As we wind down our "school year", I find myself reflecting on where we are with our homeschool journey. I've cycled in and out of different philosophies in the past few years I've become extremely relaxed and laid back these days.
And pie. We will probably be eating lots of pie.
Working from home while homeschooling can sometimes be a challenge, but for the most part, we work it out just fine. The kids do a few of their subjects independently, they have learned not to disrupt me when I'm on the phone or on a conference call, we're still working on "Mom's JUST on the computer, I think now is a great time to tell her about the dog across the street", but I think I came up with a solution last week!
It's a work in progress, but what we're trying is this: When I need to work on something without interruption, I put in my earbuds and set my phone timer for 20 minutes. The idea is that the kids see that as my "do not disturb" signal, and when the timer goes off, I'll take a break and they can ask me questions, tell me about their dream last night, get permission to have screen time, etc.
This allows me to concentrate without distractions, but it also helps me to not get so engrossed in "working" that I ignore my kids hour after hour.
This is huge for me, because I'm really trying to work smarter, not harder, yet continue to increase my income. It's a balancing act, for sure!
Back to homeschooling.
As usual, we're taking about a 4-5 week break this summer. I'm a big fan of year-round schooling...the longer our breaks, the more time we need to take for review and getting back into a routine. Not to mention that I don't follow the local school calendar...we take lots of random days off through the year, plus extended breaks for holidays, field trips and vacations.
I plan to continue having the kids read every day during our break, plus do at least one math problem daily, so they won't fall out of practice.
I've recently tightened things up with what the kids are reading, allowing them to read anything they want in their free time, but requiring them to read a book of MY choice every day. There are some great resources online with age-appropriate book lists that I've been reserving from the library. (mostly from Charlotte Mason, which include period books that teach history through the storyline) I also printing a reading log so we can all keep track of which books they've read, how they enjoyed the book (they rate each one), and it helps to know which authors they like best for future options.
After months of complaining and a bout earlier this year of burnout, I've been trying to re-focus on encouraging my kids to have a love for learning. This has been my desire since the beginning, but it seems that we get off track every so often. And by "we" I mean "me".
Kaylin admitted this week that when I became pregnant last summer, they assumed I would be too overwhelmed to continue homeschooling. Unbeknownst to me, they started getting excited to go back to school, which caused dissension after my miscarriage. Since I've backed off the academics a bit, the kids have stopped pestering me about going back to a traditional campus school and are appreciating the freedoms that homeschooling allows us.
Do they need to know how to read, write and do math? Of course. But if I bulldoze past the topics that genuinely interest them, I will create kids who hate school, hate to learn, and don't pursue their passions.
I've been intentional about fostering this love for learning. Sometimes it's as simple as letting the spelling lesson slide for a day while someone spends an hour tinkering with the microscope. Are those two things within the same category? Of course not, but there are only so many hours in the day.
After a trip to IKEA for new drawers for Jason, Ryan begged to be the one to assemble them. No begging required, kid! I don't love those kinds of projects, so I let him do his thing. There was only one thing that he messed up, but he figured out how to make it work. He was SO proud of himself!!! It took him 3 hours one afternoon and 4 hours the next morning. Was he learning during this process? Absolutely!
Kaylin spends a lot of her free time scrapbooking, crocheting, drawing, painting, and most recently...doing chalk art. If she gets caught up in a project and realizes at dinnertime that she forgot to do creative writing, I let it slide.
Jason still has an amazing imagination, as the other two did at his age. He took some of my Tastefully Simple boxes and made a rocketship to go to the moon. Ryan helped him make a helmet, which looked a lot like an alien. So much of "learning" for kids this young actually revolves around having the freedom to play!
We've also taken several field trips lately. After years on the to-do list, we finally went to the zoo. My kids spent 2 minutes at the "big" attractions like the lions and tigers, yet I had to drag them away from the baby ducklings playing in a puddle in the grass. They were fascinated by the peacock, who wandered freely around the property. They begged me to let them spend their money on the Sky Ride, so they could watch the kangaroos and giraffes from overhead. We spent nearly half of our day in the aquarium petting the stingrays. I love that they were entertained by the little things even more than the big ones!
Ryan has decided that his goal for school next year is make every kind of pie that exists. We went peach picking last week and yesterday, he tackled pie #1: Sour Cream Peach Pie. Oh...my. It was delicious! He also has been perfecting "Dad and Ryan's Awesome Salsa", which is way too spicy for the rest of us.
We're adding two new classes this summer: art for all of the kids and sewing for Kaylin. The big kids are each going to camp, Ryan is trying his hand once again at basketball, we have summer movie tickets and passes to the water park, plus we're planning a few trips up north to my in laws' cabin. Our summer should be filled with memories!
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