Homeschooling again

It's been a while.
A long time actually.
I haven't homeschooled in years - since 2011.
But here we go again.

As the result of an abrupt move returning us to London, UK, I am now the proud teacher of a 5th grade student, my son Joshua.

JD & AD both returned to ASL, starting January 4th.  Their re-admission prompted our return.  Had they not been placed, we would have finished out the year in MN.  However, this would have been a challenge because D would have been "commuting" to London from November 15 - August 16.  YUCK!!  No easy way to go about this one, so we are doing the best we can!

Larson homeschool began February 1st, 2016.
That first week, we practiced the SSAT middle-level exams.  A requirement for his re-admission to ASL, we wanted him to do the best he could do.  Testing is not his forte. What a blessing to have a few days to prepare for the exam.
We don't have his scores back yet, but he felt good about the exam.

Our current curriculum includes:
Primary Mathematics Level 5A&B
Institute for Excellence in Writing
History of the World
"Brain Training" by Diane Kraft (to help Josh ease some of his learning blocks/glitches - particularly he does not like to write and struggles with handwriting and flow).
Science - this is one area in which we're lacking.  We will look to his science interests, visit the Science Museum for outings, view Khan videos and get books from the library.
Reading - his choice, as much as possible!!

our little apartment

Time line of Ancient History

As we worked through Susan Bauer's The Story of the World (Volume 1, Ancient Times) for history, Jonah was required to put dates on a timeline.   Although certainly not his favorite activity, I believe it was a fantastic supplement to the already stellar curriculum that Bauer provides.  Here's the result, despite the student's opinion, I like it!

One child - one year - FOUR schools....

Our daughter, bless her little sweet soul - has had FOUR schools in a bit over one year.

So I'd like to publicly present her with the:

2011 MOST FLEXIBLE LEARNER AWARD

Here's what she's experienced:
September 2010 - March 2011 Normandale Elementary French Immersion (Edina, MN) a public school
March 2011 - May 2011 Larson Homeschool (London, UK) as we uprooted our family mid-year
June 2011 - July 2011 St. Christina's (London, UK) a very sweet private British school around the corner
August 2011 - present Private School in London

The middle school homeschooler might need to be renamed the middle school mom....

Whew!  We made it through a year of homeschooling.  Wowser.  Hooray.  Yipppeee! 

And now - what next?

Well if you know our situation, you're aware that we've had to move our family to London.  Right in the middle of this trying homeschooling thing.  Not what I was expecting. 

But the beauty of it was discovering that I was now prepared to homeschool ALL of the children.  So that is what we did this spring.  It wasn't like we could land in London in March and get the kids into good schools - no, no, no.  There are no spots.  These school spaces are far and few between.  So we homeschooled!  It worked for us.  My daughter did get to attend a sweet British private school for the last half of the last term...just a taste.  Then summer hit and we went back to MN for our home visit.  Now fall is knocking at the door.  And guess what.  ALL three of the children have places at a school in our London neighborhood.  ALL three of  my children will be together, I can't believe it.  Tuition coverage is part of our situation here, so we're happily accepting the fact that homeschooling may be for another time.  I'll probably continue to be a "homework" homeschooler.  I swear, I was practically homeschooling prior to jumping in officially, as most of you out there know that as parents, you are expected to be homework MANAGER.  This is no small task.  I know many families for whom it is daunting. 

Writing about schooling - whether public schools, private schools, foreign schools, or homeschool will continue to be my forum here in this space.  I do believe I'll continue to have the flavor of homeschooling in our home, and it's quite likely that I'll homeschool each of my other two children for a year sometime in the future, hopefully during this critical period we refer to as middle school.

progress reports

We're coming to a close of our "school year" in London....

We're doing well - this week JD is in a basketball camp at the American School.  He is such a happy guy when he can play sports - he is having a lot of fun with it and meeting some kids who will be in his grade next year!  I am so happy for him.  He has grown so much even since we came here, he is really maturing. He" been reading, with intense interest, a book about the year that his Grandpa spent in VietNam (written by Grandpa)!  He really is mesmerized by it!

 

Little miss AL, she also is doing well.  She is IN LOVE with her girls school.  She wants to continue there next year but we just can't make that work with the different schedules.  I think she will accept it but I can tell it makes her sad.  Also she has hurt both her legs this past week.  She over-extends them, both of her legs, she hurt them individually while jumping (one on a trampoline and the other doing long jump at track practice).  She is hobbling around and I feel bad for her.  However she is her sweet old self.  She has been reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" every day to JP (even JD listens but pretends not to) and she is teaching him to play the piano (we got a keyboard but I haven't found a teacher yet). 

 

JD, now SEVEN years old! is making some progress finally with his writing.  Since JD and AL are gone this week each day, I have been working with him on writing and reading.  He's has become pretty good with reading, he still has to sound words out but he can make it through the most simple/easy books now and that is fun.  I highly recommend "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" - what a practical, no-nonsense way to help your child learn to read.   You can't force it though, and so if you think you'll get your three-year-old to read without his desire to do so, good luck!  The child must want to read and then this is the tool to help him reach that goal.  We started it probably over 2 years ago and have just continued to pick it up as needed.  He's doing Singapore Math Level 1A.  He's actually doing quite well, and can add double digit numbers (like 12 + 5).  I have to keep working with him through the summer.  I will try to continue to do some "school" with all the kids even when we're home because we've had so many breaks and such disruptions these past few months! 

 

I do feel like we're getting into a routine though.  It is nice but I'm also lonely, I really hate being far away from family & friends.  It is hard.  Everything else is good but being apart from everyone is hard.

We've developed the habit of reading together as a family each evening.  This is a favorite past time from when the children were younger.  Unfortunately the crazy schedules in high-pressure American suburbs do not allow for this sweet, simple tradition once children are older and running from one thing to another.  We've enjoyed re-integrating family reading time and I know the kids love it just as much. 

Nature Study in Central London

Our science curriculum was a flop, but I've been sharing the one success we had:  the Nature Journal.  Living in an urban setting, it's not as easy to find nature, but perhaps that makes the activity more necessary - to find the small touches of nature that might be under our noses.

I love this last one...

He chose the subject of the Nature Study from our back patio and researched to discover the name of the tree/flower         Magnolia grandiflora

just when I thought I was getting a handle on things...

For the first two months of this transition in our life, things went something like this:
1.  upheaval - move from US
2.  crankiness - adjustment to time zone and major lifestyle change (going from suburban Minnesota safe neighborhood with large yards and kids running everywhere.... to apartment living, none of our familiar belongings, new foods, new job for Dad, no yard, no friends, no toys!).
3.  stress of finding a permanent "home" in London - searching, thinking, researching, wondering where the best spot for us would be out of limited choices and a limited budget.
4.  emerging from the fog of #1-3 above to actually beginning to establish a routine, beginning to accomplish maybe a couple of hours of school per day.
5.  actually enjoying our place, our location, our life, being able to work well with school schedule each day

THEN we have to move into our "permanent" rental place
1.   Stressful couple of weeks as our lease agreement gets renegotiated because of a couple of problems
2.  upheaval - move to our little house, receipt of our surface shipment!
3.  crankiness - anyone who has moved recently knows it's HARD on a household, and there's so much to do
4.  stress of trying to get connected in the area - looking at schools again, getting the kids into sports/activities, finding a babysitter, learning where to get groceries, etc.
5.  figuring out how to get around - walking and subway had been our only options - until we all got bicycles which was a big job in itself
6.  emerging from the fog of #1-5 to actually beginning to establish a routine, beginning to accomplish a few hours of school per day
7.  learning that our daughter would be able to attend a school just around the corner - for the remainder of the British school year, and realizing that I only truly had a couple of weeks left of "homeschooling all of my children" when I feel like I hardly even got to get my feet on the ground to do a good job at it....  accepting that it was the perfect situation for our family, for this time, for this adjustment.
8.  relief to move on to the next phase of this adjustment to life here

Who ever thought that homeschooling and ex-pat family would go hand in hand?  I've heard of a few other families here in London who have had this experience and turned to homeschooling because of the same underlying problem = there are no schools available.  So I know I'm not alone.  I wonder how others who uproot their families mid-school year and move to the world's most populated cities deal with this issue?