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Well… I’ve done it! I think I have officially gone mad friends! You know that option we were all given this year to school our children… A or B?! Well, although we did wait until the last minute to officially declare; I went off the grid WAYY before that option was given and have decided to HOMESCHOOL!
I know so many amazing parents out there have been homeschooling for years (actually before it was cool, before COVID, before it was even considered “normal”) and to you all out there, I have so much respect and probably a ton of questions coming!
But here we are now and we are officially in the first few weeks of our homeschool year!
Ya’ll… I was the first to admit I couldn’t WAIT to send my kiddo to school! I’m not ashamed to admit that! I only have 1 kid and yet sometimes he feels like he’s the same as having 3! He’s strong willed, he’s more energetic than the energizer bunny and he can be so oppositional and defiant that my people pleaser little heart wants to burst out of frustration and WHAT THE HECKNESS!!
I swear every summer I’m the only one in my group of friends that is NOT mourning the loss of summer! I’m the one thats dancing down the aisles of back to school supplies and (picture it) one foot on the target shopping cart speeding down the target aisle with the other leg in the air while singing at the top of her lungs visions of quiet coffee time with an actual hot coffee in my hands!
BUTTTT… and it’s a big but ya’ll, there has always been some part of me (some teeny tiny small little light inside of me) that has always wondered if I could really homeschool and what that would look like for our family! I mean the possibilities: freedom, travel, ADHD structure combined with the ability to give Linc the breaks and movement he needs and the one on one attention.
Of course, I would shudder this thought away! I would push it deep down and I would push it down HARD! I am not a freedom kind of person! I like structure. I NEED a plan and a recipe! I can’t veer off. Who is this person that thinks of freedom?! Certainly not me!
But here we are! I’ve had a lot of questions about WHY we chose to homeschool and honestly the answer is simple: It just works for Linc or rather we are going to find out if it works for Linc!
When we came home for emergency learning in March, we quickly realized that Linc does much better learning one on one. He has ADHD, so being able to come to the “table” when he is focused and ready to work… well that works for him. He wakes up early, so we begin school early! One on one attention with NO DISTRACTIONS was helping him with reading and tasks that were tough for him in school where there are distractions all around him (good and bad). Also, being able to have the freedom to take a movement break, draw while he listens to lessons, bounce on a ball, walk around the table (heck SIT on the table) it all just makes learning easier!
That’s why at the end of the day, Tuck and I felt this is what we needed to try and now was the best time.
OK… Ok.. so how’s it going?
Well we have had some pretty amazing days and some amazing experiences so far. I think it’s fair to say that right now, we are all loving the homeschool choice! However, that’s not to say we haven’t had our tough times and some hiccups. I know it’s not going to be all smooth sailing. I’m also pretty sure that a few weeks in the novelty is going to wear off. I’m also terrified that when all the kids officially go back to school physically face to face, I’m going to get some major push back and this will all feel like possibly the worst idea ever. Here’s hoping we are rocking and rolling then though!
I know this is going to be a journey and since it’s an adventure in itself; I wanted to share with you how it’s going. I wanted to give you a little bit of a highlight reel of both the good and the not so good just in case you are also thinking of homeschooling or you have a kiddo like mine!
So let’s call this series Adventures in Homeschooling: Awesome & Awkward!
AWESOME:
Language Arts is filled with beautiful pictures and images and Linc is excited to color and draw during these lessons! We also get to paint! It’s also filling in those gaps that were making reading difficult for Linc!
Our history Lesson day 1 where we adventured out on an archaeological dig
Cave paintings
Linc is flying through math and progressing to third grade math
Finding Linc studying the map throughout the day and reading out various continents and places he wants to visit
Linc asking to start school on mornings without being prompted
AWKWARD
Having to explain to Linc that homeschooling was a choice we made “together” and that YES in fact he DOES have to do phonics cards and I am his teacher. I deserve the same respect as every other teacher he has had in school.
Marine Biology: When you think you are prepared to teach this specific curriculum, let me explain that you are NOT! Lesson 1 (while very prepared and planned) took over an hour to teach and has us both running back and forth from the kitchen for experiments to the table to learn. We were both so overwhelmed that I’m not sure we learned anything.
I take that back, we learned about the temperature of the ocean and the tides… an experiment that took 3 minutes. It was an hour lesson ya’ll!
I realized that it’s a good thing Tuck is teaching math because I got every single problem wrong. I am now a student and should probably be sitting down with. my own workbook for each of these lessons!
Our printer deciding to quit. A lot of the curriculum was sold out in physical form so we bought the PDF. Unfortunately it’s hard to teach some of the lessons without a hard copy. Well by Thursday our printer decided to go on strike and without the physical copies of some of our lessons guess what… NO SCHOOL! Guess we’ll have school on Saturday? Or maybe we will double up next week? Flexibility is key right?!
All in all I’m really loving being Linc’s teacher. I never thought I would say this but I also love all this flexibility. I learned a few things: we are a family that lives by a ROUTINE and not a SCHEDULE. I learned that just means that our days aren’t structured by a timeline but more a series of events that we do on a daily basis. They don’t have to be done by a certain time each day; we just know they have to get done! I also learned that both Linc and I are the same: we need to LIVE our lessons! The more we can experience, feel, touch and be a part what we are learning, the more we remember and apply it to our lives! Linc loves math because he he uses it every day right now with Tuck. They go on bike rides and they use fractions. They use it when they go looking for pokemon and things like that. Linc is loving history right now because each lesson contains a pretty awesome hands on activity that we get to do together.
So here’s my take away: whether this year is an amazing year for learning and I become his favorite teacher OR this year is a total bust and I’m the worst teacher… to me it won’t matter!
What matters is that we are doing it together! I know we are both getting something out of it because the two of us, sometimes three of us, are spending HUGE amounts of quality time together actually LIVING these lessons… and that works for my kid!
