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#17-3: Looking Back and Moving Forward

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#1 · May 29, 2014, 11:33 pm

Posted by: virginiaknowles <virginiaknowles@...>

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The Hope Chest with Virginia Knowles

#17-3: Looking Back and Moving Forward

(Life and Education)
May 30, 2014

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Hello Hope Chest friends!

 

​It's almost June and the time has flown!  My theme this month is looking back and moving forward.  I don't know about you, but sometimes when I look back and then look forward, it seems life's a whirl and I'm getting dizzy.  How about you?  Other times, life seems to drag on and I wonder when I'm going to get that big breakthrough in whatever is bothering me.  The future is always uncertain, isn't it?  Especially so with a big clan of kids and grandkids, I think.

​

​

​

Looking Back and Moving ​Forward:​

 

​The big news is that my third grandson, Lucas, made
his grand arrival on May 16 and is, of course, well loved by his parents (Julia
and Alex), grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  I count my
blessings.  My fourth grandson, Ezra, is
due at the end of August, joining two big brothers and his wonderful Mommy
(Mary) and Daddy (Ryan), who recently celebrated their 6th anniversary.

 

​T​he academic year
is over at the private school where I taught this past year​, so I’ve actually have a little time to breathe
and catch up on housework.  As of yesterday, my kids’ public school year
has wrapped up, too.  I know ​it’s
going to be quite a challenge to find interesting things to do and to get into
a workable routine.​

 

I’m driving up to
northeastern Pennsylvania with several of my children in a few weeks to go to a
Hess family reunion and a belated memorial for my grandparents near where they
were born and raised.  We will stay with my dad in Maryland for several
days, too.  The total trip is about 2,500 miles of solo driving with rambunctious
kids. ​🙂​  I managed this last year when we went up for
vacation, and then an extra return drive after my mom’s funeral after
that.  I know this is going to be challenging for me without my mom there
this year.  Like so many who have lost a loved one, I still cry when
memories hit or when I am just plain missing her.

 

​I​ will home
school my youngest daughter Melody this next year.  More on that later.  I will also teach a high school / middle
school American history class every other week for a local home school. It may
not pay as much as my last teaching gig, but it will bring a lot more sanity to
my schedule.

 

​That's our news!

 

​My "looking back"​ ​feature this month
is Backspace, a story about wanting a redo on a day, and where
I really found my release.​  My
"moving forward" feature is My Ideal Plan for Elementary Home Education (With a Lot of
Links!) about really home schooling again ​​next year ​the
way I always loved to do it.  

 

​I'd also ​like
to do a post soon on favorite daily life apps that I’ve been using with great
success.  Send me your suggestions, too!

​

 

The Knowles Family, Home, and Education 

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​ 

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Inspiration

 

Gender & Abuse Issues​ (PLEASE READ THESE!)​

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Backspace

​ 

(Written on April 26)​

​

"I wish I could hit the backspace button on this morning. That is all."  


So started my Facebook status yesterday, posted from a doctor's office.  


Portulaca (moss rose)

My morning?  I wake up, in pain and coughing mildly.  I hobble to the computer and deal with a handful of stressful e-mails.  I ponder the weightier issues floating around my edge of the blogosphere. After driving my middle school daughter to the bus stop, I notice the begonias and portulaca I bought a few days ago still need planting. I resort to using a kitchen knife to dig the holes because I can't find my trowel.  Fresh air, dirt under my nails, lovely flowers in pinks and oranges.  But the house needs cleaning, and lots of grading and lesson planning to do on my day off.  So many existential crises to solve, even a few right-here-right-now crises.  I am feeling rather inadequate.  Who do I think I am anyway?


Two elementary age kids are home sick, one quite cranky about it. Teacher calls to say my daughter cannot return to school on Monday without a doctor's note verifying she was sick, due to her excessive absences this year. School policy and all, I understand.  Good thing my kids have medical insurance, eh? Otherwise, this could get expensive.  

Off to the doctor we go, morning interrupted.  As I drive, I am so stressed with the thoughts swirling in my head.  I growl unpleasantries, translated more politely: Life’s too hard.  Life’s too hard.  Then I hear the sheriff car's warning chirp, see the flashing blue, pull over. Apparently in my distraction, I didn't stop long enough at the stop sign? He is very professional, this officer, as he hands me a ticket for $166.  In tears, I thank him for keeping our community safe, but yes, this doctor visit is getting expensive after all, even before we get there...  On the bright side, we stop at a yard sale on the way home, and the man could see I was having a tough day, so he gives my cute little daughter a lime green desk chair and a Club Penguin book for free “with the purchase of the $1 purple desk lamp your mom is buying.” Home again, I manage to clean house a bit with my youngest son (home sick, but still happy to help), and then take a long nap.  
Necktie lessons from Dad

My oldest son had asked me to drive him 30 minutes across town in the evening to see a play produced by our old home school group. It's a fancy affair, and he needs to dress up a bit, so we're off to Goodwill at last minute for a suit jacket (

​his ​

​dad's

 great idea). I think about going in to see the play with my son, but have zero emotional energy to be with people, even old friends. Nor do I want to dress up just now. Jeans and T-shirt for me, thankyouverymuch. I drop him off, grab some dinner at 7-Eleven, come back and sit in my van in the church parking lot for over two hours.


Waste of time?  No, blessed time.  Blessed time for me.  Open the van windows and hear the crickets chirp.  Gaze at the sunset, then get out and take pictures with my iPod. Read

​ a book

on my iPod Kindle app, highlighting words of hope like crazy.   Pop into the iPod Ordinary Days app to catch up on my daily journaling.  (Do you get the idea I love my iPod?)

​ 

Listen to Fernando Ortega music (on my iPod, of course): "I dream of the golden melting sunlight / The blue and silver moon / Sweet Grace, sweet Grace / I thought I heard your voice last night / Call your children home / Sweet Grace."  

And I think, this, this, is my backspace today.  Pull back into a space of solitude and soul refreshment. I can’t undo what happened earlier, but I can retreat, renew, and go forward into the rest of the story.  I've done it before: pick up the pieces and move on.  Rejoin the community even.  After that recharge, I have the energy for ice cream and quiet conversation at a friend’s house with my son.

Backspace.  Sweet grace.  Solitude.  Time to quiet down and clear the head, fill the heart. We all need it sometimes.

Where is your backspace?

Virginia Knowles


​

​Originally posted here: 

 ​​

Backspace

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​​

Honestly, when I started teaching part-time at a private
school last year and my kids transitioned into more traditional classroom
education, I thought my 20+ home schooling years were pretty much over.
However, since I was not rehired and my youngest daughter 

​has
asked to come home from public school, I am now planning to home school
her for two or three years before I transition into full-time employment.
 Our last year of co-op was rather frustrating and disappointing, so
this is also a chance to redeem my home schooling memories and end on a happy
note. I most look forward to spending time with just her. She's gotten a little
lost in the shuffle the last few years.

 

We both quickly decided we want to do what I did with her
oldest five sisters (now adults) when they were in the upper elementary grades.
 My favorite approach for 3​rd-5​th grades is a good mix
of unit study and Charlotte Mason style, along with a little “traditional”
school and free-spirited fun.  I am taking a few things into account
as I customize her education.

 

1. She is extremely curious and creative, so I don’t want to
quench the spark in her. On the other hand, we both have attention deficit
issues, so we’ve got some work to do with basic habits, organization, and
following directions.  I held her back a year already (August birthday),
so we really need to nail these skills.  She is not a huge fan of
workbooks or formal text books, and neither am I; hence the Charlotte Mason
approach of lots of real reading and real writing, the arts, history, and
nature studies.

 

2. She will be my only student at home this year, so I can
focus on just her, without trying to coordinate group and individual
assignments. That will give us a bit more flexibility and spontaneity. I
am looking forward to that! Teaching a bunch of kids who all need
attention at the same time can really scatter the brain.  

 

3. She will eventually return to public school. Elementary
students in our area get very little history and science instruction because
they are pushing basic skills for the standardized tests. The middle school and
high school classes certainly do not promote a Christian perspective, so she's
going to have to get that at home from me. She never got a substantial
history education in our old co-op, and she was too young for our group history
lessons the one year we stayed home. Therefore, one of my big priorities
will be giving her comprehensive, in-depth, faith-based history and science
instruction for history and science. 

With those factors in mind, here is what we plan to use and
do this year:

Basic Skills:

  • Horizons math workbook 3rd grade
  • math manipulatives

  • on-line math games

  • A Reason for Handwriting
  • The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists (spelling and vocabulary)
  • Building Thinking Skills books

  • several grammar resources

  • chapter books that she chooses and I approve

  • writing assignments based on whatever she is studying, along with whatever zany
    stories she makes up 

American History:


We have dozens of non-fiction
books, picture books, fiction chapter books, project books, and videos on our
shelves. The year we were not in co-op, I
compiled a list of them on my computer, sequenced by time periods, with page
numbers, brief synopses, and reading levels. I will also use our weekly history assignment pages from that year.  See Favorite Books for Teaching American History.

Science:

  • science units on botany, zoology, and earth science using the books and videos we have on hand, as well as the Internet

  • nature walks around the neighborhood and in local parks

  • visit the
    Orlando Science Center once a month (I
    am about to get an annual family membership for $135 next week so I can take all of the
    kids to the IMAX movies over the summer, too.)

Other Subjects  

  • Bible - real version, picture books, and videos
  • P.E. at the co-op while I teach, as well as soccer at a local church  
  • arts and crafts on her own at the desk I just set up with art supplies in the dining room - we have a lot of drawing and craft books!
  • home skills - learn basic household skills, keep her room clean, cook together, visit her four small nephews (my grandchildren)  
  • music - sing favorite songs and American patriotic and folk songs 
  • Christmas - Advent unit study with stories, songs, poems,
    and crafts

(Note that I'm trying to keep it simple with this last section. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.) 

So, there you have it! That’s what we’re doing for school for
2014-2015!


As I thought through this article, I realized that I have a lot of blog posts about the foundations of elementary education. 
Here are some of my favorites:


Home Schooling Approaches

Logistics

Basic Skills

American History

Bible & Christian Holidays

Enrichment


What do you like to do for the elementary years?  Leave a comment

​ at my original post at:

My Ideal Plan for Elementary Home Education (With a Lot of Links!)

​That's it for this month, my friends!  I love to hear your comments, so please hit the reply button!

Virginia Knowles


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