I spend a lot of time complaining about how hard homeschooling is and so this week I've been trying my best to count my blessings and think of all the things that I really love about teaching my children at home.
One thing that I really appreciate about homeschooling is not having to get up early. My 8:00 AM alarm clock is a beautiful thing! I also like the freedom of letting the children sleep in a little bit longer, though they rarely do! Not having to rush to meet a bus or get to school on time also gives me time to lay in bed and pray for my husband's safety at work, for certain issues that the people I love are struggling with and whatever else is on my heart. This time is my most essential of the day.
Another thing that I really appreciate about homeschooling is that my children are almost always together. Now, I must admit that this might also go on my biggest complaint list too! The other day at our homeschool group one of the other moms pointed out what a blessing this is. The natural process for many children is to go to school and develop friendships with their classmates. I know this was true for me growing up. Not having classmates means that my children are developing friendships with their siblings. They don't have separate groups of friends that they spend most of their time with and only spend a few hours with their siblings when no one else is around. Please do not think this means that we discourage our children to make friends or we are sheltering them from having quality friendships with other children.
I'm also very excited that our kids get to be a part of a ministry to a forgotten people. This month Papa Dan preaches at a local nursing home. Before he leaves he takes 3-4 of my turkeys with him. While they're there they help by singing a few hymns and of course songs like "Father Abraham" and "Jesus Loves Me". Afterwards the older kids will say hello and talk to a few of the residents. The younger two tend to hide behind Papa and Nana's legs!
James 1:27 says:
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Having our children go to the nursing home brings this verse to life. God has great pleasure when his children serve widows. And beyond that I love that Papa gets to be a part of their homeschooling experience.
This year Nana Susan has retired from working as a Title 1 teacher in the public school. She now has time to come 2 or 3 times a week to practice piano with Hannah. Which is huge since I can't read music and am absolutely clueless when it comes to all things musical! I wish that I would have learned to play an instrument at a young age. She also takes Benjamin home with her after Hannah and her are done practicing. While at Nana's house Benjamin gets extra help with phonics, reading and sometimes math on their computer. It's amazing that he never whines about going over there for extra school! Maybe because if he works hard Nana gives him M&Ms. ;) How many other children get to spend their early years learning from their grandparents? If they went to the public school there would be no extra time for grandparents to be actively involved in their education.
Speaking of no extra time... I see so many of our neighbor kids getting home in the afternoon from 8 hours at school and going inside to do their homework right away. Some of them don't finish before supper and have to finish after they're done with their dinner. This leaves such a little amount of time for the family. On the other hand our kids do around 4 hours of school a day (less for the younger ones) and then they're done with their book work. There are still other opportunities for learning of course, but they're not locked to a desk.
There are many other things that I actually love about homeschooling and perhaps I'll highlight more items at another time. But, for now I'm going to go read a book about bees to our kids. Which reminds me... bees! Bees will be at the top of the list for why I love homeschooling in my next blog!
One thing that I really appreciate about homeschooling is not having to get up early. My 8:00 AM alarm clock is a beautiful thing! I also like the freedom of letting the children sleep in a little bit longer, though they rarely do! Not having to rush to meet a bus or get to school on time also gives me time to lay in bed and pray for my husband's safety at work, for certain issues that the people I love are struggling with and whatever else is on my heart. This time is my most essential of the day.
Another thing that I really appreciate about homeschooling is that my children are almost always together. Now, I must admit that this might also go on my biggest complaint list too! The other day at our homeschool group one of the other moms pointed out what a blessing this is. The natural process for many children is to go to school and develop friendships with their classmates. I know this was true for me growing up. Not having classmates means that my children are developing friendships with their siblings. They don't have separate groups of friends that they spend most of their time with and only spend a few hours with their siblings when no one else is around. Please do not think this means that we discourage our children to make friends or we are sheltering them from having quality friendships with other children.
I'm also very excited that our kids get to be a part of a ministry to a forgotten people. This month Papa Dan preaches at a local nursing home. Before he leaves he takes 3-4 of my turkeys with him. While they're there they help by singing a few hymns and of course songs like "Father Abraham" and "Jesus Loves Me". Afterwards the older kids will say hello and talk to a few of the residents. The younger two tend to hide behind Papa and Nana's legs!
James 1:27 says:
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Having our children go to the nursing home brings this verse to life. God has great pleasure when his children serve widows. And beyond that I love that Papa gets to be a part of their homeschooling experience.
This year Nana Susan has retired from working as a Title 1 teacher in the public school. She now has time to come 2 or 3 times a week to practice piano with Hannah. Which is huge since I can't read music and am absolutely clueless when it comes to all things musical! I wish that I would have learned to play an instrument at a young age. She also takes Benjamin home with her after Hannah and her are done practicing. While at Nana's house Benjamin gets extra help with phonics, reading and sometimes math on their computer. It's amazing that he never whines about going over there for extra school! Maybe because if he works hard Nana gives him M&Ms. ;) How many other children get to spend their early years learning from their grandparents? If they went to the public school there would be no extra time for grandparents to be actively involved in their education.
Speaking of no extra time... I see so many of our neighbor kids getting home in the afternoon from 8 hours at school and going inside to do their homework right away. Some of them don't finish before supper and have to finish after they're done with their dinner. This leaves such a little amount of time for the family. On the other hand our kids do around 4 hours of school a day (less for the younger ones) and then they're done with their book work. There are still other opportunities for learning of course, but they're not locked to a desk.
There are many other things that I actually love about homeschooling and perhaps I'll highlight more items at another time. But, for now I'm going to go read a book about bees to our kids. Which reminds me... bees! Bees will be at the top of the list for why I love homeschooling in my next blog!
1 comment:
Are those neighbor kids possibly the Pauls? ;) haha homeschooling is a great thing and it great to hear about your experience with it.
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