Hey there! Today was our first day of homeschooling and as I promised, I am here to report on how it went. Well, I can't say that I was blown away and that everything went smoothly. It was definitely different and I'm afraid my expectations for how terrific it would flow were a little outrageous. I saw clouds and rainbows and heard joyous melodies as I planned for today and while there WAS rain outside I'm afraid rainbows were just not in the cards today.
Before I go much further (especially for those of you possibly seeking encouragement from this blog) I want you to know that while I thought today was all about teaching my child, God had other plans. You see I woke up this morning feeling blessed and confident. I had a nice quiet time with my Lord in the cool breeze of an overcast morning. I started some laundry and waited for my kiddo to wake up. After all that is a PERK to homeschooling right?? :)
Well, the first couple of subjects went well and he was eager to get started, but as the morning moved on he grew a little less agreeable. Don't get me wrong, he never got frustrated, but I could tell that all of the reading (because we were trying to catch up on what we missed yesterday) was starting to wear him down. In all of my planning out every minute and finding supplemental material to go with our curriculum I forgot the real reason were we doing this. I forgot that this was about letting him explore the things he loves. After realizing there was no way we could cover two days of grammar, spelling, vocabulary, reading, journaling, copywork, history, science math, art, blah, blah, blah I thought to myself why are we trying to cover all of that anyway?!?!?! The purpose here was to help my son gain a closer relationship with The Father and along the way teach him what he would NEED to know but really work on the things he WANTED to know! Not to mention, by the time we got to the Bible lesson we were both over this day! I don't want to teach my child that God gets our leftovers! I don't want to box God into a time slot on a lesson plan. Man did I really miss it!!!
WOW! God really got my attention today and in a big way! So tomorrow, the lesson plan goes out the window. Oh I'll keep doing one to have a basic handle on what we are going to work on and to appease my yearning for structure, but I am NOT going to stress over what doesn't get done! So what if we don't complete each and every spelling list between now and summer? And who in their right mind wants to force a child to sit through THREE, count them, THREE spirals designated strictly for writing? WOW WOW WOW! Today was a huge eye opener, I might as well have sent him to public school this year!!! No, this is not what it's about and NOT how we are going to approach this.
So for those of you reading and learning right along with me... I learned on my first day of homeschooling that ANY DAY can be a flop! Even if you have an extraordinary vision and wake up KNOWING it's going to be the best day ever!!
I also learned that God will provide what I need and give me the words to say to allow my child to understand and learn, but I have to rely on Him! Today I thought I had it all under control and then MY Teacher had to remind me of my focus and set me back on the right track.
Thank you Father for never leaving my side and for setting me straight countless times without fail and always with a gentle hand!
Candie, dear cousin, you have learned the greatest lesson of homeschooling: NO plans are greater than HIS plans! The greatest advantage of homeschooling is that it allows us to learn, along with our kiddos, what GOD wants us to learn.... and to do it in the comfort of our homes. Don't stress yourself or Braydon out. Maybe even try "unschooling" for a little while...just to get into the swing of being home. Overall, let Braydon have fun....and enjoy learning!
ReplyDeleteThat is a hard lesson, it's good that you recognized it on day one! It took me much longer than one day to get there! We also started yesterday, Gid's first day hs & Zeb's first for this "school year". We haven't received Gid's math & Zeb's history or the grammar I want for both. I'll give you this little bit of advice: don't try to do every subject every day! I have them do math every day & some type of language, whether it is reading, grammar, or writing, but not all.
ReplyDeleteYou will both be blessed by this experience! It's all about you & Braydon learning God's way! Love you! Brenda
Plans were made to be broken, right! I love the saying, "Wanna hear God laugh, tell Him your plans." Because it's so true. Sometimes we think we have it all figured out and then it comes and bites us in the butt!
ReplyDeleteI love your attitude though. I have MAJOr respect that you are even doing this, you are awesome! I pray today that you will get accomplished what YOU feel needs to be done :)