Homeschool Friday

Homeschool keeps plugging along. Our fun new things were that the kids got to go to a homeschool group on Tuesday, as well as Silje joined a children’s choir that also rehearses on Tuesday. Tuesday was…crazy.

I foolishly thought I could get all of my errands done on Tuesday since we were already in town. After attempting to do it, and pushing my boys especially past their breaking point, I think this would be unwise to attempt on a weekly basis. Homeschool group is only twice a month, but choir, and soon piano lessons, will be weekly. It was too much running, too much rushing. Elias had to skip his nap and he was beside himself. I felt I was being very unfair to him and expecting too much from him.

He did fine at homeschool group, and even made it through the grocery store while Silje was at choir. By the time we picked up Silje, and made two more stops, he ended up just looking, whimpering/half crying, while sitting in the cart at our last stop. I let him sleep an hour in the car when we got home, but that was clearly not enough for him.

The next morning he woke up and didn’t know what he wanted. He didn’t want to be held, he didn’t want to be put down. He wanted food, but not in his mouth. He’d reach for a toy, and scream when we gave it to him. So I ended up putting him back in his crib and he sat and enjoyed the solitude for about 30 minutes before he started calling for me is his normal cheerful Elias voice. I think if I remove the errands from our Tuesday run around, we’ll be able to take a slower pace, which might help him manage no naps on that day. (He’ll get a nap on the off weeks that we’re not at homeschool group. I’m only asking him to skip naps twice a month, but I know that’s so tough for him!)

Silje however, was in heaven on Tuesday. She exclaimed it was “the best day of my life!” Not only did she love homeschool group and make lots of friends, but she loved choir practice as well. The age group she was in at homeschool group did a lesson on basic first aid and emergency planning. They got to go inside a real ambulance, and got to bring home a book on household safety tips. (Um, she has already started planning fire drills and monthly alarm tests, as well as drew an “escape route” map of our house in case of fire and ran around making sure everyone in our family knew the plan.) She also started learning the rules of volleyball in gym. It was only 2 hours, but it was so much fun! During the gym time I was able to sit and chat with a few moms and it was so much fun to make friends who are in very similar situations as me!

Having her be in these activities was part of our schooling plan. I kinda chuckle when some people I’ve talked to about her loving these activities sigh and exclaim “O good! She will have a chance to socialize!” I think it’s kinda a joke among homeschool moms as this is still a huge homeschooling myth about the un-socialization of homeschool kids. There has not been one study to support it, and in fact the opposite is true. In most studies I’ve come across, homeschooled kids tend to communicate better with other children, WAY better with adults, and tend to get along with their bosses better in the workforce.

I think people assume that because we decided to homeschool that equated to us deciding to lock our children in a cage from the world until they are 18. That could not be further from the truth. We hope that homeschooling will open up their eyes to the world in a way that public school couldn’t. Putting her in these activities was in our plan from the beginning, and not in response to a huge worry. No one said “but if you homeschool her, how will she learn math???” Um, we get a math program. Duh. However, the “if you homeschool her, she won’t know how to socialize with her peers!” was a common comment. Again, I’d like to say that homeschooling does not equal cage. We had a “socializing” program in place too. You know, besides the human relationships she has day in and day out in our home and family as well. Relationships with more peers does not really equal better relationships with peers. Sorry, small tangent is done.

As far as school goes, Silje added Adjectives to her grammar program. She also took her first grammar test and passed with flying colors…again. Spelling also, awesome. Doing the smushing of 2 math lessons a day is turning out to be a success, although I think I need to make sure I’m not removing the “fun” parts of the lessons. She makes no complaint about math, but I can tell it’s not her favorite. I still wonder if it’s the program, or if she’s just still not at the new information point yet. What we’re doing now is better than what we were doing before, so I’m content with that for now. I think I’ll be able to make a better judgment of the program when she does actually reach her “level.”

David’s reading progress has slowed down a lot in regards to moving forward, but not in enthusiasm. Now that we’ve finished the kindergarten reading program already and I opened up the 1st grade set, he is not catching on as fast. So for his 30 minutes that used to be all new information, has turned into about 15 minutes of new information, and then I stop him before he reaches the frustration point, and have him spend 15 minutes reading his kindergarten level books. He still wants to move forward, but he forgets sometimes that he’s only preschool age. A 4 year old taking on a 1st grade program is ambitious for him to do, and he is getting it. He just needs it in smaller quantities. So the new information that he gets daily has shrunk, and he gets to spend more time just sitting and enjoying the books he does know how to read. I’m very happy with this.

The biggest problem this week was my motivation level. The beginning of the week I was feeling fine physically (besides the cold), but was being terribly lazy. We still did school, but it was later in the day, and I let the kids watch way too much t.v. in the morning. We lost the routine of the house and the kids starting running wild which wore me out and made me feel even less motivated. I started getting discouraged. On Wednesday night I read back through my post about the widows mite, and realized that I may not have much motivation, but if I can just give a little, God will take it. I don’t always remember this myself.

So I just started organizing a few things on my kitchen counter Wednesday night, and pretty soon I couldn’t stop! I then organized the pile of homeschooling supplies, then moved onto cleaning out the hall closet I’ve been meaning to get to, and finished off the evening by gutting out my sewing room and putting everything back together into a nice clean, inspiring place once again! By Thursday morning my motivation surprised me with how much I was getting done both school-wise and household chores-wise. Whether it was nesting or “getting out of my rut” it was quite refreshing to not only get things done, but to feel motivated to get things done again! I’m not sure how long the feeling will last, but I’m hoping to ride it for at least a few days!