The Homeschooling Life (on a good day)

After two long weeks of snow and festivities, everyone was ready to jump back into school. That is somewhat remarkable considering the groaning that often pours forth from my off-springs' mouths when the word "school" is mentioned. Since a lot of you have asked me about homeschool, I thought I would take this chance to give you a little snapshot of our day. Keep in mind this is a good day - the kids and I were all excited to get back into the swing of things.

Erik (who is enrolled in kindergarten at our local elementary school) decided he wanted to do homeschool with Djeryd today. He worked on patterning with a calendar and stringing beads. Anna like the idea of beading as well, and sat down with her string and the remaining basket of beads. We use big painted wooden ones.


While Erik busied himself with patterning, Djeryd did copy work (he has terrible handwriting), read a book about weather (he then "showered" me with interesting facts for the rest of the day), wrote about Christmas in his journal, and perused a book on ancient Egypt.

Anna amused herself with a tea party for herself and Tinkerbell until succumbing to the temptation of Erik's beading efforts.

After that she decided she wanted to write a few thoughts down on pink (of course) paper.

Around lunch time the kids were tiring of their studies and I needed to make some bread for dinner tonight. Erik and Anna pulled their little red chairs up to the counter and gazed, enthralled, at the wheat grinder for a solid five minutes while the heaping pile of wheat kernels dwindled slowly down an invisible chute. After the dough rose, Anna "helped" shape rolls (I don't think any of her dough actually made it to the baking pan - it all ended up in her tummy - thankfully it was a very small amount).

Even though today will seem ideal and magical to the casual observer, it was filled with the usual fatigue and frustration of any other day around here. The house is a mess, despite my having cleaned it all day long. I fret about my kids getting the very best education they can, and the fine line between flexibility and follow-through. I love homeschooling. Although it seems like every day consists of climbing a mountain blind-folded, it is more rewarding than virtually anything I have done as a mother (aside from giving birth, etc.). I feel like I'm changing the world by helping to build these wonderful little people in a tremendously personal way. It's taxing, but I wouldn't trade it for anything (most of the time). ;>