Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Misphah and Shen. He named it Ebenezar, saying , "Thus far the Lord has helped us." 1 Samuel 7:12

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Treehouse Schoolhouse No Longer Meets in the Trees

Home schooling doesn't get easier, is always changing and challenging.
I'm thoroughly convinced of that.
Just when we get into a routine, when we've made great progress in our studies something happens.

Life usually.

Whatever it is is throws a wrench into it all.
We get behind, we miss days, lessons take weeks instead of days to get through.
Other times we get thrown by attitude changes, hormones (from student and teacher) and then there's the fun stuff.
With Vaughan we stayed pretty well on track. That's his personality more than mine. He would sit down and determine to get school done asap, which usually meant by 10am, then I had a pre-adolescent boy to entertain for the rest of the day.
With Justin it's a little different.

We like to chase butterflies.

We tend to read a chapter and then if it's real good read the whole darn book. The we look at the day or week and wonder where the other subjects went? We start talking about something at breakfast and next thing you know we have the encyclopedias out and are reading more and more on the subject; before we know it, it's lunch and we haven't even pulled out the lesson plan.

When math gets hard we're more likely to take a break and end up having fun doing something as far away from Algebra as possible.

When they were little it was other things, their ADHD aided in starting school hours later than planned; focusing and sitting still and upright I was convinced were myths.

I now have a 7th grader and it is becoming his responsibility to school himself more. I just asked Vaughan today when it was that he decided to "get to it" in the school department. We/he determined it was in the 7th grade and for sure in he 8th.
So hope is coming for Justin and I, although that means changes are coming too.

So home schooling never gets easy and is ever evolving. For the good, for the bad, for the fun and challenge of it.

A challenge I enjoy,
a challenge I'm afraid I'll miss in 2 years.

But we do what we feel called to do, we do it our best and we pray in the end they'll simply learn what really matters in life; to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul and mind.
Until then we'll continue to enjoy our time together.
We'll continue to embrace the challenge and accept the change.
I'll enjoy my private guitar concerts and he'll enjoy my naps- the time when he can do whatever his little 7th grade heart pleases.
-Michelle

1 comment:

Vanessa said...

I enjoyed reading this. It shows you are a great teacher to your kids. I taught in a classroom for ten years and the best days of learning were the ones where I tossed "the plans" out the window and we delved into questions and activities that came about throughout the day. That's what made learning fun and relevant for the kids.

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