Homeschooling post #2:
One of the most important parts of our homeschool journey is the vision we have for it. WHY am I doing this? What am I hoping to accomplish? Homeschooling isn't for the faint of heart. It is struggle and pain and, well, it's expensive. How many times I long to be able to be "just" mom and not have to fill the role of teacher too! For me, the why is to give my kids a great education. An education they can use to thrive in their chosen career. Whether they choose to be a doctor or a self-employed carpenter, they need strong skills, tailored to their dreams. As a small aside, we are expecting as much from our girls as our boys. Even if they choose to be "nothing but a mother" (one of the most demanding jobs on the planet!), they are entrusted with raising, and possibly teaching, the next generation. Of anyone, they are the ones who need a strong education! As a homeschool parent, I can pick and choose from among the best of teachers and curriculums and give my children individual attention to make sure they're grasping what they're being taught.
But that isn't the type of goal setting I am wanting to focus on this time. I'd like to talk about the baby steps, and the ridiculous amount of pressure we homeschool moms put on ourselves.
I know the dreams that happen around this time of the year. Starry eyed looking forward to the next year. The freshness of unsullied pages, the planner still clean and perfect looking. Surely, this year we found the best curriculum. Surely this year will be better! This year I AM going to make it a great year. I am going to make the time for each of my children. We're going to have fun. We're doing to do more crafts and more field trips. We're going to play in the leaves and build snowmen. I'm going to pay more attention to problem areas and make sure test scores stay up this year. And on and on... depending on your particular area of struggle.
Yeah right.
Oops, did I say that out loud? Year after weary year, within a week or two, or if you're lucky a month or two, those starry eyed dreams have fallen by the wayside one by one. Frantic, hectic, harried, you are just scraping by... again. The kids aren't enjoying the new curriculum the way you thought they would, so they're not having fun, and they're making sure to rub it in all the time. Guilt sets in. Snacks degenerate from freshly baked cookies or veggie sticks to a handful of Cheese-Its or a few gummy worms. Someone gets sick, and you get behind. The tot scribbles in that beautiful text book. You know the drill.
We are HUMAN, moms! We can only do so much. We can only change so much. And it's ok. We're growing and learning right along with our sweet, challenging little charges. You don't expect your first grader to go from simple addition to long division in one year. Neither should you put that on yourself.
One of my biggest struggles has been making sure to check my children's work in a timely manner. I let the days of uncorrected work add up, until it's a daunting pile... and also irrelevant as they, two weeks later, know a whole lot better something they struggled with and kept getting wrong, but I didn't know what it was since I wasn't checking up on them. What was the point anymore? So last summer as I prepared for the last school year, I decided to just make that one little thing better. There was oh so much I wanted to do differently, but I chose to focus on just that one thing. I set up a system to help myself succeed. And I determined that this one little bite sized chunk would be done. And I did it. Before I went to bed, the "finished work" folder was emptied, and the papers filed. The first thing we did the next morning was work through their problems. (Or, in the case of my 5th grader and math, Jere helped him after supper.) If for some reason I didn't get it done before bed, I did it before breakfast in the morning. The kids did so much better! We were able to work through their struggles in a timely fashion, and what a relief it was!
My goal for this year, is to stay off my phone and computer during "school hours". I tend to think I can just check on this important thing real quick... only to be sucked into a time consuming monster bunny trail and not notice when the kids need something. Sigh. They are worth more than that. I have an adult coloring book and a bag with my latest cross stitch project handy, both things that will help keep me from getting bored and yet leave my brain available to notice when someone needs me. This is going to be tougher than last year's goal, but it's just one step in the right direction. One do-able step.
Yes, I mentioned "school hours". They aren't public school hours, but they are something that has become a vital part of our school day. I've come to look at it this way: when we're doing school, it's my job. I need to be in the school room tending to business, just as if I were a teacher getting paid for this job. I don't do housework, outside of switching some laundry here and there. I don't cook. I don't clean. This year I won't be answering emails, messages, or phone calls. I'm teaching school, and that is vitally important. For my sanity's sake, we stick to our schedule as closely as possible, which means we don't skip school days unless there are pressing circumstances that can't be avoided, like sickness, or a funeral, or a doctor's appointment.
BUT when school hours are over, I'm done. If a child isn't done, they get to finish alone. They can come find me if they need help with something, and I'll help them as time allows. But that's the time I'm training horses, doing the housework, making supper, spend one on one time doing special projects with one of the kids, and working on my own writing and study projects. Most of the time the kids are done and off playing by then, and the one who doesn't tend to be done in that time can finish on his own without much help. It's part of my commitment to give each one the best education possible, and yet give myself guilt-free freedom to do what I want and need to do too.
So, what is your little step goal for this year?
Homeschool post #1: http://lifeonhegehill.blogspot.com/2018/07/homeschool-organization-planner.html
Homeschool post #3: http://lifeonhegehill.blogspot.com/2018/08/homeschool-organization-papers-papers.html
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