St. Andrew’s Home School

As I plan for this next year I need to think through what changes need to be made from previous years. What worked? What did not work? I came across this week’s HOTM meme and decided it would fit right in with my review of previous years and planning the one to come.

The most important thing for me of which I need to let go is the strict schedule. When we first started the journey of educating at home I was determined that for us to be successful (for me to be successful, or seen as successful) we had to have a strict schedule. One that required each subject to be done at a certain time and then be done with our “school” day by noon (as they were young and that was easily accomplished).

All this did was cause me a great amount of frustration. Therefore the children were frustrated and confused and unhappy. I was trying to fit unconventional schooling peg into a conventional schooling whole. Guess what? It doesn’t work that way. At least for us. Life wasn’t happening. We were not happy. So each year we adjust as needed. As they get older and are able to do a bit more on their own anyway it allows for me to let go a bit more. I let go and let us all live a bit more. I tend to be controlling, not of their lives in the means of snuffing out who God has made them to be, but in the sense of over-ordering things around me. A guess it’s a little bit of an OCD tendency. Chaos is not good for anyone, but I have to tell myself daily that everything around me does not have to be perfect. If their glue runs over a bit, it’s OK. They did it by themselves. They are proud of their creations as they should be, and so am I.

They each like to get a list of what they need to do each week, but they all like a different format of that list. Because they are individuals and they each have their own gifts and abilities, they each like to start their day a bit differently, that’s OK too. Two wake up ready to face the day and are bounding with energy that needs a bit of taming before they can be still and focus on the work at hand. Those two begin their mornings with a bit of outside time, bike riding, trampoline jumping, running, exercising. Another one wakes up slowly like her mother. She needs a bit of time to wake up her brain and get going but some mornings move to slowly and we are working on that.

My point is that each one of them is different and I can not force them into my time mold - none of would be happy. So I give them their work load and expectations weekly, stay on top of those that need the extra push to complete the less desirable tasks, and work with them when and where they need it.

Educating at home is a lifestyle. Every child is different. Every family is different. Every year is different, even within the dame family. Life changes, so must our school year.

The hardest thing I have had to learn to do and the best thing I have learned to do is to let go of the schedule. We all learn better. We all learn more. We all live better. We all live happier. And we all love learning at home more.