Friends and Movies

On Friday we went to our first homeschool group activity: a movie day. We saw "Dolphin Tale." It was very good -- or, good, considering my low expectations! There was a workbook emailed to us by the group and we did most of the activities beforehand. Made seeing the movie much more fun. I highly recommend using it.
Dolpin Tale Workbook

As far as a socializing event, it was okay. We met a few people, but all in all, a movie theater is not a great setting for making friends. Gabby, William, and Fielding had a good time, though. William wanted to stay and watch it again!

When we got back, Bri had already arrived home from school. Bri is my 10-year old. She is in fifth grade at the elementary school. I felt a little bad going to a movie without her. I wonder sometimes if she's jealous that Gabby is being homeschooled and she's not. Her dad asked her that very question earlier in the week and she said she wasn't. Bri knows that she'll get her chance once she starts middle school. Still, I do worry about it. Gabby, not Bri, is the "squeakier wheel" in the family; I have to make a conscious effort to be sure everyone gets "greased."

I'd like to get involved with some of the homeschool organizations in the area. Gabs is so shy. I don't want her to miss out on opportunities to fine-tune her social skills, just because she's homeschooled. That was a down-side of this whole under-taking. I said to my husband, "She's so timid, how can we take her away from school? She'll have even fewer chances to overcome it."

He had a very wise response: "What is school doing for her now? Is being immersed in a classroom of 25 kids helping?"

The answer was nothing and no.

I've actually seen a difference in Gabby since we decided to keep her home. She seems to get less stressed out about social situations and is more willing to step out of her comfort zone. Homeschooling hasn't been a magic pill or anything, but it seems like she feels more relaxed. She's even done a little bit of public speaking at church. The youth leaders there have been very supportive of her. It is comforting to me to have leaders who accept a shy child, but still find ways for her to contribute, develop her talents and feel important. That's what I try to do for her at home.

Today was a crazy day in our family. The house is messy and the boys -- well, there were several bathroom incidents that required attention. Ugh. I told everyone that Gabby and I were going to move out (jokingly). Since we've started homeschooling it has become abundantly clear how similar we are. We are both neat and well-organized. We are somehow very aware of the details of a situation but get the big picture as well. We "get" each other. And that is really awesome. I, like Gabby, am not a super social person. It is nice to have this built-in friend. And especially nice now that we get to be with each other so much more. It's hard to say for sure if homeschool, or anything I do for that matter, will really help Gabby become more confident socially. Regardless how that part of this experiment works out, I'm grateful for the friendship we're developing. I think she is too.

Gumdrop Molecules

Another successful science study. This afternoon we built molecules from gumdrops and toothpicks. It was delicious!

We built sugar with sugar...a glucose molecule.

Here's the amino acid alanine. (Note the poor hand-writing and spelling. Seriously? She copied this out of a book! Definitely not the Gabby of bricks and mortar education. Maybe the sugar was getting to her. We ate a lot. For research purposes, of course.)


And a bunch of other molecules.

My 5-year old was with us for the activity. (His kindergarten is half-day.) Gabby tried to explain to him what we were doing, holding a gumdrop and saying, "This is an atom, William." He didn't get it, but it was pretty funny later, when the littlest one woke up from his nap. He toddled downstairs to the table and William picked up a gumdrop and, very seriously, said, "This is a gumdrop, Fielding."
We all learn at different levels!

Here are the websites we used for reference:
candy compounds
gummy greenhouse gases
tasty models

We used her textbook too. It is Biology by Miller and Levine.

We made it!

Our first week of homeschooling is over -- and everyone survived. I didn't yell too much. Actually, I don't think I yelled at anybody at all. I even made dinner almost every night! Things were pretty messy around the house though, and I had trouble keeping up with the laundry. I won't beat myself up over that, though. I had to deal with 2 consecutive bed-wetting incidents and one middle-of-the-night nose bleed. Consequently, I had a lot of laundry to do. Still have a lot of laundry to do!

Gabby completed her first science project this week. And it was SO 'homeschoolish.'

Homeschoolish: adj. relating to an assignment or field study in homeschool that is unplanned or spontaneous, yet still totally rocks

She was reading about atoms and had finished the info pretty quickly without a lot of questions.

Me: How'd the reading go?
Gabby: Good.
Me: How far'd you get?
Gabby: I finished it.
Me: All of it?
Gabby (she's very nonchalant): yeah.
Me: Did you understand it?
Gabby: Well, I had to read it a couple times, but yeah. Except for the Van der Waal thingies.
Me (I'm overjoyed, no nonchalance here): I don't understand the Van der Waal thingies either!

So then I wasn't sure what to do with her so I asked her if she wanted to build an atom and she really did and a couple days later we were at the craft store filling our cart with random things that could be electrons, protons, and neutrons! It was so great!

Gabby ended up going with pompoms on a wire wreath frame. It's Bohr's model. You can see the disclaimers on her sign.
I know it's not really a big deal for a science project, but we're so proud of it! It is kind of like proof that I'm not faking at teaching her at home. "See I really am putting effort in here!" And who am I saying that too? Well, not the school district. Someone called this week from the middle school and they don't care. Not my family. Everyone's been completely supportive. So it's me. I'm proving me wrong, or right, depending on how you look at it! I'm possibly my fiercest detractor. The quiet voice that says, "Can you really stay focused on this?" "Are you really going to close your laptop and take your nose out of your books and give this kid an education?"

But now I've got a science project, so take that!

Our first day

I am a new homeschooler and today was my first day. My daughter is 12 and in the 7th grade - that is the first year of middle school here. We had always gone the "bricks and mortar" route and been probably 90% satisfied with our elementary school. However as Gabby was changing schools anyway -- and does any child actually enjoy her middle school experience? -- I thought I'd take her out. Just like that. Good bye desks and lining up in the hall, packing lunches, lunch tables (thank heaven!) and all the rest.

And I did it because I believed that homeschooling is right for her. Maybe not for every child or every parent, but for her, for me. All the ups and downs of elementary school seemed to support this hypothesis. The "ups" being repeatable at homeschool, the "downs" more associated with the traditional school environment. That's the hypothesis, but what will the evidence reveal? Time will tell.

I'm not sure what I was expecting this day would be like. So much preparation went into it. We bought curricula and textbooks, some new, some used. We did a lot of research. My husband and I spent hours talking and planning. I guess I imagined something like this: I teach, Gabby studies, light bulb after light bulb go on inside her brain, laughter and good cheer, a world of knowledge taken in, educational bliss.

A truly realistic vision.

But it really turned out to be a rather regular day with my 12-year old. Some very successful quiet self-study. Plenty of pouting and exasperated declarations. Shy, appreciative smiles when I help her. On the whole, a lot of good work completed, along with a sense of accomplishment for Gabby. And a sigh of relief from me.

So I'm wondering will there be more pouting than pleasure in this process? And which one of us will be doing the pouting?