“Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.” Proverbs 9:9
Melanie and I have spent the week focused on getting our (what I call) regular subjects done as quickly as we can. Why? So we can get right to reading.
One of the beauties of homeschooling is that you can be flexible with your schedule.
You can move things around throughout the week as you wish. You find what works for you that day. That being said, let me just stress that children crave structure and boundaries. I always have a weekly plan to give us a goal and some structure. She now knows what to expect. However, we remain flexible within that schedule.
Math is always a puzzle to me (in more ways than one) so I like to get her math done first thing in the morning after family devotions. She also has a Bible course we are working through and we try to do that next.
She is learning about the Presidents of the United States and their First Ladies.
I wrote a book of facts about them. Just quick and fun and we’ve had fun looking things up about them. In Science, she is studying about molecules right now and so even her mom is learning a lot. We really are taking our time with this program and enjoying the extra online activities it brings.
After we have English finished (a course my mom wrote) we are on to finish up school while I read. I have always read to my children. Book after book, we have read all kinds of good ones. While I read, I prefer the children to color, do a craft or some copy work. They can still pay attention but also be doing something as well.
For Melanie this means starting with her Penmanship course (cursive) and copying her Spelling words. I think both of these skills are being lost today and I want her to at least have a working knowledge of them. While she is working on that we settle in for mom to read. When she completes those subjects she usually pulls out her journal and stickers and works on those.
This week we have been reading Underground to Canada and enjoying it so much.
Written by Barbara Smucker, it tells of how the escape route for slaves worked back in the day. We are following two girls, Julilly and Liza on their route. It helps her to gain perspective that there is a map and I can show her how far they had to walk. I’ve also reminded her we have traveled a similar route via car and how long just in a car that took.
On Fridays, we finish reading our book and she continues on from the week with her violin practice and chores. However, I always take Fridays not to teach but to prepare. A four day week is more than plenty for her basic subjects and leaves a “fun” day open for music, crafts and yes, cleaning the house.
This flexible but focused approach to schooling has helped me as I enter a stage of life where everything hurts and I’m slowing down just a bit due to health issues. She is a child of my old age but a golden child who has blessed us with her smile, her joy of life and her peaceful, loving attitude. I love learning and I love reading so returning to school in my old age has been a breeze! I’ve taken what I have learned from the other five children (we did things similar but different) and adapted it to life today.
“A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:” Proverbs 1:5