Homeschool is our happy place.

As promised, an update on our home school adventure

Here we are, 1/2 way through our very 1st home-school year (and everyone is still breathing ;)!!! In some ways I still feel very green and in other ways I feel so knowledgeable, experienced & somewhat of a pro on this subject.

I can honestly say WE have learned A LOT, and when say we, I am not misusing the figure of speech. My kids are not the only ones learning. I'm learning so much everyday--what motivates my children, what my oldest had actually learned in previous years, what sparks their interest, subjects they dread & ones they love, character traits we need to work on, what makes them come alive! I'm relearning hieroglyphics , distributive property, eco systems, branches of government... all those things I only learned for the test, along with finding my own strengths and weaknesses. How to juggle home school along with real life, all its other responsibilities, how to not care what others think of the way we do school...
WE have learned SO much!

dissecting owl pellets

When we began this year I knew I needed challenging curriculum for my 9 yr old. She is a very fast learner and was breezing through school (even after skipping a grade). There are a lot of parents out there that think that is a good thing, that think I should let her make all 100% on everything-- Her transcripts will be amazing! She'll get into whatever private high school or college she chooses... very true. I understand the thought process and it would be much "easier" to leave her to the school system. But easier isn't always better!

My goal as a parent isn't raising a kid who gets A's. I want a kid who can function well in life as an adult. In life you have to be able to accept failure. You find your strength in doing things you thought you could not do. Learning is not expressing what you already know. I want her to know it ok's to get a "bad" grade (you know , a 99% lol) I don't want her to have a melt down in college when a college professor gives her a B on a paper. I don't want her thinking that failure is bad, or that she is better than others who struggle in academics. When she faces something challenging I want her to know how to push herself. With all these thoughts in mind, I did it! I picked some of the most challenging curriculum I could find, every single subject was going to be a learning curve. No more being able to just sit back & coast through school. It was time to get to work.

What I did not foresee was that by 8 yrs old she had already developed "coasting" habits. She did not know how to study, how to push herself, how to work at something. It didn't take long to know we were headed to a rocky start! I am not going to sugar coat it, we have had days that she was in tears, days I was in tears, days we've closed the books & said lets try again tomorrow. Days I questioned if I was pushing her too hard?, was it too big of a jump?... We now have a talk about once a month, " The Good, The Bad & The Ugly": The things we love about home school, the things we hate about home school, and the things we can work on to make it better. It was important for me to hear her feed back, for her to be proactive in her education... (because we are all learning this home school thing! Shoot, I am not the one that will be writing those college essays, she needs to learn young how to be proactive about her education) Everyday we kept plugging away, trying new things every week.

I get all happy inside to tell you, we have made it 1/2 way and we are LOVING it! We have made MANY adjustments from the very 1st day. We have thrown out certain curriculum & purchased new ones. We have found friends that do life & school like we do. We have rearranged our day & how we work. We have found our "groove" so to speak. I am not saying that everyday is smiles & sunshine. Everyone has a bad day here & there. In those bad days, I have learned not to question my choice, she has learned how to focus with a 3 yr old little sister. ;) I have learned to let go of what others are doing or trying to make it look like a school day. I cannot even explain the mental challenges that come from being a home school mom. If you are not careful you can fall into a slippery slope of questioning everything you do. We have both gained confidence.

I could go on for hours about the things I love about home school, but the thing that trumps them all is the growing confidence in my girl. Last year at this time we started noticing a lack of self confidence, caught up in a world of questioning:her clothing choices, her friendships, who she was & what she was good at... Lets just be frank-- Girls are mean!

Fast forward a year, this girl is blooming, her self confidence is exploding, I watch her make friends with total strangers at ease, hold conversations better than many adults I know, stepping out of her comfort zone in countless ways,  cultivating her own self worth, developing a work ethic, not being afraid to speak the truth, confront conflict in a healthy way, knowing what God has gifted her at & pursuing it, maturing into being 100% authentic, Karly.

 At this point going back to school is like a cuss word in our house. I do not know how long we will home school, if we will home school one year or 10, but I do know that for now home school is our happy place. There is something about this way of life that is mysteriously beautiful. It is not something I can put into words. Teaching children with different learning styles at drastically different levels is insanely hard, but I can whole heatedly tell you, next to falling in love with my husband & birthing these 2 babies, there is no greater gift. I am convinced some people wander through life never really finding their happy place, and I am so grateful & blessed to live in ours each & everyday.