This year, we decided to pull the girls out of school to homeschool. There were a lot of unknowns heading in to the school year from a district perspective, and I wanted to shield the girls as much as possible from the "new" normal, because it just didn't sit well with me.
DJ agreed that we could give homeschooling a try and that we would re-evaluate every so often. As of right now, the girls will continue to be homeschooled through the end of December, and while we've talked about sending them back in January, we also want to do some traveling this Spring, and it would be easiest if they weren't in "real" school. So, maybe they'll be home all year.
I get asked a lot how we like home school, and I have to admit, I'm a huge fan. I never thought that I could homeschool, but once I actually let go of the idea of "public school" at home, and realized how much independence we actually can have with it, I really opened my mind to the possibilities.
Also, I feel a lot less stressed than I typically do during a school year. When we rush around in the morning to get everyone out the door on time, and when we rush in the afternoons, to come home, have snack, do some homework, and get back out the door for activities, then dinner, baths, more homework, bedtime- it's exhausting! I was stressed and overwhelmed and all of that is gone right now.
More than anything, I am enjoying have the excess pressure and stress gone.
I'm still working two days a week and on those days, the girls are home with a sitter. I leave them activities they can do at home, so they're still having school on those days.
Adalyn will have: Handwriting, Spelling, a small reading paragraph with a reading comprehension question, and 1-2 math pages, and sometimes a social studies activity, and grammar.
Megan has about the same: Spelling, Handwriting, Math, Science, and grammar or reading.
On the days that I'm home, we hit the books harder and do more.
The girls have Bible where we work on memorizing a Bible verse, and then we use the Bible app for a devotion, or we watch a kids service on YouTube, and the girls dance around to songs. Megan asks for Bible if for some reason I'm running behind and don't get to it. She's great at reminding me we need to do it.
They also do handwriting and spelling on the days I'm home.
Adalyn is using The Good and the Beautiful for her language arts/reading curriculum. That is parent-led so we work through it when I'm home. Some times the lessons take 30 minutes, other times they take longer. A lot depends on how motivated Adalyn is. We also work on phonics and sight words during this time, and some days we turn that in to a game which takes longer. For Math, we lucked out and received a text book from their public school from when Megan was in 2nd grade. So, we're working our way through it and supplementing with some workbooks. Math is Adalyn's favorite subject and she's really good at it! I also have some workbooks for reading comprehension and grammar that we'll work through when I'm home.
We are really working on reading skills this year and trying to make her a stronger reader. She just doesn't enjoy reading, so that's a big goal for us. I'll have her take books when her sisters are in activities, and she reads to me, or we take her Good & Beautiful workbook and do that in the car. It really fits in to our schedule wonderfully.
On the days I'm home, Megan uses the Easy Peasy curriculum and does Math, Reading, Language Arts, Science, and Art. It's computer based, and she sometimes needs my help accessing it or guiding her through, so she only does it when I'm home to help. Plus, Gretchen is using our main computer, so they can't really share :)
Gretchen is using the Easy Peasy curriculum as well. She's taking 2 history courses, because she wanted to. She is also taking reading, language arts, chemistry, a thinking course (which is a 1x a week class with brain activities- think soduku, chess, etc.). She is also taking a Bible course, so she doesn't participate when I do Bible with the little girls, and finally, she takes pre-algebra, which is our biggest struggle, but we're making it.
The girls are really doing a great job working together. If they need help reading directions or a sentence, the big girls help Adalyn. When Megan needed help making a diarama, Gretchen stepped in and helped her.
We are incorporating some fun activities along the way. On Columbus day, we did some fun sentence structure and math activities. We also watched videos and learned a bit more of the truth of Columbus, and talked about the good things he did and the horrible things he did.
We've tried to make learning fun with lots of games. Little scavenger hunts, musical chair type games, etc.
And yes, I worry all the time if they'll be behind their peers or if I didn't teach them something the way a classroom teacher would have taught it. I worry if we go through subjects too fast or not enough. I worry that I'm failing them. I'm really worried that this "new normal" is here to stay.
And then, they do big things and I think "we've got this" They are thriving and succeeding and learning! It looks different this year, but it would look different if they were virtual learning or in a classroom. We have days where we spend 4 hours doing school work, and other days where we only spend 2 hours.
In all, it's been a wonderful experience and one I'm so glad that we decided to try. As far as going back to school, we are letting the girls guide us as well and talking to them about what school looks like and what their experiences would be. Gretchen wants to go back because she loves having a teacher, versus teaching herself. A lot of her course work is self-taught/paced. Adalyn wants to go back because- friends!!! Megan has said that she loves homeschooling and would be fine not going back at all, but last week she mentioned that she missed school and wondered who her teacher would have been.
So, we'll just play it by ear and enjoy the moment we are in right now, because we all seem to be thriving.
