Working through school

School hasn't come together like I was wanting it to this year.  The kids are doing great in some areas but not touching other things.

I was frustrated the kids were frustrated and school just didn't feel right.  Well, after thinking and venting with a friend I am working toward making some changes.

The kids are doing great with their math.  They all enjoy it and easily complete their work even if it is hard and a difficult lesson.  They put forth a lot of effort, ask lots of questions and we have great conversations when I am teaching math.

Piano is even better than math.  They are all very motivated to learn and improve.  Andrew works so hard and Skylar learns quickly now that it has clicked.

Everything else just isn't gelling.  I have been doing a lot of reading lately about homeschooling and talking with friends.  Yes, I can continue to try to bring school to the house and force the sit down and do these workbooks, assignments, etc or I can follow the kids flow.

Cairn spent 3 weeks working on Spanish very diligently and every day without prompting.  When I pushed her to get other assignments completed she quit doing Spanish.  This week she started another writing class and for the next 2 days after that she worked on her story without prompting.

Wednesday, Skylar sat for 2 hours and worked on a 150 piece puzzle and completed it.  Andrew sits and works very hard on his handwriting.

Like a friend of mine recently said on her blog, when she gives her kids space they pick quality learning opportunities.  Actually so do mine, if I would open my eyes and pay attention.

My biggest thing I have to get over - being worried what the neighbors think.  People constantly quiz my kids about what they are learning (they don't do that to public schooled kids though) and I feel like I have to make sure my kids are ready for those quizzes. But why?  Do I really care if my kids can pass some nosy neighbors quiz about what they think they should know right now?  No.

What I need to do is teach people to ask my kids what they are interested in learning and then my kids will tell you all kinds of information.  I can't be a total unschooler but I know I need to relax a little.  I want to follow the kids lead and see where it takes us.  Math, piano, speech and reading will be required every day no matter what.  Everything else I will guide, put in front of them and take them places to learn but I won't push and I won't assign.  I will pick up a book and read it aloud.  I will get a video and watch it in front of them.  They learn so much more when I don't push.

Perfect example,  Kris Anne Hall was here on Sunday.  She talked about bully kings.  She suggested the movie, Robin Hood (Disney) to watch to learn about King Richard/Prince John being a bully king.  We watched it and they could give tons of examples about how he was a bully king and why that was bad and Cairn could even recall a document that tried to stop the bully kings.  Lesson learned.

We shall see where this path leads us this year.