Featured Homeschooler: Karin

Posted by Nikowa Lee | 0 comments

Please welcome this week’s Featured Homeschooler Karin from Mommy Matters and Passport Academy Homeschool!

Tell us about your family.
We are a family of four living in Florida. We have fraternal twin boys who are five years old and two girls. The oldest is three and the youngest is 6 months. My husband is a Road Warrior and travels a lot. During the month of September he will be gone for 23 days. This is unfortunately somewhat typical for us during his “travel season”. Luckily, because of homeschooling we are able to go with him on some of his extended trips—these are trips when he spends an extended period of time in ONE place. Last year we went to Dallas and this year we are going to Austin, Texas with the kids. This has been a wonderful way to learn geography with them and they truly love traveling, which is great since I could easily be a gypsy! My children have never met a hotel they didn’t like. Travel for them is an adventure.

You’re a homeschooling mother to 4 children all under the age of 6! What does a typical homeschooling day look like for you?
Is there a such thing as a typical day? Well, actually until this year we didn’t have a typical day. I finally started applying some of the great things I’ve learned about at conferences to our homeschool this year. I don’t know why I was so reluctant to try what obviously works for others which is to:

a.) start the day with Bible study and devotions and
b.) teach the children in a “one room school house” type way.

So now I usually:
get up with the baby between 6:30-7:30, feed her, take her into the bathroom with me (where I keep her bouncy chair) and strap her in with her teething rings in hand while I take a shower and get dressed, then I get the other children. We got downstairs and have breakfast together. Then I read the Bible study and devotion for the day while they color a coloring page related to the study we are doing. (I’m using Our 24 Family Ways: Family Devotional Guide which also has coloring pages for each of the “family ways” along with Big Truths for Little Kids, My ABC Bible Verses, and Leading Little Ones to God.)

After that the children go upstairs to get dressed; I lay out the clothes for the boys and they dress themselves. They shower at night whereas my daughters both get baths in the morning. So while the boys get dressed I bathe my daughter in the bathtub in the boy’s bedroom. The baby plays on the floor, usually with one of her doting brothers during this time.

We go back downstairs after everyone is dressed and the kids play with one of the center activities of their choice. I put the baby down for her morning nap and then we do our group studies. The schedule changes depending on the day but this year I’ve been teaching Bible, Spanish, Science, art, and life skills together for the most part. I occasionally teach handwriting together because we use Handwriting Without Tears and my younger daughter can work with the wood letters and other manipulative’s such as the Roll a Dough and it’s been great having her feel like she is doing school with “her boys” as she calls them and I enjoy watching them help her.

We then break for lunch and by now the baby is up from her morning nap. I sometimes do a read aloud then or I let them play and have free time. Honestly, it depends on how I’m feeling and how the baby is doing. Sometimes I’m so distracted with what I have to get done that I just let them have free time.

At 1:00 I put the baby down for her 2nd nap and the big kids go upstairs for quiet time. They don’t really nap but quiet time means they have to be in their rooms with books in their bed. This is not a problem with my older boys and has never been. My daughter is more work. She frequently wants to be with “her boys” but unfortunately that never works out well. She tends to wander around her room playing with her toys and occasionally coming out to tell me that it isn’t fair she was born 2nd when she wanted to be born 1st and that she is alone and wants someone to lay down with her etc. During this time I either take a nap (I have horrible insomnia problems that in turn aggravate my fibromyalgia), work on HOTM stuff, have quiet time of my own, or make phone calls and sometimes start preparing dinner (more on that later).

At 2:30 the big kids get up and have a very small snack. The baby gets up around 3:30-4:00. After snack I finish up school. Our afternoon classes usually involve language arts, critical thinking, Montessori and math. Since my husband travels a lot I have a college student come in the late afternoon to help me. She stays until about 8:00 and helps me get everyone in bed. So when she shows up I either hand her the baby or both girls while I work with the boys and then I work with my daughter. It depends on the day and how everyone is doing.

We are also building a house and I’m doing the interiors. I used to do that before I had kids so usually I have meetings related to the house at least 2 afternoons per week or other things I need to work on for the house. Then I start dinner around 4:30. My kids are so picky that I really loathe cooking these days. I’m praying for God to help change my heart (and theirs) in this area.

We eat dinner at 5:30 and at 6:15-6:30 we head upstairs to start the bath and bedtime routines. The kids go to bed at 7:15-7:30. I usually stay up till 9:00 but sometimes 10:00 prepping for the next day, finishing up whatever projects I started, putting away materials and checking email.

Did you always know that you were going to homeschool?
No, I did not. I had never even heard of homeschooling before. I didn’t enroll my kids in preschool when they were born. That was typical of where we lived and I was naive about that. When they became of age I couldn’t imagine sending them to preschool and I thought I’d just do it at home with them. I also couldn’t believe the tuition prices—but it’s not that we couldn’t afford it, it’s just that I couldn’t believe people paid that much for preschool when you could do that stuff at home and have more fun with your kids.

The boys were also really inquisitive kids so at a very young age so I started reading about early childhood development and doing a lot of things with them. (singing, floor time, reading, moving all over the house etc.) After a while I ran out of books that I could learn from—partially because at this point mothers typically enrolled their kids in preschool.

I started reading books geared towards preschool teachers and we basically set up preschool in our home for the boys. Soon after I came across a book by Lisa Welchel and then I started exploring this concept of “homeschooling”; more for the educational ideas that I could use for the preschool years—not with the intention of actually homeschooling. The thing is the more I read, the more I wanted to do with my kids. So, I talked my husband into letting me homeschool the kids for preschool since it didn’t really “count” and wasn’t mandatory. It’s laughable now, but that was really how I went into it. Over the next 1 1/2 years the Lord would change my heart and I would realize that he wanted me to homeschool all along. The rest of our story is very much like everyone else’s. My husband is now a great supporter and advocate of homeschooling and I feel committed to homeschooling and excited about being my children’s teacher.

What are some of your favorite books on homeschooling?
That is a tough question since so much of my stuff is in storage. I honestly go through phases. Right now I would say: The Well-Trained Mind, The Educated Child, Creative Family Times, What Your Child Needs to Know When, Barbara Curtis’ books and the Core Knowledge books. We are very eclectic!

You’ve dealt with the heartbreak of infertility. What would you like to share with others going through the same problems?
I haven’t been ready to blog about my infertility struggles but I know there is a story in there. I think I just stuffed it away and I’m a little hesitant to pull out that heart ache again. I know Christians vary on what they think is “right” in terms of receiving treatments for their infertility and I’m usually one to keep my opinions to myself. However, I do want to say that I believe that God chooses different paths towards motherhood for different people. Some people are led to adopt, some conceive quickly and easily, some struggle, some literally have a dozen children and others have 1, some women become mothers through marriage and some never become mothers but instead mother people through their work or charitable endeavors.

Looking back I’d like to say that I can see why God chose the path for me that he did. I was saved when I was a sophomore in high school but I had moved away from the church. I wasn’t going to church and though I considered myself a Christian I didn’t really have a relationship with God anymore. How can you have a relationship with someone you talk to occasionally? Infertility literally brought me to my knees. My marriage was literally falling apart while I was pursuing treatments and I couldn’t stop. I thought, this marriage sucks but I cannot face another day childless. If I have nothing else in my life I’m going to be a mother. I now see how selfish and just wrong that thinking was. But that was how I felt. I ended up going through IVF treatments and I’m proud to say that every life we created in 2002 is with us in 2008. All of our embryos had a chance at life and God allowed 4 of them to come home with me. I did have a miscarriage between my two daughters though and I think that was again God’s reminder for me to lean on him.

When I was pregnant with the boys I ended up on complete bed rest for 3 1/2 months. It was then that he healed my marriage. Through our children my husband who was raised Jewish has come to know the Lord and we attend church together. You cannot tell me that my children are not a blessing from the Lord. Yes, I had infertility treatments but that was just a path. The doctors cannot make a child. Only the Lord can.

“He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord” Psalms 113:9

I know that if I had been able to conceive as easily as I thought I would be able to, that I would not be living the way I am now. I would have taken motherhood and my responsibilities as a mother for granted. I would not be half the mother I am today had it not been for my experiences and struggles. I would have missed seeing God’s purpose in my life. I don’t mean to sound like I know 100% what my purpose in life is—but I know that what I’m doing now is at least part of the plan.

To women struggling with infertility I would say this, don’t give up. Our Lord is a merciful and loving God. He would not give you such a desire without giving you the means to fulfill that desire. When I hold my infant daughter I cannot imagine what would have happened if I had given up. Lean on our Lord. That is what He desires and be open to listening to what He has planned for you. It might not be what you have planned for you, but it will be better than you can imagine.

I would say to others who have friends who are struggling to try not to judge them. They will say crazy things. They are living in despair. Just love on them and try not to judge their path and whatever you do, do not say, “maybe you weren’t meant to be a mother”. That is just the worst. That is also simply not true. If everyone who was “meant” to be a mother were a mother and everyone who was NOT meant to be a mother were not a mother we wouldn’t have child abuse in our country.

Wow, I can see why I was trying to stuff this back in! I’ll get off my soapbox now. I just want to say in closing that I’m here for anyone who is struggling. Just email me through Heart of the Matter.

On your blog Passport Academy Homeschool, you showcase your Homeschool adventures. What are some of your favorite field trips that you’ve taken so far?
Is it possible to have a favorite field trip that hasn’t started yet? This year I’ve written a lesson plan based on “the young naturalists guide to Florida” and I’ll be spending the next year traveling throughout Florida and learning with my kids. We are going all over the state of Florida and have some exciting things planned such as taking a pontoon boat down the Suwannee River, taking a flashlight tour through a cave and doing some exciting things in the Everglades with a local professor and expert on the everglades. I invite everyone to follow our travel adventure on my blog and I hope to finish the year with a manuscript for a guide book if you’d like to do the same thing!

How do you deal with 3 different “picky” eaters?
Not well. I’m struggling. I literally have anxiety before dinner. We are working on the theory that you don’t have to eat it, but you don’t get anything else and you cannot sit here and whine and complain. If you sit at our dinner table you eat. If you don’t want to eat you go to your room and start getting ready for bed. It’s not a punishment, after dinner we go up for bed and so if you aren’t eating you don’t need to be sitting at the table.

What is the one item that you couldn’t possibly live without for your Homeschool?
Where did you get all these hard questions? Did you save them up just for me? I couldn’t live without my credit card and the Internet! Oops, that is two. I guess the Internet. I couldn’t live without the Internet. I find support, lesson plans, ideas, materials, reviews, etc. on there. EVERYTHING I need for my homeschool is on the Internet. It’s a great tool.

You have great science projects, like the Potato Clock. Where do you get your science project ideas from?
Wow, thanks. I really enjoy science. I love teaching it and I love learning along with my kids. I get my ideas from catalogs and then I usually tweak them a bit and add on to them. I saw the potato clock in a catalog and it looked like fun. I wanted to concentrate on teaching the Scientific Method this year so I was looking for easy experiments we could apply it to. I saw the potato clock in Home Science Tools catalog and knew we had to have it. I’ve never done a potato clock experiment in school. So I guess you might say that my ideas come from things that I didn’t get to do in school that I wish I could have done. We aren’t done with our potato clock yet so keep watching our blog for more variations!

Interview by:

Nikowa is a 2nd year homeschooling mom to two boys. (Ages 8 and 5) With her “learning never ends” philosophy, they have an eclectic year-round approach to learning. When she’s not teaching, she enjoys photography, organizing, cooking, reading, and knitting. She is a #1 LOST fan and watches UGA football too! (Go Dawgs!) You can visit Nikowa at Knowledge House Academy.