Homeschool Tag

I saw this over on For the Beauty of the Earth and thought it would be a fun Friday post. It's a round of homeschool tag, though there's not actually any tagging involved. Just some questions to answer!

Rules:
1. You must be currently enrolled in homeschool or a homeschool graduate.
2. Answer all the questions in a blog post of your own.
3. Comment on the Freckled Adventures blog to let her know you have done a post.

Are you currently enrolled in homeschool or are you graduated?

I graduated back in 1998.  I was homeschooled K-12, and went on to college.  Now I've started homeschooling my own kids -- my son is 5 and doing kindergarten, and my 3-year-old daughter is doing preschool things.  My 21-month-old daughter gets in on the fun however she can.

What is (or was) your favorite school subject? 

Literature has always been my dearest love.  I also love English and History, though.  

Do (did) you usually finish school before lunch? 

When I was the one getting homeschooled, no.  Maybe when I was younger, but what I can remember, we usually did school all day.  I would often do as subject or two on my own before breakfast, as I usually woke up before either my mom or my brother -- Mom would set out a couple things the night before that I could do without help.  Then I'd do other subjects after breakfast and in the afternoon.  I will admit, however, that I spent a lot of time during high school secretly reading old Reader's Digests from the 1950s and '60s instead of my schoolwork -- I probably could have finished up by lunch if I hadn't done that.

Now, I try to get our schoolwork done in the morning, as soon as we've finished breakfast and brushed our teeth.  Because I'm only doing preschool and kindergarten things, we usually only do workbooks and me teaching things in the morning, for about an hour.  Then in the afternoon, we often do more fun things like art projects or whatever, usually while the littlest one is napping.

Do (did) you get a recess? 

When I was homeschooled, we would quit at 11:30am so Mom could make lunch and we could have a bit of playtime.  My brother and I would play until lunch was ready.  That was recess.

Snow days? 

When we first started homeschooling, we lived in Michigan, and so every day from mid-October to early April was a snow day, in that there was snow everywhere, often more of it falling.  We got a LOT of snow -- we lived in "the thumb" and were 20 miles from Lake Huron, so we got the "lake effect," which basically means cold weather all year, and piles of snow.  So we did not take snow days, because there was always snow -- we could play in it a lot.  However, sometimes my dad would declare a break day, and we would go do something fun.  This was usually to give my mom a break more than us.

When I was 12, we moved to North Carolina and rarely got snow.  So once every winter, we'd take a "snow day" and drive up into the mountains to either play in snow there or ski.

Now, since we're just doing preschool and kindergarten, and most "regular" pre-K and K classes don't run 5 days a week, we generally take one day off each week.  Usually it becomes Mommy Running Errands day.  Next week, though, it's going to be Going To See "Planes" With Friends day.  

What subject(s) do (did) you get the best grades in? 

Literature and English.  And History, in college.  Not so much in high school.  I graduated college Summa Cum Laude, with a 3.98 GPA, second in my class.  (I'll stop bragging now.  Go, homeschooling!!!)

Are (were) you one of those students who follows (followed) a schedule, gets (got) all your assignments done on time, and does (did) the optional activities?

I have always loved schedules.  Like I said earlier, I used to get up before my mom and do schoolwork on my own.  By the time I was in high school grades, I did almost all my schoolwork by myself, only calling on her to help if I was having trouble understanding something.  She gave me my tests and helped me prep a bit for them, though.  But that meant that I was really used to self-motivation and getting things done in a timely fashion without being nagged, which was so very helpful when I went to college.

Now, I tend to set little schedules for us, like, "This week, we're studying food!" or "This week, we're studying whales!"  And then find activities and stuff to go with that theme.  I did that a lot last year, but only somewhat this year since I'm also teaching my son things like math that don't always fit well with themes.

That's all, folks!  Have a great weekend!  I'll try to have a movie review or two done soon, but with my Tolkien Blog Party of Special Magnificence starting on Sunday over on my book blog... we shall see.