Saturday

Summary Saturday: The Reality of Homschooling

Many times as mothers and especially homeschoolers, we see what other families do and think to ourselves, “Wow! They get so much done and have such fun with cool projects and inventive teaching. I can never do all that because of X child or Y situation. I’m just not a very good homeschooler.” This is especially true when you are just beginning your home school journey. It can be overwhelming and frustrating when things don’t work out the way you envisioned.

When I started this blog, I promised myself that I would be transparent with our lives. Not everything in our home is rainbows and unicorns, especially when it comes to school time. I lose my temper, there are tears and whining, and sometimes when we are all busy…there is Monkey destruction. I had already decided this week to do a “Week in the Life” type of post to show the real side of homeschooling, but apparently someone told Monkey to be in rare form this week!

So without further ado, here is a real week at Live Oak Christian Academy (our school name).

Chipette:

Chipette started working on division this week and our math book, Math in Focus, had some fun activities in this chapter to have students divide blocks into equal groups, and then write out the division equation they just demonstrated.


Next, she did the same thing with craft sticks to make shapes. For example how many pentagons can you make out of 20 sticks?


Chipette loves these kinds of hands-on problems. They stick in her head better than anything else.


Meanwhile…Monkey got into the pantry and dumped half of a bag of rice on my keyboard and on the floor:


My period, e, and s keys still do not work correctly! When this happened I just told them all to get out of the room. First, I didn’t want them to step in the rice and get it everywhere. Second, because I was afraid I might lose my cool. I needed to count to ten in peace.


Back to Chipette, she made a chest vest to learn how the lungs, ribs, and diaphragm all work together so you can breathe.


We have really been enjoying our quick study of the human body and are looking forward to diving into it more thoroughly at a future date.

Chipette has one grammar activity that is her absolute favorite…playing teacher. This week she was checking her students’ homework (I wrote sentences with capitalization errors on the white board) with a red marker. She had to fix their errors and then she gives them a grade based on how many they get wrong.


She has great fun with this game and don’t tell her, but she learns a lot too!


Meanwhile…Monkey got into the master bedroom which is supposed to be kept locked (Right, Chipette?), then got into my fingernail polish, decorated himself, and ruined the quilt on our bed. Which wouldn’t be a big deal (just get a new quilt right) except I designed the entire master bedroom around the quilt and it is not longer sold at Target.


I hate to admit it, but I lost my temper on this one. I screamed and cried. Not one of my finer parenting moments, but I was unbelievably frustrated since I had just figured out what to put above our bed, and, of course, it matched the quilt. But like any good mom should, I apologized to them later for not acting like a Christian should, and I read them James 1:19-20 that I hadn’t shown the righteousness of God. Ugh!


Magpie:

Magpie started her Explode the Code Primer books this week with great enthusiasm. She is a workbook loving child!


Even though, Magpie has excellent fine motor skills, I still try to make Explode the Code a little less writing intensive (there is plenty of practice writing the letters!) by letting her use Do-A-Dot markers instead of circling or coloring.


It makes it more fun and keeps her hand fresh so she can make her letters correctly instead of sloppy because she’s getting tired.

Monkey:

Dear, sweet Monkey, who tried Mommy’s patience this week like any two-year old boy should, but we did get in one learning moment between the mischief. He sat at the table and colored a picture…


for about 30 seconds before he was off on another adventure!

So this is a real, normal homeschooling week for our family. If yours never has these problems, then don’t tell me! I like to believe that we all go through this, so don’t ruin my fantasy. J

Offering a large reward for anyone who knows how to get fingernail polish out of fabric in the tree house,

Chelli



17 comments:

  1. First of all, THANK YOU! I LOVE that you make homeschooling real. We have had many days of tears and whining, and I am by no means the world's most patient mom. Unfortunately, I have no advise on how to get nail polish out of fabric. Maybe a dry cleaner would know?

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    1. Thank you for affirming that I am truly not the only one out there! A dry cleaner is a good idea, thanks.

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  2. um....it's supposed to say "advice", not "advise". LOL

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  3. We just starting homeschooling a couple of weeks ago and I was just saying how my 2yo is so good during lessons. I think I better watch out:) Thanks for sharing your real life with us!

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    1. Normally he is pretty good for a two-year old, but this past week...oy vey!

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  4. Great dose of reality and encouragement for everyone! It took me a long time get to the point that I can be okay when days do not go as planned. It is especially hard when for someone like me who is a little on the OCD side :)Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Thank you for your dose of reality:) a combination of alcohol and hair spray took blue fingernail polish out of my mom's light carpet- it can't hurt to try! Best of luck:)

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    1. Thanks so much for the tip. I'll be fuming up the bedroom tonight. I'll post back if it works!

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  6. sounds a lot like my house. as a matter of fact, I managed to get dark purple nail polish out of a brand new like colored carpet with a wet Fels Naptha bar and a lot of elbow grease. :)

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    1. I've never heard of a Fels Naptha bar. I'll have to google that one...hm...I wonder if a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser would work?

      Thanks for commiserating with me! I am not alone!

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  7. Oh, I'm sorry about your quilt! That IS frustrating! But I do appreciate your honest post and look into your week. I really don't think ANYONE has great days EVERY day. It doesn't even seem possible, does it? We're not perfect and neither are our kids! It's what makes us interesting! ::wink::

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    1. Things are definitely interesting around here! Thanks for the encouragement.

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  8. I love your transparency! We bloggers like to brag about the good stuff. Thanks for sharing your week!

    Donna at ajoyfulmess.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! I do love to brag on the good stuff, but it's the mistakes that make us human. :)

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  9. What a bummer about the quilt! Have you checked eBay for a replacement? I found you blog via Pinterest, and your homeschool planning posts have been so helpful! I'm now a follower and look forward to reading lots more!

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    1. Ebay is my next stop if none of the above remedies work! So glad you came by and decided to follow me. Love meeting new readers!

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