Calvert again

We love our Calvert program. It's very structured and a lot of hard work, but we really love it and enjoy it, it took a while to be able to get back here, but here we are.

The excitement of getting and opening the boxes felt like a party.

And I know, is only July, but we started already, and we are very happy, taking it a little slow at the beginning, getting used to it again.

I'm a little nervous, for teaching this year in English, since it is our secod language, but it seams that my boy has a better level than I thought, he understands a lot and is learning more all the time.

I think this year is going to be great, and having him in my life is the best.

Botanical garden

We visited it yesterday and it was such a nice discovery.

There is a nice variety to learn from as well as workshops.


People there is very nice, workers and visitors.

My son integrated very well to couple of kids who take care of the turtles, brushing them and putting eye solution in their eyes.

We hope to get back often.

I'm already planning a lot o plant studies there.

A History Time Line

We are starting our third week of homeschooling and I fell I that we are not doing enough while at same time I'm amazed about what we actually do, specially the great conversations we have and the feeling of that I'm almost obsolete to my kid's learning process, since he is such an avid reader and beats me at learning by getting information by himself while I'm busy preparing a class.

But it's all okay, I understood we just need more books, and about I can't complain because I do love books.

I spend a few nights making this time line of Human History. I finally got it ready and it is on our wall now. Also I made it into a PDF file if anyone is interested, right now only in Spanish, but I will make it in English too. I think it's great to have it like this, so we can get an idea of what happened when.

One thing I love very much about homeschooling is the much I get to learn.

What about you?, what's your favorite part?

On the third day of homeschooling

I'm sorry if homeschooling is all I talk about in these days, we are so excited, I'll try to mix it with recipes and knitting on the other things I usually talk about. Thanks for visit me.

We started on Monday with the cleaning and then on Tuesday I gave him some exercises from text books and then we planned our schedule, my kid wanted to include things from his own school schedule, and so we planned that, I also wanted to include at least 45 minutes sessions of outside time for some kind of nature contact and body exercise. We both wanted to include History, which is not part of the Mexican plan of study for second grade. We got the free school government books which other than the History issue are great resources and you download online free here, I think they would be great for learning Spanish.

And then I woke up a little late and we made breakfast, and as we were having it, he reed the bag of the dry fuits and nut mix and asked what lipids meant. I was not sure, but thought that maybe in the How the body works book we could find an answer. This took us to atoms, molecules and other things, he even asked me if gods could have sex, as in to have kids, and we talked about the Egypt gods and the Greek.

And everything rolled so naturaly, that you can imagine what happened with the schedule plans.

It was beautiful and I'm so happy and excited to work on the next study unit for tomorrow and also to reinforce the atomic lesson.

It's just so beautiful to see him florish.

Back to HM

Home School, such a happy thought.

We are back!

I can't still jump on happiness so much, because I'm a little nervous, but actually, deep inside, I can tell you, I know it's right, it's the right thing for us.

So I pulled my kid from school... for the third time.

Yes, this is the third time we do to all of this, just that this time it was not the wrong school, in the way that this one didn't really made my kid feel bad, but still, it just wasn't what we wanted for him as a family, plus is very expensive. Even so, I was willing to take a full job to keep him there, he said he just didn't want to leave it. And then, when I finally inform him about my job interview he told me: ¨But mama, I will see even less of you then, I rather to be homeschool if it comes to see you less¨. And that was it. I have always believe in listening to my kid wishes, interests, and feelings.

So today we started.

One thing I was worry that schooling was stealing from us is the simple house chores. I try not to let myself say that my kid or my partner are "helping me" on this area, I try to promote the concept of participation, even when I do most of it, is not my responsibility, it's all of us, and, in a way, is a joy for all, because is our home we are taking care of, it's for ourselves.

But the rush of the school schedule would not let us time to learn slowly, to enjoy the meals, to have the patience to wait for my kid to chop the apples and count the pieces to make sure everyone gets the same amount.

My son talked to me yesterday about the importance of having a nice home, clean and organized, as a classroom.

And we did that all morning, and then he had a friend that came to the house to play, he had a great time, and the very end of the day the vibe was so different, because there was no rush, there was only calm, love, it was new, and I felt so good.

I'm so happy!

(I even wrote him a little love letter for when he wakes up).

Joy

Today I'm feeling joyful.

It's been a long long trip since the last post I talked about our family, about our path, so I thought I would give you an update, because it has been a long time since.

A few months after that my started school in Costa Rica, it was in beautiful place, with a little forest and lots of green areas to play around. But the schooling experience was not a happy one, my son started to get very stress, he was bullied by not only classmates but also the teacher. He didn't like to be there, even when he had good relation ships with classmates and loved the forest.

Meanwhile a got an online job, and after thinking about it with lots of anxiety I decided to move back to Mexico, among other reasons because I have a great support net of friends and because there is not religion free education in Costa Rica and homeschooling could lead to have your kids taken away from you by the government. But mainly because this schooling experience was so stressful for my son that lost 3 kilos (6.6 pounds), from a total of 23 (50).

So we pack all we could in a couple of suitcases and flight to Mexico. We lived in the house of a friend for 5 weeks and then find an apartment.

My kid started school on august in the same active school I went, a very nice one, but expensive.

On September 15th I got fired out of the blue. Things got complicated, my son was so happy at school that he didn't want to leave, I started a cake business, started sewing classes in a woman's shelter and baby and prenatal classes in other center. On January the shelter had to cancel the classes and so I decided to take a job at a call center.

When I told this to my son he got sad, he said, "But mama, I will see even less of you", "Yes, but I just have to do it in order to afford your school, it won't be so bad", "But I don't want that, I rather homeschool then", and then that was it, I was so moved by his words and so happy.

And so we are going back to it, and it's such a joy, I really love to do HS, I think is the best thing in the world.

And right now we are on the good bye process again, for the third time, it has not been easy, but this is the third time we make this decision, together as always have done it.

And we are both excited.

P.S. Here in Mexico City, Homeschooling is as rare as snow, and so there is no co ops, or any support and people takes it very bad, but the risk of the government taking any action is minimal, I would appreciate any suggestions on having social times with kids other than play dates, an aspect I worry a little about since he is a single kid.