I have spent the last three years telling people how easy and fun homeschooling is. I enjoy encouraging people and I also completely believe this. However, the last three months of school have changed my perspective a little. I think I am getting to see that there are challenges in everyone's homes and I only was able to see the perspective of homeschooling through my individual circumstances.
Up until this year, I only had Lily to homeschool. Lily learns very quickly and loves everything about learning and showing off. Yes, she has her moments like any child, but overall she makes homeschooling a very easy experience. This year has changed us. This year I added in homeschooling Valerie. She is much more challenging as she shuts down when she doesn't get things easily. She wants to do well, but everything has to be just perfect for her to feel able to do her work. It has been very frustrating. Also kindergarten is the most hands on year for my lesson plans so I spend a lot of time on her projects with her. Also Lily is now doing third and fourth grade work. She needs a little extra help with understanding new topics. We were working on diagramming sentences and knowing all of our parts of speech this week. We are also working on measurements and multiplication. Don't even get me started on all of our writing projects.
Another new challenge has been having five kids this year. Having two little ones around while we homeschool keeps me very busy. I am constantly cleaning up after someones mess and trying to keep them entertained with little projects while I hop back and forth from Lily and Valerie's work. Then Eli gets home from public school and I have to do homework with him so really I am educating all through out the whole day!!!
Yet another challenge is all of the appointments that come with five kids. We have speech for Val and Caleb, dance for Val, voice lessons for Lily and Eli, and there are always doctor and dentist appointments.
Then may I mention that we started really learning the classical model for education this year. It does make things easier in some ways, but really, I am still not use to changing my lesson plans and using less of a curriculum approach. So really, I feel like we are constantly playing catch up and trying to learn our material. It is a challenge for me as I am not use to memorizing or thinking this hard. lol We also have presentations each Monday that take time to plan and work on.
So after saying all of this, I want to encourage my friends that God knows the circumstances that we are each in and we are so blessed to have our children near us. Sometimes I worry too much about falling behind and not teaching enough, but really my goal for my children is for them to love the Lord with their whole heart. I know that if they have that and they watch Godly examples that everything else will come out of that. God will bless their lives. Relax more and enjoy these moments! I am so thankful to spend each day growing closer with my children. I think now that I will go lay out a blanket in the back yard and read a great book to my kids. Learning should be a beautiful process and not all work!
