Finding my homeschooling style

I've encountered a variety of homeschooling styles in the groups I've gone along to. The first homeschooler we came in contact with back in Scotland was highly structured. Her whole house was a library and the walls were covered in educational posters and kids artwork. I felt overwhelmed and didn't know how I'd ever achieve that.


Kaya's typography art. It doesn't say anything in particular.

Then I met the unschoolers. And it appealed to me. It seemed simple and intuitive.

But I am an awkward sort of person. I need some structure in my life, to keep me accountable. I sort of like lists and organization. But at the sniff of over structure I completely rebel. When there are too many rules I start to just want to break them.

So we've been feeling our way through this and I think we're settling into something that works for us. Just the right balance for us.


We employ the unschooling approach for the most part. Which involves learning through play, spending time together, reading, going out and investigating flowers, reading stories, baking together, counting money, etc etc.



But I also take a couple hours between breakfast and lunch to do some structured school work. Even at that it's not very structured. I don't have a set curriculum to work through, I just make up a list of things I want to cover in the year, and we wing it. I have various work books which we make our way through, and it helps keep me accountable. I know we're learning enough to cover the material in the books. If something comes up which I haven't taught yet then I know what our next lesson will be.

Kaya's just finishing up her 1st grade year and Lana rekons she's done with preschool and ready to start kindergarten. She's finished the workbooks for sure, and is reading really quite well for a 4 year old. She reads the same books we get from the library for Kaya!



I think we're finally starting to settle into a routine - no that word smells too much like structure - a pattern that works for us. We have fun learning together. I learn so much too! Homeschooling has its pros and cons for sure, and I'm thinking I'll make a blog post about those at some point. I am just really enjoying getting to spend the day with my kids, from start to end, raising and teaching them and watching them grow and learn. It feels like such an accomplishment. And it's a privilege I am so grateful for.



Having said that...I am totally looking forward to the Summer break when we will take a much more laid back approach! Bring it on Summer. hehe.

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We're rich

Firstly, sorry if I complain too much about not having much money. If I've come across as claiming to be poor then I have gravely misrepresented myself.

The fact is, Rene and I, our family - we are rich. Rolling in wealth, stinking rich.

MATERIALLY
Materially, we have much. Sure, we are technically classed as low income and are eligible for WIC and other assistance (though we don't claim it, for a number of reasons. One of which is we disagree with WIC's opinion of what is healthy, and also simply that we didn't move to the USA just to live off of tax payers' money).

But when you zoom out a bit and compare us to just 2 years ago, when we left behind all our worldy possessions and stepped out on a limb, moving to a new Country with 5 suitcases of photographs and papers and 1 of clothes as our only belongings, and 2 kids on tow plus one more due in 5 weeks. We had naught. But we were trusting in the bible verse my Dad read to us on our Wedding day,

Psalm 37
3 Trust in the Lord and do good.
Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart’s desires.

5 Commit everything you do to the Lord.
Trust him, and he will help you.
6 He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn,
and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.

My Dad and Step Mother took us in and took extremely good care of us for those first few months. We are so grateful. It was scary leaving them May 2007, to go off to Nebraska, where we knew no-one and had no job and no savings.

But God delivered. He took care of us. When we look around our house, we can count on two hands, the number of things we have actually bought, rather than were given. And we can count on one hand the number of those which were bought at full price. We haven't had to buy the TV, beds, dressers, sofa, microwave, kitchen table, chairs, dishes, silverware, cooking equipment. We've been gifted everything and are so grateful.

There are so many people around us who have so much less than us. We pray we will be good stewards with what God has given us.

And Rene is starting a new job in 3 weeks. It was a very tough decision to make, but we feel this job will provide us more financial stability and job security, especially given the state of the economy just now.


But really, materially wasn't where I was going with the whole rich thing.



FRIENDSHIPS

WOWsers have we ever been blessed in this area. I'm an introvert, and Rene is the extrovert. I wasn't overly scared about the social issues with moving country. Rene was deeply troubled however, that we wouldn't be able to integrate well in our new home. Admittedly, in those last few weeks in Scotland, when we were saying goodbye over and over to so many amazing, incredible people, I started to wonder, "what in the heck are we doing?". We left behind some life shaping, amazing relationships with the most wonderful people.

But again, God has provided for us again here. We have an awesome support system around us here. Lincoln has been so welcoming to us, and there are folks here who have just embraced us with open arms and made us feel we truly belong. In 2 short years, we've gotten to know some people who it feels like we've known forever. People rally around us when we're in crisis, and truly our cup of friendship if overflowing. Yes, I did just say something as cheesy as that.


KIDS

When I was a young girl, I used to say when I grew up I wanted to be a wife and a mother, and have 12 kids. I'm not quite there yet, but well on the way. I have always had a deep yearning to love my own offspring, and sometimes I look around me at my sweet little ones, each busting with their own personality, and I just can hardly believe I've really been given all this. It's everything I ever wanted. And I am everything they need right now. And that is a privilege that completely blows my head off. The only thing that would make this more perfect is of course, if Heather were still here. But then 10 weeks I had with her were also an incredible blessing.

I am so thankful that Rene makes enough money so we can pay our bills and can afford for me to stay home and educate the kids, nurture them and help them grow. I believe I have one of the single most important jobs in the entire world, and I pray I will do it well. I am certainly savoring it, I truly am. I'm so grateful that I get to be the one to sit beside them on the couch and teach them to read, that I am the one who gets to show them nature and explain what it is and what it does, that I get to be the one to see the look of satisfaction on their faces when they figure out how something works or how to solve a problem. And I get to be the one my little girls want to be just like when they grow up - what an amazing, beautiful responsibility. I am so glad that they are growing up with the assurance that I am there for them, any time they need me. That's worth more money than the richest person on the planet could afford.


EACH OTHER



We married young. You could say, young and stupid. We were dating at 16 and 18 years old, and married at 19 and 22. (2.5 years age difference) We've learned a heck of a lot in that time. We had some really difficult times, and have grown through them. We went through marriage counseling a few years back, which completely changed the direction we were going in for the better. I believe, in my heart of hearts, that God brought us together, that we were chosen for each other. Rene really is my soul mate. I love him endlessly.



Ultimately, I don't want to be wealthy financially. I feel it would only distract me from what's truly important in life. We make ends meet, and that's sufficient. God has given us so very much. We are rich.

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I was having a bad day yesterday

Poor Zoe had the pukes and had been up all night, Turtle is teething and the older two were fighting all day. I was feeling really frustrated.

As I was calming down, drinking a beer and cooking a meal, I overheard Kaya consult with her Daddy about a computer game she was playing, where she's a teen girl and she has to keep her well maintained. I heard Rene tell her,

"Your relationships are low, your hygiene is low and your learning is low. You need to get out and talk to people, have a bath and go to school"

I couldn't help but giggle to myself at the accuracy of the statement.

Sometimes I feel like I'm doing everything wrong and everyone hates me and I'm ruining my kids, and I'd be best to just ship them off and have a break. But today has been a better day and I'm loving having them near and watching them grow and learn. I guess I'm growing and learning along the way too.

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My resourceful daugher

I was reading to the kids about crickets and grasshoppers and we were learning about exoskeletons, meanwhile Zoe was raiding the tub of cotton swabs and throwing them all over the floor!

So at tidy up time I told Kaya we'd need to throw them out and she thought that would be far too wasteful, so she said "no, we should keep them and learn about animal skeletons and use these to make models of them".

What a great idea! She's so creative and so resourceful.

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Why do we need to have bones?

I'm just reflecting today on how many learning opportunities for young children the day provides when you are able to spend it together.

I'm homeschooling my children and still finding my style, but for the most part we just wing it. We have workbooks and things which we go through, and we always have an ongoing project, for example just now we're learning about the earth's resources and how we can help preserve them.

But in terms of individual lessons, I find I don't have to make any forward plans. All I have to do is be available to my children and spend time with them, and they start asking questions and if I can't answer them, we find out together. Just at breakfast this morning Lana was asking "Why do we need to have bones?", "how is orange juice made?" and "What happens to food after it goes in your tummy?"

I don't imagine that children have the same opportunities in a traditional school, to just ask random questions as they come up, and while their interest is high. This is definitely one of the pros of homeschooling. It's such a pleasure and privilage to be able to be present while my children are learning about life, to watch them hunger for information and grow in knowledge and skill. It's wonderful to be able to be a part of this process.

I remember one special moment, standing outside Asda grocery store in Scotland on a clear, cool night when Kaya was a few months old. I was holding her and she was looking up at the sky. I pointed to the moon and said "that's the moon. Moon." And then I suddenly thought to myself - I just showed her the moon, she had never seen it before, or noticed it before, and I just had the privilage of teaching her this word for the first time, and showing her the magic of it's luminosity against the night sky. What a wonderful moment. I'm so glad to be homeschooling and to be able to enjoy many such moments.

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