His Treasure Seekers

This was a great year of learning me, not just for my children, but for me.  The most important thing I learned?  Don’t be afraid of changing the way you do things.  In particular for me, don’t be afraid of using computer-based lessons if that’s what’s working.

I’ve never had a problem with letting them play a few educational computer games on occasion, but I had this ideal picture in my mind that involved math lessons with lots of manipulatives and rich read-aloud times with lots of hands-on projects for all our other core subjects.  That’s what our preschool years looked like, and I thought that was the best way to continue.

So What Happened?

This year was the first year I’ve really tried to consider what things will be like when I’m trying to teach more than just Ian.  Elijah was still preschool-age, so I didn’t require anything from him, but he often expressed a desire to do some school work, so there were times I was trying to work through lessons with both of them, especially in math.  It got a bit overwhelming at times, trying to get through two complete math lessons as well as all our other subjects.

The ideal 1st grade year I had in mind for Ian morphed a LOT as the months passed.  Most of those changes were made in anticipation of Elijah joining us for Kindergarten next year (and then Arianna, Nicholas, and our newest little guy).  Others were made because Ian seemed to learn better when I strayed from my plans.

Whatever the reasons, most of those changes led us toward using the computer for lessons.  We still did a lot of read-alouds, but Ian just thrived when we switched his math over to computer-based programs.  He hates doing worksheets (which I’ve tried to use minimally as it was), yet he loves doing the exact same type of activities on the computer.

Moving Forward from Here

Switching to the computer eliminated most of our battles over schoolwork, and it freed me up to spend more time with the little ones.  As I prayed about our next year, I decided to make a major shift in the way we approach school.  I’ve always thought I’d focus on the older children and let the little ones pick up things as they tagged along.  My plan for next year, however, is to focus on my preschooler.

In the mornings, I want to do preschool with Arianna the way I did it with Ian, focusing on Bible stories (looking forward to breaking out the old flannel board set) and children’s literature (probably a mix of Before Five in a Row and Five in a Row).  The boys can join us, either as helpers or learning right alongside her.  I also want to do Spanish with all of them, but I’m not yet sure what I’m going to use.

When we’ve finished preschool, Ian and Elijah will continue their school time by doing lessons on the computer:

• Teaching Textbooks 3 for Ian, and CTC Math for Elijah (although it won’t surprise me if he wants to do Ian’s lessons as well, even though he’ll only be officially in Kindergarten)
• Reading Eggs for spelling lessons and the more advanced Reading Eggspress for reading comprehension (Arianna recently started going through the main 120 Reading Eggs lessons, so I renewed the boys’ subscriptions while I could get a sibling discount even though they’ve completed that part of the program.) [Edited to remove link because I no longer recommend this program. See “Good-bye, Reading Eggs.”]
• Veritas Press self-paced history course on Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation for Ian to keep up with our history cycle.  (Elijah will most likely watch and tag along, so I think he’ll pick up plenty.)

Most of those can be done independently, so hopefully I’ll have plenty of time for tending the little ones and squeezing in an afternoon nap (especially once our new baby arrives around the beginning of September).  I also want to do a few literature selections to go along with the Veritas Press history course, as well as some science from God’s Design for Heaven and Earth, but those are going to be an extra, and I’m not going put a lot of pressure on myself to get through them, especially with a newborn.

I have to confess, this coming year is going to look a LOT different from what my ideal plan would have been a year ago, but I really feel like this is where the Lord has led us, and I’m learning to let go of my own plans to embrace what He puts before me.

We’re preparing to move in the next couple weeks, and since we’ve officially finished the year, our school room has become the holding place for all packed boxes.  Since most of those boxes are full of books, it just made sense, but it still makes me kind of sad seeing the room so unusable, especially because we just moved in here two years ago and it feels like we just settled in.  Thankfully this next move should be more permanent.

I don’t let my kids completely off for the summer, but since most of our school things are packed up, they’re pretty much just doing computer work.  Every weekday Ian and Elijah practice facts on xtramath.org and then complete a lesson on CTC Math.  Depending on how they do with their facts, they earn time on Prodigy, which provides a little extra math practice.  I only require math from them, but both boys have been choosing to do some of the more advanced activities on Reading Eggs as well. Arianna has started lessons on Reading Eggs. [Edited to remove link because I no longer recommend this program. See “Good-bye, Reading Eggs.”]

Since we’re down to one computer, this means someone’s online for most of the morning, but I’m hoping to get a second computer up and running after the move so they can work simultaneously.  I want our summer to feel a little more like a break!

There’s so much I could say about this group of boys, but I’ll restrain myself and leave it at this: I love this picture!

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is that my children are “socialized” in a real world setting, interacting with people of all ages rather than spending the majority of their time with one adult and 30 people born within the same 12-month span.  I love going to the park with other families and watching Ian play with older boys who don’t look down on him for being six but instead teach him to play the games they like with more patience than I ever imagine pre-adolescent boys could show.  All my children have been blessed by getting to spend time with other children both younger and older than themselves (as well as adults) on a regular basis.

Today, however, I realized that I have experienced a similar blessing.  Our homeschool group ranges from moms who been teaching their children for decades down to those just starting the preschool phase.  Some are still homeschooling their youngest children, while the older ones are now starting to teach their own children.

Just a few of my homeschooling “sisters”

As we evaluate the year we’ve just wrapped up and get our smaller support groups settled for the coming year, I’ve realized how important it is to stay connected with moms in all stages of this journey.  Just as Ian learns from those older boys at the park, I gain so much from hanging out with moms whose children may be graduated or in high school.  They’ve been where I am now and can offer so much in the way of encouragement and advice.

Similarly, I love getting to encourage the moms who may be only a year or two behind me.  I have friends who look forward to homeschooling but right now just have a houseful of preschoolers and are overwhelmed by the thought of actually trying to find time to “do school” when their older one reaches the age for Kindergarten or 1st grade.  That season is still fresh for me, so I’m able to share what’s worked for us (and what hasn’t) and point them to things that have helped me.

Sometimes it’s tempting to only spend time with moms in the same stage of life that I am in myself, but I’d be missing out on so much if I did so.  I am so blessed by all the women in my life, both at church and in our school group, who are a different stages of their homeschooling journey, and I’m thankful that God has brought us together to teach, inspire, lift up, and encourage one another.

“Older women… are to teach what is good, ⁴ and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” Titus 2:3-5