I was just wondering if everyone might enjoy sharing some information to get to know each other better. So, I think I will start with a list of questions and answer them below that. I think that will make it easier to copy and paste the questionaire. If you do not want answer a question just skip it... no problem.
- How long have you homeschooled your kids?
- Did any of them attend public school?
- Did going into public school make it easier or harder to begin homeschooling them?
- Do your kids attend co-op or other schooling (Pre-K)?
- What activities do your kids attend outside of the home?
- What do you drive (or what is your transportation method)?
- Do you have another occupation?
- What is your husband's occupation? Does he work a set schedule or shift work, travel, etc,?
- Does your husband help much?
- Do others help much?
- What type of computer do you use, internet speed, wireless or wired?
- Do you live in the country, town, suburb, or other? What state or region?
- Do you like where you live?
- Do you travel? Do you like to travel?
Okay, so I will start by answering my own questions. Also, feel free to add some questions that interest you. I will be happy to answer your questions. And PLEASE do not share any information that could endanger your family (address, etc.).
- I have homeschooled my kids since November 1, 2008, so less than one year.
- Savannah was in 2nd grade and Sierra was in Pre-K when I pulled them out. Two months into the year they had already closed school twice for hurricanes, so they had not really been in school much for the year. I think God may have been trying to tell me something because hurricanes hit our area when each of my girls were in Pre-K (and hurricanes aren't too common here... none in my life until Hurricanes Rita and Ike).
- Sierra was not in school long enough to develop habits are have "set" expectations of what school was, so it has not affected homeschooling her. Savannah is totally affected by it. In some ways it has helped for me to see some of the techniques that were used to teach her and in a way sort of "teach" me to teach some. In many other ways it has hindered us because she has that idea of how school is and it is not all good. I know God had a hand in the wonderful teachers and public schooling that she experienced while she was in public school. She was always loved in her school and got extra attention that I know all kids are not fortunate enough to recieve. God placed (and moved her) in the very hands of teachers that could nurture her heart while I was not able to. Sierra, also... in her short experience.
- My kids have not attended co-op or other schooling since we took them out of public school. We have changed churches to allow for more spiritual growth and I am happy to say that is working. At the new church my kids have more opportunites to do things like children's choir, etc., also. I have signed them up for co-op this year for the experience of being around more kids that are leading similar lives to theirs. I am not at all concerned about the classes, but I am sure they will enjoy those as an added fringe benefit.
- This year our kids will attend church (Sunday and Wednesday, etc.), homeschool co-op, gymnastics (although I have enjoyed not going this summer), and I might check into 4-H. We tried Girl Scouts in the past, but our experience has not been to good with it. I might form a group of friends for some social time, if I get to feeling spunky, but don't hold me to it! ;)
- I am in love with my van!!! Who knew that would ever happen?! I am a very practical person, so driving something "sensible" and boring is no surprise. I had a Dodge Caravan until I wrecked it in the mountains when I hit and ice patch, but I replaced it with a 2002 Toyota Sienna that I plan to drive until it falls apart. I actaully fantasy about something a tad bigger with a higher roof, a port-a-potty in it, and a bed! LOL! Weird, but I am sure you understand, right?!
- Another job? Uh... who has time for another job!! I know some of you may have another income making job. I have in the past, but do not now. I keep my tax ID certificate current and claim some "sales", but I have not done much since I was pregant with Sierra. I have sold one-of-a-kind children's clothes that I made on eBay and locally. I had two booths in an Antique and Craft mall. One was for selling my handmade children's things and the other was a retail booth selling purses, windchimes, and various decor. Hmmm... and at some point I had an antiques booth, although I don't fully remember all that. ;) I am always finding something to keep me double busy, but I have learned to stop. Oh yeah, I have done the festivals and flea market sales circuit with my "ventures" as well. FYI: Local festivals are where the profits are at!
- My husband is a public school teacher (7th grade English) with his Master's degree. We are thinking he may have committed job suicide when we decided to homeschool. ;) Maybe one day he will be able to get a principal position, but I am quite proud that he is willing to sacrifice his career potential for his family. He works Mon-Fri 8:00 am - 4:00 pm. Occassionally, he has to work a school dance or football session stand, but for the most part he is off when the students are out of school. He goes to work a couple of weeks earlier than the students at the beginning of each school year. Each summer he usually has a random workshop to attend. He travels to a conference 1-2 times a year. In the past he has taught summer school for a few weeks during the summer, but not this past summer. School starts back with his students tomorrow and he is always nervous, so he is acting weird today. By the way, his students LOVE him and he is a local celebrity in our town. Very cute!!
- My husband helps with everything!!! He does dishes, laundry, bathes kids, braids hair, runs bedtime duty... the whole nine yards.... we are in it together and it takes more than me to get it all done. I really cannot rely on anyone but him. Others offer, but there are usually scheduling issues, etc.. Most the time I just don't ask rather than be told no. Cody takes a day off, if I have something I just absolutely cannot take the kids to.... very rare, though.
- I have an older PC that runs XP that I gave the kids when I got my baby... uh, I mean, computer.... so sad, but I am so addicted to this thing. It is a pink Dell Studio laptop, all wireless, built-in video thingy for Skype, etc., has wierd things like a fingerprint reader, and way too much technology for my little brain. We are all wireless in the house now for printers, etc. and I love that. With the laptop I can cook and print a worksheet from the kitchen and take it with me where I go to rock the babies (usually my school room desk or my recliner). And my icing on the cake is that we have DSL through AT&T.... ahhhh, heaven!! They had to slow down my connection a bit right after I got it, but I can't tell and it saves me $10 more a month. I can click on your blog link and it loads before I can snap my finger!!! LOVE it!!! And I ask this question because I often wonder if anyone has to wait for my stuff on my blog to load.... that is why I recently deleted my music. I could tell it was slowing down my blog.
- I live in a small town in Southeast Texas. The school here is a 3A school, although it was 4A when went to it years ago. I live in the "old town" area with the historic homes, although it has not been declared a historical area... not touristy here. My house is over 100 years old and I can walk to the vintage movie theater about three blocks away. It takes me five minutes to get to Wal-Mart or any other store in town and my husband has a round trip one mile commute to work. We are both from the country, but we are loving the convience of town life. Yes, we still fantasize about more land (we have one full acre here after buying and additional 1/4 acre) and such things on a DAILY basis. Just today we were pondering our options. My husband said we should buy some acreage just for recreation and I suggested that joining a hunt club lease might be more ideal and then, we could have four wheelers, etc.. I know God will open a door if he intends us to have "land"... even in the middle of town!! I am hopeful! :)
- We love where we live, but as you can guess in the above answer there are some things we long for... nothing we need or can't live without. Our biggest thing is that our families, etc. all live 45 minute drives and two hour drives away. They all moved after we did, so it is not in our control. Also, two hurricanes in a three year period kind of got us freaked out, too. Hurrican recovery is not for the faint of hear, but I guess you have something to worry about everywhere you live... earthquakes, landslides, floods, tornadoes... you can't control all that stuff, so I think we will stay where God has us... unless he gives us a clear sign to move.
- I LOVE to travel, but I am content to travel in the U.S.! There is so much to see in this beautiful country that I want to see it all before I move on to bigger things. We went to Cancun for our honeymoon, but we love to go to Colorado more than any other place. I have been to about half the states, but Cody has been to less. We love the mountains and we even talk about living there someday or packing up and just leaving. Who knows! Right now there are just some things that hold us here... family... and knowing that God put us where we are.
So, it's your turn and you can keep it short if that is more your style. You can answer in my comment section or do a blog post. If you do a post, come back here and post the link in the comments. And one more thing... don't make me have to tag you. There are some of you out there that I really want to know some of these things about!!! If you don't answer I am going to harass you tag you, if you are one of my "followers"! LOL!
Well I've got a few minutes of free time while the kiddies are napping so I'll play.
ReplyDeleteHow long have you homeschooled your kids?
Technically since birth, so 11 years. Officially this is my 6th year.
Did any of them attend public school?
Nope.
Did going into public school make it easier or harder to begin homeschooling them?
N/A
Do your kids attend co-op or other schooling (Pre-K)?
The closest group I can find is too far away for me to bother attending. I know I won't show up, so I don't even make a pretense of it. We're considering 4H for next year as well. Going to the fair in a couple of weeks to investigate what direction we'd like to take. (Poultry, hogs, or maybe cattle.) Bill works with a fellow who did 4H hogs as a child and they made him auction the hogs off at the fair. He took first prize and got $13/#. Ours came in at over 210 (that's how much we brought home), so that would be over $2700/hog!
What activities do your kids attend outside of the home?
Church and Hannah starts violin lessons tomorrow. Jared did fencing for a little bit with the only instructor in the area when he was 5, but they wanted to put him under contract so we RAN!
What do you drive (or what is your transportation method)?
So many carseats and booster seats forced up to upgrade in size about a year ago, so now we drive an '08 Econoline (gold). Well I actually don't drive it. There is evidence along the one side that I did try once, but the library drop box ran into me.
Do you have another occupation?
Nope.
What is your husband's occupation? Does he work a set schedule or shift work, travel, etc,?
Until a few weeks ago he was a service technician and installation manager for my father's automatic door company. Although things had slowed down a bit, his average work week was anywhere from 60-90 hours. He'd get up at 5am and if he made it home by 7, it was a good night.
Now he works as a salesman for another door company, selling new installations and service. He leaves around 7 and gets home between 4:30 and 5. Needless to say, I love it!
Does your husband help much?
Obviously with his work schedule as it was not much. Since most nights he would just make it home in time for bed, baths are his duty while I run around finishing up laundry or tidying up for the night etc... If I ask for something he'll help, but other than baths, he doesn't have anything that he routinely does.
Do others help much?
Nope.
What type of computer do you use, internet speed, wireless or wired?
I got a Mac laptop on Black Friday last year, and although it was a bit of a transition, I recently dumped Windows Parallels from it because I never use it. I LOVE it. It was worth every penny!
Do you live in the country, town, suburb, or other? What state or region?
I live in a just outside a small town in Ohio. You could say I live in the country, but I live on a busy state route, so it doesn't feel like it :(
Do you like where you live? Excepting that road, yes.
Do you travel? Do you like to travel? Most of my traveling has been behind a moving van. (NC, MN, ME) but I love to travel. Bill is so much fun on a road trip especially when he has some caffeine in him. We don't do it as much anymore because of expense and logistics with a large family.
great Q's...I'll have to work on them later. I was writing a hs post in the hospital and thinking of you....I'll post it later this week.
ReplyDeleteHow long have you homeschooled your kids?
ReplyDeletethis is our 6th year
Did any of them attend public school?
NO
Do your kids attend co-op or other schooling (Pre-K)?
We just joined one this year and tomorrow is our fisrt day-we are excited!!
Do you live in the country, town, suburb, or other? What state or region?
We live in a small town outside of a big town outside of a bigger town!!!
Do you like where you live?
We have some land but want some more land!!LOL So that we can get an agg expt. and have a small farm.
Do you have another occupation?
NO
Does your husband help much?
some, but he has a very demanding work schedule
What is your husband's occupation? Does he work a set schedule or shift work, travel, etc,?
He works in the oil field, he sales fluids and now has his own business on the side where he rents equipment to the rig-he works very hard and loves every minute of it!!
Do you travel? Do you like to travel?
We hardly go outside of Texas, but we bought a boat this summer so we have been going to the lake a lot and just spending family time together. My husband is planning for us to go to Colorado-hopefully we won't have any surprises (babies) anytime soon, because he really wants us to go!!(-it's just hard to get away with little babies)
How long have you homeschooled your kids? This will be our 6th year of homeschooling.
ReplyDeleteDid any of them attend public school? Yes, our son he has special needs
Did going into public school make it easier or harder to begin homeschooling them? I just homeschool our daughter, so no, she has never been in the public school setting.
Do your kids attend co-op or other schooling (Pre-K)? We have done a co-op in the past for one year and this year we are doing special classes on Friday with other families.
What activities do your kids attend outside of the home? Church, piano, family outings, girl scouts (only because we have a christian leader and a good group)
What do you drive (or what is your transportation method)? A wonderful Mini-van. I just love it and would not trade it with anything else at this time. Honda
Do you have another occupation? No
What is your husband's occupation? Does he work a set schedule or shift work, travel, etc,? My husband is a Licensed Counselor and works for the Public School setting at a High School. He does have his private practice on the side and works two-three nights a week with that. (I was reading your answers about your Husband and Public School. It has worked out really well for us and my Husband lets everyone know that we Homeschool our daughter and he likes it that way.)
Does your husband help much? Very much so, our son with his disabilities and all that we have to do with that, yes. He helps me with laundry, cooking, cleaning, yard work, keeps my van running smoothly, with the children and he even helps with our Daughter's school work and schedule. He is very involved and helps when he is home. He will take off work to help if needed, but I'm very blessed to have him in my life.
Do others help much? I do have help from my In-laws and my Mother, but only when needed or our Son's therapies conflicts with another scheduled appointment.
What type of computer do you use, internet speed, wireless or wired? A very old PC, thankfully with DSL
Do you live in the country, town, suburb, or other? We live in a small town, outside of a large city
What state or region? Texas
Do you like where you live? Yes and No, we like our area of Texas, but would like to live in the country or at least with more land
Do you travel? Do you like to travel? Yes, we do, but mostly in the States. We lately have only traveled in state.