Thoughts on my first year homeschooling

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah.  Hello and peace everyone.

I'm really so flattered that you're reading my blog.  I'm always excited to see that people have visited and viewed my blog :D 

Last year brought us another shift: homeschooling.  Usually, that shift would be being pregnant or having a newborn, but alhamdullah, this time I prayed about it and decided to let homeschooling be my new 'baby'.  I want to share some of more significant impacts homeschooling has had on us.

To begin with, I will start with how and why the topic ever came up in the first place.  I was concerned about a handful of things that my two older kids were going through at public school, grades 2 and 3.  Looking at the big picture, and after researching and praying about it, I decided it would be so worth the risk to give homeschooling a shot.  If it didn't work out at all, that school would still be there and they could return at any time.  Thankfully, our district is pretty good in education, so that was not our main motivator for bringing them home.  (some families homeschool because they live in districts with very poor public schools)

Second thing worthy of mention is the world of homeschool curriculum.  I was blown away when I received my first books.  The way the books and lessons are organized is nothing how it looks like in a traditional school textbook.  Lessons are divided into daily portions so that the student simply goes to the next lesson the next day.  Teacher portions are scripted like a play (!) so that Mom knows what to say and how to guide the student to achieve the desired result.  If any mom feels she 'can't' be the teacher, I say give it a try because the books spell it out so that you can be the teacher!!

Lastly, and this is the most fun part, is reaping numerous benefits that I didn't expect just because of the nature of our lifestyle change.  That routine of the old way faded away and we started a new one.  This one didn't have us rushing around early in the morning, inevitably ending with some shouting or some tension to get out the door.  This one didn't have that after school crankiness they all came home with when I'd have to tiptoe around them and their moods (keep in mind they were only in 2nd and 3rd grades!).  This one didn't come with new words and attitudes that I had to spend time reversing.  This one came with increased patience, with more relaxed attitudes, with more time spent with Dad in the mornings or if he came home early from work, with enough time to pray, and with a sense of everyone helping in the running of the home.  When the 8 year old wanted to try making scrambled eggs for breakfast I could let him (and later, her).  When we have some free time, we like to bake cookies from scratch.  My point is that we had time and mental energy for stuff like this.  They also found many ways to play together rather than grow divided because of age and grade differences.

Last year my Kindy daughter spent only about a full hour on actual work like math, writing, and phonics.  She spent a lot of time reading for fun, doing crafts, coloring, or playing with her little sister.  This year she will need to spend about 2 hours or so per day doing work.

My 3rd and 4th graders last year spent about 4 hours a day on work.  If we didn't have any morning appointments, they could be done by lunch some days.  This left after lunch for tidying up, praying, playing, and reading (or resting).   My 5th grader will have a heavier load this year, and I dont' expect him to be done till closer to 3pm.  My 4th grader will probably have around 4 or 4 1/2 hours.  I've laid out a spreadsheet to fill in when I will do one-on-one subjects this year with each child.  They don't need me for ALL of their subjects, and for others they might need me for 15 or 20 minutes.  So, while last year I did not have a detailed schedule, I will have one this year because I will have 3 kids to juggle instead of 2 (my kindy was very easy and could be done after the big kids were done for the day).  My sweet 2 (nearly 3) year old will have puzzles, books, markers, and blocks to play with.  She will also have her own seat at the table because, well, she's just old enough to want one and will cause trouble if she doesn't!  I plan to do the big subjects like history and science (alternating days) during her naptime after lunch. Insha'Allah (God willing)

Some of the challenges:

* I would lose my patience at times when they'd all be talking to me at the same time, when the toddler was going nuts writing on the walls, or when they had their own bad attitudes towards work.  UPSIDE: i would apologize and we would learn how to get over bad moods like that.

* Going out to places during the day felt weird sometimes because we'd get stared at.  I would limit my outings and try to consolidate trips for when my husband got home or for the weekends.  Anyhow, we were usually busy doing school.  And another anyhow is that more and more people do homeschool, so people guess it right away.

*  I would occasionally feel like I needed to have some alone time out of the house.  Thanks to my super supportive husband, all I had to do was schedule that in to the weekend.  I also would sometimes sneak out after dinner and do a Target trip on my own.  I had my own morning routine in my room without any kids, and I often took a nap or a lie down in my room with the door shut around 3pm.  We would all kind of split up and do our own thing till dinner or at least for an hour.  I expect this year will be easier than last b/c my youngest is older and more independent thus requiring less from me.

I'm so thankful for all the tricks I've learned.  How to talk to the children, how to guide them, how to check my intentions, how to change in my heart how I feel about raising my children, how to keep praying for guidance, patience, and success.  I've learned tricks for getting laundry done, meals cooked, and chores split.  All in all, it has been a great growing experience for all of us, I think, and has been a blessing.  We start our new school year next Tuesday, so if you remember, say a prayer for our success!