Is Homeschooling a Lot of Work?

This question comes up a lot. It doesn't really feel like it at the moment. It actually feels like the lazy way out sometimes. Today is really rainy and gray. Everybody slept in and is in a little bit of a funk. But so what? Eat a leisurely breakfast and get started when you are ready. Instead of getting far behind when we need a slower day, we have it built in so you always feel like you have a little wiggle room if something goes wrong. Believe me, this approach saved our sanity this summer when everything was going terribly wrong. It is the polar opposite of our pre-pandemic life. I was always yelling at someone to hurry up and stuffing kids into car seats while cursing the constant missing shoe.

Marko has been working on a science unit about plant and animal life cycles, even dipping into hereditary traits a little bit. He's growing some plants from seeds and making observations. Laurel is working through some textbooks on various philosophical time periods. Her thoughts on the Enlightenment are hilarious. 

This month, we've been going to actual in-person classes! The boys started gymnastics in August, and we found a place for Laurel to take horse riding lessons. Laurel and I have Girl Scouts a few times a month. We attend a few virtual classes with our homeschool co-op one day a week and in person classes that take place in a park one day a week. I have been really impressed with the classes, which are all taught by parent volunteers. Marko learned how to make cordage, which is actually very useful to me personally, as I love to make things out of the weeds I chop down in my yard. Laurel is studying American artists. The classes provide a lot of launching points for further study or exploration. As a new family member, I do jobs like cleaning up after, or assisting the teachers. 

We've also been reading Shakespeare and memorizing a few lines. We were able to see a performance of Hamlet that featured an all-female cast. I get all the Shakespeare ideas from Brave Writer on the One Thing page. This is a set of curated activities for lots of different age levels that focuses on one topic. We've also done a month on Sand and a month on Simple Machines. Zero planning on my part, and the kids all seem to get something out of it. Next month is Sports, which will be interesting, as we are not involved in the playing or watching of many popular sports. 

Khan Academy continues to be the most popular math choice for the two older kids. Max plays around on this old play cash register that has a calculator. I don't pay too much attention to the math, since Khan sends weekly reports that show how many minutes they used the site, as well as content that they have mastered. We have two other workbooks they can use if there is no internet, or if they need additional problem sets. 

Things I am going to try and focus on more next month include spelling and grammar for Laurel and Marko, as well as making sure we touch on art, music, anatomy, physiology, civics, fire safety and foreign language....those subjects often seem to get bumped even if I do have something planned. Laurel has specifically requested more 1:1 time with me for her studies, as well as movement breaks throughout the day.

Closing Out the Summer

M and I managed to fly to Reno and drive our car and camper back with good weather and no craziness. It was so uneventful I don't even have much to write about. We were able to stop in Truckee to say hello to some folks at the RV park, and to get one last Truckee Tracks ice cream cone at Little Truckee Creamery, and bought way too many books at Word After Word. The skies were even pretty clear up there, although everything is crispy dry. The smoke was heavy all through the Great Basin, but once we got over the Wasatch it cleared up a lot. We hit a little rain in Wyoming and a little wind in South Dakota, but for the most part it was easy driving and the Yukon handled the Winnebago really well. 

Now that we have our car and camper back, it feels like the summer is officially over. There were some seriously high highs and low lows in this latest chapter. We had some amazing adventures on our road trip and were blessed by so much kindness from family, friends and strangers.