The Low-Down on Homeschool

I have wonderful homeschooling plans for this year. Math, Science, English, Spelling, Handwriting, Literature, Habit training, Memorizing Scripture, Hymns, Contemporary Songs, Classical music, Classical artwork, Art, Sports, Poetry, Bible, History, an Emotions study, French, Hausa, and more to be added... Yes, I love lists and doing and I have trouble weeding things out! I was so excited to teach all these areas to my children and a created a great schedule!

This year feels a lot different than last year. I am teaching 2nd grade, K and Pre-K (ESOL) to 7, 5, and 4 year olds. Even though I really only added on one ‘grade’, I find 2nd grade to be a big jump in work load. Between that and Zig Zag adjusting to life with us, everything seemed multiplied. So the first two weeks had more downs than ups.

The major curricula that we're doing (My Father’s World and Right Start Mathematics that we bring from the US) demand a lot of individual teacher / student attention in the lower grades. I tried balancing seat work or coloring while working with the other child, but all three were talking to me at the same time and were always done and waiting. It really was wild and all were frustrated, so many of the things I ambitiously planned are not yet going this year.

Everyone was so excited to start school, but by the 2nd week of Kindergarten when Smile On had not yet learned to read and school was taking two and a half hours each morning, the children were ready to be done. Nobody, including the teacher, was having fun at this circus. That woke me up to the problem, so I started tweeking things. I changed the schedule. Everyone is working in short chunks individually with the teacher. Between they play for a little bit. School is stretched out and we often still do some low key activities for school in the afternoon. We are mostly back to the basics and if I add anything in it is 3 minutes or less or comes on Friday when we have a slower schedule. I have found things like part of my curriculum on building habits I can spend five minutes on at lunch, especially if El Padre is late. Another positive modification has been that after each activity is completed the children get to put a sticker in a small sticker book- think 10-15 stickers a day! Finally, and maybe the best, during the read aloud times, the children are allowed to play. It doesn’t feel like school to them because they are playing, but they are so intrigued by the living stories that they forget to play (except maybe Zig Zag who is still learning to make sense of these stories).

So we are having fun now. The plan would be to complete 180 days of school like school children in PA. If this works out, we have 10 extra days to add in special things to the curriculum. I don’t know how it will all finalize, but I am sure we will need more adjustments. I am pleased though that we are fitting in a lot of good learning and I am proud of these students!

-- La Maestra