As our Kindergarten year draws to a close, I keep feeling like I haven't done enough with my girls. Sometimes, my type A personality makes me feel like I should be more structured, and school-at-home, rather then home-based learning. So, I just happened to take a gander at some pictures from the past few months.
We have quite a few photos of adventures we've taken, and Honey has learned a lot through those adventures. The reality is, those BEST days, the ones where we had the most memorable experiences, we were so involved in what we were doing that we don't have any pictures!
I think, as a homeschooling mom, scratch that... as a MOM, it is easy to feel like we are messing our kids up, not doing enough for them, or not doing anything right. I know I feel like this often. I have finally realized, while that may be considered normal, it is by no means serving my kids or myself in any way. Instead, I need to focus on what I can do right, or to the best of my abilities, and be happy with that.
So yes, even though we are nearly finished our school year and Honey has little interest in learning to read yet, we still have a lot of pages left in her workbook, and our schedule went totally off the rails, I can look back with my head held high. She had a good year. She learned a lot. She had fun. She got dirty. She made new friends. She developed new skills, and was able to keep active in the process!
Aside from everything she learned/did/saw, I learned a lot about myself, my kids, my relationships, (and if I'm being honest I learned a lot about bees, polar bears, Arctic Terns, and many other things). I discovered how important it is for me to take time for myself to be better for my kids. I developed more patience (which I was praying for daily!) and made new friends as well.
We also faced our first homeschool haters, some supporters, a few people who asked if their kids could join, and learned how to stand up for our decision as a family. We grew as a family. Closer. More loving. More patient and kind. We learned how to make homeschooling a blessing. There were most certainly days I was ready to march down the street and enroll Honey in JK - the school is about 400m away from our home - but I knew that in my heart, that wasn't what we all wanted, and that if we persevered, our family and relationships would be stronger because of it.
I am not, even for one second, saying that I don't approve of parents sending their kids to school, or that I don't feel their families could be as close, because I fully support people's choices to send their children to school... I am just saying that through our year, this is what has worked for us.
So, in our wild ride of a year, our week long breaks, our meltdowns, our highs, our victories, our field trips, all the cuts and scrapes, and everything in between, I can find the bright side in all we've done and be proud. We (have almost) made it.
I'd love to hear from other mom's about their ups and downs, and how you've learned from them, or what you feel you are doing well for your children!
I think, as a homeschooling mom, scratch that... as a MOM, it is easy to feel like we are messing our kids up, not doing enough for them, or not doing anything right. I know I feel like this often. I have finally realized, while that may be considered normal, it is by no means serving my kids or myself in any way. Instead, I need to focus on what I can do right, or to the best of my abilities, and be happy with that.
So yes, even though we are nearly finished our school year and Honey has little interest in learning to read yet, we still have a lot of pages left in her workbook, and our schedule went totally off the rails, I can look back with my head held high. She had a good year. She learned a lot. She had fun. She got dirty. She made new friends. She developed new skills, and was able to keep active in the process!
Aside from everything she learned/did/saw, I learned a lot about myself, my kids, my relationships, (and if I'm being honest I learned a lot about bees, polar bears, Arctic Terns, and many other things). I discovered how important it is for me to take time for myself to be better for my kids. I developed more patience (which I was praying for daily!) and made new friends as well.
We also faced our first homeschool haters, some supporters, a few people who asked if their kids could join, and learned how to stand up for our decision as a family. We grew as a family. Closer. More loving. More patient and kind. We learned how to make homeschooling a blessing. There were most certainly days I was ready to march down the street and enroll Honey in JK - the school is about 400m away from our home - but I knew that in my heart, that wasn't what we all wanted, and that if we persevered, our family and relationships would be stronger because of it.
I am not, even for one second, saying that I don't approve of parents sending their kids to school, or that I don't feel their families could be as close, because I fully support people's choices to send their children to school... I am just saying that through our year, this is what has worked for us.
So, in our wild ride of a year, our week long breaks, our meltdowns, our highs, our victories, our field trips, all the cuts and scrapes, and everything in between, I can find the bright side in all we've done and be proud. We (have almost) made it.
I'd love to hear from other mom's about their ups and downs, and how you've learned from them, or what you feel you are doing well for your children!