September 17, 2003

Our Home School History - Part II

The Second Year

Our second year of home schooling was very similar to the first. We continued to use Konos Curriculum, but we supplemented it with an excellent curriculum titled Character First!. Since so much of what we wanted to focus on was character-based, we knew we couldn't go wrong with this curriculum. The units were divided into five lessons (one for each day of the week) and were nearly perfect for Zach. There were plenty of activities as well, and Jenna thoroughly enjoyed participating in them with us. The stories were well-researched and pertinent; the accompanying poem was fun to say and easy to learn; in short, we had a great time with it!

The year seemed to fly by as we continued to chip away at the various unit studies. We continued meeting with our co-op group as well. The highlight for that year was when we put on our own winter olympics! We were in Texas at the time, and since we didn't have ice and snow, we improvised! Instead of ice hockey, the children competed in ice (rollerblade) hockey. They "ice skated" indoors on paper plates, and everyone made a flag signifying a different country. It was lots of fun and a real learning experience as well.

We also went on as many field trips as we could, often going on overnighters to break up the weeks with something different, and to give us all something new to look forward to. (Since Joel was self-employed and could take his Internet business with him wherever we went, traveling during school was easy!)

Year Three

During the summer, between our second and third year of home schooling we realized it was time to move our family closer to extended family. Because my parents (in Oklahoma) were getting older and their health was not as good as it once had been, it grew more difficult to arrange to spend time with them. So we located a house in my home state and moved within an hour's drive of my parents.

The transition was more difficult than I had speculated, but we managed to get the house mostly in order so we could begin school on schedule. It took time to get acclimated to our new town, to find a new church, to meet new friends, and to get connected to a new home school association. All of these factors affected us on a personal level (we missed our church and friends from Texas!), but school was more or less the same as it had been--only we were in a larger, nicer house!

I continued that year to use both Konos and Character First! for our basic curriculum, and at the end of the school year we had a fantastic end-of-school party with all of our extended family in attendance! The kids showed off their school work through displays and stacks of work they had completed; Zach played the piano; they both recited poetry and/or Scripture verses; and we handed out the usual certificates and awards. The best part for Zach and Jenna was being able to show everyone what they accomplished that year. All the hard work had paid off and they got more congratulations and pats on the back than they'd ever had before!

My family has always supported our decision to home school, but I don't think they realized how much we accomplished until that first end-of-the-year party--and neither did we! It was really good for all of us!

Seeing is believing...

One of their displays...

(Part III of Our History to Follow...)