Am I doing enough?

Are they learning enough?

Am I a good enough teacher?

Are we spending enough time schooling every day?

Are they keeping up with their public school counterparts?

Will they be made fun of if they learn something at a different pace or time?

I have seen these questions asked in some of the home school groups that I am in on facebook (I ask them of myself as well). I have also seen some great answers to these questions. One of my favorite responses was: It really depends on your description of home schooling, your idea of how home school works, the personality of you children, and how you teach. That was it, that was the response, but asking yourself those questions will help teach you what those above questions mean to you.

We are new to home schooling, but we are learning so much about ourselves every day along with learning the subjects. Public school is so rigorous and stressful. Why is that? I was in public school all my young life, I have nothing against public school, if a situation arises that I have to put my kids back into the public school system it is not something I would FREAK out about. I want to home school because I want my kids to have both more and less. What does MORE mean…… More useless knowledge forced into their little brains? More studying, working harder to get ahead, to be smarter than the smartest kid in class, to be able to brag that my kid can do something that your kid can’t….NO! 

I want more time for them to be kids. I want them to learn at their pace, to be curious and able to explore what they find interesting, to play, to imagine. I want less stress, less peer influence, less bullying, and I want their days to be less packed. I want MORE and LESS.

So how does that factor in to the questions [am I doing enough, am I enough] that I started asking myself and many others ask themselves as well. In our short time homeschooling I have realized that schooling at home is a lifestyle, not a task. We do not sit down for school for a certain amount of time and them we are done for the day. My mind is constantly looking for ways to engage or teach them something all throughout the day.

Before home school they would sometimes ask a questions and I would graze over an answer, say I don’t know hun, or just be too busy to answer. Their constant questions would sometimes get on my nerves….seriously kid I do not know how hot the sun is, you will learn that in school one day! Now my whole outlook is different. Our lives have changed. Now if they ask a question we look it up.

I feel like our lives are less stressed now and that gives us more time for learning. I don’t feel so rushed everywhere we go. Before when we would go out to dinner it always felt rushed. We need to get back home for homework, bath time, etc. Now we go to dinner and we enjoy it, and then we analyze the receipt. We talk about manners, respect, different job positions at the restaurant. If we leave 15 minutes later than we should have, pushing bedtime back 15 minutes for that particular night- oh well! If they need extra sleep in the morning they can just sleep in.

So far in our short journey I can see a change in the kids for the better. We are learning constantly. When my son asks how hot the sun is I can say “you know what buddy, I don’t know, but let’s look it up!” We found out the other day that it is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. Isn’t that amazing and crazy to think about?! Then I had to explain what a million was, and how to write it, and the learning NEVER STOPS!

So, for the questions that I am NOT so worried about keeping answered anymore:

Am I doing enough? We learn new things every day.

Are they learning enough? I found a grade level list of what should be taught to follow, pre common core, we are ticking things off the grade level list as we go.

Am I a good enough teacher? I know my kids better than anyone else, I know how they learn, I know what makes them happy, why would I even consider someone who doesn’t know my child at all could do a better job than me. I CAN LEARN so I can TEACH them HOW TO LEARN!

Are we spending enough time schooling every day? We sit down school for approximately 2 hours a day. We do Reading, Writing, and Math every day rotating Science, PE, and Sign Language throughout the week. Aside from that 2 hours of sit down we learn all day, we read at random times all day, they learn through play and imagination, and we look up any questions that they are curious to know the answer to.

Are they keeping up with the public school counterparts? As mentioned above I have a grade level guide I am going by now so we will stay pretty much on point for the grade level. BUT I am not strict with it. If my child wants to learn something that is a grade ahead we learn it. If one of them is struggling with something we spend more time on it until they FULLY grasp it.

Will they be made fun of if they learn something at a different pace or time? This I can not answer. As of now, no we have not encountered any backlash, but we are still very early in our home school journey. I would hope not, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

The main thing we are focusing on is NOT keeping up and comparing ourselves with the Joe Smoe down the road. The kids will learn what they need to learn. We do not/will not take standardized testing until we need to for College preparation. So being vigorous and learning at a faster pace than their minds can grasp is not something we are interested in. I am NOT pushing the kids past their comfort level. I am NOT stressing them out. We are learning. Most importantly we are learning how to LEARN, because that is what it is all about. As they get older they need to have the knowledge and tools to LEARN what they want/need in their lives.

We have changed out lives to to School and Grow. It is a LIFESTYLE and it was a change pretty easy to make.