What does this look like? Outdoors. Gardens. Dirt. Tag. Nature walks. Bugs. Nature journaling. Fort building. Indoor tent making. Lego building. Baking. Imagination wondering. Learning through experiences. Outside more. Question asking. Relaxed. Simple. Screen free. Just move us to a prairie in a camper. Kidding. Kind of. If you are looking for a different way to not just do school (because it is largely a homeschool community) but also to do life- check it out.
Today it rained. And I loved it because it gives me a reason to not go anywhere and not do anything but hang out with my kids. And I'm secretly hoping it will be raining again tomorrow, too. Not having to water the garden is also really, really lovely.
This weekend we are expecting our first overnight guests (yep- first. Cons (or pros) Of having the majority of your family in your area) for my sisters high school graduation. Addy asked me today: "whyy would they be coming here from Florida??". Really mom? Florida is where all the beaches and theme parks are, Disney world and Nick resort, why would anyone want to leave?! I love the way kids think.
Adam started a new job last week, again. God has shown himself faithful to my husband and our family over and over and over again. We have been so blessed, and I love that my husband is in a position where he feels secure and loves what he's doing. The only downside to all of this, he can't take time off for a little while. Which means we had to cancel our camping vacation this month, and will be doing a "staycation" this summer. Luckily, we live in the perfect area for summer vacation.
We are done with school, ok, Friday is the last official day. It's whatever. Everyone knows the last week of school holds no purpose but to mark attendance. The sun came out today for about two hours, so we had a spur of the moment picnic in the yard. As I was washing the grapes and cutting the sandwiches and filling water bottles I was thinking to myself how crazy grateful I am to be able to homeschool my kids. I'm not a huge homeschool pusher, do what is best for your family...this just happens to be what is best for us, but I am thankful that the Lord allowed us to have such a great year this year and that I was able to see the real beauty and blessings in it. Not every mom can have picnics with their littles any time of day, or load everyone up during the week and head to the beach, or even things as simple as being able to skip the homework completely and just read books together. This is the first year that I am absolutely confident in our decision and cherishing this time. (summary- this is the first year in the past four that I have not registered my kids in school knowing I wasn't actually going to put them in). Ps- I'm a weird old lady now who finds great fun and joy in picking out and ordering curriculum. One of my favorite things about summer is decorating and adding to our school room and all of the new books.
With all of the good that comes with being home, I will be honest and say that being home with your children does not mean that you are present. You can be home with them all day and never spend any real time with them. Adam and I had been finding it harder and harder to give each child the individual attention that they need, which is common not only in big families, I've had moms of two kids tell me that they struggle to give their children "enough" one on one attention. So we came up with a simple little plan to help us get time with each kid alone.
About two times a week we will choose a child to stay up with us 45 minutes later than when all of the other children go to sleep. It's completely random. We don't make a calendar or chart. We don't tell the child beforehand. We don't plan it. Typically we will notice when a certain child is not getting enough one on one or is having a hard day, and I will say to Adam "I think -insert name here- needs a night" as we see the need. At bedtime we will just whisper for them to stay down stairs when everyone else goes up for bed and we choose random things to do together.
We have done this a few times already, and so far the things that have been chosen are: watering the garden together, reading books, playing dollhouse, baking something, drawing and they always get a snack of some sort. Something special that is not a common everyday snack, I try to keep things on hand for these nights. Last time we did this we made smores in the microwave.
So this is what our last night looked like:
I read four books together with the child. No baby in my lap. No distractions. We looked at photos and pointed and laughed and talked. We headed to the kitchen and made microwave smores (microwave marshmallow and chocolate until soft/partially melted, transfer to graham cracker, delish!). Washed it down with milk and then the child played dollhouse with Adam on the floor in the school room for the remainder of their time.
We have two rules for this time:
1-no electronic usage by anyone. No phones, tvs, tablets, nothing.
2- what you do during your time is a special secret between you, mom and dad. This way, there is no comparison. Now of course some secrets are leaked every now and then, we don't enforce this- just remind them that it's a top secret. This also makes them feel good, having a big secret with mom and dad that nobody else can know.
If you are struggling to get good, intentional time in with a child, try it out! Just do it when you can! Some weeks we are really busy and only do this once with a child, some weeks we do it 2-3 times! I love that it is random and unplanned, led by the needs of the child.
And...tomorrow is clean-before-company day. And my intentional wild and free activity is finger painting...I'm not sure how one is going to go with the other, but I am looking forward to hanging 30954095893860395809485 freshly painted papers on my walls. So it really would be the perfect day for another set of storms.
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