Homeschooler of the Week: Jessica

Posted by Nikowa Lee | 0 comments

Please allow me to introduce this week’s Homeschooler of the Week: Jessica of Trivium Academy.

Hi, Jessica! Please tell us a little about yourself and your sweet little learners.
I’m 30 years old, living a life I would never have dreamed with a pastor husband and two blessings we call Camille and Danny.

Camille is 7 years old and was born with a clipboard in her hands, she loves order and structure and although she’s shy, she’ll warm anyone’s heart once they get to know her.

Danny is 3 years old and 100% healthy, active boy who loves to be the center of attention or at least demand it.

I used to be a graphic designer before Danny was born and now I take pleasure in being a mom. In this season of my life, it’s really all about the kids although I do like to read, shop and bake when I get a chance.

When and where do you blog?
Once we decided to homeschool, I scoured the internet for information and found homeschooling blogs. It was then I decided to document our life-changing journey and use a blog as a way to learn and share about homeschooling and life in general. I started blogging with Homeschoolblogger.com but moved in January 2007 to blogger. Our computer is in our learning room for easy access but I do most of my blogging after the kids are in bed. We have a new puppy so I haven’t had much time lately to blog but I do try to post at least every two days and one big post weekly about what we’ve done in our homeschooling efforts.

Do you have a special “set aside” place to do your homeschooling?We live in a parsonage and I hijacked the unused formal living room to be our learning room. I’ll probably do this in every parsonage we live in, having a room just for us, away from the daily rooms has been a huge blessing.

What does your typical day look like?
We’re up around 6:30 am, we have a little puppy so my personal time has been cut dramatically since he joined our household. After getting a cup of coffee, a little puppy play and the kids’ breakfast, I hit the shower. We generally start our day around 7:30 am to 8:00 am depending on the circumstances. The kids and I sit in a circle and talk about what we have to do for the day, people we need to pray for and we take turns praying. I end circle time by praying aloud for my children which I feel is very important.

We’ve recently added exercising to our day so this is when we put on an exercise video and get moving. I do one load of laundry a day so after exercise I put it in the washer. Then Camille and I have snuggle time on the couch with our Bible lesson where we read the story and answer the questions together. I have her recite her scripture for memorization three times before we conclude Bible time with a prayer.

I firmly believe in structuring lesson time to the kids so instead of diving into a serious subject, we do our music appreciation next. This involves listening and singing along to a song from Themes to Remember, for me this includes more puppy play time on the floor.

One day a week, we’ll read the short biography in our Themes book and learn the musical terms, we listen to the same song for two weeks so that it’s a gentle process in memorizing the lyrics. We take a short snack break between music and math.

Math has been a sore spot in our studies this year until I dropped the rote memorization of math facts and switched to copywork. Math is Camille’s favorite subject, although she’ll list all we do as her favorite, math is always at the top of the list.

It’s probably about 9:30-10:00 at this time so we do a quick review of the poem she is memorizing and work on a little spelling. After that we spend 30 minutes learning french, then another hour on either history or science.

The day is finished after Camille practices the piano and does any work her piano teacher has assigned. We generally finish between noon and 1:00 pm so the kids have the rest of the day to play. This is vital to me, that the kids have unstructured time to play during the day, especially this young.

Danny is mingled within our lessons, I try to involve him in what we’re doing. He plays alongside of us when he’s not interested in participating in any way but I make sure he gets at least 30 minutes of independent play time in his room each day. He’s no longer taking naps which really threw our little schedule off until I made it a point for him to have independent play time each day. About an hour before bedtime, I read to Camille for 30 minutes and then Danny gets his own reading time. Baths, dinner, trips to the library and whatever else we need to do is done in the timeframe between 1:00 pm and 7:30 pm.

What is the hardest thing about homeschooling?
I would say being the end-all is the hardest part of homeschooling. It begins with you and ends with you. As the teacher and mom, being consistent is of utmost importance but there are days you just want to sleep in but you can’t. If I don’t prepare myself to teach the children, there’s no passion to share with them. I do a lot of “behind the scenes” work in order to teach the kids. I cannot say how many books I’ve read on how to teach, parent and be a role model for our kids. When we discovered homeschooling, it was like discovering a world where everything was possible and it is a little overwhelming when you really sit down and think about every avenue of your child’s life that is entrusted to you by God, every day. Gone are the excuses that you’re too busy or that you just don’t have the time.

What do you love most about homeschooling?
What I love most about homeschooling is that I’m able to make a productive difference in my children’s lives that I pray will impact those around them in society when they enter the world. Instead of watching othe
rs teach things to my children that I may object to, I can guide and lead them to the beauty of this world and be a witness of all their discoveries along the way, both good and bad. Homeschooling has plugged me into my children’s hearts, and I don’t think there is anything more precious than being held in high esteem by your children.

What has been your favorite read-aloud so far and why?
Camille says her favorite read-aloud is The Door in the Wall which we’re just finishing but I think that is because it is fresh in her mind. My personal favorite read-aloud has been The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh. I laughed, cried and thoroughly enjoyed sharing this book with Camille and can’t wait to read it to Danny when he’s just a tad bit older.

What is the strangest or funniest thing someone has said to you about homeschooling?
The most ridiculous thing others have said to me about homeschooling is that they couldn’t spend that much time with their own children, or that they don’t have the patience to teach their own children. I literally stand in disbelief as parent after parent says this to me. The worst is when public school teachers say this to me. I’ve also had someone close to me ask if I’m worried about raising ‘social retards’ because homeschooled children don’t conform to society like public school students do. I laughed, “Yes, I want to raise social retards by those standards.”

Where do you usually buy your curriculum and other items?
I buy the bulk of our curriculum items from Rainbow Resource and the rest from the publishers when their products aren’t available through Rainbow Resource. I also purchase from Amazon as needed and use a book-trading service to help with the cost of acquiring reading materials.

What wisdom would you like to pass along to new homeschoolers?
My advice to a new homeschooler is to get your house in order. Establish household rules with your children, cleaning schedules and even a meal schedule. It will make everything else flow easier when you operate within a structure that is dependable.

To quote the Mary Poppins movie, “A British bank is run with precision. A British home requires nothing less! Tradition, discipline and rules must be the tools! Without them: disorder… catastrophe! Anarchy! In short, you have a ghastly mess!” (George Banks) It sounds harsh but it is also what the desires of us, for us.

Thank you, Ma’am, for letting us into your lovely school and home!