What do Panera Bread and my homeschool have in common?
(I mean besides hungry people who are constantly demanding food, tables that need to be cleaned dozens of times a day, and occupants who splash water on the bathroom mirrors.)
We both have used names to define things or activities to improve our establishments and our productivity.
If you haven’t done so yet, read the first post in this series here, and check out Our Curriculum Choices – Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3.
While we were (and still are) far from having it all figured out, Year 4 was the first year I felt noticeably more confident in our homeschooling.
After several years of educating our kids at home, I now had some data to work with – some proof that this was working. We could look back on work from the years past and see tangible evidence that growth and learning were taking place. Phew!
Home sweet home…
The place we feel warm and cozy and free to be ourselves.
The place we live and laugh and love and create beautiful family memories.
The place where naked toddlers run through the middle of the lesson on the Byzantine Empire singing “I’m a Little Teapot” and throwing Cheerios in the air like confetti.
*sigh*
While there’s a lot to love about the freedom a home-based learning setting provides, there are definitely some unique challenges that homeschooling parents need to navigate. Many of these challenges stem from two fundamental characteristics of a homeschool.
Homeschools are often multi-AGE and multi-USE settings.
These two aspects can equate to high levels of distraction unless some thought is given to managing them well.
If you haven’t done so yet, read the first post in this series here, and check out Our Curriculum Choices – Year 1 and Year 2.
Each year seems to bring something new, and our 3rd year educating our kids at home was no exception. It was the first time I was homeschooling with an infant. And we were still grieving the loss of my dear mother-in-law who had passed away only a few weeks after I had our third baby.
But God has always been our Provider, whether it’s in the form of new insights, tangible resources, or help from friends and family. He’s consistently given us hope and a way through difficult seasons, both in homeschooling and life in general.
WARNING: Homeschooling may cause your schedule to look different than the rest of society. This can lead to serious side effects such as nasty glares from strangers, self-doubt, and upheaval of existing routines.
When you have the freedom to tailor your routines to the unique needs of your unique family, your schedule begins to look… well… unique.
In many ways, my family’s daily and weekly routines are backward from our non-homeschooling friends. And guess what?
THAT’S OKAY!
Read the first post in this series here and check out Our Curriculum Choices – Year 1.
Well, we made it through our first year of homeschooling and came back for more! Just when I was starting to figure a few things out, Year 2 brought new challenges.
My oldest was now in first grade and our three year old wasn’t content to sit on the sidelines. Finding ways to engage them both was a trick. It wasn’t easy to find a balance where everyone was met at their own level and not frustrated (with work that’s too hard) or bored (by work that’s too easy).
If you haven’t done so yet, read the first post in this series here.
This was our first “official” year of homeschooling. My oldest son was starting Kindergarten and our younger son was a toddler.
I was excited to finally be homeschooling after several years of reading about it and trying to plan ahead for the unknown. We’d already done preschool at home and, of course, he’d been learning at home since he was a baby, but I felt like this was the moment I’d been waiting for.
Homeschoolers are blessed with FREEDOM. But sometimes that much freedom can feel overwhelming. Even paralyzing. Especially when it comes to choosing curricula, how do you know where to start?
Besides the basics (you know…. pencils, paper, chocolate, etc.), I’ve found there are a handful of relatively inexpensive items that have made our homeschool days go much more smoothly.
No, these supplies aren’t going to teach for you. They won’t empty the dishwasher. And they won’t fold your laundry. But even though they can’t work miracles, I do sometimes feel a little like super mom when my Meltdown Radar* goes off and I swoop down with a sheet of Hole Reinforcement Labels and save the day…
Necessity is the mother of invention, right?
Or, to say it another way, desperate homeschooling mothers sometimes balance a hose on a chair with a rake to occupy the toddler so the other kids can finish their science.
