a new school year: our routine.

We’re 30 days or so into the school year, and this fall semester is always the best part of the year. We’ve found our daily routine, the weather’s turning cooler, and we have all the fun holidays to look forward to.

I haven’t taken time to list our curriculum in a few years, so I thought I’d do it now. Since this post ended up getting long, I’ll post the curriculum list separately for easy reference.

Curriculum changes

So far, this is the year I’m happiest with all our choices, and I can tell because I actually look forward to helping the kids with their subjects each day. Every year there’s some trial and error, but what we’re doing now just feels like the right fit. In retrospect, as I review past years, there are things I wish I’d done differently. But hindsight is always 20/20. The important lesson for me to learn, as a recovering perfectionist, is that God simply asks me to be faithful with what I know. I’m continually amazed by how my kids learn and grow in disproportionate measure to what I feel like I’ve given them. Truly God has multiplied my efforts, and I give Him thanks for it.

We’ve used a hodge-podge of curriculum for years, mostly Sonlight and Classical Conversations. A change for us this year is that we’ve switched to mostly Memoria Press. Of the two friends I started Classical Village with, one uses Memoria Press almost exclusively and is so enthusiastic about it, that she converted us.

We’ve homeschooled classically for seven of our eight years, so there are no big changes to our academic philosophy; it’s just a different company. And I’m very impressed so far.

 

 

Our seventh grader

Another change for us this year is that Judah no longer does any subjects with the rest of us, and doesn’t join us for our Morning Meeting time. I knew this was coming in 7th grade, and thought I’d be sad about it, but actually it’s worked out to be a relief for everyone.

Judah was so bored with all of his school work last year, and kind of fed up with homeschooling in general. Of course David and I are open to putting him in school if that ever turns out to be best, but I had the feeling that it wasn’t homeschooling that was the problem, but the fact that he wasn’t engaged and challenged enough.

I’m so thankful for the changes we’ve made, and that he’s as happy as he is, less than two months into a new year. He loves learning with his friends two days a week, he loves the content of his classes. He has nearly double the homework of last year, but he told me he doesn’t mind at all because it’s interesting to him.

He’s responsible for his homework for his Classical Village classes, so we meet at least once a week to look over his student planner and make sure he’s organizing his time well.

Having Judah contented frees me to focus on the younger three during morning time. We memorize Scripture together, practice Latin, read our history lesson, and a Sonlight read-aloud (right now it’s one of our favorites, Kildee House), and review multiplication tables.

 

 

The Daily Routine

Last year, we started our school day with an audiobook in the living room. Those cozy memories were the best of our school year. Together we listened to The Sign of the Beaver, The Little Duke, the entire Melendy series, and the Vanderbeeker series.

This year we have too much work to get through to start with an audiobook, but we’re okay with it. Ideally we start school at 8:00 sharp, but lately it’s been closer to 8:30. I now have a teenager and a preteen who both enjoy sleeping in! As long as we get finished with our daily work, I don’t mind starting later. It’s been different to still be working on school close to 5:00 some days, but that’s how long it takes to get individual time with four kids. We still make sure to take our afternoon two-hour break from 1-3:00 (this is mostly for my sanity, I take a nap most days).

I have an hour scheduled to work with each kid every day. I always take the full hour with Noah, because he needs help with almost all of his subjects still. But it usually takes me closer to 45 minutes with the other three.

That time is for me to answer any questions they have about their other subjects (typically it’s math). Here’s what I do with each of the other three this year:

Judah: Grammar and history

Amie: Grammar and writing

Gabe: Grammar and he reads aloud to me

Having this schedule helps enormously in avoiding interruptions throughout the morning. I’ve learned the hard way that just spending the morning being “on hand” to help everyone makes me crazy. I lose my train of thought so quickly being peppered with questions from all different subjects, and I feel like no one gets the best of me. Also my temper is shorter!

So now everyone has learned that you can only interrupt me working with a sibling if it’s a dire emergency. Otherwise, you may ask an older sibling your question if they’re free, or circle the question and ask me during your hour. You also can’t wait around for me to become free to help; you have to move on to the next section or subject. That way the day doesn’t get derailed.

It took some practice, but by now it’s working like a charm. I always spend my first hour with Noah, since he’s the youngest. Amie is next because her writing class requires concentration from both of us. Then Gabe, then I typically meet with Judah after lunch.

Of course it’s also a tremendous help having more independent students, and older siblings who are able to help answer questions.

You see?

Homeschooling really does become easier the older your kids get. I promise!

 

 

Victories

A few factors have gone into this year getting off to such a great start. The main one, is Classical Village, which I talked about here. We’re five weeks in, and absolutely loving it. The kids are happy. I’m happy. Studying in community two mornings a week has proved to be the perfect amount.

Second, I took an online grad class this summer through Memoria College with my friends Beth and Anna Claire, and it breathed so much life and direction into my homeschooling philosophy. I’d been in a rut for several years. I loved the idea of homeschooling, but the reality was wearing me out.

Classical Conversations provided much-needed community for us, but it wasn’t quite the right curriculum fit for our family, and this became more apparent each year. The 9-3pm community day each week as well as being involved in a book and field trip group tired me out so that I coasted in some subjects that would’ve energized our home school more.

As I said earlier, in retrospect, I made the best decisions with the information I had at the time, so I don’t regret those years. We learned a lot and made terrific, lifelong friends. But I don’t think I could’ve gone on another year like that.

Our summer class, The Practice of Classical Pedagogy, really forced me to think through what I do with my kids and why. It allowed me to shift my focus to make sure I’m pouring energy into the right things for our family. In the past, I’ve known something was vaguely not working, but could never articulate what we needed instead. This class helped me articulate it.

I’m so thankful to my friend Beth for encouraging the three of us to take a class before we started teaching at our cottage school this fall. We’re excited to take another class next summer and to continue growing and sharpening ourselves.

 

 

My favorite thing

As much as I love classical education, my favorite thing about homeschooling continues to be the time we spend together as a family. I feel like this year in particular I see the fruit in the kids’ relationships with each other.

We have some strong personalities in our midst, and people who don’t naturally click, but homeschooling has forced us to work through these issues rather than retreat to our own worlds throughout the day.

I’ve seen each of our kids (and myself and David) mature in working through conflict in respectful ways this year. Sometimes we have to have consequences. Sometimes we need “do-overs.” Often someone needs to apologize and someone needs to forgive. But all of this practice is paying off.

As I type this, my 13-year-old is in his little brothers’ room telling them a story. Judah loves Neil Gaiman’s book of Norse Mythology, and he’s been re-telling the myths one at a time for Gabe and Noah, much to their delight.

At the same time, he’s outgrown make believe play, which means Amie now plays “ranch” or “farm” with Gabe and Noah, or they spend time with their pets. She and Judah enjoy Monopoly and building Lego’s together. Judah and Gabe play lots of chess. And Judah and Noah battle to the death on the trampoline.

Because of the variety of interests, David and I have worked to help our kiddos find common hobbies. They’ve learned that as different as they are, there’s always something they can find to enjoy doing together. Of course you can — and should! — do this without homeschooling. I just think homeschooling affords us the space and free time to build these relationships.

I’m excited for another year with these kiddos.