January Homeschool Adventures

It is amazing when God talks to us!

Sometimes it is challenging, and so rewarding, when God answers prayers we didn't even know we were praying.

That happened to me at the end of November of last year.  I won't go into detail (if my descendants ever get a hold of my personal journals, they can read all the gory details there), but I will say it was quite a jolt in my life and had me shaken for about a month.  The Lord tipped my world upside down and asked me to do something I never saw myself doing.  In fact, I'm embarrassed to say, I ignored His requests for a few weeks.  I was overwhelmed, confused and quite honestly, angry.

What was this prompting?  I was to homeschool Enoch, Kate and Guard.  What!!??  This was not in the plans.  I felt so inadequate, unprepared, and just really didn't want to do it.  I was finally going to get some free time.  I haven't had free time in almost 20 years (the perils of having large gaps between your four kids!).  I had projects to work on, places to go, errands to run by myself, naps to take, cleaning to do.  I had plans, for crying out loud!  Homeschooling was not in the plans.

But, here we are.  Starting in January our family became homeschoolers.  Yikes!  It hasn't always been an easy transition, but we are figuring it out a little more every day.  I have found some wonderful curriculum online (a huge thank you to so many moms who share their lesson plans!), great workbooks from Amazon and Heavenly Father has been very generous with his inspiration.

We have settled into a schedule with our sister homeschool family, the Hatches.  Mondays are our field trip day with other homschool families.  So far, we have been to the Bean Museum and the Family Search library in Lehi.  We study Book of Mormon, history and geography with Hatches on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9:30-11:30 in their home in American Fork.  On Thursdays we do presentations (projects the kids can share of something they learned about that week) and hands-on activities like holiday crafts, cooking or gardening.  Fridays we spend with just our family, finishing up schoolwork, cleaning. laundry, errands and whatever else needs to be done.  So far, it is working well.

Even on the hard days, I can see blessings.  My children love to be with each other.  Doesn't always mean that they is no fighting or disagreements, but they genuinely have learned to play and cooperate with each other.  It is a lovely thing to see.  We get so much more time in the scriptures than our after-dinner family scripture study.  We are learning so much from the  Book of Mormon and I love our discussions.  My kids are learning new skills.  They can do their own laundry, mop the kitchen floor and clean bathrooms.  Enoch and Kate love to cook.  Enoch is learning some skills in landscape design and gardening and Kate is getting quite good at sewing.  They are learning to serve each other.  Nothing warms my heart than seeing Kate helping Guard with his reading or Enoch explaining math to Kate.

We learn from each other.  Heavenly Father sent each of my children here with special academic talents and it is amazing to me how they compliment each other.  Enoch takes the lead on math, science and technology.  Kate is a gifted writer and will help Enoch edit his papers.  She also loves history (she must be mine!) and helps get her brothers excited about learning about our past.  Guard is a remarkable mathematician already, but his job is to make sure we have fun.  That kid is all about fun and we need him to constantly remind us to have fun!

And me?  I get to learn from my children.  I do love learning and growing with my children!  Even though I am 'the teacher', I have gathered so much knowledge from this journey.  I see all the struggles, the triumphs, the frustrations, the joys.  I see all of it and it is a gift.  Even though I fought against this so hard in the beginning, I am truly loving it (most days!).  What a blessing it has been for our family.