It’s been a couple months since our last homeschool journal. The schooling never actually stopped, rather, it’s continued at an abnormal pace. More hands in the garden, more education on nutrition, more tea/coffee breaks, more days reading and playing instead of doing book work.
I’ll admit, the summer bug bit us rather early this year.
So we’re still, slowly but surely, chugging away at what bookwork we have left, while starting our summer reading program. We’re learning life skills like feeding chickens, doing the dishes and folding laundry. We’re reveling in beautifully written books and garden work.
This might sound like a little fairy tale but you know just as well as I do that I’m just not putting the ugly moments out there. The reason is that I have become increasingly aware of my children’s need for privacy and respect in that area. Not to mention my own. My story and theirs intersects at almost every level at this point of our journey, therefore, I am cautious with what I show the world. What an odd world we live in where hundreds of people have impersonal and yet intimate access to ourselves and our children. It certainly doesn’t make for empathetic environments now, does it?
So you get to see the good, wholesome, fun parts of our homeschool and develop your own realistic expectations with your excellent imagination. 😉
Our core work(math, language arts, science) has been more challenging than ever for Cecelia as we wind down the school year. She loves it and is growing in her basic knowledge of these concepts daily. I feel so proud when I sit next to her. Even in her challenging moments I see how far she’s come and how much more she’s capable of and it feels like the highest privilege to be so closely involved with their learning process.
Lucille came home from her amazing(out of home) Christian preschool experience energized for learning. Inspired by her sisters amazing reading skills she has asked me to teach her how to read this summer, so that will be my primary goal with her this season.
Wyatt is solidifying his knowledge of basic counting, color, and letter identification in preparation for his up coming(out of home) preschool year. I could not be more proud, biased and starry eyed at my children. I hope it grosses you out a little bit. *haha*
Our primary extra curricular activities these last 2 months has been plant care and identification. We are watching the world wake up with Spring time and it’s been a privilege to notice it with fresh eyes. I love driving around town and hearing precious little voices from the back seat shout out that they’ve spotted some lupines, lavender or poppies.
I want to leave off with some challenges for the next couple months. If you are so inclined you can try one of these, all of them or none of them. The idea is that you may instill new interests or habits that benefit your life. So here are some challenges for you:
The first challenge is to start small in plant identification: Choose three flowers that you have seen most frequently this spring/early summer and learn their names. Begin to point them out to your children as you drive or walk your neighborhood. This is an easy way to aid in memorization while peaking the interest of your children.
The second challenge I want to leave with you(clearly in no particular order of importance) is to begin reading your bible daily: This challenge can be difficult when our kids don’t yet have boundaries established with us reading or having a quiet time. However, I believe it is an excellent lesson for them to learn early on, that reading the Bible is a priority in your Christian walk(John 17:17, 2 Tim 3:16-17, Psalm 119:105, Matt 4:4, Hebrews 4:12, Romans 15:4, 1 Peter 2:2, etc.).
Lastly for this homeschool journal I would like to challenge you to pick up a book. Start reading for 10 minutes every day. Choose a novel or something you have started reading but didn’t finish. Better yet, quit the book that stunted your regular reading habits and pick up something interesting and begin to re-invest in your healthy reading habits. It’s good for our brains to carve out time for these things.
Happy Summer, you beautiful soon to be sun-kissed readers.
The Crunchy Vagabond 