Thursday, January 23, 2014

Homeschooling the Shea Way

So, it's been awhile internet friends. In fact, so long that I could not remember how to get to my blog so I had to first go to a friends blog and use a hyperlink for my own blog on their page. Smart as a whip I am. So why the sudden impulse to blog? I was dreaming about summer today. I do that often. Last night, I told my husband that I spend my days miserable. MISERABLE! I am constantly cold. In fact, my kids won't even let me touch them anymore because my hands are as cold as ice and rough as sandpaper. "Run! Mom wants to snuggle!!!"
In my day dreaming, I immediately transported back to last summer, it being the nearest in memory. Last summer...*shutter*. I spent every waking memory on this thought: "do we homeschool or not." I spent so much precious time on this one anxious thought. Whoa! Homeschool! We shun everything secular, wear too small overalls and have the social skills of an pocket-protector-carrying engineer (apologies if you are one). At least that's what came to mind. Then there is the other side of the homeschool spectrum where you run around naked all day and spend your days making flower necklaces and burning incense. These were stereotypes in my mind that I could not get around nor fit into. Yet, it was something my soul was being urged into.
Last school year...*even bigger shutter AND vomiting sensation*. Last school year, I had two kids in public elementary, one in preschool and one at home with me. My poor youngest child didn't know what life was outside of her carseat. Our days were spent in the car running around frantically getting everyone where they needed to go, sitting in endless carpool lines, and not spending near enough time just being kids. On top of that, I had one child crying everyday because school was mind-numbingly boring and one was crying because it was all too much. My third child cried every morning before school because he just wanted to stay home with mom and fight make believe bad guys. I was least happy of all because I felt like my job as their parent was to help them lead fulfilling lives and no one, not one was fulfilled. Ask many people what their idea of fulfillment is and everyone will have a different definition. That is the beauty of people isn't it? No one is the same, endless possibilities of God given personalities, dreams, hopes and interests. See the amazing thing is we were created this way,unique and infinitely different, to reflect an infinite Creator. I can endlessly marvel at what's under a microscope and my husband can do the same at expanse of the universe (gag! If I ever have trouble sleeping, I just turn on the series "The Universe").
If you are struggling with these same things, this post is for you. I thought homeschool was school done at home. I stand up and teach and they sit in seats and learn. I could not get past this. This was not something I felt like I could handle. Remember the God given personalities? God left out the administration capabilities in my personality. If I have to schedule something, contact someone or stay on a strict timetable then you might as well forget it. It's not happening! It's not happening and I am MISERABLE in the meantime. My father-in-law once had my ringtone when I called him set to "Freebird" and honestly, the shoe fit.
I had this tugging on my heart and this fear of the future. Then the ah ha moment came. Some wise friend, here again I can't remember which one, said "homeschool IS NOT school at home." Wha???? She went on, "if you want to jump on the trampoline and skip count your numbers, fine. If you want to do your math homework on the sidewalk with chalk, go for it." Then came the magic phrase, "AS LONG AS THEY ARE LEARNING what they need to learn." As long as they are learning. AS...LONG....AS...THEY...ARE...LEARNING. The words echoed and a whole new world opened up to me. They can learn sitting in the top of our playhouse, under their bed or sitting under my heating blanket talking through WWI. The possibilities are endless.

We wake up...


 And we JUST..START...LEARNING

Bess doing math while Eleanor eats breakfast on her lap


They have the freedom to concentrate on those areas of study that are most fulfilling

All the while, I have the opportunity to direct them to those areas that feed their soul
Prepping for spelling bee while we practice new hair-dos.

Bess doing spelling work and Luke is making work of jumping over her.


On the hard days and the tired days, I just repeat "LEARN SOMETHING." It's as easy as that.

1 comment:

  1. Love this! Glad you are back blogging, love keeping up with your family. You are doing a great job Mama!

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