Redefining Our Homeschool Mid-Year

I feel like second grade will always go down as the year that homeschooling changed for us, for me at least, for the better. The year it became more real. It was the time that homeschool was no longer just that fun time that mommy and daughter spent together learning a-b-c’s. Now we had tests, and multiplication, and reading comprehension, and book reports! This was the year Mommy dialed in and homeschooling became intentional. This was the year for redefining our homeschool mid-year!

HHM Redefining Our Homeschool Mid Year

But let me back up. You see we initially started our homeschool with a simple daily program of A-B-C, singing songs, and learning colors when Sweet Peanut was about 3. We enjoyed that for a year and then moved on to purchase a box curriculum that came with DVDs of the daily classes. After observing and talking with family members who used the same program all through high school we thought it was a good fit for our beliefs and a good way to calm my nervousness about putting together a curriculum.

This particular program has really worked for us. We’re on year four of using this same curriculum and our daughter learned so much more than I could have ever imagined and she had fun doing it!

But although our homeschooling program is great and has really worked for us it was around mid-term last year that I just got tired of using the videos. While I love(d) the program. It is very complete and well rounded. Last year I got the feeling like I was being left out. I would organize the supplies and sit in on the classes and record the grades but that was about it. Answer a few questions maybe but it wasn’t much. I was background music.

But shouldn’t that be great? I mean I could walk away and take care of some other pressing matter, talk on the phone, even check my email and my daughter would still continue to learn. Without me. Yes it was nice to have such a great system and I admit to taking full advantage of it. But I was ready for more. I really wanted to be more involved.

So mid-year we decided during Spring Break to revamp things a bit. We were going to shut of the DVD player and mommy was going to do the teaching! Aha! Blessedly our curriculum came with everything I needed. Another reason I love it so. Teacher’s manuals, worktexts, manipulatives, and more. They had tips for different learning styles, ideas for the extra brilliant child, ways to help the struggling student and more. Thank goodness! They were ready for me.

Let me just clarify that I was/am a nervous homeshooler. I’ve been so worried that I’ll miss something in my daughter’s education I probably give her too much. I make sure every i is dotted and every t crossed. We do all the worktexts supplied and then some.

So as I re-read through the curriculum for each class with an eye to present it myself I discovered something new. That I was given the okay to adjust it to my daughter’s own needs. That I didn’t need to throw everything at her. And that I do know her best. And to help me along they made sure I was ultra-prepared. So away we went!

The beauty of it was that turning off the videos for a while and relying solely on Mommy seemed put new pep in our homeschool step. We found new energy and excitement for each day. Granted we were doing the exact same curriculum as on the videos but have them presented in a slightly different way made it new and exciting for her.

We ended up finishing out the school year with a bang and enjoyed a great summer.

Currently we’re in 3rd Grade and now we have a system. We start off the year with our chosen curriculum, DVDs and all. It is excellent and they have so many ideas for so many learning styles. But we also edit as needed. Some days we turn off the video and take school on the road. We incorporate other tools and we find ways to loosen up our day. We talk about what we’re learning and we may veer off to explore a topic deeper.

It has made school more fun and a lifestyle rather than a list we check off each day.

meKemi Quinn is a wife, mother, church musician, and amateur cook. She loves to read about how women kept home in times past (aka Vintage Homemaking). She blogs at http://www.homemakingorganized.com/blog.

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