt like the end of the year and the start of a new year for me. Moving do an area of the country where all outside work must be done by the end of September has only served to reinforce these feelings. It just follows the natural progression of things...fall is our introduction...nothing much seems to be happening, then winter hits. We're buried by snow (or at least grey skies) and still nothing seems to be happening, but then, the greening...the first sprout pokes its head up and you realize so much has been going on below your perception and suddenly, spring grabs hold. Spring and early summer are the crescendo (if the seasons were a symphony). The riot of colors, the fevered activity, the perfect weather to do anything all combine to fill us with movement. Even summer is getting tired...can't you feel it? The crops are harvested, the ground gets a bit burned looking, the kids are tired of the long days, even the air has changed and is giving us hints of the cold weather to come; it feels like everything is winding down.

"Back-to-school" is so filled with anticipation! Remember those days? New clothes, new subjects, new teachers, new friends! It was all so exciting until the end of the first day...how sad was that? It didn't feel so exciting when you discovered the same kids, you're clothes weren't quite right, and the new subjects weren't particularly fascinating...then you began to long for Christmas break!

At our house, the feeling of a new year approaching is palpable. The kids are eager to get back into the swing of things with their schooling, plans for the holidays are already being made, even next summer is already in the works. I'm chomping at the bit to get started...the dog days of summer have done their duty and I'm recharged and ready to go.

So, have an awesome Labor Day weekend and send it off in style, there is still time to plan...why wait until December 31? You know you understand exactly what I'm talking about. Am I really the only one who feels this way? I don't think so.

Instead of Make It Yourself Monday

We'd like to introduce you to the newest measure of the family:

Meet Oliver! He's 4 months old and was left in a box outside the vet's office. He needed a loving home and we needed another cat!


A match made in heaven. He's spending a lot of time hiding under the brown chair.


Sam fell asleep while he waited for Oliver to come out.


Oliver finally came out (when Superman had me tip the brown chair on its front so he could nab him).


Then he went to hide under the couch in the next room. Sigh...

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day!

Tough Life

Sam I Am misses his kitty friends, but, as you can see, he's just rolling with it all.

Friday Photo Flashback

Okay, it is Friday Photo Flashback and I'm away on our last camping trip of the season, enjoying some unseasonable hot weather as I kick back at the river. That doesn't mean I'm not going to jump in and join the fun, however. When you're done walking down Memory Lane with me, head on over to Alicia's at More Than Words and see what everyone else dug up. (Sorry I can't put in a link, but I did this post ahead of time...http://minyards7.blogspot.com will get you to More Than Words and I'm certain you can get to the Friday Photo Flashback posts from there!)

As for me, I bent the rules a bit and came up with a digital photo. This is from five years ago and I just couldn't believe how much my children have changed in the past five years. I went from having a little girl and two boys-who-were-still-kids to having a young adult, a teenager, and one who lets me know she's not little any more. Sigh...I miss those days...sometimes I think I blinked and missed a few years. When did this all happen?

Anyway, this picture was taken at Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. The kids had never been and Charming headed off with some bigger kids to do "real roller coasters" while Buttercup and Valiant were in the kiddie section with me. This shot was taken where we met up for a little bit. Can you tell they'd just been on a water ride?