Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Homeschool confessions

I've been reading blogs from many of my friends & other homeschoolers on how wonderful their school year has started & how it's going. So I need to share how ours is going for those of you who are having a rough start of it. Here are my confessions about this year:

  1. School is off to a rough start. We started in July, but have only been doing Bible, math, reading & grammar. Little history & no science.
  2. We've been doing at most 4 days of schoolwork a week, with less some weeks.
  3. Recently I've had moments where I've felt like I'm failing my kids as 1 struggles with personal interaction skills, 1 struggles with math & 1 with reading.
  4. I honestly am struggling with teaching certain things because I see no reason to except that they are traditionally taught to students. I mean, I don't write research papers, I don't remember any history facts I was taught, I don't handwrite much of anything & I don't use periodic tables or high level math.(If my grammar is atrocious, I apologize.)
  5. I'm finding more value in teaching my kids God's Word, reading, basic math, household chores & how to explore things & places.
Why? Why am I struggling? Why is this year different? A big part of it is because I'm going through some health issues. When you have little energy, you focus on the important stuff only.

Deep down I know it will work out alright. We have to do what we have to do. But I feel like my kids are suffering. It has to be hard on them not knowing what is going on with my health & having to do more housework, make their own meals some days & having to help me. Also having Daddy gone during the week has got to be hard on them. Although by now, they have to be used to it.

I feel a little bad not being consistent with school but I know they are smart & will catch up quickly when I get better. I keep thinking about how just 120-150 years ago schooling was different. Basic reading & writing were taught along with God's Word. The rest of a child's time consisted of chores & playing/exploring. Maybe that wasn't so bad...