Who we are, besides sheep.

My first post! :) Although it goes against one of my personal mottos (don't be a sheep!) I am being a follower. My old friend (old as in, long time, not eldery!) Missy, also homeschool mom with kids around Jillian's age, moved here from homeschool blogger so along I came. I hope I can make this pretty, figure out how to add things to it and love it. If not, I'll start blogging on myspace pretty soon...that one I can use!

A little bit about us: I'm a very happily married mom of 2. Jilly Bean is 6 and, although she'd be in K in public school, we are working on first grade here at home. She's quite bright in many regards, although her reading comprehension is leaving a lot to be desired. Her actual reading skills are great but I don't know how much she takes away from a story. Allyson is 2 and not doing much of anything other than writing on my teacher's manuals when I'm not looking. haha. This is our first year homeschooling officially although we did start a little bit last spring to get our toes wet. I'm glad I'm in NH where K isn't mandatory and nobody is looking over my shoulder this year because it's been a bit of a disaster. Not unlike a shark's feeding style (attack when the seal swims by) I'm definitely more of an opportunistic teacher. The shark is really the best analogy that I can think of...I see an opportunity and I grab on and don't let go and milk every drop of possibilty out of it. :) This morning Jillian asked me if I knew how to make origami which launched us into a search on the globe for Japan, research and a discussion about the culture and of course, a crash course in the paper folding art. We made dogs and kitties today which were painfully simple but will probably do some harder ones in the next few days. I'd like to look into some japanese cooking as well. Had I tried to plan a lesson about Japan it would have bombed, but that's just my style. :) With that said, I also have respect for structured lessons. Our curriculums are Bob Jones Science 1, Saxon Math 1 and I really really really want to start Five in a Row to strengthen Jillian's reading skills but I can't spend the money right now so it can wait until Dan has a job :) Oh yes, my husband...he's been laid off and hopefully close to a job offer but time will tell. Organized learning around here comes in fits and starts and is best when sitting Indian style next to the coffee table, hence our new school blog title: Living Room Learners. We work in the den too :) I'm quickly learning this year (ok, it's been nearly 7 months so I guess not that quickly) that, while some structured learning is important (handwriting, concrete math skills, spelling) spontaneous learning is equally important and sometimes more successful. So here's our outline in the 5 W and an H form:

Who we are: Jennifer (mommy, perpetually 26), Dan (30), Jillian (6) and Allyson (2).

What we use: Bob Jones, Saxon, various workbooks for writing, enchantedlearning.com for spelling

Where: the coffee table and computer desk in Tiny Town, NH

When: sporadically, when we feel like it.

Why: Because we live in a mediocre to crummy school district; because I love teaching; because I believe my children should be fully entrenched in their morals before society can heap their sludge on them; because we believe that our children belong with us as parents and we can do the best job...afterall, a school can't have the same heart and soul invested into a child and that child's future as a parent can.

How we want to move forward: I'd like to try FIAR as well as lapbooking which we've looked into a little bit but may require more organization than I'm capable of.

I'm done for now, time to go do the mommy thing. Look forward to blogging more and reading others' blogs.