Jeb with his new puppy Jelly Bean--the least disruptive of our recent changes.
It’s Week One of Year Three of homeschooling and as usual at this point, I’m trying to keep my frazzle factor down as I piece together a schedule for the boys that gives them all the intellectual and social stimulation they need. This is more challenging than in the past because of two recent changes in our lives—the least disruptive being Jeb’s brand new puppy named Jelly Bean, which we adopted two days ago.
The boys are taking their once-a-week classes at a couple of different institutions in Austin (CCPA and Reach). They’re both back with their incredible science teacher, Cheryl Taylor, who almost single-handedly has made both boys elevate science to “Favorite Subject” status. Jeb is taking Middle School Science. Gus is taking pre-AP Chemistry, following pre-AP Biology last year.
(See note at bottom of this post to learn how these one-day-a-week academies work, plus our schedule.)
Jeb is also taking a writing class, Algebra 1 and guitar and playing soccer; Gus has a high school writing class, Geometry and an Honors American Government class. He’s in Boy Scouts and on a swim team. They will also have sessions with their lovely French tutor, Isabelle Bettler, and with their Spanish teacher, Rosa Osario, who we are just getting to know but who is full of enthusiasm and great ideas.
What Am I Doing?
So, you may ask, if they’re taking all these classes with other teachers (professional teachers, I might add), what’s my role in all this?
That’s a good question. Actually I will teach one class—American History to Jeb. We did a kind of American History survey class two years ago, but I think Jeb needs a bit more detail and I’m using some incredible books and movies to work our way through (see below). Gus is already a rabid history lover who seeks out history books and movies on his own.
Other than that, I am the grand keeper of the schedule, the conductor of an unruly and often far-flung orchestra. I oversee all their classes, pick out the novels they read (every morning when they wake up they read for an hour) and just have my nose in all their schoolwork during the week (though Robb is the point person on all things math related).
But probably my main duty at this point—after teachers and classes have been found—is chauffeur. Isn’t that on the job description of most every mom? Well, I feel like I’ve gone beyond amateur chauffeur and into the professional ranks. Remember that I wrote a blog last year about how we shouldn’t call it “home schooling” but “car schooling” since a lot of time is spent getting kids from one place to another to get them the best teachers and learning experience.
But the good thing is that I’m just driving around two days a week. Mondays in Central Austin and Tuesdays in South Austin. Other than that we’re around home or doing other things we think are important, such as community service.
That’s why I still love this homeschooling experiment. The freedom! For instance, Robb and I felt that the boys needed to hear about good nutrition from somebody other than ourselves (you know how teenagers learn to tune out their parents’ voice frequency), so we found a healthy eating expert at Whole Foods that’s going to work with them. I’m sure they’ll have more fun with this guy than listening to me drone on about every dinner menu needing something green on it and the dangers of polysyllabic food additives.
I Demote Myself
This year will be the first time I haven’t worked with them on English. I’ve demoted myself, to be honest. We’ve worked hard on grammar and writing, but it’s often hard for me to judge how well they should be writing for their age level. Also, I think there’s a lot of baggage for them surrounding writing. They know I do it as a profession and sometimes when I go over their blogs or book reports, they’ll say things like, “This isn’t like one of your magazine stories, Mom!”
Also, I had a bit of a reality check when the boys took the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (a national standardized test). I’m happy to report that the boys were above average on most all their subjects. The only two areas where they scored below average were Spelling and Punctuation.
“I’m going to have to speak to your English teacher,” Robb said in mock seriousness when he read over their results.
I, of course, felt like crapola since those two areas are in my bailiwick (but I should add, in my defense, that in vocabulary, usage and comprehension they excelled). That’s when I made the decision for certain that I was going to hand over English and writing to someone else, with my head hung low.
But if they got nothing else from my tenure as English teacher, I hope they have learned the difference between “there,” “their” and “they’re” AND “your” and “you’re” AND “its and it’s.” I drilled that into them because I see these mistakes ALL the time, by adults and professionals–even in ads!
I’m not a fanatic about spelling, since truth be told I’ve never been a good speller myself. But I learned never to trust myself, so when in doubt I ALWAYS look up a word. I also made a commitment to learn those commonly confused words above. Anytime I turn in a story, I go through it as carefully an IRS auditor to check that I didn’t say something like, “The boys were glad there ball didn’t go over their.” Arrrrgh. Epic failure, as the boys would say.
(I warn the boys that spell check can’t catch that kind of mistake.)
But I digress into grammar—probably the dullest subject possible. And that just won’t do. It seems our family is allergic to dull, for better and worse. Well, that’s the conclusion I’m coming to lately and maybe part of the explanation for a decision we’ve made, one that either prompts eye-rolling in people who hear of it or a look that says, “What’s wrong with you people?”
The Big Change In The Works
And I’m not talking about the puppy. (She’s adorable and I love her even though she’s added some havoc in our lives, especially at the moment when Robb is traveling and we’re house training her and can’t leave her alone for long).
I’m talking about our decision to leave Austin. Even though we practically just arrived and we love our house and friends and homeschool set up here, we’ve put our house on the market and we have our eyes on cooler climes.
It seems our time in San Miguel has spoiled us. We’ve lost our tolerance for heat and for driving around in cars. In San Miguel—with a climate often described as Eternal Spring—we were able to walk almost everywhere. There’s a different kind of social fabric that forms when you’re walking around, interacting with a wide swatch of your community—from shopkeepers to street sweepers. We crave that kind of community again.
And don’t even get me started on Rick Perry.
We’ve got a few places in mind for where we would go if our house sold. But I better not write them down at this point. One thing for sure in our lives is that we change our minds, so I wouldn’t want to confuse anything by writing down one city and then ending up in another—which has happened before (some of you may remember the 11th-hour Nashville-Austin switcheroo two years ago).
Of course, the boys’ school situation is of primary concern in our decision of where to move. I have to believe they’ll be fine—either taking classes on-line or via tutors or in a private or public school. Based on their performance in classes, on assessment tests, and in life so far, I have hope that they have a good foundation and will keep on track wherever we are as long as we’re together as a family, all of us tackling this education thing.
We’ll keep you posted on if and when and where we move. Until then we carry on as if no move is hanging in the air. We’ve made lots of moves and I’ve discovered that’s the only way to proceed. (I swear if I ever write another book, it’ll be called something like “Embracing Uncertainty.” Or maybe, “What the Hell Was I Thinking?” )
So why not get a puppy when you’re thinking of a major move? Somehow—even at 4:30 a.m. when you’re taking the puppy out to pee and you have a house showing the next morning—you manage.
HOW THE ONE-DAY-A-WEEK CLASSES WORK
So, the boys take a 2-hour class with a teacher, along with other homeschooled students. The teacher goes over new material (and in the case of science, the kids do lab work) and then gives assignments to be done through out the week based on the new material. The teacher is available via e-mail, phone and sometimes Skype to discuss any problems the kids are having with the material as they go through their assignments.
The boys sometimes have tests to be done at home that we monitor. They also have tests in class at various times, including mid-terms and finals.
For the days we’re at home, I used to have a schedule where I blocked off time for them to do assignments in particular subjects. Now, I just have a dry erase board on the fridge. I write down what they’re expected to do that day and they get to decide in what order they finish everything on the list. We like this arrangement because it lets them work on self-discipline and time management. I think they like to have some control over their school lives–what a concept!
OUR CURRENT SCHEDULE (always subject to change–again the beauty of homeschooling)
MONDAY
9-11: Jeb, Life and Environmental Scien
11-1: Jeb, Middle School Writing
1-1:30: Jeb, Guitar
1:30-3:30: Gus, Writing I
3:30-5:30: Gus, Honors American Government
7-8: Jeb, Soccer
8-?: Mom, Wine Appreciation 101
TUESDAY
8:30-10:30: Gus, Geometry and Jeb, Algebra 1
10:30-1: Break, looking for community service or art class
1-3: Gus, pre-AP Chemistry
5-6: Gus, swim team
7-8:30: Gus, Boy Scouts
8:30-? Mom, Advanced Wine Appreciation
WEDNESDAY
Stay at home, work on assignments
THURSDAY
Stay at home, work on assignments
3:30-4:30 Gus, French
4:30-5:30: Jeb, French
5-6 Gus, Swim Teams
6:30-8, Jeb, Soccer
FRIDAY
9-10: Both, Spanish Grammar and Writing
Stay at home, work on assignments
PAR-TAY!
Tags: alternative education, Christian College Prepatory Academy, homeschooling, REACH
And I haven’t even had a chance to see the Dripping Springs house yet!
You’re so funny, Jeannie! Wine appreciation… tee hee.
Don’t feel badly about the ITBS language results. You are not inadequate to the task of instruction; there’s always an area that needs extra work. You and Robb are doing a superior job educating your sons – I am a witness!!! And, thanks for explaining that homeschooling is really about managing an education plan, not about sitting inside all day with a parent and no peers, day after day. I have to explain this concept to people ALL the time! By the way, what’s the name of your school on Trautwein?
Enjoying the blog,
Michele, headmistress of the “Treehouse School”
Michele, I call it The Prius School.
Your method sounds very much like Montessori in that the child is allowed to select the work they want, knowing there is a list to complete. “Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.”
Dr. Maria Montessori
Hey Rachel:
Good point. It’s interesting because my friends and I started a Montessori school in our town of Blanco, Texas, when our kids were young. It was an incredible experience and I guess I retained some of the Montessori philosophy!
Hey Jeannie! My homeschool workload has been scaled down this year as well–
Jerred is a Freshman in H.S. and his schedule looks like this:
Monday
Algebra II
Small Group at Church
Tuesday
8:30am-9:30am Latin I
9:30am-10:30am American History (Honors)
10:30am-2pm Grammar/Comp./American Lit. (Honors)
Soccer
Wednesday
Algebra II 11:30am-1pm
Youth Group
Thursday
Biology 10am-12pm
Soccer
Friday
Study/Service Day
All of these classes are taken with other homeschooling students. After taking one year of piano, Jerred continues to play the keyboard and is learning to mix music. I wish I could talk him into an art class, but soccer is his passion right now.
Never in a MILLION years would I have considered home schooling until I read your article today in Kiwi. I love what you’re doing. It’s so….interesting. And be gentle on yourself with the spelling and punctuation results. I’m sure it hits a nerve, but I think what you’re doing with your children is utterly fantastic and those spelling and punctuation results pale in comparison to the life you’re living with them. Wow – my hat is really off to you and your husband!
Have you decided where you’re moving – or are you staying in austin. i love your site – first read your piece on B Don Magness back in 1983 – then Lavender Queen about my favorite part of the world – now your blog.
We have our house on the market and waiting for that to sell. We have two areas of the country in mind–Colorado and Vermont (but don’t hold me to either one). Clearly, we’ll have to buy more winter coats.