When I’m learning and doing something new, and difficult (because come on, it’s all difficult when it’s new!) I always look for a coach. Someone who offers support and guidance. Today, though it was a fantastic and productive day, I feel like a fresh 22 year old, out in the world, thinking “what do I do now?” Like looking for an adult and realizing you are the adult. I feel like I’ve never even homeschooled before, but we are on the last quarter (almost) of year 2. But today’s school… was right. It felt good. It had the correct emotions behind it. It was challenging in all the right ways. I’ve been reading Charlotte Mason’s volume 6 and it has made me realize that I was WAY undervaluing T… and he was allowing it. Today I did not… today was tough for him but he did it! Every bit of it. He narrated, he gave thoughts and opinions, he got frustrated when math didn’t come super easy to him; all good things. (I did not leave him frustrated, we talked through it and calmly worked through the problems together. Tomorrow we will do the same until he gets it.) I’m super proud of him, and I’m super proud of me. We discussed that we do school no matter how we feel. We had a lesson on goal setting and he wrote 3 goals for himself for the next 6 months. We will put these goals on index cards and look at them every day. They will serve as a reminder and keep us headed in the right direction.
We are reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and I honestly cannot wait to dig into it! We are using a curriculum from Pam Barnhill and it’s perfect for us! We also started a unit on Discovering America and read about the Oregon Trail and those that pioneered settling the west. We read about Abraham Lincoln, and I almost lost my voice from reading and talking. Today was a perfect day. Tomorrow will be too, tomorrow we are adding a science unit on space. T is fascinated with space and this will be fun to unravel. I REALLY want to order a telescope… but I have no idea where we would store it… that’s my hangup.
Today’s schooling didn’t come from force, but from ease. We were learning from a place of rest and it made all the difference. And I cannot wait for tomorrow.
~ Side note: I’ve always wanted mentors and someone I could look up to in certain areas. One day I was praying about this and there was no one. I was sad about it… God said, become the mentor you needed for someone else, for those coming after you. This was YEARS ago. A lot of life was lived (both good and bad) between that conversation with God until now.. But today, as I was desiring a mentor, the words flooded back. I will gladly get this homeschooling thing down, and offer help and guidance to the next person. ALSO worth noting, I am part of 2 GREAT homeschooling communities that are great helps when it comes to questions and advice. I posted a question yesterday and learned, I’m not so different from everyone else. And that made my world a better place. If you’d like to get connected, leave a comment or email me (from the contact page) and I’ll hook you up!