Monday, January 5, 2015

Our Homeschool Adventures Began!

Shortly before Christmas break I finally decided I'd had enough of indecisiveness about homeschooling Kman.  The amount of time I spent trying to decide what was best & stressing over if what I was doing was right or if what I could be doing was right...  it was all-consuming!  So, I decided to pull him.  I told his school the afternoon before their last day of the December, but I didn't tell him for several more days.  I was SCARED.  I know Kman, he's unpredictable.  I didn't want to deal with the drama.  Once I finally did tell him, he flipped out.  He was SO mad & told me I ruined his year.  (Which means I'm totally doing this parenting thing right, because we're SUPPOSED to ruin everything, right???)  He worked through a lot of anxiety about it & by last night was pretty excited to start something new.
This morning he woke up & right away asked if we could start school.  Of course, when I mentioned his excitement he told me that wasn't it at all, he just wanted to "get it over with".  I'm calling that bluff though.  He was excited.  Yay!
The day actually went better than I imagined, though I'm sure there will be rough days throughout our homeschooling journey.  We started with a short Bible study (score 1 for no more public school!), then did art.  Today we did glue drawings.  He didn't quit catch on to it like I thought he would, but he did his drawing anyway & tomorrow we will chalk paint them so he can better understand why he was supposed to do it the way I said.  Next came math, which was the moment of freak out for Kman.  See, he's REALLY good at math, but school had somehow made him grow to hate it.  He was very resistant to having to sit with me & study math.  ...then I brought out Life of Fred & he was relieved.  Just based on today's experience, I think LoF might be a perfect fit for us.  We've only made it through 2 chapters of Apples though, so I'll withhold my songs of praise for now.
Then
We went for a walk!  We fed the ducks (he even got one to eat out of his hands!), we dug in mud (well, not so much ME), and we got to chat with friends.  -but, wait, aren't homeschooled kids totally deprived of social interaction?  bwahahahaha!
We came home, had lunch, Kman had about an hour to get his chore done (today was washing his sheets) & do whatever he felt like.  Then, handwriting.  I've been working on this for a few months now, so we took out the Handwriting for a Reason book & he did 2 lessons.  Meanwhile, Sweetie Pie Sparkles was playing PlayDoh.  Once he finished his handwriting, Kman joined him & I read from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea while Kman worked on a PlayDoh design to go with the story.  He chose to make Abraham Lincoln, since the boat was named after him.  After a few chapters, my voice was shot, so we called t good.  Then the 3 of us spent a good half hour being silly with PlayDoh.  Kman still had to read before we could finish the school day, so he read a couple chapters of one of his I Survived books & then we headed out for a couple of hours at the playground.  (Well, actually, the boys mostly played in the "forest", my kids are just much more into adventures than playgrounds these days.)
That was it.  We survived our first day of homeschool & it was actually kinda fun.  I was afraid I'd be so worn out (I am, but that's because neither of them wanted to sleep last night) & frustrated by the end of the day that I'd want to run away.  I'm sure I will have those days, but today wasn't really one.  Even as Sweetie Pie Sparkles has decided to give up naps, so it was allll day with both of them.  Guess what though?  I actually kinda like my kids.  ;)  Being able to spend this precious time with them is a blessing (remind me of that on rough days, please!), and growing a stronger bond between the 3 of us will no doubt be amazing.  I guess I'm kind of getting to make up for the time I didn't get to have with Kman when I had to work full time.  Now I'm getting to teach him even better things than how to talk and use a potty and all that.  This is way more fun!  I'm going to be a little more tired and I'm going to be a lot more talked out (BOTH of my boys like to talk - all. day. long), and some days I'm sure I'll feel ready to run away forever...  but when I look back I hope I remember these days with as much fondness & enlightenment as I have tonight.
For any doubts that I had about whether this was the right thing or not, today made me feel more sure that this IS the right thing for Kman & for our family in general.  So, here's to 2015 & all the drastic lifestyle changes it brings our family. ...and also to lessening our stress because let's face it, not waking up to an alarm clock & not dealing with homework drama is going to be a major de-stresser!

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