The Christian Housewife

Well, yesterday marked our first official day of the new homeschool year.  And, if I do say so myself, it was a complete success.  We were able to stay mostly within the guidelines of our family schedule, only making minor changes to accommodate for a sleeping baby and later an unintentional sleeping toddler.  The day went a little longer than anticipated, edging very near to dinner time.  However, we did squeeze in 4 easy lessons.  All of those review lessons in the beginning almost seem like a waste of time so I decided to cram 4 in the day instead of dragging them out throughout the week.

I almost had a brief moment of panic when my just-turned 5 year old was having a hard time grasping one of his 1st grade math exercises.  Fear crept in for a moment that he wasn’t really ready for the 1st grade and him breezing through kindergarten at the tender age of 4 was simply a fluke and he’s now hit a “wall”.  However, I altered my explanation of the exercise to him, and sure enough, that fixed our dilemma.  All the more it confirmed in my mind that homeschooling is by far the best choice as children in a school setting do not get tailored teaching according to their own individual learning styles and/or abilities.  This is especially important when it comes to math, as math is essentially built upon blocks.  If your foundation is weak then it’s very hard to reach higher levels.  So, it’s important to me that my children are drilled, drilled and drilled some more in the arithmetic department.

We started our “school” at 8:00 sharp.  We don’t allow our kids (generally) to have any t.v./video games during the week and they have time restrictions for it on the weekends.  The deal I made with them is that for every chore they do not have completed by the time school starts, they’re getting docked 2 minutes from “screen time”.  Ok, so it wasn’t really so much of a deal…more of a mandate.

So, class began promptly at 8:00, we did some family devotions and then read a little bit about Johann Sebastian Bach.  I bought the book “Stories of the Great Composers” and we’ll be studying one composer every three weeks.

This required me to order a few books and cd’s from the local library as supplemental tools and I also had to make up a few quizzes and print off a coloring sheet for them to do.  And since the kids are required to have 30 minutes a day of solitary reading time, I thought that would be a great time to have each composer’s music playing in the background.  Win-win, right?

I had planned on having my children recite “The Pledge of Allegiance” each morning, but yesterday it slipped my mind.  This morning I made it a point, though, and I’m excited for them to get to the point that they have it memorized.

Another thing I’m really excited to be implementing this year is having them write brief summaries of what they’ve read during their reading time.  I had to help my 5 year old quite a bit with this, but I’m sure as he gets used to the exercise, I’ll be needed less and less.

I’ve also become a lot more organized compared to last year.  I actually have progress reports, attendance sheets, and binders galore.  Sure, I don’t necessarily have to have them, but I’d rather be safe than sorry down the road and it’d be neat to keep track of their accomplishments.

The more research I do about homeschooling, the more blogs I read, and the more I’m discovering a vast array of resources on the internet, I’m starting to warm up to the idea of doing year-round homeschooling.  I’m sure I won’t feel the same enthusiasm come spring (or even winter!), but I’m 100% convinced that kids are capable of going way beyond what our society has deemed “normal” education.  And while I certainly won’t push my kids in any certain career field when they’re older, I do think it’s my responsibility to thoroughly prepare them for whatever their hearts desire.  Wouldn’t it be a travesty if one of them yearned to be something only to lack the knowledge or confidence to fulfill those dreams?

This all plays into my firm belief that parenting is a job…and one that I take seriously.

And while I certainly don’t expect that the success of our first day of the new homeschool year will repeat itself, I will undoubtedly hope..and strive…for one similar.

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