More on Homeschooling- My Vision, Our Schedule

Homeschooling can be a daunting prospect for most mothers.  I am no exception.  Having our children so close together took a toll on me, physically.  I have spent the past few years trying to recover and restore my energy levels from years of sleepless nights, the aftermath of pregnancies and surgery and the general exhaustion of raising infants and toddlers.

And then there's the Jello brain.  How long does it take to restore that?  I'm still working on it.

It's a long process.  And not one that welcomes additional responsibility, especially when motherhood is a never-ending job as it is.  The process of moving and settling in over and over again over the past few years has set me back in the time and energy department even further--all of this leaving me feeling very incapable of homeschooling more often than not.  Because of this, there is real fear involved.  Fear of inadequacy.  Fear of failure.  Fear of the sacrifices involved in trading one thing for another.  It can feel like such a gamble.

But for me, the idea of homeschooling persists.  Because I have a vision.  And I am just stubborn enough and idealistic enough to cling to it.

Despite my eventual certainty about homeschooling Miri with Abby, I found myself in bed one night, wide awake at 3am with my brain spinning out of control and the panic rising and the "What in the world am I thinking?!" gripping my whole being.  I had to get up and pace the room and breathe in and out and remind myself over and over again that there is a God in heaven and He will help me do this.  He's done it before and He will do it again.

And that was the end of it.  I've been treading smooth waters ever since.

It's horribly ironic what you find on the other side of doubt and fear, if you can just get past it.  Especially if there was inspiration and enlightenment to begin with.  Homeschooling is a happy place for me.  A really peaceful, fulfilling, happy place.  Overall.   And it always blows me away to think I would never have known it had I given in to my own doubts and tremblings- or even the exhaustion and overwhelm I was feeling before making this most recent decision. 

But I have to have a plan to feel the peace. 

When I first began homeschooling, I had the clear impression that I needed to define a vision of what I wanted for my children before I could develop a plan.  It has since made me think of this exchange from Alice in Wonderland:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

Oh so true with homeschooling!  There are so many resources today for homeschoolers.  I dare say there are TOO MANY resources.  A little bit of research and investigation and the options become overwhelming.  Which to choose?  How to fit it all in?  If the idea is simply to do school at home, that's straightforward enough. There are countless one size fits all curriculums to choose from.  But my vision is at once more grand and more simple than that.  And there is no curriculum for it.

How does one write a curriculum for a love of truth?  A love of God?  For character and virtue.  For life skills.  For home building and family love.  For the wonder and grandeur of nature.  For serving and understanding others. For the spirit and the body and a sharp, free-thinking mind.  How does one teach knowledge- not just facts and information, but knowledge that grows into wisdom?  There is such a need for wisdom in our world.  Where is the curriculum for wisdom? 

And where is the curriculum that will guide each of my children towards their greatest strengths? So that they can know and become the blessing they came into this world to be.  

See what I mean?  There is no pre-packaged curriculum for what I want to teach; for the vision I have for them. These are all things I hope to teach my children regardless of what kind of academic training they recieve, but as long as I'm homeschooling, I will do everything I can to devolop my plan with this vision in mind.  More specifically, I hope to guide them as far as I am able to develop a love of God and a love of truth- from which so many of the others flow out of. 

Our daily plan doesn't look nearly as lofty as my vision, but I'm convinced that out of small things, great things come to pass.  In fact, when I was homeschooling Luke and realized how little time we really had to do everything I wanted to do and teach everything I wanted to teach-- a prayer asking how to do it all was answered swiftly and directly with the following verse from the book of James in the New Testament:

Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.   (James 3:4)

Sometimes I think we expect more from ourselves than even God does- especially when it come to all of the "doing."   He knows that with the right spirit and the right intention a little effort goes a long long way. A great ship is turned about with a very small rutter.  When the Holy Ghost is present in our learning, volumes can be taught with a single impression on the mind or in the heart. Principles are embedded in the soul.  I know this from my own experience, and have since seen it happen when teaching my children at home.  When we bring God into home and school, he magnifies our efforts beyond anything we could accomplish on our own.  We don't have to homeschool to have that blessing, but I'm finding that I much prefer having the additional time and space that homeschooling offers me.

This is the schedule the girls and I developed for this fall:



See.  Nothing lofty there.  But it has all of the elements I want for the foundation I want to build.  And if I go into each part of the day with the intention of building a love of God and a love of Truth, than I can feel us inching towards my vision. 

We don't follow this schedule exactly.  We're about an hour off in the morning, and some days entire chunks get rearranged or deleted.  But that's okay, because it's our schedule!  We're not beholden to anyone else.  I love having that flexibility.  I love being able to shape learning and lives. I love the peacefulness of our days.  I love not having any homework hanging over our evenings.  Homework ought to be outlawed in Elementary School, I tell you.

Here is my burning question:

What on earth cannot be accomplished in 7 hours of school that little ones must take more work to do at home?!

Let them run and jump and play and roam and wander!  Let them read and dream and imagine! (without a timer)  Give them some time to talk and listen and learn with family. This is what counts most when they're young.

For Heaven's sake.

Hopefully I'll write about each section of our schedule in more detail sooner than later (but I fear it might be later).   I have appreciated getting ideas from other like-minded homeschooling moms in the past, and hope this is just as helpful to someone else. 

For me, it began with a vision.