I asked my husband the other day about homeschooling. More along the lines of….”When you think of homeschooling, what do you think of?”
I was so blown away to hear his responses. I know, I probably shouldn’t have been, we have been going down this road for a while now. But, alas, I was surprised to hear my very own words echoed back at me.
The one phrase that stuck out the most though was this one, “Homeschooling doesn’t have to look like school.” So I questioned the man that frequents the homeschool around here.
“What does that mean?”
He responded with, well, homeschooling is daily learning. Of course it is!
(YAY!! Says the homeschooling mamas worldwide!!)
I am so pleased that I can now write to you about the fact that homeschooling isn’t just the sitting and doing of school, it is the daily learning.
So, take a deep breath mama.
Relax.
You may have scheduled out blocks of school time, but if this homeschooling thing is going to work, well be prepared, because it is a constant thing. It never really ends when the clock hits a certain time.
Here are some fine examples that school marches on, even at the oddest hours.
- Within the last few months we purchased some land. The entire process was talked about with our children. Mostly around the dinner time. So, as this process was taking place, we we able to educate our child on these points:
- Financing from a bank
- Down payments and why down payments are important
- Loan terms and loan term lengths
- Debt to Income Ratio
- Land surveying
- Land Appraisals
- Business Terms
- What a Realtor does
- Since we are planning on moving out to our land as soon as we are able, the discussions are long and deep around here. That sometimes spills over into the kids play time. Here are some things that make it into pretend play:
- Crane operators
- Building management
- Cement and cement blocks
- The benefits of building your own home
- Hiring workers
- Managing your time and money
- How long will this take?
- How much money is that going to be?
- When can we visit to talk more?
- We also are mini homesteaders, so animals and animal husbandry come into discussion a lot too. That leads into numerous topic areas:
- Pen / cage size
- Animal health
- Animal care
- Habitat and care of habitat
- Life cycle
- Mating
- Birth
- Babies, their mama, and their care
- Gentleness
- Culling and death
The topics listed above are just a tiny glimpse of the discussions that go on at our homeschool. Most of the topics are hashed over in length usually around the table at meal time. This is the most productive time for “extra learning”.
An added benefit to the homeschool thing is that there is no set boundary for learning.
So, when you are feeling a bit discouraged because school didn’t get done for the day, take heart mama. The learning never really stops around the house.
Take a few moments to think about this…each of the following activities can be added into the school day:
- laundry (color sorting, time management, hand/eye coordination, life skills)
- baking cookies (measuring, reading, following directions, completing a task, life skills)
- sweeping (hand/eye coordination, house keeping, following direction, life skills)
- washing dishes (hand/eye coordination, house keeping, cleanliness, life skills)
- paying bills (accounting, money, budgeting, life skills)
- changing the baby (gentleness, kindness, love, following directions, life skills)
- feeding the pets (selflessness, caring, love, responsibility, life skills)
- mowing the lawn (pride in job, follow-through, life skills)
- reading a story (reading comprehension, learning the flow of the language, imagination, creativity)
- coloring a picture (learning colors, making choices, creativity, hand/eye coordination, pride in job)
- grocery shopping (budgeting, meal planning, price comparison, dealing with store employees)
Again, mama, the school day may not end up exactly how you have planned, but the result is much the same. They are Learning! And most likely, you are happier and so are your kids.
My husband didn’t even realize that he offered up a blog post for me, I’m so glad that he did!
The issue that most (mostly new) homeschoolers make is that they are trying to recreate the classroom at home.
Take my advice, make schooling at home not so much “school” but more of a learning environment. These little people are only going to be around so much before they are headed out into the world. Breath mama, one bad homeschool day does not ruin everything you are putting in. Each day is different. Do your best to work with what comes at you instead of demanding that homeschool looks like everybody else’s idea. Make it your own.
Grace.
Breath it in and make sure to give it to your kids too.
This is just one more benefit of homeschooling…it doesn’t have to look like school.
Do what feels right. It will all even out in the wash anyway mama. God has His hand in it, so keep at it!
In His Grace.
Callie
Visit my fellow homeschool blogging mamas as they share their own Back to Homeschool posts below.
The Schoolhouse Review Crew partnered with Homeschool Blogging Connections to bring you a week full of back to school encouragement.
Meet Your Back to Homeschool Blog Hop Hosts
Marcy @ Ben and Me
Debra @ Footprints in the Butter
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses
Amy @ Homeschool Encouragement
Missica @ The Open Window: An Autism Blog
Misty @ Year Round Homeschooling
Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life
Heather @ Only Passionate Curiosity
Clarissa @ Counting Our Blessings
Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
Monique @ Living Life and Learning
Rebecca @ Raventhreads
Karen @ Tots and Me…Growing Up Together
Rebekah @ There Will Be A $5 Charge For Whining
April @ ElCloud Homeschool
Brenda @ Counting Pinecones
Tara @ This Sweet Life
Tara @ Embark on the Journey
Jennifer @ Chestnut Grove Academy
Annette @ In All You Do
Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures
Tauna @ Proverbial Homemaker
Joanie @ Simple Living Mama
Aurie @ Our Good Life
Jennifer @ A Peace of Mind
Jenn @ Treasuring Life’s Blessings
Kemi @ Homemaking Organized
Wendy @ Life at Rossmont
Katie @ DailyLife
Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Kim @ Homestead Acres
Melissa @ Mom’s Plans
Annette @ A Net In Time
Cristi @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm
Meg @ Adventures with Jude
Dawn @ Double O Farms
DaLynn @ For the Display of His Splendor
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling
Steph @ Indy Homeschool
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Tawnee @ Adventures in homeschooling
Lisa @ Tales of a Homeschool Family
Jennifer @ Organized Home Organized School
Erin @ For Him and My Family
Lori @ At Home: where life happens
Margaret @ Creative Madness Mama
Nicole @ Some Call It Natural
Crystal @ Crystal Starr
Bonnie @ Write Bonnie Rose
Shawna @ Tenacity Divine
Carol @ Home Sweet Life
Kelli @ Adventure Homeschool
Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
Leah Courtney @ As We Walk Along the Road
Leave a Reply