Let me preface with this is NOT a homeschooling post. This is a “If you have kids, read this” post.
When I decided to homeschool our oldest, it wasn’t an easy decision whatsoever. I had a battle going on inside me that brought many questions to the table.
Will she be well-rounded if I homeschool?
How will she be socially?
Am I equipped to get the job done right?
Will this be a frustrating experience or a pleasant one?
These questions flooded me on a daily basis until one day I just had to make the decision. Homeschooling it was! Being a former teacher, I used to roll my eyes at homeschooling moms who weren’t trained to be teachers. They didn’t the progression of how we educate kids so how could they be great at schooling their own kids?!?
Boy was I wrong! What I have found is a community of men and women passionate about their child’s education and making sure they get the best, most well-rounded education and life experiences available. They are very aware of where their child is academically and where they want them to be by the end of the “school year.” I speak on behalf of the parents I have encountered only. I am aware that there are homeschooling parents out there that should probably not be homeschooling if you are thinking about the child’s best schooling experiences. It isn’t for everyone and that is ok.
People ask me all the time how much time I spend on schooling my oldest. Honestly, I never stop “schooling” her. I feel that there are teachable moments everywhere we are and throughout the day she is getting lessons. She helps make her bed in the morning, helps her sister when she is having a meltdown, helps clean up her toys, gets the mail, etc. These are all life skills she is starting to have. As far as academics go, we read signs along the road, sing songs with an educational theme, play outside and get dirty, talk about kinetic and potential energy while we are chewing our food, read books at nighttime and I ask her about the configuration of the word and how we can possibly sound the word out. At dinnertime we sit together at the kitchen table and just talk…about the day, about God, about what we plan to do tomorrow, about our dreams and wishes. When we are cooking dinner, we talk about the food choices we are making and why we are choosing to eat healthy vs. throwing a frozen pizza in the oven…I could go on and on.
Yes I have “school time” where we sit and talk about academics but honestly academics are all around us…we have to be open and willing to “See” the opportunity and seize it! Our little ones are sponges. They soak up everything their environment is throwing at them and then some. By enriching their environment and making experiences intentional, we are setting them up to be lifelong learners…and that is a beautiful gift!
So whether you are a homeschooling momma or your child attends private, public, etc. school, you too have several opportunities a day to enrich their environment with experiences and knowledge. You first need to be open to the opportunities that arise and then use them for the greater lesson.
Here are some examples of how I incorporate “school” into our everyday life:
- Talk about the importance of brushing your teeth while brushing our teeth
- Right when we wake up, we try to make our bed and talk about the days events (working on planning your day out and not just flying by the seat of our pants)
- While eating breakfast, talk about foods that wouldn’t be healthy vs. healthy breakfast foods
- Cleaning up the breakfast when we are done (working on family chores and expectations)
- While getting dressed, we talk about what we are wearing and why we would choose pants over shorts on a cold day. We look outside and determine what kind of shoes we will need (flip flops, rain boots, snow boots, dress shoes, etc.)
- We have a painting on our kitchen wall and we often talk about the way the artist mixed colors and what colors came about from him mixing them the way he did (color wheel)
- Helping cook or bake and reading the measurements out loud to me and then executing it.
- Reading her sister a book (or several) while I get lunch ready.
- They see me exercising every morning and we talk about the importance of keeping your body fit and healthy and ways to do that.
- While driving in the car, we sing educational songs, look for sight words, read the letters off of license plates, look for shapes in the clouds, etc.
- We journal together…seeing the importance of journaling, writing practice, etc.
- Playing games at home together (teaches taking turns, encouraging those who aren’t winning, healthy competition, and any skills the game works on, i.e. math, reading)
- Playing with playing cards and making number lines, putting cards in order from highest to lowest, playing War, etc.
I could go on and on. Teachable moments are EVERYWHERE and as long as you are aware of the day and what your little one is and could be soaking in, the possibilities are endless! Happy Teaching!
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