Journey to Excellence

Yesterday was one of those days. Honestly, we hardly ever have them. But, yesterday was one of them. It all started with a squabble in the bathroom while brushing teeth. After a stern discussion, they were both in tears. We took deep breaths and regrouped before we even started. Then our studies started with the Bible story of Cain and Abel. Within moments Eli was sobbing because Cain killed his brother. "It was just such a sad story!" From then on, getting into our school work was practically impossible. We slugged along with extreme lack of focus. Eli was having an especially difficult time. I had told the kids when we first got started that if they worked hard and we got done with school by noon, that we could take the rest of the afternoon off and spend some time at grandma's. That didn't happen. Instead, we worked until 3:00 p.m. The afternoon wasn't any better than the morning. Then when I picked Dawson up from school, I realized that his day had no...

I received an email from Sarah at Elementary Education Degree informing me that Journey to Excellence had been chosen as one of the 25 Best Sites for Homeschoolers for 2012 . I was shocked and overjoyed! Their site says ... Homeschooling is skyrocketing in popularity as the inconsistency of public school quality and the expense of private school has made it harder for parents to promise their children the best education available. Parents who choose to homeschool use a variety of techniques, including the Montessori Method, developed by an Italian educator in the early 21st century, and other non-traditional teaching tactics. The list below brings together some of the best blogs and websites being kept by families that homeschool. Many of the sites feature downloadable activity kits and other supplies for homeschoolers, and all of them offer personal stories and advice for parents considering homeschooling their kids. I appreciated the recognition as an educator to my ...

In Oklahoma, I had a library card through the Tulsa City-County library system. I very rarely searched a bookshelf for a book. My routine was the get on the library website, search for the books I wanted (drawing from the 20+ libraries in the system), request the ones I definitely wanted, and wait for the little e-mail that told me that my books were waiting for me on the "Hold" shelf. There were VERY FEW times in the two years I used this system that there wasn't a book that I needed/wanted. In other words ... I was spoiled. We use books every single day of school . My philosophy is that if you want to learn about it, you read about it. Very frequently I had the maximum books checked out that you could have, according to the rules. Then we moved to a town of less than 3,000 people. There is an adorable library here that is affiliated with the county library, and you can have books delivered here from there. However, when I sat down to see how many books the library...

Oh, what a better day we had yesterday! Mostly, I give credit to the Grumble-Meter. Here it is. It's made from a paper plate colored with markers, a black construction paper arrow, and a brad. Pretty fancy. For each "set" of work Eli and Brynne complete without Eli them grumbling enough times to get to RED (it moves up a color with each grumble I hear), they earn a letter in the Secret Word. The Secret Word is a reward. This week's reward is a GOOD one! Our neighbor gave us free circus tickets in a nearby town, so the Secret Word is CIRCUS. They have the opportunity to earn enough letters through Thursday for us to go to the circus Thursday night. We will have a set of work in the morning and a set of work in the afternoon each day. There can be two grumbles in the morning and two grumbles in the afternoon to still earn their letters. (Believe me, that's a whole lot less grumbles out of Eli than if we didn't have this system.) But we made it throug...

Today we started our FULL daily schedule. The reality of homeschooling Eli and Brynne together hit early. Eli gets distracted very easily, so I had to spend a lot of time getting him focused. Brynne, on the other hand, finishes her work quickly and is ready to move on to the next lesson. Since they are doing the same work, I need for them to be working on the same subjects at the same time. That is going to be a challenge for me. Eli also had two weeping spells before lunch, and I had to excuse him to his room to pull himself together. After he came out the second time, though, he seemed ready to work and was much happier. A Charlotte Mason education with Eli is going to be so important, I think. And I am going to need to be sure to follow her philosophies of short lessons and living our learning in order to keep from overwhelming him. I need a refresher on this style of learning. I'll leave this post with a photo of them happily working on their math assignments. We are c...

"To ensure a fair selection, you all get the same test. You must all climb that tree." Yesterday when I picked Eli up from school, I ran in to talk to his teacher for a bit. She was expressing her stress over the fact that she had realized that day that they only had three weeks until their "big math test" (standardized test). She was worried because they haven't learned measurements yet, and they are still working on time, etc., and she was stressed! As I looked around the room, I saw books lying on students' desks, a table full of homemade weather vanes, lots of literacy bags. Last week Eli was so excited about all his class was learning about weather. They read books, watched some fun videos (he loves Bill Nye The Science Guy so much that I checked out some from the library for him to watch), and were making weather vanes. He was telling me many, many facts about hurricanes and tornadoes. My thought was ... his teacher is going to have to cut ...

Another tragedy today. One of our deciding factors in bringing Dawson home from public school was his experience with bullying, and the fear associated with it. At the time he broke down and begged us to take him out of school, he was dealing with a bully who was already in ISS (In-School Suspension) for fighting who had sent out word that when he got out he was going to "hurt" Dawson. And for absolutely no reason. It was during this grade (7th grade) that Dawson was trying to figure out who he was. He was finding that he was not a jock; he was not a band geek (a highly revered position in our high school); and he was not an honors student. He liked to ride his skateboard. He was a really good kid caught between the bad kids and the popular kids. He's always been friends with the unaccepted, and in middle school you don't to be one of those kids. He was so lost. He lost friends he had always had. His sister was told by one of the popular girls that Dawson was ...

We had a snow day today. Last year we had over two feet of snow AT ONCE and were snowed in for two weeks. We. loved. it. This year, nary a flake. (Okay, a few flakes one day, but it was melted by mid-morning). Snow boots and gloves were on clearance last week, so I stocked up on some for both the little kids for the future. But with this mild winter, the chances of us using them were slim. Until yesterday. There was a possibility of some snow that was to come in overnight! It looked like Tulsa could get around 5 inches. At 5 a.m. this morning, there was snow on the ground, but not near what was predicted. I checked the school closings (because Eli still goes to public school) and EVERY SCHOOL IN OUR AREA WAS CLOSED ..... except for ours. So I laid in bed and tossed and turned and remembered how excited he was before he went to bed because there might be snow to play in, and recalled how the extended forecast showed that the mild temps would be back by tomorrow afternoon so the ...

In high school, I had a favorite teacher. I don't think she was probably everybody's favorite teacher. But, she was mine. She was my Junior and Senior English teacher, my Speech and Debate coach my Senior year, and my pom pon sponsor. I like to think that my pet peeves about grammatical errors have everything to do with this teacher. She was a stickler for grammar, and taught me well. Her name was Louise Rhondes, and she passed away this past week. What made Mrs. Rhodes such a good teacher? PASSION. Mrs. Rhodes had passion for what she taught. She loved grammar and literature and public speaking. She ate and breathed Speech and Debate. She loved it! Her love for her subjects was always contagious to me. She was bold and had high expectations. A couple of times over the past couple of years, I have been asked to give the devotional at my childhood church's Mother Daughter Banquet. Mrs. Rhodes and my mom were in the same Methodist women's circle. Mrs. Rhodes l...

Eli's librarian e-mailed a note last week asking for families to paint pumpkins in the theme of their favorite storybook characters. I immediately knew what we would do! Eli LOVES the Fly Guy series by Tedd Arnold. Those are the books he brings home from the library every week. They are perfect for him. So, meet Fly Guy [the Pumpkin] vs. the Flyswatter . Eli's librarian was elated and thought it was the perfect character for Eli to choose!! It is now being displayed in the library at his school.

My sweet friend Cheryl tagged me in the newest Meme about Homeschooling Resources. Here are my answers. ONE HOMESCHOOL BOOK I HAVE ENJOYED ... My absolute favorite was Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola. It is the greatest inspiration. I plan to purchase the sequel soon, because our library doesn't have it. ONE RESOURCE I WOULDN'T BE WITHOUT ... My local library. ONE RESOURCE I WISH I'D NEVER BOUGHT ... Apologia Biology. Textbooks are not for us. ONE RESOURCE I ENJOYED LAST YEAR ... Learning Adventures' "A World of Adventure". It was an excellent all-inclusive unit study for a first-time homeschooler, especially for a teenage boy. ONE RESOURCE I WILL BE USING THIS YEAR ... The internet, always. ONE RESOURCE I WOULD LIKE TO BUY ... A microscope. ONE RESOURCE I WISH EXISTED ... A voice-activated assignment record keeper and gradebook. ONE HOMESCHOOL CATALOG I ENJOY READING ... I don't really look at catalogs. But, I have books and resourc...

A little exercise, a whole lot of coffee, and some quiet time for Mom before the kids get up. D awson and Eli are up and getting ready for school at 8 a.m. Kyndal was gone by 7 a.m. A bout 9 a.m. Dawson and I are in full swing. Brynne is up, has had breakfast, and is ready. Y es, we're on the couch at 10 a.m. doing a history read-a-loud while Brynne does copywork. I nteresting American History lessons follow. It takes us at least an hour. N ext is lunch and personal reading time, even for Mom. T ime for Dawson to get to his Apologia Biology textbook and experiments. H appiness abounds for Brynne with her MEP math lessons and Living math. E verybody gathers back together for art time, with nature or artist studies. L iterature grabs Brynne and Mom as we read history living books. Thursdays, it's science. I t's time for Dawson to start wrapping up his day, with grammar, typing and/or Spanish. F inally it's 3:00 and school is over. Eli and Kynd...

"The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination." ~ Don Williams, Jr. We believe very strongly in allowing our children to be educated in the environment that best suits their individual needs, and that will best help them reach their own level of Excellence . That is why we currently have two children in public school and two children who are homeschooled. These situations are always subject to change based on circumstances. Journey to Excellence was intended to be a chronicle of our homeschooling experience. But, like the above quote states, we all have different paths to take. Because of that, I will include all schooling experiences of our children on this site. So I'd like to formally introduce you to the Travelers on this Journey to Excellence . Kyndal Kyndal is a junior at our local high school. She is just a "public school kid". She loves the social aspect...

THANK YOU to the Anonymous Commenter who told me that my font was so squished up that it was barely readable! I had no idea! On my Mac, it didn't look like that! So, I got on my husband's laptop and made the appropriate changes. I HOPE THIS HELPS! Anonymous, let me know if this is better for you! I'd hate to lose a Follower because of a Wicky Wacky font.

When Dawson came downstairs a little while ago and said that he had completed his Pre-Algebra final and made a 91%, I experienced quite a wave of emotions! First I realized that WE .. ARE .. DONE !!!!! That was his last assignment. He and I were so excited! We high-fived and hugged. We made it through our first year of homeschooling. Then I almost started crying because I took a brief moment to look back on all that we have accomplished this year as teacher and student, mother and son. I was a little overwhelmed. And we are both still really happy with our decision for him to come home. We are ready for another great year next year, but are also ready for a break. Let the break begin!! (Brynne is also done, other than our final field trip tomorrow to the zoo. We had a great year! I don't think the emotions are as high for her or for me because we knew our time together would be great. And, it has been! And for her, the learning never stops. She has plans to do lots of reading...

The decision to homeschool Dawson and Brynne is a rather easy one. The decision to have Kyndal continue attending public school is a rather easy one. The decision about whether to leave Eli in public school or bring him home is a very difficult one. A brief history: Eli had Interuterine Growth Retardation in the womb. The doctors considered taking him at about 34 weeks because his growth rate was so low. I was measuring several centimeters smaller than I should have been at that point. Because he measured above the 10% mark at that point, they decided to leave him in. I delivered at a little over 38 weeks, but at full term he was only 5 1/2 pounds. During delivery his heart rate dropped off the chart twice. That's when an emergency c-section was performed. Eli was different right from the start. He was an extra good baby .. almost too good. It was at about a year old that we started to see some "things". Actually it had started earlier than that, but we didn't rea...

Before we pulled Brynne out of public school, she had a little boy in her kindergarten class named Joshua. He was struggling and for various reasons, and after much prayer, his parents decided to pull him out of public school and homeschool him. I talked with them at length on the day they were pulling him out. They had that "terrified" look parents get (especially moms) when faced with the daunting task of schooling their child. They had questions. I had few answers. But the one thing I could give them was encouragement. Over the course of the next couple of weeks Heather and I corresponded by e-mail. Again, she had questions and I had encouragement. I know that I felt such a deep connection to her through our recent shared experience. I found out today that while driving home to take her out on a date last Friday night, her husband was killed in a car accident. I am sure that she is more terrified right now than she has ever been in her life ... the uncertainty of her...

A new hobby of Brynne's is finding things that are shaped like the state of Oklahoma. She cracks me up with what she comes up with! And she always amazes me that she really did find something. A piece of farm equipment we saw while on our way to our airport field trip. Blurry pic, but I was driving. A small piece of bark washed up on the beach in Pensacola. This girl is a scream. Really, just spend a day with her and you'll be amazed.

For the most part the attitudes here in our school are really good. Are my students excited to get started in the morning? Not usually. But, they don't generally give me any trouble once I establish that we are, in fact, getting started. And then things move along rather smoothly until lunch. We usually get the majority of our schooling for the day done by then. But then there are those days ... typically Mondays ... when the attitudes are stinky and I want to scream! The attitudes are usually prompted by a tiresome weekend of friends, xbox, late nights, sleeping in, sporadic eating. And, yes, that's my fault because I allow it. But, after a week of working so hard I feel that it's important that he they get the opportunities to do those things, especially since there is not a lot of socialization that goes on during the week. But all of this justification doesn't make the attitude any easier to handle. So, I think I will give him them 15 more minutes, will go d...

Things have been a little quiet at our school this week because Brynne has been sick. We are hoping to do some things today. But I had to share a **smile** moment from my older daughter who attends public school. If you were to know her you would know that she is the master procrastinator! She's been working on a research project about Carrie Underwood. While watching her two favorite DVR'd shows yesterday afternoon she paused it and said, "I think I'm going to go ahead and get my report done and turned in now and I'll watch t.v. later." Huh???? What have you done with Kyndal???? And that's exactly what she did. And she turned it in electronically at 7:30 p.m. (when normally she would have stayed up all night doing it and turned it in at 7:56 a.m. this morning when it was due by 8:00 a.m.). Later she said, "Wow, it feels good to be all done with it early so I can just relax." Duh .... (I didn't say that.) And, the paper was five pages inste...