Does anyone else have it? I certainly don’t feel that I do. After ten years of this, you’d think that I would be comfortable with the how and what of my teaching. Nope. Not me. I’m forever in this tug of war between what I want to do and with what I think I should do. A tug of war between radical homeschooling that looks nothing like traditional school and that desire to ‘prove’ how smart my kids are by having them do the most rigorous college prep program known to man.

I don’t ever think that I’ve lost or that I’m retreating. I am consistent. Consistently advancing in a new direction! If nothing else, my kids should be flexible when they grow up.

In the month since I last posted an update, we’ve moved full court press into BASKETBALL SEASON. Note to self. Next year, do NOT schedule dentist and orthodontist appointments during the weeks where soccer and basketball overlap. After finishing nine weeks of school, we took a week off to rest and recuperate. Didn’t get much done, but it was RESTFUL. At this time, the Lady Trailblazers have three big wins under their belt. Great start to the season!

Flower Child is in the last weeks of studying the Roman Empire. I love how Tapestry of Grace incorporates the life of Christ so wholly in their curriculum. She loves the projects. In math, she’s finishing up her unit on geometry. Makes me sad. It was kind of nice having all three study the same topic. We haven’t had time for any great art projects, but there is a mosaic on the agenda for next week. Her week was interrupted by a relapse of the strep she had a couple of weeks ago along with the arrival of *my* new Nook. I haven’t read a single book on it yet and she’s on her THIRD! There is no justice in this world.

Princess is over half way through her online college class. She’s doing really well and totally enjoying the experience. In Cultural Geography, she’s studying Haiti and the aftermath of the earthquake. The timing is incredible given hurricane Tomas’ visit there this week. I imagine there will be several new articles to add to that study next week! We continue to plod through Advanced Math, doing MUCH better than we did last year. So far, no major snags and only one minor one that gave us both a good laugh after we asked for help only to realize that we were making a very, very basic mistake.

Austin is marching forward. Six more weeks of school until graduation. He’s still resistant to doing chemistry experiments without me standing over his shoulder and writing assignments are laborious. He will start next week behind a day or two AGAIN. It would be REALLY nice if he would just catch up and stay caught up. I found a couple of graphic novels about the Constitution and the American government. I hope that they, along with a high school level lap book I have, will engage him enough to get the basics. I just need to get MY act together and get them scheduled.

Next week is shaping up to be our first NORMAL week of the school year. I’m excited to see how it pans out. No appointments, two full days at home, one practice and one game. Plus I get to have lunch with some new and old friends in Nashville on Friday. Lots to look forward to!

What do you do when you realize, a month and a half before graduation, that your child is differently-abled learner? Actually, I’ve always know he was a gifted visual-spatial learner because he was tested when he was still in public school. What I didn’t know is that this is the reason he struggles with higher level reasoning. The kind of reasoning most need to have in order to succeed in college.

I’m frustrated because everything I’m reading on the internet and the books I can find on Amazon are all geared towards elementary students. I have an 18yo, with self-esteem that’s taken a beating over the years trying to keep up with his sister, who will be headed off to college in January. Should he start college? Should we take another semester at home and see if we can work through some of the issues? Since he’ll be at home next semester maybe he can do college and learn new strategies for studying at the same time.

Illustrated by Buck Jones, 2002. All rights reserved.

Yup. That’s what I’ve been doing all week. Taking time to BREATHE and catching up on some things that got behind after our week of RUSH. The hubby took Austin to his appointment at Vandy on Monday, leaving me and the girls home to catch up on school and chores. Then we had no soccer practice or games due to the public schools’ fall break.

What that means for school is that we are finally settling into our fall routine. Still haven’t had as much time to meet with the kiddos as often as I’d like. I don’t have a good handle on where each of them is and where they need help. Chemistry has definitely suffered. Looking forward to remedying that situation next week!

I really don’t like the Notgrass Economics and Government. I need to spend some time searching blogs and other online sources to see if someone has already figured out how to make Notgrass more Charlotte Mason friendly.

Outside of school work, the yearbook committee hosted a Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser. While my kids were working hard raising money dh and I got to socialize with grown-ups. For two hours. And I didn’t have to do the dishes afterward. Shear bliss!

I need a nice, stormy weather day. There’s something about curling up inside the house with a blanket and a good book while the weather rages that restores me. I think the sun fuels a sense of urgency that things Need To Be Done, only my brain is in such a fog that I have no idea what those things might be.

One thing. I need to change the header for this blog. That little camping kid on the end is now as tall as her mama. I found a neat soccer goalkeeper that would be a better fit.

Two thing. Choose composers for the rest of this term – we do one every two weeks. Need to download the selections we’ll listen to from iTunes, print the worksheets from Classics for Kids, and create the notebooking pages.

Three thing. Add Apologia General Science to Flower Child’s schedule. Somehow I managed to get the Outdoor Hour Challenge nature studies scheduled, but forgot the regular science.

Four thing. Check the teens economics and government work from last week. Normally I do this daily, but got behind in the craziness of last week.

I think four things in one day is enough, don’t you? I think it would be nice to change out the curtains and pillow shams in my bedroom, too, so they match the winter comforter that’s been on for the last two weeks.

van Eyck – picture study
van Eyck – biography

Durer – picture study
Durer – biography

Rubens – picture study
Rubens – biography

Rembrandt – picture study
Rembrandt – biography

If I could pick one word to represent homeschooling high schoolers, I think I would pick the word RUSH. Since my second child started high school, I feel like we are in a perpetual state of putting out fires and not being proactive about anything. You’d think having one at the end of that journey I’d have figured it out by now.

The most amazing thing that happened this week was that two of my children actually finished their assigned work. A trip to Vanderbilt (all day), two dentist appointments for check-ups, one dentist appointment for fillings, one piano lesson, three hair cuts, three basketball practices, a soccer practice, and art class for two made for one very busy, away from home week. My least favorite kind of week, but at least it’s over.

I’d love to give a glowing report of what we did in school this week, but the one day we were home all day I was sick (stomach bug) and slept most of the day.

Princess did finish the first unit of her dual-credit sociology class and has a solid B in the class with some opportunities for extra credit that could help bump that up to an A. She got a high B on both her paper and test, and a 100% on her quiz. Not too shabby given that she only had a week and a half to do what everyone else had four weeks to do!

School are on fall break next week, so soccer practice is cancelled and games rescheduled. I’m looking forward to getting caught up next week. On school planning, laundry, menu planning, general cleaning, patience, exercise, blogging, dishes, and sleep. I’m also excited because my son’s chemistry stuff should arrive on Monday, along with that owl pellet Flower Child was supposed to dissect sometime this summer. Yup. We’re right on schedule!

Two out of three students spent their morning this week at the gym. Reconnecting, reconditioning, and rejuvenating. Sore muscles but happy faces.

The timing was great. Since dad took vacation this week to help with camp and we planned this as a week off school, I had enough time to reshuffle the teens’ schedule now that we have a good idea of what’s working and what’s not. I’m not completely done, a frantic call for mom to come to the gym (30 minutes away) and assist in the uniform choosing process and an impromptu team pool party took away from my planning. The added social value of both trips was well worth it!

The girls first art class of the fall was this morning. Princess decided to stick with camp but Flower Child wouldn’t miss art for anything. Last spring the class was chatty and animated. This class, a drawing class, was amazingly quiet. The students were so intent on their work. While the parking can be a nightmare, we’re very thankful that the university art department has been offering these classes. Today I even got a parking spot that wasn’t uphill or downhill from the art building! What a gift.

Princess has been working hard to get caught up in her dual-enrollment sociology class. As of today, she is officially caught up. Three chapters read, three discussions posted, one paper submitted, and one quiz taken. Four weeks worth of work in a week and a half. I’m really proud of her for not giving up! She got a perfect score on the first quiz, that made her day. Monday she’ll start Notgrass Economics. I’ve decided that the Sonlight American Government is too much to put on her plate right now and I don’t want to waste anymore of this year having to start over.

Austin final weeks of high school have been planned. I finished the last touches this morning. Bittersweet. Yet still exciting. The only thing left to do is to add Cultural Geography assignments, but since they are tied to current events I add them as my magazines arrive each month. I’m using National Geographic, Sojourners, and World, but I’m open to using others should I *ever* get back to Barnes & Noble some day and have the chance to peruse the magazine racks.

Last Friday night my baby went to her very first teen event. Wow. My baby. Seems like yesterday only my oldest was old enough to go! I admit I was nervous how she would fare in this world of her siblings, but she found her own niche with kids her age and had a great time. Now she’s playing basketball. She’s the youngest on the team (by ONE whole week) yet when I look at her with them it is easy to see that she has grown up and into that place. She’s not a little girl anymore. She’s strong, and beautiful, and willing to do the work to fit in. Growing up at its finest.

I’m looking forward to next week. Our first ‘normal’ week of the year. The bathroom is done and grandpa has gone home. Dad will be back to work. And all school year activities are in full swing. I can’t wait! While our lives are busy, I love the structure that such a tight schedule forces us into.

My goal for these pages and this text is for my high school age daughter to get a very brief overview of art history. For each artist she’ll write a brief biography using the text, look at the artists work in the art books we have on hand and also online, and do a study of one of the artist’s works.

Chapter 1 ~ Artists of the Italian Renaissance

Giotti
Botticelli – biography
Botticelli – picture study
da Vinci – biography
da Vinci – picture study
Michaelangelo – biography
Michelangelo – sculpture study
Raphael – biography
Raphael – picture study

We are only using this for an art history credit. If you’d like to make this a fuller art course there is also a companion book Short Lessons in Art History: Exercises and Activities. Because I’ve become a bit obsessive about art education lately, I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon. I’ll review it as soon as I can.

For a glimpse at what’s up in homeschools around the world, check out the

Weekly Wrap-up

on weird, unsocialized, homeschoolers.

No decision on Psychology vs. Core 400 at this point. With the loss of one day and a busy afternoon on the schedule for today (all activities were cancelled because of the weather. :p) I let her do everything else. Lots of extra comments about the purposeless-ness of geometry and drawing geometric figures.

Flower Child is back into the swing of doing math. I didn’t add it on her schedule until her siblings started school to help minimize grumbling. The Klimt art project was a big hit and we finished it together last Saturday. No big projects for this week, continuing the Van Gogh projects from Harmony Fine Arts summer artist study. We’re in the middle of a meltdown right now because she lost the maps for history earlier this week and never looked for them. No fun until they’re found and finished.

Austin finished his first scheduled week of school with the exception of Algebra 2. Another friend recently graduated her dd without the Algebra 2 and it’s caused her the loss of scholarship money. I’m very close to doing the same with Austin… he just will. not. sit down and do it. SO frustrating! Loss of scholarship money isn’t an issue for us and maybe a teacher at the college will be better able to motivate him.

The bathroom is nearly done. Good thing because the stress of having an extra person in house is killing us. Then it’s worse since there’s only one bathroom.

In other news, everything is messed up with the teens’ dual-enrollment classes. The admissions office held up their applications and required documents that aren’t normally required – I’m assuming because they are homeschooled – and now the classes have been in progress for two weeks. I’m strongly considering waiting until the spring now. The last thing we need is the added pressure of being the homeschool guinea pigs coupled with playing catch-up. I’m really disappointed in the university.

It would be really nice to have ONE week go according to plan.