Reflections on Our First Year Homeschooling

My third grader just completed his "progress" test required by the state. And, now I feel like it is time to reflect on how our first year has gone.

First I want to say that I am so glad I decided to homeschool. It isn't always easy. There have definitely been days when I think, "What in the world am I doing? Why did I leave my job to stay home with these ungrateful children? " But those days have become fewer and farther between as the year has progressed. And, when I reflected on it, I realized my children aren't ungrateful--they are children. I also realized that my thoughts were actually selfish and unkind. Everyday I get to see them growing and discovering new things about themselves and about the world around them. I've concluded that I am truly lucky to have this opportunity!

I definitely feel like I need to be more organized. As I am going through his paperwork, trying to make sure I have a portfolio with a good representation of materials that show what we've done this year, I keep finding stuff that I'd wanted to do, but didn't get around to doing. I think the reason for this is wasn't lack of time--it was my lack of organization.

Another thing I would like to do next year is more cross-curricular projects. (Any ideas, let me know!) One of his weak areas is capitalization and punctuation. I hope that I can incorporate some fun writing activities into the cross-curricular units. And try to teach grammar and usage in an applied manner. He seems to be really turned off by traditional grammar lessons, so I definitely need to find a different way to teach this.

For math this year I relied a lot on worksheets. Next year I am going to use a math text book. Toward the end of the year I found a really old math text and started using it to do some review assignments. Copying the problems from the book and then solving them actually seemed to help him pay attention to the signs and how the numbers line up. (I used to do a lot of math tutoring and even taught math for a little while. I am a stickler for neatness in math!)

Another big change for next year is how I handle my younger son's schooling. Last year he was 3 for most of the year, so we did stuff when he was interested. I wasn't very structured with what he was doing. Next year he will actually be 4 (pre-school age). I want to organize lessons for him, while respecting that he is still a little boy. I think he is ready to begin more structured lessons. About a week before he turned 4, he told me, "When I turn 4 I will do school like brubber."

I truly believe that kids are natural learners. They will absorb stuff they find interesting like sponges. As I am making plans for next year I want to remember that one of the reasons I decided to homeschool is as a teacher and a parent I saw daily how traditional school turns kids off from learning. I did not want my eager, inquisitive young children to become the apathetic, indolent students I taught in high school. So, I will try to be careful as I (with my adult mentality and perceptions) look at activities and lesson ideas and think well that is "very interesting (to me)." I will also think is it fun, can I make it fun for the boys, is there a more engaging way I can do this with the boys.