Homeschooling Perk!

I just had to share this, the other day I came home from work and Zoey had a tray of homemade vegan samoas (the caramel was made using dates, maple syrup, and coconut oil) and savory dinner pancakes with sauteed spinach, mushrooms, and marinara. This was after a full day of school too! So she was a busy girl. 

A Few Fun Surprises!

First Day of School!

Zoey's first day of 11th grade was today! She started her day around 8:30am and ended at 2:30pm. The first day consisted of the following subjects: Health, Math, History, English/Lit/Poetry, Spanish, Music Theory, and Art. Extra things that made up her day included yoga and practicing guitar and piano. 

11th Grade Questionnaire

Sharing Zoey's 11th grade questionnaire Q+A's! It's always fun to look back at these and compare to previous years. We got a kick out of reading her 7th grade questionnaire tonight. Good memories! It's crazy to think that we're entering into her Junior year of high school! 

11th Grade Questionnaire 

My favorite food: pickles, avocados, quinoa risotto, veggie wild rice soup, and penne

Foods I'd rather avoid: baked beans, animal products, okra 

My favorite things to learn: new songs on guitar and piano, health, science, different approaches to acting 

My favorite color: blue, green, and tie-dye!

My best friends are: Gracie, Ava, Leah, and Madison

My favorite games to play: Wildcraft, Camp, and Monopoly 

When I have free time I like to: do embroidery, play guitar, dance, ride my bike, read, write, do yoga, watch movies, enjoy the outdoors, jump around, draw, paint, listen to music, cook, bake, and more! 

My favorite books are: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, 1984 by George Orwell, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger, and Moby Dick by Herman Melville. 

My favorite movies and TV shows are: Marvin's Room, Blood Diamond, Dead Poets Society, Lady Bird, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Frances Ha, Stand by Me, East of Eden, Running on Empty, Pulp Fiction, Family Ties, Gilmore Girls, and The Office! 

My favorite holiday(s) are: Christmas and Halloween.

Things I do well: Reading/Literature, Acting, Music 

Things I need to practice more: my math skills and handstands 

My favorite place to go: anyplace outside

My favorite family activities: hiking  

My favorite things to do outside: walk down to the creek, bike, run, read, practice hitting the softball, skateboard, and take care of our garden

My favorite chore: making salads 

My least favorite chore: putting sheets on my bed (haha!)

My favorite musicians/bands: Bob Dylan, The Beatles, David Bowie, Joan Baez, XTC, Bob Marley, Mozart, Pink Floyd, The Talking Heads, Lightnin' Hopkins, The Rolling Stones, Roxy Music, Fairport Convention, James Taylor, Beethoven, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, and many more.

What I want to be when I grow up: peace and an actor/musician 

A place I want to visit: London, Liverpool, The Amazon Rainforest, Belize, and India 

My favorite part of last year: narrating The Nutcracker dance performance 

When I get up in the morning I like to: make breakfast right away 

My favorite part of each day is: my yoga practice! 

My favorite drink: tea

My favorite sport: dance, pilates, and yoga

Something new I'd like to learn this year: more songs on the piano and new embroidery stitches! 

Getting Ready for the Start of the New School Year!

We enjoyed our annual viewing of the documentary Class Dismissed tonight. It has kind of become tradition now after five years! When we were trying to decide that first year (7th grade for Zoey) whether or not we were going to give homeschooling a try, this is what ultimately sealed the deal for us to say yes. There are absolutely no regrets. In fact, there are times that we are sad we didn't give it a go sooner. We are so excited for the year ahead!

"Learning is not the result of teaching, learning is the result of the activity of learners." 

Homeschool: Day in the Life

We’re going to do a little impromptu homeschool #dayinthelife photo project today. The goal is to share photos throughout the day of what it is we’re doing to create a snapshot diary of sorts of this particular moment in time.

Our day starts with Zoey heating up water for tea and getting her breakfast ready. This morning it’s granola and almond milk.

After breakfast Zoey decided to start with chemistry. (She knows the work that’s due for the week at the start of each week so has the freedom of choosing what she works on and when). Today she is is starting a unit touching on the following topics: trans fatty acids, double bonds, rancidity, hydrolysis, free radicals, osmosis as well as reverse osmosis.

Today’s work consists of readings from three different texts, watching a short video and listening to a podcast.

After chemistry today is yoga. Zoey loves the videos on YouTube, Yoga with Adriene. She does yoga or pilates everyday or sometimes will do both. Depending on what I’ve got going on and when she decides to do this, I’ll sometimes join in.

Whenever we roll out the yoga mats our dog Leo thinks it’s meant for him to lay down on. He’s a huge part of the homeschool day.

After yoga Zoey took a little break and hydrated, changed clothes, and you could say - officially got ready for the day.

Now she’s working on her history which today entails some reading (Magna Carta), questions and vocab.

Finally...done with history! Moving on to prep something for lunch and look ahead at what’s in store for Lit & Comp.

Making avocado toast.

Lunch!

After lunch we walk the dog and get a little fresh air. Sometimes if it’s really nice and we have the time we’ll hop in the car and go hike a trail or in the winter go snowshoeing.

Right now Zoey’s working on her favorite, Lit & Comp II. She’s prepping for a biographical research paper that’s coming up by creating notecards and bibliography cards.

Working now on math...Zoey’s least favorite subject. We used to do it first thing in the morning to get it over with but we found it then started our day off on the wrong foot. Math is something that I do with her, if I didn’t I would quickly get lost. Thankful that the math curriculum that we use has lesson instruction via video and teacher help if we need it!

Practicing guitar is something she does at least five times a week, 15-30 minutes.

After guitar she’s going over her lines for the play she’s in at her homeschool co-op. She’s the president of the United States in the play Panda-monium. (Woot! Woot!) She was super excited to get this role! The students in her multi-age classroom are writing the play as well as helping to choreograph/block scenes and then will act in the final performance. They get to try their hand at all of the different aspects of putting a performance together. Pretty cool experience.

This is a pretty accurate snapshot of what a typical homeschooling day looks like for us. That said, this is not how every day pans out. For example, when there are labs for science or art projects or bigger projects for other classes, time might be spent differently to allow for those things to happen. The one thing we perhaps love most about homeschooling is the flexibility that it allows. On days that I work at the library for example, Zoey will either stay at home and work independently, or if I work a long day she'll stay home for half the day and then I'll come home on my lunch break and bring her back to the library with me. She has ballet/pointe two evenings a week, guitar lessons one afternoon a week and attends her homeschool co-op for drama class once a week as well. Lately she's been doing school on Saturdays since I'm working Saturdays at the library. We then have Sundays and Mondays off for our "weekend".

This is our 4th year homeschooling and when I look back and think back to when she was in the fourth grade and was coming home begging to be homeschooled I wish that I would have been confident and brave enough at that time to have said yes. We ended up not starting this homeschool journey until she was in the seventh grade. There are so many things that both Zoey and I don't want to miss out on experiencing and learning/covering in her schooling! It's kind of scary looking ahead and realizing we really only have two and a half years left. When you have control over what and how you learn, the possibilities are truly endless and it's hard not to feel that there is so much time that we could have had to do more, learn more and experience more.

The blessings have far outweighed any struggles (there have been many!) that we may have encountered while on this journey. I love knowing that Zoey will walk away from this experience with the knowledge that she has it in her to be disciplined to do whatever may come her way and that she has the drive and wherewithall to ask and learn when she has questions and most of all that she's simply just an interested and awake individual. It's because of her that this even works at all. If I had to fight her on this we wouldn't be choosing this educational path. She's the one that's waking up every day and is eager and ready. So proud!

North State Mycological Club Foray - Star Lake Nature Trail

Zoey and I are a part of the North State Mycological Club which meets at an area trail head every Monday throughout the late summer months through fall. This will be our third year of being active participants in this group. We LOVE being a part of this group for so many different reasons. Getting to spend time outdoors with friends is one. Being active, learning and meeting new people are just a few more reasons. 

Last week we were able to meet up with the club at the Star Lake Nature Trail and despite a little rain, we enjoyed ourselves and found some fun finds.

It was a trail that was new to Zoey and I both. One that I hadn't heard of which is always kind of cool since we were getting to explore a new place AND got to look for some fun fungi finds.