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Homeschooling Through the Hard Days
I love homeschooling, I really do. But if you’ve been homeschooling for any length of time, you know that along with the really, really good days, there are really, really hard days (and everything in between). So I don’t know why, 9 years in, it still surprises me when we have those difficult days. The last few weeks have felt like one long, really, really hard day. I can’t put my finger on exactly what’s made these last few weeks feel that way. I guess I could say it’s 2020, that’s the answer to everything right now it seems. The truth is though, that sometimes things just don’t go as…
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What’s for Lunch??
We are now to the eight-week mark of this homeschool year…that’s 40 days down! Generally speaking, things are going pretty well. We’ve settled into our routine and the kids are enjoying (for the most part) the curriculum that we chose way back in May. At the start of the school year we only do a couple subjects a day…a soft start, if you will. Then as the days & weeks go by, we slowly add new subjects until we get to the point were we are now. Now, we are covering nearly all subjects each day…just in time to add all the extra curricular activities! They all seem to start…
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A Vacation From The Books Was One For The Books
One of my favorite things about homeschooling is, without question, the flexibility that it allows. I love that we can go at our own pace & change things that aren’t working for us. But I would be lying if I said this relaxed and easy-going attitude comes naturally to me. I love a good schedule and a calendar all marked up with our plans and activities makes me happy. Especially when we get to stick to it and mark things off! So when my husband mentioned his plans for taking some time off during our fifth week of school (instead of the seventh week, which was what I had planned),…
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Inspiration or Comparison?
Our homeschool school year is officially underway! We’ve been at it for over a month now and I’d say it’s safe to say we’ve settled in pretty well. So far, I’m super happy with our curriculum choices for our core subjects and I’ve signed my kiddos up for a few extracurricular activities. We’ve had a couple days where the time simply got away from us and I had to push some activities over to the next day, but overall, I think we’re being pretty productive. So productive in fact, that I thought it would be a good idea to hop online and checkout what other people are doing in their…
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One Day at a Time
When we first started homeschooling all those years ago, I was so excited to begin pouring all sorts of knowledge and wisdom into my pint-sized student! But the thing was, I often found myself looking so far into the future that I lost a lot of the joy that those early days of homeschooling can bring. I worried about whether or not my little one was meeting all her academic milestones. Whether or not she was identifying enough phonetic sounds and recognizing the appropriate amount of shapes & colors. All of these things are obviously important and necessary but my focus and concern was misplaced. I was so focused on…
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What Do You Do All Day??
As I’ve been talking with various friends and new homeschoolers, I’ve noticed a common question that comes after the Letter of Intent has been sent and curriculum has been decided upon and purchased. That question is “What do you do all day?”. It’s kind of funny to me because one thing about homeschooling that really seems to appeal to people is that it’s not an 8-hours-of-school-each-day kind of thing. You have freedom to make your own schedule and when kids are taught in such a small group setting, it’s amazing how quickly their lessons get finished. I think to many, that really sounds wonderful…until you’re literally with your kids all…
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Don’t Do Homeschooling Alone
Homeschooling is amazing and in my opinion, especially in today’s culture, there is no better way to educate your children. But as truly wonderful as it is, it can also be HARD work. It can feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. Honestly. If you think about it, when you are choosing to homeschool, you are taking full responsibility for your child’s entire education. That’s heavy!! It can get overwhelming and exhausting. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stressed myself out over whether or not my child will be ready for college while they are still in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!! Not only is that irrational,…
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Blessings (and adventure!) in the Unexpected
We are knee deep in planning mode here, not only for the first day of school, but for all the other special events of the school year as well. But the first day of school is something we especially look forward to and planning is part of the fun. This morning, my oldest and I spent a little bit of time wandering the aisles of Target shopping for the essentials…you know, glittery folders, colorful sticky notes and lots of glue, pencils, crayons and markers. When I was a kid, back-to-school shopping always included a new “first day outfit” and I would be remiss if I didn’t do the same for…
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Plan ahead, but always in pencil
The 4th of July is now behind us and in our house that means that the upcoming school year is nearly upon us. I love this time of year! A blank planner in front of me, the kids are all excited about “back to school” shopping (which for us is less about clothes and more about pencils & notebooks & glue sticks) and we are all looking forward to getting back into a routine. We definitely enjoy the relaxed days of summer, but truth be told, we really seem to do better when we have some sort of schedule or routine. Also, I’m a planner. I like to know what’s…
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Becoming Your Child’s Teacher
I was talking with a couple of friends the other day by way of the app Marco Polo…you know how you do when everyone is spread across the country and in various time zones? Well, they both asked, in a round about way, “How do you teach your kids all day and not loose it with them? I don’t have that kind of patience!” You see, these two sweet mamas, like so many others, were looking at what they had been doing since mid-March and realizing that it was just not something they could maintain long term. They were telling me how their kids “need someone else to teach them”…