In my previous post, I wrote about doing SOMETHING for homeschool instead of nothing, which is where we've been firmly planted for the last several months. I promised a few more thoughts on making "good enough" work for our family, and trying not to get so overscheduled and overplanned that I wind up doing nothing.
So, 1. Golf ball principle - plan the biggies, don't worry about the stuff that always seems to get done anyway. 2. Record success and completion, but don't overplan ahead of time.
And now I give you principles 3 and 4:
3. Visual reminders/accountability, particularly a Job Chart - I know, I warned you, ROCKET SCIENCE. Mikayla was given a magnetic/dry erase responsibility chart for her birthday, and we finally rolled it out. We picked ten things that should happen every day, or most days, for the chart. They are all about marking off their jobs as they finish, and may I say, for a girl who has never made her bed before in her life, Mikayla's bed looks PRISTINE today. I wonder how else I underestimate her? Also, both kids actually brushed their teeth after breakfast. To my shame, this is noteworthy. Thanks for the applause.
On our Job Chart I included lines for "Bible/catechism" and "School" and "Read-Aloud". Those are more for me than the kids, because I so desperately need the visual reminder to do those things. We do them in fits and starts and eventually burn out from undertaking too much at once. So even for tasks that don't happen every single day, I can now see where we marked them off and how many more times we should shoot for in a week. A stack of beautiful lesson plans in a schoolroom drawer have not, so far, helped me be very successful in "doing school" very often. Out of sight, out of mind. (The Read-Aloud category is for us to do a longer read-aloud book or series in addition to the regular short-book reading we do all the time.)
4. Semper Gumby. I got this phrase from my laid-back mother in law, meaning "always flexible!" I mentioned my brain paralysis that I get when I feel overscheduled and overwhelmed, even if I simply write down all the things I probably will be doing that day anyway. Flexibility is key for me, which on one hand means not boxing myself in with too strict a plan. And on the other hand, it means noticing how things are going and using that feedback to keep boosting our success.
Example of Semper Gumby in action: in our pow wow yesterday, Joel and I agreed that the kids should do Bible time/catechism every day. Ok, big golf ball item into the jar. I thought we would work on one memory verse until we've got it mastered, and put it on our chalkboard, write it in memory verse notebooks, and review it out loud, and move onto a new verse when it seems right. None of this "a verse a week" business. And maybe we'd put our new verse up on the chalkboard on a Monday (or whatever random Day 1 it might be for a verse) and learn it, or part of it; write it into notebooks on Tuesday; copy it onto different paper on Wednesday for practice; and simply review it Thursday and Friday. If it takes more than a day or two to learn a whole verse, then we take longer. No biggie. Also, catechism would involve learning a new question and reviewing old ones, maybe a question every few days or so. And then we'd do some Bible reading every day as well.
I learned very quickly yesterday that we are not going to be doing all of the above every day. News flash: my kids do not have the attention span! I got a Bible verse onto the chalkboard and started to teach it with lots of movement to keep little man interested. "God is our refuge" - lots of pretending that one person was the storm ("crash! boom!" stomp stomp stomp) and I would be the refuge, sheltering the other child from the storm. Etc etc. Totally on the fly, we had fun with it. But we barely made it through the whole one-sentence verse before people were losing interest. No way we were going to also do catechism and a Bible story in the same sitting. Lesson for me: teach a verse one day, and then on a day when it's just verse review, maybe undertake to do a new catechism question. And alternate structure with non-structure. Twenty minutes of Bible time probably earns a good 20-30 minutes of free play, after which they might be ready to come back for some Phonics Museum.
Did I mention I realize this isn't rocket science? Veteran parents are reading this like, "DUH. You are trained in psychology?" But it's a change from my previous vision of modeling our preschool after what the "real" preschools do out there in the world. Or what I imagine that they do. And just putting this out there: I will probably never create a sensory bin, unless some toys accidentally fall into a bag of rice. My kids get loads of sensory experience from playing outside with rocks, grass, dirt, and water. They play with their food. They blow bubbles. To borrow one of my favorite PoMo phrases, they "do life". (You're up, Joel.*) Which, incidentally, also gets them a fair amount of "school" experience - reading words from labels, boxes, and signs (not to mention books), and doing numbers, measures, and sizes from recipes, board games, and such. They have interests that guide our library book choices and Google searches.
Does any of this sound familiar to you? What have you learned about being a good enough parent or caregiver? Have you had to adapt your "ideal" vision to account for personalities and the realities of life? It can be tough to give up on the perfect, but the honesty of saying, "That doesn't work for me!" is SO liberating, and freed me up to find ways to be more successful. My homeschool may not look like your homeschool, EVER, and that's ok! After all, something is better than nothing!
And my four year old just marched sternly into the living room, declaring, "We have to Read Aloud." Score one for the Job Chart!
*Joel and I play this game where we try to speak completely in postmodern catch phrases. It's so authentic and genuine and fosters such a sense of community between us as we jump on the trampoline of experience together.
Showing posts with label Homeschooling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeschooling. Show all posts
Good Enough Wins: Getting Back in the Game
Have you heard the saying that the good is the enemy of the perfect? It means that it's not always fear of a terrible outcome that defeats you, but rather the fear of not attaining the perfect outcome that prevents you from trying in the first place. This has been floating around in my brain lately as I've felt like a HUGE slacker in the area of school for the kids. I've not been doing much of anything. And do you want to know why? Because I had this whole Pre-K curriculum printed, laminated, and beautifully organized in a file drawer, but with all the sickness and husband-out-of-townness and every other kind of distraction, I simply have not had time to prepare, let alone execute the perfect Pre-K lesson every day (or three times a week...or even bimonthly...). My certainty that I would not achieve perfection (checking off all of the things on all of the days) has prevented me from doing ANYTHING for like three months.
So that's an awesome reason for neglecting my kids' development, right?
Maybe it's the changing of the clocks, the longer daylight, the melting snow; or perhaps it's the new coffee dependence motivating me. But this weekend, Joel and I had a pow wow and came up with a plan. Usually when the fire lights under my behind, I am all like let's do it ALL, 150%, it shall be perfect, thus and amen. (See also: redecorating the dining room.) This time, I tempered my administrata with a healthy dose of reality. When I plan out a schedule accounting for all the things that need to get done, I get OVERWHELMED. Yes, I've proven that I have enough hours for cooking, cleaning, educating, and sleeping (technically), but when I look at my list the next morning I'm all "Wow, that is a ton to do today. I'm tired looking at that. Let me just avoid everything."
So this time? Instead? I took the "golf ball" approach. What are the most important things to fit into my day and week? Let's map those, and let the rest of the chips fall where they may. I'm sure the bathrooms will get cleaned...someday...no need to write that in every Friday where I will inevitably go Chore-Blind to the task because not all Fridays are created for cleaning bathrooms, am I right?
My golf balls: (I have balls now!) (And I'm apparently a twelve year old boy because that made me giggle.)
1. Bible time/catechism/memory verses
2. Clean up stuff, at least some of it, and have the kids learn to do more of this (my knees! my back!)
3. Read-Aloud book (something ongoing like Complete Winnie the Pooh or Beatrix Potter, and one day the Narniad, in addition to all the books we read hundreds of times repeatedly each day)
4. Actually, that's it for the daily stuff. I told you I'm shooting low, people. We all need to eat and groom and that is enough some days.
Weekly:
1. Phonics Museum 3x a week, however many lessons and worksheets we happen to get through before students lose interest (I am all official because I have students plural).
2. Math/patterns/something nonverbal 1x a week. This could be doing puzzles, for all I care, which makes this a super easy requirement to meet. At some point we will do something to exercise the visuo-spatial development. BOOM.
3. Art a few times a week. Also easy to do. Crayons, markers, stamps, paints.
4. Piano/music lesson once a week. This one will take the most preparation, namely brainstorming a little concept and activity for the kids. Tempo, beat, pitch, learning simple tunes on the piano. I cleverly mapped this in on Tuesdays so that I have all day Monday to dig deep for something.
5. Family night - Thursdays seem like we don't usually have anything going on, so if we are all home, we're going to try to all do a game or something together. This happens sometimes but we thought it'd be good for the kids to see us prioritizing time all together doing things THEY love.
Notice I said "mapped". The word "schedule" seems to paralyze me, even though I dearly love the IDEA of having a schedule and routine. When I write it in pen on a calendar page, it gets in my head. Suddenly I feel suffocated by the idea of having to do it EVERY TUESDAY FOREVER. So I'll map it as a goal and if we miss it one week, everyone will survive. It's totally a psychological thing, I realize.
Also, instead of lesson planning ahead of time I'm simply going to track what we get done. I have the Phonics Museum curriculum (shout out Veritas Press!) which means no prep ahead of time. We will sit down at least three times a week and open the teacher manual and workbook together. If the kids have eleven minutes in them to do a song and a few worksheets, done. If Mikayla is having a Big School Day, maybe we crank through ten worksheets. And I'll write down what we do. None of this "Get through three lessons in a week! Three worksheets per day!" Because, again, paralysis with the uber structure. (Which totally surprises me because I am a 48/50 Administrative Gifting on the spiritual gifts inventory. Systems. Schedule. Planning and organizing. BUT kids, reality, and being a finite human being. Learning, here.) Plus I don't know if you're this way, but I notice if I'm keeping track of something, I end up doing it more just because awareness or something.
The only planning I'll need to do is picking a Bible verse and story each week, and coming up with something for music time. I *think* I can accomplish this.
Is it a matter of semantics? Yes. But I have totally learned that I need to remove mental barriers and get out of my own way. If I plan and schedule the perfect, but then one night someone only lets me get four hours of sleep and there's no way momma is waving her arms around to teach a memory verse, then we won't even accomplish a little bit. But if I give myself a general gist of what we want to do, it is far more likely to happen in some approximation. Win.
In my next post, I'll share a few more tweaks to my homeschool approach that I hope will help us to be more successful and consistent. (Read: implementing tools that every other family ever has probably been doing since the beginning of time, and taking my kids' and my personalities into account. Rocket science, I'm telling you.)
For today, tell yourself: the good is the enemy of the perfect. Something is better than nothing! So just gather your kiddos and crack a book. Boom, school. At least for the under-five crowd. Especially if you're pregnant, and you know who you are, ahem. If you're much beyond that in your home schooling, I got nothing. Except a crying baby with a fever, so pardon me while I go enjoy a healthy dose of the Reality, now that we've dispensed with the Aspirational for the day.
So that's an awesome reason for neglecting my kids' development, right?
Maybe it's the changing of the clocks, the longer daylight, the melting snow; or perhaps it's the new coffee dependence motivating me. But this weekend, Joel and I had a pow wow and came up with a plan. Usually when the fire lights under my behind, I am all like let's do it ALL, 150%, it shall be perfect, thus and amen. (See also: redecorating the dining room.) This time, I tempered my administrata with a healthy dose of reality. When I plan out a schedule accounting for all the things that need to get done, I get OVERWHELMED. Yes, I've proven that I have enough hours for cooking, cleaning, educating, and sleeping (technically), but when I look at my list the next morning I'm all "Wow, that is a ton to do today. I'm tired looking at that. Let me just avoid everything."
So this time? Instead? I took the "golf ball" approach. What are the most important things to fit into my day and week? Let's map those, and let the rest of the chips fall where they may. I'm sure the bathrooms will get cleaned...someday...no need to write that in every Friday where I will inevitably go Chore-Blind to the task because not all Fridays are created for cleaning bathrooms, am I right?
My golf balls: (I have balls now!) (And I'm apparently a twelve year old boy because that made me giggle.)
1. Bible time/catechism/memory verses
2. Clean up stuff, at least some of it, and have the kids learn to do more of this (my knees! my back!)
3. Read-Aloud book (something ongoing like Complete Winnie the Pooh or Beatrix Potter, and one day the Narniad, in addition to all the books we read hundreds of times repeatedly each day)
4. Actually, that's it for the daily stuff. I told you I'm shooting low, people. We all need to eat and groom and that is enough some days.
Weekly:
1. Phonics Museum 3x a week, however many lessons and worksheets we happen to get through before students lose interest (I am all official because I have students plural).
2. Math/patterns/something nonverbal 1x a week. This could be doing puzzles, for all I care, which makes this a super easy requirement to meet. At some point we will do something to exercise the visuo-spatial development. BOOM.
3. Art a few times a week. Also easy to do. Crayons, markers, stamps, paints.
4. Piano/music lesson once a week. This one will take the most preparation, namely brainstorming a little concept and activity for the kids. Tempo, beat, pitch, learning simple tunes on the piano. I cleverly mapped this in on Tuesdays so that I have all day Monday to dig deep for something.
5. Family night - Thursdays seem like we don't usually have anything going on, so if we are all home, we're going to try to all do a game or something together. This happens sometimes but we thought it'd be good for the kids to see us prioritizing time all together doing things THEY love.
Notice I said "mapped". The word "schedule" seems to paralyze me, even though I dearly love the IDEA of having a schedule and routine. When I write it in pen on a calendar page, it gets in my head. Suddenly I feel suffocated by the idea of having to do it EVERY TUESDAY FOREVER. So I'll map it as a goal and if we miss it one week, everyone will survive. It's totally a psychological thing, I realize.
Also, instead of lesson planning ahead of time I'm simply going to track what we get done. I have the Phonics Museum curriculum (shout out Veritas Press!) which means no prep ahead of time. We will sit down at least three times a week and open the teacher manual and workbook together. If the kids have eleven minutes in them to do a song and a few worksheets, done. If Mikayla is having a Big School Day, maybe we crank through ten worksheets. And I'll write down what we do. None of this "Get through three lessons in a week! Three worksheets per day!" Because, again, paralysis with the uber structure. (Which totally surprises me because I am a 48/50 Administrative Gifting on the spiritual gifts inventory. Systems. Schedule. Planning and organizing. BUT kids, reality, and being a finite human being. Learning, here.) Plus I don't know if you're this way, but I notice if I'm keeping track of something, I end up doing it more just because awareness or something.
The only planning I'll need to do is picking a Bible verse and story each week, and coming up with something for music time. I *think* I can accomplish this.
Is it a matter of semantics? Yes. But I have totally learned that I need to remove mental barriers and get out of my own way. If I plan and schedule the perfect, but then one night someone only lets me get four hours of sleep and there's no way momma is waving her arms around to teach a memory verse, then we won't even accomplish a little bit. But if I give myself a general gist of what we want to do, it is far more likely to happen in some approximation. Win.
In my next post, I'll share a few more tweaks to my homeschool approach that I hope will help us to be more successful and consistent. (Read: implementing tools that every other family ever has probably been doing since the beginning of time, and taking my kids' and my personalities into account. Rocket science, I'm telling you.)
For today, tell yourself: the good is the enemy of the perfect. Something is better than nothing! So just gather your kiddos and crack a book. Boom, school. At least for the under-five crowd. Especially if you're pregnant, and you know who you are, ahem. If you're much beyond that in your home schooling, I got nothing. Except a crying baby with a fever, so pardon me while I go enjoy a healthy dose of the Reality, now that we've dispensed with the Aspirational for the day.
Library Books and Failed Photo Ops
Full disclosure: This is one of those Pinterest Mom moments for me, where I dress my kids in coordinating fall outfits and take them on an educational outing. And it's hilarious that I just made it sound like this happens, like, more than once. What I'm saying is, don't be fooled. This is on the blog because it is momentous, not because it is routine. Ok, I feel better now knowing that YOU know that I know I am not super mom.
Moving right along. Today, the kids and I went to visit Joel at work "with all the BOOKS!!" Mikayla is certain there are at least ten books at the library. That girl is good with estimating. We started planning this two days ago, and I still managed not to bake the banana bread that I wanted to take for his coworkers. I totally want to be That Wife but alas, see above, not super mom. Life happens.
What I DID manage was getting the kids dressed all in brown and orange, Mikayla in her fancy embroidered jeans that I usually avoid like the plague because isn't the point of jeans that EVERYTHING matches them? Why would you get into a situation where you have to color and style coordinate with your jeans?? Isaac wore this totally handsome brown and orange striped shirt with that fake long-sleeve layer look going on. Oh man. Between that, shorts, and his preppy sandals, the college guys on campus had nothing on my little dude.
I'm bragging because my daughter has been dressing herself lately and has little regard for concepts like a color wheel and that you're not supposed to mix stripes with a bold fruit print. And Isaac...it's a good day when he simply remains dressed. So matching themselves and each other? I deserve my fifteen minutes for this, ok?
Did I mention I also wore a cute brown shirt?
In my secret heart of hearts, I was hoping that somebody would notice how fantastic we all looked together and insist on taking a photo of us for the university website. Realistic dreams, guys, all the way.
This was our first official checking-books-out library trip as a family. (Yeah, that not-super-mom thing again. My kids have never had library books before. We've done story time though, if that counts.) And can I tell you how cool it was to have Dadda as our librarian? He showed us where the children's books were, recommended a few, and then took us down the secret back stairs to where he showed us how he checks them out with the "Super Computer!" as Mikayla proclaimed. (Thank you, Super Why!)
They helped Dadda run them through that magic thing that makes the alarm not go off - not that we needed to. We were ushered out a secret back door because I'm married to one of the top bananas, or because we had already caused enough disturbance out in the open. I can never tell if we are special or a liability.
Isaac was a little behind; they were already bagging books when he decided to jump in.
Putting all our books into the bag, with Sister Joanne's help.
And of course there were plenty of book carts, the perfect size and height for tiny hineys to sit on.
I never did get that Pinterest-perfect shot of the kids and me gloriously and patiently reading a new library book together while sunlight streamed in through the tall library windows. Probably because that never actually happened. You know what matters more, though? I got to see, in real life, my children delighting in books, greeting friends and strangers with smiles and open hearts, and generally bringing lots of sunshine to our little learning opportunity. I'm thankful sometimes when the photo ops don't pan out, and we are stuck with just plain old life. It's good to view the world and especially the ones we love through our own eyes, capturing the moments in our hearts instead of through a lens.
I'll take a blurry shot of my daughter not looking at the camera and Isaac missing because he ran at the last minute, as a reminder that they are too full of life to stay still and pose just right. They are just right the way they are.
Thanks, Dadda, for making our first library visit a memorable one!
Moving right along. Today, the kids and I went to visit Joel at work "with all the BOOKS!!" Mikayla is certain there are at least ten books at the library. That girl is good with estimating. We started planning this two days ago, and I still managed not to bake the banana bread that I wanted to take for his coworkers. I totally want to be That Wife but alas, see above, not super mom. Life happens.
What I DID manage was getting the kids dressed all in brown and orange, Mikayla in her fancy embroidered jeans that I usually avoid like the plague because isn't the point of jeans that EVERYTHING matches them? Why would you get into a situation where you have to color and style coordinate with your jeans?? Isaac wore this totally handsome brown and orange striped shirt with that fake long-sleeve layer look going on. Oh man. Between that, shorts, and his preppy sandals, the college guys on campus had nothing on my little dude.
I'm bragging because my daughter has been dressing herself lately and has little regard for concepts like a color wheel and that you're not supposed to mix stripes with a bold fruit print. And Isaac...it's a good day when he simply remains dressed. So matching themselves and each other? I deserve my fifteen minutes for this, ok?
Did I mention I also wore a cute brown shirt?
In my secret heart of hearts, I was hoping that somebody would notice how fantastic we all looked together and insist on taking a photo of us for the university website. Realistic dreams, guys, all the way.
This was our first official checking-books-out library trip as a family. (Yeah, that not-super-mom thing again. My kids have never had library books before. We've done story time though, if that counts.) And can I tell you how cool it was to have Dadda as our librarian? He showed us where the children's books were, recommended a few, and then took us down the secret back stairs to where he showed us how he checks them out with the "Super Computer!" as Mikayla proclaimed. (Thank you, Super Why!)
They helped Dadda run them through that magic thing that makes the alarm not go off - not that we needed to. We were ushered out a secret back door because I'm married to one of the top bananas, or because we had already caused enough disturbance out in the open. I can never tell if we are special or a liability.
Isaac was a little behind; they were already bagging books when he decided to jump in.
Putting all our books into the bag, with Sister Joanne's help.
And of course there were plenty of book carts, the perfect size and height for tiny hineys to sit on.
I never did get that Pinterest-perfect shot of the kids and me gloriously and patiently reading a new library book together while sunlight streamed in through the tall library windows. Probably because that never actually happened. You know what matters more, though? I got to see, in real life, my children delighting in books, greeting friends and strangers with smiles and open hearts, and generally bringing lots of sunshine to our little learning opportunity. I'm thankful sometimes when the photo ops don't pan out, and we are stuck with just plain old life. It's good to view the world and especially the ones we love through our own eyes, capturing the moments in our hearts instead of through a lens.
I'll take a blurry shot of my daughter not looking at the camera and Isaac missing because he ran at the last minute, as a reminder that they are too full of life to stay still and pose just right. They are just right the way they are.
Thanks, Dadda, for making our first library visit a memorable one!
One Step Closer to Homeschooling
If you don't believe me, then you must not know that Mikayla recently started a conversation with me by saying, "Hey Momma, how's pickin's?" That's a line from "Lady and the Tramp" that I'm pretty confident she has never heard in real life. A bit frightening, really, and a great reminder to mind my own tongue.
She also responds to 98% of my communication with, "But why?"
I'm thankful to have a slightly endearing version of the "Why? Why? Why?" stage going on. It's pretty adorable, and I don't know which episode of what show taught her that. It makes me feel like I'm raising a right proper little lady, which of course is by the hand of God because I used to tell my mom that "Well, I'm not a lady!" when she'd rebuke me for unladylike behavior.
And if you still aren't convinced of my daughter's need for structure, consider what happened today when she got up from her nap to use the potty. I heard the potty sounds, the water running, and then silence. I went up to check, and she had pooped in the potty, and her undies were nowhere be found. The conversation:
Me: Where are your undies?
M: In the diaper pail.
Me: (confused) Huh?
M: In the diaper pail!
Me: Oh, here they are! ....they're wet. (smells them) Mikayla, did you...RINSE your undies?
M: (matter-of-factly) Yes.
Me: Why? Did you get some on them?
M: Yes, I got a yittle poop in my undies!
Me: ......Well that's awesome! Thanks!
M: (still waiting patiently on the potty for me to clean her up)
She is clearly picking up everything I and the rest of her little world are laying down. And since she is resorting to imitating maternal poop-cleaning behaviors, I figure I ought to throw her a bone and teach her something age-appropriate and fun.
Thus began Project Pre-K.
You may have heard that I'm remaking the playroom into a magnificent beacon of homeschooling glory. You heard wrong, because so far I have merely slapped one coat of primer on the walls and loaded my Amazon cart with a few supplies.
 |
| Let's just say, we're not there yet. Shout out to our neighbor's shrub. |
BUT. The finished product (the vision, anyway) will have you elem. ed. majors geeking out. The maps. The lamination. Laminated maps. The laminated calendar, weather graph, and sticky tack. Bible verse flash cards, the works.
Don't get too concerned. This is all the work I intend to do for the entire year, short of stalking my sister's Pinterest boards for craft and "science" ideas to make me seem like an awesome mom every so often. But at least we can do some circle time every morning, talk about the weather, learn days of the week, and discover simple chore-charting (possibly more for me than for Mikayla. For some reason it is beyond me to brush teeth right after breakfast every day. It usually happens by nap time though, so it's all good.) And get to the library on a weekly basis...and yes, I need a laminated calendar in bright primary colors to remind me to do that, too.
With all this organizing and prepping going on, I thought I'd mention a sweet blog/website I've come across with lots of free homeschool resources. It's called www.homeschoolcreations.com. I've bookmarked a bunch of her free printable flashcards and whatnot because I am so excited about laminating things and then cutting them with my $5 yardsale paper cutter. But I digress.
She's also got this homeschool planner that has some pretty sweet reviews. Check it out, and if you purchase it using this link, it would theoretically help to defray the cost of my planner, should I hypothetically decide to buy one ever in the distant future, but don't worry honey I'm not spending more money, really.
So, check it out if you feel so inclined. Your $20 buys you a download for a planner that will last as many years as you want to use it. It's an editable PDF planner that you can print or just use electronically, so that you can keep on editing and saving lesson plans and have them ready to go from year to year. Also included are places for menu planning and chore charting so that everything is in one place. It's the planner that your old planner wants to be when it grows up. And if you buy it, you'll be able to avoid anything else school-related for at least another month because hey, you totally got started already on the organizing. That always makes me feel like I can procrastinate on the actual work.
How about you? Are you getting excited for fall, whether to begin a new school year or to finally feel like soup and hot tea are seasonal menu choices again? I can't wait for that first crisp day that calls for a light sweater and a crunchy walk over the leaves.
Why I Don't Fear Homeschooling (Anymore)
We plan to homeschool.
Have I said this publicly before? I'm not sure. Those close to us may know that we have been strongly leaning in that direction for some time.
Sometimes I feel completely overwhelmed at the thought. I am intimidated at the prospect of going through 800 curriculum packages not to mention a hodge podge of homeschooling blogs with free printables for flashcards, worksheets, coloring pages, and how will I ever pull together something remotely adequate, or know which curriculum has the greatest educational value for my family? It leaves my head spinning, to be honest.
Part of my feeling overwhelmed, though, is this sense that when we "start to homeschool", it's like I will have to flip a switch and bring a whole new level of structure and busy-ness to our already fairly busy lives. I will suddenly be required to arise while it is still dark and cook a hot breakfast so that my children will be sufficiently nourished to tackle the stacks of handouts and lap books and sensory tubs that I also prepared before the sun came up. My evenings will devolve into hours of grading, lesson planning, and stressing about how to get enough hours of school in when we really need to spend Friday cleaning and running errands.
Don't judge me too harshly, but I kind of like being awakened by my daughter padding into my room at the crack of 7:34 a.m. to announce that "I'm awake! Eat breakfast now?" I love that there is usually no deadline by which we need to be fed and dressed, so if we happen to want to snuggle or take spontaneous photos of someone's amazing bedhead, we can do that. I enjoy responding to my kids' needs throughout the day, feeding them when they're hungry, reading together when the mood strikes, and navigating around my own energy level and to-do list as well. I don't feel altogether prepared to give up this "lazy" (yeah, right) lifestyle in favor of three-ring binders and the pressure to gather around a wall calendar at 8:00 a.m. to describe the weather, name the day of the week, and count down to Christmas. Because most days I doubt that's going to happen until at least 9:07.
But then I read this article:
Part of my feeling overwhelmed, though, is this sense that when we "start to homeschool", it's like I will have to flip a switch and bring a whole new level of structure and busy-ness to our already fairly busy lives. I will suddenly be required to arise while it is still dark and cook a hot breakfast so that my children will be sufficiently nourished to tackle the stacks of handouts and lap books and sensory tubs that I also prepared before the sun came up. My evenings will devolve into hours of grading, lesson planning, and stressing about how to get enough hours of school in when we really need to spend Friday cleaning and running errands.
Don't judge me too harshly, but I kind of like being awakened by my daughter padding into my room at the crack of 7:34 a.m. to announce that "I'm awake! Eat breakfast now?" I love that there is usually no deadline by which we need to be fed and dressed, so if we happen to want to snuggle or take spontaneous photos of someone's amazing bedhead, we can do that. I enjoy responding to my kids' needs throughout the day, feeding them when they're hungry, reading together when the mood strikes, and navigating around my own energy level and to-do list as well. I don't feel altogether prepared to give up this "lazy" (yeah, right) lifestyle in favor of three-ring binders and the pressure to gather around a wall calendar at 8:00 a.m. to describe the weather, name the day of the week, and count down to Christmas. Because most days I doubt that's going to happen until at least 9:07.
But then I read this article:
Wait, what?? Homeschooling doesn't have to be so stressful? Morning snuggles are ok, educating and caring for my family and home can be done in a way that meshes with my biorhythms and personality! Homeschooling works BECAUSE it conforms to your family, rather than causing the family to conform to a bus schedule. Who woulda thunk.
Obviously, this was the most important point the author was trying to make: Lazy moms can homeschool too!
I am in no way condemning families who choose to public or private school their children. What I am saying, though, is that I am suddenly looking forward to homeschool days that start slowly and allow my children and me to be who we are. Joel and I love our kids, and believe in raising them to love learning. I doubt our kids are going to fall through the cracks academically if I don't have all my flashcards laminated before Mikayla turns three.
I feel like I can breathe again. And take my time sorting out the preschool homeschooling agenda. Already we read every day, Mikayla knows her alphabet, shapes, colors, and has a well-rounded vocabulary so far. She can run, hop, dance, and generally get dressed by herself as long as she doesn't have to match. She loves to match, sort, organize, build, and destroy. She enjoys imagining, pretending, singing, and narrating her every move. I'm pretty sure it is simply because 1) God made her to develop these skills, and 2) we include her in our everyday lives, conversations, and the life of the church (I didn't realize that teaching her catechism questions was considered a pre-reading skill!). That's it.
It's ok. I'm ok. A relaxed approach to homeschooling is ok. We will grow into the lesson plans and portfolios as the need arises. For now, I don't yet have my own laminator, labeler, or three-hole-punch, and it. is. ok.
I know there was a whole lot more in the article than what I've commented on, but I loved this relaxed, practical perspective on homeschooling from a mom who happens to be an M.D. Which, by the way, I've seen a few highly-educated women writing on the benefits of homeschooling lately, and it is refreshing to say the least. I like being able to point to this trend of educating at home even among the competitively-employed. Homeschooling: not just for skirt-wearing, flour-milling hippie moms! There are actual benefits to your family besides just protecting your children from the Big Bang theory and depriving them of social skills! Although, since we're being open and honest here, I would wear long skirts and mill my own flour in a heartbeat. I am way more crunchy than I look.
Seriously, though, I never really liked the idea that choosing to manage my children's education might make me appear controlling, religiously paranoid, or anti-social. I mean, I am all about sticking it to the man, but it has always been more about doing what's best for my children than about bucking the system.
At this point, I'm just rambling. Check out the link, reflect on reasons for homeschooling, and join me in celebrating the freedom to educate our children in what way seems best to each of us.
Obviously, this was the most important point the author was trying to make: Lazy moms can homeschool too!
I am in no way condemning families who choose to public or private school their children. What I am saying, though, is that I am suddenly looking forward to homeschool days that start slowly and allow my children and me to be who we are. Joel and I love our kids, and believe in raising them to love learning. I doubt our kids are going to fall through the cracks academically if I don't have all my flashcards laminated before Mikayla turns three.
I feel like I can breathe again. And take my time sorting out the preschool homeschooling agenda. Already we read every day, Mikayla knows her alphabet, shapes, colors, and has a well-rounded vocabulary so far. She can run, hop, dance, and generally get dressed by herself as long as she doesn't have to match. She loves to match, sort, organize, build, and destroy. She enjoys imagining, pretending, singing, and narrating her every move. I'm pretty sure it is simply because 1) God made her to develop these skills, and 2) we include her in our everyday lives, conversations, and the life of the church (I didn't realize that teaching her catechism questions was considered a pre-reading skill!). That's it.
It's ok. I'm ok. A relaxed approach to homeschooling is ok. We will grow into the lesson plans and portfolios as the need arises. For now, I don't yet have my own laminator, labeler, or three-hole-punch, and it. is. ok.
I know there was a whole lot more in the article than what I've commented on, but I loved this relaxed, practical perspective on homeschooling from a mom who happens to be an M.D. Which, by the way, I've seen a few highly-educated women writing on the benefits of homeschooling lately, and it is refreshing to say the least. I like being able to point to this trend of educating at home even among the competitively-employed. Homeschooling: not just for skirt-wearing, flour-milling hippie moms! There are actual benefits to your family besides just protecting your children from the Big Bang theory and depriving them of social skills! Although, since we're being open and honest here, I would wear long skirts and mill my own flour in a heartbeat. I am way more crunchy than I look.
Seriously, though, I never really liked the idea that choosing to manage my children's education might make me appear controlling, religiously paranoid, or anti-social. I mean, I am all about sticking it to the man, but it has always been more about doing what's best for my children than about bucking the system.
At this point, I'm just rambling. Check out the link, reflect on reasons for homeschooling, and join me in celebrating the freedom to educate our children in what way seems best to each of us.
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