It’s February and spring is fast approaching. We have chicks in the incubator and plans for more. Ducklings and goslings are on the way. My seed starting shelf is set up and ready for my first planting as we wait for the garden to thaw. We have a chicken house to repair, a duck house to build and fencing to put up. This alongside fundraising efforts to build a children’s home in my son’s memory and the first craft shows of the year for my jewelry business. The busiest season of the year is about to begin.

I don’t have time to homeschool.

Now that statement seems a little strange to me. My children work alongside me all through the day. They peek in the incubator and ask what the chick inside looks like. They help fill tubs with soil for our seeds while we talk about what contributes to good soil health. They helped decide which breeds of poultry we should acquire based on our needs. And they have sat at craft shows with me learning the fundamentals of running a business.

But as demands on my time increase, I am not ready to fully let go of sit-at-the-table-and-do-your-work school. So we instituted our first ever mid year curriculum switch and began (loosely) using the Robinson curriculum. Now, instead of me calling everyone to the table and me giving lessons and me setting up projects and assigning work, I wash dishes, bake bread, finish jewelry. My children get started on their lists. My daughter has a bible reading plan she is working on, my son reads the next section of his devotional. They both read a chapter from a book selected from a list of 500 great works of Western Literature, have a brief writing assignment and do some math.

And then they’re done. With the formal part of their day, anyway. We’ll eventually add on more subjects to their independent time, but for the moment, we are focusing on the discipline of getting up and getting started without mom’s reminders. And I am finding more time to attend to other tasks in our home.

Advantages for our family:

• I have more time and am not feeling as stressed with everything that needs to be done in a day.
• The children have stopped complaining about school. This surprised me, honestly.
• Without the complaining, they are getting to their work and finishing rather quickly.
• They’re gaining independence. If they graduate with the ability to complete their work by reading a syllabus with no one to nag them, they will be more prepared for college, work or whatever comes next than most young people their age.
• We’re a little more consistent. It doesn’t matter how busy the day is, they get this formal part of their day done.

Disadvantages:

• I miss learning together as a family. I like the reading and the discussion and the more project based learning. But it was a lot of work, too. I think with some of this extra time, however, I will put together some units to do together every six weeks or so.

So far, so good. And the best part, I think, is that we can get on with some of that life learning without me feeling like we “skipped” school for the day.

Dana Hanley is homeschooling her five children while moving to the country. You can follow her plans and adventures while seeking to live life more abundantly at Roscommon Acres.

Feeling a little blue?  A little cooped up?  Are the kids stir-crazy?  Is anyone (or everyone) complaining about school work?  Yep.  It’s February in the life of a homeschooler.  There’s no need to feel defeated, though!  Adding a little spice to the schedule is sure to perk up the homeschool spirit!

Rather than “talk” a lot, I’m going to be short, sweet and practical.  This is an emergency and I know you need nothing less than wordiness!  Try one, two or all of the ideas below and find attitudes refreshed fast.

Warning: Adding spice to your homeschool may mean shaking up the regular schedule.  That means (gasp) you might have to replace a grammar lesson or two with something different… or even fun.  It might even mean that your children will demand that these new and exciting things become part of the “new regular”.  You have been forewarned that creative schooling is addictive!

• Take field trips.  Get out of the house to visit museums, community businesses, plays, musicals, indoor historical sites, or to participate in special classes.

• Plan homeschool group events.  Get together once every week or two with homeschooling friends to go bowling, play basketball at a church’s gym, swim at the YMCA, bake cookies together, or learn a new skill together (like sewing or woodworking.)

• Take nature walks.  Getting outside for exercise, sunshine and fresh air invigorate the mind, body and soul.

• Do a unit study.  Take a break from the textbooks to complete a family unit study.  Be sure to include lots of family reading time, art, crafts, cooking, science experiments and other motivating learning activities.

• Let your kids watch TV.  That one got your attention, didn’t it?  I have all sorts of documentaries and other educational shows on DVD and on my DVR.  We never get around to watching them other times of the year.  When it’s too cold to get outside, I allow a little more TV time in order to catch up on these educational programs.

• Celebrate theme nights.  Spend the day (or week) learning about a particular holiday, culture, or historical event.  Everyone in the family can help prepare food, decorations, music and maybe even costumes appropriate for a family theme night.

• Learn a handicraft or two.  Winter is a great time for your child to learn a new handicraft like sewing, knitting, painting, decoupage, scrapbooking, woodworking, wood burning, or photography.  Library books make great teachers if you don’t know how to teach something yourself.

• Splurge on a new educational toy or kit.  A fun kit full of science experiments or other projects can often take the place of textbook lessons.

• Replace some regular assignments with projects.  Instead of assigning a test at the end of a chapter, allow your child to create a project to show what he knows.  He might create a diorama, a mobile, a poster report, a play, a 3-D model, a poem, or a song to prove he understands the material.  From experience, projects “stick” way longer than test questions any time of the year.

With a little effort, you can enjoy your children and your homeschool – even in the winter.  And just in case you still need to hear it, spring isn’t too far away!

Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three who loves learning alongside her children. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward
and find her nature study curriculum at Shining Dawn Books.

We are so fortunate to have so much immediately available to us in our homeschool day.  The internet is full of wonderful websites and opportunities for our children to learn and practice their skills.  But it can be so intimidating to try and find that needle in a haystack; choices are endless and not always appropriate.  I rely often on suggestions from fellow homeschoolers and teachers who have led me to good sites to check out for our learning.

Here are some places we have enjoyed over the last couple of years, categorized by subject:

Art

Deep Space Sparkle – This site is jam-packed with wonderful project ideas that are well-organized, varied in difficulty level, and unique.  Some are for purchase but many are free.

Made by Joel – I love this guy’s creativity and simple style.  I have used many of his printables and taken inspiration from other projects, adjusting them to fit our family.

Harmony Art Mom – This blog has so much to enjoy!  Barb hosts Sketch Tuesday, with an art prompt and display of readers’ artwork through a photo slide show.  There are artist and composer studies, art projects and lots of printables and great resources.

Creativity Portal – This site has many articles, resources, links and projects in multiple categories.  Not all are visual art, you can find creative writing prompts here too.

Science

Handbook of Nature Study – A wonderful Charlotte Mason style site for nature study.  Includes projects, resources, and printables, as well as a ton of beautifully organized information.

Ology – A part of theAmericanMuseum of Natural History, this site has a dozen or so science branches/topics to study, including genetics, zoology, and astronomy.  Very interactive and interesting, though it has an evolutionary bent.  Pick and choose what you study based on your family’s desires and convictions.

eNature – This great site has virtual field guides as well as articles, links and pictures.

Nature Detectives – I love this site for outdoor exploration.  There are sections for each season with very unique ideas, printables, activities and games, all aimed at getting kids to get out of the house and enjoy nature.

Math

20 things to do with a hundred chart – I have used so many of these ideas to help my kids practice different concepts with a hundred chart.

Khan Academy – You can find videos for tons of different math concepts at this site.  Sometimes our kids just need someone else to explain it to them.

Sheppard Software – Dozens of great games here to practice all sorts of concepts in various levels.

Create a graph – A very nice site for kids to explore as they make graphs from data they have collected.

Cool Math 4 Kids – My kids love to play around here.  The games are varied and fun, and aren’t all of the typical geometry or facts practice ilk.  Try Rotate and Roll for some addictive enjoyment.  (My husband played this game obsessively until he was able to complete all the levels, then proceeded to race my son on dueling laptops!)

Language Arts

One Word – A very simple concept laid out in a clean and simple way.  Write (type) for one minute on their one word prompt.  Then submit your entry.

Pictures for writing prompts – A great collection of 50 fun and interesting pictures to use as writing prompts.

Grammar Blast – A host of middle school games to learn and review grammar.  Organized in 6th, 7th and 8th grade categories.

Sheppard Software – Tons of online games here to practice all sorts of language arts concepts.

History

This day in History – Children can see, and record (in a calendar journal, for example), what happened in history on each day.

BBC – My children and I explored theIndusValley activities for a couple of hours one day and they were completely enthralled with our adventure online.  Great information and interactive play here!

Growth of a nation movie – Someone led me to this great video of howAmerica spread to include all it is today.  Good geography and history lesson in a 10 minute video.

Birmingham museum for kids – Explore ancient history and resources here in this well-developed and visually-pleasing website.

What are some of your favorite sites for learning?

Christine Hiester is a Christian, homeschooling mom to three boys and a girl, ranging in age from 10 to 3 years old. She is a musician by trade, eclectic in homeschool style, and continues to grow and learn along with her children in this journey of life and discipleship at home. Visit her blog at Fruit in Season.

By all measures, I have a great life. I have a simple life. I have an uncomplicated, joy-filled, hopeful life.

Ah, but some days….

None of us live a life of perfect ease and bliss. There are always “things” that get in the way of total joy and contentment and satisfaction. Wouldn’t you agree?

What do you do when a major wrench is thrown into your plans for peace and functionality? How do you handle the disappointment of an unpredicted, and undesired, change of plans?

Me? I quit. Just the other day, I quit homeschooling.

I’ve been teaching my kids from day one. They’ve all been educated at home and I’m so grateful that I’ve been given the opportunity to make this choice for our family. My husband always wanted to marry someone who wanted to homeschool, and I always thought it would be the coolest thing ever to homeschool even though I had never known anyone who had done it, or if it was even legal!

And so we married. And so we started. And it was good. I mean, not perfect. And not ‘easy’ all the time, but it was good.

Just last year, however, there came a couple of twists into our school at home that made my husband and me stop and reconsider how we did a few things. This is the benefit of homeschooling, yes? You get to change curriculum and philosophy and style along the way to suit the needs of your students.

However, I was finding that these changes we made (that are the right changes: of that I am convinced) were hard, and exhausting, and outside of my scope of ability.

I found myself driving in my car, weeping, saying out loud, “I am a failure. I do not know how to home school. I can’t do this anymore. I quit. Today is my last day of homeschooling.” And I thought about how I could work it so that my children would no longer be subjected to having me as their teacher.

I was done. D-o-n-e. Done.

And in the middle of my ranting I heard that small, still voice say to my heart, “Finally. Finally, you got the lesson.”

You see, there in the middle of my ranting I was reminded of the fact that I, truly, can do nothing. Period. Nothing. Nothing apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. From a standpoint of working in the flesh, it will all be a failure. It is all for naught. And that’s the place from which I was functioning. I was striving in the flesh. How can I do this? How can I squeeze this new thing in to my schedule? How can I arrange everything on my precariously full plate so that I can handle everything?

Simple answer? I can’t.

And so there in my car, I quit for real. No, I didn’t quit homeschooling. Rather, I quit homeschooling in my own strength. I remembered that “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” in more areas than just my salvation. He called me to homeschool. And before that he called me to have these children. He is faithful. He will surely do it.

Am I required to do the actual teaching and training and discipling and housework and ministry? Yes, of course. But the position of strength and usefulness in His Kingdom is the place where I have surrendered my will to him who is my Sabbath Rest (Heb. 4:9-11) and say “Yes, Lord. You are my strength. You are the one who works and wills within me for your good pleasure (Phil. 2:13-15). Apart from you, I can do nothing (John 15:5).” That is the position I need to adopt as I work this life (and live this work) He has given me.

Lord, you know that I am unfit for the tasks you lay before me. You know that you alone are able to make me fruitful and useful in your kingdom as it is built in my home. And I know all this, too. I know that I am helpless apart from your great strength. I am thankful for my weakness so that through it I can see your perfect strength. I throw up my hands in surrender today, and today I quit trying to do this in my own strength. I pray with the Psalmist and proclaim: “The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. (Ps. 28:7) Amen.

Barbara Postma and her husband, as they homeschool their 7 children, are finding out that no two children are alike! Between lessons and lunches, Barbara blogs at Fuel by Barbara.

Not long ago, we completed a study of Charles Dickens. As a teen, I was not a fan of Dickens; I found his work far too long and even more boring than it was lengthy. Consequently, I wanted to introduce him to the kids differently than I met him while in high school. We took the time to learn Dickens’ writing style courtesy of Invitation to the Classics. After reading Tale of Two Cities, (which the kids said had nothing to do with all those Disney-like spinoffs they have seen), we actually looked forward to delving into more of his work. Besides, I have not yet seen the day when the kids turned down the chance to watch television for school (smile). First, we watched “Great Expectations,” then “David Copperfield.” What I loved most was hearing all of their conversation, first with one another, then with me, regarding their thoughts on the stories, and on Dickens. It was the rare Socratic dialogue that is a homeschool parent’s dream.

Often as homeschooling parents, we play hit-and-miss with our older children and having transformational discussions about what they are learning. Schools focus on exams as a test of comprehension, and for many of us, we transfer this same approach into our homeschools. As a college instructor, I spend numerous hours helping adult learners move past the memorization required for most exams, and instead engage in Socratic dialogue. Over the years, I have helped my high schoolers get a jump on this same dialogue using exercises that deepen their understanding and help them think more critically about their history and literature studies. Most of these ideas require little planning to implement, and the educational bang for the buck, so to speak, is well worth the effort.

Probing for Prior Knowledge
Believe it or not, what sometimes stymies a child from learning about a subject might be what he thinks he already knows. As an example, following the classical cycle of study, a student will see the same periods of history on three different occasions. By the rhetoric stage, a brief moment spent learning what the child knows can help in at least two ways:

1) Any misconceptions can be clarified.
2) As an educator, you use your time wisely.

Discuss with your child that you are going to study _______, and that before you jump off into an extended lesson plan, you want to see what he already knows. His response does not have to be a paragraph or a report; a simple listing of facts will suffice. As an example, if you ask “What were the major accomplishments of Leonardo da Vinci?” and your child can list most major achievements of his life, your time might be better spent elsewhere. You might even be delighted to find that your child loved a particular area of history enough to dig out new information without your lesson plans. There is a caveat here: be sure that you understand what answer you are looking for before evaluating whether your student is competent. Note that there is a distinction between what your child knows and what you taught; the child will repeat the former, not the latter.

Learning Matrix
A learning matrix is a simple grid that can be modified to gather a number of facts regarding any study. It takes light preparation to think about how a layout for the grid, in a fairly objective snapshot, what a student understands.

To help your student with higher order thinking skills, this table can be modified such that a student lists pros and cons or a categorization of facts. Also, remember when you shopped for that appliance and used a comparative list to help you make a decision? Do not discount this same type of listing to allow your child to fill in the blanks. This is not geared toward a Socratic dialogue, but as a methodology to seal in facts from which your child can build deeper insights.

Major Civil War Battles

One-Minute Paper
The one-minute paper can be a dream for a reluctant writer, but it also gets a student to think about what he/she has read, and to summarize it in a matter of a few words what was the primary idea. From the parent’s perspective, only one question sparks the written discussion: what was the most important thing you learned about ____________? A related, or possibly an alternative question, might be what important question remains unanswered? An expansion on the one-minute paper, if you are considering it for more regular use, might be the commonplace book, in which the student collects these same types of insights on a more regular basis. We use commonplace books extensively in our home as an extension of our notebooking, and I can see very quickly where the kids are in their command of a given topic.

Word Journal
The Word Journal has two products that can be used for further analysis:

1) a single word, from the student’s perspective, that summarizes the text
2) a paragraph or two explaining the choice of that particular word

The student is, in essence, giving an abstract of the text. This is obviously best used on shorter excerpts or texts. Also, if the book generates an apathetic response, you can always help your student along by offering a choice of words rather than letting the student belittle the assignment. One of our children, as an example, loves the adjective ‘interesting.’ In reading through an analysis, why a book is “interesting” is well-defined, but I am also looking for expanded vocabulary, so I constantly steer our child away from this description. Also, consider a picture—worth one thousand words—to replace the one word approach. Then, an artistic child can explain the choice of the picture.

Bear in mind that, even after incorporating one or more of these exercises into your lesson plans, a student’s response to the question, “What’d you think of that book?” might be, “Eh, it was alright.” [Groan]. However, seeds are planted, and whether it is immediately obvious or not, you are facilitating thinking skills, which will serve your child in the long run much more than passing a test of memorization.

Belinda Bullard is a wife and homeschooling mother of three, Belinda is an author and the owner of A Blessed Heritage Educational Resources, a literature-based historycurriculum featuring African-American presence in history, as well as the contributions of other races to American history. A chemical engineer by formal education, she also serves as adjunct faculty for college distance learning programs. Belinda blogs at Simply Belinda and Chronicles of a Blessed Heritage.

Like many, we homeschool at the dining table. Every day I’m amazed at the speed with which it is covered—books, papers, folders, colored pencils, and sometimes a bowl or a cup is squeezed in there, too. Worse, I’ve seen a kid fill one spot up with books and papers and then sit at a fresh spot for lunch, leaving one of my preschoolers to set a bowl on top of the older kid’s pile of books.

We’ve had nights that we just ate in the floor picnic style rather than try to excavate the dining table. We’ve had disastrous coffee spills and cheerio-encrusted Latin pages. I only confess this because I know you know what I’m talking about.

The table gets that bad with only two students, but this year, my three-year-old and four-year-old have started wanting to “do school,” too. They lug their workbooks and bags of pencils over to my desk, and with round, sweet eyes, they ask if I’ll help. They obliviously pile their things on top of the bigs’ papers some days; other days they just cry out, “There’s nowhere for me to sit!” And then they get stuck, repeating this cry until a spot is cleared.

Last weekend, I had an idea. I marked off the amount of space each child could have for their work and gave them a piece of paper the same size to decorate and label. John drew inventions on his placemat; Grace illustrated the events of The Iliad on hers. Abby and Caedmon colored their names with dots and stripes.

We put the four pieces of decorated paper on the table and covered the whole table with a thick piece of clear plastic I’d bought at the fabric store for that purpose years before. Now they could see at a glance if they were taking up too much space.

So far…honestly, it hasn’t helped at all. But I think that the training will go more smoothly with the visual reminder. I think drawing boundaries will help them to see—in the long run—the importance of keeping their stuff picked up and the finite limits of the square footage available at one dining table.

Aubrey Lively is a homeschooling mama with a loud one-room classroom filled with four children, aged ten to two. She likes a Saturday morning with her husband and his guitar, a good cup of coffee, and a fresh sheet of paper. She has a BA in Literature and a MEd in Teaching, but more importantly, she thinks outside the box. (She believes the box is a conspiracy.) Visit Aubrey online at http://aubreylively.blogspot.com.

It has been said that play is child’s work. Do you agree? I do.

Vygotsky’s famous statement emphasizes this: “Play creates a zone of proximal development of the child. In play a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behavior; in play it is as though he were a head taller than himself.” (Vygotsky, 1978:102)

Maria Montessori also gave her word about play: “The most important role that play can have is to help children to be active, make choices and practice actions to mastery. They should have experience with a wide variety of content (art, music, language, science, math, social relations) because each is important for the development of a complex and integrated brain. Play that links sensory-motor, cognitive, and social-emotional experiences provides an ideal setting from brain development.”

As we can see play is understood as the most effective vehicle for young children’s learning.

But ‘play’ in a bilingual context can be an exciting experience it leads to language and cultural learning. I have heard comments such as, “How can children learn when they are having fun?” or “Children should sit in their seats and pay attention when learning.” Although I have found that playful activities stimulate children and promote learning.

What happens in a child’s mind when they listen to a song in another language, move to the rhythm of a foreign rhyme, or engage in a game that requires them to speak a foreign language?

Games, songs, chants, movement, fun activities do compliment language acquisition. As adults, what are our roles?

We have to provide opportunities for meaningful play, to engage children in purposeful experiences in a rich environment so they continue to learn. Playing with your children contributes to their physical, emotional and intellectual development.

Play situations tend to create meaningful and interesting contexts for children, in which children can become motivated to communicate in the new language both non-verbally and verbally, and to practice and rehearse familiar words and short phrases, and to begin the process of combining new words together. A teacher (or mother, or leader ) who joins in and talks through everyone’s actions and ideas – i.e. models the use of language – when children are not yet able or ready to talk for themselves, provides language teaching in a meaningful context.

For example in this picture, my niece (or should I say the princess?) is preparing tea for her 5 best dolly friends. She invited them to have tea and they accepted. So at that time she was laying the table.

I took advantage of that situation to review colors in Spanish, numbers one to five, the words tea, cookies, cups, plates, spoons, teapot and tray. And we review how to greet people. Oh! When everything was ready for tea, she changed her dress and waited for the dolly guests.

To resume we can say that play helps your children to

• Have a sense of well being and good self-esteem
• Deal with tragedies and setbacks
• Have a sense of control
• Make good relationships with you and his peers
• Understand and care about others
• Be creative and imaginative, think and have ideas, develop concentration
• Be physically co-ordinated.

Language is a vehicle for communication. A new language will be easier for younger foreign language children, yet laughing and excitement are still an integral part of the lesson. Play almost always promotes excitement, enjoyment, and a relaxing atmosphere.

So,what we are waiting for? Let’s play!

Analia Capurro is the designer and owner of Ingles360.net® and the author of all the educational resources sold in her website. After 20 years of teaching children she found that the only way children love learning is if teachers love learning and teaching, too. Promoting a learning environment where laugh, fun and friendship and companionship are as important as any language structure, are the things she had in mind while designed her bilingual resources.

Daughter #2 is a highly tactile learner just like her father. She learns best when there are things to touch and feel, when she can move her body (she is also a musical learner but that is for another post). We first became aware of this while trying to teach her math. She just couldn’t grasp math concepts when taught the same way as her older sister (mainly through reading from a textbook). She was frustrated, I was frustrated! I feel badly about the first year or two of schooling her. I kept trying and trying to teach her the same way that my oldest (and myself) learn the best. Of course, it didn’t work very well. She learned things but it took a lot longer. School was not enjoyable for her.

It was during this hard time that I really started studying about different learning styles/multiple intelligences. I came to realize that in order for my daughter to come to love learning again I needed to adjust my teaching. For instance, I searched until I found a math program that was geared towards tactile learners (Math U See). The manipulatives, though simple, were extremely successful in helping her to ‘see’ the concepts. It was amazing the difference just a few weeks with the program made for her!

Here are some things I’ve learned about tactile learners.

• They usually excel in one or more sports or have very good coordination.
• They like to MOVE: fidgeting or tapping are not uncommon, especially when they have to sit for a long period of time.
• They just “have” to touch something they have just seen.
• They enjoy getting their hands messy – finger painting, working with clay, glue, etc.
• They love to take things apart and put them back together again.
• They have a dramatic way of expressing themselves.

Ways kinesthetic/tactile learners learn best:

• competitive and cooperative games
• physical awareness and relaxation exercises
• all hands-on activities
• creative movement, mime
• hands-on thinking
• communicating with body language/ hand signals
• tactile materials and experiences
• field trips
• crafts
• cooking, gardening, and other “messy” activities
• manipulatives
• virtual reality software
• physical education activities
• body answers

Now that my daughter is older and taking independent study classes through a High School correspondence program she has learned various other ways to help her study so she can be prepared for college where most courses are taught through lecture, not ideal for tactile learners.

To memorize facts, she paces or walks around while reciting to herself or using flashcards or notes. She’ll also close her eyes and write the information in the air or on a surface with her finger. She’ll try to picture and hear the words in her head. Later when she needs to recall the information for a test she is able to close her eyes and ‘see’ what she wrote.

When she begins reading a a new chapter in a textbook, she takes a whole-to-part approach. This means she first scans the pictures, then reads headings, then reads the first and last paragraphs and tries to get a feel for the content before reading the entire thing through.

She likes to study lying on her stomach or back, sitting in a comfortable lounge chair or on cushions or a bean bag but certainly not at a desk!

She takes frequent breaks. She will study for about 20-25 minutes than take a 3-5 minute break.

She takes a plethora of notes! Writing helps her to not fidget so much and to concentrate on what is being said. She will rewrite her notes several times to help her study and retain information.

There are also other ways she studies but those fall under the musical learner which will be discussed in another post.

Other posts in this series: 

Learning Styles: The Basics
Learning Styes: The Basics Part II, Multiple Intelligences
Linguistic, Read, Write, Learners

Montserrat Wadsworth is completely devoted to her wonderful husband, Joseph, and their eight children (seven girls and one boy!). They live on a 4,000 acre alfalfa farm nestled in a small Northern Nevada valley. They’ve been homeschooling for 11+ years. Montserrat enjoys, photography, cooking, crafting, chocolate, and sloppy goodnight kisses. She strives to live each day as God would have her do following Mary’s biblical supplication, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:38) You can find her at her blog Chocolate On My Cranium.

It started early this year.

As in, really early. On our first day of Christmas vacation (which was, blessedly, the day before Thanksgiving since we take all of December off), I found myself sighing, “Only five weeks ’til we start again!”

I tried to keep my great attitude to myself. But now that January has come, we’re all online groaning to one another about how difficult it is to start back to school again. I hate to admit it, but it’s happening at my house, too. There are missing math texts, almost-used-up notebooks and too many of the pencils are broken. Everyone makes a sad face when Monday rolls around.

Even me.

So, what does that mean? Did we make the wrong schooling choice altogether? Should we choose new curriculum? Do we need a new schedule? Do we just need to crack the whip a bit more?

To me, the fact that I’m squealing with delight over a vacation and counting the days ’til it’s over with trepidation and reluctance means I’m doing something wrong. How on earth can I expect my children to enjoy our school year if I’m not enjoying it?

Oh dear.

Here’s my guess: My homeschool has become a bit too heavy on the school. And I really need to fix it.

We all can get trapped into feeling like we’re leaving something out, not doing enough, not keeping up with the Bluedorns. That leads to curriculum choices we really knew weren’t quite right, commitments to groups and classes we don’t really want to be committed to, and schedules that make us want to tear our hair out.

I don’t know about you, but when the majority of my days are spent doing things I don’t really want to do, it exhausts me.

All of a sudden, as I sit here today, I’ve realized something: I don’t want to be raising my kids in a homeschool. I want to be raising them in a home. A home where together we read well- written, imaginative books; listen to beautiful music; prepare and enjoy healthy, delicious meals; and surround ourselves with inspiring art and the words of God. I want their memories primarily to be of those kinds of things … not my scowling face, fussing at them to complete that math lesson or finish that literature assignment.

Now, I’m not advocating for tossing all our books out the window and abandoning order altogether. Kids need order and routine – actually thrive on it, in fact. And the books aren’t really the problem (well, maybe the math books could be a problem, but that’s another story.) The story books and history books and science books are wonderful in and of themselves. It’s generally my slavery to the assignment sheet that throws my homeschool balance off, not the assignments themselves.

So what do we do if we can tell our homeschool has gotten a bit too heavy on the school?

My plan is to first spend some time with a pen and paper and write out how I’m really feeling right now. What’s bothering me most? Do I have any idea how to change the problem? Later I plan to call my kiddos together so we can talk about it. I want to hear their hearts, to know how they feel about what we’re doing and what they think would make things better. I want to find out how they feel about each activity we’re involved in—coops, ballet lessons, chess, Friday afternoons at the park—all of it. And then I’m going to decide what’s going to stay and what needs to change.

Perhaps all of our families need a bit of adjustment every January, as we’re half-way into our year and we return after a break. In light of how brief our days are with our children, how great our responsibility to show them the power and beauty of God and His Word before they leave our nests, what should our days really be full of? Am I organizing my day with Jesus or my school planner as the center? What does the emphasis I put on checking off assignments say to my children about my true priorities?

I want us all to live in a home, not a homeschool. I think that means some changes may be in order.

Has your homeschool become too heavy on the school?

Misty Krasawski is the overly-blessed mom of eight children whom she homeschools in sunshine-y Florida. She has been clinging ferociously to the hand of her Lord since she was knee-high to a grasshopper, homeschooling for the past thirteen years, and has eighteen more years ahead of her with the children who are glad she will have done most of her experimenting on those who went before. Her wonderful husband Rob has much treasure laid up for him in heaven for having been called to such a daunting task. After the house goes to sleep she can sometimes be found gathering her thoughts at www.encouragingheartsathome.com.

A few years ago I saw a spoof of a motivational poster that said, “Remember, you are unique, just like everyone else.” I had to laugh because it’s a human tendency to want to believe you are unique and special, which is actually a very common desire. I wonder how many of us have ever had the thought that there is no one else in the world who can relate to how we think and feel. Ironically, while we are longing to be unique we also want to be recognized and included as a valued member of a group. We want to belong, but we want to belong on our own terms and be appreciated for the unique qualities that set us apart.

Our children look for groups with which they identify so they can have a sense of belonging. It’s reassuring to know that no matter what, there is a place where you are accepted and where there are people who care about whatever is happening with you. This desire begins in childhood but continues throughout our lifetimes. Life is meant to be lived within the context of relationships, sharing commonalities as well as differences. One of the challenges we face as parents and educators is to help our children forge their own identities without being unduly influenced by those around them.

As the mother of three children, I came to realize that my kids often responded in different ways even when they were in a shared situation. My son, Josh, was usually pretty oblivious to the reactions of those around him. My daughter, Beth, was so sensitive that she read meanings into situations and was easily offended or hurt. My daughter, Beckie, was such an optimist that she made excuses for others even when their behavior was blatantly appalling. In order to help my children learn how to be part of a group while developing their own sense of individuality, I had to recognize that just as each learned academic skills in their own way they developed their personalities differently, too.

Josh, who was diagnosed at a young age with severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has always been an “outside the box” kind of thinker. So far outside, as a matter of fact, that I’m not convinced he ever truly realized there was a “box”. His creativity has always amazed me, and I tried to encourage it because I perceived his unusual perspectives as a wonderful gift. I can’t say I always understood his thought processes, and I certainly was never able to predict what he might say or do next. Yet it gave me great pleasure to see glimpses into how his mind worked and to consider ideas that would never have occurred to me without Josh to introduce them.

Josh’s various ideas and experiments did stretch out our school days, because he never seemed interested or even able to take a direct approach to a task. If there was a scenic route, Josh would take it. If there wasn’t, Josh would forge one and leave the well-worn path for the less adventuresome. He often struggled academically, but he could leave most people in the dust when it came to creativity. As a thoroughly “inside-the-box-and-it’s-probably-taped-up” kind of thinker, I made a point to share with Josh my genuine admiration for his ability to come up with unusual solutions to problems.

I have to admit that I was disappointed when not everyone shared my enthusiasm for Josh’s quirky and unpredictable ideas. Couldn’t they see how special he was? Josh left many adults as well as other children baffled by his thought processes, and he was equally baffled by their lack of understanding as he expressed his ideas. In what I considered a “genius-for-being-inside-the-box” idea, I enrolled Josh in art classes where I was sure his gifts would be recognized and appreciated by someone besides me, his mother.

Josh enjoyed exploring new art mediums. He had many ideas to express, but even in art class he tended to be non-conforming to others’ expectations. When Josh saw how something was done, it seemed to trigger an onslaught of alternative possibilities in his mind. Instead of being embraced, his creative drive in non-traditional directions was met with attempts to redirect him to more specific tasks. As Josh grew older he informed me that, “People expect you to be original while following a strict set of rules.” Apparently Josh was over the top even with other creative types.

If you’ve ever felt like you are just not as creative as a lot of people you know, try to remember that thinking inside the box is not all bad. Creative people need help to make their visions become reality, and those of us who are generally logical and detail-oriented may have just the skill set they need to help those visions become realities. For those of you who are naturally creative, thank you for sharing your unique ideas. While it’s true that in some circles you will be asked to tone it down and “be original while following a strict set of rules”, please know that there are those of us who will continue to admire and applaud you for your originality.

Melinda Boring has been married to Scott for 25 years and has three homeschooled children. Her 22 yr. old son and 21 yr. old daughter graduated from home school in 2006, leaving Melinda an “empty desker” of two along with her 17 year old daughter who will graduate in 2011. Two of her children and her husband have been diagnosed with AD/HD. The children also deal with auditory processing disorders and sensory processing challenges. The name “Boring” just doesn’t fit this family, and Melinda shares many humorous moments in her speaking and writing endeavors. Melinda is the author of Heads Up Helping and has been a contributing author to multiple publications. She is a workshop presenter with a passion for helping struggling learners and providing practical strategies, compassion, and understanding for those with special needs. Melinda is also a speech/language pathologist with over 25 years experience and the owner of Heads Up, a company with products for those who learn differently. You can find her blog at the Heads Up website, where she writes as “Heads Up Mom”.