It's a seasonal thing. This time of year I always end up mulling over our homeschool philosophy. What's working? What isn't?Part of that has to do with the fact that the kids are always growing and changing and need different things. This year there have been a number of other external prods.
In the fog of low thyroid, I made a foolish decision to go forward with something that, while good of itself (let's learn research skills by preparing presentations on different countries!), was not good for us (let's ditch US History!).
We have come to the reluctant view that the co-op we've been in for the last nine years is not going to work for us next year. It's actually a great amount of time for a co-op to be useful, but it's also hard to let go. :(
I realized I was (probably in the thyroid fog) drifting more into the "schoolish" side of things (let's get these boxes checked off) and doing less fun"isn't-the-world-amazing" stuff.
Mostly, I'm realizing that the way I'm called to home school is a gift. The way others are called to home school (or parent, or live) is God's gift to them, this is God's gift to me and I need to be faithful to that gift.
Ironically, I think about peer pressure for my kids, but I didn't realize that hanging out with other home schooling moms would be peer pressure for me! The way I've been called is more on the unschooling end of things, but my friends have been called to a more "schoolish" approach. Not that I intend to stop being friends, of course! I more feel that God's put me on notice to keep my eyes on my own page.
That means following the kids interests. It means doing as much hands on stuff as I can. It means holding steady on a few core subjects (Math and English). It means looking at each child and seeing what thy need to to take the next step. It means the time to strike is when the opportunity presents itself (by which I mean, when a kid's curiosity is raised, he will absorb and retain the most information the most quickly and easily). It means looking to my older kids to organize more of the fun and amazing stuff. It means following a trajectory towards healthy, happy, holy adulthood.
I do believe that God lets us know when we are off track, if we're willing to listen. He also lets us know when we are on track. A few days after I started making these adjustments, Oob squirmed onto my lap and asked me to write his name. Then Choclo's name. We snuggled and I wrote and he sounded out the names. A dozen names later, I started writing words...and he kept on sounding them out! When he was done, he told me, "Thank you, Mommy. Those were fun puzzles!"
Thank you, God, for reminding me why I home school.
Mostly, I'm realizing that the way I'm called to home school is a gift. The way others are called to home school (or parent, or live) is God's gift to them, this is God's gift to me and I need to be faithful to that gift.
Ironically, I think about peer pressure for my kids, but I didn't realize that hanging out with other home schooling moms would be peer pressure for me! The way I've been called is more on the unschooling end of things, but my friends have been called to a more "schoolish" approach. Not that I intend to stop being friends, of course! I more feel that God's put me on notice to keep my eyes on my own page.
That means following the kids interests. It means doing as much hands on stuff as I can. It means holding steady on a few core subjects (Math and English). It means looking at each child and seeing what thy need to to take the next step. It means the time to strike is when the opportunity presents itself (by which I mean, when a kid's curiosity is raised, he will absorb and retain the most information the most quickly and easily). It means looking to my older kids to organize more of the fun and amazing stuff. It means following a trajectory towards healthy, happy, holy adulthood.
I do believe that God lets us know when we are off track, if we're willing to listen. He also lets us know when we are on track. A few days after I started making these adjustments, Oob squirmed onto my lap and asked me to write his name. Then Choclo's name. We snuggled and I wrote and he sounded out the names. A dozen names later, I started writing words...and he kept on sounding them out! When he was done, he told me, "Thank you, Mommy. Those were fun puzzles!"
Thank you, God, for reminding me why I home school.
No comments:
Post a Comment