Friday, August 23, 2013

We made it thru week 2!

We survived our second week of homeschooling without any casualties.  No one has ran away from home in a screaming fit, no one has asked to go back to "regular school", no one has locked themselves in the bathroom and refused to come out.  And that's just the adults!

The truth is, we have settled into this a lot easier than I anticipated.  The kids are slowly finding their own rhythm.  The twins have adjusted really well, they are ready and eager to get their work done in the morning so they can get to the important stuff, like PE lessons and terrorizing their sister.  My girl is taking her time finding her rhythm.  Slowly, she is taking more and more ownership of her school work; and feeling more and more confident about structuring her daily schedule.  

Every day brings a lesson, at least in my opinion.  So here are a few of the lessons/realizations/thoughts for our 2nd week of homeschooling.  (Disclaimer: These are not all my own.  My husband is the one who does the teaching, but he doesn't blog and many of these are his thoughts.  The others are the kids, a few are mine.  I'm simply the crazy lady with the laptop and a blog)

Starting every "school day" with a prayer makes it go easier.  We are a Christian family. Even though we did not choose homeschooling for religious reasons, we are raising our kids in the ways of our faith.  Every week, I write our weekly Bible verse and place it on our bulletin board.  Every morning, my husband prays before everyone begins to tackle their assignments.  Wednesday, he mentioned how well things were going, and said "Starting every day with a prayer really does help me get thru the lessons".  

We are all teachers, even my husband.  If anyone had told my husband he would one day homeschool his children, he probably would have called them crazy (among other things).  I'm not sure anyone would expect my Harley ridding husband to have the patience to teach.  Yet here he is, educating his children.  And he is so good at it!  He finds ways to engage them, and keep their interest, and even quiz them without them realizing it. 

The cleaning fairy does exist.  Really, she does.  I'm not sure how it happened, but now that we are homeschooling, our house is cleaner than when the kids were attending regular school.  Mind you, it is NOT spotless.   There are still shoes they forget to pick up, and dishes they forget to take off the table.  But I can actually see the floors! All the school books and notebooks are always in its place and I don't have to wonder where the pencils are when it's time to work on something.  Maybe the kids like to have things in their place?  Nah, I'm pretty sure the cleaning fairy is real.

The laundry fairy, however, does not exist.  Laundry multiplies, no matter where your kids attend school.  I had this idea that once we started to homeschool, the amount of laundry would diminished.  I mean, the kids could do their school work in their pajamas.  Rather than wearing 3 outfits each day (school clothes, home clothes, then pajamas); they would wear maybe 2.  Nope, apparently my kids like to look their best no matter the occasion.  

Kids are highly adaptable creatures.  I have been amazed to see how easily they have become homeschoolers.  I know every week won't be easy.  I'm sure there will be whiny days, and sick days, and days we will all reconsider this choice. But the kids do understand that, even though we have a flexible schedule now, school work is still required.  They don't need a classroom, a chalkboard, to understand that school work is important.  

We are a team, all five of us.  I knew we were a family. I married the boy, we had the kids, we became a family.  But now we are a team.  The success of our homeschool depends on all of us; not just the adults.  The kids have taken their place on the team and are doing their part.  Our girl will help dad with a lesson if the boys are just not "getting it" the way he is explain it.  They don't fuss when she does, they simply listen to her.  The boys do their assignments without issues, always ready to get done and move to the next thing.  And my husband, the tough guy who many doubted could do this, is doing an amazing job at engaging and teaching the kids.  
I'm doing my part too, I guess.  I do the planning and make sure their weekly schedules are ready for them.  As my friend Terri said, I'm just managing the team, they are doing the real work.

And they are doing a beautiful job.