To Homeschool in a Handbasket

Alright I'm being cheeky. About a two months ago, I received 3 very large boxes filled with delightful home school materials. It became abundantly clear as I looked at all 80 pieces, that I am in fact, in over my head. It's not a bad thing in any way, it's just new material and a whole new world for me and my family. Home school is something I've wanted to do for a couple years now but never thought we'd actually do. It seemed difficult. I'm unorganized and while I love the idea a just allowing my kids to run a muck and do as they please, I also think education is important. The kind of important that maybe has been mentioned every time my child was on the Honor Roll or was at the top of his class or student of the month. My son was in the gifted program and was challenged and man if we could've afforded Private School when we moved, off he would've gone. For me though, I hardly read or spend time doing anything remotely education related unless its' for my small business. I'm just not made that way. While my friends went to school to teach, I went to school to be a Funeral Director and Embalmer. No joke. I wanted a small record store or craft business (winning there - Sparrow and Manna). As my eldest boy thrived in school it seemed like the place for him. Then Covid hit and the world as we knew it fell to pieces. While he thrived with paper and pencil, he did not thrive with laptop and Google classroom. His straight A record from the previous 5 years went out the window and his grades and his growth suffered. I could not keep up. I didn't know how with two small people running around fighting and a child stuck at a computer. I honestly don't know how people do it now but for us, this was my chance to leap out of that box I was in, and make a new normal. Even outside of what we evaluate within the social and political climate, the virus and school disruptions, it has become clear that it is important to stand closely to Christ and raise our babies close to our faith. I am going to miss the mentor/child relationships that teachers offer students. I already miss the friendships that my boys are losing out on right now but even if the schools had opened this fall here in Chicago, it would't look like it did pre-covid. And my middle child may still have mad anxiety. And there will be a lack of family connection with them being gone the entire day. And then there is the anxiety I have with sending them and letting them come into my home. All the anxiety!

After much research and prayer, lots of conversation and prayer, lots of praying and prayer, I found myself reaching out to Memoria Press to express my excitement about using their product while also asking if they would be interested in me sharing "A year in the life" on my blog as a new homeschool family. To my answered prayer, they obliged and I am now in a partnership with Memoria Press. Praise the Lord!

One scripture that keeps coming to mind from Proverbs that gives me comfort with our decision is Proverbs 22:6

6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

It just sticks with me. I'm not interested in sheltering my children forever but while the foundation is being laid, why wouldn't I want them all to learn what I want them to learn? Why wouldn't I want them to be closer to their siblings and parents? More importantly, why wouldn't I want them to follow so closely to Christ, that they are literally in His shadow? I love our children and for this season, however long it is, we want to foster and nurture kindness. We want to pour into their little souls and help develop spiritual growth while teaching them compassion for their neighbor and apparently also teach them Latin.

Over the past few weeks I've had a chance to read through some of the material. I read when I have time, in between meals, while trying to get a baby to nap, while neglecting my bible study homework and just when I have a moment to myself. The books offer a quick breakdown of the structure and the point of why these things are being taught. The handbooks for each grade also offer a well laid out schedule they recommend you follow with space to make notes for yourself. Let me be clear here, there is a lot of information. A LOT. But most of the breakdowns made me feel more at ease with setting up our new school schedule. While I didn't think it would be easy, I also didn't know that it would be so structured. I plan to follow that schedule pretty closely when we don't have plans during the day but we will do breaks and other less structured learning in different environments to make this curriculum work for our families needs. That's one of my favorite parts about home school, we get to decide how we teach, when, and where.

For now, I'll share that my organizing has been in complete preparation for this new life. I stayed up late working on a homemade calendar because I couldn't bare to spend more money on home school materials. Also, Dollar Tree had a simple chart that made making the calendar really easy, with my cricut machine. I do really enjoy this side of crafting with intent for school fun. I spent time laminating flash cards from Memoria Press and other items I've purchased for home school recently. There was so much to laminate that I am still in the process of laminating and we are two weeks in. Each day for two weeks as I lead up to home school, I remind the littles that we'd be doing school soon and shared what some of the very simple instructions would be like. The summer had been a season of screen time, random montessori play, more screen time, snacks and some days, a good amount of time outside. The discussion really did help prepare them for what our next season would be. Now, on days that we don't get to cutting because someone was having a meltdown, they talk about how sad their day was because they missed that part of class.

At the moment, this is our school schedule:

Pledge of Allegiance, outside at the flag in front of our home

Prayer

Everything else breaks according to how the little ones are doing. If they have their listening ears on, I set my eldest up with Latin, which is his first subject anyway, and head to the living room where my kids sit on the little mat and hold a stuffed animal or pet our dog and do all of our reading. For me it's easiest to get through the reading for the entire day and then do a snack and hit the desk with some number learnin' , writing and coloring/cutting assignments.

If they are falling apart, I send them to do playdoh and after snack or lunch, we do everything I mentioned above.

For my eldest, some of the curriculum is meant to be taught and some he has had to self teach. I can do small lessons here and there but a lot of it is broken up through the day away from the schedule designed in the curriculum. I randomly test him on his recitation and spelling words. Today my husband spent time working on memorizing stars for Astronomy right before dinner. We also randomly ask the small ones to recite the poem they learned... for candy. Yeah, we used bribery but honestly, the joy I see in my kids eyes as they recite the poem, it's worth every jelly bean. Also, they seem to have memorized our first book and some pages in another book we are reading in our Myself and Other (part 1) book.

OH SOMETHING I FORGOT TO MENTION!!!!! Okay, so I originally planned to start Jr. Kinder for my daughter 3.5 years, Kinder for my new 5 year old and 4th grade for the 9 year old. Nope. That didn't work for my 5 year old. He has zero training in anything close to school with the exception of knowing letters and numbers. He didn't even know how to cut until last week. He has struggled with fine and even gross motor skills, so for him, we're starting in Jr. Kinder and will transition both children as they grow, and as we run out of assignments for Jr. Kinder.

A lot of the structure of Memoria Press pushes children to go beyond what a parent may think they're child is ready for. I was nervous when seeing what I would be teaching. I'm no longer nervous. Both littles are doing exceptionally well and it's been tons of reinforcement. We've also had a good amount of breaks but while some institutions don't necessarily push fun, I surely do. I want my kids to really enjoy learning so when they struggle, they'll remember some of the fun they had.

An example of a fun project I am doing with the kids involved green eggs and ham. Literally. I made green eggs and used deli turkey as our ham. My 5 year old cried. He did not want green eggs and ham! But after a few minutes, I explained that I used a natural dye (spinach) and it was the same food he always ate. He then added cheese and ketchup like he always does and ate the entire plate of food.

Other small adjustments that speak to my unorganized ways are some of the unconventional methods of story telling I did the first week of school. I didn't have Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss (not even sure how that's possible) in our collection so I used Youtube and found a story teller reading the story and let them watch that a few times. I also found some outdated version of the cartoon and added that to their lunch time while I taught my nine year old.

Last week we did our first week of official school. While I struggled with making copies of reproducibles and found how many items I still didn't have ready, I realized I had to purchase more and decided to start home school over this week. We have been teaching the same books for 2 weeks and the kids memorized them. E, my 5 year old, learned the poem Jack Spratt and A the 3 year old, followed right behind him and learned it too. I didn't know they would learn it. I actually used a favorite book of mine Dean's New Gift Book of Nursery Rhymes, which is not part of the designated curriculum but it's what I had on hand. I really love to read it to them. It's nostalgic. While I wait for the book that belongs with the curriculum to come in next week, I've been able to wing parts of the curriculum and other parts, I've really had to do more reading and gathering. I feel like I just make purchases all week for various things related to school. I was always a shopper so this isn't new but I wish I hadn't been so cheap or at least that I had been more organized with obtaining all part of the curriculum before we needed it.

It's been a good week. I didn't cry once. Ora et labora!

Also, send coffee.

- Renee

Feel like you'd like to order some new home school materials? Please use this link to place your order: https://id.memoriapress.com//idevaffiliate.php?id=211

Disclosure: I only recommend products I use and all opinions expressed here are of course, honest and unbiased. Some items shared with you on this page may have been received at a discount or even for free in exchange for review. While this post may contain affiliate links (such as the one mentioned above) that I may earn a small commission from, that comes to no additional cost to you. Thanks for your trust and supporting our family!