So Far So Good

After two full weeks of homeschool with Luke, here is my report:

Glorious.

Is that too big a word? Really there doesn't seem to be one to describe how I feel. So I'll choose that one for now. What would you say if you were feeling little swells of:

• peace
• purpose
  
• contentment
• order
• rhythm
• fulfillment
• satisfaction
• hope

all in the same day, or even all in the same moment?

I don't mean to exaggerate. My days continue to be filled with all the usual motherly duties and challenges, but I'm used to those. I'm used to the regular ups and downs and ins and outs of a day. I suppose I must be in the honeymoon stage of homeschooling, because I'm reveling in a new dimension of purpose. There's a certain feeling of synergism embarking on this path that I hope to write about soon.

And Luke? Luke seems to be gobbling up opportunity. We have a general structure to our day, including time for working together, scripture study, reading, helping with meals and mom-school. Luke gets to fill in the blank spots with anything he wants to pursue. Here is a list of some of the things he has done with little or no prompting from me. If anything, its interesting to see what he has chosen to do with his time:

• Conducted a dramatic clean-out and reorganization of his room
  
• Memorized the first two paragraphs of The Living Christ (with me), including copywork (for his handwriting.)
  
• Learned how to type! No more plucking.
  
• Researched lizards and all things required to own and care for one. Trip to petsmart to calculate costs. Comparison shopped.
  
• Learned how to list items on Ebay and Craigslist from his room purge for said lizard. (good luck!)
  
• Came up with a long-term plan for extra chores in order to earn money for same lizard- and went to work.
  
• Learned how to take pictures, transfer them to computer, edit, crop and upload.
• Researched vultures for hours, then decided to learn how to create an Excel spreadsheet in order to organize the facts on vultures so he could turn it in as a project for Cub Scouts.
• Acquainted himself with PowerPoint, created a slide-show complete with charts, graphs and photos and then taught his mother how to do the same.
• Explored Microsoft Word, then typed out the paragraphs he has memorized so far from The Living Christ using various Word features.
• Created a typewritten glossary for his new language, developed over the past few months.
• Learned how to make yogurt cheese, and did so!
• Learned how to make bar chocolate, and did so!
• Learned how to dice and chop carrots and potatoes (a step up from slicing) using the BIG knife.
• Determined the weekly dinner menu and wrote a grocery list for same.
  
• Started and completed his Pinewood Derby car (with Dad).
• Took apart an old birdhouse and made a plaque to mount his coin collection on.
• Used the remaining wood to make a propeller attached to string, then proceeded to swing it around in varying directions and speeds, guessing which machines made the accompanying sounds- and why. (!!)
  
• Read 250 pages of his novel
• Learned all kinds of interesting things with Mom from This Week in History. (Would you believe I've never known what Florence Nightingale did?) Spent a good chunk of time learning about Edward Lear- his life, his limericks, his art. Realized we had a book with some of his limericks in it and pulled it out to read.
• And more.

I figure that's a pretty good start. We have a math plan in the works. Fortunately Luke already loves math. I'm counting on him to lead the way with the others in the future while I get over my own math inhibitions. I'm certain there will come a day when he chooses to read over other things, but for now, we're both enjoying exploring all of the possibilities.

All of this was helped by initially sitting down with Luke and creating a plan for our days, both short and long term. We outlined the daily and weekly schedule together and mounted it to the wall (it's a dry-erase poster, so we can change it as needed). Then we made lists of things Luke is interested in learning about that he can refer to. We also listed projects that I plan to have him do with me, such as:

Memorizations
Service Projects
Emergency Preparedness
Food Storage
Planning the Garden
Natural Health Remedies
Compiling Photo Albums
Yardwork
Home Projects
and so on...

And so forth.

It just feels good. And when Miri came home today with a fistful of candy (for good behavior!), announced that people were throwing up at school, and asked me if she could make a poster on Justin Bieber (who??? I had to google him to figure out who he is and how to spell it), and when Abby then handed me a form requesting money for a special program on anti-bullying, I had to laugh in astonishment. Really?? I could actually feel my mind descending from another place.

Fortunately I know that their schooling is more than this, but at that moment, the contrast was sharp.

We're off to a good start, Luke and I.