School Update

It's been a while since I blogged about our homeschool, and I thought I'd better update as we come to the end of our school year.

Since our move two years ago, we've followed the Brazilian school year of a February to Nov/Dec school year.  We still take random breaks throughout the year, and yet we manage to get everything done. It's wonderful.


We are finishing up our year, and I can't wait for some planning time to get next year ready.  Even as we finish up one really good year, I am looking forward to next year with eager anticipation. 

Timothy finishes 6th grade, Caleb finishes 3rd grade, and Zach finishes up a PreK year.  We will continue for two more weeks, and then our year is over! We will, by then, have accomplished everything I set out for this year, and then some.

Our many vacations this year, which some would look at as interruptions, were actually hands-on learning opportunities.  The boys are right now working on reports on marine animals, inspired by the things we saw on our Paraty trip. Thanks to World Book Encyclopedia on CD-Rom they are even able to research when our internet is down. Well, that and the many animal/biology themed books they own. These kids love their science!

I still have to answer the dubious stares and questions of people we meet -- the first question asked of a parent or child is where the child goes to school. When we answer "em casa" we are met with absolute bewilderment, because homeschooling is a completely foreign concept here. It is unheard of, not practiced, and many Brazilians take it as an afront to their culture that I don't enroll the boys in local private schools.  Only when I assure them that we did the same crazy thing in the US do they relax and ask me more about it.

No one has yet reached a level of understanding, but most have reached a basic acceptance that this is just something crazy American's do.  Although I still get asked, as does Quentin, with frequency.  It's just not done here, and most Brazilians can't understand why we insist on such a strange practice when there are perfectly good schools available, if we're willing to pay for them. We plow ahead anyway, schooling the boys the best way we know how and in the manner we deem best for them, and even on the bad days when they gripe and grumble I know they are thankful to have school at home.

We are making a few changes next year, though. Because of the many questions, it is more important that we stick to a bit more regular schedule.  We've never done so, and I chafe at the thought, but I need to get a time-table set out, a schedule drawn up, and then actually implement same.  As I look ahead to the high school years, and what we need to accomplish before then in order to acheive our goals later on, I can see that a schedule is going to be a necessary thing. Schooling a junior high student and a kindergartner should prove interesting, as well. I might finally need to go to schooling the boys at different times of day, rather than trying to force Zach to the table with the big boys, or making the big boys endure the noise of a boisterous five year old next year while they work on Pre-Algebra and World History and the like.

Like I said, I'm looking forward to the planning time to get ready for next year, because we've got some changes coming our way and I need to be sure we are ready.