31 Days of Creative Homeschooling: Photo Fridays

31 Days of Creative Homeschooling: Do’s & Don’ts

Do ~
Love your child.

Realize their interests.

Play games.

Read aloud.

Write them notes.

Teach phonics.

Take advantage of
learning moments.

Don’t ~
Allow discipline to rule your family.

Ignore your children’s fears.

Expect them to like to read (or math, Latin, classics, poetry..) if they don’t.

Get hung up on spelling.

Try 50 million curriculums.

Forget to have fun!

I have been homeschooling for almost 7 years. (IF you count preschool and you know we all want to!)

This is what I have learned
~ We get too caught up in what other homeschool families are doing.

~We are suckers for comparing ourselves or our children to others!

~We think we must buy and try everything out there.

~ Homeschooling curricula has become a market!! (or is that a racket?!?!)

* I wrote this list in 2006, and I have to say that I haven’t changed my mind about any it. I would probably add:

– do create a schedule
– don’t be afraid to take time off
– do seek opportunities for others to teach your children
– don’t forget to explore field trips

So what about you? What would you add? I’m curious to read your list!!

31 Days of Creative Homeschooling: An Unexpected Gift

Dyslexia a gift?
My daughter will scoff and I can’t blame her. I don’t imagine she can see the gift. In fact, I’m fairly certain she might never see dyslexia as a gift. But dyslexia has been a gift to me and in turn, has made me a better mother to her and to her siblings.
Learning to parent a child with dyslexia meant examining my preconceived notions of what her interests would be, her education & learning style, and my life plans & goals.
We had decided to homeschool when she was quite young, therefore, homeschooling meant finger painting, reading about Jesse Bear, talking about Jesus, and going to the zoo. Good times! Fun & easy! We were golden until the time came when I thought she should be reading.

She was such a little bean, and I had so much to learn. We plugged away with pathway readers, explode the code workbooks, sing spell read & write curriculum, read alouds, wizardspell, computer games, posters, board games, blocks…..are you getting worn out reading the list? We certainly got worn out trying to achieve the list. She would do the work, many times in tears, we would spend far too long on each assignment, I would push far too hard….
It is a sad memory for me & I’m certain sadder for her.

Hear this, “she would do the work”.
If I could have seen she was doing it, maybe I could have slowed down. But no.
Although she was doing the work, it didn’t stick. It took years before anything stuck. Not her fault. Not my fault.
I did eventually wake up from my homeschool mommy fog. We slowed down. I apologized for pushing too hard. I acknowledged things she said. I read aloud, we loved good books, we played. I remembered to breathe.

Dyslexia taught me to know & love my children right where they are for exactly who they are. Some parents never learn that.

Has she conquered dyslexia? No. I’m not sure one ever fully can. We both have learned to live with dyslexic quirks, not to bite off more than she can chew and to not be defeated by dyslexia.
How can I not be grateful?
(originally posted 11/2011)

31 Days of Creative Homeschooling: Holy Monday

As my children got older, our schedule filled with classes, co-ops, church, and different group activities. Each one was something really wonderful but I found myself missing those quiet days at home and my children were needing more downtime. After a while I came up with Holy Mondays.
This schedule includes almost everything we are doing in October, I left off doctor appointments and some scheduled music lessons my daughter & I teach.
Holy Monday is a day set apart from our schedule, I try not to allow any doctor or dentist appointments to fall on those days. When we first started Holy Mondays, it usually meant Monkey Bread, read alouds, art projects, board games & maybe a movie. Now it means the kids are welcome to sleep in and get a late start, several hours of uninterrupted school time, science projects, and hopefully a nice long walk for the new puppy. It also gives me a chance to catch up on any grading or prep work for my music classes. As I look at that list from when the kids were younger I see many things I’d like to add now too! Monkey Bread Mondays were a real thing for us for years & I’m kinda missing that.
It takes some practice but scheduling a quiet day refreshes me, makes me a better teacher & a more patient wife & mom.

31 Days of Creative Homeschooling: Inspiration

When You Rise Up by R.C. Sproul Jr.