Don’t tell the children - we aren’t going to fully begin school until Monday.

Shhhh!

We’ve been doing a little math here and some reading there, but nothing serious. It’s not completely my fault. Oh, I wanted to get back on track, waking up early and hitting those books with a jam-packed schedule, but the house has been full of children ever since New Year’s Day.

And I’m not talking about the five who live here.

Let’s see, New Year’s Day we had a party. The evening came to an end much too soon so we begged to have the five P. children over for the night. They stayed until mid morning Wednesday when I returned them to their (very cheerful and refreshed looking) mother. I couldn’t just ‘drop and run,’ I had to stay for a little visit. Just being polite, you understand. There went the morning and lunch time.

In the afternoon another friend called to see if she could come over for coffee and computer work (two of my favorite things). I somehow managed to end my exciting school planning session and welcome her crew of kiddos.

No school.

Today we had MORE visitors. Some dear friends are home from serving in Africa for a year. The parents had a meeting today and the two boys needed a place to go.

Joshua and the boys played an incredibly LONG game of Axis and Allies.

You see how we suffer, forced to sleep in every morning and then visit with friends all day.

Kids galore and no school, it’s a difficult life.

Of course, Monday is going to hit everyone pretty hard. This late night blogger is going to feel it the most, I’m afraid. I have a LOT to do before then.

1. Christmas cards to finish (don’t worry, I’ve started calling them Happy New Year cards).
2. Pictures to upload for our 2007 Family Newsletter (the one I’m pointing everyone to on our New Year’s cards)
3. A school schedule to plan.
4. Chore charts to type up
5. Some curriculum to order
6. A new blogging plan (one that actually allows me to get some sleep) to discover.

And that’s not including the general laundry, house cleaning, and meal prep that requires constant attention.

Fire up the French Press and pass the coffee beans!

How about your family? When does your school (home or otherwise) resume? Did your children go back to school Wednesday? Anyone else easing into school a little slowly? Do you think a true night owl can get to bed early enough to wake up before 8 am on a regular basis? What time does your homeschool begin?

It’s much too rainy and gray here in WA, let’s move this game to Lake Michigan. Um, you boys are a little over-dressed for the beach!

Gotta love that Photoshop!

Kathy
Project 366 - Day 3

Kathy and I were flattered and thrilled to discover that our blog has been nominated for the 2007 Homeschool Blog Awards, an informal organization of bloggers desiring to promote homeschooling excellence through weblogs.

Click on the image above to vote

Since both of us write articles for our shared blog, we thought there was a natural fit with the Best Family or Group Blog category — we feel that our collaboration is a key factor in the success and uniqueness of our blog. Besides, Kathy is (by a two-to-one margin) the more prolific author, despite my earlier dominance over our entrée into the blogosphere. We were not, however, nominated for the Best Family category, and so we take joy in the category for which we were nominated: Best Homeschool Dad Blog.

There is one very obvious problem: although all five of my children are homeschooled, as Dad, I don’t do a lot of the actual homeschooling. Oh, we started out boldly enough:

Me: “OK, sweetie, if we’re going to homeschool these kiddos, how are we going to go about it?”

Kathy: “Well, I can handle the Bible teaching, language arts, history, geography, spelling and read-aloud curriculum, but I could really use some help in Math and Science.”

Me: “No problem! I can just see it now — the kids and I doing experiments in the back yard, working math problems on the whiteboard, it’ll be great fun!”

Fast-forward with me, eight or nine years:

• Total number of science experiments conducted by Dad: 2
• Total number of math lessons given: 3

It turns out that I was mostly talk. I do help with specific math problems from time to time, and I am fairly vigorous in my role as principal and disciplinarian (especially when I work from home). I’m verbally and financially supportive of Kathy in her role as teacher-of-five, but when it comes down to it, I haven’t made homeschooling instruction a priority, in terms of my own time.

So now we come to the crux of the matter: I’ve been nominated for ‘Best Homeschooling Dad’, but I have minimal credentials supporting such a nomination. Will I have the ethical fortitude to admit this lack, or will I shamelessly promote myself in spite of my inadequacy? You be the judge, as I present this snapshot:

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“A Day in the Life of a Homeschool Dad”, by Tim

4:59 am: Dad leaps out of bed cheerfully, a minute before the alarm, quoting an inspirational Bible verse for Mom’s edification. He quickly dresses in shorts, t-shirt and running shoes.

5:02 am: Dad wakes the kids and lead them in a rousing program of calisthenics and a two-mile run around the neighborhood, singing homeschool cadences while the children echo in chorus:

Happy homeschoolers run and think,
they don’t stop to take a drink!
They don’t rest and they don’t slow,
working hard to learn and grow!
Sound off: 1, 2!
Sound off: 4, 8!
Bring it on down: 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024!

Not our actual family.

5:45 am: Everyone hits the showers, the first one clean is appointed sous-chef and selects the breakfast menu. Children work together (under Dad’s benign eye as Chef de Cuisine) to assemble a five-course gourmet confection and serve Mom breakfast in bed on an attractive tray with fresh-cut flowers. The kitchen is cleaned by the tardiest two children.

Not our actual breakfast.

7:00 am: Dad prays with the children, and heads off to work, after distributing writing assignments and reviewing daily coursework lesson plans with each child.

Noon: After finishing his own Bible reading and prayer time, Dad spends his lunch hour editing and grading written assignments (submitted via e-mail) from each child, including an inspirational proverb and an encouraging comment in each response.

4:00 pm: Because of his efficiency at work and in order to demonstrate the priority he places on his family, Dad has arranged shortened work hours with his employer. He bursts through the front door promptly at 4 pm, and is mobbed by laughing children. Hugging each, he dismisses them for a short recess while he talks and prays with his wife (and presents her with a small gift he procured on the way home).

4:15 pm: Dad helps the children assemble the necessary equipment and ingredients for a science experiment and conducts a short lesson in the back yard. If it is raining, the experiment occurs in a gleaming utility shed/lab that Dad and the kids built last summer.

5:00 pm: All the kids and Dad work for an hour in the yard of an impoverished widow down the street, putting their love for God into practice as a service project.

Not our actual science experiment.

6:00 pm: Over dinner, each child reports on the things for which they are thankful, and Dad moderates a short role-playing scenario featuring peer pressure and temptation. Applicable Bible passages are read and discussed. Mom is thanked and praised for the evening meal.

6:45 pm: Dad washes the dishes and cleans the kitchen while the children complete their science projects. He fixes a few loose drawer handles and re-arranges the freezer while waiting for the kids to reassemble.

7:15 pm: Each child takes turns working math problems on the whiteboard while Dad corrects and grades their problem sets. Dad assigns extra work or other punishments to any who have come to Mom’s negative attention over the course of the day.

8:00 pm: Dad reads the Bible to the children and tucks them each into bed, praying with each one individually.

8:30 pm: Mom and Dad discuss the day, their dreams and hopes for their children, and re-connect emotionally.

9:30 pm: Dad sits down to write an insightful blog article about parenting, marriage, homeschooling, or theology, carefully supporting his position with scripture (in the original Greek or Hebrew, of course).

Not my actual profile.

10:00 pm: Dad corresponds with any church leaders or heads of State who may have written to him for ethical and spiritual advice or counsel.

10:30 pm: Mom and Dad go to bed, happily snuggling each other close.

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As you now no longer have to imagine, that is exactly how my day plays out (I’m lying). So remember, vote early and vote often (according to the applicable rules, of course), for your favorite Homeschooling Dad!

Tim

It’s time to grab your keyboards, a pot cup of coffee, and some chocolate and head over to Homeschool Blog Awards. The nominations for this year’s blog awards begin on Monday and continue through the 16th. Voting takes place in the beginning of December and there are prizes for the winners. Prizes, fame and more prizes.

Look at this great list of winning categories:

1. Best Homeschool Mom Blog
2. Best Homeschool Dad Blog
3. Best Blog Design
4. Best Artistic Content Blog
5. Best Crafts, Plans & Projects Blog
6. Best Family or Group Blog
7. Best Encourager
8. Best ‘Live-What-You-Believe’ Homeschool Blog
9. Best Unschooling or Eclectic Homeschooling Blog
10. Best Geographical Blog
11. Best Current Events, Opinions or Politics Blog
12. Best Homemaking or Recipes Blog
13. Best Teen Girl Blog
14. Best Teen Guy Blog
15. Best Teen Group Blog
16. Funniest Homeschool Blog
17. Best Cyber-Buddy Blogger
18. Best Curriculum or Business Blog
19. Best Variety
20. Best Thrifty Homeschooler
21. Best SUPER-HOMESCHOOLER
22. Best Nitty-Gritty Homeschool Blog
23. Best NEW Homeschool Blog

Wow! Did you even know there were that many different types of homeschool blogs? Of course, it seems like they are missing a few significant categories. How about these:

1) Blogger most likely to homeschool in her pajamas
2) Messiest school room blog
3) Most prolific blogger - who needs sleep when you can blog?
4) The Homeschool blogger you love to hate
5) Best Homeschool Worrier Blog - will my kids succeed, are we doing enough school, will they get into college?
6) Best “My Kids are Cuter than Your Kids” Homeschool Blog

A little blogging here, a lttle blogging there. Airport blogging with wi-fi is the best.

I figure I easily qualify for the Messiest AND the Sleepiest Blogger Awards. Did I mention there are prizes this year? Prizes. And fame. Oh, the glory of it all.

You’ll notice there isn’t a homeschooling category in the whole 2007 Weblog Awards. Education, yes, but not homeschooling specifically. I bet they don’t even offer prizes. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

No hanging chads in these elections, I’m sure.

Kathy

This week we finally resumed our Home-school Cooperative; and there was much rejoicing.

During the school year (although the semesters seem to get shorter and shorter) we join with about 150 other home-schooled kids for a day of elective classes. The kids get a chance to learn some things their parents don’t know, and to build some good friendships, while the parents (mostly moms) enjoy considerable fellowship and camaraderie as well. Kathy particularly appreciates the chance to swing by the espresso stand, “since we’re on the way.”

And of course, everyone likes recess.

Our five kids look forward to Co-op with great excitement, and mourn the end of each semester deeply. Personally, I think they cherish an educational experience they can come home and tell stories about, something their mom and siblings don’t already know. Besides, who wouldn’t want to star in a Drama production, or explore a course mysteriously named, ‘For Boys Only’?

Personally, I’d take the class just for the mustache.

This year, I agreed to teach a Programming class, arranging permission with my boss to take some time off during the day. “How hard can it be?” I blithely asked Kathy. “I’ve been programming for more than 15 years, I oughta be able to teach this stuff in my sleep!” Kathy was strangely silent about how hard, exactly, it could be, having taught a few co-op classes herself. In any case, I have long wanted an opportunity to teach my kids a little about what I do … it doesn’t seem right to me, as a programmer, that none of my children know an ‘if’ from an ‘else’.

Those summer months passed like one of those vending-machine packages of Oreos (only six cookies), and I found myself less than a week away from the first day of class without a syllabus, course outline, or any substantive idea of what I’d be teaching. To make matters worse, I found that I was competing with ‘Backyard Ballistics’ during the same hour! I alternated between desperately hoping students would choose my class and, er, hoping that they wouldn’t sign up and I could get credit for having offered without actually having to teach.

One very popular class last year was Grandma Honey’s offering for Kindergarten through 3rd grades.

Twelve kids showed up for class, the youngest 10, the oldest 17. I had managed to throw together a syllabus and a course outline the night before, and so I launched into my first-day lecture. About 10 minutes into the period, Kathy came in and sat down at one of the empty tables … and brought with her a strong sense of being scrutinized and evaluated. I almost couldn’t continue, unable to articulate any coherent thought, as every idea took flight from my skull, except this one:

“Arrggh! Kathy’s listening to me, and she’s going to shake her head pityingly, saying, ‘Do you really think these kids are interested in any of that stuff?’”

We discovered early in our marriage that discussion of my work, especially anything to do with relational databases, is a sure-fire cure for insomnia. “Tell me about your work,” Kathy asks sleepily as she snuggles in. While I prattle on about the details of my job, she sighs contentedly and drifts off into sweet slumber, often right in the middle of a good anecdote about PL/SQL errors or a tale of associative arrays! Sometimes I go ahead and finish the story, finding myself, even as the story-teller, deeply engrossed in the suspenseful narrative.

The kids seemed attentive, though, and I made it through the first class period without being lynched. I am using (at least at first) a variant of the Logo language that involves giving commands to cute little turtles as they roam around on a canvas, drawing designs.

I don’t have much experience with a lecture-style presentation — nearly all of the teaching I do at work or at church is inductive, requiring a high degree of discussion and participation from those in attendance. I think next week I’ll try to have more questions or some other way to encourage participation — I find that I can’t keep spouting out ideas, but rather that I need time to think of what I’ll say next.

Rachel really wishes these friends were in co-op this year.

When we got home, my oldest son (who was press-ganged into the class, along with two of his siblings) immediately started working on the homework assignment I gave, and seems to be having a lot of fun with it. I asked him to come down and do the dishes last night, but he craftily played on my soft geek heart, pleading, “Dad, my turtles, they need me!”

What’s a programmer Dad to do? “Just ten minutes,” I growled. It’s nice to be needed, even by turtles.

Oh the shame of it all. Yesterday’s post was incredibly short. I hope those of you who grow weary of our pontificating, rambling, tome-like blogging enjoyed the brief respite. Perhaps you were even able to get some work done.

Daniel was obviously mortified.

As for me, I was thoroughly rebuked. Yes, my children, those greedy paparrazzi seeking little stars cannot stand for me to post such sparse works.

“Whoa! That was a short blog, Mom.“
“Yeah, I thought maybe the computer wasn’t loading. Only one picture?”

Even David was shocked.

The little shake of the head, a pitying glance. You’re losing your touch, implied in their looks. The younger kiddos (not yet insatiable blogging readers) patted me on the arm, not really understanding the topic of the conversation but clearly recognizing the subtle rebuke coming from the older children.

This week has been incredibly busy as we throw ourselves more fully into our schooling. PE at the YMCA started back as well as my BSF classes. I feel myself being stretched as I attempt to cover all of our academic subjects, teach each of the 5 different grade levels, correct assignments, maintain high standards (“please rewrite that dictation in legible handwriting”), and somehow make school “fun.”

This is fun! Does rough housing in the garage count as school?

Thankfully, Joshua has decided to move at a more independent pace this year. I don’t know what I would do if I had to manage all of his course work in addition to the younger ones. He is a highly motivated and disciplined student. As it is, Joshua has an hour scheduled with me for geography and logic, and has to fight every day for our time.

We dealt with all sorts of discipline issues today. It was exhausting. There were tears and fussing and whining, the children had trouble as well. At one point I was pretty much prepared to cut off recess for the year.

It was not a particularly shining moment of our homeschooling day.

With five extra sets of hands around all day, I do have many helpers available to pick up the house. I feel very overwhelmed when the clutter begins to creep down the stairs, covering the floor and furniture.

It is a great delight that the children are such hard workers and so very bribable. A few pieces of candy and the entire downstairs (including laundry room with a load of sorting/washing completed) is picked up. One of these days we’ll get a house cleaning schedule in place. Right now I’m just grateful Will Work for Sugar is stamped on the kids’ foreheads.

That’s not to say they wouldn’t like me to find some other slaves helpers.

When Tim got home from work today we had a long family meeting. The first several points of business involved getting a dog or cat. Those suggestions were hurriedly shot down by Mr. and Mrs. Chairperson. Sorry kids. If you think we have trouble keeping up with things now, try adding a puppy/kitten to the mix. I shudder to think about it!

It was inexplicably rejuvenating (cathartic even) just to sit around and share some of our struggles of the day. I did my best to protect the anonymity of the children as I unloaded one difficult circumstance after another.

No need to rub their faces in the memory of the afternoon’s strife and conflict, I thought generously. This proved only so effective as the guilty child, hearing his or her “story,” would leap to his/her feet in a sudden need to use the bathroom (or get a drink, put on a band-aid, sharpen a pencil, call Grandma, really we’re a creative lot here). At the same time, several other children quickly spoke up, “I was 20 feet away, in my room, with the door closed and the radio playing.”

Daniel was wiped out by the end of our school day.

I had at least forty minutes of reading left to do with Daniel and Rachel when we interrupted our school time for the Family Huddle. As we concluded our powwow, Tim announced he was ready for dinner.

See how hard it is to get everything done in a day. Just when it looks like you are ahead (or at least not drowning), someone mentions food and the time is lost.

Maybe we’ll get to all of our subject tomorrows. Of course, they’ll probably want to eat then as well. Sigh. I think I should try out one of those flying leaps that Daniel and David have perfected out in the garage. Might take my mind off of any lingering schooling stress.

Kathy
Project 365 - Day 263