Is It Naptime Yet

If you know me, you know I’m one of the most consistent at being inconsistent home-schooling moms there is. We go through good schooling times and less active schooling times. It’s true my girls are pretty smart and intelligent, where our unschooling has taken place, but they definitely have some areas where they lack the know how, or just plan practice.

I started our formal schooling last week and I have a few areas of heavy focus, which means we’re working on them 4 times a week, since we take Mondays off and I’m trying to be practical and help them in areas they have interest, or have taught themselves, but are lacking, because well, they taught themselves.

One is writing, like how to write letters properly. Both girls know how to write all the letters, except lowercase q’s, but are not writing them all properly, or starting out in the correct areas, so we’ll be working on those.

Second is spelling. Both my girls read like crazy, but only one is where she needs to be spelling wise, and that’s Eden. Eden learned most of her reading phonetically, so she understands spelling and spells things correctly, for her limited writing, where as Lilah writes a lot, but does not spell everything correctly. I have an actual curriculum I’m using for this, and putting them both through it, and we’re starting at the very basics. I like it and think it will help them a lot, especially Lilah.

Last is math. They both know a lot, but I’m finally getting to the point I need an actual book for Lilah, rather than just work books and real life situations and discussions with us. Lilah’s in the third grade, which is totally crazy to me, and I finally feel that a more curriculum based math is what she needs. We’re quickly working through some lower level math books, and by January I hope to start her at a third grade level book. She’s able to work completely on her own, with a little help from me, which is exactly what I want for math, until she gets older, and even as she gets older, I’m fine if we wait and she might be a little behind, and then she’s able to read through and work things out for herself at a later point. It’s finding a good curriculum that tells them the why and not just the how to solve a problem.

Some might judge that I’m doing my girls a disservice. How could I let them get so far behind on such basic things? But honestly, I think they’re fine, and they learn quickly when the time is right. I’ve enjoyed having them home, and I love that they get to play for most of the day. Some of their play time is spent reading, a lot really, and some is spent fighting over Mario Cart, though for the most part they get along, it’s when mom says no that the arguing ensues, and most is spent with us as a family and that’s just the way I want it.

So there’s what we’re doing for school this year, of course I have other goals for us, but these are the areas we’re lacking and I feel it’s starting to interfere with their learning or ability to grow and learn more. I hope I can be a more consistent home-schooling parent. I think we’re all under agreement that we need to step up and put more into school. Lilah has been really cooperative and is really wanting to get better at all I’ve mentioned, while Eden is being the stubborn one in some areas. I’ve really enjoyed our school time last week, and found it really encouraging for us. I know we’re entering a new phase in our schooling and we’re doing just what we need to.

I’m not trying to do public school at home, I’m trying to make my home a place of learning and growing.