Learning As We Go

Kyle and I have entertained the idea of homeschooling our children for years.  This year, with all of it's uncertainties and unknowns, seemed like the perfect time to start.  We hoped that homeschooling would not only provide a healthy environment for learning and development but also provide a stable foundation for a year that looked so uncertain.

During our summer vacation, I talked with my experienced homeschooling friends, got some great advice, and found some good resources and curriculum ideas.  I was really excited and felt that homeschool would be a good fit for our family.  But, I was also very overwhelmed.  In fact, it was a challenge to get things started and put into practice some of the thoughts, ideas, and advice that were overrunning my mind.  Finally, with a desire just to start and knowing there would be lots of adjustments along the way, we officially kicked off the school year at the Kisebach Homeschool in September 2013.

Our homeschool is far from perfect.  It doesn't run smoothly.  We don't have all the tools and resources we want.  Schedules and goals keep changing.  We're constantly experimenting with different ideas and methods, evaluating and making adaptions, and trying to find the best fit for each child and parent and the family as a whole.  We're learning as we go!  

During a typical school day, we try to start with a little devotional.  The kids and I take turns sharing an inspirational thought or scripture.  I've been touched by their sweet thoughts and messages.  Then, the kids rotate doing work on either the computer (a large part of our curriculum is through Time 4 Learning and Khan Academy), in workbooks, writing in their journals, filling out worksheets I find online, or reading books.  I float from child to child for one-on-one time to help explain a topic, review their work, or just observe and encourage them.  Some subjects, like History and Science, we study together as a whole group and then do more fun, elaborate, enrichment activities.  Our recess time tends to be snack time, free time which usually means play with LEGOs, or go to a park or shopping mall.  At least once a week we do a field trip or meet up with other homeschooling families.  

Some days are fantastic and the kids and I are so excited to share what we did and learned.  Other days are more ho-hum as we try to get through the prescribed work.  And yes, occasionally we have a what-were-we-thinking kind of day.  But, overall, we love homeschooling.  I love to see how learning and education is transforming into a way of life and is not just for "school time".  It's fun to watch the kids turn a simple trip to the grocery store or a walk to the park into a learning opportunity.  Cade and Abby even made a long evening of babysitting into an educational evening filled with activities and arts and crafts that they forgot to watch the movie they picked out for the occasion.   

History has become one of the kids' favorite subjects.  We're using The Story of the World curriculum by Susan Bauer.  This series recounts history in an engaging, read aloud format perfect for children.  It also has an Activity Book filled with additional reading material suggestions, maps, crafts, and other excellent enrichment activities.  We're currently studying Volume 3 - Early Modern Times and have already learned about the Holy Roman Emperor, religious rebellions in Europe, the colonization of the Americas (North and South), warlords of Japan, empires in the Middle East, and the Triangular Trade.  

Some of the extra activities we did during our study of the colonization of America included reading additional books about Jamestown and Pocahontas, playing a stockholder game about the London Company who financed the expeditions to the New World, making corn bread, and creating our own Thanksgiving decorations.

The kids looked up Native American names and became Kwahu (hawk), Keezheekoni (burning fire), Kangee (raven), and Jaci (moon) for a day.

After reading about the Japanese warlords, we learned about sumo wrestling and some of the rules and rituals associated with this sport.  The kids turned into a rikishi (wrestler) with pillows and the girls put their hair in the traditional chonmage style.  Our area rug became the dohyo (ring) as the kids took turns competing with each other, including acting out some of the traditional rituals like the chirichozu (squatting at opposite ends of the ring and clapping once), shako (the exaggerated foot stomping to drive away bad spirits), and shikiri (tossing salt into the ring and glaring at the opponent).  This was a hilariously fun activity!

During our Japan day, we also learned how to write Haikus.

Ian's Haikus

I saw a fat guy

With a pie of jelly beans

He jumped off a cliff

LEGOs are so fun

Many, many things to build

Play with my brother

Abby's Haikus

Butterflies

Butterflies are bright

You can see them flutter by

Colors in the sky

Gymnastics

Tumbling 'cross the floor

Front flips, backflips, cartwheels too

Score a perfect ten

Cade's Haikus

Glistening Moonlight

Sparkling all night long,

Take a look, it’s magical,

The silvery light!

Swaying Breeze

The wonderful breeze,

It’s gentle, quiet, perfect

Rhythm is so sweet! 

A quick study of Persia explained the many different nations that have ruled this area.  One of these rulers was Shah Abbas, who is known for the building of roads, bridges, and ports.  The most famous bridge is the "Bridge of Thirty-Three Arches".  Out of paper, we made a small version of this bridge.  Our model was not strong enough to hold a toy car but it did support a LEGO alligator.

When we studied the Triangular Trade we learned about Queen Nzinga of Angola who fought against the Portuguese and the slave trade.  For a fun art project, we created our own traditional, African adinkra patterns with stamps made of sponges, potatoes, and chopsticks.  

Homeschool is a learning process for all of us but we are really enjoying this opportunity to learn and develop.  The kids already claim this is their best school year yet and Abby repeatedly tells me I'm her "favorite teacher ever" (it's an easy title to receive since she's comparing me to her teacher last year).  Really, the kids just like being more in charge of their education and having input to the things they study and do.  We'll continue to share our homeschool lessons, activities, and work periodically on this blog.