As we have been preparing for the Fall Road Trip, there’ been a few things we’ve needed to pick up. And K reminded me that there was a few things she wanted to invest in for Jazzy.

Since our last major road trip in 2009, K has done more research about traveling with a dog. And of course she learned a few lessons just from bringing Jazzy along last time – like towards the end of the last day, Jazzy is just as ready to get out of the car as everyone else.

So this week we headed off to a big box pet store to look at the item that K had researched. She had a limited budget, and a specific shopping list. The first up was a auto safety harness.

Personally I had no idea that they even existed. But now that she has one, it’s a pretty neat idea. Basically it’ a dog halter that clips onto a short leash like thing that attaches to the seat belt. So if we have to slam on the brakes, Jazzy won’t go flying.

But in looking through the selection at the pet store, I was unimpressed with the pricing. Even though K was paying, I still wanted her to get the best deal. So, the outing turned into a lesson in personal finance, and different ways to comparison shop online vs. offline.

Since the pricing in the store was more than the pricing she had seen online from the same pet store, she agreed and we picked up only a few things from her list. Items that she felt were worth it.

But of course being that it is close to the holidays there were a few temptations, like trying to convince me that Jazzy needs snow boots for the trip

Look Mom, They're so cute!

 Sorry, not happening. But if she wants to buy them, that’s her choice.

But one of the reason I enjoy shopping with my kids is that it offers up these abilities to discuss practical real life situations. Like when is it a good price, or even if it is on sale, that doesn’t mean it’s the best use of our funds.

These are good lessons, and really good ones to learn early, and often. I hope by taking the time to shop with the kids and discuss purchasing options, they will become wiser stewards of their money than I was, and learn the lessons earlier and on an easier slope than I had to.

And in case you are wondering, I said no to the Christmas stocking too. She’ll have to save up for it, if she really thinks Jazzy needs it.

The life of a homeschooler looks different for each family. Each family has its own routines. Some are more relaxed, others are very scheduled, and then there are those who are in between.

Here we are a mix,depending on whether it’s a full school day, light school day, or unschooling day. Today at our house it’s a light schoolwork day, with a play date, and a bunch of errands schedule. Plus a couple key deadlines looming this week for me.  So what does our day look like?

Since I needed the car today, my day started at 6:15 to take my husband to the mass transit bus stop. Instead of going back to bed like I normally do, I decided to take the quiet time to get in some extra work and mapped out some thoughts for a coaching client.

As the kids started waking up, we talked, laughed, and spent some time together. Everyone was up by 8:30, which is very unusal for us. Usually my morning risers are up by 8:30, while K is usually up later because she and I stay up much later at night. But today it is necessary to be up and going much earlier in order to meet the commitments of the day.

This morning K made biscuits for breakfast, while I worked and answered questions from Little E and Z. J and K then started in on their chores and schoolwork.

K is on trip preparation duty for schoolwork this week, so she’s gathering things up and prepping things for me, and helping me with some adminstrative details.  As a teenager, one day soon she’ll be doing this all on her own, so part of her education is to be proficient in all the things that go into putting together a road trip and running a household. All this goes under the category of Home Economics, entrepenuership, personal finance, and technology.

J is working on Fractions, reading, writing, and later will listen to an audio book while doing his chores. Plus he also has responsibilities in preparing for the road trip. Just not as many as K does.

Z and Little E and I will work on their reading a little later this morning. But right at this very moment they are watching Go Diego Go rescue some animals while I write to you. Both are studying animals, and I’m not really up for Animal Planet this morning (Little E’s favorite TV privelege!). So Deigo is a good compromise for TV Schoolwork.

Lunch is in the refrigerator defrosting. About 11:30 I’ll go down and get that going, after I get all the kids through their baths.  During bath time, I’ll be working on some client work.

Around noon, I’ll ask the olders to start gathering up the library materials that we need to return, and remind K to renew anything that needs to be renewed. She does a great job as my libary assistant, and helps keep our library fines down and me on track with library visits.

We have a playdate with friends we haven’t seen in a while scheduled for this afternoon. Between their schedule and ours, especially since we are both WAHMs, sometimes it’s hard to get a visit in, so we’re looking forward to visiting in person.

After that it’ll be the libary visit, and then a stop off at the bank to take care of the weekly banking.

It’ll be a early dinner tonight. I’ll get that going and leave it for K to finish off while I go pick up my husband. Then we’ll be back to eat and get the kids ready to head off to youth group and AWANAs. While J, Little E, and Z are off at church, K and I will go do the grocery shopping for the Fall Road Trip.

Then it’s family time and then bed time at 10. I’ll talk with Greg, squeeze in another 2 or more hours of work, while K listens to her audio book and has her quiet time.

And then tomorrow begins another day, with different, at-home all day, schedule. But that’s part of balancing life as a work-at-home, homeschooling mom and staying sane – creating a schedule that works for you.

…Shannon

P.S. As you can see K plays an important role in keeping my life balanced. It is part of her education, her training, but it is also something we pay her a small salary for. A couple years ago, when she started taking over some of the work her daddy used to do and doing it well with a good attitude, we decided then that she should be compensated for it, and that works out well for both her and I.

Learning to read starts out as such a struggle, laborious and slow, but then there’s that first spot of victory, that spot where everything seems to click, where instead of laboring over a word, a sentence, a page in a single session, they are reading whole entire stories in a single session. Wow! It’s a sweet deal.

Well, guess what? Little E has hit that spot! And we are celebrating!

Little E with the readers she's finished

That’s right. She has now not only had success with the Bob Books, but now she has read the first five books in the Sing, Spell, Read, and Write series, and is quickly making her way through the 6th book.

And, she’s started reading other story books.

This is such a BIG deal for not only Little E, but every child on the road to learning to read.

It is so easy to grab hold of this success and push for further reading, but I have to caution myself from doing so. (Did that with K, and that was a mistake!)  Instead, I am celebrating with her and letting her set the pace for the next steps. 

Every victory on this learning to read journey needs to be celebrated. It is such a huge victory and a life changing accomplishment. Once they are solid readers, they can learn anything – anything they like. Every step towards that indepedence is to be treasured.

For now, Little E and I are joyously reading each new story in her readers, and talking about the chapter books she’ll be able to read when she is ready (she’s got a few picked out).  Such excitement! She’s so excited to be so close to reading the books she wants to be reading and join the ranks of independent readers.

Just had to share with you.

…One proud mommy (Shannon)

P.S. For those of you curious, we are careful to be sensitive to Z’s challenges,  emphasizing that Little E’s success is her own and that everyone  learns to read at their own pace, that Z has done other things faster than Little E. It’s so important for us, with varying abilities and talents, to not compare our children, but to celebrate their individual successes and while still encouraging the others.

P.S.S. And if you haven’t pick up on this before, I do not use Sing Spell Read and Write’s full program – just their readers, which we love because they make us smile

Learning to read is such a huge milestone for our kids, but each one of them learns at a different rate. My girls were early on the learning to read road, but my oldest got held up along the way and taught me a very important lesson about parenting and teaching.

My son reading a Sonlight 3/4 American History book

Eager to see her move on with reading, to be independent with it, I pushed her too hard, and ended up turning her off of reading for a time (thankfully she LOVES to read now, but that’s another story.)

But the lesson I learned with Kate, I was adamant not to repeat with my other three children.

For my oldest son (now 11), we waited until he was 7 1/2, after he had achieved success in his speech therapy and when he was ready – emotionally and developmentally – to begin the process of learning to read. 

Within a year, he was reading at grade reading level.

From there, we worked on reading aloud from the McGuffey Readers, practicing to improve his articulation, his comprehension, and his confidence.  

And for the last year, he’s been reading through Sonlight’s 1 year American History study (Core 3+4) with no problems at all. The only challenge I have is sometimes he gets so involved in a story he doesn’t want to do anything else but read!

It’s a good problem to have.

But the reason I share this is because I know Kate’s story and have seen the results of patience and gentle persistence with my older son, I have complete confidence that my younger son (now 8 1/2) will eventually learn to read.  And I want to share that confidence with you, especially if you have a student who is struggling in their reading.

There is hope.

If you are patient, and diligent, and share the love of story with them, they will learn to read.

And that’s one of the beauties of homeschooling, we have the ability to wait, fill their minds with stories and language through audio books and reading aloud until the time comes where all the complexities of learning to read clicks for them, and it comes together.

Soon, you’ll have days like this (below), where all your child wants to do is read.

Reading for hours on end, just for the love of the story

Tom Rector with 4 of his grandchildren

In honor of Father’s Day I have another special dad to share with you on the Living Life at Home podcast. 

Today our guest is a businessman, a parenting educator, and the creator of the BioSocial Cognition Model, Thomas C. Rector.

He and his wife Shelly are the parents of 5 children, ages 38 to 14, and have six grandchildren. After nearly 39 years of parenting, they have developed a unique view point on raising children, education, and what it means to be a parent.

Formally opposed to homeschooling, they came to realize its advantages (and disadvantages) and on two separate occasions have opted to homeschool their children.  Both times, working while homeschooling.

What makes this podcast really special to me is that Tom also happens to be my dad.

So I invite you to meet Tom and  listen in while we discuss:

• How his perspective on parenting has changed over the last 38 years
• Why he believes parenting is the most important responsibility we have
• His take on intentional parenting and why creating memories is so important, and
• Where homeschooling fits (or doesn’t fit) into the education of our children

Intentionally creating memories with the grandkids

As a parent, a former foster parent, an adoptive parent, a Court-Appointed Child Advocate, and an employer, Tom Rector has developed a new methodology for interpreting human behavior and developing human potential – the BioSocial Cognition Model.  So he also shares with us, what that is, and what it means for us as parents.

We got into stories I have never heard before, and discussed topics that he and I had never discussed before. I invite you to listen in to meet the most influential parenting mentor of my life, and gain another point of view on this journey we call parenting.

To listen in, simply click the play button below. To download the recording to your computer, right click on download link below and choose ‘Save Target As’.

Intentional Parenting & the importance of creating memories with our children [ 1:05:00 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Enjoy!

…Shannon

P.S. To request more information about BioSocial Cognition, visit BioSocialCognition.com.