Homeschooling: Break? Year Round? First Day of Homeschool? Q & A

I did not want you to be left confused. I feel like explaining things that are difficult for some people to understand. I decided to do this in the form of a Q &A, but ask and answer the question myself. The questions people have asked of me.

Q: Do you take a summer break, or do you homeschool year-round?

A: Niether and Both. We do relaxed homeschooling and tidal wave homeschooling, a form of education which means that we are like the tide coming in and going out.

We try to do as best we can to get to where I consider to be “at grade level” in each subject for each child. We do not ever stop working on this, but we are also not always concernd about this.

We have ebbs and flows. Sometimes, with much effort, we learn a whole bunch and progress a lot in a period of time (this sometimes looks like an accelerated school for the gifted or early college, and sometimes looks like a 1900 one-room schoolhouse). At other times, we are more like unschoolers. Sometimes, we have a day that looks like montessori school. Sometimes, we have a field trip day. When people visit or we visit others, we have a day completely dedicated to only socializing. When we visited Grandma Preece or when Uncle Steven came over, we dropped all of our concerns and cares, and just visited. The kids learn plenty by visiting and socializing with others.

Q: Homeschoolers do not have to start school when the public schools begin. Isn’t that right?

A: This has a long answer, too. We do not have to, but because of classes we signed up for, we do.

We enroll in some classes not led by me but by teachers my husband and I chose or hired. One of these is free and it is The Church Seminary Program. (Oh, did you catch that? I almost used the acronym). Early Morning Seminary this year begins the same day public school begins in my area. This means that although we do not really care when homeschool begins or ends, I can choose a day when I can say something officially begins. It is the day Seminary begins.

The hired teachers and has also chosen certain dates to begin their classes, vacation days and end dates. Likewise, many homeschool parents join “co-ops,” which are groups of homeschoolers who get together and do learning together. These co-ops have a set schedule. A co-op has a start date, vacation dates and end dates, too.

I would not want to have the first day of homeschool for the kids which have teachers who’ve given them start-dates, and not have this for the younger 4. After all, the younger 4 are so looking forward to “doing homeschool” officially again. Their siblings are officially starting and so are their neighborhood friends and cousins.

This would be when I to the part called “get the kids ready for the first day of school (by clothes shopping at the back to school clothing sales) as a mom” and the part where I do “put in full-time hours of preparation of the homeschool room, planning and getting ready for homeschool to officially begin on August 27, like a paid public school teacher,” at the same time. (The second part includes getting in on back to school curriculum and supplies sales).

Speed Tour of my Recently Cleaned and Re-Organized Homeschool Room

Of course, many teacher moms do this. They get their own gets ready and sent off, and they also go to the school all day for a couple weeks to get their public school classroom ready.

This “Photographer Mom” is prepared to do “First Day of Homeschool 2018” photos next week!

It’s just a little different. I do not get paid and I do not have to get someone to tend the kids while I go off to work. They are here and I am here, which means I do the prep work and they wish I wouldn’t because it means I am not giving them the attention they would like. It is hard on the kids here, as they are eager to “officially start school” again, and frustrated that their mom is working on prepping and pretty much just letting them “fend for themselves” (except the littlest, who at least gets fed by mom and gets a lot of attention because he demands it).

I hope this helps everyone to understand my world so that they are not confused. There are so many different ways to homeschool. Sometimes, there are jokes or memes on the internet that give one impression, and the people who do not know that all homeschools are different get so upset when things are not the way a youtube video says they are.

This one is a funny one by “It’s a Southern Thing.”

Tell me, are the others exaggerated? Yeah. So do you think the homeschool mom one is? Think about it. I am a homeschool mom and I still laughed at it. I was not upset by the inaccuracy. I know it’s all exaggerated and it is a joke. It’s very funny. If you like it, subscribe, because all of their videos are just as humorous!

For the record, homeschool moms and kids do get dressed in day clothing because they are very busy. We get dressed for the same reasons that you get dressed during the summer. Also, homeschool moms usually put together or join in on a “Not Back to School” park day or party on the first day of local public school. We all know when school starts, including those who do unschooling! We all look forward to getting the museums and parks back to uncrowded. We love it when school starts and are very aware!

I am most like the photographer mom, by the way. I am very sentimental, an artist and a graphic designer, after all! So, yeah, homeschool moms are all different, too, and we have personalities that are all different from the personalities of other homeschool moms. We love our variety and differences!

Classroom Set-Up: Back to Relaxed Mormon Homeschool

It is that time of year again. School teachers and Homeschool moms are very busy right now. It is time to plan for the upcoming academic year of 2017-18. It will be another new and exciting academic year for all of us. It is a very exciting time of year. It is a time to start fresh and look forward to newness and think of how things will be different this year. There is always a hope that each year will be better, easier. There is a great aspiration to have a better set-up which will make finding things easier, which will make us able to do things we do repeatedly and often, more efficiently, and which will make everyone feel in the mood to enjoy togetherness, make friends (or become closer as a family), learn and do school work.

I am well aware that public school and charter school teachers are getting ready as well as homeschool moms like me. My parents were public school teachers until they retired, and I know they were starting to prepare for the new academic year at this time. In my local school district, the first teacher contract day is in a week and a day. Generally, my mom and dad worked at least 3-4 days not on their contract, before the school year began. It is likely that this coming Monday, many Weber County School District teachers will show up at their school, unlock their classroom which has rested from teacher eyes all summer, and will sigh, stare at the walls and cabinets and wonder where they will start in setting up their classrooms.

I remember all those years helping my mom and dad set up. Even for me, as a child and as an adult, it was exciting. I loved making sure all the new pencils were sharpened, and that every desk had a name label, a spelling book, a math book, a science book, a language arts book and a social studies book, along with a new pencil, a new ruler and a new box of pencils. Now I am a homeschool mom teaching my large family of children preschool through tenth this year. I have purchased many school supplies. I have yet to purchase more needed supplies, but for the most part, I have the supplies. We have one table in the homsechool room, so I do not set books there or put name labels on for the kids. I put books and supplies in the homeschool cabinets, lined up and organized nicely, ready for what we will be studying this year.

I have switched out the science focus. Although I hired out for science, I have science books in the homeschool room for when I say that today, I want them to pick a non-fiction science, geography or history book and read it, or when, for language arts, I want them to use non-fiction books to do a research report.

When my public school teacher parents were getting ready for the new year, there was much de-junking and organizing. There wasn’t recycling. They only had garbage cans, but much went into the trash. My homeschool room has to be newly de-junked and papers filed and put away or recycled. I have one full box of school papers my mom gave me and one full blue bin of papers I put in the bin from all the years of homeschooling combined. I have to go through them. Don Aslett called it “the paper tiger” in his book about de-cluttering the office. A homeschool room is very much like an office, but we do have a separate room for the office.  It is needed for my homeschool file cabinet, homeschool workbooks I photocopy, my computer and pur 4-in-1 machine which photocopies, scans and prints. 

I am also making plans for creating more for other teachers to use in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. All of you who are reading this and who have created any tool for a teacher to use (public school teachers, charter school teachers and homeschool teachers) may wish to open a Teachers Pay Teachers store and sell the tools they have made. You can sign up here. It is free to start, (although you will make more money per item if you have a paid annual plan).

Teachers pay teachers referral link

Kayse Morris: Teachers Pay Teachers, for beginners (How to make it look good so it will 

Just make what you need for your own family or classroom 

Suggested Blogposts:

Whole House Home Ed Organization

Homeschool Dailies
LDS Homeschooling
Transgenderism and Homosexuality in Utah Schools Starting with 2017-18
Humanism is a Religion

Relax, Homeschool Lesson-Planning-Obsessed SuperMom!

     Last night I was so upset and worried because our “REA GUIDE to CLEP Western Civilizations I” book was missing. I have been using it to plan how and what to teach my daughter for Homeschooling Early College in Homeschool High School (9th grade). I told my husband last night, “I am so messed up!” He asked why and I replied, “The Western Civilizations I is missing, and it is my latest obsession to work on that for homeschool. I do not know what to do with myself!” This was at 8 p.m. He said, “Find a new obsession, then.” 

     Honestly, I cannot relax even at 8 p.m.? I resolve to relax after 7:30 p.m. every night. If nothing else, it will help me re-charge for the next day and be forced to enjoy my children instead of worrying about homeschool.

     I found the book in the van this morning. Whew. I had said many prayers. I know Heavenly Father was probably trying to tell me to relax, but it was not happening. I have a hard time relaxing. I am obsessed with lesson planning. I am always lesson planning. 

     I found this article in my E-mail box this morning. It was great. A Post About Relaxing Your Supermom Obsessions

Homeschool: How Not to Over-Extend Your Family!

I read this post and it was so good! Whether you parent by sending your kids to a school or whether you choose to homeschool, this post applies to you. It is about how there are SO MANY OPTIONS AND CHOICES AND ACTIVITIES, that if you chose to do even one tenth of them, you would never be home.

My suggestion is to decide how much time you want to have as “just our little family” time, then add in to your schedule church worship services and church activities for the mom, the dad, the youth and the children. After that is done, look at what time there is left.

Next, you will have to consider that each child does need some alone time. They need to pray, write in their journal, read the scriptures and think about life. They need some time to rest. They need some time to work on personal goals and hobbies. They also need some time for friends. All of this is vital to their well-being and happiness.

After considering the above, what time is left? What are this child’s needs? Is there time for lessons or clubs or classes? If so, how much time is there? Don’t go choosing too many things. Only choose what there is time left for!

Keeping the Home in Homeschool

Now let’s review:

• “Just Our Family” Time
• Church worship time
• Church activities time
• Journal, Prayer, scripture study time
• rest and relaxation time
• friend time
• time for personal goals, hobbies and interests
• Other (lessons, clubs, field trips co-ops, classes, etc.)

The Career of Homeschool Mom at Midnight

At midnight, this mom is still up searching for books, youtube videos and answers to all of the questions, interests and passions of her children. Sigh. 

First it started like this:

‘I will read “Better Than College…” again and see if I catch some new things the second time reading it. Before long, this came to my head.:

‘I wonder if I could find youtube videos about what it is like to be a nurse.’

After watching a few and saving then for my children to watch, I decided to look up some other careers my children have had interest in. I watched and saved those. 

Before long I was again on amazon adding book after book to my wishlist for the kids. This wishlist is forever long and I have to prioritize and decide later which of all things I want to buy, will be best for “my littles.” 

I cannot belive time flies so fast!

******

O.K., FYI, I just fell asleep leaning over my iPad. I really should go to bed.

10 Reasons to Consider Changing What it is You Do “On the Side”

I am a homeschool mom with many kids now, of high school to preschool age. I ran my own graphic design business successfully for 8 years. I enjoyed 
and it was good, but I felt like homeschool was much more my passion and that we did not need the money from my business anymore. It took up too much time. It took too much time from homeschooling and being a mom. I quit and I am so happy to be free! Now my side things are writing my blog and writing books. One is a curriculum guide for homeschool. One is a young adult religious paranormal novel. One is a book about homeschooling. These are better for me because there are no pressures or deadlines and they are more related to homeschooling.

Here are 10 reasons to consider changing what you do “on the side:”

1. You are on the “job” or the computer too much and, because of this, are telling your kids “not right now” at least one time a day (more than one time a day, even a bigger reason).
2. Your marketing takes up more time than actually doing what you love.
3. You are spending too much money or spending more than you earn (is it putting you in debt?)
4. You miss going to the park or on fun family outings. Your husband does these with the kids so you can work.
5. Your kids think you love your “money earning side job” more than you love them.
6. You keep reminding yourself that it is only like this now so that later it won’t have to be so tough. (It is true, BUT this child will not be this age EVER AGAIN! You don’t get a re-do on this year of his or her life, later, if you have regrets.)
7. Your child has more of a connection with the t.v. characters he or she loves than with YOU; Your child asks for a t.v. show instead of for you to read to him, when he is bored or upset.
8. Your child often gets her own snack because she knows there is no chance you will feed her that snack. 
9. You find your child making drawings of you on the computer or iPad, busy and not very responsive to her (sadly, this is from my real life).
10. You talk to your clients and customers more often than you talk to your parents, children, spouse or siblings.

If you meet what you think is enough of these criteria, either figure out a way to stop these bad things from happening or figure out something to do that is more flexible for raising children.

Advice for Moms with New Babies, to Help them Sleep

Do you have a new baby and trouble sleeping with the new erratic schedule? I am so sorry! Hang in there!

     I have had that problem many times, but being a mother to new babies many times has taught me a lot. I discovered over time: Calcium/Magnesium supplements, Serenity and Calms Forte will help me sleep. Lack of exercise and the effects of salt and chocolate on my system keep me from sleeping.

     Chocolate, sugar and salt will not help you sleep at night. If you have been eating salty things too much, cut down! If you eat chocolate during the day to keep you awake, or if you take in things which have the same effect (caffiene), cut down on it. Sugar during the day will keep you wired at night.

     Magnesium supplements do wonders, DoTerra essential oil Serenity is awesome. Calms forte is a milk-based homeopathic tiny pill that is all natural and helps you sleep. I love it. 

     Exercise during the day helps you sleep at night. Getting enough to eat in the day helps you sleep at night. Not having a crazy long do list helps you sleep. Not worrying helps you sleep. If you worry a lot or have a long to-do list, write a new do list that is similar to this one:

Mom’s Do-List With a New Baby

1- Get up when you have to and sleep whenever you get a chance.

2- Keep the baby (and other kids, if any) and yourself alive.

3- Shower and get dressed. Showering every day is a luxury when you have a newbie. At least get it in every other day!

4- Eat 3 healthy, balanced meals a day and feed the kids when they need it.

5- Dress and change kids when needed.

6- Pray and read scriptures.

     I do not even have a newbie anymore. I still use this list. My youngest is older. However, I still stick to this list. It keeps me sane. Having a newbie makes it extra necessary to have a do list like this one. When you have a newbie which makes it so you never get a normal 8 hour night of sleep, you just have to forget housework. Buy disposable dinnerware and buy easy to make meal items (from a can or microwave dinner or easy fresh foods) for a while. Arrange around your husband’s or a hired helper’s schedule, for regular, scheduled naptimes. If they are at the same times daily, your body will accustom itself to them.

     I also made a 24 hour clock chart every week, and wrote when the baby is awake and asleep, with the goals of:

1- knowing when I would get to go to sleep so my brain could plan on it (not just at night but in the day)

2- being able to gradually manipulate awake times so as to have sleep times for the baby, at closer to normal times

This group is to support moms who have pre-partum and post-partum depression or the baby blues.

Raising Future Mothers and Fathers In My Homeschool

One thing people who do not homeschool or did not homeschool their kids often notice when they see my kids, is how good they are at childcare, or at caring for littler kids and babies. Sadly, most often, it is seen in a NEGATIVE LIGHT. Sadly, it puts too many under the impression that I am an awful mother. Here are some things people have said to me:

— “At least you actually teach your kids. Some people who homeschool just turn their kids into childcare slaves.”

(This was meant as a compliment, but the fact that this person thinks other homeschool moms do that is just mean and sad. I wonder why this person thinks homeschool moms do that.)

— “She is good with the kids, but that is what she does, right? She keeps care of the kids always. Do you babysit for her sometimes and let her have a break?”

OUCH OUCH

— “She practically raises him, doesn’t she?”

(referring to my young daughter and my preschooler)

OUCH again!

     Some people need a point of reference because there are parents who take advantage of kids. Here are the facts. My daughter is a teen and babysits once a week. We pay her $1 per child per hour in Utah. On top of that, when I need to take a shower, go to the bathroom for 5-15 minutes, make dinner for 15 to 30 minutes, or plant the garden with her dad’s help for a few minutes to a couple hours, we ask her to wath the baby inside where he will not run into the road. Sometimes, I ask one of the other kids. It is not always her.

     This is just a guess, but I think that many people think youth should not be good with kids and that if youth are good with kids, it must be because all they do is childcare, all day long every day. I also think that, sadly, many people just enjoy judging the homeschool mom and think it brings them to a higher plane of existence when they knock her down. It could possibly be because they see something good in her children and the way she is raising them and they are upset that most moms do not get that result in youth. They feel that they need to defend themselves not by playing defense, but by attacking (playing offense). I think they think that attacking her in this way will make them better than the homeschool mom. After all, turning kids into childcare slaves so that the mom can sit and eat bon bons all day and watch soap operas is wrong! Since her kids are good with kids, it must be this way. What else could explain why they are so good with kids?

     You know, there are a lot of kids who are not homeschooled and are good with kids and babies, too. My mom used to do childcare to earn extra money. My siblings and I were often asked to babysit because of this. We were clueless and had a lot to learn, but my sister and I also love the “Babysitters Club” book series, and we loved being around kids and babies. I do not think we were awesome sitters. Even when I became a new mom, I had a lot to learn. I once changed my niece’s diaper and used Clorox wipes instead of baby wet wipes on her bum. The point I am trying to make, though, is that even though we were not homeschooled, there were other reasons we were pretty good with kids and babies. Some of these reasons were:

• because my mom did childcare for pay during our childhood

• because we read books about babysitting

• because we were hired to babysit often

• because we just adored babies and little kids

     So, if you see a homeschooled child who is good with kids, please do not assume it is because the mom is neglectful of her offspring. If you are jealous, then just give your child more opportunities ti be around little kids and babies  and teach your child these skills. Your child can learn this in the summer, after school or on weekends. If there are not little kids or babies around, find a friend or relative who has some and offer to tend them. Make sure your child is around to observe, be taught and learn.

     If you do not have jealousy, but maybe your kids are all raised and you feel you have wisdom to offer the world, so you think your job is to go around insulting the new generation of moms, please remember that we, the new generation of mothers, are now in charge, whether you like it or not. You had your turn. Your turn is over. If we ask for advice, please give it. If we do not, then please do not give it. Please do not offer your opinion freely, but only when we ask for it. 

The reasons I plead for this for all of the new generation are these:

• It is harder than you think to raise kids now. It is harder than it was in your day because there are more horrible things out there for the mama bears to fight away from our cubs. Your judging us inly lets us know to trust you less because is clues us in to how clueless and naive you are about what things are really like now.

• Finances are tighter now for one income families than they were in your day.

• Hours in our day are so extremely limited.

• We are constantly working and constantly exhausted from nonstop hard work.

• You have likely forgotten what it was like for you. Maybe you think you remember back 20, 30 or 40 years. You cannot. We know because if you could remember, you would not give your critical opinion, judge us, lecture us and so forth. If you remembered, you would just be kind, understanding, supportive and gracious. However, you hardly ever are, so we know you do not remember. Your house has been spotless for 40 years, so you are good at this now. Your house was not spotless 20, 30 or 40 years ago when you had lots of little kids all day long every day. You think it was. You know you are losing your memory, but somehow, you think that your memory of having a spotless house, perfect kids and being a perfect young mom are extremely accurate.

• Some of you were never stay-home moms. If you were never a stay-home mom, do not judge stay-home moms. ‘Nuff said on that (though you probably STILL think you know what it is like to be a stay-home mom, since you did it in the evenings and on weekends with lots more money, a bigger house, better clothing, a better car, better vacations, better toys, less mending to do, better stores you can afford to shop at, more convenience meals, more money to go out to eat, and having spoken with adults all week). 

• Jesus told you not to judge. Jesus said if there is a mote in the other person’s eye and you want to take it out for them, then first remove the beam that is in your own eye so that you can see clearly to remove the mote from the other person’s eye.

     I am sure there are others who also judge homeschool moms because their kids are good with kids. I do not know everyone who does this. If the reason you see my kids being good with kids, as negative, is because this lets you know that my kids are not learning the same way the kids do in public school and this makes you angry because of your tax dollars at work or because homeschool moms are ruining the community’s children, which children the community should decide how to raise. Here are some facts:

• These kids are mine and mine to raise. They do not belong to the community. The idea that they do comes from Karl Marx, the father of Communism. Anyone who thinks my kids should be raised in a way of which the community approves, when not abused in any way, has been influenced a lot more by communist ideas than they know. I love my kids and want the best for them. I am raising them this way because I think this is the best decision for our family.

• Tax dollars do NOT pay to educate homeschooled kids and I pay the same taxes you do (I am not exempt) for public and charter schools. We buy all of the educational materials ourselves.

• We are not ruining our kids, nor are we giving them a disadvantaged life. If you look at the statistics, homeschooled kids are still better at learning how to live in the real world, better on tests and better at colleges and Universities than public-schooled kids when you figure the averages. This does not mean all homeschooled kis are better at these than all public-schooled kids. When you take the average, you consider all of the kids in the system.

     In conclusion, I would like to say that it is not a bad thing for youth and children to be good at childcare, and that my having a goal to raise mothers and fathers is not a bad thing. You know that it is a good thing, but somehow, society is trying to propogandize you into thinking it is downright unnatural. This is a lie. The father of all lies is Satan. Satan has good reasons for convincing you to believe that my raising good mothers and fathers is a negative thing that should be scorned. One of the signs that Christ’s 2nd coming is nearer is that people will call good “evil” and evil “good” and sadly, this childcare abitily issue is one of those things. Please do not say that my kids knowing chilcare is a bad thing. It is a good thing. Mother Eve knew this and you should, too.

How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies That Reproduce Like Nothin’ Else!

Here are tips about fruit flies here, as I had lots all the time last year. One, I figured out the ones I had came from the food co-op and sometimes from a loved one who brought not so new vegetables, which I threw away, but which had fruit flies in them. They lasted all summer. Then we got fed up and looked on the internet for how to get rid of them. We experimented with different combinations and found some good ones. 

How to get rid of fruit flies:

1- Get out 2 tiny glass glass dessert bowls, some clear plastic wrap and a cake tester, large, thick needle or large, thick safety pin. 

2- In one bowl, put not canned, but fresh peaches. Peal the peaches. Cut them up. They love this best of all fruits. Cover the peaches with the plastic wrap and poke tiny holes in the cover large enough for the fruit flies to get into. If the holes are too big and they fly out, cover again and poke tinier holes, leaving the first cover on still. This double traps them, which may even be something to just start off with, because some of them are clever and find a way out.

3- In the 2nd bowl, make a mix of half an avocado, a bit of salsa, some mustard and a whole lot of garlic. Add some ketchup. Mix it up and it will smell awesome to the fruit flies. They love all of these things. Combined? WOWZA!!! Then cover it and poke holes as you did in number 2. Leave them out in the kitchen.

4- Wait. Patience. Just ignore them and come back in a day. When they are full enough to make you feel like that is enough, take them out ti the back yard and fill the bowls up with water. Leave them an hour, then go out and dump it all out into a trash bag, tie it up and either double/ triple tie up the bag in trash bag after trash bag, or go back inside and dispose of it into the toilet or down the sink disposal. If you do that, run the water and disposal immediately to get it all out of there. 

5- Repeat 1-4 until they are all gone. Get a fly swatter, too, and have your husband make it his duty to whack them. This will get rid of the remaining ones, who are likely the experts at getting in and gettting out, or finding foods they like which are not in a trap.

6- Favorites for fruit flies are juices in a juice container that is used and left out, not rinsed, ketchup, salsa, barbecue sauce, tomato soup, rotten fruit, any kind of lettuce or green leaf item, garlic, mustard and avocado. If you leave any of this out, they will eat it and this helps them to reproduce. Try during steps 1-4 to cover any of this you do not have time to rinse, with plastic wrap.

7- If we used a juice container up and did not have time to wash it, we filled it with water and covered it with its lid. This was awesome, as many fruit lies drowned in there. It was always better just to wash and keep things clean, of course.

8- If you have fresh fruits and veggies out a lot, constantly check the fruit and veggie bowls for not-so fresh, past  prime fruits or veggies and get them into a covered garbage can with a garbage sack in it. Tie up garbage sacks well when you take them out to the outside trash bin.

9- Try with all your might to keep the kitchen, dining room and dishes clean.

Springtime And Being Very Busy!

I have been so busy gardening, organizing, de-junking and cleaning the house, that I have not made a blog post in a while. This past weekend, my husband and son finished building our Shelf Reliance shelves and we loaded them up with food storage cans. I am excited about that. Lately, we have been working  lot on that. 

On Saturday, before LDS General Conference, I worked hard putting the math in its own binder. It is a red binder, so it stands out from all the white ones I have for other reasons. I went through the math checklists and evaluated, knowing full well what the kids know and don’t, where each one is in math. Then I made lesson plans. I made plans for 6 homeschool days. 

“Pirate,” by my son:

  

Right now, at 7:30 a.m., my daughter is teaching my younger boys. She uses my math checklist for the math. I love the help. One son is telling her emphatically, “I already know my numbers!” He had been stubborn, but he just now passed off an item on the math checklist without any help at all. This is big for him! I am happy. My older daughter and my older son are now enthusiastically and with dancing, teaching them. My daughter just asked me, “Mom, what does fluently mean?” We have decided the one is fluent at a certain concept. Well, it will not be long before he can do even more difficult things fluently. I am so excited.

This is something most people who homeschool understand and most who don’t, don’t: The older kids teach their siblings happily. It’s awesome! It frees me up to focus on being the leader. I am not the leader and the one who does it all. I am just the leader. I give direction and my kids help it happen. They want homeschool to work. They want mom to be happy. They enjoy teaching because it is fun. 

When it comes to teaching siblings to ride bikes, play baseball, work in the garden, cook, clean, make lunch, etcetera, they are all great! I love this about homeschooling. Sometimes, younger ones even help older ones, because maybe that is their favorite subject, or one of their favorites, so they are beyond their years in ability because they have learned so much in a certain area. For example, my son loves science. He teaches his siblings all sorts of things because he “gets it.” I am usually surprised at what he knows. It’s amazing. He has the ability to explain science concepts by jumping up and down and acting them out. It’s fun to watch him. 

My daughter is still in her pajamas but is now looking over the Montessori list of skills and asking me whether this one has learned that yet. I am so grateful for her help in keeping on top of that. I used to have to do it all myself, which after a while, meant I never got to it. It is nice to have someone who gets to it on my behalf. She will be an awesome mom someday. She will be an awesome homeschool mom someday! Whe wants to be an early childhood educator, so all of this fascinates her. It is one of the things she lives for!

My son is reading “Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers. He told me that he has 2 bookmarks. He does not like going for so long with these characters before getting back to what those ones are doing. He would rather just go one chapter with these, one chapter with those, instead of 3 chapters, then 3 chapters. Fine with me! He invents stories, too, so I would not be surprised if we get an author here! He is also still in pajamas. Oh, well. I am hoping he gets dressed by 9 a.m.!