The Misfit homeschooler: Living in a secular world

And we are doing a lot of it! We are switching charter schools this summer and it's been an interesting  process to switch from the first that pretty much let us "unschooling" for three years we were there, to the new school which wants a lot more information, and an actual "plan" for each of the kids. All three kids will be in the new school together. There are some big advantages to the new school. $2000 per child per year to help buy curriculum, memberships. outside classes/lessons, field trips, etc. (but again, a lot more reporting). So the older kids got to make a lot of fun decisions on what they wanted to do this year. I started by breaking down the year into 3 sections and filling out what classes they wanted to do after I had their list. I keep having to remind them they don't have to do "all the things" in one year but they are so excited I'm going to have to see how it goes once they actually start the classes. They'll be doing

Here are a few things we use and love for the kids: 1) All About Reading (AAR) - we are currently using this for our dyslexic daughter, who is behind in her reading. The system is pretty easy, laid out for you and you just have to take it at your own pace. A single level may or may not last you a while depending on how well your child likes it and sticks with it. We have only used a single level at this point but will be ordering our next level up soon. We will be using it for our youngest as well so having all the levels will be nice. While I haven't used the All About Spelling system yet, we will order a level of that and see what we think. 2) Pandia Press - Carries both the History Odyssey and the REAL Science Odyssey both of which we like. History Odyssey is more of an outline and has maps, suggested reading, etc. more than an actual curriculum itself. The one down side is that the level one's do use Story of the world which is not exactly secular. The good news is they

Last time we posted it was early February and I couldn't believe it! and Now here we are Almost done with March!! In the last few weeks we've been hiking, went camping in a yurt, found a bucket full of obsidian, checked out some lava rock, played in the snow, and signed up to change charter schools for next year...so yes it's been busy! big waterfall is from our hike at Silver falls, Snow pictures are from our camping trip to Bend, Oregon. Our first time staying in a yurt and during winter no less! The website says sleeps 8 but we barely slept 7! We visited Glass Butte, Oregon and picked up a bunch of obsidian, saw fresh signs of a bear, walked in the old mill district of Bend, and headed home. 4 days and 3 nights in Bend with friends and had a ball. Next time we might even let Dad come! The girls discovered hiking in snow might be fun and want to give snowshoeing and snowboarding a try. Dominic is looking at starting kindergarten in the f

Hard to believe that it's already February! Over the last week I finished my training class for 4h so I can take over the photography class for the kids club. The kids 4h cooking project area cooked a valentines dinner for the kids families and served 25 people! They did a great job. The kids did the first week of Couch to 5K running program, swam laps for an hour and then played in the pool with little brother for another hour. Mom got to go on the ladies hike on Sunday (despite having kneecapped herself on the car door and limping all the way!), we did have to shorten the hike but it was really nice and today we did a mom and me kids hike! I'm going to post several photo's from the last two hikes :)

What a week! Monday was the ODFW fieldtrip to feed Elk at Jewell Meadows, then up to discover 2 waterfalls, play at Fort Stevens (since Fort Clatsop was down for the government shutdown), dinner in Tillamook, spent a night in Garibaldi and then headed home on Tuesday. Friday was Seaside Aquarium and SNOW on the way there! Ended up taking home a different route to avoid the snow and it took 4.5 hours! WOW!! With us being home and gone all week today is a clean house, catch up on stuff, and maybe a game for family game night tonight but not a long Dungeon and Dragons game. I started a Women's group for exploring the outdoors in Oregon with weekly walks (no kids!) and mom and me monday hikes for moms/kids or if you don't mind kids and want some nice easy starter hikes. The kids are all excited about the 52 hike challenge and want to make sure they get all 52 hikes in! Next week is a bit quieter thankfully, we are all pretty tired from this week!

One thing a lot of homeschooling parents talk about it the lack of "me time" or being able to just do something for themselves. When you have the kids 24/7/365 it can be hard to keep the sanity thing going. While the kids keep me busy (and I do mean busy! You can read their field trip and adventures on their blog here https://lb2dadventures.blogspot.com   ) finding me time is a priority as well. This year the kids and I have joined the 52 hike challenge which is basically a hike a week for a year.  So far we are doing pretty good. I've completed 5 while the kids have completed 3. Yes, I'm ahead of them. I'm meeting up with other women to get into the outdoors! Yes, some are homeschooling moms and yes, we've gone without the kids (and it was GREAT!). It's nice to have mom time and being able to go faster than a 4 year old pace and knowing you can go a bit farther as well. As the year goes on, I'll be doing more adult only hikes as well as those tha