Friday, May 08, 2009

Home School Update (sort of)

I'm waiting for my slow children to finish their morning chores so we can try to learn something. I was thinking about getting in there and speeding them up, but then I thought, 'Why on Earth would I do that? when I can sit here and blog.' The best thing that has happened to me in months has been to decide that the 'day', school or otherwise, shouldn't begin before 10:30, sometimes stretching towards 11. And also that its ridiculous to try to read the Holy Scriptures in the morning when I'm not awake, and better to read them in the kitchen at 4 in the afternoon with a super sugared mug of tea (I have to sugar everything these days, just make it go down and stay down). And also, its helped to realize that we're 'homeschooling' (I know, most of you have already figured this out, but its taken me almost a year) by which I mean that there's no reason to sit down at the table at a particular hour and do everything in a certain order. That's why people go to school. No, it actually works just fine to go through the business of learning and reviewing at the same time as cooking lunch or packing up winter clothes. Since I've chucked our nonexistent 'schedule' we've actually been making progress. And I've also Finally figured out, after months of struggle, that Elphine works best independently and really all her work needs to be done with me not breathing down her neck. I'm always worried that she's not working, but then it turns out that she knows lots more than I even planned on.

Looks like they're just about finished. Right on time, 10:46. Now if only the sun would come out, we could go outside and really apply ourselves.

1 comment:

Kerry said...

You have come to a realization that took me quite a few years of homeschooling to figure out...that our schedule or routine doesn't have to look like anybody else's to be good.

Even when I came to accept that our schedule worked better with a later morning start, I still felt guilty about it! Now that we have the baby, it is silly to try to do school before she goes down for her morning nap. She needs "mama" time and sibling time - not watching-mama-at-the-kitchen-table-doing-math-lessons time. So, I've not felt guilty about starting after 10:00. Why DID I ever feel guilty?

There are so many in the homeschool world who use their family experiences to set a standard for all homeschoolers and that is so unfortunate. One of the beauties of homeschool is the freedom to do what works for your family, isn't it? And I hate to see that tainted by those who feel a need to "evangelize" others with their method of homeschool.

Oh, my, I better step off my soapbox now! Anyway - kudos to you for doing what is best for your family!