2014-15 Homeschool Plan: Overall

Finally getting around to my somewhat annual homeschool posts. ;)

So. As I've mentioned, this year's different for us...because I'm only homeschooling two of my three. Noah's enjoying the charter high school he's attending. Meanwhile, Asher and Micah are homeschooling. Here's more about that:

• We started slowly (last week) and will use a roughly "6 weeks on, 1-2 weeks off" schedule. (Yes, this means that sometimes the younger two won't have school while Noah does, and sometimes Noah won't have school while the younger two do.)
• Both will still attend the Fort Collins Options program on Mondays. Today was their first day and everything went swimmingly. :) 
• Technically speaking, Asher will be in 6th grade and Micah will be in 4th. As usual, the schoolwork we do doesn't necessarily follow that; and, for purposes of Options, Asher is listed as 7th grade and Micah is listed as 5th.
• Given Asher and Micah's aptitudes and personalities, I'm looking forward to using a single lesson plan for both boys for most subjects this year and am truly excited about the possibilities.
• Given Noah's new schedule, we'll ALL be working to shift our routines...getting up and getting to bed earlier. (This is mostly an issue for Nathan and Noah, lol.)

Now, I'll continue by subject for the younger two. Feel free, though, to completely skip these upcoming posts. ;) (You can revisit past posts by using that "Homeschooling" category link over on the left...generally, curriculum reviews/plans are in June-Aug 2010, June 2011, August 2012, and July 2013. I'll also be working on updating the boys' curriculum pages on the left.)

Productive but not exactly fun...

See that 10 yard dumpster? Yeah, we filled that this weekend. The sad part is that this was actually the second dumpster. You heard that right. We started with the 8 yard dumpster. Oy.

Saturday morning, we borrowed an extra teenager (thanks, Deanna!) and we got to work. Nathan set Noah and Gabe to loading up and clearing out the 8x8x2' dumping ground in our back yard along with a rock pile leftover from our front yard yardwork earlier this summer (having first removed part of the fence so they could wheel their loads directly across the front yard to the dumpster). This took them most of the day, and we were quite thankful for this plan...as Gabe kept Noah on track and having them work together freed up Nathan to help me in the garage and around back.

Did I mention the garage? Yup. The younger two boys and I spent the morning emptying almost the entire garage out into the driveway (with Nathan handling all the things we couldn't reach, lol). We moved and purged and sorted and eventually started putting things either into the dumpster or back into the garage...working toward the goal of clearing enough space to fit both vehicles into the garage. We got rid of a lot of stuff. ;)

(It's not quite done. It'll be another couple weeks, as we're waiting for the free local hazardous waste disposal day to get rid of the piles and piles of old paint cans and such (most of which have been in the garage since we moved in). Also, Nathan still needs to actually sort through and reorganize his tool area. He's delighted about this, lol.)

So. We filled that first dumpster and called for a second one. Beyond the dumping ground and rock pile and garage purging, we also loaded in piles of leftover debris from our deck removal, pieces of fence that had been removed for painting and such (new fence will be installed Tuesday!), and branches that we cut off one of the trees in the front since we're going to have the new fenceline move forward a few feet. We worked pretty much all day Saturday, and Nathan and I finished up this morning before tackling our normal weekend chores. It feels awesome to have all that stuff gone, but OY. ;)

(BTW, on Saturday alone, we went through a dozen eggs, four large pizzas, an order of breadsticks, an order of chicken tenders, two rotisserie chickens, and about three dozen gatorade bottles. Everyone managed to stay hydrated and mostly injury free. Mostly. Let's just note that most of the wood that went into the dumpsters had nails or screws protruding from them. Nathan will be getting a tetanus shot tomorrow.)

So far, so good.

Noah's been at CEC for a little over a week now. It's going really well! I think we're all maybe a little surprised at how smoothly and positively it's going. ;) To be more specific, here are some of the random thoughts I've had over the past week:

• Yay! So far we've managed to get the boy out the door on time and with minimal fuss...showered, fed and with everything in his backpack. The fact that we've made him responsible for making his own lunches and checking that he has everything makes this even more happy. We've basically just made sure he was awake (which sometimes took multiple checks, lol), fed him breakfast and reminded him of the time to get out the door. (And, the younger two have generally been up and ready to go by the time Noah leaves, which bodes well for our homeschooling plans.)
• All homework has been completed and turned in on time so far. (The school's PowerSchool system enables us to see all the assignments and due dates, though I've been working on just talking it through with him.) It helps that he has a free period in the middle of the day that he can use to finish up assignments or get ahead, though there really hasn't been enough work thus far to fully utilize this.
• The boy actually requested and is routinely wearing a watch. He realized that, though there's a clock in every classroom, it's helpful to know when he's arriving at the school and such.
• A non-stick skillet makes making eggs soooo much easier in the morning. ;) Don't ask me why, but we didn't have one for some reason. Scraping the pan we'd been using after making eggs did *not* inspire us to want to make eggs often. But. Ten dollars later and we have a relatively quick, easy and considerably cheaper breakfast than the steak/sausage/bacon that Noah would prefer.
• Pretty darn happy with myself for having established the habit of debriefing with the boys. For the past five years of Options/LEAP, I've taken boys out for a snack after picking them up that one day a week. During that, they'd take turns going through each class with me...telling me what they'd done, whether they had any work, if they'd had any problems, etc. For the moment, it's second nature enough to Noah that he comes home and goes through each of his classes with me, knowing already that "fine" or "okay" is not acceptable as a response. ;) (I love that the boys share this stuff with me! For someone who's used to seeing them all day and knowing pretty much everything that they're doing, this makes it easier to feel good about the necessary letting go.)
• Silently stoked at how well Noah appears to be doing in his classes so far, particularly in his two math classes. He had pre-tests in each of those classes and feels fairly confident in his performance. In Algebra 2, they also had some timed problems just for fun and Noah finished first in his class for half of them (and second for the remaining half). This earned him the right to skip half of that day's homework but he still went ahead and did all of them...all on his own! (If you knew the issues I've had with Noah regarding self-starting, you'd see how freakin' awesome this is. It's lovely to see him realize that he actually is good at this stuff by other people's standards, too.) 
• When he shared this stuff with us, Nathan kindly pointed out that perhaps Noah should be thankful that he'd had such a wonderful teacher (me!) leading up to this. ;) (Thank-you-very-much! ;) Honestly, it's just a relief. I think all homeschoolers have moments of doubt...wondering how our kids will "stack up," whether we've actually been making a difference.) 

Whew. I'm breathing so much easier. :) I know there will still be challenges ahead, but it's lovely to start out on this note...

Checking in...

Let's see...

Last Saturday, Asher performed in his third New West Fest here in Fort Collins. Micah joined in for the first routine and is now joining demo team. :) I didn't manage as many pictures this year, but here's one of them both. Asher's in the splits up front, and Micah's in a less full splits two behind Asher. (Micah and the other two who joined in for just this routine are in their white uniforms.)

House painting is almost completely done! Well, it's done but we have a couple spots the crew needs to come address. That'll be another week or two, though. Still, whew. ;) (Incidentally, it may be a bit bright, lol. Some of our neighbors are a bit taken aback by our color choice, but I'm trying to not let it bother me.)

We're still waiting on new gutters and window screens and are scheduling the replacement of the fence.

We've also gotten rid of the back deck but now need a solution to replace it. We're thinking either a paver or concrete patio but need to find someone to do it for us. (If you're local and have any suggestions, PLEASE contact me!)

We have a number of other little touches that are getting finished up...door hardware, outside lights, house numbers, rehanging pictures inside the house that we took down when they were doing the roof, removing our "garden" box in the backyard that has become a dumping ground...stuff like that. 

The younger two had their Options orientation on Monday and received their class assignments and met teachers. Both are pretty happy about it all and looking forward to the year.

I registered Noah for the school year swim team at our nearby gym again. That'll start up after Labor Day. (BTW, I'm very much appreciating that we're able to ease into everything this fall...first Noah's going to high school, then homeschooling starting back up, then Options starting back up, then swim team starting back up...later in September JOAD starting back up. Simultaneously, part of me wishes we could just start everything at once so we could get to our "normal" routine already. ;) It's okay. I told that part to hush and am reminded of the need to deal with all the ongoing house stuff, lol.)

That's mostly what's been going on here. Will update soon with how Noah's doing at CEC and with my annual homeschooling posts...

Seven years.

Today is the seven year anniversary of the day my dad died. Unlike last year and previous years, I find I'm not quite as emotional. It could have something to do with the heap of other things going on here right now, lol...or the sense of peace and happiness I felt when I talked with my mom this morning...or the knowledge of how very blessed I am to have had such a wonderful man in my life. So. Today, rather than dwell on things that aren't to be, I'm just going to appreciate life. It's good. :)