Continuing in a week of encouragement from some of the commenters from the post where I was very honest and shared my confusion and heartache over our homeschooling not looking like I always imagined it would.
Today’s post comes from Jimmie from Jimmie’s Collage:
————————–
My homeschool doesn’t look just like I want it to either. We’ve not done nature study or composer study in over 6 months. For a Charlotte Mason educator, that’s a pretty big omission.
Do you REALLY want your homeschool to look like this ideal vision you have?
I mean, maybe there’s an idealistic view we WANT but that we’re not willing/able to work that hard to get. If so, then change your expectations. It seems that our behavior will demonstrate what is REALLY important to us.
I SAY that nature is important, and it is. But when it comes to brass tacks, it’s one of the first things to go out the window. Why? Maybe I WANT to value it more than I really do. Or maybe math and reading just take up so much time, and I’m not willing to keep on doing school for another hour.
The idea here is to really look at the disconnect between desire and reality and see what causes it. Are your ideals in need of revisiting? Or is it your practice? Maybe it’s okay to use worksheets. No one can tell you that. You’ve got to KNOW that in your heart of hearts.
Assuming you really want to achieve that ideal image, here are some practical tips/ideas:
1. Box up the workbooks & put a note on the printer not to print worksheets. Tell your kids you’re taking a break from worksheets to keep you accountable.
2. Make a detailed schedule to include the things you want to include. I think the key here is the detail. Again, tell your kids (or hubby) so that you’ll be held accountable to the plan.
3. Make small steps rather than a total overhaul. (But from what I infer about your personality, possibly an all or nothing, cold turkey approach works better?) Most people prefer making small changes, adding on new successes each week/month/term.
4. Seek accountability in some form — a friend, the blog, etc.
—————————-
Thank you so much, Jimmie, for helping me to see the big picture in it all. Your comments made me realize that what I say is important and what I am actually treating as important are two different things. I think a lot of us struggle with that, so I hope some other people got to see that big picture today through your words.
Tomorrow, in the last post in this week of encouragement, I’m going to revisit some of what I said and share some important realizations that I made (especially after “forcing” the kids to talk to me about all of it).
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a timely article, as I’m trying to figure out what areas of homeschool either fell through the cracks, or dissatisfied us in some way.
One thing I have done, to echo Jimmie’s suggestion for accountability, is to get a membership to a group of bloggers connecting with each other. Hopefully this’ll give me some feedback that I don’t get in real life, living as isolated as we do.
Eddie´s last [type] ..Preschool science – What does a magnet stick to
I can appreciate the difference between what I say is important and what we DO. :)
It’s hard sometimes. I also have come to realize that what we DO is often undocumented and falls into the categories of what I envision–I just need to slow down and see.
For instance, we spent the better part of the afternoon watching baby birds learn to fly. That WAS nature study. Just because the kids aren’t drawing in sketchbooks doesn’t cancel that out. We took pictures!
I do like the idea of accountability but it is important to realize that learning happens in so many, many ways. Often what we formally do for “school” is not truly reflective of what our desires are for school, but the greater part of life may very well reflect those desires. . .life “gets in the way” of “schooling” sometimes, as it SHOULD.
I have enjoyed this weeks’ posts. It’s been thought-provoking.
April´s last [type] ..Crochet Class
One of the best things about home school, is that you are the boss. I love to be the one that decides what works, what worked, what was a disaster. No parent teacher conferences! We learn, grow and make changes. And our kids really do benefit. Two of mine have college degrees now, moving on to grad school. For that I feel good, even when some days it seemed like we did not know what we were doing.
Deila´s last [type] ..Geography- Learning Where Everything Is
Thank you for that wonderful post! It truly brought tears to my eyes and inspired me to have a conversation with my own kids about what they like and don’t like about our homeschool.
Jennifer´s last [type] ..Our babies have hatched!