Normal. What is normal anyway? I don’t have the answer to that. I know our current version of normal, and it probably looks different from yours, and that’s ok!
Homeschool vs. School at Home
This post is as much for me as it is for anyone reading this. Writing helps me process my thoughts. It helps me sort them out. And I’m needing a heavy dose of reminding of what homeschooling is all about. And it is NOT the same as school at home!
I am a recovering “School at Home-er”. Is that a thing? Part of it stems from my few years in the classroom as a 4th-grade teacher. And part of it just stems from my rule-following, slightly rigid personality. If you’ve read my post: How We Became Outside the Box Learners, then you already know that our homeschool has transformed from what it originally was. I’ve had to tweak things over the years to find a rhythm that works for our family. It is a constant work in progress by the way. And it’s been a bumpy road at times getting here.
A Unique Start to the Year
We had a unique start to this school year. The first few weeks of the year were spent out west in Yellowstone National Park! That actually stressed me out a bit. I mean, I wanted to start strong with our routine here at home. It’s part of my rule-following nature. But truly, what nature experience can compare to Yellowstone. My kids learned a ton – a ton of info that will actually stick since it was interesting and in the context of real life, not just a textbook.
When the kids arrived home from the trip, I got sick and we lost a couple of days. The days were not really lost but I had to command the ship from the bed – which shouldn’t have but did leave me to feel defeated. Then we had a few days with appointments and such. And now, it’s October! Aaaagh!
Breathe Katie, breathe…
Checking or NOT checking the boxes
So, here I am reminding myself that homeschool is not the same as school at home. It’s ok if the boxes aren’t all checked each day… It’s ok that the first few weeks of the year were not at our house. It’s ok if some days we spend a few hours on math, but zero on reading. Or if we spend the day or part of the day serving together as a family, but don’t get to read as much. Or if handwriting for the day is writing something completely unrelated to what’s in our handwriting workbook. I am constantly learning to watch for cues of my kiddo’s brains being engaged and then trying to run with that.
After all, “Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire”.
