One child is in the dining room, one is in the family room and the youngest is in the hall shouting “fire in the hole” as he shoots his toy car off – they are each doing something different and seem to have to tell me about it all the time or at least making some type of noise to accompany the work. Add to that the noise from the washer and dryer and my poor husband trying to focus amid the noise and it is almost comical.
This is my day – most every day (except for the laundry, we have that scheduled for Monday and Thursday). Some people would walk in and consider it chaotic. My husband, who left a public school position last year, is one of those. It is hard to see the method for the madness!
If you ask the boys what they are learning, they might say nothing. Sometimes something will interest them enough that they will share, but usually they just do their work and go on. But I know they are learning. I can tell when they use the information from their lessons in ordinary life without realizing it. Their Sunday school teachers tell me how the boys share information that goes along with the lesson.
The chaos is not always bad. Most days I can still focus enough to get through a couple of blog posts or articles. Some days I am just happy to get through. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world – on those days when I get something done .
My friend, Mara, and I are in charge of activities and field trips in our region for our cover school. We have been kicking around different ideas of things that we want to do, and it is taking us a little time to figure out the best way to plan and organize the trips.
1.Don’t over plan. It will be frustrating if only a few people show up for the events that you plan. Start small and you will have less stress and probably a better turn out.
2. Get a buddy. There is no way to plan for the unexpected, but having a partner that helps set up and plan the activities will help. If one person can’t make it then there is another person that knows the in’s and out’s of the plans.
3. Watch the dollar signs. It may be tough financially for the country today but it is tough for homeschoolers all the time. The more free activities that you can plan for field trips then the happier the homeschool parents will be.
4.Talk to your community. Visit the town hall, the local paper, the police station or fire station or any of the businesses or offices that might be of interest to the homeschool group. We’ve been to the paper, the radio station and the fire station. It is always amazing at the number of people that have never experienced any of these before.
5.Be on time. Even if no one else shows up on time the coordinator should – and be early if possible.It gives you a chance to confirm your plans and also lets you great any new homeschoolers that may participate.
Planning field trips is not as difficult as it may seem. Find something that you and your family want to do and then invite other families to join you. Before you know it you will be a field trip pro.
There are moments in the day when I panic and start to think that I am ruining the lives of my children. Is it possible that I am actually qualified to teach them all the lessons they need to know to succeed in life? Having family members that question the amount of work that the children do and also how we do our school does not help my panic attacks.
This morning I received a wonderful breath of fresh air in the form of an email. It contained an article called “What’s Your Platform” by Karen Lange. She talks about finding your own way of doing school at home and not being forced into a mindset by others. The article reminded me that things will be okay and that each child will be different and that YES I am qualified to help prepare my children for life.
In my heart of hearts I knew all along that the choices we have made for our family, our children and their education are the right ones. The memories that the children are forming and the lessons that they are learning go well beyond any thing that can be learned in a book.
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