If you are new to my blog, you might want to read about The Beginning and The Arrest here.
When we first began homeschooling, I was in 6th grade. My sister was in 3rd grade. My dad was working 2 jobs, so Mom was our main teacher.
We would start the morning with Chapel. Chapel started with the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag and the Christian Flag. Then we would do our Bible memorization. Each month we memorized a chapter or a passage of scripture, depending on its length. Sometimes we had a guest for chapel; it was usually someone from our church. This has been an amazing gift even to this day!
Here, we are having chapel with our cousins (who also homeschooled nearby) with Donny, a church member giving a devotion.
After chapel, we would begin our lessons.
My dad designed a sort of desk that could be opened up and set on a table, or closed up and put away when not in use.
This is what it looked like closed up on the table:
Here we are with desks open having school:
You can see we had charts posted listing the schoolwork to be done. You will also notice the small flags in each desk. These had a purpose. At the top center of each desk was drilled a small hole. If we needed our Mom for anything, we would 'put up our flag' and wait for Mom to come check on us.
(You can also see that we lived in a lovely little rent house were the landlady had tastefully decorated all the walls with linoleum. My parents got it for the bargain price of $65 a month!)
Here I am having school:
The desk had a door with hinges, and could be latched shut. There was a handle on top, like drawer hardware. Our books were stored inside. Like the kitty binder?
Our primary curriculum for the first few years was A.C.E. We did daily work in our paces. When it was done, we would raise our flag and ask permission to grade it. The answer keys were kept at a separate table, and we could go over to it and check it. If we got any answers wrong, we would show Mom and then go back to our desks and correct our work.
We had regularly scheduled breaks and a longer lunch break. During those times we were almost always outside playing.
My sister and I played well together and had a lot of fun in our free time. For some of that time, we lived in town, but for most of our homeschool years, we lived out in the country. There was always something fun to do. We raised various farm animals, hiked in the pasture or the woods, helped Mom raise a garden, read, learned to sew and cook, went on field trips, and much, much more.
I loved it so much that not homeschooling my children was never an option!
You can also read about my adventures in homeschooling my own childrenhere.
