This post is long but it is a record of how I am thinking this September. I plan to look back come May and see how we did. Maybe some of you have done these things all along in your schools, but I am just getting a clue this year.
We have nicely settled into the rhythm of formal school lessons, again. This year I am more at peace with how school is going than I have ever been. I credit that to some changes I have made.
Saving the Best for Last
First of all, I have "front loaded" our school year placing the hardest material first. Math books and such start out with reviews and normally we plug away at these reviews until you reach the hard stuff about December. Well, as any veteran homeschooler knows , that once January hits you are in a different state of mind than you were in on those crisp, lovely days of fall. The smiling fades, the school room stinks, the house is donned in kleenexes, barf buckets, broken Christmas toys, and there is a wreath of despair decorating my neck. . .like a noose.
This year we jumped into the middle of our math books. Perhaps some would criticize such a method, but I spent quite a bit of time revewing all the material to pick those skill that needed the most. We are in the trenches and we know how winter takes its toll. Days go by where we never leave the house or acreage. After months of being housebound, testing our love for one another, and practicing the Christian virtue of patience with one another's faults magnified by cabin fever, the first warm breeze finds us outside leaving our school books behind. The hearty material that demands more of us mentally is taxing beyond belief.
March comes. . .I start dreaming of gardens, chicks, baseball. We feel guilty and down on ourselves for not completing everything. Flipping through the school books, I pick the last of what we need to cover, lamenting that we spent too much time on the easy stuff. So, its different this year. We are hurling ourselves full speed into difficult material and will let up on the pressure as our nerves long for the healing balm of refreshing projects, adventurous chapter books by the fire, chess games, and making endless lists of our garden/animal summer adventures. We will have put much academics behind us and will be able to pat ourselves on the back as we seen the sun on the horizon, melting away the ice and thawing the ground once more.
That's the plan anyway. . .
Cleaning Day. . .How Can I Ever Clean It All?
The second different goal this year is to take a deep cleaning and personal day while putting the kids to independent work and reading. This is a day where I go room to room and deep clean, even the kids' bedrooms. I did this during the summer and it works. My house is never perfect, but it is okay by my standards. . .it certainly has its very grim moments.
I have found time and again that hiring a person to clean this house is not worth the money. Its better if I do it myself, with the help of the children. Everyone has the same task assigned to them each week. So far, I have just taken one of these days and it was very much worth it! There is another one scheduled for this Friday and they need to be about every three weeks. The older kids have a school checklist to plug away at and they can bring their questions to the room I am cleaning. The house was cleaner thus raising everyone's spirits and making everything run smoother. For many years I told myself I would just clean on the weekends and continue to plug away during the week. This simply did not work out and I always felt like I was trying to "catch up." Now I have given myself permission for this day away from the school room, guilt-free and it feels great!
Finding a Natural Rhythm
Thirdly, I am letting the day unfold more as it does naturally. I am allowing more of the hobbies, activities, and opinions of the children to be taken in account. I am permitting more times for friendships between the children if they are engaged together on a good task. I am working to balance between the skills they must cover and their own pursuits. Sometimes these two are united perfectly. For example, if a child needs more practice in the actual skill of writing, I am allowing that to be done in the form of a list of what chickens breeds he would like to order for his own care. This does take careful attention, however, and must be done with the big picture in mind for that child to ensure than nothing gets missed nor that they get the idea life is all play and fun. And obviously, there are subjects that simply cannot be covered thoroughly enough "in real life" such as math, religion, comprehension, etc. So, don't worry, we are not "unschoolers." Some of my kids simply cannot find anything to do that does not come from a schoolish type book or my checklist for them. Some of them prefer the checklist, while some find the checklist stifling (they still have a checklist while taking in account for their need to venture out alone).
Along these same lines we have completely moved our chores to lunch time and the afternoon, save those that are essential. No longer do I scream and yell that they need to hurry and get everything done before school. All these years I had it in my mind that they had to have every chore done before school. Why? I never had one extra minute before school to do anything when I was a child/teen, so why did I press my kids so hard in this area? Our mornings have been nice, calm, and we have moved into an afternoon rhythm of getting things done together. Furthermore, the kids needed things to do in the afternoon and this is the perfect solution. Chores! It has been great! Why didn't I think of this earlier??
What's on the Menu???
Fourth, I have a menu for the month and we do all our shopping for the entire month at once. While I am not perfect at keeping to this menu, it is a nice guide to have. Richard has kept me to the menu at times and I am always glad when I do put forth the extra effort to cook what I had written down. We hav figured that by keeping to a menu we will save between $600-$800 this month alone on groceries. Can you believe it?? I do because we did the math together. Our goal was $800, but we will probably finish out saving around $600. How? Making everything from scratch, which can be done with forethought. I will write a whole different post on this another time.
Fifth, we have our fun Wednesday Holy Hour, Library visit, and then special chicken dinner.
If you have read this far. . .I thank you for reading my blog. I really do love blogging and I am glad that some people actually read my thoughts
