When we moved from Wisconsin to Vermont in the early summer of 2019, we made all sorts of transitions and we made them almost all at once. We went from being rooted in the Upper Midwest to being almost as far north in New England as you can be. We transitioned from being a family 4 to a long-awaited family of 5. And Maple made the big shift from being an extremely independent homeschooler to an eighth-grader at the local public school. There are more changes that I would love to add to this list but these are the big outwardly facing ones. The inwardly turned ones are maybe a little more nebulous and shifty and so intertwined with the realities of COVID that they have become so implicit that it can be hard to parse out entirely. And that is not so much the topic at hand today.
In the weeks leading up to our move, one of my close mama friends made a comment in regard to the advent of Maple heading to school that went something like: ‘I bet Eider will go to school soon as well, and that you won’t end up homeschooling Wilfred at all.’ I was a touch offended at the time and yet I know where she was coming from. One of the near compulsive questions that homeschoolers ask one another is “how long do you think you’ll homeschool for” or “do you think you’ll go to school when (fill in the blank…)” or some other version of the same question. Also, when one kid heads off to school it can seem like a real break in the home education fabric of a family as children begin to move in even more directions than before. In fact, my friend is now going through her own transition as her oldest heads off to high school this fall while his younger sibs continue to stay home. I get it. I really do. It is a temptation for all parents I think, certainly, it has been for me, to assume that what has worked for one kid might indeed work for all and that the oldest in many regards is setting some sort of precedent and that the youngers are somehow beholden to the same path.
And yet we keep reminding ourselves that no two kids are the same and that what worked for one may very well be a flop for the next. It’s an exercise in repetition to be sure. Also, it’s fair to say, at least in our story, that Maple has wanted to share some of her school experience with Eider and that there has been a fair amount of projection coming from her regarding what path Eider will walk. (Even though they have never been remotely similar as home learners, outside of being dyslexic. They approach learning in completely different ways. Maple has seldom if ever, done anything I have asked her to do and instead takes her learning above and beyond all day every day, but on her own terms. Eider almost always is game to do what I suggest, and yet when he is done with that he is pretty much done. As his reading fluency improves that is shifting slightly- as noted in the way in which he consumes all things history. But, ya know, he is a 12 year old kid who likes video games and the phenomenon that is watching other kids play video games on youtube- what the heck even is that???) In terms of him following in her steps toward public school; we have chatted about it. We have gamed it all out. On repeat. Mocked up fantasy futures in our mind’s eye regarding the educational journey of each of our kids. I mean, don’t we all? But I think I can safely say at this point that I have no clue what the future holds for any of them, save a pretty solid sense that Maple will stay in public school through graduation. That’s it folks.
I don’t know if Eider will ever go to school full time. Maybe he will go to public school for high school, maybe he won’t. We have daydreamed for years of spending a part of one of our winters in Australia and New Zealand- Eider is bonkers for koalas and would love to spend some time working at a koala sanctuary. This type of trip is something that sounds much more doable as a home ed family than one accountable to the conventional school calendar. I also have no clue what Wilfred will do. I think that nursery school is important for littles and generally a marvelous experience and yet I have no idea if I will feel comfortable sending him next year even though I think 3 is the perfect age for it. Plus, I sure would love some time when he is out of my direct care. We also live up the hill from the last one-room combined classroom schoolhouse in Vermont. I love the idea of walking or biking him there from his first through third-grade years but we are weirdly not districted for it and the idea of paying for primary school is something I have a certain degree of difficulty swallowing.
Anyhow, this is a big rambling view of my mind when it comes to educating my kids, and trust me I could go on and on but I won’t because none of this is really what I showed up to talk about today. Really I am here to share what Eider and I are doing for his seventh-grade year. A little tour of the what’s what of our plan and some resource sharing as well.
A lot of thought always goes into the plan for our homeschool year, and this year that feels especially true after the shitty year he had last year. I know that so many folks pivoted to keeping their kids home during Covid and I get that for sure, but as an example of the potential of homeschooling, it really couldn’t have sucked more. At least that was our experience. I actually wish that I had sent Eider to school- it wouldn’t have worked out again because of a district thing, but this is all magical thinking anyway. So- as a part-time in-person schedule where he actually goes to be around other kids would have been so much better than the near-complete isolation of his actual year.
I know some homeschool communities were successful in podding up with one another, and maybe that would have worked for us back in Wisconsin where we were more established, but I kinda don’t think so. We have always been incredibly eclectic and have been a part of so many different groups and circles that it would have been a ton of picking and choosing I think… again, magical thinking. As it was, everything that was cool about homeschooling last year vanished. No orchestra, no nature school, no stem classes with the local kids, canceled sports seasons, no library days, no performances to attend. Basically, a whole lot of nothing. It sucked. And as so many kids did in the long days at home, Eider leaned even harder into the Xbox and tried his hardest to manage the complexities of virtual life with long boring stretches of not much between everything. Craftsbury Outdoor Center basically saved our family and our son last winter and I am beyond thankful and also super pumped for ski team for Eider and lots of days on skis in the woods for the rest of us.
But I digress! Jeez Meg. Get it together.
So! What is the plan? What does it look like for our bear this year? Well, I can tell you for certain that a ton of care and consideration has gone into the planning for this year. But I can also pretty confidently say that even so, I have no idea how it will actually go. I am cautiously optimistic. He actually is doing a little bit of a hybrid situation this year after all, and spending roughly an hour and 45 minutes 4 mornings a week at the local public school- the same one where Maple is a 10th grader- and taking 2 classes. The admin at the school are super flexible and accommodating and I feel so lucky for their open-minded support. We knew right away that we wanted him to take science at school as that is a subject that I generally outsource in one way or another and also kinda suck at trying to teach myself. But he has aged out of the local stem classes for homeschoolers and Earth Walk Village School is still on pause until Covid is more resolved and I have depended on both of those in the past for science ed support. The other class he is taking is by virtue of timing and convenience more than anything else but I think it should work out quite well. It is called expos and it is actually a different class each trimester: art and then Spanish and then technology and design. He is also on the soccer team so he will head back in the afternoons for practice with many of the kids that he is in class with in the mornings.
Interestingly enough, the principal of the middle school has shared that more homeschool kids than ever before in his experience are engaging this hybrid option. That last year didn’t work out well for a number of veteran home ed families. Makes sense. It was certainly our roughest and most depressing year to date. And yes I know that it was for most everybody, but I guess I just really want to reiterate that even those of us seasoned at spending lots and lots and lots of time altogether and at home still found it a palatial struggle. For real.
As for the rest of our coursework details, here is what I submitted to the state back in July. So, the formal description of what we are doing this year, broken down into what the home study department for the state of Vermont terms the Minimum Course of Study:
Homeschool 2021/22
Basic communication skills including reading and writing: We are using the current 2021-2022 Brave Writer Arrow, a mechanics and literature program, for reading and writing (*as well as for English, American, and other Literature). The Arrow uses living literature to teach the mechanics of writing. Spelling, punctuation, grammar, and literary devices delivered a thoughtfully curated selection of books. The website product page << https://store.bravewriter.com/products/arrow >> has an example of the workbooks that support the reading. We have used these programs for the previous 2 school years. They are marvelous.
Basic Communication Skill Mathematics: Pre-Algebra: whole numbers; integers; fractions; decimals; algebraic thinking; ratio, proportion, & percent; geometry; measurement; probability & statistics. We use Mathhelp.com for math study.
English, American and other Literature: The books we are reading this year are a part of the Brave Writer Arrow, and are piggy-backed with our Basic Communication Skills curriculum.
This year's books are:
Amari and the Night Brothers (B. B. Alston) *note to say we are already almost through this first read and arrow and I am once again reminded how amazing this program is. This is our 3rd year using the arrows, and while he is right on the cusp of the next level of books and guides, I am pleased that he wants to stay at this level for one more year. These book selections are just sooooo thoughtfully curated and I really savor the time we get to spend reading aloud together. Lifetime memories in these moments!
Leon Garfield's Shakespeare Stories (Leon Garfield)
Before the Ever After (Jacqueline Woodson)
Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids (edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith)
The Lion of Mars (Jennifer L. Holm)
Front Desk (Kelly Yang)
Becoming Muhammad Ali (James Patterson & Kwame Alexander)
The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden (Karina Yan Glaser)
Show Me a Sign (Ann Clare LeZotte)
Midsummer’s Mayhem (Rajani LaRocca)
Natural Sciences: Eider is taking seventh-grade science at Peoples Academy Middle Level this year. I believe that they are studying physical science.
I am also hoping that he will be participating in Earth Walk's Village School again this year if their programs are up and running.
Physical Education: Fall Soccer, Mountain Biking, Winter Nordic Skiing, Spring Lacrosse.
Comprehensive Health Education: We plan on having continued relevant and/or topical conversations around growth and development, autonomy and agency, consent, and emotional security. We have been resourcing the book: It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, Gender, and Sexual Health by Harris and Emberley.
Eider has also really gotten into food and cooking and we support and encourage him as he continues to explore this interest.
Fine Arts: Violin. Weekly private lessons with Jess Zehngut in the Suzuki Pedagogy. He will play in the Green Mountain Youth Orchestra when they begin again in January. Through the fall he will play with a youth strings group in Waterbury once a week under the instruction of Annabel Moynihan.
One of the expos that he will be taking at Peoples Academy Middle Level is art. (More specifically, the class is divided into three components throughout the year: visual art, tech and design, and Spanish.)
Citizenship, History, and government in Vermont and the United States: We have done a good amount of US government study as well as Vermont History in the past 2 years. Eider has a very keen interest in World History, European History in particular, as well as the way geography changes through time as nations shift and change. We are planning to use the OER Project's World History: 1750 to the Present (https://www.oerproject.com/1750-to-Present), as a springboard for exploration and study this year. We will supplement this with various History videos from Eider's favorite history youtube channel: Armchair Historian as well as podcasts such as What You Missed in History Class.
* all of this is as of yet much the plan. However, we have opted to not use the OER History program and are instead using Oak Meadows seventh grade curriculum for World History. I have never used anything from Oak Meadow before and quite honestly whole curriculums have seldom if ever worked for us in the past. Having previewed a good amount of this one though, I do feel cautiously optimistic. We shall see!
Hey y’all, thanks for reading. I imagine you only did if it was of interest to you in some way. And if not, no worries. It’s fine. But I would love to hear other homeschool fams pipe in with something about your plan for the year that you are excited about. I want to hear! Let me know!
xxx,m