Schooling small children can be a little like herding cats. The minute I step away to get my fourth cup of coffee, answer the phone, put a load of clothes into the dryer, or blow my nose, POOF! Everyone is gone.
If my day isn’t organized, my lessons prepared, my reading materials marked and ready, I can lose what adds up to hours of my school day. I’m not sure how these families with 14 children do it because schooling three takes my entire day.
Saying that, our school days have looked quite different this year from previous. For one thing, buying a full curriculum (with a few modifications and additions) has been wonderful. I love having my weeks laid out, explaining each subject and what I need to cover. I can do this homeschool thing if someone just tells me what to do and how to present it in a logical fashion. In the past I have pieced our curriculum together with odds and ends and I’ve struggled with feelings that I was omitting something huge! Oh, the luxury of opening the Teacher’s Guide and being directed! I rest easier.
Our curriculum, Living Books Curriculum, is built in quarters. Each quarter is nine weeks with the final week designated as a “flex week”. This is a time to make up things we’ve fallen behind on, present our memorization work to an audience, explore further items of interest, and rest. For me, I spent time planning the next quarter and preparing lesson plans. Being told what to accomplish weekly allows me to plug in to my calendar daily, working around other obligations and plans such as guitar lessons, play groups, Classical Conversations, etc. I am able to load certain days heavier than other days and I don’t feel the anxiety of not sticking to a provided day-by-day lesson plan.
Funny how I didn’t think I would need a break every nine weeks! By week seven I was struggling! In the past, I admit, I would have just scrapped school and taken the break I so desperately wanted. But instead, we pressed through week eight and week nine felt like a tremendous reward for our diligent efforts. We enjoyed reading more for leisure, crafting, organizing closets, cleaning out the garage and car- places that become a catch-all on busy days.
This week we are back on the wagon with renewed fervor.