My friend Gretchen is hosting a
Homeschool Friday series on her blog
and I'm writing along this week.
We don't "do school" like a lot of other homeschoolers...
our lifestyle dictates/demands a different rhythm to our days.
Each fall,
I feel like I'm pulling and pulling and pulling to get them to do school.
I feel this pull as well, because basically the first question posed to me by anyone I randomly meet is,
"So have you started school yet?"
My homeschooling friends' blog and facebook posts are all about what they are using for school
and how they started in August.
It's my own version of peer pressure--
except it's self-induced.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to home education.
If we don't do it like another family, it doesn't mean we are doing it wrong--
it's just different.
And so, I quit pulling
and let the children continue living.
We live in Minnesota--
there are plenty of blizzard days and bitterly cold days
and rainy days and beastly hot days on which to accomplish a lot of our seat work.
I use a literature saturated approach to learning
so the kids are constantly reading good, living books
year round.
So during this gorgeous fall we are having,
I've been less about "school"
and more about life...family life.
The bigger boys are helping Dennis with harvest;
the other kids play a lot outside.
There have been a lot of football games played
by the whole crew during the afternoons.
Forts have been built from the sheets blowing on the clothesline.
They spend hours pretending together
with brothers who are alternately
defending and then attacking the fort.
I don't have a long list of
"this is the book we are using for this subject".
I don't (and probably won't) spend a lot of time on my blog
talking about how we homeschool.
The truth is,
many of the people who read this blog wouldn't understand many of the decisions I make regarding our homeschooling journey and would consequently mistake or misunderstand my methods.
See this picture here?
Would you like to know what Elijah began saying to me just as I pressed the shutter?
"Uhhh, Mom? You're interrupting our play time."
That mom's night session, along with your and Gretchen's posts are such a source of encouragement to me! I have felt a lot of pressure (this year especially) to do public school at home, and that is not the point of what we are doing. We have the freedom to set our curriculum and schedules for what our family and children need, and it's very easy to forget that. It is very freeing to know that we have that freedom, and I needed that reminder. :) I am sure it is something I will need to keep coming back to, but thank you so much for this! God bless! :)
ReplyDeleteI can tell you have been at this longer than I have! Re-programing my brain to think through the goals that we have as a family, rather than through the filter of what everyone else does is a process.
ReplyDeleteIt is often misunderstood, so I'm so pleased that you posted this despite the fears you may have had in being misunderstood. I get what you're saying. ;)