Homeschooling Year #2 is officially in the books. Curriculum is put away, the year has been celebrated, and summer break is upon us. I am here for it. This year ended much differently than anticipated, but it was still sweet and we still had much to celebrate. We ended the school year with our annual last day of school picture, a tea party, and celebrating the successes of the past ten months. It was a good year indeed.
Not surprisingly, I learn just as much as the kids do each year, although it’s always shocking how my thinking in September can change so much come May. I’m thankful there is so much grace and my kids are (mostly) oblivious to the tweaks I make throughout the year in how we do school, my attitude, and the way I interact with them. It’s such a gift to be able to grow and change right alongside my babes. It’s something I hope I never take for granted.
Last year, I shared the things I learned my first year of homeschooling. It’s a post I think I will continue each year, as it is both fun and purposeful to look back and reflect and use those thoughts to navigate the upcoming year. We can’t learn from the past if we don’t reflect and thoughtfully consider the past.
Here are my rambling thoughts from this past homeschool year:
Open and go Curriculum > Intense Curriculum
I’ve tried two language arts curriculums. My first year homeschooling the curriculum we used was very thorough, intense, and good. This year we went with a curriculum that was straightforward, open and go, and still good. Open and go is my go to. I like the simplicity of open and go curriculum and the freedom it allows not to be tethered to a weekly or monthly schedule. I want to dictate how the curriculum works for me, not the other way around.
Because of my teaching background, I pull in books, activities, and lessons alongside the set curriculum. My first year I was overwhelmed with the intensity of the curriculum because I was trying to do my own thing, too. This year, I chose The Good and the Beautiful and was extremely happy with it. I literally opened the book and Luke and I worked together through the lessons. The Good and the Beautiful language arts curriculum includes grammar and punctuation, phonics and reading, spelling, literature and art.
Lily will be starting kindergarten next year and Luke will be in second grade. We are going to stick with The Good and the Beautiful. The open and go style is what I need both for my personality and for this season of life.
The early bird gets the worm.
School goes much more smoothly if we knock it out right out of the gates. If Luke gets started with his independent work around 8:00, the day ticks by in an organized fashion. If he starts later than 9:00, it’s a different story. It’s not always perfect, but I have seen a noticeable difference in the flow of our day when we start early. Starting early will stick around as long as it works.
Flip a coin for the schoolroom.
Each morning Luke, Lily, Jude, and I meet in the school room for our devotion, calendar, and a joint lesson. Some days this is my favorite time of our school day, other days I want to go cry in the bathroom. This summer I want to think through the organization of this part of our day and see if there are any tweaks I can implement to make it smoother.
When there is something not going well in our school day, I use a lot of trial and error to attempt a solution. I will be brainstorming some different scenarios this summer.
Integration!
If we don’t get school started on time or something takes twice as long as planned (this happens often), there is a good chance science or social studies could be overlooked. Unless I am super intentional, we just don’t get it in.
In the fall and winter we did our science or social studies lesson in the early afternoon, right before naps. Because it was the last thing, it wasn’t accomplished as often as I would have liked. This spring I integrated our science into various lessons during our time together in the school room and it was completed almost always. Granted, we have had extra time on our hands the past few months, but I discovered I need to integrate science and social studies into a part of our day already happening.
Will work for Magic School Bus.
My kids will bust their britches to earn some screen time. Mrs. Frizzle and Dino Dana are quite enticing to my crew. I have used their motivation to my advantage this year.
The kids don’t get any screen time until right before quiet time, unless I’m showing a Youtube video for school or they are doing an Art Hub. Holding off on giving them screen time until the end of our school day is something I will continue next year because, well, it works.
This school year was both fun and frustrating. Luke discovered writing can be purposeful and fun and Lily found her spark for reading. This year was chock full of change as well as routines. It was one I will remember and hold tight to because all my babies were together and I was given the privilege to be their teacher. My kids sure learned a lot this year, but so did I.
Whether you homeschooled pre-covid or not, what is something you learned this school year?