Unconventional Homeschool or whatever you call it

Over the years, I've found myself having this tug of war with what home school is supposed to look like for us. When I see how others have managed to not only keep their homes clean and their children in

I may be thinking of running away at this very moment.

activities but also maintain a schedule that is actually consistent and structured everyday, I think I may have confused keeping a schedule with the standard. The internet shows how a well organized home and homeschool room can help children thrive because "a messy environment will cause anxiety". Honestly, as much as that may be true, what is more true for us anyway, is the ability to do our best while adjusting to the cruelty of lifes' moments of illness, flailing emotions or the endless amount of appointments that seem to sneak up on us monthly. I make it a point to work with the demands of life with whatever homeschool schedule we've created. Ultimately, having goals and a loose schedule has done more for my mental health and with a good amount of conversation with the kiddos, I feel like we are far better now, than we've ever been. With the label of Eclectic homeschoolers, I've been able to make do so much more without guilt or shame that I am not doing enough.

My children who are learning in this way and prefer a more structured routine and will often say they play video games all day to other children on the playground. They don't feel it or see it without a worksheet but I use every moment of the day to teach. Lessons are usually conversational, open book, where we focus on contextual learning, sharing our thoughts and taking discussion to a whole new level. It's likely why I'm drained from talking all day :).

A Simpsons episode called "The Day the Violence Died" (Season 7, Ep. 18) both makes a note of the tragedy The Day the Music Died and ties in Don McLean as well as a few other nods to School House Rock with parody version of "I'm just a Bill" called "I'm an Amendment to Be". All of these topics lead to a larger discussion about the Day the Music died, in which we focus on Ritchie Vallens, and watched the movie La Bamba. We discussed race, politics, what it was like to be Mexican in that period of American history as well as a light discussion about aviation. We also watched Buddy Holly by Weezer, tied in a little info about Happy Days, talked about Madonna's rendition of American Pie, and watched both a clip from the aforementioned Simpsons Episode as well as the "I'm just a Bill" School House Rock video. We also watched the Conjunction song and discussed Selena, as we opened up conversation about famous and historical Mexican American's in music and pop culture. At the same time we were reading about the Declaration of Independence, learning about America's beginning and the Amendments as well as the Bill of Rights specifically. All of these ideas and subjects tied together with a simple starting point like one Simpsons. And this is how we make homeschool work for us.

Claude ( yes the Ai) and I were discussion how I can remove video games and make a smoother morning. Most nights I don't sleep we'll because Perimenopause is doing whatever it's doing to my body, and my mornings can sometimes be garbage. The idea of a child waltzing into my room at 7am is both exhausting and overwhelming, causing me to force myself to get up but not necessarily be the most welcoming mom. With this information, Claude offered the idea of adding a small playlist first thing in the morning for the kids to watch on Youtube and man, oh man, that was the key that has been missing all along. Really, truly, I'm not sure why I hadn't done it before but at any given moment, the ability to add just one more video on any educational topic has really made me feel more aspirational about how I get up and attack my day but also slightly more relieved and at peace knowing I didn't send them straight to video games. This gives me a little more quiet time and also helps me ease into a morning rather than hit the ground running, on low fumes.

Breakfast has a schedule. Morning maintenance is going well and each child has designated chores and hygiene things they need to do before Youtube videos can be watched. After everything is done, if breakfast isn't ready, they can play video games, which beginning next week, is going to be limited to Wii and Minecraft with building, not fighting. So, I guess this is the return to what the blog will be maybe. Also, I'm probably a terrible friend, I'm tired all the time, I have gained so much weight and while I am making money online and have a really cool new car, I don't actually know what I am doing with my life. Also, in case I didn't mention it yet, I'm the queen of run on sentences!

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