How we homeschool

I wanted to write to tell you girls how we are homeschooling now and how our homeschool might look down the road. I say "might" because I am open to allowing you girls to learn in whatever way works best for you. I do, however, have some ideas as to how to guide your learning.

First, we are doing a lot of learning already, even though punkin is 3 and the babies are, well, babies. Punkin is learning  as we do science, math, geography, reading, writing, and art. So, we study nature in our back yard (or house, if the bees come inside and we can catch them in plastic bags, like we did the other day!), count beans or pennies or rice or leaves or... anything! Se look at the map of the United States and see where Colorado, Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida and New Mexico are, so that we have an idea of where all of our family lives. We read bob books, although I'm not pushing reading very much. You are super interested in reading and writing and I let you take the lead. You write your letters, as you please. And you color, paint, write on the sidewalk, play with playdough, and anything else. Basically, you learn while playing. Maria Montessori said that a child's job is to learn as much as they can about the world around them and that they do this through play. So, I provide as many oppurtunities as I can for learning through play, and you do your job!

Apple and Blueberry are learning a lot, too. They're learning to talk by babbling. They're getting around by rolling around to where they want to go. They're smiling or crying to get attention. They're exploring things around them (which we make sure is okay for them to explore!)

My tenative plan at this point is to use the original Konos curriculum. It is a unit study curriculum, where we can study something interesting to you in depth, doing every subject from that topic. For example, if you like tomatoes (which you do), we can grow tomatoes from seeds; learn to take care of them; count, add, and subtract them (as you get older); read about them; draw and color them; learn about the history and geography of tomatoes, etc. The thing I like about Konos is that it uses unit topics related to Godly character traits, such as kindness or compassion. I also like the original Konos because it is basically a big book of activities to do broken up into the units. It doesn't offer workbooks or anything extremely put together (although Konos does offer this, just not in the basic model), which is good for me because I'm not the type to follow a curriculum very well, anyways. In fact, we probably won't even use the Konos until Punkin is at a third grade level. Eventually, you will also learn to copy writings of great people, dictation and report writing, which I'm hoping you don't hate. However, I do think that is one of the "regular school" things we will do because it will teach you reading comprehension and how to write well. Until then, we'll just keep doing what we're doing ;o) !

Another huge part of our homeschooling will be helping others. I'm planning to go regularly to visit nursing homes, soup kitchens and The Children's Hospital. I think that the development of your character is just as important as your education. We will also be starting a family business at some point, probably when Punkin is around 6. Your dad is great at running a business and I think he should teach you how to, as well. This will benefit you in your personal and business life, even if you never open your own business. My parents have a business and I learned a great deal from them. I would like you to have this oppurtunity, as well. Your dad would like to help you become real estate agents and buy a house before you go to college so that you can do that on the side to support yourself.

Well, I think that's about it for our plans for how to homeschool you. Like I said earlier, my plans are based more on you individually. These are very fluid plans. It'll be interesting to see how they evolve!

Why we're homeschooling

I think I should let you girls know now why I plan on homeschooling you. Well, first things first, I think every parent (or guardian, if the parent isn't around) is a homeschooler from the beginning. So, I should say that my plan is to continue homeschooling you into your school years.

I was homeschooled for four years of my life- kindergarten, and my sophomore, junior and senior years of high school. My siblings were also homeschooled at varying lengths and times. So homeschooling isn't a new concept at all.

I would like to homeschool for a number of reasons. For one thing, I believe that you will get a better education. I can tailor you learning to meet your needs. I remember a kid in 6th grade trying to do an oral multiplication quiz by counting on his fingers. I always felt bad for him, but I now know that he hadn't yet made the jump from visual learning to figuring it out quickly in his head. He felt bad because he had to go to special education, but he actually had a lot of smarts in other areas. So, I want to give each of you the space to learn at your own pace. Your dad agreed with it because, "I never learned anything in school!" He took his GED when he was 15, without studying, and passed and went on with his life.

A part of education is the learning of worldviews. Regardless of who is teaching you, a part of their worldview will inevitably be taught to you. We each have a worldview based on the vast and varying circumstances in our lives. It is very important to me that in this better education that I am hoping to give to you, that my worldview will come through. I do NOT expect you to be clones of me! One thing that I greatly appreciated about my parents was that they let me be an individual, no matter how much it embarrassed them (which was quite a bit, I don't doubt!) However, there are some things that are of vital importance to me.

The first and foremost thing that I want you to know is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus loves you very much, like a father loves his children. He died on the cross, was buried and came back to life on the third day so that you can have a relationship with Him. This is not a relationship that requires you to do good things! In fact, it has absolutely no basis on how good of a person you are! The bible says in Romans 3:10 that "there is none righteous; no, not one!" Just like a father should be, he loves you no matter what you've done. He only wants you to love Him and to accept His free gift of eternal life! This is the most important thing I can teach you. I will do my best to not attach anything to the gospel, because it is not a political viewpoint or even specific doctrine that will save you. It is only Jesus!

The second reason is because you are awesome kids and I'm a little selfish. I'd prefer to show you and take you to do cool things, rather than teachers getting to do all the cool stuff!

I guess I'll have to save the "How" for another post, as this one is getting kind of lengthy!

Apple and Blueberry baby book information

I've been struggling a little bit wth how I should write this post. Should I blog about each of you separately, since you are both such individuals and have such different traits? Or should I blog together, so I can compare you and share things you did together? I've decided on the latter, obviously. But mostly due to time ;o) !

First, I'll let you know why I chose your nicknames for the blog. Apple is for baby A (first one born), Blueberry is for baby B (second one born). I wanted to use vegetable names, but Arugula and Bok Choy didn't sound so cute. I almost went for Apricot and Banana. But Apple and Blueberry describe the roundness of your cheeks better!

Okay, now some baby book stuff. Blueberry could roll onto her side at birth. But both of you rolled over completely, back and front, by four months. Blueberry was first, but only did it once. Apple rolled over soon after, but just kept doing it all the time. You both roll over onto your stomach, then back to your back, all the time now. I have a hard time keeping you on the blanket on the floor.

You love holding hands. At first, I thought it was a fluke, as your arms would flail around until you grabbed something. But now that you've become a little better at grabbing things you want, I've noticed that you hold hands more often. In fact, Blueberry, you have a thing where you scream a lot just before you fall asleep. This upsets Apple, and she'll look over at you and grab your hand. Sometimes, it'll help you calm down. It's super cute to watch.

Food wise, you're eating rice cereal and I go through about 1/2 gallon of goat's milk per day. I tried carrots and apples, but you both got diaper rashes. That's pretty much it.

You are both super calm babies most of the time, just like Punkin was (still is). I'm a very lucky mommy! I read about babies that are loud, collicky, and cranky. I haven't experienced any of that. Having twins isn't exactly easy, but you've both made it easier than I expected! Sorry this isn't the most exciting thing to read. I just wanted to record some milestones and temperament stuff, mostly.

Pumpkinisms

To my sweet Punkin- Some fun things you say now that you're 3 and are learning so much about the world!

1)      You have two new baby sisters, Apple and Blueberry. One time, when I was still pregnant with them, your daddy asked you if your cheese was yummy in your tummy. You said, “No, daddy! Not cheese in my tummy! Babies in my tummy. One, two of them (pointing to each side of your stomach).

2)      Instead saying forgot, you say gotfor. I’m not sure if I’ll ever correct you on it. I kind of hope you say it the rest of your life because I’m pretty sure I’ll always think it’s cute.

3)      Just before my mom’s dad, Grandpa Clarence, died, you sang “This little light of mine” to him. Actually, you sang it to him over the phone a few days before he died and he smiled and gave a thumbs up. Then, Aunt Casey played a recording she’d made of you singing (the same song) to grandpa just a few hours before he died and he smiled. You sure love singing and it seems to make people very happy!

4)     You call biscuits “bikshits” and yogurt “nyonyurk.”

5)  One night, while we were watching American Pickers and Pawn Stars, you looked at daddy and said, "Hey daddy, want to buy my picture for $50?" He was quite amazed that you were able to pick up the gist of what were watching.

6) A couple days ago, you said, "Mommy, my mouth hurts." You'd bit your tongue the day before, so I thought you were talking about that. But you kept telling me, so I asked, "What happened?" You said, "I was shaving my lip and it hurts!"

7) You absolutely love playing with your baby sisters. Every time someone at the store stops to ask about them (which happens quite often), you tell them each of the baby's names. You give them their pacifiers or bottles, help me change their diapers and clothes, and like to lay down and put your arm around one of them to take a nap. It's the easiest way to get you to take a nap, actually.

8) When I asked you what you wanted to give daddy for his birthday, you said, without hesitation, "A blue car!" So we bought a wooden DIY car, which you colored with markers and put together. Daddy thought it was the best present he'd ever gotten!

There are loads more cute things, but I just wanted to put these down before I forgot them. 

I decided to blog. Because I have so much time on my hands.

So, I decided to start a blog. Not really because I have so much time on my hands, but because I'm not very good at recording significant events in my childrens' baby books. I thought that maybe I could write a blog, then print out the pages one at a time and put them in books my kids can read through.

I'm Erin. I have three beautiful little girls (thus far). The oldest is three and the younger two are 5 months. I'm also a nursing student. My plan is to work full time by next year, about the time the babies are 1, and to homeschool all of my children. We, as in my husband and I, would like more children, as well. Thus the reason I'm not very good at writing things down. I really have zero time.

My writings will probably include things about family, homeschooling, nursing, and God. Those are the things that usually come up in my mind. Maybe some couponing or recipes thrown in. Who knows.

I really, REALLY love God, my husband and my beautiful children! Which brings me to my next point. The babies are crying and I need to change them. Desperately.