This years home school experience has been interesting to say the least. I was offered so much encouragement and so much support even to the point of multiple women lending me their curriculum (which I am incredibly grateful for).
Let me re-cap why we (yes my husband and I) decided to home school.
Our oldest was tired. He was not getting enough sleep and left the house crying and came home crying because he was tired.
Being gone all day at school and listening to his teacher the last thing he wanted to do was come home and listen to me. Our relationship was not good. My second oldest screamed for four months straight, would break out of the classroom and run screaming to me not to leave him. This is where "debates" could come it because I had a lot of moms tell me to just force my child in his classroom but my opinion is completely opposite of that. My third child is more shy than my second so I knew his experience wouldn't go well either. Now...number four I'm pretty sure would walk right in and say "bye mom" but we're not going to test it.
So beginning to home school and had some rough starts. I have in my head that schooling at home needs to look like that in the classroom but really? I have a 7 year old, a 6 year old, a 5 year old and a 2 year old. It's a good day if I get the older two to sit for 20 minutes to do some "work". So that has been the hardest thing....learning to step away from the standards of the public school....or any school. This, what we do in our home, is not "school". I have decided that I want my kids inspired...I want them to learn what they want to learn and how they want to learn. I have read some really encouraging articles that have told me to ditch the curriculum. I'm not sure if I can FULLY do that but I am working my way towards it a little. Finding what interests my kids have and finding curriculum around that. William hates writing and spelling and math but loves science. So finding curriculum that is hands on science for him.
I came across this article and I couldn't agree more with it. I'm unorganized, I don't have it all together, I don't have a degree in teaching and i might fail.....but I hope and pray that these four boys of mine have solid characters. That they are confident of who Christ made them to be. That they love the Lord their God with all their heart. That they stand firm in their faith and they are inspired to learn...not required.
Here is the article....enjoy!
TGIF from our family to yours. We are learning at the museum today...Dinosaur exhibit!
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