Homeschool Through the Years

My middle son graduated recently.

I have been homeschooling now for 17 years. It seems like just yesterday that my boys looked like this gathered around our small little kitchen table.

My middle son recently graduated from our homeschool - Freedom Academy. We had a very informal ceremony here at our home. His dad spoke. I spoke and then I simply handed him his diploma. It was really that easy, but not.

That moment in time represented the last twelve plus years of his education. He has been the first of our children to never have any "formal" education in a classroom other than our home. Kind of. The last two years he has done dual enrollment with some of our state universities. He did get a chance to sit in an actual college classroom last fall. Not only has he completed his high school education a but he also graduated with 16 college credits already earned. 

Homeschooling has been good for us. When I look back to the reasons why we started, not many have changed. We always wanted to foster better connections with our kids by being the primary influence on them. I think we succeeded well there. My boys are good friends. They actually enjoy spending time with us, which I think is amazing given many relationships I see. 

I'm not writing this post to be a "look at our success!" kind of deal. I'm just a homeschool mom who sees the end of that career drawing to a close very fast. And it has been my career! I may not have a degree in education (I actually did begin one and planned to teach elementary school but that's another story), but I have loved teaching my boys...most of the time. 

I have three years left in which to direct the education of my youngest son. It will be the first time in quite a few years that I have only one child to homeschool. Needless to say, given that he will be in 10th grade, it will be a bit different than when I was homeschooling my oldest in the elementary years. 

I'm going to enjoy these last few years to their fullest while I figure out what's next for me. 

Time Flies

Youngest without the hat. Middle son with the hat.

I just began my 17th year of homeschooling last month. I find it heard to believe that it's been that long. I started when my oldest son was only five years old. He's now 22 years old and in his third year of college. So yes mamas, homeschool kids do go to college and do well there too! He currently has a GPA of 3.34. (<---proud mama bragging a bit)

This year I currently have a senior in high school as well as a freshman. My freshman, is tall and he loves it. Especially now that he's officially taller than his older brother - at least one of them. 

Down to two boys at home

Homeschooling now is vastly different than it used to be even a couple of years ago. Most of the time I am simply the "scheduler and guidance counselor" rather than the teacher. I don't spend a lot of time in direct instruction anymore. My boys are now pretty independent. 

My senior this year is taking two classes at a local college. He started dual enrollment last year online. It has definitely changed things but he will end up starting college with about 18 credit hours completed. This is going to be a huge cost saver for him as he is planning to get a bachelor's degree in Aviation. This child of mine wants to be a pilot. In fact, he is currently doing his ground school class as part of his dual enrollment. Even with the state paying for his tuition for this class, it still ended up being a bit expensive. The entire program is on the most expensive at our state university. I'm thrilled that they have the program though. It's still new and the only one in our state. He will start flight training for his Private Pilot's license in the spring - hopefully. It will all depend on funding of his flight hours. He's determined though. He's been dealing with learning how to best use his time this year between college, homeschool, and work. This November he will be celebrating one year at his job. We started working with him on a budget last year and I have every confidence he will succeed and do well. 

My youngest isn't quite sure what he wants to do. We're still doing the basics here at home, but I've been contemplating having him try out the local tech center to explore some career options. They do a "sampler" program for ninth and tenth graders. We're considering trying that for next year. The only downfall to this program is it's located in the next town over - about a 20 minute drive. He won't have his license yet as he won't turn 16 until 2020. This means I'll need to drive him or at least ride with him as he drives. I'm sure that will be his preferred method. My oldest still doesn't have his license yet either and will be moving home this December to hopefully transfer to the college in that same town. Mom taxi will be in full force!

Homeschooling at its best

Back to my oldest though...this child of mine has thrived so much at college. He's really begun to come into his own and I'm super proud of him. Not only is he doing well there, but he also started his first job this past summer. My very introverted child is now a cashier at the local grocery store and is getting great reviews on his customer service skills. Mamas in the trenches...hold on. They do grow up and they do become productive members of society if we encourage them to find those skills. 

My oldest in his journalism class. 

They had a local TV reporter come speak to them. 

He's on the far left, back row, full beard. 

Homeschooling has been tough over the years, I won't deny that. There were days when one or all of us were in tears over a tough lesson. However, it's been worth all the sacrifice of staying home and investing into my boys. I don't regret one moment of it. I'm blessed and thankful that I had this opportunity. I'm just a bit sad that I'm starting to see the end draw ever nearer. Not to sound to route, but mamas, enjoy the moments. All of them. The hard, the fun, the messy, the sad, the frustrating - enjoy it all because it will all be over sooner than you realize. 

Flying Dreams

When this boy was little he used to dream of being a train engineer. He lived and breathed trains. Not just Thomas the Tank Engine, but real trains too. He could identify and name any train you asked him about. Then, when he was around eight or nine, his passion switched to planes. 

He loves all kinds of planes, but his favorites are WWII planes. Quiz him the next time you see him in public. He's hard to stump.

While we were living further north, he also became relatively active in an RC plane club. It was mostly made up of older gentlemen and they were all fantastic as encouraging his love of planes. In fact, he went to one meeting and one man gifted him a plane!

He just turned 15 a few months ago and had asked for this plane. He bought it "not ready to fly" which meant you couldn't take it out of the box, charge the battery, and just go. You needed to make sure your remote and the plane's receiver could talk. His didn't. After a few weeks of frustration, buying some other parts, and finally doing some troubleshooting, he had it in the air. 

This was his second flight of the day. He's having a great time with it. A great time.

And That's a Wrap

September 2015

June 2016

It's hard to believe that another homeschooling year is on the books. It's also heard to believe how much these boys have GROWN in a year! I'm sure by next year I will be the shortest person in the photo. 

My middle son (in blue) just finished up his first year of high school. My youngest is just finishing up "sixth" grade. We've continued in our "hodgepodge" style of school and it continues to work for us. 

My middle kiddo took a number of classes online through Virtual Homeschool Group (VHSG). They included Apologia Biology, Introduction to Literature, Scratch 1 and 2, and a short study skills course. All have been great. My youngest took a middle school literature class on VHSG as well.

If you aren't familiar with VHSG I highly recommend it. It's essentially an online homeschool co-op. The best part? It's free! They offer live classes each year as well as "at-your-own-pace" (AYOP) classes. If you volunteer to help in some way - just like an in person co-op - or donate funds to help with the cost of the server, your child will be guaranteed a spot in any live class you want. Otherwise, they can often go to a lottery and there is a chance they won't get in. This fall will be our third year really using it and I find it well worth it to donate and/or volunteer. This last year I did both.

We also participated in a local homeschool co-op at our church. The biggest reason we did this was so that my boys could make more friends at church. We've only been here for a couple of years and they hadn't made many connections. I can say we've been very successful with that this year and they had a great time. 

At co-op they both took the high school track even though my youngest is only 12 and "6th" grade. It was a better fit for him. The boys were part of the production we did of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe back in April (post coming at some point). They had a really good time with that. 

My middle son was Aslan (middle of the photo).

My youngest was a wolf - grey wolf behind in the red fox on the right of the photo - back row.

The other classes they took were Apologia Biology - experiments only. This worked out so well with my middle kiddo doing the online class for the book part and then doing the experiments together with the co-op at church. They also did an art class and played with all kinds of different mediums from painting to crayon resist to using fabric to using beans to make a mosaic to just drawing. Then I led a military history class. We covered the wars from as far back as King Phillip's War all the way up to the current war. All-in-all it was a great year of learning with friends. 

We've also continued with Teaching Textbooks for math - for both boys. They have also been getting some extra tutoring from Daddy which is awesome. I am so not a math person at all. Thankfully I am married to an engineer who can make math fun - go figure!

They both also use Rod & Staff for spelling. It's something I hit on later for them so, yes, I'm still making my middle son do spelling even in high school. He will do one more year of it next year. I love Rod & Staff spelling. It has been the one thing I've hit on that actually seems to work to help them learn and remember using the words they are learning. It has a strong phonics base but we did that when they were younger so it's worked well for them. 

For history we're doing Story of the World Volume 2 with my youngest. We're doing it very simply this year in order to just get some history in. I read and we discuss. Simple and done. For my other son we're using World History by James Stobaugh. I didn't like it though. I want him to use something a bit more indepth next year. I'm planning to switch them both to Notgrass history.

We also went through Winston Grammar this year. I liked it. I'm not sure my boys did but I think it helped. Now if I can just get them to apply what they've learned, I'll be happy! We did this all together and I think that helped. I would give them time to do the workbook and then we'd review with each one taking a turn sharing what they put down. 

The boys also continued with their music lessons this year. They've both been taking piano for about six years. About two years ago my youngest son started with violin and just this past year my oldest started with drums. He's progressed so quickly! We started out with a practice pad, went to a snare drum, and now he's been using a full kit for at least the last six months. We are also blessed to have an instructor that comes to our house once a week for two hours and gives them both instructions on all of their instruments for an extremely reasonable price. He's also very patient and a great teacher.

Newly set up in our den. It now resides in our basement. 

November 2015

I rounded out their learning this year with various videos I found on YouTube. My middle son is going through the Crash Course Government video series. They are also both going through the Geography Now! A-Z Countries channel. These are short 8-10 minute videos on various countries that go over the flag and what it means, the people and culture, where it's located, and other interesting facts. 

I'm now busily planning for the fall. We'll be taking most of June off from active learning (we have a bit of unschooling in us so learning never really stops). The boys will also continue music lessons throughout the summer. In July we'll start back with our "light school" schedule and slowly add things in by the of August so that we will be back at our full schedule in September.

I'll be posting something later this summer with what we plan to use next year. 

Belt Testing

In February both my middle son and my hubby tested for their next belts in karate. Our middle child has been taking lessons for about six months. He is now an orange stripe (halfway to his orange belt). While he didn't really want to take lessons, he has since come to like them for the most part. 

My hubby has been taking lessons for about a year. He is now an orange belt. He really enjoys the lessons and practices quite a bit. I'm glad he has something that he can do together with the boys (our youngest takes lessons as well). 

Throw Back Thursday

I was looking at some old photos just the other day and I was reminded of all the walks we took when we lived on the family farm. We did this especially in the spring once mud season had passed. Cabin fever from being stuck inside with three boys all winter would just make me want to get outside as fast as I could!

I came across these photos tonight:

My middle son - age 7

My youngest son - age 3

There is a large rock about a mile from our house. My boys would always want to climb up on it and have me take their photos. I'm so glad I did all those years because now I get to look back to see how they've grown!

This past fall we went back to visit family on the farm for an afternoon. It was one of those really nice fall days and we had hauled the boys bikes up with us. While my hubby and older son were helping his dad and granddad move a water heater, the two younger boys and I went for a walk/ride with my mother-in-law. 

My boys actually asked to stop by "the rock" and pose. I'm so glad they did.

September 2014

Ages 10 & 13

Flying High

My middle son has developed a love of planes over the last few years. Where once he loved everything to do with trains, he now has that love for planes and then some. I was reading the newspaper a few weeks ago and found out that a local festival was planing a fly-in of some vintage aircraft. The purpose was to allow the public to touch them and check them out. I also learned that kids ages 8-17 would be able to sign up for a free plane ride via the Young Eagles program. Needless to say my kiddo was thrilled by the possibility.

We headed out early, just N11 and I, and made a day of it. We arrived just in the nick of time. In that we missed the start of the parade so we weren't stuck in traffic and only ended up waiting about 15 minutes for his Young Eagles flight. He was also back on the ground before the war birds arrived.

I sent my camera up with him and he was great about snapping photos. Overall I think he took about 40 in the 20 minutes he was in the air. The plane they went up in held six people so they took five young people, including N11, on the flight, but they all had window seats!

A look at the runway as they took off.

A local lake.

A view of the local area.

I must say that the war birds arrived in style....

It was a Japanese Zero and a B-25.

The Zero taxing in.

The B-25 taxing in.

We were able to look and touch most of the planes that were here. We talked with the Civil Air Patrol reps. Now N11 is counting the days until he can sign up. He thinks signing up for CAP on his birthday would be perfect!

We waited in line for about 20 minutes for N11 to be able to pop his head up into the back of the B-25. They were letting people take a look around inside. They also had the bomb doors open and you could look inside there as well. 

We did miss the P-51 that arrived about 10 minutes after we left. 

However, N11 deemed this "the best day ever!" We bought ice-cream while we were at the fly-in. I also bought him a model of a F-15. We then went out to lunch at Pizza Hut.

I love the fact that he has such a passion for planes and that I was able to help grow that just a tiny bit today.

From Trains to Planes

My middle son has been - in a word - obsessed with trains since the age of three. He would read train encyclopedias for fun. Not only did he love Thomas the Train but he loved real trains. In fact, he was thrilled when we bought the TV series Extreme Trains and was even more thrilled to learn the host lives in the next town over. They even had a short "meet & greet" at a soccer game a few years ago.

However, in the last year his love of trains has been fading and being replaced by planes. It started at about the age of nine by making simple paper airplanes. He even made quite a little profit by selling them at craft fairs the last two years.

This fall he bought a new paper airplane kit. The book that was included included patterns that were cut and glued together. You can see the 747 he made above. He used the scrap paper at the house so they always have interesting patterns on the paper.

If he were awake right now, he'd be able to tell me what this one is. I have no clue but I do like the design. Then we have these two....

Here's a few more. He will spend hours cutting and constructing and gluing and cutting...and then he gives them away. He has a paper bag full of them and he regularly doles them out to friends and even strangers. I love his new little obsession and can't wait to see where it leads.

Orthodontia?

A few weeks ago N8 had his teeth cleaned - his six month cleaning. In the five years we've been using this dentist office, we've never actually seen the dentist. The boys always see our favorite hygienist, get their teeth cleaned and out we go. I always found it unusual as ever other dentist I've ever been to would have the hygienist clean the teeth and then the dentist would come in, take a look around, and call it good - all in the same visit. 

However, this office doesn't for some reason. So the hygienist mentioned that N8 really needed to see the dentist so I bit the bullet and made an appointment for him for the next week. And yes, it was a separate charge. ::sigh:: 

The dentist discovered a small cavity on one of N8's baby teeth. All of my boys were late in getting their baby teeth. N13, in fact, still has some of his baby teeth - four or five I think. N8 has about 15 still in his mouth. And J6 has yet to loose even one. The dentist and I then had a slightly coded conversation in how he would go about filling it and fixing it. He would recommend fixing it simply because it doesn't look like it's going to fall out any time soon and he wants to avoid an abscessed tooth. 

Then the dentist looked in N8's mouth. 

Yikes.

N8's teeth - for want of a better term - are a mess. The back teeth of his upper jaw land inside his lower jaw. Some of his baby teeth (top canines) are coming straight out - there is no room for them between the other baby teeth and the adult teeth in his mouth. His lower jaw isn't as bad but there is still some crowding. He got his mamma's mouth that's for sure!

In fact, I remember having a number of my teeth pulled when I was a child in order to make room in my mouth. As an adult I was told by a former dentist (we have since moved) I had a "small mouth and big teeth." My lower jaw has some really crooked teeth and my upper jaw is only slightly better. My older sister had the same issue she tells me, but the pulling of teeth worked in her case since her's are nicely matched up in a neat little row.

Instead of filling the cavity, we were sent off for an evaluation by an orthodontist. I have to say that N8 did excellent. Never having gone through this before at all I didn't even know how to prepare him for any of it. We arrived and the orthodontist just looked him over. He made notes. He poked here. He pulled there. He showed me some of the issues with N8's teeth and jaw. He offered to have molds done right then. I figured we might as well. There were obviously some issues that needed to be fixed. 

N8 did wonderfully. They took some digital photos. The camera was having difficulty focusing at one point and the poor child had those cheek expander thingies in - that show all the gum - pulling to show the sides of the teeth for what seemed like forever. He never complained. They did a bunch of x-rays. No problem. They did a wax mold of his bite. Not a biggie. Then they wanted to do full molds of his teeth and jaw. Oh my. He is such a trooper. He began to cry when the first one went in but managed okay. He has a hair-trigger gag reflex and I was looking for the closest trash can but he held it together. Then the tech told him we had to do the upper jaw which was harder than the one he had just done. Oh my again. He pulled through though and did great, but was so ready to go home!

We headed back today to find out what the recommendation for treatment would be. Here's the low down:

• a palate expander for the top jaw. "Donut" spacers would be inserted. A week later they would be taken out and metal clamps put on two back teeth and two front teeth. A mold would be made and all then removed. A few weeks later we would return and have the "donut" spacers put on again. A week later go back, have them taken off, and the expander placed. This would be turned morning and night for about a month and then locked in place for six months. The plan is for this to help his upper jaw line up better with his lower jaw and made room for all of his teeth up there.

• A "lip bumper" for the lower jaw. This would act as a place holder for his back teeth. It would keep them in place so they wouldn't move forward and try to take over other spots for teeth. 

• And 4 braces on the top four teeth to hold them in place after all is said and done. 

This is considered "Phase 1" and is estimated to last about 22 months. And the total cost for all of this? $4100. Yikes!

Now, yes, they offer a payment plan ($800 down & $150 a month for the whole 22 months interest free). That would be the $4100. If we pay cash, we get a 7% discount. If we pay using a debit/credit card, we get a 2% discount.

The question I have for all of you is this...has anyone had anything like this done to an 8-9 year old child? Does that cost seem reasonable? I know it will vary by state (we're in Maine) but we want to be sure we're not paying significantly more than we need to. We do plan to put this off for about six months in order to save up towards the cost. The orthodontist thought that was a reasonable amount of time. 

We ARE going to have his teeth fixed, but I just need to hear some "been-there-done-that" stories and "yes, that's about what we paid" type stories. ;-)

Thanks!

And prayers for N8 would be wonderful. After the orthodontist finished explaining everything he offered to start it all right then and there by putting the spacers on. Poor N8 got a horrible look in his eye and began to softly cry. I told him that no, we would wait. Aside from the money factor, I had promised N8 that today was a "no touching" appointment. It was just for talking. He was very relieved to hear that. 

Recovering

Yesterday our middle son had his tonsils and adenoids removed. It was a needed surgery but that certainly didn't make him look forward to it. We tried to play up all the fun things he'd be able to do during recovery though to try to take his mind off it all & it seemed to work rather well.

We arrived at the Day Surgery Unit right on time - 8:45am. Would you like to know what time poor N8 was finally taken in to the OR? Right around 11am. The poor kid was starving. This is the boy who wakes UP hungry. Literally the first words out of his mouth every morning is, "Can I have breakfast?" It was a hard morning for him in that regard. I can't remember back to when B13 was a baby & had tubes put in if we waited two hours prior to him going in. I'm thinking we didn't. So I'm not really sure why it took so long to get him in there.

I didn't realize it would take that long & even brought J5 & B13 down with us. Hubby took the day off as well. I thought we'd be in there for no more than an 30 minutes before his surgery. Silly me! B13 and J5 did wonderfully in the waiting room without us though. J5 listened to his brother & they both just played with what they brought quietly. We had two different people come up to us throughout the morning to compliment us on their behavior. ::phew!::

Once N8 was taken in (I went with him to the OR until the gas put him to sleep), it was a rather quick surgery. I think it was less than an hour before I was able to go to him in the recovery "room" (curtained cubicle). He was out of it for a bit but you could tell when he was starting to become more aware. We headed back to the day surgery area for about another hour until we were finally released right around 2pm.

N8 was feeling so good when we left that he even refused a wheelchair and walked out. Since he was doing so well, we stopped at the local Wal-Mart to get his scripts filled and pick up a few needed groceries. Although, we left B13 in the truck with N8. No need to walk through a large store picking up all manner of flu and cold viruses.

Below are a couple of photos of him last night....

He was reveling in the attention I think. And the gifts. And the free use of B13's Nintendo DS. I think he was looking forward to that more than anything!

However, last night was very, very rough for both of us. The medicine he was given for pain at home made him ill, very ill. He threw up most of the night. I finally figured out around 4:30 this morning that the smaller dose (2.5mls) doesn't make him sick & keeps his pain under control. Although, I am typing this at 5:30 at night & it's been 8 hours since he's had any at all. He's not all that thrilled on taking it & he is labeling his pain at about a 2 on the pain scale (1=no pain up to 10= excruciating pain). I do plan to give him a smaller dose when it gets closer to bed time.

This is what he looked like just a little bit ago.....

We have our sleeper sofa pulled out with all the boys lounging on it. This is where N8 & I slept last night. Well, I should say, we attempted to sleep but we did more lounging and cleaning up more than anything.

He's staying hydrated but isn't eating much at all. Although, I'm not worried yet. As long as he drinks, he'll do okay. The eating will come. Hopefully his upset tummy will stop soon too.

Meeting Matt

My middle son, N8, is a huge fan of trains. Since he was three years old & we gave him his first Geo-Trax set, this boy has been hooked. Every year his love grows bigger and bigger. He wants more of them to play with, he wants books to read, he wants to ride them, he just loves trains.

Last fall The History channel debuted a program called Extreme Trains. There were eight episodes shown & we have seven of those recorded on our DVR. These were some of the first programs we added to our DVR queue when we added it to our house last year. N8 watches these (along with J5) weekly if not daily at times. He has them memorized. He loves watching shows about trains as much as he likes playing with trains.

Shortly before the shows debuted we discovered that the host, Matt Bown , not only lived in the great state of Maine, but he grew up in the town right next to us. He even attended the school my MIL worked at way back when & was in the same high school as hubby. This was big news with N8. My MIL had said she would try to set up a meeting but time passes & life goes on.

Until today.....

N8 had a double header soccer game today. It was just before the ending of the first game when my MIL shouted for me (she was across the parking lot playing with J5 & my nephew). Matt Bown himself had just come jogging in to the school parking lot & headed towards the track. My MIL headed right after him & said she was going to see if he'd meet N8.

He agreed.....



The timing was great. The game had ended & they were breaking for water. I went over & told N8 to go say "hi" to his grandmother. As we were walking towards her, I said to N8, "Hey, who's that with Grammy?" He didn't recognize him at first but was willing to meet this guy.

Matt was great. He asked N8 if he knew who he was. N8 at first said no, but then he sort of said in an awed whisper...."Matt Bown??" It was wonderful. The smile on his face would have lit up a room. They only had the chance to chat for about 3-4 minutes. They agreed that the episode about the Steam Train 844 was their favorite.

Matt certainly made N8's day & I truly thank him for taking the time with a little fan.

Fun at the Park (aka A Sunny Day)

On a rare sunny day here in Maine (no, I haven't moved but the sunny days have been few & far between this spring. Forecast for this week - ALL week - you guessed it: rain.) I took my boys to a local park to play for a bit. They are always up for a park day whether we have friends to play with or not.

Just last year the town that this park is in redid the whole thing. Before it was a very old wooden structure without much for the kids to do but pick up splinters in their hands.

However, now they can play at being pirates....

speeding superheroes trying for lift-off....

or just looking cute for the camera for mom.