Our First Year of Homeschooling--how'd it go?


We're going to officially wrap up our school year after Memorial Day. Cora has done fantastically this year, and I truly give all the glory to the Lord. I mean, we've had some rough days. It was way harder then I expected to try and teach simple addition and subtraction to my 5 year old while keeping the 1 year old from climbing on the table and the 3 year old entertained. But! We have made it through and I feel much better having the 1st year under our belts! We are not saying we will be homeschooling from now on. We are seriously taking it each year as it comes. We plan to homeschool for 1st grade at this point. But, before we move on to next school year I've been thinking a lot about everything we did this school year, the things I'm happy with, and the things I wish we'd done differently. I wanted to put it in a blog--not because I think what we did/didn't do was the best/worse, or it's what your family should do. I'm doing it mostly for my own mental organization! And, you just never know! what I have to say might be helpful for you too! If not, just move on, stop reading. I won't be offended. 

Last spring/summer we began the process of trying to figure out what curriculum to use. Oh man. Can I just say how OVERWHELMING just THAT decision is???? Good gracious. My head was swimming. I mean, this is my daughter's 1st year of school. The foundation. The beginning. I did not want to screw this up! I truly believed what we chose would make or break her educational future. Mom just starting out, or mom who is thick into it? Just let it go. There are 100s of ways to teach your child to do math, to read, to write their letters. There are 100s of books out there telling you how you should, or shouldn't, do things. It's ridiculous. Honestly, it is. I want to stop for a second and just say this to you: take a deeeeeeeep breath and let it out slowly. Trust your gut and go with it! Stop listening to everyone. Stop reading books and just do what you feel you should do. Or, give yourself some grace and know that you can't screw up your child's education simply by choosing a supposed "wrong" curriculum. Let me explain...

We decided to choose "Classical Conversations" as the curriculum/program we were going to use for Cora. This seemed like a good move for us at the time. This meant we would be joining a group of other families at our CC campus 1x a week for school. Cora was in a class with 5 other 5/6 year olds--all varying levels of reading ability, etc. The class tutor (a parent) would go over the new material for that week, while doing so giving us parents helpful tips, suggestions, etc for teaching the material to our child. We ended by eating lunch together and then going home. Exhausted. Crabby. Overwhelmed. The CC guide gave direction a basic weekly guide for math, history, science, Latin, geography & English. However, it was just a guide. As a family you are then required to find the books and other curriculum to teach these subjects. We lasted the 1st semester, or 11 weeks. We had several reasons for leaving, and this was not an easy decision for us to make. Over our Christmas break we spent even more time in prayer and discussion, and when it was almost time to go back in January we knew this was not the way for us. Cora was not phased at all (case and point showing how we, as parents, worry WAY TOO MUCH about it all!!!!) and hasn't even asked about CC, at all, ever. 

Now, do we regret beginning our year with CC? NO! It was a learning experience for us. And, as we all have heard a bazillion times, homeschool is what is best for YOUR family. This just wasn't a good fit for our family. I can totally see how it would fit other families. We believe CC is a good program for the right families. We believe children get a good education using this program. It just didn't fit us. Why? Well, I needed more structure to teach. One of the biggest things I've learned this year is I need to have better structure, things laid out for me to feel more comfortable teaching Cora. And, you know what? I'm OK with it!! 

So, what did we do the rest of the year? Well, you'll have to come back tomorrow to find out! 

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