Posts Tagged ‘Homeschooling’
Learning to Homeschool
Posted on: September 10, 2013
- In: Life
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Motherhood didn’t come naturally to me. But because it seemed like it came naturally to so many other moms around me, I was crushed when I found it to be hard and overwhelming. I’ve never once had someone tell me “You’re such a natural at mothering.” Nope. Not me. I work every day against my own selfish desires to parent and love my children. The work is hard, but the work is good.
Lunch time
However, when we started exploring homeschooling, I figured that teaching at least would come naturally. I naturally like learning and exploring. I naturally like teaching my children new ideas. I naturally like the concept of home learning.
But three weeks into our school year and I’m realizing I am going to have to work at homeschooling, just as much as I work at parenting.
And the learning curve is steep.
I’m figuring out how to mother and teach. I’m figuring out when Julia focuses best and when I’m most patient. I’m figuring out what this new role looks like for our family.
P.E. at Zilker
So, homeschooling doesn’t come as naturally as I hoped. But, I’m willing to fight for it. I’m willing to put in the time and energy it takes to learn how to teach my children. Just like I have fought for learning to parent over the past {nearly} six years.
And for me, fighting for something makes me value it even more than if it were to come “naturally”. So here’s to a cause worth fighting for!
Julia’s First Day of Preschool
Posted on: August 25, 2011
- In: Life
- 12 Comments
Yesterday was Julia’s first day of preschool outside of our home. We’ve been “homeschooling” since last year. After taking off for the summer, we started back again at the beginning of August. But this week, Julia started preschool at a local church. Technically, it’s a mother’s day out program, but they offer lesson plans and curriculum for the students. Julia will be going Mondays and Wednesdays from 9-2. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we will continue her “schooling” at home.
I have to admit, I’m really excited for this new adventure for Julia {and our family}. Our family has really been exploring how homeschooling will look for us and doing something along the lines of a homeschooling co-op. With Julia’s preschool, we are getting our first taste of what a co-op could act as for us. Her preschool follows after Wee Learn, which incorporates biblical foundations through play centered activities. Every class has a verse of the day that the teachers focus on. We have the schedule through September and will be using those verses at home to help Julia with memorization.
While it’s very exciting, it’s still emotional. Hannah spent most of the day ask for Julia {quote “I want my sister!”}. When we picked Julia up, Hannah started crying. Julia ran up to her and showered her with hugs and kisses. They spent the rest of the afternoon playing together {and I should note, there was much less sibling fighting than usual – which is a major plus}. Jonathan was with us to drop Julia off and pick her up. He kept asking me while we were dropping her off if I was going to cry. I did get a pretty good lump in my throat, but managed to not shed any tears. However, when we talked about it through out the day, I did get sad. Not because I think this isn’t a great opportunity for Julia, but because I just missed my baby. We have her daily schedule hanging on our fridge, and it was comforting having an idea of what she was doing throughout the day.
Have your kids, or you, started back to school this week?
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
- In: Life
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Our family’s educational plans {at this point} are to homeschool the Windhamettes. For various reasons we love the idea and I have been looking forward to both the challenge and excitement of being their teacher.
At the beginning of September we started “school”. Tuesdays and Thursdays for 15-20 minutes the girls sit in the kitchen writing or reading. Hannah doesn’t do much other than scribble on paper, but Julia has really taken off over the last few weeks. We have books that can be written in with dry erase markers, so she practices her numbers, letters, shapes and identifying colors. It has been an absolute joy {most times!} and she is loving it {most days!}. We’ve taken a couple of “field trips” around the neighborhood to learn about different things in our city {what are/how fire hydrants work, why we don’t feed wild animals, etc}. I keep it pretty low key, going at Julia’s rate and allowing her to decide how things go {like when to stop – she usually wants to go past the time limit but Hannah doesn’t}. Our school days are making me look forward even more to our time when we really start “schooling”.
A Wife Loved Like The Church 
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