After some hiccups, we declared the 2014-15 school year open for business a few weeks back.
It promises, already, to be auspicious.
This is the first year of having Mary Hannah out of the mix, and I admit to more than a few pangs as I realized that my role this year is simply to listen to her weighing higher education options (“I’m thinking of taking an Economics class…”) and pipe in with my thoughts. Folks, I homeschooled that kid from preschool through graduation. I’m proud as punch of her character, her academics, and her commitment to serving God … but it all still passed by in the blink of an eye.
But on to the students over which I do still hold sway. Mathaus has chosen to study an Omnibus course, and so far, it has been a great fit for him. He’s plugging away, challenged but not overwhelmed, and finding it a good transition after last year’s SL Core 200. This hasn’t excused him from a dose of analogies, Greek and Latin roots, Logic, and other necessary evils. He’s finishing Algebra I, doing physics and French with his dad, tinkering with more online classes via CodeAcademy, and trying his hand at simulated diplomacy thanks to another online offering. His main regret right now is the absence of his keyboard, and the fact that he has no musical options but guitar and bass. He took a Songwriting class via the School for the Performing Arts, Kathmandu, recently, but wasn’t smitten. But he admits that it may have been the instructor’s Italian accent distracting him somewhat.
Jack is my reluctant 7th grader. Never one to grab on to formal education with both hands, Jack is still tolerating (if not loving) a year of intense world geography via the Trailguide. I added some literature studies and a heady dose of Language Arts (which he hates, but needs), and he is getting ready to start Algebra 1. He’s also doing physics (yay for efficiency!) but has been given a pass on a foreign language for the year. I figure if he picks up enough Nepali to get by in a market, we’ll count that as time well spent.
My three smaller learners are all clustered together in SL Core A, which, I must add, is one of my favorites. We just finished The Boxcar Children, and I was delighted to see Birdie’s eyes sparkle with the same imagination that Mary Hannah’s had well over a decade before. The three in this grouping (Phineas, John Mark, and Birdie) have been playing various dimensions of the story ever since, and have enlisted Simon to be Watch, the dog. He doesn’t seem to mind.
Math fir the littles continues to be a slow and steady art form around here. We are using and loving the Queen Homeschool program. This guide, in addition to real life (“John Mark, go around and add up how many eggs we need to boil for everyone to have enough for breakfast.”) has proven to be just enough of a springboard to keep Jem moving forward while still gently allowing Birdie and Phineas to get their toes wet.
Every day is different here, and not every day is good. I’ll be the first to admit it– homeschooling, even when two of your kids aren’t in the mix– isn’t the easiest gig out there. And there is an option here; not too terribly far away sits a perfectly good International School that would whisk all five of my students away for the biggest chunk of every day. But you know, I’m not tempted. I have loved this journey, and I continue to cherish the experience of being in such close communion with the people I love best. Learning is living. I’m blessed that we get to do it together.