Silly Questions

Top Ten Questions our Homeschooling Family Laughs About 

The following is a list of questions that we hear often as a homeschooling family. I thought I would share my answers to these questions that are sometimes silly :)

10. What do you mean you aren't doing school today, it's a Thursday?

      Our family doesn't typically follow a typical Monday-Friday 8 a.m. -2 p.m. school schedule. Why should we? One of the benefits is that we get to choose ur own schedule! We do try to get our schoolwork done in the morning for our personal schedule's sake but that doesn't always work and sometimes school happens in the evening or even (gasp!) a Saturday!!! I try to add in one educational field trip per week and we also participate in a weekly writing class with our local homeschool co- op.We love being able to set our own schedule for both work time and time off. I also love the freedom to recognize that one of my kids is really having an off day and giving them something else to do, even if that something else is a trip to the library instead of math worksheets.


9. Aren't you worried about them not having any friends (or girl/boy friends)?

There are many pros and cons of homeschooling, but helping my child make wise decisions in who they socialize with is definitely high on my list of pros! There seems to be a general acceptance to force children to deal with adult things very early in their life and I do not see how putting my child in that type of environment will "help" them. We do not ignore social issues like sex, drugs and bullies; but I know that I am able to help my kids learn to make better decisions about who they spend their time with and what they do in that time by not  forcing them to process those decisions on their own at a vulnerable age. Our goal is to help them now while they are young and developing to get them better prepared to make those hard decisions between right and wrong when they are older teenagers or young adults.


8. Can they still go to college after homeschooling?

Not only can they go to college but homeschoolers can enter the military, start a business, or decide to become employed in the workforce after their studies- just like their peers in traditional school. The secret is to help your child set goals and help them work towards those goals. Leaving a 14-18 year old to their own devices usually won't end well and a parent must be there to support their children. Both homeschool and traditional school parents need to ensure that opportunities are available for them to study and take tests for college acceptance if college is what they want to pursue or prepare for the Military, or help understand the job application process. It is not different than most kids in public schools, all kids need help and guidance when it comes to getting ready for and starting their life after school! 


7. Why would you make your kids do school during summer break? 

I cannot for the life of me understand why so many kids are forced to take a three month break, so this question seems to be one of the most ridiculous that I get asked! Studies have shown that children learn much better and retain knowledge when there are not large breaks in learning. I feel it is a huge waste of time to need to review the previous year 1-2 months in the beginning of the new school year due to such a large vacation! The benefits of homeschooling year round is being able to take breaks when we need it. If the Chief's ship is coming in, we take a break to spend a little time with him. We take breaks during the week to go on "field trips" (I use the term loosely because so much of what we do is considered a learning experience). We also are able to incorporate traveling when we please due to having to only take our holidays at the same time as other families! 


6. Don't you think they would be missing out on fun things without school like sports, dances, science/art fairs, clubs? 

As a homeschooling parent, it is MY responsibility to ensure that opportunities are available for my child. If they want to play sports, we find teams and commit to practice and game schedules as a family. We have, as homeschoolers, participated in science fairs the past 3 years. One of those years, Zombie Boy won a National Canadian first prize! Community Centres, libraries, museums, MWR on base and  homeschool co-ops or groups are our best friends to ensure that our family still gets to do these fun group activities. Most public school systems or DODEA schools let homeschoolers access their extra curricular programs- this is a great option for high school aged homeschoolers! It is also our responsibility as homeschooling parents to listen to our kids' interests- they may not want to participate in group activities and supporting them just as important as supporting kids who do want to participate.


5. How do you know if your kids are actually learning what they need to know? 

I, rather than a teacher, get to see first hand what they love, understand or need help with instead of relying solely on test scores and report card grades. We also are not held to a cookie cutter public school curriculum so I am able to tailor our program to the needs to each of my children.


4. I couldn't imagine having my kids home everyday. I need the break! How do you do it?

I couldn't imagine sending my kids away for eight hours a day.... I legitimately enjoy the company of my children (although this teenage thing is a little rough).  I love exploring with them, discovering new things and helping them learn. I would be lying if I said everyday was perfect in our household. We have our days, just like every other parent but I feel our good days outweigh our not so good days.  I also still do things on my own. Prior to living in Japan, we lived on a farm and I was sole caretaker of our land, garden and animals. I was very involved with my horses and volunteering. Here in Japan, I a member of a women's roller derby team, I volunteer with my husband's command, help run the animal shelter and even own my own business. These are all things I do outside of homeschooling, so to think I don't have a life of "my own" is quite a ridiculous idea.

3. How do you know what to teach them?

I know my kids are learning what they need to know because I have researched curriculum, read state/national standards, and familiarized myself with many different types of learning styles and programs. I love having the freedom to pick and choose different curriculum or learning platforms to teach my kids. We do book work but I am big on learning outside of books to and homeschooling gives us this option.


2. What about socialization?!?!?

Tell me when in the world (other than school) a person is locked up everyday with 30-40 people of the exact same age and expected to learn in a group environment alone? Never, because the world doesn't work that way! Not to mention traditional school shouldn't be a time to focus on socializing because when else will they get an education?  My children get to socialize with kids of all ages through our homeschool group. They regularly socialize with adults and people of different cultures. On top of this, my kids meet weekly with our homeschooling co op, and have participated in sports, dance, music, scouts and various other interests, we participate in The Chief''s Command's events and volunteer regularly at an animal shelter. It really bugs me that the word homeschool means hermit to many, our family is far from hermits!


1. I bet you can't wait to get back to the States so that the kids can go back to a normal school, right?


I have to admit that this questions bugs me more than makes me laugh. Our family did start homeschooling because it does fit so well with our Military life but that wasn't the only reason. We have done back to back overseas tours and will possibly do another to help The Chief's career goals and for us, homeschooling is the best option. Homeschool statistics show that more and more parents are deciding to homeschool for a variety of reasons: moral, education quality, safety, travel, special needs. Most people have a big reason to start homeschooling and many more supportive reasons to continue. At this time, we don't have plans to return back to the States for a few years but when that time comes, we will most likely continue to homeschool because homeschooling is the norm for our family!

Journey to the Centre of Science

This past week, we participated in a home school Science Fair! It was so much fun and we enjoyed meeting other Military homeschooling families. Zombie Boy did an experiment and Princess and Squidward both did presentations. The cool thing about it is that their projects had to be connected to one of Jules Verne's books!

Zombie started researching hot air balloons after reading "Five Weeks in a Balloon". He knew from his research that balloons used hot air to fly. Zombie wondered if he could try to make his own homemade balloon out of a plastic bag and test its flying with different temps of air. He followed the scientific method and carried out his experiment by testing plastic bags filled with hot air form a hair dryer, room temp air form a room fan and cold air form fanned air from the freezer. His hypothesis was proven when the bag with hot air from the hair dryer not only flew but also rose into the air! 

The Princess did a presentation project on stars. Her presentation was based on the book "Around the Moon". We read this book as a family over the past month and Princess wanted to find out more about stars. In her projects she found out that stars can be three colors: red, white and blue. She also found out that the sun is a huge star! Mia had fun researching facts about stars online and watching space documentaries. She also enjoyed the craft aspect of the project which involved covering the board with black paper to simulate the night sky, cutting out colored stars and finding a picture of a big bright sun. In the store, she also found these neat stars that blinked with lights and she helped me figure out how to adhere them onto her project using rubber cement. Princess was afraid to actually present her project, this was the first time we had met with the home school group, so I helped her by asking her questions based on her project and facts she learned about stars.She loved learning about constellations and we tried finding some in the sky. Princess thought it was fun to make our own pictures in the sky using stars :)

We have read (and seen the movies) for "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and Squidward knew that he wanted to do a project based on this Jules Verne book for the Science Fair. Since Squidward was a toddler, he has been fascinated by rocks and has quite the collection of rocks and minerals. His family around the States has sent him rocks to add to his collection. He knew that he wanted to show off his collection for the Science Fair. Squidward worked very hard at classifying and naming the rocks he chose for the project. He then researched them online and in his rock and mineral field guide so that he could write a few facts about them to present on his project. I was so impressed by his hard wok, especially considering how he did a majority of the work on his own. He was definitely proud of his project and even stood up and spoke in front of everyone in the homeschool group to present his project. Squidward does not like public speaking so this was quite a feat for him! He chose to first paint his project board a beautiful gold shimmery colour because he said it reminded him of Pyrite (fool's gold). He then tried to group his rocks together- different onyx in the onyx, different quartz with the quartz group, etc. He then figured out how to best put them on the board so that the description would fit and everything would look good. Last, he super glue everything on the board. His favourite rock that he displayed was bornite or "peacock rock". Over the summer, Squid had the chance to see peacock rock that was bigger then him when we visited Arizona! He loved showing off his collection and hard work to his new friends and I was so very proud of him!

We are exited to get back to a "normal" school week. Zombie Boy is working hard on a huge Social Studies Thematic unit about the history of the U.S. from discovery to present day. Currently he is at the George Washington time frame. Squidward is focusing on how to type correctly and without looking at the keyboard. He will be playing many keyboarding games to help him along. Princess and I will be focusing on reading. She is coming along so well and I am super proud of her progress as a "kindergartner". In addition to studying phonics, she will get to play many reading and ABC games. We are also goignt o be coming up with something speacial to do to celebrate Earth Day. Here in Japan the holiday was actually on Saturday but we always try to come up with a special way to change our lives or the way we do things o help better the Earth and try to actually make it a life change rather than just focus on that one day.

Kitten Season

After arriving in Japan, I took a board position with our base animal shelter as the Kitten Coordinator. It has been an amazing opportunity and I enjoy the people and animals I have the pleasure of working with each day. I have been working with animals for the past 14 years, both as a volunteer and a career with a degree and training certificate connected to animals. I have had quite a few different types of species to deal with including dogs, cats with severe medical issues, ferrets, doves, goats, pigs, chickens, abused/neglected/starved horses and many more throughout my years connected with the Army Vet Corp and fostering at various rescue organizations.

As the Kitten Coordinator at our base shelter, I am responsible for all of the kittens aged 0-12 weeks old that come to the shelter. We have many feral cats on base so with that comes many kitten litters that are born in weird places (inside cars or bbq grills) and the moms end up abandoning the babies because the people accidentally scare them away. My job is to train foster homes to hand raise these kittens and ensure everyone is healthy and happy for adoption! Of course, I also will take in litters throughout the season. This is also such a great lesson for the kids and fits perfectly with our eclectic homeschool family- I certainly think that ABCs and 123s are mandatory education but life lessons with hand son experiences are invaluable and just as important for children to learn. Raising kittens will help teach my children responsibility and the life cycle but most importantly it will also teach them empathy and love towards those who cannot speak or care for themselves.

Just last night we got our first litter of the season! Six cute little kittens- a mixture of orange and dark tabbies!  My coworkers caught the kittens but the mom wouldn't come to us so we left a trap. We would much rather take the kittens in with mom so that she can raise them in a warm and secure place and then get spayed before being released back outside. Around 10:30 pm I got the call that mom had been trapped so I hop out of bed and my dear friend who is the president of the shelter meets me to help load her up- we didn't get home until close to midnight!

Momma was quite traumatized so I wasn't terribly shocked when she wanted nothing to do with her kittens after we got home. I ended up staying up all night ensuring the kittens didn't miss feedings, stayed warm since momma wouldn't snuggle with them and just ensuring she wouldn't hurt them. Thankfully in the morning, she started letting them near her and shortly after let them start to nurse. She was still super nervous and would tense up if I looked at her but by the late morning, she started cleaning the babies. Once I saw this, I knew they would all be ok so I was then able to move them out of the kennel in my bedroom and into the storage room. I have checked on them once a hour all day and momma seems much more calm both with the kittens and with me. I am so thankful!

This week will be a fairly inactive one with the little babies here. I have to really stick around the house to ensure that mom doesn't begin to reject her kittens early.  We are just coming off of two weeks of spring break which was desperately needed after not taking a summer or Christmas break due to our move to Japan. I think we will slowly get back into the swing of things by doing some printable worksheets and working on our science fair projects.

Appreciating Every Miracle of Life

I was recently contacted by an inspirational woman who asked to guest post on my blog. It is with great pleasure that I help share her story, may we all take a lesson in just how precious life is as we live our day to day lives and realize that many of our struggles do not compare to those that have literally fought for their lives. I pray that Heather remains cancer free and am humbled by her strength and will to live. 

 

“Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death….”

I first heard that line in the movie Auntie Mame, and I laughed at it.  It struck me as funny, and I thought it related to me quite well. I liked it so much that I adopted it as my personal mantra and quote for all occasions.  What struck me as funny prior to November 21, 2005 took on a completely new meaning after that fateful date.  It’s still my catch phrase and favorite quote, but for different reasons.

I suppose being diagnosed with cancer will do that do you.  It was November 21st, 2005, and I wasn’t diagnosed with any ordinary cancer.  No, I was diagnosed with one of the most lethal forms of cancer known.  When I heard the words malignant pleural mesothelioma come out of my doctor’s mouth, my heart stopped beating.  I didn’t exactly know what it meant, but I knew it was bad.

Making matters worse was the fact that my only child was just a little baby.  At three and a half months, there was no way my daughter could understand what was going on.  All the occasions I would miss flew through my head.  Her first steps, words, school, dates, driving…I was facing one of my greatest fears and I knew that I had to find a way to beat the cancer.  I had to win this battle not just for me, but also for my precious daughter.

With the courage to fight and a spirit that would not be destroyed by the “C” word, I found myself meeting Dr. David Sugarbaker of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.  He said that there was hope for me.  He acknowledged the battle I had facing me, but he supported it. Somewhere along the line I had read that only 2% of people survive past 5 years of their diagnosis. Someone has to make up that two percent, and I was determined to be part of it.  I didn’t care what the cancer threw my way, I was going to survive, thrive and raise my precious daughter.

That first year was nearly impossible.  My left lung was lost to the cancer, but I still had my right one.  What killed me more than the surgery, or the loss of a vital organ, was being 1900 miles away from my daughter.  My mesothelioma treatment and surgeries took place in Boston, and it killed me to be so far from my child who was now six months old.  I wanted to be with her to watch all those first milestones, and I had to remind myself that being there for her now would be little consolation if it meant I wasn’t there for her later.

Fortunately, my parents kept my daughter while I was fighting for my life.  While I was sick from chemo and radiation, my parents were making sure that my daughter was loved and cared for.  I was constantly sick from missing her, but she glided through this time without any issues.  By the time dear Lily turned a year old, I was nearing the end of my battle and I was winning it.  Eleven months after my diagnosis, I was free of the cancer and I was committed to keeping it that way.

This incredible, painful battle for my life happened many years ago.  I now refer to that quote all the time.  I refuse to take anything for granted, not a beautiful sunset or a moment spent with Lily.  Every blooming flower is a miracle to me and I cherish every second spent with my family and child.

I am thankful for the people who helped me along the way.  Not only my parents and family, but also the doctors and nurses who helped me fight the mesothelioma, beat it and become a survivor.  I not only think of the professionals who help patients fight this disease, but I also think of the people who didn’t win against it.  It’s not a name; it’s a disease that takes lives every day.

I savor every moment, enjoy every morsel and am grateful for the incredible blessings I have been given.

Spring in Japan

Spring is in the air in beautiful Japan! This weekend we enjoyed a few days under the Sakura (cherry blossoms). The Chief ship came home just in time to see the beautiful flowers! We did a small family photo shoot in Yokohama and then enjoyed lunch under the trees on Easter. The chief unfortunately had duty for Easter Sunday so the kids and I enjoyed morning Mass, a yummy brunch at the O Club and spent the day outside int he warm weather. I am so happy to have my windows open! Here are some pictures from the weekend:

This week we are taking an actual spring break form school. It is much too nice outside to worry about being inside, it is our first week of nice weather since winter after all! A few weeks ago the kids got their results back from the California standardized test and each had wonderful results, even on the essay part, so we are on the "downswing" for school now. We are all excited for summer and I think we will take a bit of a break since we schooled through last summer