Home Education Week {Profiling Home Educators}

 

 

 

Profiling Home Educators Monday, March 31

Describe yourself, your family or one of your children. What is it like to be home educated in your family? What is “normal” for you?

Well... I'm very glad the words "for you" appear after the question "what is normal?"  because I often wonder if we're normal at all!!

Our "normal" day - school starts at 8:30am, when we meet for Bible reading and the kids draw their chores from the deck of cards.  The morning is spent on schoolwork, and for the most part everyone works on their own.  I try to get everyone together midway through the morning on days when we are doing Science or Social Studies all together.  The kids take turns choosing the lunch menu, but usually that means I wind up making two or three different things so everyone gets something they like.  The afternoon is supposed to be school time as well, but very often we all get busy "playing" and we don't get done what I had planned!  I have on my schedule that we are supposed to all do chores and housework for an hour each afternoon ... Riiiiiiiiight.  That doesn't happen in real life like it did in the fantasy world I was living in at the time I wrote up that schedule.  But every now and again - like today - it actually does happen.  Basically, "normal" for us is a day when we get started late, do things in a different order from the plan, skip some things entirely, but somehow when all those days add up, we do finish the school year pretty close to "on time"

Character Sketches:

Name:  Harrison aka "H"

Status:  Tenth Grade

Known for:  talking incessantly, making unnecessary noise, "needing" the music channel on the TV while he works on school, cheering for teams that are rivals to his parents' favorites, being attached to his iPod, collecting hockey cards, dressing like a hoodlum - most notably in Snoop Droopy Drawers style pants.

Talents and Abilities:  he can memorize and analyze sports stats in a most impressive way - this should come in handy in the sports broadcasting/journalism career he hopes to pursue

Favorite Subject:  anything he's already finished. ;~)  Least Favorite:  Biology 

Goals and Future Plans:  to go on two missions trips this summer - a week long trip to Honduras, and a series of day trips to DC; to study broadcast journalism and someday host a sports talk radio program 

Name:  Spencer

Status:  7th/8th Grade

Known for:  artistic ability, incessant and annoying noisemaking, reluctance to speak in public or on the phone, interest in comic books and cartooning, collecting pirate ships (for that WizKids pirates game), willingness to help around the house (usually - not always!)

Talents and Abilities:  drawing and cartoon style drawing in particular;  can build ANYTHING with Lego

Favorite Subject:  Science  Least Favorite:  Language Arts

Goals and Future Plans:  He's not sure what his career choice will be, but something in the area of animation, illustrating, or graphic arts  

Name:  Landon aka "Moe Hawk"

Status:  Third Grade

Known for:  crazy haircuts, stoicism (also called stubbornness), belief that he is always right

Talents and Abilities:  very good at most sports he has tried

Favorite Subject:  Science  Least Favorite:  ??? Depends on his mood.

Goals and Future Plans:  he wants to be a garbageman!!! LOL  Somebody has to do that job and I guess it holds plenty of appeal for young boys - driving or riding on the back of a big truck, throwing trash in it and watching it get chewed up...  He and two of his buddies at co-op are planning (okay they are 9- and 10-year olds, keep that in mind) to have their own trash collecting business when they grow up.  I bet they could do it too! 

Name:  Kennady Anne aka "Kennie"

Status:  First Grade

Known for:  singing ALL the time; wearing Tinkerbell or Princess costumes as her school uniform; sucking her thumb (we're still working on it); generally cheerful attitude; generally messy disastrous room

Talents and Abilities:  she really is a very good singer!!  She has tons of energy and is doing very well at baseball too. 

Favorite Subject:  Art  Least Favorite:  whatever she doesn't feel like doing on a given day

Goals and Future Plans:  I'm not sure, but I think she plans on being a professional princess.  She would make a great worship leader.  She has also told me she'd like to be a fire hydrant (which cracked me up at the time, she MEANT a firefighter) or a cowboy-girl  (I pointed out that a female cowhand or rancher would in fact be known as a "cowgirl" rather than the gender-ambiguous term she came up with)