New Beginnings
8:20 am, August 20, 2012. That was DD's first day of 7th
grade. The beginning of our third year home-schooling. The family all piled
into the mini-van and headed down town.
Daddy had a meeting to attend. DD
brought her school books; I brought my camera and subject, DS. C:
While Daddy attended to his meeting
and I photographed DS (he will be beginning his first day of 2nd
grade in a few days), DD got to work studying about America’s first state,
Delaware and taking her very first math pre-test of the year!
Afterward, we took DS for a haircut
and went to a new pizza place for lunch (it was REALLY good!) Finally, we headed back home where DD
finished up her school work between short breaks. It all went smoothly and, at the end of the
day, I was pleased with the way it turned out.
That’s not to say I didn’t spend
some time breaking up sibling rivalries or reminding/encouraging DD to continue
plugging away at her work. Or even
reminding myself to stay calm and patient (I apparently woke up on the wrong
side of the bed yesterday morning and
just had an overall bad attitude to overcome in addition to all else that was
going on). Despite all of it, I felt
prepared and organized for the work of the day and really, of the school
year. A far cry from the first day of
our first year of homeschooling when I felt inadequate, incompetent, and,
generally, ill-prepared to be a homeschooling mother. One word describes that first year: Chaotic.
Sadly, the first year is pretty much
evidence that I was ill-prepared to the task at hand. Not that I was unintelligent, I just didn’t
know where to begin. I didn’t know what
to teach or how to teach it or even where to find it to teach it! Although the internet is an unparalleled resource
there is also such a thing as information overload. The amount of information was overwhelming.
There were many well meaning
individuals who encouraged me toward home-schooling saying how easy it is to
do. But, despite being more prepared
than I have been in the short three years that I have spent home-schooling, I
still don’t find home-schooling to be “easy.”
I don’t say this to discourage you from home-schooling your child. In fact, I have been known to tell my
husband, “If it’s the hard thing to do, it’s probably the right thing to do,
too,” and, “It’s ‘hard’ is not a valid reason for not doing it.” That is the time you have to delve deep into
it and figure out if and how it works for you.
As I chronicle the events of this
year week by week I hope to provide you with assistance in figuring out how and
where to get started and help give you that forward momentum needed to keep going
on!
The first thing I will address and
would encourage you to weigh heavily as you decide whether you will home-school
your child is:
WHY is it so important to you to home-school?
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