This past year has been very stretching for me, and although I can say without a doubt I enjoyed the season, I am thankful that i have this current season of rest. .
As we entered into homeschooling very unexpectedly, it took me some time to learn what worked for us. But, we got into a good routine and as we learned to work together even more, i started to enjoy teaching more than i ever thought possible. Here are some Q & A……
Will we homeschool again next year? At this point we will probably homeschool at last until we get back from furlough. God knows about the rest. We think that i will be involved more than i was the first two years, but not do it totally alone.
What kind of routine worked for you?
We had a pretty formal type of homeschool. I was/am very thankful for the fact that we have a classroom on the lower level of our house. Each day we “went to school” around 8am. Somedays (at first, most days) Kiara would go to a very dear friend of mine, for the morning. Although this was hard for me, Jess encouraged it, and honestly, with having grades 1, 3, 5 and 6, I’m not sure how i could have done it otherwise. We had a break mid morning, and tried to finish up the major subjects, along with checking and correcting before 12. After lunch, we sat outside and did our history together as a group study. The children def had to pick up extra chores but since haitian school is active right outside our house, they couldn’t really play our there until after 2pm. This gave them time todo the majority of their chores before that, and then still have plenty of play time before supper.
What curriculum do you use?
We currently use CLE for Math, Language Arts and Reading. We use The Good and Beautiful for handwriting and some preschool books. This year we will use their typing program for our 7th grader, and also their History program.
Does Jess teach or do you do it all alone?
We have an aim for Jess to do Bible with Josh and Zoey at 6:30 am. This doesn’t always happen because he is on hospital run duty pretty much 24/7. Our family devotion time together fills in the time when they don’t actually do the CLE Bible book, but i do love when they have this time alone with their Daddy. He often took Jorden with him, if he could, or if he wasn’t in the office and there was something he was doing that Jorden could be involved with, he did. He also blessed me with a trip to the states this summer. That feels really huge in being rejuvenated.
Would we homeschool if we had a CDS nearby that we felt was a God honoring, kingdom focused school, Mostly likely not. I hope i never take our Christian Day School for granted, because we are more aware than ever just what all they do for us, and the blessing it was to be able to have them walk with us in the educational part of our childrens lives. For this time and season, it is what God has for us. This past year has been full proof that He enables us to do what we think we cannot do. His grace was sufficient, and it will continue to lead us…. whatever that entails.
Zoey--- 12 and in 6th grade
Josh—11 and in 7th grade
Abby – 9 and in 4th grade
Kaytlyn—7 and finishing 1st grade
Jorden— 5 and in and out of school. He is picking up an amazing amount of the above sisters work
Kiara –18 months and is in and out too. Her Haitian Aunt is a gift that i treasure!
Why only a 2 week break before heading into the 2018/2019 year??
Because we have the privilege of having a dear friend and teacher come for a few months in the summer, we school “year round”. This propels our year forward to that when furlough comes, we can take off without any worries of being behind, or needing to go late into the year. Also, the winter months are our “visitor season” and who would want to be in school when there are cousins or friends to play with? Besides the fact that if Mom is the teacher, she can’t host visitors very well
I love the opportunities our children have for learning outside of school. They have very few toys here, but they are becoming so creative!
But i think that’s another post
