100 Days of Homeschool

The last day of January also marked our 100th day of homeschooling! I thought I'd share how it's going. 

Overall, we are loving homeschooling! The girls love how much they are learning, having a ton of time to read, not having to rush out the door in the mornings, not riding the bus, and having more say in what, when, and how they learn. I love being engaged in their education, seeing them progress, not packing lunches, having so much more time with the kids, and the language arts program we are using. 

Everyone's favorite subject is science. So far we've studied the Human Body and Space. Right now the older girls are working on science fair projects for our co-op Science Fair, and then we'll move on to Marie Biology. 

Making models of the spine and blood: 

Play-dough models of the brain:

Orson goofing around:

Triton Saturn's moon art:

Marshmallow Constellations:

We alternate science with social studies. This year we spent 6 weeks learning about Kentucky then moved on to learning a bit about each state. We made dioramas of Kentucky habitates which was a blast. (Orson's includes a dinosaur which is what he wanted to sculpt).

Hazel's fox Mama and babies

As I mentioned above I love our Language Arts Curriculum. It called the Good and the Beautiful and it really is good and so beautiful. It uses great literature and art to bring joy, beauty, and high moral values to language learning. Already I'm seeing what a positive impact it's had on my kids.

Preschool painting

Illustrated story by Eliza

Poem by Hazel

Poem by Eliza

One of the other things we've loved is the freedom! If the weather is especially beautiful we might eat at the park or meet up with friends. In the fall, we formed a small co-op with friends at church. One of the mom's was a former Waldorff teacher and she hosted some Waldorff celebrations. For a Fall celebration we made Dragon bread, and at the Winter celebration the kids made lanturns then walked around the neighborhood singing songs about light, symbolic of lighting our inner lights to guide us through the long, cold winter.

Dragon Bread

Sadly they aren't homeschooling this semester so we joined another co-op instead. It's been run to meet more people outside of church and for the kids to play with other kids once a week. Plus, they do some fun field trips!

While we love homeschool there are things that are hard. For one thing, keeping the younger kids busy and out of trouble can be tricky, especially with Mr. Curious Conrad. I guess he's just learning too?

Sensory Play

Practicing the Piano

Water Beads all over the kitchen - cause and effect

Another things that's hard is never having a break. The kids are always home! Having everyone home all the time and learning also makes for a lot more messes. Some days we do great following our chore charts and picking up as we go, and other days it looks like a bomb went off in here. I sometimes long for a quiet moment just to relax or read. While it's exhausting, I wouldn't want to trade the awesome memories I'm making with my kids for anything. When it's gotten to be too much, Michael has been great about taking them for half a day Saturday or what not so I can have some down time.

Yoga on a rainy day to help get some energy out

How about being the Relief Society President and homeschooling? Again, some days are tough. I try not to take RS calls or messages during the day. Sometimes I use the kids recess to make a few calls. If something truly time sensitive comes up, I try my best to pass it off to a counselor. Then if there are still things I need to do, I'll spend a bit of time after school while the kids play.

Obviously I can't make many visits for RS, but I'm learning that often that's okay. When a visit is truly important, the Lord has blessed me with a way to be there at the right time. For example, a sister in our ward was diagnosed with breast cancer. It took me almost 2 weeks from her initial diagnosis to get up there and see her. I had wanted to go much sooner, but it just didn't work out. Then while I was there visiting she received a call from her doctor with her final diagnosis. I was there to listen while she talked through things then help a bit with the kids while she processed. I left feeling touched that Heavenly Father got me there exactly when I needed to be there, even if it wasn't what I would have wanted. I'm learning that He will take care of things and magnify my efforts in incredible ways.

One thing I worried a lot about was that homeschooling would limit my opportunities to serve during the day. Once and a while it has, but overall I've still been blessed with chances to help and cheer others. I've still watched kids from time to time or given rides. If something arises that can involve the kids, we finish up school a bit early or take a lighter day and go serve. I thought I'd feel guilty about that, but I don't in the slightest. After all, education is certainly more then learning from books, and what greater lesson can they learn than service.

For our 100th day of school we had a little celebration. We actual had the art field trip that morning, then we made 100th day necklaces and wrote about what we'd be like when we are 100 years old. I'm thankful we made the switch to homeschooling. The positives have been even better than we imagined, and some of the negatives haven't been as hard as I thought they would be.