Why I do what I do

Someone posted on a forum that I participate in that they were looking for reasons to continue homeschooling and asked others to please list the reasons that they homeschooled.

Of course, there were many people who have homeschooled from day 1 who have a long list of reasons that schools themselves are evil. I don't think they are, but my son doesn't 'fit' at a school very well, and I love having the opportunity to be able to homeschool. If it doesn't work out, he can always go back, and we'll work around his issues as they arise.

There were also people who had a good list of reasons such as flexible scheduling, saving money, etc. Very, very valid reasons to homeschool were included in these lists, and I'd copy and paste them here if it wouldn't turn this post into a novelette as opposed to a short story.

Very few people mentioned the reasons that I am homeschooling M1. They are out there, I'm sure, but either they have homeschooled from the beginning and never ran into the same issues I have or they just aren't as vocal because they are aware that folks like us are in the minority. Then again, kids like M1 are in the minority, too.

I have mentioned some of these reasons before, so just smack me if I start repeating myself too often. However, without further adieu, I present to you my reasons for homeschooling:

1. I refuse to have my son labeled.
He is a very smart kid and learns quickly, but he has some issues. I could have kept him at the private school he was at, but even there, the teachers and administration were at their wits' end as to how to handle him. He gets disruptive when he's bored. By homeschooling, I'm able to move to the next subject as soon as he finishes one. He loves this. He doesn't do timed tests well at all because he spends so much time worrying about how much time is left that he forgets about the test. Every time I would go in to have a conference with the teacher, she'd tell me that he scored X on a reading test but she actually knew he was at Y level. She also would occasionally send me notes or e-mails asking what to do about a new tic or problem he had developed, like I should be able to tell her how to 'fix' it. Teachers do talk about students like these, and in time, he would have been labeled the special kid. If I had sent him to a public school, or even if I'd continued at the private one, I'd probably have had to set up an IEP, especially regarding handwriting which, by the end of his kindergarten year, was still completely illegible. By bringing him home, I can work with him. I don't need to time anything as long as I can see that he is progressing. I don't have to worry about his tics because they're not bothering anyone. If he knocks over an entire case of blocks, nobody is going to call him clumsy. This brings me to point #2.

2. I refuse to let him be bullied.
He's big for his age, so he often wants to play with the older kids, but they usually reject him after a day or two as 'too weird' and move on. When he plays with kids his age, he can have a hard time toning down the roughness factor and sometimes winds up hurting someone, which he hates doing but can't always control. The girls in his class picked on him because he wasn't able to control himself during class, usually making noises or banging things, which is something that will get better with age but not at the same rate as his peers. He internalizes a lot of things as part of his issues, not realizing that an adult might be able to help, and so I'd often never hear about these incidents until months after they happened. Now that he's home, he loves not having to worry about what anyone is going to do to him or say to him.

3. I refuse to make him spend an entire day in a chair.
He is wiggly. He NEEDS to be able to get up and move. Some educators would argue with me and say that he NEEDS to be able to learn to sit still and work for long periods of time, but that's not true. Sure, if he intends to go to college, he'll have to be able to sit through a lecture and take notes and work, but that's still about 12 years away, and then, for all I know, he'll be training for a job in a field where he can be out working 95% of the time! Not to mention the fact that he can plan classes with large breaks in between. He doesn't need to achieve perfect behavior at the first-grade level, or the second, or the third. He can't do it without going crazy, and I love that I don't have to make him. He rejected a project I had planned for him yesterday because it involved sitting still. Instead, he took the pharaoh's crown that we'd made last week, decorated it, cut out a false beard, taped it to his chin, and pretended to be pharaoh. Not a teacher in the public or private school world could let their entire class just make a project as they pleased, being up and running around while they do it.

4. I don't like medicating him.

Last year, I medicated him. I felt I had to because not only was he considered disruptive in a school setting, he would explode when he got home. I figured out at some point during the year that his explosions were all due to the release of anxiety. I took him off the medication at the end of June, just to see how things would go, and as long as I keep his stress and anxiety level low, he acts like any other very active 6-year-old boy. It's only when he gets worked up that things start to go awry. Timeouts are still a perfect solution for him, especially if I can send him outside where he has lots of space to run off the energy. He was given 'hidey holes' in his kindergarten classroom, but they were small, and he still had to be quiet so that he wasn't disturbing the students who were still working. That doesn't fly for him.

5. I do not believe schools can teach exactly to how my child learns.

My son is very hands-on/visual, as I think most boys tend to be. Teachers, especially as the kids get older, have a hard time tailoring learning to kinesthetic learners. Homeschooling lets me teach the way he learns and, if he isn't getting a concept, I can stop, back up, or change the teaching strategy as needed.
It's very nice to have this opportunity.

The last day

The contractor finished his part of the bathroom today. There's still work to be done - painting the walls/trim, staining the closet door, and reinstalling the medicine cabinet (now painted bone to match the rest of the bathroom), but for the most part, it's finished.

Just for kicks, let's take a look at the before and after, shall we?

BEFORE




AFTER



BEFORE


AFTER
BEFORE


AFTER
I'm thinking I like this bathroom now. Final pictures will be posted as soon as it's all done!

Bribery - it's a way of life

So here's the kitty update. One way or the other, we have a home for all of them! My mother-in-law is also going to take one. She said she wanted a male with white paws; as far as I can tell right now, we have only one that fits that description, so that's who she gets. She's going to name him Chance, because it was Chance that caused me to hear the kitten cries from underneath my house and be able to get them all out safely. I'm taking them all to the vet tomorrow to make sure they're healthy, which I believe they are other than maybe a little bit of eye gunk, and then they'll be ready for new homes.

Two of them might go with my friend M. She just needs to make sure that her daughter's not actually allergic to kitties before she keeps them. If she doesn't wind up keeping them, another friend's father will take them for well-kept barn cats - he feeds them and closes them in the barn at night, but they will be barn cats. Given the alternative these babies had of turning feral... I'll let them be barn cats!

The hardest part is going to be deciding which one we keep. My kids begged, cried, and otherwise worked hard on Daddy until he agreed to let us keep one. But just one. And only one. And man, it's hard to pick!! All four of them (well, three since I've promised my MIL one) have absolutely great attributes and reasons to keep them.

The girl is just as snuggly as anything you've ever met. She's the kind that loves to stick her nose in your nose, sit on your chest, and have a nap attack instantly.




(This is M2 snuggling with Chance.)

Even Oz is smitten. He really loves the most fluffy cat who is, admittedly, the most adorable, but Oz has a hard time getting past the fluff. The fact that we walk on Pepe's fur wads on a daily basis makes this understandable.

Then there's the all-black spitfire/climber. He's a busy little beaver, and he's M1's favorite. He's got shorter fur than the rest of them, though he still has at least a little bit of an undercoat. M1 has named him Set, after the Egyptian god that we started studying today, and would just love love LOVE to keep him.

Mommy's going to take some bribery. That girl and the fluffernutter have me smitten.

The vanity and countertop got tentatively placed today. There are going to have to be a few minor changes to the bathroom to get this set in, but it'll get done tomorrow. This counter is larger than our old one, but apparently it's almost impossible to get a smaller one these days. And it does look nice. The only down side is that we're unable to center it underneath the medicine cabinet at this point. Not ideal, but it'll still look better than it used to!


Here's a rough overview of the bathroom at the moment. Most of it is done; the contractor thinks he'll have just about everything done by the end of tomorrow! Floor trim, door trim, recessed toilet paper holder, the cabinet over the toilet, finish up the vanity/countertop, hang the shower rod, and voila! OK, not voila, but close. It'll be so, so close! I can't wait to get the shower curtain, bath mat, and other stuff in...


... and to be able to take a shower!!! This is actually functional at this point; we're just waiting on the grout to be sealed.

*sigh of happiness* It'll be so nice to have it done, and even nicer to be able to invite people over and not be ashamed of the bathroom!

The trifecta - a long post about a crazy day

Today was a crazy, weird sort of day. After all the drama of yesterday (none mine, but exposure = fatigue), I had been hoping for a nice, relaxed sort of day.

HA! I should know better. It wasn't a bad day, just crazy and weird.

It started out very pleasantly. M1 and I got done very quickly with most of his schoolwork, and his science 'assignment' was to start a science journal today. Without a working loo, he and I headed to a nearby park where I knew they let some of the grass grow a little crazy... and I let the boy go nuts.


He had a lot of fun. At one point, another nature-lover pointed out a bald eagle soaring over the nearby river, and he spent quite a bit of time watching it. Did he put it in the journal? Nope, but that's okay. He still had a blast and can't wait to go back.

Once the contractor left today, I got to see my new floor... and new toilet... and if you look carefully on the right, you can see the new door hardware that we've added. I really, really like the floor. That was actually one of my biggest worries - that the floor would go in, and it wouldn't look good with everything else we'd purchased. I shouldn't have worried. It's great!

So... then... at about 3:45 this afternoon... I heard a mewing.

Not a loud mewing.

Just... mewing.

Kitten mewing.
And it was coming from under my house.

So, being me (and not really wanting things to die underneath the house and really not wanting to hear Oz whine about having to rescue cats), I went and took a peek.

And these are what I pulled out.




They're probably 5-6 weeks old. They are active, cute, flea-free(!), and clearly - especially this last one - love food. They're kittypiled in the dog cage tonight.
And now you're updated on my weird, crazy day.

Meow.

Just a daily update :)

If you look over in the left-hand column of this blog, you'll see a list of the curricula that I'm using this year. In that list is a book for history called "Story of the World." You can also purchase an activity guide to go with it. I'm in love with that guide. It contains ideas for supplemental reading, crafts, maps, coloring pages, games, recipes, etc., etc., etc. *I* think the book is just about the bomb-diggity.

Today, for history, we reviewed Chapter 1, which covered nomads and early farmers, and made a craft - a cave painting! M1 had checked a book out of the library about prehistoric rock art, so he considered himself well-versed in this process, especially the colors used. He loved that a lot of them painted bison in their creations, so that's what he did.

There's his bison, complete with a hunter (the shape up at the top) wielding a bow and arrow to hunt his prey. Note the use of browns and blacks and brown mixed with orange because "that's what they had back then, Mom."

I'm so glad he's enjoying learning at home. Tomorrow is science journal day - his first one - so I can't wait to see what he discovers! I won't be able to do it at home like I had planned since we'll be toilet-less for most of the day, but that's all right... maybe we'll head down to Riverside or out to a park and see what's to be seen!



Time for the bathroom update! The rest of the tub tile got put in today - grout to be done tomorrow, I imagine - as well as the subfloor laid and trim put in around the window. The floor tile is supposed to be laid tomorrow (which is why we'll be toilet-less), so that'll be the true test of what the room is going to look like. Fingers crossed... though, as Oz and other people have told me, it can't look any worse than it used to!

Just a little remodeling update :)

I am really having a lot of fun documenting this remodeling job. Take a couple of photos - snap, snap - upload, and yay! It'll be fun... and I say this with great love... or sarcasm... to look back and remember how loooong it took to remodel this room.

However, it's going to look wooooonderful. I'm very much liking the work that is getting done.


Yesterday we got the bathroom mudded and a new window installed - one without cracks and that doesn't make noise when it opens! Woohoo! It had to be custom-ordered because the size of the old one. While it's weird to have a bathroom without any sort of dressing over it (yet), it is nice to have a window that looks good.


More mud work that got finished before heading home yesterday.
Yesterday was Friday.
Then he came back today and did more! We got a second coat of mud added to the walls; all that should need to be done now is sanding before we will be able to paint it. Also - and this is just too neat - we got the ceiling smooth-coated "because it'll look better." No extra charge, either.

Here's the rest of the work got done today. This is the tub/shower stall. It's not totally completed because some of that accessory tile that we had purchased was off-center and therefore not up to standard. We also got the tile laid up higher than it used to, which will be nice for Oz since he's so tall. We'll be able to put the shower rail up nice and high if we need to.

It'll be good when it gets done. The waiting just sucks. I've never been good at waiting!

And Now for Something Completely Different

So... you've met my cats. You've met almost all the animals that we have around here, except the lizard which we have subsequently obtained, but for right now, the cats are the only ones that matter.

Now... focus on the black-and-white skunk-looking dude on the right.


This is Pepe. He is the oldest cat of the bunch, being about 17 years old.

He has some weird stuff going on, like his penchant for pulling out his own fur and the fact that his right ear is permanently scarred down from a fight he reportedly got into as a kitten. He whips the dog into shape quite a bit, too, just for fun.

He also likes to sleep in weird places, like inside this toy bathtub, on top of the paper stacks on the desk, behind the desk on top of the power supply (which irritates Oz to no end, as he also consistently hit the power switch), and in M2's princess chair.

However... he's also a tough old coot! Yesterday, while the contractor was hauling in drywall, he escaped out the front door. Not usually a problem since he tends to come right back, but I hadn't factored in the fact that we have a stray that I've named Darwin living under the house... and Pepe decided he had to go scope out this abode.

And got stuck.

We found him this evening, probably 36 hours later, under the house with nothing wrong with him other than a slightly bloody nose, some dirt in his very long fur, and a ravenous appetite.

They don't make 'em like this very often. Pepe, I'm glad you're home!

Impromptu fun/bathroom update

Today was another attempt at homeschool. I hesitate to call it actual success yet; we'll see where we are in a month or so before I go there. It's hard to evaluate something when you've only been at it for two days!

Anyway, so today, as part of his handwriting practice, I gave him 'free writing' time. I'm going to save his stories, letters, postcards, anything he writes in this time and be - hopefully - able to see how his handwriting improves over time. Practice will be good for him, no doubt.

He, however, decided that to properly do free writing, he needed to brainstorm. And to brainstorm, he needed a brainstorming cap.

So, with a little ingenuity, construction paper, scissors, and glue, he made himself one - a little hat thing with a white cloud and yellow lightning that was so big it covered his face (which is why he's making eye holes in this photo). It was really cute.


For science today, we talked about animal classification - basically the point was to understand that critters are classified by characteristics. To illustrate the point, I found a bag of 15-bean soup mix in the grocery store the other week, and he and I created this key. It's not perfect, of course, since he and I were both winging it, but it did get the point home, especially since he's going to work on memorizing the list of classification: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. Very handy.

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And now for something completely different... day 3 of the bathroom remodel. We have walls!

First Day of School and other stuff

Today was our first day of school for both M2 at private preschool (where I have graciously volunteered to be the homeroom mom, which means I'm probably crazy... but I knew that anyway... and I figured since it's my third year up at that particular preschool, I'm due) and M1 at homeschool. M2 actually has the advantage this year in that she knows the teachers, the setup, what she's supposed to do at what time of day, and some of her friends. M1 and I are going to puzzle this out one day at a time.

M2 was very excited about going to school, which is why this photo is a little blurry, because she wouldn't quit bouncing in her seat.


This was taken after M1 and I got back home, obviously. He picked math as his first topic. Place values were on the agenda for today. He is easily able to go from manipulative to number but has a harder time going the other way. I figure in another day or so we'll get it down pat and will be able to move on.

He loved being at home. I thought he was bored, but he told me he liked it better than kindergarten because, "I don't have to wait on anyone!"

I suppose he has a valid point.

He also enjoyed getting to harvest the green beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, and one very significant foot-long piece of okra that he found hidden among the bell pepper plants. I hope I remember to get a photo of him holding it tomorrow. Still haven't made it out to the blackberry bushes. Stupid colt. They're probably done by now, especially in this loverly 100+ degree heat.


These are the bathroom update pictures from Day 2. This project is definitely going to take longer than we or the contractor thought, but the holdups are just... THERE. There's no getting around the fact that we have an itty-bitty bathroom where a contractor and an electrician really can't work in the same space at the same time, ya know? But we do have a - functioning - light in the ceiling in there now as well as a heater and a fan which still needs to be exhausted through the roof. I'm happy. New insulation is in on the outside wall which changes the acoustics of that room dramatically, and the drywall is off everywhere else. That's his project for tomorrow.

Have a happy evening!

Bathroom remodel - Day 1

My bathroom has been needing a good remodel for a LONG, LONG time. It was hideous. The wallpaper was crooked, the light in the ceiling hasn't worked for years, the tub and toilet were cast-iron and 1970s harvest gold. Yeah... it was bad. I tried peeling off the wallpaper at one point, thinking I could just repaint the walls, but apparently there was wainscoting or something under there at some point or other - I really have no idea - and the wallboard was in awful shape, too.

Now, Oz and I have done remodeling ourselves here a few times. We ripped out carpet in our dining room and sanded/refinished the hardwood floors, painted the walls, scraped the ceiling, added new trim, and it looks good! But we couldn't do that in the bathroom. When you only have one toilet, one shower, one tub, it can't be a job that drags on forever and ever.

So, finally, we bit the bullet and decided to hire a contractor. He started today, but Oz and I started last night, about midnight, when we emptied out the entire bathroom and scraped the popcorn off the ceiling. The bathroom is absolutely miniscule, so we need all the illusions of size we can get.

Did I mention that Oz is very tall? He's not using a ladder here at all.

Anyway... so the contractor got started today. Here are a few before and after photos from Day 1.

Really digging the fact that there's no insulation on that outside, west-facing wall...

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We're keeping the toilet functional for as long as possible and then just putting in the new one.

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We're going to put that medicine cabinet back in once we get some biscuit-colored Rustoleum on it.

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Now... another thing you have to understand about my house is that it was built in 1965. It has had two owners. The people we bought it from were sweet, wonderful people, but the guy fancied himself a handyman. Oz and I don't find that to be the case. His name was Bob... and in the course of remodeling our house, we have run across case after case where Bob jury-rigged something to work at the time, but sometimes it's just absolutely fascinating to see what he's come up with. And sometimes it's downright scary.

We had to explain the idea of a Bobjob to the contractor today when he discovered that the tile around our shower stall had been hung with liquid nails.

Then... and I don't know whether to attribute this to Bob or not... we found THIS in the wall boosting up a recessed toilet paper holder.

I don't know if you can read it, but the date on this image is February 25, 1951.

My parents were not alive.

This house wasn't even built, since it wasn't built until 1965.

I can only imagine what we're going to find tomorrow. The electrician is supposed to come out and install a new fan/light/heater combo, and more demolition will take place.