You know, I was almost going to call this post "vice - boy vices to be precise" when I realized that vices usually refer to NEGATIVE or WICKED behaviours that eradicating would be a good notion.   I don't think a love of bugs is vice, it's a virtue.  Really.

My boy has these areas, dedicated to his love of bugs, toads and fish.  Looks like it should be enough yes?.

The lad has overtime, expanded his area to include this.

This particular long white table is meant to be a games and puzzle table.  A place we can set things up and leave them out if we are in the middle of a game, or wanting to work on a puzzle or whatever.   Can't do that as you might guess. ALL these games (below) are now just kinda sitting there and are occasionally brought upstairs to be played with but then immediately have to disappear again.

To that end, since I needed to dissemble some racks and what not and had some spare wood that needed using instead of just dumping somewhere I though to meself... why not build the lad a quick shed that he can use for all his buggy, snakey, crittery stuff.  In the summer he'll be able to collect all the bugs he wants.  He'll be able to overwinter them there as well as he can collect containers of leaves and make his bugs all snuggly for the winter which means they won't hatch early either.  :)   AND... I WILL HAVE MY TABLE BACK.  Won't that be delightful again? 

To that end, today we made EXCELLENT progress on a building a boy shed.

It was an unseasonably hot today today, so we got tired by mid-afternoon... we kept slogging away though (but our talking got less animated).  :)

One side done.  one shelf in, and the lad called it quits.  He was too tired and hot and we did TOO much physical work today mom.  Just too much.  :)

The tarp was donated to us.  It was supposed to be the cover for a 10 x 10 shed but it's a couple of heavy duty side pieces with window cutouts... perfect for a bug shed don't you think?  The bugs need good air flow to be happy.

The other side done as well (hubby and I got it finished).

It's not a great shed, but it will be a good bug shed.  All we have left to do is build a shelf for storage, put another piece of plywood on the back and do something to make the entrance a bit more snow proof.   It's a work in progress.

The expensive part of this shed in the plywood we put on the roof.  Man.. $35 was not quite in my budget for this shed but it needed to be spent to do it decent enough for the winter.  A bit over five feet on the short side and almost 6 feet on the other.  Good room for a child to grow into or to be salvaged into a tool/lawn mower shed down the road.

We are going to add another layer of dirt inside to make it more even (we have loads of dirt right now from the pond being dug out).   But it will do don't you think?

So have you made a good outside area for your children to use for their hobbies (if they are outside related?)   If so, let me know, I'd love to check them out. :)

I will link up with the following linkys. :)

Last week was a busy book work type week, and this week was just so different.  The weather has been lovely so we worked with it.  :)  Oh indeedy.  The lad needed to use his muscles and it was good.  :)

We are in process of getting rid of the old pond/garden area.  It will take some time to get it all down, but you see the missing stones?  What?  You can't see them?  That's good.  Cause you see they are now over here:

You see putting in a wall will make it easier to know where the lawn ends and where the garden begins.  Makes it easier to weed and water and mind the correct plants.   Our plans are to extend the bricks around all our bushes and trees so as to make it easier all round for everyone to mow lawns and help with the weeding.  :)

Our "burn the nasty weeds after they dry" pile continues to grow.  It's actually getting large enough I'm seriously considering just bundling it up and taking it all to the dump  Then it's all gone once and for all.   The dump will take it free of charge as well.

My son's real life experiment of see how the water runs to keep it from flowing into the pond experiment worked well.  I had to offer a bit of help with it to get him going and watching where the water was going, but overall...looks better to have the patio clean after we moved the huge pile of dirt from digging out the new pond.

Ah.. my lovely hay.. all ready for my bunnies and piggies to munch on over the winter.  Think they will be pleased???   Smells absolutely wonderful too.  :)  The lad worked hard helping to man-handled these bales.  Hubby helped me bring them into the backyard and that was good.   But stacking them... that was all me and the lad.  :)  Good thing I grew up on a farm eh?  

The shed is in much better shape too can't you tell?  Organized, tidy, and workable.   We shouldn't have a lot of a debris floating around the yard this winter by the time I'm all done here.  :)  i do need to find room for one emergency rabbit cage in here yet, still not sure where to put it but God will help me sort it out in my brain....

Anyways, that's a wrap up of our homeschooling week.  Lots of hard work and thinking, and inbetween it all the lad.. did a smattering of math (on the computer and at the market), he did a bit of science (gardening, snake catching/feeding, frog catching, pond watching (we can see our fish swim), and standard deviants on the computer, we did our normal amounts of reading and did a lot of just on hands learning this week.  It's good to have an excellent helper in a nine year old.   Good learning and good work.

I am a mom with one child...
AND I dare to homeschool NOT worrying about socialization.
Weird huh?   

So how does that all work you think?  hmm.. I have to admit to not worrying on it a whole lot, firmly believing that God brought us to this place and he'll provide for my lad what he needs as long as I am able to provide the opportunities and as the Lord wills, the ability to follow through.

And so my son has ONE good friend... and therein he is content.  And life is good. :) 

I have to admit though, I certainly didn't plan to post with the thought in mind of talking about my son and socialization, I planned this post as a chance to talk about who my lad is and why we still homeschool him, despite his being a singleton.

You see, folks would have us put him in school so he gets some friends, and they don't understand why we don't.  EVEN THOUGH he does have friends, and particularly one good friend.

My boy... creative, artsy, like his father gets hooked into videos and tv shows.. like TOTALLY.  Given that hubby dear was a film student/geek it totally makes sense to me.   His current total fascination is with Rocket City Rednecks and Minecraft.  Oddly enough, much of what lad likes, hubby likes so it makes a good "go-to" for them to enjoy together.   And what works for them works for me as it makes my heart smile. 

What happens you think when you combine one perfectionist, with another perfectionist and then throw into the mix one "oldest" child?   .. well.. .. I can tell you ... You get a perfectionist.   It is amazes me the intensity of his desire to get everything just so    I creates a situation at times highly fraught with emotional energy and tears and loud noises...and over time will get moderated ... and it recalls the anguish I went through as I needed to learn that sometimes, just sometimes, good enough HAS TO be good enough even if it isn't perfect.   It's good to share with a child some of the things you learned as you matured... even if a lad doesn't want to accept them as of yet.  :)

On the positive end of the spectrum... when I ask him to follow a certain rule.. it gets followed JUST SO.  With profuse apologies when the rule is missed, or not done "just so"... and it helps him see grace offered.  :)   T'is good that eh?

It has meant growth for me... I no longer say "do this in your best handwriting" as you know what??? that causes WAY too much stress for a child..... if I say best well then it has to be best and one mistake is the undoing of an hours work.  NOT WORTH it to me.  What works is... Can you this in a way that would make your mom happy?   That's doable.. as he knows I extend grace readily. 

I could see his need for perfectionism being worn away in a school situation and causing him no end of grief (been there done that have no desire to see that in my boy).    I know that over time my lad will learn to use this need/skill of his in a way that will work for him and drive him on to success.

Freedom... oh.. I love the freedom that homeschooling brings us.  The chance to do quiet museum tours, walks in the bush, international students, overnight stays combined with learning with a friend, it is good no?   

I totally get that routine is a good thing for children...and that children thrive on it... my lad is learning that our routine is "so.. what do you want to do today?".. "well this is what I want to do today"... let's sort out how to make the day work for both of us hmm? and sometimes into the mix gets a .."Oh.. but Dad needs thus and such accomplished today" so let's figure that out first and then figure out how we can make our day work.   From that we make our list, we make our plans and we just check 'em off as we go.  Once it's done the lad knows "we're done" and he's free as a bird for the rest of the day... and as a result he's more willing to be helpful when he's "off the clock" so to speak. 

So we do problem solving every day which reduces angst and anxiety of fixed routines, while allowing for SOME fixed routines.  Practiced spontaneity, learning to team play, learning to consider the needs of others, learning to combine helpfulness with a cheerful attitude... it's a good thing yes?   It means that I am not bound to  "we follow this routine at all costs" (which my lad can easily get locked into but makes me feel way stressed cause it's not how I'm built to be) and I'm not too loosey-goosey to drive the two males in my household completely batty.  :)

So homeschooling works for us... keeps us on our toes working together to make a life that runs smoothly.

Hmm.. what else about my boy makes homeschooling work?   How about this one.... he completes this family.  He's made us to be better people and that's a good thing.  And I think that homeschooling him, keeps us more connected as a family and that makes him a better person as well.  (forgive the grainy cell phone picture HEY!  I got the guys to pose for a family photo and they aren't all annoyed by it).  :)

This creative, leadership driven, perfectionist bound, routine wanting, joy creating lad is all mine.   I see me and I see my hubby in him all the time.   He's a delight and a challenge to raise and homeschooling for us.   It's part of what makes this family tick and fills my heart full up.

Does homeschooling fill a strong need in your family as well?

So.... here's the scoop.  This LINK will go live on Wednesday.  Go check out what other homeschoolers of onlies have say... it will be a good thing to do I am sure eh?  :)

Cheerio!

Unlike many folks, I don't worry a whole lot on generic screen time.   We do a fair amount of homeschooling on the computer and The TV.. well.. it's just on.

I live with a man who works in front of the TV unless he's working outside the house and trying to turn it off goes against his grain, so we work with it.  (or around it)

BUT I have learned that I MUST manage my son's game time.  I must. 
If I don't the following will happen
1. he'll get moody
2. he gets demanding of I NEED TO BE THERE NOW.
3. he'd spend his entire day on the computer playing.
4. he won't sleep well. 

so as much as my lad (and his father) like playing minecraft... we need limits.

So this is what happens in OUR house.

1. all chores need to be finished.
2. all animals must be fed.
3. all homeschooling must be done
4. Lunch must be done.

If not.. no minecraft until send things are accomplished.

THEN he gets to play for one hour.
He likes that.
Then he needs to do something different.. reading, playing a game, helping with stuff, doing something active and involved.  Minimum effort involved of one hour doing something.  (we often play a game, go for a walk, play with snakes etc)
After that.. he can earn additional time to play.
One hour of work = 1/2 hour of play time.  SO work for two minutes, earn one minute.

This works for us.

NO game time after 7 p.m.

One night a week he can play on his tablet while reading books and that's usually on a Friday night.

Some days.. if it's rainy or dad has a day off or whatever he gets extra time cause he and dad play together.  talk talk talk, whatcha' doing now?   I love the conversation I hear.  I feel sad sometimes that I can't play with him or even watch them play it makes me feel ill.   So sometimes he catches a break and he is EVER so thankful on those days.  THAT I like. :)

Knowing the rules has removed the angst of "can I play, can I play, can I play" which was driving me crazy.   Driving me crazy has one of two results: 1. I yell STOP IT and can be unfair.  or 2.  sure go do whatever (cause I just want it to stop).  Neither is conducive to settled home environment.

It's gives him the freedom of working out when playing works best. 

It gives him room to do some negotiating. "Mom, I couldn't play today because of _____" can I play for 1.5 hours tomorrow without having to work?"

My usual response is.. NO attitude and good homeschooling and you've got a deal.

Makes for a much calmer house.  And I have much less angst cause he's not asking ALL THE TIME if he can play.  Things are established and it's working out well.  :)

Pray tell ... .. how do you manage such things in your household?

Did you know that in the spring the lighter comes earlier and stays later?

This is a lesson my eight year old has been learning and it's been driving him crazy! 

"MOM!!!   It's too light out!  I can't sleep!!!!

So we set out one day last week while hubby was away at a conference to see if we could do something about that. 

We found what we needed at JYSK.   We found ourselves a bit confused for a while about our options but a very helpful sales clerk alleviated that issue quite quickly.

My son wanted these drapes, and had me pick out a version of a lighter shade.    It was hard to choose and the lad needed to think how long our window was and how long our walls were.  There were plenty that he liked that were simply way too long.

We almost forgot a curtain rod and once we had two in hand off we headed. 
Time to put them up there were no instructions so needed to figure out how to put them up.
Drill, screwdriver and "get her done" attitude served us well.  :)

From the diagnosis of the problem.

Our blinds are very old and over time and handling by children and adults, they have developed health issues.

Should we duct tape them?   The lad thinks that will hurt them more, so cover them up we shall.

Let's open them mom?   Can I do it???

Then came the work of threading the drapes onto the rods.  It had taken a while to figure out how the rods work.  The one rod slides into the other and it simply didn't want to come out!   Rather frustrating, but perseverance proved key in this instance.

The lad's cat Milo was quite intrigued by all these goings on.   He wasn't helpful when it came time to thread the drapes on the rod...all that movement was too intriguing for him, but he did a great job of monitoring where the drill was so we wouldn't step on it.

So what do you think?   Will they do the job for one boy child and his mother?

if you click on the image below you will be taken to Marcy's site so you can join in!  :)

So what other things do people need to consider when schooling a singleton.

1. socialization: covered that. :)
2. joys and challenges
3. Ease of Homeschooling.
4. teaching how to sharing/differences.
which leads me to today.  What else might one want to consider when homeschooling a singleton.

1. cost of curriculum.   Curriculum isn't cheap.  I can't reuse it with another child.   I can't try one thing, then switch to another knowing that I might be able to use the first thing that didn't work with THIS child with another child.   So I need to focus on knowing my child and getting materials what will work for him.
Part of how I deal with that is I review materials for TOS and elsewhere.    This gives me the opportunity to review materials and see what works for my son before going out to purchase something costing $100 or more.

I also do free things - a free education is the way to go in my book.   If you notice I maintain a large list of freebies.  They aren't organized in a great manner and I want to change how I've done things, I just don't know HOW right now and it's just too much work to do at the moment.

2. chores: who does 'em?   You can't expect a single child to do all the chores.   So we have tasks that he is responsible for: feeding the cats, putting away cups and silverware and other such things.   He's an easy helpful child so it's not hard to get him to complete various tasks.

3. how to "spur one another on".  Having siblings or other children being schooled with you can help "spur one another one"...whether it's the "can I do it better than" or "how can I help".....a singleton doesn't have that built in rivalry.  

4. Self-sufficiency.  My lad is often encouraged to figure things out, learning to ask for help or to accept outside help is a challenge for him.   SHSHT is often heard here as he struggles to figure out how to do it himself, and offering to help is met with outbursts of anger as he's SO Focused on doing it himself that accepting assistance is hard for him.   We'll continue to encourage the self-sufficiency AS we also teach him that asking for help or ideas is a good thing to do as well.

One advantage to having a singleton is that threes are easy.

They are.  I get one, dad gets one, child gets one.  If mom or dad gets a bigger piece....well...we're bigger!  

Sure cuts down on the "BUT YOU GOT A BIGGER PIECE" hollerings that children can have.

But it also means it easy to teach sharing, and being kind to each other.

For instance, Hubby and I love to go for walks.   It's just one of "our" things.   We drag the boy along...it is NOT one of his things, but he does it because... well, Mom and Dad will go to the park with you, or Mom and Dad will play "minions" with you.   So.... you will do this because it's something that you can do with us.   It's only fair right?   We do make a point of finding ways to make meandering walks fun for the lad though.  :)

Threes is also a good way to help him recognize differences in people.   A recurring theme lately is.. but mom.. why are people like that?   I"m not like that, so why are they?

The chicken above...that's a ME thing.  I love chickens.  My kitchen is chicken themed...it is SO not my hubby or son's thing.  They just don't get it, but.. it makes me smile, so it makes them smile.  My son was VERY sad for me this spring when my garden chicken "footpecker" was damaged beyond repair in a fall.   MOM!  YOU LIKE FOOTPECKER!!!!   I know lad, but we'll keep our eyes open for a different chicken...you never know... another Footpecker might show up again.   (why footpecker?   first time I got the chicken from my mom for a birthday, he fell over and "pecked" my foot.)   The lad and I had a lot of fun with the plastic bird.

So threes are good.    The lad likes minions, mom likes chickens and dad like working out.   It's all good.   They are all teachable moments that flow naturally in our family.   and I LIKE IT.  :)

One of the things I enjoy most about homeschooling a singleton is the ease at which we can do so.   Since I only have one, I can fit schooling in around the various things that happen in life fairly easily.

For instance... while on vacation on a rainy day... we can work on a lapbook

We can do math at the park or in the store or driving down the road.   We can take the time to examine each and every bug we meet and then scurry over to the computer to learn more about them.    This morning we learned more about the Luna Moth.   We were talking with our international student about one of the caterpillars we saw, so we looked up what it will look like when it matures.

My "it has to be just so" boy doesn't have to fuss with other peoples expectations when he does things like build frog habitats.  He can put the water puddle just where it should be and then add tree areas, and branches for the frogs to hide under and make it exactly the way he wants without it becoming a battle of wills (which would stress me out).  :) 

And so life as a singleton being homeschooled works well in our household and I love it.  :)

Having one child has its joys and challenges as a homeschooling parent.

There was a time that I strained against what God had planned for my life.  Once I decided that having a child would be a good thing and not a potentially alarming/scary thing I wanted to have a bundle of them running around.  Miscarriages kinda took that idea away from me rather slowly and painfully.  This has left me with one child.... and he is, in my personal opinion, a rather delightful lad.   :)

He's eight years old now and I've only in the past year really come to understand that God really did have my best interests at heart when he gave me one child.

I watch my homeschooling friends raise their youngsters. ... most with at least two children and I, time and again, wonder how they manage.  I find my time quite taken up just managing my hubby and one child.   I just don't really understand how they cope with the noise and bustle of all those children, meeting the various needs of the family, get meals on the tables and such like.   I am very frequently amazed by them. 

One child is enough for me.  :) 

One of my biggest pros of having one child to rear and educate means that I can gear my homeschooling around him and my style of doing things quite easily.  I don't have to accommodate a variety of learning styles, a variety of interests, and such like.  I have one boy....who likes all things buggy, loves to listen to me read stories to him, likes to tell me things he knows, who is a careful cautious lad (and to think I used to find the daredevil children so much fun), and just plain fun to hang around with.

Mind having one child can also be a challenge....he doesn't have siblings to keep him busy or to teach him more easily the fine art of sharing, many curriculi are based on group learning,  I have to be deliberate about having social interaction times, and when it is just him and me, the difficult days can't be made easier by saying ... go play outside all of you children NOW!   It is just sometimes more difficult.   But......those difficulties are quite manage-able in the long-term.

I don't need to deal with sibling rivalry, or with the two needy children on the same day, or the need to say no to some field trips because it would get too costly to take all the children.... I simply  don't have to deal with that.   It's a worry I don't need to deal with.

One of my unexpected benefits of only having one child is that if I plan an event to do with my lad, I have room in the car to invite other children to come with us.    I can plan out a group learning time because I have the room to pick children up and take them with us.  

Please go to my Pinterest board to see blogs families that are homeschooling onlies.  :)     You'll find the link here. 

Welcome to the five day blog hop.  90 bloggers, 450 posts, five days of busyness.   Lots of reading to accomplish and bloggers to know.   Come on, visit us, it will be fun!  :)

I have chosen to blog about the homeschooling a singleton.   I have one eight year boy.  He is generally a joy to teach, but like everyone he is a work in progress and some days are easier then others.   Some of the things I will talk this week are socialization, curriculum, specialization, aloneness and whatever else I think of.  :)

One of the things people mentioned over and over when we mentioned we planned to him school our son was what will we do for friends for him?   Have to admit, the whole friendship thing hadn't even been a blip on the horizon for me before then. (after all I went through k-8 with a bunch of acquaintances NOT friends).   Then if that weren't enough, people started querying how would he ever get used to learning with other people, and having to share time with the teacher  and all that.  This was another thing that I hadn't even remotely considered.  

So would I be depriving my son if we chose to homeschool him?
No.   That's plain and simple how I see it.

You see I love to read.  Love it,  you will rarely find me without at least three or four books on the go at any one time.   I love to read about all sorts of things, but have a fondness for reading about life in the past...to that end I am currently reading the little house on the prairie series with my lad.      In our not that distant past most children were taught at home, and yet those children went on and became inventors, leaders in their communities and more.  Successful men and women in their day.   Their parents didn't stress about the need of their children to have fun, or to learn with others, their stress was to teach their children to be productive members of society, able to hold their own.

This is my aim as well.  I wish for my son to be a productive member of society, skilled in discernment, which I firmly believe a Caucasian, Christian male is going to need to be in our upcoming years.  I need for him to be able to think his way through issues, to form thoughts based in research and thinking, having friends to walk with him through this would be benefit, but NOT as necessity.    He will need to learn how to walk in communion with others (which will mostly be people of a variety of age groups) but his making friends now is not of paramount importance and therefore is not something that I would consider as a reason to NOT to homeschool him.    Peer socialization would not be a make it or break it proposition for me at all.

My boy, learning and growing is more important to me than making friends

That said.... does my lad have friends?   Do I make a point of helping him make friends?   For sure.

This boy has friends and it so pleases me that they range in age from 4 years old to 12 years old.  They are male and female.  He's not stuck in one age or gender bracket.       There is learning and growing done when one has friends that range in age....sometimes he learns, sometimes he teaches.  It's all good....and it's fun, and good times, and memory making opportunities.  :)

You can read online about what other folks think about homeschooling and socialization.   Tons of things popped up for me when I put it into the search engine.

But here are a few you might find interesting:

The Unschooling life.
Homeschooling and Socialization.
Social Skills and Homeschooling.