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<\/a><\/p>\nSchool is FINISHED. \u00a0Actually, it’s been finished. \u00a0Adam penciled in his final tests on April 24, nearly two weeks ago, and summer began with a whirl of activity and way cooler weather than should be associated with the end of school. \u00a0It would be impossible for me to describe just how glad I am to be finished with school. \u00a0Some days I still feel a little shell-shocked, shaking my head in awe that we actually accomplished mission nearly impossible. \u00a0Would I choose to homeschool? \u00a0 Oddly, I’m almost looking forward to school next year now that I have a little bit of an idea of what to do the same and what to do differently. \u00a0The first year must be the hardest, even if your child isn’t in first grade. \u00a0It was a huge learning curve for all of us. \u00a0The first few weeks I heard a lot about how the books at school were so much better and the way they did things at school were so much better and this wasn’t the right way to do this. \u00a0Meanwhile, I was suddenly faced with giving up hours of my day, five days a week, and feeling completely depleted at the end of so many days, yet simultaneously feeling as though I hadn’t done a thing. \u00a0Homeschooling takes parenting to a level of unprecedented intensity. \u00a0It was completely up to me to teach not only the lessons but also to teach good work ethics (still working on it), self-motivation (epic fail), help to study for tests, co-ordinate all activities, study ahead for lessons, help with catch up work before, on, and after trips, and still be the mom. \u00a0Perhaps what I like most about being finished is not even so much the more flexible, relaxed schedule (although that is heavenly), but the ability to just be mom. \u00a0I am once again absolutely loving being with the boys instead of almost constantly feeling as though I want to run away for a break. \u00a0Somewhere. \u00a0Someway. \u00a0Somehow.<\/p>\n Yesterday we biked fifteen miles on the Allegany Passage. \u00a0We stopped to read the signs along the route which led to learning about the brush tunnel and a cave that housed skeletal parts of at least twenty-eight animals discovered when the railroad was built. \u00a0Many of the animals are now extinct and they even found skeletal parts of a crocodile high in that mountain cave. \u00a0Noah and the Flood, anyone? \u00a0We saw an unusual red flower to look up later, but mostly, we let the rush of air liberate our minds and refresh our stale spirits. \u00a0I listened to little boy talk, steered the conversation when needed, and watched Adam’s competitive drive surface when a boy just about his age passed us on the bike path. \u00a0Today we read Charlottes Web<\/span> and discussed what the word “spry” means. \u00a0Liam learned how to fold laundry neatly and Adam had a little tutorial about which cycle on the washer to use when washing towels. \u00a0I refereed when fights broke out and smiled when they grew consumed with a giggling fit. \u00a0I love being a mom. \u00a0I’m just not cut out to be a teacher. \u00a0Adam, on the other hand, has decided he wants to homeschool even when we move back to Virginia.<\/p>\n To be honest, there are some pretty cool things that go along with homeschooling. \u00a0I liked reviewing Math and racing Adam on flash cards. \u00a0It was interesting reading stories about frontier life in America and making cotton balls with seeds one day and then discovering how hard it was to clean cotton by hand the next. \u00a0I loved that Adam and Liam didn’t take thirty minutes a day adjusting to being together when Adam got home from school. \u00a0It is true that I longed for a break more days than not, but not once did I miss having him gone eight hours a day nine months out of the year. \u00a0While we stayed fairly structured, I loved that if we were on a trip and got home late, we could start school at 10:30 the next morning after sleeping in and unpacking all the suitcases. \u00a0It was nice not to have to decide between pulling Adam out of school or listening to him miss out when fun things happened at camp like making apple butter over an open fire or the Woodsmanship Festival. \u00a0Best of all, I liked having a lot more say about curriculum choices and having time to pursue extracurricular activities like piano and art.<\/p>\n Probably one of the biggest things that changed as education became almost solely my responsibility is that I began to view it more holistically. \u00a0I’ve never been a teacher, so more than likely they’ve been doing this all along and I never realized it. \u00a0Instead of only thinking about the subject matter that Adam needs to cover through twelfth grade, I’ve been praying more for direction to teach him in a way that makes it easier to do the work God calls him to as an adult. \u00a0I want him to have a good grasp on all the fundamentals, but I also want him to be able to pursue areas where he is naturally more gifted. \u00a0Not at all in a way that boxes him in or that steers him toward an end result, but in a way that allows him to capitalize on his strengths. \u00a0So much of this happens naturally in our children, we just need to be aware of it so that adequate resources are available to them. \u00a0I try to stay very quiet about this fact since Adam is pretty much convinced he could quit Math for life since he’s planning to either be a roofer or own a ranch. \u00a0A little story lesson about buying a horse for $100, paying $25 \/ bag for 20 bags of feed, paying himself wages to live and whether or not re-selling the horse for $150 six months later would be a profit was all it took to convince him that at least a little more Math may be necessary.<\/p>\n Some of the things I consider downsides to homeschooling are things I can’t replicate. \u00a0Things like healthy competition and the natural enthusiasm for school that comes from doing things with your friends. \u00a0Group games are next to impossible with two kids and oral book reports don’t teach you as much about public speaking when you’re talking to your family. \u00a0End of the year programs that require singing and reciting in front of a large audience, the feeling of independence fostered by the simple act of leaving home and being completely responsible for yourself every day …. but perhaps the biggest of all is not being taught by a plethora of teachers who each have unique abilities, talents, and love for different subjects that overlap gaps made by one another. \u00a0I hear adults say, “I’ve always tried to keep my handwriting neat because my fourth-grade teacher drilled it into us,” or “My seventh grade teacher inspired me to love algebra as much as she did.” \u00a0Here there is only me, myself, and \u00a0I with my love of Science and Literature and who is going to stop us from having a school that rumbles and jumps like a washer carrying an unbalanced load? \u00a0If you’re a home-schooling parent, I’d love to hear how you compensate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Also, if you don’t use My Father’s World for History, I’d love to hear what you use! \u00a0The children’s sections of the libraries close to me are not exactly stellar and it’s hard to fill gaps with great reading material. \u00a0Because of that, I am looking for a complete History program, preferably with a full-color textbook. \u00a0Any suggestions? \u00a0Oh yes, and I’d love to hear how independent your third and fourth graders are with their work and how you motivate your children to stick with their work instead of messing around? \u00a0I’ll happily store all the tips you can give me. \u00a0Meanwhile, I’m going to shelve thoughts of school along with the textbooks and {live}<\/em> this summer. School is FINISHED. \u00a0Actually, it’s been finished. \u00a0Adam penciled in his final tests on April 24, nearly two weeks ago, and summer began with a whirl of activity and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adam","category-life"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s39ynQ-325","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":408,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions\/408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Nev<\/del> … oops, I said I’m not going to make any more never statements because too many of them have come to pass in the last year. \u00a0And actually, yes, depending on the circumstance, I might choose it as the lesser of two evils. \u00a0Say, for example, we lived in a tiny community with a teeny tiny private school and a seventeen year old teacher trying to take care of seven scattered grades and the kids had serious behavior issues. \u00a0And I guess technically, I am currently choosing to homeschool. \u00a0Although the other option is public school and that’s not happening in this community. \u00a0Last September the boys and I were doing art out at the lake and two busses full of middle school kids were also there. \u00a0One of the adults with the group was walking around in something not much bigger than a bikini top and too-short shorts and a group of kids fifteen feet away was discussing where they’d lost their virginity. \u00a0If homeschooling is called being over-protective, I’m actually fine with being stereotyped.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"