Happy "Hula" Homeschooling

Now that Jay and I have signed up as a part of HUG (Homeschoolers Under God), we're able to take part in their various activities. For this month they had a special Valentine's Date Night for couples with a Hawaiian flair. It was a lot of fun, with great food and entertainment. After watching the dancing I (Chandra) even got to go up on stage and practice swinging around these little things that is a tradition of the native Maori people of New Zealand. We are starting to get to know some other nice couples with similar interests and goals as us. It feels like being part of a family. I hadn't felt that from the giant public school, where you felt more like a number and you would be sequestered if you tried to get on-campus. I think this "family-atmosphere" of the home school culture is going to be a great thing for Penny! They also provide the required testing by the state law at a reduced cost at a church. And they even hold a graduation ceremony in the Spring. So excited to be a part of this new group! Unfortunatley, the flickr pictures are not allowed to be shared. Wish you could see how much fun we had!

Into the second month

Well, we're into our second month of homeschooling and we definitely are thinking this is the way to go! I'm still managing it along with working 32 hours per week. It just means that I can't do as many of the household chores. Penny does quite a few, but can't always, like when she was sick and when she's got a lot of homework. But, that's okay. You just have to decide that you can live with more of a mess and waiting longer to put all of the Christmas decorations away. Who really cares? After all, those things won't matter in the end. But, we're creating special memories together every day as we learn together. I started off with very little in the way of actual text books. Rather, I started off with lots of online materials, books that we received or inherited from previous homeschooler families and library materials. But, now I'm gradually getting more books, via e-bay. Such great deals! And I'm getting better at learning bidding techniques that work. Some of the great finds I got lately include the Children's Encyclopedia of American History for only $4 and a science textbook for under $4! The best thing is hearing my daughter say, "I'm starting to like Science and Math now." And now when people ask her what her favorite subject is she quickly pipes up and says, "History!" She never responded with any enthusiasm at all when asked that question before she started homeschooling. And I'm amazed at how much progress she's already made in her reading ability just in the six weeks that we've been homeschooling. Now she actually WANTS to read! She'll almost get upset if I try to read something. Before it was like pulling teeth to try and get her to read things. Today when we finished a language arts assignment about verbs she said, "That was fun!" And she asked me to please quiz her over the next set of "hiragana" (Japanese alphabet). It's great that we can be so flexible, as she's also gotten very busy with her commitment to the church youth group musical. Last year she was invovled, but quite stressed about the Sunday afternoon rehearsals. This year she's feeling so much more relaxed that she volunteered, on her own, to be in another number, which means commiting to more practices. And I'm mean we're talking three hour practices minimum. And this year she's actually fine with me just dropping her off. She's even starting to open up and try to get to know a few of the kids and asking to befriend them on FB. So, I feel like the extra bonding time we're spending at home is paying off great benefits in helping her feel safe to venture out more in other areas. What's funny is how the school didn't get it. They were concerned about her social interactions. She's actually starting to have more positive signs of socially interacting now that she's not at the public high school. I think she also really enjoys that she can sleep in and take breaks for ice cream in the middle of her schooling. On the thirteenth Jay and I will get a nice couple's date with a group of other homeschooler parents through our local HUG group (Homeschoolers under God). Penny will busy with one of her musical practices at the same time, so she'll probably be too busy to feel left out or jealous of us spending alone time as just a couple. I think that's probably been the biggest sacrifice for us, is just not getting as much time together as a couple. It still takes me a lot of time in doing my lesson-planning. But, I think eventually this will continue to get easier. In fact, just this morning I planned ahead for Math for the whole next two semesters. And I'm already trying to purchase books that I'll need for the Fall semester, so I'll be all ready to go! We're feeling like this homeschooling thing will continue to be the best route for Penny and our family. So, Lord willing, we'll just continue to move forward.