Never liked English in School So How Did I Get Here?

Alright I need to be honest about something.  All through school English was never my favorite subject.  Oh, for the most part I adored reading (I am a bookaholic), but the rest of it including literature analyses and such I did not necessarily find fun, exciting or interesting.  Initially I went to school to become a teacher, but allowed some well meaning people and a few not so well meaning people to convince me I was on the wrong path.  So I switched majors and colleges to pursue a degree in Business Administration.  This was not my "best yes" by any means.

I graduated from college and despite attending numerous job fairs and interviews through the university,  I did not find a job.  Then I decided to stay in school to complete the courses I needed to get an accounting degree.  After all there would always be a need for accountants.  That first summer, I ended up getting the worst sunburn of my life along with falling through a dock and hurting my knee.  So I ended up not doing well in the courses.  I decided to withdraw.  And because of some other things going on I ended up moving to Jacksonville, NC to live with my finance's sister.  The following August we ended up getting married.

Four years later we had our first son.  Then we had two more sons and while I was working at an Insurance agency as the office manager and enjoyed my job, it was time for a change.  So I interviewed for and accepted a job as a high school math teacher.  I did what is called Lateral-Entry - it means you already have a degree and courses you need to get certified in a particular area and basically just have the education course requirements left.  I worked at the school for two years, the third son was born during that second year.  My husband and I decided it was best for me to pursue being a substitute teacher since we had health insurance through his job.

Two years later we found out we were expecting our daughter and it was in our best interest for me to quit working.  Two years after she was born, my husband went active duty in the Army Reserves and we moved on the military installation.  At that point, I decided to go back to school to finish my education requirements.  During this time, I had a wonderful instructor for one of my courses.  She was an amazing woman.  She was teaching another one of the courses I needed, but it was on the Masters Level.  She offered the opportunity for several of us who already had degrees and were in the current course with her the opportunity to take this Masters Level class.  What an amazing journey it was too!  The entire class revolved around nothing less than writing papers for the entire course and having meaningful discussions about what we learned.  This gave me a passion for writing.

During this time, my husband also went back to school and I had to proofread all his papers for him and much to my amazement I enjoyed it.  I enjoyed taking apart and putting back together theses masterpieces.  And they must have been masterpieces because he wound up with "A's" in the majority of his courses.

I also was homeschooling my children - which you guessed it, involved me teaching English.  So when we moved from eastern NC to western PA it only seemed fitting to begin a blog.  I enjoyed writing this.  I enjoyed writing about our experiences, our dreams, our thoughts and just the general thoughts that came to mind.  So even though I never liked English in school, I am enjoying it now.

How I Choose What We Use for Our Homeschool - Part 1

So now it is day 5 of the Ultimate Blog challenge.  I decided to blog today about how I choose what we use for our homeschool.  Go to any homechool convention, browse any homeschool curriculum site, talk to any homeschoolers and you will get numerous ideas and differing opinions on what to use.  Some people use a box curriculum - meaning they get all their material from one company (hence the name box - because it typically comes in one box if they order it and have it delivered).  Others use all online resources.  Still others are called unschoolers - meaning they let children lead the learning by what the children are interested in.  Still others choose to use textbooks provided by their school district.  Some go through umbrella programs where all the material is provided for the parent and possibly even a teacher/tutor is provided to grade the work and do the planning for the child.

However, none of those options really fit my style.  When we first started homeschooling, as I stated in a previous post, we joined a homeschooling group comprised of military moms.  This meant we had people from a variety of states who had been homeschooling for a long time between them.  I have to say thanks to those ladies!  They were an invaluable resource for me.

One lady told me that if we went to a homeschool convention, never buy anything on the first day and this has proved to be one of the best tips I ever got.  Another lady brought up the book, "Cathy Duffy's Top 100 Picks".  This is my favorite book and the one I most recommend to people just beginning their journey in homeschooling or that maybe are struggling with what they are using.  This book helps you create a philosophy of education, determine your teaching style along with your child or children's learning style.  But then it goes one step farther - Cathy Duffy actually breaks down all types of curriculum by learning and teaching styles so you can have a good fit.  And she does this well!!!!  I had the privilege of meeting and talking with Cathy Duffy several years ago at a homeschool convention.  She is as amazing in person as she came across in her book.

Also, I listen to what other moms have to say.  I have created a vast network of online friends that I can turn to when I have a question.  And most of the time, they don't steer me wrong.  Finally I evaluate our materials based on our needs and what is working with that child.  So on more than one occasion I have thrown out my ideas of what I wanted to use in favor of starting over.  Sometimes retreating and regrouping is the right course of action.  Other times, it is beneficial to just put something up for a period of time.  Then when the child comes back to it, the choice works fine.  Other times, it may just take adapting the choice to fit the child (such as not doing as many problems or not following the exact schedule. 

Choosing curriculum is one of my favorite and most dreaded parts of homeschooling.  We try each year to attend at least two homeschool conventions, so we can physically touch the materials and get to talk with vendors and other homeschooling families about our choices.

I always begin by making lists for each child of the subjects they will be doing and the materials I plan on using or need to purchase.  Then my husband and I take the first day of the convention to just walk up and down all the aisles.  We choose conventions that are either in the state we live or that we know have a wide variety of vendors.  We have the lists of what we need, so we know what we are looking for and possibly what vendors will have those items.  Then we go back to our hotel room that evening and have a frank discussion of what we saw.  Stay tuned tomorrow when I will continue my discussion of how we choose homeschool curriculum.