I did it! Year 1 of homeschooling down!

I did it! I finished my first year homeschooling my kids! Well... not the full year.. I didn't start until November... but STILL It's done!

It didn't always go smoothly. I feel that I took too many breaks(hence why school went into June, but it worked out since that's when the local schools here finished) We also went through 2 moves and a not so easy living situation(1 adult, 1 teen, and 2 kids crammed into a partially finished basement. My bedroom, school room, and living room were all the same room... It was hard) I did it though! Regardless of the difficult times, the often reluctant children, and the am-I-ever-going-to-get-a-break-again long days.

So with that being said, I compiled a list of 5 things I want to do better next year:

    1. Don't stress if I break the schedule
Well hey there that's a nice little schedule, I bet that helps keep you all nice and organized and stress  free!
Well, not really... I mean, most days we follow it...kind of...

See at first I was trying so strictly to keep to this schedule. We have to spend EXACTLY THIS LONG ON MATH! and EXACTLY THIS LONG ON SCIENCE! Sometimes we need a little more time for math, it's a pretty complex subject... Sometimes though, we just breeze through it. When  I tried to stick strictly to this schedule I ended up working against myself and hindering my child's learning process.  Now we use it more as a "When we finish this subject we'll move onto this subject" type of guideline, and if we end up skipping a subject that day because I think we're a little burnt out from a rough day of math, I don't stress it.





    2. Have more FUN days!
I want to take more days to explore nature, build puzzles, play board games and HAVE FUN! Kids learn so much just by doing... Especially my rambunctious little guy! We just need to take more days to DO and less days to WORK.  Don't get me wrong, I still feel that book work is important, but so is play. Towards the end of the year I took more days to relax and have fun with the kids, and funny thing happened... I saw my son stop resisting reading! I saw him strive to learn new things that interested him... I saw how hungry he was for knowledge!  When I stopped pushing so hard, he stopped fighting. Children want to learn. So let them.








     3. Ask more Questions

I talk talk talk talk talk...well, that's what a teacher's supposed to do right? But I want to start asking more questions, and listening more intently. I want my children to know that their words have value. That what they say matters. That they have an opinion, and I care about what that is.












4. Stop being so hard on myself.
This is a hard one. Sometime I feel like I am two steps from failing my kids... but every time I feel that way, I have to stop and remember how much better my son has been doing since we started homeschooling. How much his confidence has grown, how I have seen him bloom. Am I perfect? Absolutely not. Do I have bad days? More than I'd like to admit. Am I doing what I know is the best for my children. Yes.  I can't be so hard on myself every time a day doesn't go as planned or a great project I've been working on flops. I have to pick myself up and keep going. This is what's best for my kids, and I am so thankful that I am in a position where I can do this with them.







5. Enjoy as much of it as possible.... and don't sweat the days I'm not enjoying

This one kind of encompasses all of numbers 1-4.  I have so many days where I'm just trying to get through it and then I look back and think... Wow, I could have been having fun, but instead I was just trying to get to the finish line...
   So I want to take the time to enjoy as much as possible! That being said, I'd be silly to think that I will or SHOULD enjoy every minute of homeschooling. There are going to be plenty of days ahead where I want to pull my hair out or throw in the towel! It's ok to have a hard day. I'm hoping though, that if I take more time to enjoy the fun stuff, the small stuff and the sweet moments, that the harder days will be easier to get through. Because my kids are worth every moment that I put towards homeschooling.