HOME SCHOOL ADVENTURES 3

"We don't have to worry so much about educating children; a normal child would have to be locked up and away from life itself to keep from learning."  ~Education Reformer, John Taylor Gatto

My children are now 27-36.  We home schooled from the beginning to accommodate my sons characteristics which may have made conventional school a disaster for him.  It did not deter me from living life more relaxed and in a joyful manner.  It was the best way at the time to make life work for our family.

We concentrated on a lot of reading and letting the kids follow their interest as best as can be.  This was backed up by a husband who basically did not enjoy school growing up but had an adventurous spirit.  His mother happened to be an elementary school teacher.
 You pray a lot and trust God to give you answers as you need them and then chill out.

Future Scientists or chefs

Baseball

I tried to help my children focus on skill development and encouraged them to make spiritual life important.  I wanted to foster the idea that learning is fun and enjoyable.  I wanted them to love learning and that there need to learn. what ever they need to learn,, when it becomes important in their lives.

First Ride in airplane out to Ventura

Advice:  LIVE AN INTERESTING LIFE!  Some years we joined ISP programs and other years did it independently.  We took advantage of the free tuition at the local college during junior and senior high.
We seldom followed a rigid school schedule.  We stayed up late and slept in late, more out of convenience than anything.  I found that each child woke up at various stages of the morning.

Tea Parties and dress-up

Mother's helpers

Oh, yes, the teacher part of me was tempted to create color-coded charts and yes I did at various times in my enthusiasm.What was I thinking?  I could create structure on a piece of paper?
When you are in the throes of morning sickness with a third or fourth, the first thing you want is to forget those color-coded schedules.  When you have a baby or a toddler there is poop when there should by vocabulary, math, or science.
For the most part we used an a-la-cart, hodge -podge of curriculum, Abeka,Bob Jones, Alpha Omega, Saxon Math and educational curriculum available at the time.

My daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals turned into yearly goals.  We schooled year around and tried to keep it at 180 days each yr.  We did a lot of logging and journaling.  Made lists of all the books read and what was studied.

Barbie Sofas

Some days I was pleased with what we accomplished and other days we decided that building elaborate cardboard houses  and furniture for Barbie, Ken, and company or Lego architecture would dominate the day, Imagination at full throttle.

Keeping the Barbie Doll in the latest fashions

Micro mini town

Barbie and company were the best dressed dolls in the neighborhood, my oldest daughter designing and sewing their tiny little outfits.  We obtained cloth from our "missionary barrell" or El Ba-rr-ll.  For those of you not familiar it was kind of a mini thrift store but we did not have to pay for anything we took, a fun place where you never knew what kind of treasures you would find, dress-up clothes abounded.

Micro Mini vehicles in a rock quarry

 God knew the struggles and blessings that I needed to forge on.
  My children were very creative.  I tried to supply the children with "open-ended" toys or projects to spark creative moments.  I attempted to capitalize on every teaching moment.  Learning was happening all the time.  Financially lean years necessitated creative ways for obtaining our school supplies.

THE VOCABULARY WARS -We made army battlefields with the army men and jeeps and made vocabulary ammunition

ALPHA BET AMMUNITION READY FOR A VOCAB BATTLE

LOOK WHAT THE STORM DID? A fort in the middle of the street for a few days

Our first child, Baron Von Schoof, a Keeshond

AWANA BIKE RACES

AWANA BIKE RACES IN THE PARKING LOT

AWANA BIKE RACES IN THE PARKING LOT AT GCC

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."
 3 John 1:4
 
HOME SCHOOLING-OUR JOURNEY 2 CLICK HERE


HOME SCHOOL ADVENTURE 1  CLICK HERE

HOME SCHOOLING, OUR JOURNEY 2

The wonderful thing about homeschooling was its flexibility and ability to meet learning styles.

“Children know how to learn in more ways than we know how to teach them.” ~Ronald Edmonds(1991)

SCHOOFIES

I wanted to live at a slower pace and savor life with my children.
I felt that my son’s energetic nature and tendency to physical expression was more easily accommodated by home schooling. 
Home schooling become our way of life.  It was life changing.  It was our family’s journey.
I loved to read aloud to them.
I loved to spend time with them.
I loved to see them learn new things.
Home schooling requires a pioneer type spirit as no two children are alike and the path is like no other families.
Did I get weary of it after the “honey moon” years?  Of course I did!  But just the thought that I only had this season with them spurred me on.  Those years sped by at an alarming rate.

Matthew (in middle) receiving an award

Did I have recalcitrant kids?  Yes, of course I did on occasion.  Passive/aggressive?  Yes, of course, at times.
Before I began to work in the church nursery, I was one of those moms who was getting reports of how unruly my son was during church.

Sunday Morning nursery (Matt on the far right)

 One Sunday, between services, I happened to look up on the balcony of the Sunday School building (2nd grade) to catch my son and one of his trouble making buddies, directing their paper air planes from the balcony, their SS papers onto the passer byers below between services.

  We later realized the he just did not do well for both hours.  We began to have him with us during our fellowship group where he began to help his dad set up the sound system and break it down later and get a snack.

Baby Gym with Matthew

My cuddle buddy with a very pregnant mom

You know, when you’re a homeschool MOM, you relish that respite and I was not to happy with our new arrangement but it was just one of those things you have to deal with.

Crafting with a hammer

A Busy Son

Our schooling revolved around many activities the church offered, Christ,Mommi,& Me time (aka Masters Kids)  Baby Gym, Kinder Gym, AWANA, Sunday School, Sunday night SEARCH, Wed. night Bible studies for teen agers, summer & winter camps any other activities that came up.

TOPIC~HOME SCHOOL CLICK HERE 

My Three Daughters

WILL I EVER BE THE SAME? HOME SCHOOL

Will I ever be the same?  No!
Have I changed?  Yes!

My Little Unconventional Son~Watching

I had aspirations of being a mother. I had desires to work with children.  I had dreams of being a nurse.  I had dreams of traveling.  I had desires of becoming an author.  I had hopes of becoming a teacher.  I did not want to be a missionary but God in his providence led us into home missions for twenty years.

I became the mother to 4 beautiful children.  I became a nurses aid/care giver nurse of sorts. I got to spend 15 yrs. working in the church nursery. I got to travel the first five years of our marriage.  I became that  teacher by homeschooling my children.  Have I changed?  Yes!  All these adventures changed me.

Deep Into Nancy Drew

 The purpose of this blog is to focus on one of those aspects of my life, HOMESCHOOLING.
I had never considered homeschooling until my oldest daughter turned five.  I began looking at it through the lens of my own upbringing and schooling.  It was 1985 and  homeschooling was somewhat of a trend in my circle of friends.
I began by preparing myself by investigating my options.  Although we located out to the San Fernando Valley just 2 blocks from the local elementary school where we thought our children would attend, I did not feel comfortable handing my kid over to their peers and others for the majority of their days.  Each day I observed mothers, escorting their young children down the street toward school with unhappy faces.

My Little Banshees

 (Just a reminder from a previous blog that I was shuttled off to boarding school, with total strangers to me, at the age of six for months.) MY FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL

MY EARLY YEARS OF SCHOOLING 

We began attending CHEA conventions (Christian Home Educators Association) in the 80's when in the area and attending seminars.  We were awarded a charter member certificate. 

Now I know that home schooling is not for every families journey either by choice or because it is not logistically possible and I am not advocating it for every family.
I must confess that one of my reasons for home schooling was a selfish one.  I wanted to continue the parent-child relationship that I had developed since birth.  I just couldn't see a reason to end this just because my child reached compulsive school age.
I am so grateful God allowed me the privileges to home school and reap the results from those efforts. 

Teacher ID card

The motivation to home school grew out of the yearning for quality time and stability.  I did not want to "waste" my time at parent-teacher conferences and school related issues that may arise because of behavior problems, and time travel.
I wanted my children to have continued relationships with each other.  Something that I had not had, even though there were six of us. 
I wanted to foster life long learning.  I just wanted to enjoy my children.

My Little Gal of The Limberlost by her Swamp Shack~1991

I had some reservations to the secular nature of public schools and Christian Schools were beyond our financial reach.
Home schooling is part of our family legacy that I hope my children understand was made by choices made at the time with the limited knowledge, with an imperfect, sinful, inexperienced mother teacher.
 I do not resent the fact  that none of my grand children are home schooled.  I respect those choices.  As one that has been there, I know the sacrifices involved and I do not expect them to follow in those footsteps.
One becomes aware that we do not know the time or the place when our children will leave us.  This became a sudden reality a couple of years ago when our son passed away.  I was so grateful for all the time I spent home schooling my unconventional son and the bond we had forged.

Spent many "Park Days" at The Ranch

  If schooling him in the present, he may have been labeled high functioning autistic or some other label due to his delayed development and learning style.  He thrived on a hands-on environment.
My three daughters all high functioning readers with a strong vocabulary, verbally and otherwise excelled in most subjects. 
I eventually gave up trying to bring "the school" into the home and gravitated to what may be labeled a "relaxed home schooler", leaning more to the "unschooling" approach for my son.

Alcove Academy temp campus in Highland Park

What I did not realize til after the fact was how much each child picked up from their siblings and how the older ones were teaching the younger ones. 
 The girls all basically taught themselves to read by about age 5.  They did not tarry on the primers but went straight to the interesting reads of their choice.  We made many, many trips to the public library and the library at The First Baptist Church of La Cresenta and came home with an arsenal of the max each one of us could check out for three weeks.  Oh how I enjoyed that quiet time when we got home as everyone found a spot to read.

NORTH HILLS CHRISTIAN ACADEMY STUDENTS ~Matt & Hannah

Meanwhile, my son struggled or not, on reading.  I spent so much time trying to teach him and finally I gave up around six yrs. of age.  However,  around the time he turned eight, I found out he had been holding out on me and he began to read, not the simple reading for beginners but he was checking out "how to's" and computer manuals well beyond his age.  He learned much by osmosis.  I never knew what was spinning in that mind of his.

NORTH HILLS CHRISTIAN ACADEMY STUDENTS ~ Amy

My book end daughter's did attend conventional school.  My oldest daughter was invited to visit her uncle and aunt who were teaching/house parenting/school nurse in Kijabe Kenya at Rift Valley Academy where she extended her stay to attend the latter part of her high school years and later the Masters U.
My youngest daughter was home schooled through fourth grade and attended conventional school also up through high school and eventually college.


 








 

BEFORE STROLLER & DIAPER DAYS

Long before we were burdened by strollers and diaper bags, we traveled blissfully on modest adventures for five years, from Los Angeles to New York and Washington DC. and points in-between.

1980

We traveled by car, van, plane, and train.  One most memorable trip took us by train to Chicago with the ultimate destination, Urbana, Illinois. Budget constraints forbid us  the luxury of a sleeper.
I settled into my self-entitled seat and soon attempted to make my pregnant five foot, three inch frame self comfortable.

1980

1980

  It was December.
  The train rocked back and forth whining and groaning.  As I finally settled into the rhythmic bumping over tracks, semi rocking, I continue to settle into a more comfortable position.
I drop my head and slip into a semi sleep only to immediately wake up again mentally taking note of the inability to sleep while six months pregnant with my first child on a train.

Proud Parents ~ July 1980

The heat of the compartment and motion again work its attempted sleep spell again and I doze off.  As we hurtle through the darkness across the plains and swaying from side to side, I continue to struggle to maintain some comfort.  I fall asleep.
The jolt of the train in the early morning hours woke me up with a start.
 The train began to slow down immediately and came to a sudden halt. All movement ceased.
I tried to peer into the pitch black out the window. Everybody’s eyes were looking confused sensing something had just gone wrong.  Several men were walking up and down the track on both sides of the train. The train had collided into a vehicle stalled on the tracks.
 We stood silent what seemed hours. The car lost its heat and we were freezing. Finally the train lurched forward again and it started to heat up.

This memory often comes to mind when I think about the earlier years with our first born. 

AMY ~ 6 mo.

Months before the above story, we were seriously beginning to wonder whether God would bless us with such a gift.  We were pleasantly surprised after five years that God would be so gracious to give us this daughter.

One Year

MEMORABLE TRAVEL MOMENT CLICK HERE

ROLLER COASTER ADVENTURES

After the care giving “honeymoon”, the journey is seldom a short term experience.  It can go on for days, for months, and even years.

The challenge becomes exhausting and draining.    One soon realizes you just can’t juggle all the balls.  Although wonderful things happen, they  add to the weariness and frustrations that arise.
Riding the roller coaster of care giving is sometimes heading up the highest hill, the feeling that everything is under control, never knowing when the down cycle is coming or how.  The twists and often sudden turns, the emotional ups and downs giving you the experience of a life time.
Intense stress from care giving sets forth a chain of events in the body leading to an sundry of health issues.
I encourage all care givers to know your limits and pursue realistic goals.
“The key is to remain open-minded. Besides learning as much as you can, seek out other caregivers to give and get support.”  ~Advice from a care giving site.
I am inclined to think that care giving was designed to help us fathom the limits of our humanness, yet experience the extraordinary fraction of our hope to come, a longing to be in the presence of the Great Caregiver.

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.  Isaiah 42:16

W. W. SCHOOF & THE MANHATTAN PROJECT

And So They Were Married

Written by Gladys Schoof (Karl's mother, transcribed and edited by Rebecca Schoof)

Gladys Adeline Forsythe Schoof 1914-1973

"It was 2:00 p.m. on January 7,1946.  The minister began reading the words of the simple ceremony.  The room was crowded with relatives.  It was very warm even though the door was open.  As he nervously mopped his perspiring brow, he thought of the events of the morning.
  In his mind there ran the hurried preparations for departure, the wrinkled suit that had to be pressed at the last minute, the car getting stuck against the side of the garage door, his meeting the friendly old minister, Rev. Pommerenke.

Rev. Pommerenke

 They had finally arrived at her brother's house about one o'clock. 
 There had been introductions, snatches of conversation and much bustling about.  
        Now she was saying, "I Do".  He felt a little at ease.  His hands seemed to be in the way, and he was afraid his vocal responses would stick in his throat.  But at last it was over!

Then they cut the big wedding cake, ate the reception lunch, took some pictures, and drove to Clay Center, Kansas to board the train.  They were showered with rice, but no old shoes, for the days of shoe rationing were still fresh in everyone's minds.
The conductor made a joke remark about the days events as he took their tickets.  It seems that he shared in the shower of rice that followed them onto the train.

HOTEL PRESIDENT, NOW A HISTORICAL LANDMARK

  Manhattan, Topeka, and Lawrence were scarcely more than blurs of light that evening superimposed on the brightness of their happiness. When they arrived in Kansas City, they took a cab to the Hotel President.
At the hotel entrance he was in such a dither that he forgot to pay the driver until he received a reminding tap on the shoulder.  And then he signed the guest register with his personal signature only to be reminded by the suave desk clerk that he had a wife with him, didn't he?
Tuesday morning they had breakfast in the hotel's dining room, and then they ventured forth to shop in the city's big stores.  They had their pictures taken, and made a few purchases; but, soon tiring of the noises and crowds, they returned to the hotel.

  They addressed, stamped, and mailed a number of wedding announcements and prepared for an early departure next morning.
 Wednesday morning the MOP stream liner whisked them into St. Louis, and the B (Baltimore) and O (Ohio) had them in Cincinnati before midnight.  They stopped at the Hotel Metropolis.  Thursday they had breakfast at noon at a queer little place that resembled a cafeteria, but wasn't, and seemed like a cafe, but wasn't.  That afternoon they saw "The Bells of St. Mary" at a nearby theater.        
THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S MOVIE
 Friday morning they arose early.  In fact it was an hour too early as they discovered when they got down to the station.  They were at the boundary between the Eastern and Central Time Zones and the time changes were confusing.  But finally the L(Louisville) and N (Nashville) made its departure, and they crossed the Ohio into the rolling Kentucky hills.
  They rushed through the bluegrass and tobacco region and plunged into the tunnels under the Cumberlands.
 (The Cumberland Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains. They are located in southern West Virginia, western Virginia, eastern edges of Kentucky, and eastern middle Tennessee,) 

 It had rained hard that day and the mountain streams were swollen so that there was water on both sides in Knoxville by early afternoon.

 They were almost home!  It was time to begin searching for the many household articles they would need.  And what a search it was!  The war had made many common articles scarce or virtually unobtainable.  Hen's teeth were plentiful in those days compared with electric irons, lids for cooking pans, bed sheets, nylon hosiery and many other articles.  But they bought their bedroom furniture that afternoon at Miller's.

    They caught the bus for Oak Ridge and arrived at "Atomic City" in the early winter dusk ."ATOMIC CITY" AT OAK RIDGE TENNESEE   

THE GUEST HOUSE

They stayed at the guest house the next three nights.  It was certainly an unpretentious establishment compared with the hotels in Cincinnati and Kansas City, but it was clean and roomy and the food was good.
 Saturday morning he taught her the first of a long series of lessons in patience.

Wilbur Willis Schoof 1920=1965

 While she anxiously awaited an opportunity to see their apartment, he dwadled away the morning, breakfasting, delivering soiled laundry, reading the morning paper and in general conducting himself as though he had as much time as the slow freight train through Arkansas.

  Finally they arrived at the door of 225 W. Fairview Rd.225 W. FAIRVIEW RD. -BUILT 1943  He swung her off her feet, shouldered open the door and deposited her on the threshold of their new home. Home!

  What a variety of physical situations that word can connote.  This was an apartment in which bugs cavorted on the floors uninhibited, seemingly unaware of the smoke blackened ceiling overhead.  Smoky window shades hung askew over the uncurtained windows.
  The fireplace hearthstone was dark and cheerless, but a blast of hot air from the furnace register struck the rain-streaked  faces of the newlyweds like a desert blast from the far Sahara. She began to examine the apartment and he also scrutinized it more carefully than had been possible on his earlier hurried visit.
  It was barren except for the kitchen which was completely furnished with an electric stove, refrigerator, cupboards and sinks.  To them it was home with all the promises and expectations the work can hold.

"Today the whole world knows the secret which you have helped us keep for many months. I am pleased to be able to add that the warlords of Japan now know its effects better, even than we ourselves. The atomic bomb which you have helped to develop with high devotion to patriotic duty is the most devastating military weapon that any country has ever been able to tum against its enemy. No one of you has worked on the entire project or knows the whole story. Each of you has done his own job and kept his own secret, and so today I speak for a grateful nation when I say congratulations, and thank you all. I hope you will continue to keep the secrets you have kept so well. The need for security and for continued effort is fully as great now as it ever was. We are proud of every one of you.^{" IN OAK RIDGE TENNESEE Wikepedia}

  She was already visualizing curtains over the windows and began estimating the number of yards it would take.  (It later developed that her arithmetic was a bit faulty, but it was a gallant effort.)

 He, too, had romantic visions of how the home was going to look.  While thoughts of polished floors, newly painted walls and sparkling windows, revolved in his cerebrum; he absentmindedly turned a knob in the bathroom and awakened from his daydreaming to find himself taking a shower in his Sunday suit.  Shortly thereafter, he discovered that another piece of bathroom furniture had the obnoxious habit of inundating the floor."

1965 Karl, Ron with Gladys,mom

Sadly, Karl's father passed away March 7, 1965 in San Pedro, California of lymphatic cancer at the age of 45.

  Shortly after his death a gov't official showed up at their door to discuss the circumstances of his death.

  Karl was around 18 yrs. old at the time and his younger brother around 14.

His mother passed away several years later, 1973 at the age of 59 shortly after having moved to Sun City Arizona, a retirement community,  for a very brief time due to health reasons.  She never even had a chance to unpack her belongings. 
 I never got to meet either of them but I was told that they both loved the Lord and served in their church.  Both are buried in Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

A SECRET CITY  CLICK HERE

1949

https://www.didyouknowdaily.com/story/oak-ridge-atomic-town

DEATHS DUE TO TOXIC EXPOSURE AT ATOMIC CITY

TIME CONTINUES ITS FORWARD MOMENT

Morning HAS arrived!  It IS another day!
The night was short, not all my dreams have come true.  Not that I want them to.

My thoughts run rampant at night with hours of laying awake.  They are full of replays of the day.  I have found a full moon staring at me one night and the next with clouds and showers, the lonely train whistle, or an unexpected rude awakening sudden thump.

It has been dreary, overcast, and raining in my beloved sunny California.  Writing is a source of pleasure for me.  It is a respite from a hurricane of crazy chaos that  envelopes me.
As I vacillate in time, I am caught up in past moments.  In some respects it has been a rough ride.  Life has been an unpredictable journey.  It has had many unexpected moments.
Yes, Time continues its forward movement.

As the last of 2016 approached, I was so grateful for God’s blessings, both great and small.  I have felt God’s presence all year long, and that’s made a difference.
God has given me much hope and has walked me through tough times.

With the loss of my youth, I have lost some hope that any of its benefits will ever return such as a good night of rest, health, hair loss, and the ravages of a disease that offers no cures other than to manage, evidences of decline, loss of agility, diminutive energy & initiative.
However, new perspectives in life come when one grieves over those losses.
If it wasn’t for the pleasures of youth and its benefits, I would not look back with gratitude for what the Lord has done in my life.  Leaving youth has somehow left me stronger and more at peace.
I have begun to run up against my limitations.  It’s a time of realization that time is limited.  I have reached the age where energy and circumstances no longer allow me to pursue some of the things I would love to.
I find myself contemplating “cultivating joy”
based more on internal spiritual values and less on the ever changing outside world.
The awareness that the last stages of life are rapidly approaching signals to living life with meaning and an eternal perspective.

 
Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

WHAT WILL YOUR RECORD SAY CLICK HERE