Beach Breakthrough

This just in... Homeschooling Breakthrough! I'm cutting in line here with this post and will pick back up with  my 'to-do' posts soon. I'm sure no one would even realize but me, but for future me reading this too..there it is :) 

Identifying some of our trickier letters and which letter certain words I would say started with. 

This morning we had the best morning of homeschool lessons so far and I'm running on a little Homeschool High right now. Not that I'm really a 'seasoned homeschooler' by any means, but over the past two and a half years or so of working on Pre-School and Kindergarten stuff, this one set the bar really high. 

To be totally honest, when I started homeschooling I didn't do a ton of research on the method of teaching/approach with my kids, or the various programs, curriculum, or layout that I wanted to do. I didn't sit down and write out long term homeschooling goals or really 'plan' too much for it. I had heard about Calvert  through a few different people who had homeschooled in the past, it had a great reputation, the online webinar I joined was exciting and grabbed me right away. SOLD! Fast Forward a few weeks and we were opening our super exciting box of goodies for the upcoming 'school year'. 

I love many things about Calvert. I love how I get the lesson plans in a manual, workbooks, schedules to follow, everything I need is right there. I don't even have to think very much to do it (at least not at this age) :)  But with the exception of a few great days with the boys, the school time was always 'school time'. Meaning it always felt like I could be sitting in a classroom with lots of other kids doing the exact same lesson. We really like the hands on lessons like going for the home-hunts, or baking in the kitchen, little experiments and such.

Circling the biggest (greatest value) number is each row)

 More times than not though, I always feel like I'm failing each day because...well any number of reasons, but here are a few: 1) I didn't do school for 4, 5, 6 or even 8 hours--not even close, 2) I didn't do ALL of the lessons on the lesson plans, 3) I felt relieved when Joss would ask, "can we be done with school for today?" 

Matching the pictures to each other. 

Someone (that I don't even know) about a year ago left a comment on one of my blog posts that I was "in the trenches right now" with the homeschooling stuff. I have sort of carried that with me and have found myself reminding myself of this on the challenging days. Lately, I've been wondering if that was really the intent of the comment. Being "in the trenches" isn't really a negative thing when it comes to homeschooling, but somehow in my mind I had made it that way. I kind of gave it that impression and kept telling myself that it will get better, just stick it out. I recently read someone's interpretation of being "in the trenches" and it said something to the effect that it means you are engaged first-hand in the field work or mission at hand. You aren't in some kind of secondary mission-support position (i.e. a teacher in a school vs. a secretary in the principals office). 

I AM IN THE TRENCHES---And proud of it! I am working with my little guys, some days it is easier of course, I am right along side them in this mission of LIFE, I suppose. I don't mean to say this in a way that makes any parents that send their children to school feel less involved or belittled in any way. For me this is where I have to be. I don't feel as though I have an alternative. It is like the sense of commitment Christians feel toward marriage. Quitting isn't an option! God has called me to these trenches with my handsome little soldier boys and our little army is building strength and power each day. 

Writing the same number of X's on the line that were to the left of it. 

And each day I am in my trenches I feel like I gain a little more confidence and a little more courage to really dig my heels in and truly embrace this calling and make it something EXTRAORDINARY for all of us. I don't want them to look back at school and think of it as "yeah, I remember sitting at the kitchen table every morning doing our lessons with mom." Sure, there are much worse images of kids to have or remember about their time being homeschooled, but again I want this time to be full of fun, adventure, excitement, growth to our Lord and Savior, drawing our family as close as we could possibly be to each other. 

Today when Joss asked if we could go down to the beach pretty much as soon as he finished his cup of chocolate milk and I was still working on my coffee while still in my PJ's, my immediate response was, "why don't we do some school first and then we can go down there." He got bummed a little because it wasn't the immediate yes my sweet little Commander wanted to hear (hmmm nickname for our little army maybe???). Then I thought about it, and told him that we could go after all and that we would just try to do some schoolwork while we were down there. Of course, he was thrilled!

I figured we would get down here and they'd want to go off and do their beach thing (running, splashing, digging, racing, you know.. the usual), and then squeeze in a few mediocre lessons here and there. Boy was I wrong, thank goodness!

They ran around for a few minutes while I got my stuff unpacked (as in towels, water, sunscreen--not school stuff) and settled in, and then Joss came running up to me and asked if we could start school. YES!!!!!!!

First real lesson in addition!

Adding up the sum on his fingers :) 

I still didn't really have a game plan at this point, I just wanted to try to have fun with them, keep them intrigued and teach them something...anything!

Observing the number '8' a few problems down to remind himself how to write it. 

Lining his name with shells. 

We did lessons with our letters, numbers, reading, writing and even running through a maze a couple times followed by him giving me verbal instructions (left, right, straight, etc) to get out of it myself. 

All of it was spur-of-the-moment "student led" activities and it went nearly flawless. And all of it was done with sticks, shells and sand--PERFECT!!

Showing me his solutions

 Joss was very compliant, eager to do more work, ecstatic about getting questions right, and overall extremely excited to be doing schoolwork.  

Emit was having a ball too! He ran around eating snacks, almost to his heart's content, and when he was ready to 'play school' he'd come running up to me for an activity or he'd chime in on the one Joss was doing. 

He spent a little time just chilling in the water too!

Sounding out the letters and reading words!

I have been praying and researching different curriculum to try and whether or not I should work on setting up a classroom in a spare storage shed we have and how I should proceed with Joss' grade level, etc. 

Eating snack after snack after snack...

 Anyone that knows me, even just a little, knows that I am way too easy to stress out. It is a big area of my walk with the Lord that is in constant need of repair. 

Finding his was through the maze!

This particular morning, with these little soldiers, God gave me such peace about what we're doing, how we're doing it, how we could be doing it, and just really helped me to see that I don't have to have it all laid out before me in advance for each day to know exactly what song will go with which story that will coordinate with the letter "F", etc.

He then led me through the maze by giving me voice commands on which direction to turn and walk. He loved this! :) 

I thought I would need that kind of organization to do this sort of thing. I thought I would be a wreck without it, I thought that my trenches would be a fine-tuned machine that ran like clock-work each day. Boy, oh boy, have I been mistaken!

And right now, that excites me even more than that webinar I listened in on over 2 years ago! I can do this. WE can do this! And it is going to be far from perfect, but by golly... it is going to be awesome!!

'Recess' 

I still am not 100% decided on the course I plan to take with the curriculum and what I'm 'sold' on as far as teaching approach, but I do know that I'm not where I started, I don't know where I'm going (entirely), but I know I'm going to love it! Because these boys are what it is about. Not following some plan to a T and getting a classroom setup, or some other less important agenda. 

They absolutely melt my heart when we are doing our lessons and they get something right and I make a huge deal out of it and tell them how proud I am. Their expression is priceless, but the next thing they do is tell me to close my eyes so they can draw a heart on their paper to show me how much they love me.  

They love praise (who doesn't), they love to make us proud, they love to show us what they've learned, and moments like this make me so incredibly thankful that I get to be in the trenches with them. I get to be with them in their mission. I get to be their teacher. I get to be their MOM! 

Thanks for 'listening' :)