Homeschooling Shift

Photo source: danieb.com

Hey friend!  Just wanted to switch gears a bit and talk about our homeschooling journey.  In our household, how we homeschool, and why we homeschool, is a part of our daily lives.  It is a HUGE area of life that we pray about and trust God for--both with direction and with seeing fruit!--and so, this topic is very fitting for a blog about "all the things God is teaching me through life in His Word."

As some of you might already know, we are changing course in our homeschool.  This fall, we are stepping away from a homeschooling cooperative--one we have been with for the past three years.  We are also choosing to school in a more year-round format (although, scaling way back during the summer months).  Instead of emphasizing a neo-classical method of study, we are following more of a Charlotte-Mason philosophy of learning.  If what I just said sounds completely foreign to you, don't worry!  It simply means that we are dropping certain subjects and embracing others, and sort of going rogue.

I think it is helpful at the end, or start, of every school year to reassess what we do and why, when it comes to educating each of our children.  We will be entering our fifth(!) year of homeschooling and our second year of homeschooling all three of our children.  We have covered a lot of bases at this point, but we are also starting into a fresh phase of learning in many ways, too.  For example, I have two very fluent and motivated readers in this season of our homeschooling, and all three are able to manage several hours touring museums and historical sites (happy dance!).

However, I sense the greatest shift in our homeschool is in me.

I feel much more comfortable letting the kids play a board game and saying to myself that yes, this counts.

I feel more free to go outside in our yard, or on a walk around the neighborhood, and point out all the trees, flowers, and birds, having the utmost confidence that my children are learning good stuff.

I am more apt to relish time with my kids enjoying a mug of coffee and a stack of picture books, not worrying about how many workbook pages we ought to complete.

Whenever I brew a pot of tea, I want to break out the china cups and a poetry book with my kids around our breakfast table--the extra dishes are sooo worth it!

Unlike in past years, I feel less inclined to sign everyone up for outside classes and take structured field trips.  Instead, I am seeing the beauty in a family trip to the beach or an unplanned day in a neighboring city as being the educational opportunities that they truly are.

And, recently, I have felt the urge to really start to teach my children the life skills of cooking and cleaning the house.  While I have always welcomed them pulling up a chair beside me and getting their hands involved in what I am cooking or baking, I have felt an inner prompting to step aside and let them plan the meals, add necessary items to the grocery list, and be "head chef" in preparing several of our weekly meals.  This is hard for me!!  But I realize more and more that I need to step aside and let them wash the car, launder our clothes, vacuum the upstairs, and scrub the toilets.  I need to encourage them to bake the cookies (that I don't feel like making!) from scratch. Sure, I will be within a stone's throw away to help out and field questions, but I need to let go and adjust (aka lower!) my personal standards for a particular task, so they can learn and grow!  It feels so weird to start to work myself out of a job!

Now, this works for our household right now.  My children are 6, 8, and 10 years old and are all eager and able to take on new things.  Do not worry--I realize not everyone is in this season of life!  But I am sensing a shift in our household and want to embrace it for the gift that it truly is.

Nature study.  Gameschooling.  Reading aloud.  Exploring.  Conversing.  Learning life skills.  

These are the things that are starting to really get me up in the morning!

How about you, dear friend?  If you homeschool or are interested in starting, does any of this resonate with you?  If so, be sure to click the hyperlinks in this post to link up with some great resources that will help you out and inspire you!  As always, if you have any homeschooling questions, feel free to ask me and I can help you find the answers you need!  The journey of homeschooling has definitely been a blessing to my family, and I trust it will be to yours, as well!

God Bless!