Homeschooling

Stephen thought I should write a little about how we are homeschooling, so here goes!

All of my kids are in the "Core Phase", which is from age 0 to about 8. I don't use a curriculum other than good/bad, right/wrong, and true/false, relationships, family values - especially spiritual culture, family identity & routines & responsibilities, accountability and the value of love of work and play. Imagine creating a curriculum that incorporates all of that! I think that a good core phase is much more difficult than teaching academics! Basically this is my time with my kids to teach them my values. We work together, read lots and lots of books, and play and serve. Our time is structured, not our content.

For example, a normal day is something like this:

7:30am - get up, make beds, get dressed, eat breakfast

8:30am - chores (clear and wash table, unload dishwasher, sweep, pick up any toys we missed from the night before...sometimes vacuum - but everything tailored to what the kids can do at their ages)

9:30am - "school" We don't do this every day, but most days, because the kids like it. :o) We start with a song, have a prayer, announcements (the kids love this! They tell about...anything), Scripture Picture (someone picks a Gospel Art picture and we learn the story), and Pledge of Allegiance.

Every day, whether we do our opening or not, we read books and play games. Right now the kids want to learn about dinosaurs, so we made lists of everything we know about them and questions that we have. As we read dinosaur books we write down the answers to the questions. Also during this time I play with the kids. Mexican Train and Mancala are two popular games at the moment, and we also build dinosaur homes with blocks (tho Sammy prefers to build trains with blocks).

I guess what I'm getting at is that the morning is my time to be with the kids. I try to not schedule anything for the mornings, unless it is service (for example, we sing at a nursing home every Tuesday morning, and then run errands).

12:00pm - lunch, and then books or music until quiet time

1 - 3:00pm - Quiet time. I am religious about this. I do not function very well when I don't have it. Neither do the kids. Sammy sleeps, Elise & Mason play quietly, I study. The Book of Mormon, "Parenting With Love", "Paradise Lost", "The Walking Drum", "Jane Eyre", "Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning" and "The Chosen" are all open right now. This is MY time to study and learn - and set an example of a love of learning.

3 - 5:15pm - Outside play time. Believe me, my kids get "socialization"!!!!! I won't even begin to list all the kids on our cul-de-sac! From ages 2 - 8 there are 17 kids regularly out front playing. Elise's especial friends are a 6-year-old girl next door and 4- & 6-year old sisters across the street. And they are from top-knotch families that I would be friends with even if we weren't neighbors!

5:15pm - come in, wash up, set the table, pick up the random things that somehow congregate downstairs. :o)

5:45-ish - I'm so glad when Daddy comes home! And dinner, and all the clean-up that goes along with it...

6:45-ish - get-ready-for-bed time...baths, books, scriptures...all that jazz

8:00pm - I go downstairs and hope the kids will fall asleep soon. :o) And then I finish cleaning up and study some more. But not nearly as long as Stephen (...2am).

Mornings are for learning, afternoons are for setting an example, and evenings are for inspiring. It works well.

In case I somehow missed the point, we are not focused on academics right now. I'm not not teaching them by not having a set curriculum, I'm just teaching them different things that Stephen and I believe are more important. I don't run my home like a public school - my kids aren't in public school for a reason! With all my imperfections, Stephen & I know that the best place for our children is here, at home, where we can instill the values in them that will bless them the rest of their lives.

When we first learned about "A Thomas Jefferson Education" it felt right - unknowingly we were already trying to incorporate some of the principles, and it gave us the hope that we were moving in the right direction for our family. I know that I don't know much, but I also know that I'm doing what is right for my family. It is HARD sometimes. Many people don't agree with what I'm doing, and it is so different even than other homeschoolers that I often feel alone and uncertain. But it is right, and I take great comfort in that fact.