Homeschooling mom

Who knew? Seriously. I thought I'd hate it. I was willing to sacrifice all of my free time and lunches with friends and peaceful pedicures. I'd do it. Because I would do ANYTHING for these kids. Anything. For real.

The idea of fighting with the boys over reading, writing and arithmetic, planning every minute of every day and shuttling them from one thing to another. Who could enjoy it?

Me. I enjoy it. No, I love it. I'm making plans for them to homeschool for the rest of eternity. Of course, that means something different to everyone and I have a life plan for them. I sure do and I'm not sharing it with you. But it's a good one. I have my Ph.D. and that certainly qualifies me to teach elementary Biology, right? I think so.

I go to the gym and then we homeschool.
I bribe them with Minecraft or park time.
I give a a discrete amount of time to finish our tasks. After that, it eats into playtime.
We have piano.
Scouts.
Soccer.
Golf lessons.
Golf league.
Soccer practice.
Hip hop dance.
Applied mathematics.
Computer coding.
Creative writing.

Who says what homeschool looks like? Do I have to teach everything? Do I teach everything and then we have people add to it? Reinforce it? Teach it in different ways?

I've decided that I teach the big things. The main things. We read a lot. And write. We type. Practice piano. Do math in person and on the iPad. We do social studies and science. We add in projects to reinforce facts. Oh and then there's cursive. We practice that too.

Then I send them off to get taught extra stuff. They interact with kids. They learn outside of me. In a different style. With different people. They play with kids.

Then they come home and we start again. Yes, you have to type. Yes, you have to write. Yes. Yes. Yes. You aren't getting out of it because you had extra today.

Let's meet the homeschool group. Go on an outing. Build a puzzle. Build a diorama. Let's meet with an architect. Explore a recycling center. Let's go. Learn. Explore. Hands on.

I love it. The kids love it.

I'm happy to just have 2 at home and learning for now. The baby is home, but she starts school in January. I don't want to homeschool them until they are reading well. Of course, Aspen starts 1st grade math tomorrow. And she's already reading at a Kindergarten level. By the time i get her, she might be reading where Landon is. Who knows?

I'm teaching them to cook. We talk about carbohydrates, proteins and fats. We talk about how to balance them. Good carbs versus bad carbs. We talk about treats and how the change our bodies. We cook together. It's amazing. Our family is in an amazing place. Please don't let anything shake us.

And then there are my cute and crazy girls. Aspen goes to Montessori all day. I miss her terribly. She is doing incredibly. She's smart and pretty and everything a mom could want in her daughter. She will be 5 soon. Maisy is 2 and unpredictable. She's my smartest kid. Most self-taught. She has life figured out. The rest of the kids ask for a snack when she's hungry. Maisy finds a snack, opens it, gets out a plate and rests.  That's my Maisy. That's the girl. I will miss her when she starts school in January.