Our First Day of Homeschool
A peak inside an ill-equipped-but-doing-it-anyway Mother's first day homeschooling
Phew,
I did it.
For those of you who don’t know- I have 5 children:
Emagen (She is 13 but She’ll be 14, 6 days from writing this)
Natalie- 8
Beckham- 7
Valor- who would be almost 3 (he’s in heaven),
and Reverie- 7.5 months.
I’m only 30, but I feel like I’ve aged far beyond the years reflected on my drivers license. Kind of like dog years. And yet, in “mom years” I still feel very young, inexperienced, ill-equipped.
Anyhow, It’s official, I did one whole day of wearing my newfound hat- the one that years ago I’d swear I’d never wear- labeled, ‘homeschool mom.’
The story-teller in me wants to document my journey so I can look back months and years from now to see how far I’ve come. (Or if I’ve quit) Starting with… this day.
Honestly, it wasn’t much-
Some of my curriculum hadn’t even come in yet, and my oldest is of the age where she basically homeschools herself now- I missed out on the years I could have truly homeschooled her myself.
Now I’m just guard rails- an annoying pest always asking her if she’s staying on task. That and a taxi to and fro meeting up with friends at coffee shops to get their school work done together.
For the sake of clarity and to further explain exactly what we are doing, I have chosen to be a part of LCT (Lubbock Classical Tutoring), It’s basically a bunch of homeschool families that used to do CC (Classical Conversations) that branched off and started their own thing. It’s still a classical education model, but… with a different spin.
This is what my oldest, Emagen, did last year as well- but with my step mom taking the drivers seat for me as I was much too close to grief, and debilitatingly pregnant with Reverie.
We have an actual school day for Natalie’s age once a week (Tuesdays) from 9:30am-2:00pm, and Emagen has her school days twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30am- 2:00pm.
So it’s homeschool, but it’s homeschool with a flotation device. Lol
I didn’t have to come up with all my own curriculum choices- I just follow exactly what the teaches give us to do that week for each class. They gave us the book and supply list to buy- and I simply added to cart.
See? A floaty- for those like me, are still learnin’ to swim.
I did have to choose my own math curriculum for Natalie- as it’s not a part of LCT right now for her age group. So I went with The Good and the Beautiful.
The only ones I’m technically ‘homeschooling’ this year are Natalie and Emagen.
Beckham, to be honest, though he’s almost 8, has the emotional / mental maturity of probably a 3-5 year old. Public school, for him, the past two years, has been so hard. He started his very first year, only a month before we lost Valor. So his introduction to structured school was immediate upheaval at home. Natalie started then too- but she has a different personality than him, and thrives in learning/ structured/ class environments.
So this year, I’ve decided to unschool Beckham. Yes, I will attempt some basic math and reading with him- but most of what I do with him will simply be having him with me. I am hoping to allow him to simply be near me, watch what I do with his sisters, and allow him to learn at his pace. Not putting the pressure of sitting still in a desk quite yet, or forcing a lot of structured learning.
While in public school, we struggled greatly. He was constantly in the principles office for outbursts, his grades struggled, he would never stay on task, he was often separated from the class, constantly the ‘bully’ on the playground- but also the scapegoat because he’s the ‘problem kid’ so he’s easy to pin the blame on.
Overall the experience was draining. Hard. Uphill. Many tears were shed by all of us as we constantly felt we were failing him- and he constantly felt he was failing in everything.
Don’t get me wrong, we had many wonderful, patient teachers and staff who truly were for him. But I’d be lying if I said it felt like a good fit for him.
This year, my main view of success for him, will look drastically different than what success will look like for Natalie, or Emagen. Success for him will be on an emotional level. Not academic.
And I think that’s exactly what he needs for now.
During my prayerful consideration of all this, I talked to many homeschool veteran moms and friends who have anywhere between 3 and 12 children. They all told me the same thing: Boys brains work differently. One of them said one of her sons didn’t read until he was TWELVE. And is now a lifelong reader, a successful app developer- and completely normal. Lol *phew*, there is hope for us yet!
Anyway, the point I’m trying to make other than saying again, that I have no idea what I’m doing- Is that I am trying to do things differently for each child, knowing their individual personalities and needs.
Okay, thats a lot- Still with me? Let’s dive into this epic under, yet over- whelming day:
First of all, if I had any doubt before, I am now positively sure that there are special forces in the spiritual realm definitely trying to deter me from this calling. Want to know how I’m confident of this?
Well, for starters- Monday morning, August 14th- the day I had been anticipating and praying over for weeks- I woke to find that my coffee maker’s clock was incorrect. So my coffee brewed at 2:30am instead of 5:30am. Which meant- I awoke to a full, beautiful pot of cold brain juice.
Now this alone might not be enough to scrap the day and start over- after-all, I’m well acquainted with poppin’ that sucker in the microwave 12 times before I actually get to drink it- but this in conjunction with the more-than-usual nursing sessions with Reverie the night before, waking up with a slight cold, my alarm not going off, AND the fact that Beckham woke up with issues with his swimmers ear yet. again.
It’s safe to say that by 7:30am I was ready to call it quits and say the infamous line, “I’ll just start (next) Monday.
Let’s be honest- the alarm not going off is really what did me in. This one sacred hour between the time I wake and when the kids wake- is the gas station where I fuel up for the day. I love sitting in my favorite chair, in the quiet before the store, reading my devotional, bible reading, prayer and journaling before the day’s tasks totally stampede me.
So when I say I was close to throwing in the towel, I was millimeters close…But then I thought, “hey, just think- if I do it today, then I can do it any day.”
And I’m happy to report, we prevailed.
With my lukewarm cup of joe in hand, I made cheese omelettes. The kids complained because they wanted veggies in them but alas- we hadn’t done grocery shopping yet. (Very on brand for this day.)
We were supposed to merrily read scripture while we ate omlettes at the kitchen table with delightful morning light streaming into the windows, while I held my warm mug filled with hot coffee, the kids, sitting joyful and filled to the brim with gratitude for me- a vision of homeschool mom perfection.
But of course that romanticized scene did not happen.
After the scripture-less breakfast was complain-fully devoured- into the schoolroom we went. I had no idea what I was doing- only that I heard that scripture reading in the morning with your kids is a good idea ok? lol So we started at the beginning and I had Emagen read just half of chapter one of Genesis.
After that torturous read aloud, (jk they actually did surprisingly well since we kept it short and sweet) I sent everyone to go get ready for the day. I used this time to take a shower, and try and collect my thoughts before our “school day” started.
After the hot shower, and a couple of cups of coffee downed by then- I felt more ready- though still tired- to tackle the day ahead.
Once everyone was back in the school room, we proceeded to read our catechism questions and answers aloud, and then listen to our memory work recordings. ( We are using Claritas- cycle 3)
The kids are not great at sitting still (shocker) so I let them draw on dry erase boards while listening. This part was mostly painless.
Once memory work was done, we headed to the kitchen to make homemade play-dough. This doubled as both an activity, and a way to check this off my to-do’s because I knew I wanted a bin of it to add to their sensory and busy-work bins stored in the school room so they could play with it during readings, downtime, boredom, or just for any reason if I needed to keep their hands busy.
While we were making the dough, I needed to put Reverie down for a nap, so I did that while Emagen finished helping them follow the recipe to make the dough.
Once Revie was asleep, we sat around the table while they played with their new playdough competing to see who could make the best snowman. And I read aloud the next chapter in Natalie’s required reading- Calico Captive. (This was the assigned summer reading in LCT and we were almost done)
After the chapter was over, I had them keep doing busy work while Reverie was asleep so I could get some work done. Then I took Emagen to be dropped off at the coffee shop to work on her own school work with a friend.
When I got home, Justice (my husband) prepped lunch, and the kids made get well cards to take to my husbands brother in the hospital who has pneumonia.
Once we were done with lunch, we went to drop the cards off at the hospital. Their uncle ended up being gone for testing when we arrived, so we left them on his empty bed, snapped a photo we could send him and headed back home.
Since the next day was technically the first day of LCT, and we were still waiting on our math curriculum to come in, we didn’t have anything else to “work on” for the day. so I set my laptop up in the living room and let the kids watch King George and the Ducky from Veggie Tales. A true classic. And the most noble thing I did all day, if you ask me.
Emagen then called and said they had finished their work and I went and picked up her and her friend Nan and drove them to Chik-fil-a to get a late lunch.
Luckily, Nan’s family owns Chik-fil-a, so she fed Emagen and got myself and the kids a snack for free with her chik-fil-a gold card. I asked her if I could pay my mortgage with it instead, but with a laugh, she said thats not how it works. Darn it. I tried.
We headed home where we ate our blessed fried poultry and soon Reverie was up from her second nap. Emagen and Nan left shortly after that to head to a worship night at the park with friends, while we stayed behind and hung out around the house the rest of the day.
Our ‘school day’ didn’t really have a definitive ‘end’, but it kind of gradually faded out.
It’s funny to watch us all be so new to this, just figuring it out as we go.
Anytime I asked Natalie to do something she’d be like “okay but is this like a school thing- or is school over and you’re asking me as my mom now?” Lol
My reply was constantly- “Which will get me less sass- the mom me or the teacher me?”
Anyway, dinner time came and Natalie, Justice and myself ate together. Emagen was still gone with friends, and Beckham, by this time, had fallen asleep on our bed because of the perpetual earache he had dealt with all day.
After dinner we piled in bed with him and did our very first night of (awkward and not organized) family worship. Which I’ve promised myself will be a consistent thing from now on. We shall see lol.
One day my kids will thank me for all the holy, consistent, cringe I inflicted upon them as I clamored my way through becoming a more sanctified mother who knows what the heck she’s doing.
For now…we’re all having a good laugh.
Play-dough and Family Worship Recipe below for paid subscribers:
Family Worship recipe:
Word
1 Scripture
1 Song
1 Prayer
Here is what we did for our first night:
What is grace?
Undeserved favor. Grace cannot be earned; it is something that is freely given. We count on God's grace and the bridge he built in our relationship with him.
Scripture:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them
Ephesians 2:8-10
Song:
Prayer:
God, thank you for your grace. That it is not something we have to work for or earn. We do not have to be good enough in order that we may receive grace. You give it freely to us. Because you made us, and love us and decided that this would be how your relationship would work with your people. We thank you we are recipients of your grace. We love you. We worship you. Thank you for all you have done and that some day we will all be where Valor is and where you are. To live with you forever.
In Jesus name, amen.
Play dough Recipe: (We made a double batch of this)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 TBSP of any oil (we did vegetable oil)
1/2 cup of salt
2 tbsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup of boiling water
Mix all dry incredients together well. Then pour in oil and boiling water. Mix well until formed into play dough. - Easy peasy. You can separate into groups and add food colorings- but I like to keep our colorless so it doesn’t stain anything- and so the kids don’t have to worry about it getting mixed up. They seem to enjoy it just as much as the colored stuff.