Hi everyone! :o) I hope this finds everyone doing well. Our family is STILL coughing and sniffling, but I suppose with the weather changes in our area (warm, cold, warm, cold), that is to be expected.

I was wondering, with the holidays approaching (and approaching so fast…I just put away my Christmas decorations from last year, didn’t I?!?), what kind of schedule does everyone keep? Homeschoolers - do you take the same breaks as the school system in your area? What about the public schoolers - do your children do their supplemental T4L even though school is out?

In the past, when we used a different curriculum, we would literally take from Thanksgiving to New Years off. There was just too much to do between family visits and shopping, cub scout stuff and Christmas caroling at a nursing home with our homeschool group… and more shopping… :o) Not to mention how intensive the preperations were for the other curriculum, it was just SO much. I am really looking forward to this Holiday season. Having Time4Learning in our lives, I don’t really see any schedule conflicts, which is such a relief. Not only do I not have to feel guilty about Bailey not doing any school work over the holidays, we won’t have to make up so much time during the summer. :o)

Also…I would LOVE some recommendations for some good Holiday (we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we are interested in teaching about the other holidays that occur in this time of year as well) activity type lessons. The last couple of years, I just Googled information and printed some worksheets and stories. That worked out, but I noticed last year that a lot of the stuff I was finding we had already done, or it wasn’t age appropriate.

Thanks and I hope everyone is having a great week! :o)

Man.  Wasn’t it just May or something??  :o)  Time is really flying for us and it just seems to keep picking up speed. :o)  I can’t believe we are completing our second month of 3rd grade already!  Everything is still going great.  Time4Learning has just been amazing.

I know I keep going on and on about this…I feel like a walking ad, but I am truly being sincere.  I can’t begin to express how this program has affected our lives.  Especially with the busy schedule and the weather changing and the holidays coming up.  Example…we went on a cub scout camping trip this past weekend.  We had a great time but it was VERY cold at night.  Naturally most of us got sick. (feel better Tracy and family!!)  Me and my 3 year old are both sick, but Bailey is fine.  So the past two mornings he has just gotten up and logged on and started school.  I’m still here for him if he needs me, but he is plugging through and I’m able to stay curled up in my chair with a kleenex attached to my nose. :o)  I remember the last time I was sick and his curriculum was different.  We were both miserable because I was sick but had to sit right there with the teacher’s manual.

He has really enjoyed the program this year, it’s so different than last year.  He loves the science and social studies, just loves them!  And he loves to tell us about them, which my husband and I both enjoy.  We are struggling a little with the math.  Not the lessons, but the resources sheets.  He conveniently “forgets” to do them during the lessons and then we have to spend a good portion of the afternoon going back and doing them, but we are working on that with him.

We are looking forward to the holidays.  I’m one of those holiday freaks, where my official start to the holiday season is November 1st, haha. :o)  The last 2 years we always took very long breaks from school during the holidays because everything was so chaotic, but this year we are planning to keep our schedule as normal as possible.  Yay Time4Learning! :o)

I suppose this question should be directed at Terie, hope that’s ok. :o)

Terie,  if you don’t mind, I would love to hear how you feel Time4Learning compares to the curriculum that is being used for Natalie in public school.  I rarely have an opportunity to talk to many public schoolers about the curriculum they use, and never to public schoolers that use Time4Learning. :o)

Do you feel like Time4Learning covers everything that her teachers are covering?  Do you have an opinion of whether or not T4L excels in the core subjects, or do you feel like areas are lacking?  Do you think that T4L meets the same standards that are set forth on the school system? Just so you know…I am not looking for vindication in my decision to homeschool, nor am I looking to “down” public schools.  I am not a general public school basher. :o)  Unfortunately I do have very strong, negative opinions regarding my own very rural school system, but I realize that there are excellent school districts in this country and for some kids, public school could really be the best option.

Again, I hope that you don’t mind me asking you these things directly.  I am truly interested in hearing from you, as a mom that has a child in public school.  As a homeschooler, I generally only talk about “school” with other homeschoolers.  I think it’s wonderful to hear how Natalie is progressing both in school and at home with you and Time4Learning. :o)

Thanks!  :o)

Oh - I am not yet familiar with everyone posting on this blog…if there are other parents who have children in public school and are using Time4Learning, it would be fantastic to hear from you as well!  :o)

Since those of us on this blog use Time4Learning in one way or another, we are all using the internet for education.  But how else does everyone use the Internet at home?

Our homeschooling experience would not be the same if it weren’t for Time4Learning.  Our family is a computer family.  Serious techies. :o)  My husband and I each have a laptop, which we take everywhere with us.  My 8 yr old has a desktop of his own and my 3 year old is going to get one as soon as we have a place to put another PC.

Education is done primarily online.  And not just with Time4Learning.  We have areas where Bailey does spelling and math drills online, and we are considering starting him in a online art program…we’re waiting a little while on that though.  My 3yr old, Braeden, also does some preschool work online.  Not yet with Time4Learning, but with an excellent program called Starfall (www.starfall.com).  One day we may even sign the boys up for music appreciation online.

While we still like to have the boys look up information in books, Bailey has discovered Google.  This opens up avenues for him to explore and learn, in a way that he just simply would not have if he ONLY had books.  At least in my opinion.  When he searches, depending on what he is looking for, he is parentally guided.  As much as we are Internet junkies, I still struggle with him having access to some areas online. He has seen a few (very few at this point) videos on You Tube that we have let him watch, things like a homeschool student’s speech and a couple of music videos.  He also watches videos on United Streaming (www.unitedstreaming.com) which is run by Discovery Education.  This is a remarkable service provided by Discovery!  I think they have something like 20 or 30,000 educational videos in pretty much any catagory you can think of.  In my state, Georgia, I went through Georgia Public Broadcasting to gain free access to this site.

Other ways that the Internet has changed us…not just how we educate, but honestly our day to day lives…is how we communicate with others.  Is letter writing an important skill to possess?  I think that everyone should know how to write a letter if the need arises.  However, with email, Bailey (all of us really) is able to talk with family and friends in a way that he wouldn’t have if he had to wait on regular mail.  And email is cheaper than the phone…Bailey’s grandmother lives in California.  So besides the cost of the call, we have to work on a 3 hour time difference.  Email is just easier on a daily basis.  Through forums and groups, I am able to get and give advice to and from other moms.  And Bailey likes knowing that he can email and chat with friends that use Time4Learning just like he does.

Just to make things clear…our family is a family of AVID readers.  What my husband and I consider “quality time” together, is each of us curled up in a recliner with our own good book.  :o) Our boys have the same love of reading (right now they love it conditionally…it can’t be too educational, lol)  We have weekly trips to the library and Bailey knows how to look up information in the Dictionary and in the Encyclopedias.  We also do crafts, activities, cub scouts, field trips and more together, so we don’t JUST sit in front our computers all day.  Well, most days we don’t anyway. :o)

I would like to know how other families use the Internet.  Not just homeschooling families, although since I am a homeschooler, I would probably compare my family most to those that do homeschool. :o)  Are there any websites that you use for education, besides Time4Learning?  Any places that your kids like to go online that you feel helps them learn?

I just had an opportunity to read the most recent newsletter, about Accidental Homeschoolers.  John’s definition and description of an Accidental Homeschooling family could not be any closer to my family’s situation!  Reading that, made me want to share my story.  I apologize in advance for the length…

When it came time for my oldest, Bailey, to start school, there was never any doubt about putting him in the public school system.  We had no reason to feel like that was not the best thing for him.  He had a fantastic Kindergarten year.  We loved his teacher and the experience that year brought all of us.  When First grade was about to start, we thought that year would be just as good as the year before.

We were so wrong.  We started experiencing problems with the teacher, I kid you not, BEFORE school even started!  Ugh!  Anyway, the year continued to have problems.  My son, who is very social and wanted to go every single day in Kindergarten, was starting to ask if he could stay home.   We began looking into other options, trying first to get him changed to another class within the same school.  That was not on option that was going to pan out.  We then started discussing private school but the cost… Holy Cow!!  That option also quickly fell apart.

Then someone suggested homeschool.  My first thought?  NO WAY, NO HOW, NUH UH!  Why you might ask?  Well, there were a couple of reasons for that.  One being my own sense of self ability.  I didn’t think I could do it.

The biggest reason though is quite tragic.  You see, when I was pregnant with Bailey, I lost my 16 1/2 year old sister-in-law to suicide.  Going through the shock, I blamed everyone including myself for her loss.  Once the shock gave way to anger, I latched on to the one reason I could blame that wasn’t someone.  Homeschooling.  Yep, she was homeschooled.  In my mind THIS is why she gave up.  She had no friends her age, no peer group.  All of her friends were 7 or 8 years older than her, or more.  A 16 year old who thought she was fat, needed another 16 year old to tell her she wasn’t.  A 16 year old who had a crush on a boy, needed another 16 year old to talk to about that.  She didn’t have that, and I blamed homeschooling.  Homeschooling secluded kids and kept them apart from the socializing and the peer groups that they so desperately need at that critical age.

For years, I maintained that I would never, NEVER, do that my kids.  Then my husband and I met a new friend.  He was in his 2nd year of college at the time, worked 40 a hours a week and still managed to keep himself on the Dean’s List at school.  He was intelligent, responsible, grounded and had a nice group of friends.  Imagine my shock when he informed me that he was homeschooled.  For nearly his entire life!  Well, I was floored.  I questioned him endlessly, it seemed like hours.

I found out that not only did he thrive being homeschooled, he knew of many people just like him that were homeschooled and were then succeeding in life as a young adult. Even though, I had a hard time letting go of my idea of homeschooling and what it could do to a child.

After a couple months of  misery (unfortunately that is not an exaggeration) on both my part and Bailey’s, something happened at school that made me pull him out, in basically what amounted to a fit of rage.  That Friday, anger became my catalyst to homeschool.  That following Monday, I thought I should commit myself to the “special home.”  :o) I was a nervous wreck.  Completely lost with no idea where to turn.  I have to tell you that I stayed lost for exactly 16 months.  For 16 months we hit every bump in the homeschool road.  We tried everything from complete boxed curricula to pieces of several different ones.  We had days where both my son and myself were in tears.  Why couldn’t I do this?  Why couldn’t he?  At least every other day, I asked myself (and anyone else who would listen) if I had made the right decision.

Then in March of this year, I stumbled upon Time4Learning.  When I say stumbled…I mean that quite literally.  I was on review site looking for yet another curriculum and thought I was clicking on one link, as it turns out I mis-clicked and landed at time4learning.com. Seriously.  Fate, you say? :o)

Over time, and with the help of my own family and families that I met that also homeschool, I was able to see that homeschooling in general could not be solely responsible for the loss of my sister-in-law.  However, I still believe to this day that her situation fuels me to make sure I do better for my own children.

Since March our lives have been so different.  We no longer have the struggles we used to.  Everything is just…good.  :o) So… yes, I feel like we initially started out as Accidental Homeschoolers.   Will we be homeschooling right through high school?  No one knows the answer to that.  Right now however, I can say that we cannot imagine our family being anything other than a homeschooling family.  :o)