My two boys are learning about vikings.  For a couple days now they have been rushing to get to their social studies so that they can find out more.  Vikings were warriors, traders and pirates.  Are they cool? You betcha!  Now they are cool.. Not so much back then!  For two little boys Vikings are cool to learn about.

So, it is 4pm and each boy, with a paper printed off the T4L site from today’s lesson in hand, left to go “make” something at their grandfather’s house….  I imagine that it will be some kind of weapon because that is just who my boys are.  I always enjoy the little bit of quiet time that I get when they are gone but look forward to the excited chatter of what they have “made”.

It has been brought to my attention that “chain mail” is in their future….  “Chain mail” is not something that they are unfamiliar with and have seen it for many years at the convention that we go to, however, it is now become an interest for them with the “Viking” lessons and I see myself, my boys and my husband with pliers and little pieces of chain for hours on end making something that they want.  (Little do they know that I have a small kit that we can work on when the issue really gets pushed on me… just to show them how difficult it is)

Each day that goes by is a new and learning experience.  I can’t tell you how great it is to have the boys enjoying their lessons and sharing discussions about their lessons.

On a different note….. Math today was a challenge….  With them both.  What is the deal?  Gosh they are both good in math and if I stand over them they whip right through it but once I walk away the complaining and moans start….  Oh well…   I guess they can’t be perfect….  

Part of it was my fault but I was still mad. Friday we were in a rush for time. Life was calling and I could not focus on my kids in the morning. When they signed on to do school work they got the msg that their accounts were inactive. Of course my youngest one got the msg because he is always the first to sign on and do his schooling and get it over with. I told him quickly as I was flying around cleaning my house, getting ready for company, that I knew there was a problem and I would take care of it later in the day but now we were out of time anyway.

We got through company and then had some fun. I managed the call at 4:45pm. Of course, nothing can work out like I plan and on Sunday night when my oldest tried to sign on to do his work, the account was still inactive. I told him that I was sorry but he would have to double up on Monday and he seemed fine with that.

Because I am getting a house ready for sale for a friend, my boys stayed at their grandmother’s house. Me giving instructions that they needed to do their school work before their father picked them up. My oldest child got up late on Monday and tried to sign on again but I had not emailed T4L at that point so told him to try back in an hour. I emailed and everything was fixed and fine and we were good to go.

Here is where it all fell apart. It seems that my children “just forgot” that they needed to do anything. By the time I was done with the house for the day, home and trucking them all over the county for Soccer, eating and Karate, I found out that they both had lost their minds. DS1 burst out crying in the car saying that he felt bad enough about not doing his school work and they both said they would triple up on Tuesday.

I guess that I can give them the benefit of the doubt in that they honestly tried to do it on a couple occasions but I was pretty mad at them for “forgetting” all day on Monday! Life is not all peaches and cream, sometimes they loose their minds…. Hopefully when I get this house done and ready for sale, things will calm down and get back to somewhat normal.

We shall see how this morning goes. I won’t have any problems with my youngest getting him to triple up on work but the oldest will try to get out of it…. I’m sure of it.. it is just who he is…

The happy point to this email that It is much easier for them to “triple” up on the T4L curriculum than it would be for them to do so in traditional book work. It is just one more benefit to an on-line, point and click curriculum. I will have to get back into routine with their writing program and spelling but at least I know that they will do their schooling and “catch up” with out much fuss. Or at least I hope not to much fuss!

John asked so I thought I would sit down and kind of explain our “methods”.  We are a very eclectic family when it comes from home schooling.  We believe in hands on, life learning lessons for the most part.  Being from a family that “does for themselves” and does not “hire out”, our boys know that they have years to look forward to very hard physical work.    They have both been involved in many of our remodeling projects and are about to take on a small addition to their room.  They both cook and bake so they get plenty of reading with that and they are both into an online game so they type to their friends on that.

Time4Learning has helped me be a little more organized and focused on keeping everything together.  We worked out of Modern Curriculum Press for the last several years and love them for traditional book work but because of issues with both boys, T4L is a much better program for us right now.

Our family uses a lot of School Zone products for different things and have been able to incorporate so much into learning maps, states and areas using the Highlights Which Way USA books that my parents got for them.  I struggle with spelling lists and would be Oh’-so-grateful to see spelling added to T4L.  For some of our writing projects we use McDonald Creative Thinking “Write-Abouts”.  McDonald also puts out “Silly Starters” and “Story Starters” which we have used.

For the most part we have our oldest draw his own comics and add story lines to that when he gets really frustrated.  They also have a program that their godfather has them on which requires writing every week.   Boy Scouts has helped them with some writing projects.

Like I said though, we are kind of all over the place and take one day at a time.  At least now there is one part that they don’t complain about so it makes all the rest so much easier.

It was not until I kissed my boys goodnight tonight that I realized the impact T4L has really had on our lives. As I was walking out of the boys bedroom I heard my oldest (he always has to say just one more thing) “Hey mom? Is it okay that I get right up and start T4L before breakfast tomorrow?”. You have to understand that September and October are very busy months for us. It is probably the only time of the year that I actually keep a calendar close by and make copies for all the family members. We are running in so many directions because of the addition of our “back to school” activities. For either child to “want to” get right up and do work is amazing to me!

Fall for us means the addition of soccer, Master’s, home school group and now Boy Scouts. They have Karate all year and even though it is only one night a week, it still is challenging to keep up with everything else. In the past it has been difficult for the boys to sit and do their work (book work..ugg..) and still do the extras that they want to do.

Our transition from summer into fall this year has gone so much smoother than in the past years. T4L has really helped us stay on track and is so much easier on me. Gathering lessons, grading work, fighting to just get them started in the mornings has always been an issue with me. For my oldest to want to wake up and sit at his computer and do his work first thing in the morning is such a milestone.

I am still met with a bit of resistance when they are done with their lessons on the computer and I ask them to pull out their writing note books, spelling note books, boy scout note books or their Sunday school assignments because they know that writing is around the corner but it is so much easier to get through now.

I can not, nor will I try, to make everyone understand how much T4L has helped in so many areas. I am thrilled at the science and social studies and enjoy hearing the boys discuss the lessons to each other. They have also gotten into “googling” things that they learn in science or social studies to further along the learning process!

As just a side note, my youngest child is 6 and if not for finding T4L, I know that he would have had a very hard year. He is really doing well with his language arts and having the stress of “writing” off him I see him flourishing and enjoying every bit of school work now. I know that I will have to go back and have him review and re-take some quizzes but he is soaking up so much information every day that he would have never gotten in traditional book work lesson plans! DS2 really has benefited so much with the addition of this program in our home.

I don’t say it enough… Thanks guys! Our busy fall this year is a bit easier to handle knowing that every day my kids are excited to get started on school work. It is now 11:30pm and instead of putting together mounds of work for tomorrow I can go to bed and know that the boys can sign on and start first thing in the morning! (even if I am not fully awake!)

My life as a home school mom has always been met with complaining from my boys. They really enjoy learning as long as it is not sitting for hours doing mundane work. Neither child enjoys writing and since moving into the T4L program we have been enjoying a calm through the house like never before.

This morning I had a list that we needed to do after they finished T4L. Both boys knew that a couple of the projects included writing and in order to stall they used T4L to their benefit. I was getting some stuff together to work on after lunch and both boys kept putting off getting through their lessons for the day. Finally I had enough and said “Common guys, you need to finish up.” For the first time ever I heard the words, “Is it okay if we go back and do one more in each lesson?” Of course I said yes and let them and as I continued to set up for the project that the needed to do; smiled at myself because they were actually enjoying lessons!

Every day is met with such a nice pleasant mood and it is not until I bring up that we need to do our writing projects that I am met with a little resistance. The writing goes so much better now though, because they have not spent all day working on problems in a work book that gives no satisfaction or interaction!