9.21.2006

"Home"school

I'm not sure what we did wrong. Maybe it's because Brooke is a freshman in high school and Sydney is in her first year of middle school. Uncharted waters for all of us. Or maybe it's because I have started working, even though it's very part-time. Or maybe it's because we seem to have trouble uttering the little word "No" and so we are racing from football to baseball to piano to youth group.

Whatever it is, the homework gods are not smiling on us this year. Brooke and Sydney have been particularly inundated, especially Sydney, who breezed through fifth grade with nary a care. Now we are spending our evenings memorizing Bible verses, studying catechisms and algebraic equations, and writing paragraphs about how language affects our culture and why the "pastoralists" needed good grass for their livestock (for that infamous sixth grade "history" class).

Not to mention making crepes for French II, collecting bugs, dead and alive, for Payton's science class, and listening to Sawyer count to 1000 and tell us how many times each day his teacher says "Now friends" in her sweet southern drawl (a habit she is known and loved for at school!). Toss in making a collage of Sydney's interests and hobbies for reading class and constructing a waterbug out of a paper towel tube for the aforementioned science class, and you have the perfect recipe for organized chaos Vestrand-style.

The fun never ends. For some reason, I thought we paid these schools big bucks to teach our precious offspring. Why is it then that we are so busy teaching them ourselves every night? A friend recently told me that she homeschools her kids so that she's NOT so busy. I didn't understand at first, but now I'm beginning to realize what she meant!

The picture below shows Jeff and Brooke working hard to prepare for Brooke's first algebra test tomorrow. I took the picture for you daddy! I'm sure you remember the many nights you and I spent at the kitchen table studying for algebra tests. Although, I'm also fairly sure that, like me, you'd prefer to forget them. All I have to say is, I hope that Brooke's algebra experience is seriously better than mine was!

Back to the books..........

5 comments:

Stephanie said...

you could always throw some CHICKEN POX into the mix!!!

Jen said...

Bite your tongue!!! Thankfully, Payton doesn't realize how contagious they are! He's just worried about their double header on Sunday!

U.N. Mama said...

Oh bless her heart! My brain hurts thinking of Math! ugghh

Anonymous said...

You got it girl - one of the reasons we homeschool!! (Just had to throw that in!!!) Hang in there - maybe it's just the beginning-of-the-year teacher excitement - it may slow down!! :)

Anonymous said...

Come on now, it is good for them. And hey, crepes, bug collections, collages and paper tube water bugs beat piles upon piles and hours upon hours of just WORKSHEETS. Besides, isn't Jeff the one who does all the projects with them?
Give those underpaid teachers a break! Those big bucks you pay certainly aren't going into their pockets. That said... I don't miss teaching one tiny little ounce. Happy Homeworking!