Welcome Back to Bat Country

Well, hello! Fancy meeting you here. Come here often? I’m so sorry for my extended absence. As most moms can attest, time has gotten away from me but let’s see if I can catch you up. I’ve switched jobs, homes, schools, philosophies and hair styles. Lorelei is 5 going on 15 and we’ve made some serious sacrifices and decisions in the past several months. Now that we’ve settled into our routine a bit more, it’s time to get back in the saddle. With homeschooling, blogging and overall awesomeness. So with that being said, you can look forward to the following and much more

• Private School Problems: Parts 2 and 3
• Moving the Career Forward
• Summer Education Options
• The Sweet Life of Single Motherhood
• Public School Involvement

So please, please, please forgive me and I hope I can make it up to you with stimulating reading material or at least something for you to openly mock.

Welcome back to Bat Country

Private School Problems (part 1 of a 3 parter)

Hello my fellow crazies. My sympathetic moms and dads who barely remember the blur that was January.  Where have I been? Don't ask me, in my mind it's still November. But the calendar tells me different and my bank account shows the scars of a holiday season and fifth birthday party and thus I must admit that time is indeed passing. And what, pray tell, have we been up to?

Lorelei is adjusting quite well to the school environment. She's making friends and going to birthday parties and every few months or so I get to attend a PTA meeting where I am shamelessly guilted into giving even more money to the school for various improvements and fundraisers. They take off every conceivable holiday which means I am constantly looking for childcare options. Lorelei comes home reciting dogma that she cannot explain and I'm still having to explain to people the arbitrary laws that prohibit my well-read daughter from skipping this Letter-of-the-Week routine and skipping to Kindergarten or even 1st grade. Long story short- this is pretty much what I expected. However it's not all negative. In fact, let's take a look at the balance:

You can see the frustration. I'm sticking with the decision that Christ the King was the best choice given the circumstances, but I'm not too sure how sustainable it is for us in the long term. We have a few more months before summer vacation hits and that is putting the decisions into an even harsher perspective given that I've blown my whole childcare budget and still have two unaccounted for months to...well...account for!

The questions are endless and the issues mounting and time is running out.

Non Illegitimi Carborundum,

Bat Country

Mini-me

I forget what little mirrors these critters can be. Until I hear a sarcastic tone I didn't realize was in my voice echoed from my little monster. Or when Lorelei brings me a cool cloth for my head because she knows I'm not feeling well. Or when she sits at her desk studiously writing in her workbooks because she saw my working on countless spreadsheets. Of course I try not to cuss around her and I save the keggers for when she's sleeping over somewhere else (joking Nana), but I've come to realize that my good and bad habits are reflected through her in almost real time.

Routines are Flexible
Not too long ago we would come home and each plop in front of a TV; she watching cartoons and I HGTV. We ate somewhere in there and made our way to bed eventually. However, a couple of weeks ago, we came home and I forgot to turn the TV on. We had to walk the dog and get something out of the car and it just never came up. While taking trips outside, Lorelei made a dinner request, so we cooked together. When that was over it was bath time then bedtime and lo and behold we had completely missed Dora, Glee, Backyardigans, everything! And the Earth continued to turn. I didn't want to make a big thing of it so the next day I "forgot" to turn on the TV and plop and sure enough, we walked to the local beach and Lorelei splashed in the waves while I read my Kindle. A few more days of "forgetfullness" and we've completely changed our routine. We're eating better because I can focus on the task of preparing dinner while she takes care of the puppy and settles in (comfy clothes and all). The house is cleaner because I can do productive chores rather than my TV chores (I mean honestly, how many House Hunters must I watch?) Turns out, those ruts aren't so hard to break.

Gradulation (typo intentional)
I graduated from University of South Florida last Thursday with a BA in Psychology. I began courses in the Fall of 2003 and now, May of 2011 I finally made it to the cap and gown, traipse across the stage bit. I sat amidst kids who still thought it the ultimate rebellion to show up to graduation drunk or high. I posed for pictures with the college president whom I'd never met before but congratulated me as if she had been at my first grade pageant. And afterwards, my family and friends gathered to celebrate. The whole process was a bit surreal. As I walked across the stage, I looked up and could see Lorelei waving from a balcony. Truth be told, I spent most of the ceremony reading on my Kindle while the other 1,400 graduates each got their hands shaken. But when I saw her jumping up and down and waving, I lost it. My little girl. My baby who has her own duster so she can "clean like Mommy" and her own pots and pans so she can "cook like Mommy" and even had me cut her hair "short like Mommy" just saw Mommy graduate. Over the past 4 years Lorelei has watched Mommy do homework, study, take exams and go to classes. Now she wants to "gradulate just like Mommy".

Why "Bat Country"?

After several inquisitive and not so indirect comments about the title of my blog, I feel obliged to let ya'll in on a little secret. What is Bat Country and why would I name a blog about Home Schooling it?

We can't stop here...

Hunter S. Thompson. Granted not the role model most mothers have and I'm certainly not having Lorelei learn grammar from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but there is a point to the quote I've chosen for this crazy mixed-up lifestyle. "We can't stop here, this is bat country". As Dr. Gonzo and Raul Duke are careening towards Las Vegas in Thompson's story-turned-Johnny Depp-movie, they are loaded up on so many mind-altering substances and drugs most of us have never before heard of, Duke starts to hallucinate. Hundreds of flying bats fill the sky while his "lawyer" tans himself in the passenger seat of their convertible. It's madness. It's hilarious, truer than most of us like to admit madness.

...this is bat country!

We all have our stories. Let's face it, we're all the star of our own movies. So I'm not going to claim that I've had a better or worse life than anyone else. I can say, though, that for me, it's been quite a ride and I'm just beginning. At this pace, God help me at 50. Life, parenthood, career, school, family, friends, love - very little of it is simple, none of it is easy and the best plan is to keep going. Keep moving, keep growing and improving and learning and failing and succeeding and traveling. I don't want to stop! Not here. Not when there is so much to do and see.

This isn't just a blog about Home Schooling. It's about living a life like no other. If that means freeing ourselves from regimented curriculum and arbitrary school calendars, then rock on. Lorelei is already getting a education beyond what VPK can give her. Let's learn by doing! Let's learn by trying and exploring.

Lorelei and I. This is our life. A life like no other; one that is constantly in motion and filled with love and adventure.

Juggling Life and Learning

I keep hearing and seeing these commercials about supermoms. There's the TBO.com one where the mom sings about all the different practices and pets and demands on her time. There's the one with the air freshener that freshens while you take care of kids and meet with your friends and watch movies. There's even one where the mom freezes time to enjoy her cup of coffee while her children dump juice on her pristine carpet and her husband thoughtlessly wrecks the living room with his neanderthal friends.
I can relate to none of these!

Life for me is much more like that Family Guy commercial with Stewie pestering Lois. After a long day of being pecked to death by chickens (or what you call "work") I go home to the woodepecker extraordinaire. And I must admit there are evenings when I'd rather turn on Cat and the Hat and escape to my nice, quiet room than drill Lorelei on how to say "Hello" in four langauges. (Believe it or not she can actually differentiate 'Bonjour' as 'French' and "Hola' as 'Spanish')

For all of you moms out there wringing your hands and straining your sanity, it's okay. Being Super Woman sometimes means getting the kids fed and not drop-kicking them out of the window. Then again, there are days when they surprise you.

Last night, my little learner structured her very own home school experience...for both of us. As I was dragging my tired, pecked-out rear home, she chirpily demanded to go to the YMCA. "But, honey, wouldn't you rather go home and order a pizza and watch Tinker Bell?" "Maybe later, Mommy" Who is this child and where did she come from? So, fine, we'll go but I'm not going to like it.

Once there, she promptly took over the game of toss in the Kid Zone and I felt obligated to memorize some of my favorite poems in French while treadmilling (it's a word now!). I felt better and learned the first stanza to Kipling's If in French. Score one for the little monster.

Finally home, I go to plop my sweatiness on the couch and little Miss L directs me to her desk where she insists on doing 10 workbook pages of Color by Number, Letters, Basic Addition and all other sorts of goodies. Seriously, what four year old chooses schoolwork over TV? Mine! And of course, I feel like a heel loafing in front of House Crashers so I guess I could get caught up on my own homework...

Of course we finally get to the point where it bed time and can you believe that little monster wants to cuddle? I mean, what's with cuteness? Here I am, totally set on having a meaningless waste of a night and she goes and ruins it with exercise and learning and family time. Moral of the story (oh yes, there is one): Being a family sometimes means dragging each other kicking and screaming in the right direction. Did I teach her that or did she teach me?

Now if only I could remind her of that when I prying her out of bed in the morning...

Toodles from Bat Country

Start Here

Staring down the barrel of your child's education is a daunting task to say the least. I keep searching for the step by step guide that says, "Buy this" "Say that" *poof* you have a college grad. It doesn't work like that. Seriously what does? Much like anything else, it's all theory until you jump in an try it. So for my sake and those who need to hear it; this is the first step. The harmless way of getting your feet wet without committing yourself one we or another.

Curriculum
I'm not a huge fan of it. I think with a little creativity you can exhaust any subject without investing in cumbersome textbooks (I'm being green about it, yeah, that's it). But that being said, I'm not against workbooks and things you can find with just a modicum of digging (or in most cases Googling).

Identify a Subject
I'm not insulting your intelligence here, I'm honestly saying, 'Pick a topic any topic'

• Language - a natural starting point and I think the easiest place to begin
• Math - another obvious one, but explaining it is a lot harder than I thought
• Science - content really depends on age, but look around nature and ask "why" or "how" and you've got the basis for science lesson...and of course there's the zoo!
• Social Studies - the ultimate dumping ground of everything sociological. I recommend starting with Geography (your address, street, etc.) plus the Animaniacs have some awesome songs to learn the States and Capitals and Presidents (through Clinton)
• Health - again, the age dictates the lessons, but nutrition, fitness and anatomy can be wrapped up in this
• Philosophy - I want Lorelei to learn about the great philosophers and faiths not just her own so I'm holding off on this one until her frame of reference is a little broader

Teachers Shop at the Same Stores you Do

Long before I ever considered this Home Schooling thing, I went down to the Office Depot (a favorite haunt) and nosed around the teachers' supplies. Something about all of those flash cards and Cat in the Hat job chart and all of those gold stars just gets me giddy. I picked out two workbooks (Preschool and Kindergarten) and a new crayon box and in four months we did about six pages. Not that Lorelei wasn't interested, they just ended up in the drawer is all. But I love a good coloring book, so they made re-appearance every once in a while and went back to the drawer when they got too...wait for it...schooly.

Once I wrapped my head around Eclectic Home Schooling, I realized how many materials I already had in desk drawers, on book shelves and already loaded on the computer. We actually haven't purchased any new books yet!

My Foray into Online Education
Imagine dipping your picky toe into the Pacific. That's what we did when I entertained the idea of online education. We did buy the Nick Jr. Boost program online which I think has been a pretty good investment so far. It grows with her and the characters are familiar. I'm a little under-impressed with the creativity of it. Mainly, it's the same games as the free site but it tracks progress and rewards successes. All in all, I think I'll stick to renting CD programs from the library. At least I can do a little more research on the developers and software instead of trusting the glowing "testimonials" featured on the web pages.

They're Watching You
Of course, let's not forget all that big brother has to offer. 

• USDA website offers free learning resources (print and online) for health and conservation lesson.
• Kids.gov has resources for every subject (although I found the only useful ones to be American Studies, go figure) and breaks it up by grade section (K-5, and so on).
• Federal Resources for Education Excellence (try saying that with a straight face) offers the same sorts of resources but doesn't differentiate by grade.
• USA.gov focuses on Government but it couldn't hurt I suppose.

Our tax dollars pay for this stuff so before you go and raid Staples or Amazon or the insanely expensive "private" home schools, take a look at what you have already purchased!

Try a little at a time at first to see what suits you and your family. It's all out there and home school or no you might as well take advantage of it.

Happy Sunday from Bat Country

Learning Styles

My first misconception about home schooling was that there was only one or two learning styles. And of course we all know what happens when you assume...

So before I launch into the whole to-do, I'll break them down:

• Traditional School at Home
• Home Schooling Unlimted's definition:  Traditional homeschoolers usually purchase a complete curriculum which includes textbooks, teacher’s guides, tests, schedules, and grading and record keeping materials.
• My definition: It's what you think would happen if you removed the building but kept everything else the same. You have specific schedules and curriculum for each subject. You're tied to the same constraints and (in Pinellas County) can even register your child in their zoned school so the technically "attend" public school.
• Classical
• The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child's definition: The classical method is based on a revival of the educational approach called the trivium, a three-part process of literally training a child's mind.
• My definition: The first stage is sheer memorization; cramming as much knowledge in as possible. The second stage is logic; who, what, when, where, why. The third any final stage is rhetoric; processing information on a refined level.
• Charlotte Mason (a whole style named after a person)
• SimplyCharlotteMason.com's definition:  Children are taught as whole persons through a wide range of interesting living books, firsthand experiences, and good habits
• My definition: A pretty free flowing way of doing things. Reading literature instead of textbooks, describing and discussing instead of straight Q&A. This method really focuses on the environment of the child.
• Unit Studies
• Dummies.com definition: Find a unit study on that topic, and take a week or two to teach it. Do your kids find black holes fascinating, and does the science text cover them in a paragraph or two? Looks like a unit on astronomy may be in order.
• My definition: Find something you love and do it till it kills you! (another Hunter S. Thompson quote snuck its way in) Basically whatever it is that captures the interest find everything (book, movie, field trip) you can and study it exhaustively.
• Eclectic
• Homeschool.com's definition:  Basically, eclectic homeschoolers use a little of this and a little of that, using workbooks for math, reading, and spelling, and taking an unschooling approach for the other subjects.
• My definition: Welcome to the catch-all of homeschooling. It's flexible, fun and can be made to suite the family's needs.
• Unschooling
• Wikipedia's definition: Parents who unschool their children act as "facilitators," providing a wide range of resources, helping their children access, navigate, and make sense of the world, and aiding them in making and implementing goals and plans for both the distant and immediate future.
• My definition: No more pencils, no more books... The inmates are running the prison. Okay that's an overstatement. This method embraces the fact that children are natural little sponges and it's our jobs as parents to immerse them in as much as possible.
• The Co-op (Cooperative Learning)
• The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child's definition: Free of government regulation, free to be whatever those who create and utilize them want to be.
• My definition: "It takes a village..." Here you get to network with your community and decide as an independent PTA, if you will, what and how your children will learn. These can be "Private" schools or simply a support group who hires tutors to come in and teach a class or two.
• Online
• K12.com's definition: More flexible and customized than traditional school, yet more structured than typical home school.
• My definition: Just like regular school, you have grades and schedules and curriculum and textbooks yet you're free to study in your PJ's and it can cost a bundle. However for those who aren't quite sure where to begin, this can provide an excellent framework.

Now you have my (very) abbreviated explanations here's where I've landed (that is for the moment). My initial thought was the online or school-at-home. It was the most familiar to me since I've taken online courses at USF for my BA and familiar is safe. It also appeared to be the least likely way to screw up my child's learning experience. After all, if I did exactly as I was told, then it would all work out.

That defeats the whole point!

I wanted to take charge of her education. She was going to have this wide variety of opportunities and here I was subscribing to someone else's ideas of what she should learn. Take two!

The co-op seemed like an interesting option. Community, friends, that all sounds like good stuff. Of course, I have yet to find one that caters to working parents. You'll find that that tends to be a sticking point. And again we have the "someone else at the helm" issue. Yes, I am that much of a control freak.

So, to make a long story short (too late), we've settled on Eclectic/Unit Studies. Didn't see that one coming, did you? Of course you can combine methods, this is home school; you can do anything you want! You can spend every day on a new roller coaster, feeding gummy bears to a chimp on its birthday. Find what works and go from there. Reach out to your community, but trust your instincts. Google away, but remember, as the parent, you're the one seeing this through so don't break yourself trying to conform to someone else's view or method. Or find what doesn't work and avoid it like the plague, but be open to the possibility that you just haven't found the right one...yet.

"Never say you know the last word about any human heart"
~Henry James

Happy hunting from Bat Country