Merry Christmas 2018

Merry Christmas from Drywood Creek.

May you be awestruck at the coming of the Christ child and have a peace filled New Year!

A Little About Us...

Hey, I'm Melissa, welcome to my corner of the world! Here I blog on the banks of Drywood Creek about education, Charlotte Mason, homeschooling, books, daily life on the farm, and whatever else ails me.

On the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I totter between ENTJ and ESTJ.  It's a fine line, but either way, I'm down to earth, decisive, and a recovering box checker. Because I didn't find a community in my area that supported my homeschool vision, I created one. I love bringing like minded people together to ponder a plethora of ideas. This is how I came to lead a Charlotte Mason Study Group, where we contemplate what it means to be educated, not only through the methods of Charlotte Mason, but also classically through christian principles and the ancient tradition. In 2016, I also started a local Schole Sisters group.

Some may like to know that I am a native of my community. I have deep roots and yet, I wander. I long to follow Jesus and find comfort in His grace. I am also a self proclaimed bibliophile, who's motto is "never too many books, but rather not enough shelves". I aspire to be the change I wish to see in the world.

We're currently in our 10th year of homeschooling our kids! We have a homeschool and public school graduate. You can find our full Homeschool Journey here. 

This is definitely my better half of sixteen years, affectionately know as "The Farmer". He is the third generation on this land, through which, Drywood Creek flows.

Farming is in his blood. He loves making hay, raising cattle, being out of doors, and spending time with family. He keeps me grounded when my lofty ideals could potentially carry me away.



The Farmer and I were blessed with three children by birth, whom I love spending time with. We read many living books and muse much.

RileyAnn is currently in 7th grade.  She enjoys animals, baking, reading, softball, and all things American Girl. Riley also loves the outdoors and is our nature study aficionado.  She works, both on and off the farm, raising calves, babysitting, and house cleaning. 

Ruben is in 6th grade.  He enjoys hunting, farming, baseball, football, and the 4-wheeler he was able to purchase with funds from a summer job.  He continues to work a few hours a week on a neighboring horse farm. He graduated from the Children's Dyslexia Center last May and has made great gains in his studies since.

Levi is an unofficial preschooler since I don't believe in scheduling early childhood. He provides us with our daily dose of entertainment. Levi enjoys tagging along with The Farmer and Ruben, hunting and farming. He is also a big help in the kitchen and loves to snuggle up with a good picture book. You can often find him barefoot or with boots on the wrong feet playing outdoors.

It is my mission to empower other homeschooling families in real life, with real kids and in real time. It may not always look pretty in the day to day, but it will come out the wash as they say. Here you will find ideas for planning your homeschool, book lists for reading, and thoughts about education through daily living. Life is a journey. Won't you come along...

Drywood Creek

How I Choose Curriculum....

Earlier in the week, I shared Our Homeschool Journey.  Today, I want to share how I choose curriculum.  I mentioned previously, that I studied the local parochial school's books.  I also studied their scope & sequence as well as that of our local public school.  You see, I thought I was only in this for the short term.  I anticipated homeschooling Angel through middle school and then sending her back to public high school so I was very concerned with teaching her "the right scope & sequence".

I was initially given some older edition A Beka textbooks.  They looked consistent with my idea of education at that time, so we went with A Beka math, language arts, and health/science.  I created unit studies for history aligning with what our area schools were studying, which happened to be ancient history in 6th grade.  We spent several days a week at the public library, since we didn't have a home computer or internet access at that time.  Fortunately, it only took a short amount of time to see, it was a very inefficient system. 

As I started networking with other homeschoolers and researching various homeschool methods, I began to realize creating school at home was not really homeschooling.  I vowed to switch up some things for 7th grade.  It was an election year, so we studied American Government using a variety of materials.  I switched to Apologia Science and Bob Jones Language Arts.  Our approach was fairly traditional, but felt a little less restrictive.

However, after a year of BJU K5 Beginnings with RileyAnn, I knew it was still not working.  It drove me nuts that A Beka and Bob Jones were so classroom oriented.  I was tweaking like crazy to make it work for our one room, one student per grade, schoolhouse.  There were also many unnecessary bells and whistles which cost a lot of money for those traditional programs. 

At that point, I learned about Sonlight.  Angel had an insatiable desire to read real books and two years into homeschooling, I was beginning to gain a bit more confidence.  I felt it was time to take a new approach.  In 8th grade, Angel completed Sonlight American History In Depth, Core 100 and I used Introduction to World Cultures with RileyAnn.  The girls loved it!...and so did I.  They became excited about school and learned so much.

However, my paradigm shift really didn't come until the summer before Angel started high school.  We decided we actually liked homeschooling and that it would be in her best interest to continue. Once we determined she was not going back to public school, I felt like this huge weight had been lifted and I was free.  Free to choose my own scope & sequence based upon what God was calling us to do.  It was very liberating! 

This was the point I began studying Charlotte Mason's methods.  I was sparked by the idea of using living books as the primary means of learning.  I saw it in action while using Sonlight and I wanted more.  Enter a third student with learning differences and the deal was sealed.  A Charlotte Mason education was best suited for our family with multiple learning types, including auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. 

Fast forward to now, with a homeschool graduate and as I finish up my 8th year of homeschooling, I choose curriculum differently than when I first started.   I have come to realize that it isn't so much about which program you choose, but how you use that program.   I want to teach each child as a born person, not a scope & sequence.

I take a Christ centered approach, usually starting with a time period in history.  Then building around that with living books.  I believe history is "HIS Story" and therefore teach it chronologically from creation to modern, using God's Word as our spine.

From there, I take a look at each child's strengths and weaknesses, then I pull from many different publishers and homeschool suppliers.  I am no longer bound to one program for all subjects. I love having the flexibility to create and customize each of our children's education!

It is my intent to offer a broad and liberal education to our children, spreading a feast before them as we go.  Once the books and resources are chosen, I utilize Charlotte Mason's methods of short lessons to promote the habit of attention, copywork and narration as the means to thought and composition, and living books to promote truth, beauty, and goodness.  Every year I'm reaping more and more of the fruit of our labor and it tastes good!

 

Our Homeschool Journey....

Right from the time RileyAnn was in my womb, I knew I didn't want to send her to public school.  I felt fortunate to have a parochial school education through 8th grade in our rural farming community.  I felt strongly about small class sizes and one on one instruction.  I also felt strongly about parental involvement and less government control.   We weren't sure we would send our kids to a parochial school, but I hoped for some other option aside from public school.

When our older girls, Jennifer and Angel, came to us as foster kids, they attended public school because that's the nature of the beast here in WI.  You cannot homeschool foster kids.  Theirs was not initially an adoptive placement so I had not thought a lot about other educational options for them.  However, once the adoption was finalized, as time went on, I started to wonder if public school was the best place for them.  Jennifer was in special education and Angel struggled socially right from day one.  So much so, that by the time she reached 6th grade, it was unbearable.  A month into the school year, I decided to pull Angel from public school.  It felt like a rash decision at the time because I had no plan B.   I was also a member of our public school board, which was more than a little awkward.

That week, I met with teachers at the parochial school and even borrowed their books to take home and study.  I made some phone calls to teaching friends and homeschool acquaintances.  Angel was beside herself and thought I'd ruined her life.   However, after a week's worth of prayer, study, and networking, it was decided I would homeschool her for the rest of that year.  Jennifer was just starting high school.  She was a gifted athlete who did OK academically and wasn't struggling socially so she stayed and eventually graduated from public school.

At this same time, RileyAnn was attending a Christian preschool two mornings per week.  It felt like I had a foot in every door.  Because Riley has a September birthday, she was almost a whole year older than most kids at preschool giving her an edge in every area.  At the semester change, with mixed feelings, it was decided to move her up to the 4K room, which was two full days per week.  I will never forget the end of the first week, when I picked her up and asked the teacher how it went.  She stated Riley did better than most of the kids that had been there all year.  Part of me was flattered and part of me saw a huge red flag going up.

Many days I remember dropping her off and seeing wild chaos.  Little boys running and wrestling.  Kids crying in the corner.  After a short time, Riley also began crying every morning that I dropped her off.  She just wanted to stay home with me.  Though it broke my heart, I've always been of the mind that you should finish what you start.  I struggled greatly with this in my mind because I already had Angel home and technically Riley didn't belong in school yet anyway.  The only thing she learned that year was bad behavior.  We were both miserable and I have since come to realize that 4K programs are nothing but government babysitters.  Long story short, by the end of the school year, we decided it was in Angel and Riley's best interest to proceed with homeschooling. 

That was eight years ago,  Angel has since graduated from high school through homeschool.  She and Jennifer are both grown and gone from home.  RileyAnn is currently in 5th grade, Ruben is in 4th, and of course, Levi is preschool :)  I have learned a great deal in that span of time and continue to learn daily.  At this point, I LOVE homeschooling and can't imagine it any other way!  I enjoy being with our kids daily.  It's a gift to watch them grow and learn!

Updated About Us....

          We had some major changes in our household in 2012.  On June 18^th, we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy, Levi, weighing 9lbs. 1 oz. and 20.5 inches long.  So hard to believe he’s nearly 7 months old.  With his bright blue eyes, he has the entire farm wrapped around his finger and is an absolute gift.

           Also last June, Jennifer flew from the nest on her 19th birthday. She is still working as a CNA in a nursing home. Angel, RileyAnn, and Ruben continue to study at home and are in 11th, 3rd, and 2nd grade. We just wrapped up the first semester of our 6th year of homeschooling....WOW!!  Where does the time go?

The Farmer and I have so much to be thankful for and look forward to watching our children grow with each new day.  In November, I started Thursdays of Thanks as a way to praise our Lord for all the wonderful blessings he's bestowed upon us.  

I will continue to review curriculum and share lesson plans that work for us.  In addition, I'll log our adventures on the farm at Drywood Creek and share a few of our favorite recipes along the way.  Thanks so much for logging on.....

Blessings to you in the New Year,

Melissa

Introducing Reflections from Drywood Creek

Welcome to our blog!  We've been talking and praying about this for some time. I am so excited that it's finally happening! Although, I must say, it's a little scary putting yourself out there for the world to see.  I hope I'm able to serve you in some way on this adventure.

We are a farm family from the Midwest.  Therefore, I will kindly be referring to the head of our home as "The Farmer".  It's in his blood and he hopes to make our son the fourth generation on this land.  I too have farming in my blood, but I fought it tooth and nail when I was younger.  Since, I've come to realize there's a point in our lives when we must learn to submit.  Thankfully, I've come full circle to that point.  I can't imagine doing anything better than working this beautiful land.

We love to spend time together as a family, hence the reason we homeschool.  We see our children as a blessing from God.  From our oldest two daughters, who were adopted through foster care, to our two youngest, who were an absolute gift.  They have all changed my life for the better.

I will be blogging on everything from cooking and laundry to homeschooling and farming.  This will be our family's journey through this life as we wait for the coming of our Savior.  Thanks for logging on!