I have been blog-tagged by Rita!! Seven random things about me:
1. I love buying Barbie clothes for my daughter so I can play with them.
2. My favorite online game is puzzlepirates.
3. I have a lot of shelving in my scrapbook area and still have stuff all over my table.
4. I planned a very successful Girl Scout meeting last night and I'm proud of myself.
5. I am lonely for my laptop while waiting for its new power cord.
6. I am bummed I am missing a homeschooling field trip today because I have to work.
7. If I don't leave for school now, I'm going to be late!

First Day of Spring at the Sugar Shack

Esme and I went on a tour of a local sugar shack today to celebrate the first day of Spring. We learned how maple syrup is made, from the tree to the bottle. We got a try a sample and oh my goodness was it sweet and delicious! Have a pancake was Esme's favorite part! My favorite part was meeting and talking to other homeschooling moms. It's amazing how each family's process is so completely different.

We've been spending a lot of time at the library lately. We've been meeting up with other homeschoolers to share books, do crafts, and last time we had a singing circle. We're hoping to get involved with more families as time goes on and do more cooperative events.

changing it up

I've been reading so much about how other people homeschool and it's been incredibly interesting. Because of my job, it's so easy for me to fall into teaching Esme in the most traditional ways. But she's not in school and I want to make her education as flexible as possible and open to many different kinds of learning as possible. So we're switching some things up a bit.

The most successful homeschoolers I've read about let their children take the lead. We'll still do our daily lesson plans, but we're trying to move in a direction that is more child-led. I'm developing several learning centers and she'll have more opportunities to work in them, and choose what she works on. We're going to continue to focus on themes of her choice and let her have choices within the themes too.

Another change is we're going to be moving into some pretty intense phonics. For a while we've felt that Esme is right on the cusp of reading on her own. But in our lessons we've focused on a lot of literary elements and a few sights words, with only a little bit of phonics thrown in. Another homeschooler recommended a phonics curriculum to us and we're starting to use it this week. It's called The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. All three of us are excited about Esme really reading on her own. We'll continue the literary elements parts because we love them so much, and of course they help her comprehension as well.

The last change is that all of a sudden Esme is BUSY! She is officially a Girl Scout and is attending regular meetings, we've started meeting weekly with other homeschoolers, she has Sunday School, and in a few short weeks she'll be starting soccer. We've joined a local homeschooling group that has all kinds of activities, and we're starting to take part in those too.

We are a busy, happy, learning family! It's hard to express what an incredible experience this has been for us, even in this short time!

P.S. Book of the week is ABC Weather.

This photo seems so long ago now...last night's layout.

When I was about 10 years old my dad bought me a white bookcase for my bedroom. Over 20 years later, those bookshelves made nine or ten moves through moving with my family, my college years, and moving with Ethan. They made their final move from my basement scrapbooking room to my guest room scrapbooking area. I put all my cool supplies on them, but they were leaning in a serious way. Ethan suggested that I find something new before they crashed to the ground, taking all my gemstones, textured paints, and silk flowers with them. On my brother's advice, I got some cool gently used Ikea Expedit shelves. Charles recommended the 4 cube by 4 cube set but I was lucky enough to find the 5 by 5 set on craigslist. All of a sudden I have sooo much space! I am enjoying filling my cubes up with all the crafty stuff I love. I would highly recommend these to any scrapbooker - they hold a ton of stuff, and fit 12 by 12 papers and albums easily! My old shelves will get nailed together and won't be so attractive, but they'll make good storage for our camping gear in the basement.

Our Aquarium Visit

We visited the Aquarium to celebrate the end of our ocean unit! It was a wonderful and very satisfying experience to watch Esme move through the exhibits and see all the different animals she'd learned about. Her favorite part was touching the starfish. We had a book from the library about Starfish that we must have read fifty times, because she loved it so much. I think what caught

her attention and held her rapt the longest was the Beluga whales. We stopped and watched them on our way in and went outside again to watch their feeding. It is amazing how close they swim to where you're standing. She also really enjoyed the penguins and sea lions, as well as the florescent fish, clown fish, octopus (which she named Ursula), and a moray eel which Ethan and I both found disturbing. It was great to see how much she's really learned, and see her make the connections between the books we've read and the real live animals.

I just finished an incredibly interesting book. It wasn't just about the cholera epidemic of the 1850s, but about how epidemiology was developed. It told the personal story of two men who we can thank for a major advancement in medicine. As I type this, it sound a bit dry, but believe me, it was fascinating and suspenseful! This book was both entertaining and extremely educational - a great read! I'd highly recommend it!

I had a harder time choosing who to vote for this year than usual. I was okay with almost all the choices, so it made it hard to narrow down a final candidate to get behind. I finally decided - good thing, because I had to vote today! Our family is going for Barack Obama! I'm ready for a really intelligent president, and I like his ideas, so I finally committed and gave him my vote! If he is the Democratic candidate for president I even have some signs ready to hang up on my fence.

Paper Plate Sea Creatures

Two of Esme's recent projects - making a paper plate sea jelly helped Esme learn their two main parts - a bell and tentacles. We made the crab after reading A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle. In the story the crab uses all different ocean life to decorate his home. We let Esme choose any materials available in our craft area and she really made it a mixed media project with crayons, glitter, stickers, foil tape, rick rack, etc. I was very amused she chose to decorate it with vegetable stickers!!

Fantasy, Folk Tales, and Myths

It is hard for me to believe that we are in the last week of our second unit already. We've been studying the ocean for several weeks and have covered sand, water, and tons of animals. We are devoting this week to magical ocean stories. Our book of the week is Mermaid Dreams and we're also reading The Fisherman's Wife, Atlantis, and two Russian folk takes relating to the sea. Words of the week are is and see.

Next week we'll take a few days to explore Valentine's Day and then we'll be on to our next full unit!

Will you let Esme decide to go to school if she wants to when she gets older?

No. While we are certainly open to hearing her desires and opinions, we are ultimately responsible for her education and the decision to continue homeschooling or place her in a school setting will be made by us.

How long will you continue to homeschool? Will you homeschool all the way through high school?

This is an impossible question for us to answer. Throughout the process, Esme's education has to come first. We will evaluate whether homeschooling is still our best option at least every year. We can't know when she's 4 if homeschooling will be right for her at 14. We can only say that so far we love it, and that Esme is making good progress. At this time it is the right option for us. We hope we'll be able to continue for a long time.

Our Homeschooling FAQs

We get asked a lot of questions about homeschooling so I decided to write out some of our answers and make this a permanent section of our blog. It will be added to the links section. Here is what we have so far:

Why are you homeschooling?

What about socialization?

How do you know what to teach and how do you make your lesson plans?

What is your schedule like?

What do you do in an average homeschooling session?

Is homeschooling legal? What do you have to do legally?

How long will you homeschool? Will you homeschool all the way through high school?

Will you let Esme decide to go to school if she wants to when she gets older?

Is there anything I can do to help?

I can't believe how busy I've been since I finished my long-term assignment! I thought once I stopped working every day I would have tons of time on my hands. I guess I forgot what real life is like, and how quickly days fill up! I have been doing a variety of different things. Our Girl Scout troop is finally up and running, I've been working on homeschooling lesson plans, finally seeing some friends, cooking more, etc.

I was excited that I lost approximately 16 pounds during my long-term assignment. I have a new doctor who was very encouraging. He gave me good advice about what I can do to stay on the same track. The most major thing I'm doing is giving up having soda at home. I've always drunk tons of soda, and when the doctor and I sat down and added up the calories I take in every week just in soda, I was amazed. Also, watching Super Size Me really opened my eyes to how bad soda is for you! So NO MORE soda in our home. We're going to try to teach Esme not to get hooked on the stuff either.

Is there anything I can do to help?

If you are one of our friends and family members that has asked this or even thought about asking, Thank You. Your support is appreciated! And YES there are many ways you can help! The most basic way you can help is to talk to Esme about what she's learning. Ask her questions - answering them reinforces lessons we've taught.

Another way you can help is to share your talents or time with Esme. Everyone has something to offer - we have a friend giving our Girl Scout troop folk dance lessons, we have a friend who makes Esme letter-shaped pancakes, and we have a friend who took Esme bug hunting in his yard during our bug unit.

Esme loves getting mail and letters are a great opportunity for her to do some language arts lessons!

We welcome friends and family who would like to accompany us on field trips, who are willing to give special lessons, or who would like to be a part of a daily session.

Several people have asked if there are any supplies we need. This Fall we were able to purchase several items and Esme's grandmothers generously gave us many other things they knew we would use. We always have a wish list things of things that we would like to add, but at the moment we have the essentials to finish Kindergarten.

Is homeschooling legal? What do you have to do legally?

Yes, homeschooling is legal. In our state you must follow the guidelines set by your school district. Even though we don't have to file any paperwork until the September that Esme is six years old, I have already been downtown to talk to someone in the school department, just to insure that we are prepared. The person I met with was extremely supportive and answered many questions for me. We have to send a Letter of Intent to the school department outlining when we plan to homeschool, how many hours we plan to devote, what books we'll be using, etc. There are questions that they can ask, but we don't have to answer, and there are some reasons they cannot use for not approving our plan. (See the Brunelle decision.) For instance, they can ask what our qualifications are, but we don't really need any legally. They cannot insist on visiting our home. They can ask that we send quarterly samples of Esme's work, have her take standardized tests, or send a written narrative of her progress. These things are negotiable and we don't have to do all of them, but if they ask we do need to provide some kind of proof of her progress. For our part we plan to be as flexible as we can reasonably be.

Edited in response to a comment: Quarterly work samples need not be submitted quarterly. It is helpful to provide samples that show a student's progress throughout the year. Here are some points on legal decisions affecting homeschoolers that I found well-written and interesting:

Thirteen Points: Perspectives on the Charles and Brunelle Decisions

1. While an educational plan may be requested, a program that duplicates that of the public school is not required. You need only provide a program that is equivalent. For example, you do not need to cover Australia with your ten-year old just because the local school includes it in their fifth grade course of study.

2. While the school district may inquire about your qualifications, Charles does not require that you provide a school system with your transcripts. Charles does not even require you be a college graduate. While a school may ask for college transcripts for those whom they wish to employ, asking for transcripts to inquire about a homeschooling parent's qualifications may be beyond the legitimate authority of the school.

3. Access to instructional materials is permitted BUT ONLY to determine the type of subjects taught and the grade level of the child. In Massachusetts there is no list of approved texts as in other states. You have a great deal of freedom to select materials. If asked, most families simply list their resources or copy the text's table of contents. Charles dates from 1987, before current advances in educational technology. The Court's 1998 decision in Brunelle indicates an understanding that instructional materials may include travel, community service, films, internet coursework, mentored apprenticeships, visits to educationally enriching facilities and places, meeting with various resource people etc.

4. Assessment is permitted. While Charles permits a school to use a standardized test at the end of the year, other methods of evaluation such as portfolios, interviews, anecdotal records, signing off by a third party, etc. can be used. In good educational practice, assessment is aligned with curriculum and methodology. Thus, if you use a text-based curriculum that includes multiple-choice quizzes, and your child was familiar with test-taking strategies, a standardized test might be an appropriate means of evaluation. If, however, your program is more flexible, then other forms of evaluation should be considered and negotiated.

5. Your rationale for deciding to homeschool is not required. School officials do not need to know your rationale. If it is known to them they do not need to agree with it. You do not need to convince school officials that your program is better or more appropriate than those delivered by the school. You don't have to explain your rationale or defend it. You simply can say, "This is the right thing for our family at this time." The school cannot legitimately evaluate your educational plan on motive, only on content. Your rationale is extraneous information; your plan should speak for itself.

6. Information on socialization is not required. You do not even need to provide group socialization via outings, gatherings, group instruction or group discussions. While your child will probably participate in group situations, it is not within the legitimate authority of the school to ask about group processes or require them.

7. A daily schedule matched to that of the school calendar is not required. Under the 1993 Educational Reform Act, public school students are required to receive 990 hours of directed instructional time per year at the secondary level (900 at the elementary level; check to see where your town has placed middle school grades). It is still not clear if private schools and those otherwise educated, which includes homeschoolers, are required to meet this hourly requirement, since it hasn't been addressed by the courts. However, if pressed to answer the question of time, you can assure school officials that the hours will be covered....but in a flexible manner. Because homeschool instruction needs only to be equivalent, not duplicate, you may consider certain hours when the local school is not in session as instructional time. This means that your equivalent schedule can include instructional time during the evening, on weekends, on snow days, during vacation periods, while traveling, while utilizing the internet and educational technology. Most school buildings are only open for instruction 180 days, and the length of the school day is determined by local collective bargaining agreement. Homeschoolers are not bound by collective bargaining and can utilize time in ways different from those expected of classroom teachers. However, the school system's year runs from July 1 through June 30. Because of homeschooling's flexibility you can use a 12-month school year instead of a 10- month one. This concept is called year-round schooling.

8. Information about your employment schedule is not required. While the school may have a legitimate interest in validating that there is coverage during instructional hours, asking for information about the child's non-instructional time is beyond their legitimate authority. Schools do not check the work schedules of their students' parents during summer vacation. Nor should they inquire about your child-care arrangements during non-instructional time.

9. Your methods and instructional practices, the manner in which you teach, may differ from that of the school. Charles was quite clear that it was beyond the scope of the school's authority to require any certain method of instruction. The Brunelle opinion acknowledges that school officials cannot expect to apply institutional standards to non-institutional settings.

10. A statement of student willingness to be homeschooled is not required. Parents have a right to select educational options for their minor children. Districts do not ask for a statement of student willingness to attend private or parochial school. Nor should they request homeschoolers to submit this information.

11. The names of persons living in the home is not required. However, this is public information that the school can find in town census records. There is no upper limit on the number of children a family can homeschool, nor are there restrictions on who may be included in the household.

12. Permits required for public buildings are not required for your homeschooling residence. Your residential occupancy permit is enough.

13. Information regarding the qualifications of persons you hire to provide educational services is not required. Charles says that a school system can ask about the parents' qualifications...not the rest of their support team or those to whom they delegate instruction. The school signs off on the parent as the primary educator. The primary educator then makes decisions (including the purchase of instructional services) that implement the educational plan.

By Loretta Heuer

What do you do in an average homeschooling session?

Esme and a parent sit down together and start with a warm-up - usually a repeat of a theme activity or a fine motor development activity. We go over our sight words (usually two a week) and do a lesson around our book of the week. Our book of the week usually relates to a theme Esme has chosen to study. We continue to work on language arts for about the half of our time. Then we take "Milk Break" and Esme gets a choice of activities that she enjoys, such as books on tape, PlayDoh, lacing cards, Chutes and Ladders, etc. After choice time we work on Math, focusing on counting, patterns, attributes, and simple addition and subtraction. The last part of our session is focused on the theme that Esme has chosen. We break each theme into smaller segments and focus on one segment a week. We try to include outdoor activities when the weather is good, and we also try to incorporate physical movement into this time.

What is your schedule like?

While there are many teaching moments and connections made outside our alloted time, we sit down to homeschool approximately two hours a day, three days a week.

Is this enough time? Yes. Esme is on schedule to meet or exceed the the kindergarten standards by the end of this school year. As years go on and her workload gets heavier, we will evaluate her schedule to make sure it fits her needs.

How do you know what to teach and how do you make your lesson plans?

Massachusetts has set learning standards for every grade level. Our first step was to print ourselves a copy of all the Kindergarten standards (we'll do this every year as Esme progresses through grade levels.) We use these standards as a guide and focus on activities to help her reach these goals.

We use a variety of books for ideas on activities. We've used books on phonological awareness, learning Math through different kinds of play, fine motor skill development, books relating to the themes we've studied, and many more. The internet is also a great resource for us since many teachers and homeschoolers share their ideas online. Sometimes we get creative and come up with our own original activities.

At the core of our studies are books written and illustrated for children. Each week we choose a book to repeat at least 3 times, as well as using a variety of other books. We believe strongly in literature based learning. We are using the Bob Books to help her learn to read on her own, in addition to other early readers. This year we will also be buying a math curriculum. At this time we are still researching which one will work best for our family.*

*An update - we purchased and are using the first grade Houghton Mifflin Math book that I have used while subbing in Chicopee Public Schools. I had the opportunity to look through several other curriculums and this was the one that made the most sense to me. Because we do not do lessons five days a week, we double up lessons when it makes sense, so that we will complete this book on schedule.

What about socialization?

This is the most commonly asked question we get. In fact, strangers on the street, or even in the library elevator, ask us this question and prepare to judge us based on our answers. Blog readers, I beg you, do not ask a homeschooler this question. We are so tired of answering it.

The huge majority of homeschoolers have no desire or intention to sequester their children from the rest of the world. Please trust that we are responsible parents and are not going to turn Esme into a hermit or agoraphobe who wants nothing to do with or is afraid of society. If you are compelled to ask such a question, please think of framing it in a different way.

Some suggestions:
What kinds of group activites is Esme participating in this season?
Has Esme met any new little friends lately?
What kinds programs is your homeschooling group offering these days?
Is Esme still a Girl Scout?
What sport is Esme interested in trying next?
Have you been having a lot of play dates?
What do Esme and her friends usually like to play together?

The first year we homeschooled Esme participated in many group activities including Daisy Girl Scouts, soccer, Homeschooling Lego League, swimming, Sunday School, homeschooler field trips, and more. Esme will continue to particpate in group activities with her peers. Some things she'll do in her second year of homeschooling are the Homeschooling State Park series, soccer, dance class, and Daisies. Esme will also continue to have playdates with her friends.