Over the years of homeschooling, I have become braver in getting away from the school at home mindset. However, I have also known, I needed to get farther away from that mindset in order to be able to attain our goals with our children.
Grade levels is one way I am doing that this year. I will be teaching two levels when it comes to math, and language arts (spelling, phonics, grammar, writing etc.). Everything else will again be taught as a family.
In years past, I have tried to teach three to four levels of math and language arts…this is tough, when it is all younger children. It seemed all I did was answer question, confuse myself and my children. In the end we were all grouchy and none of us learned much of anything.
So, I am making some changes, and actually making lesson plans ahead…as in I have two weeks planned for the next year. I hope to get around 6-9 weeks of school planned before we actually start. I bought one level of grammar instruction to use with my older two students. They will both be doing writing assignments also. The younger crowd will be doing phonics and math together. I know my 2.5 year old will not be grasping everything, but I imagine I will be surprised at what she does get.
Let’s think about this for umm, 39 seconds (as Dr. Voddie Baucham would say). Our babies and toddlers learn to talk, walk, crawl, eat, potty, and many other things by watching and following and participating within the family structure. Why wouldn’t they grasp some basic math, phonics, grammar, and spelling concepts during a preschool through first grade class set up? In reality, I am teaching kindergarten to my five and six year olds and will be having the two and three year olds sit in on the lessons and do similar worksheets and such.
We may not start our normal planned school as early as we normally do, and actually we are not schooling through the summer as I had planned…why?
Because this summer has been a bit busier then I expected. I don’t want homeschool to get in the way of our lives…fun family memories, or lifelong lessons.
We are learning lots through life learning…from farming, gardening, ministry with VBS, and many other activities.
We have company coming the beginning of July, then our county fair, and Bible camp. We also hopefully have lots of food to preserve during that time too. So, for now my plan is to hold off on starting our normal planned school until mid-August or September. We will be doing math and some lapbooking activities, and as always lots of reading and Bible discussions.
As homeschoolers, we have the ability to customize our calendar, lessons and grade levels to meet each child’s unique needs. By not letting the institutionalized school system bind us to their mindset and actually taking the unique needs of our family and children into consideration, we will be able to move ahead and make more progress on our own schedule then we would on the schedule set by someone else. We are able to set a schedule and plans and curriculum for fewer students in a unique setting, why do we allow ourselves to be bogged down by the four walled setting that society has adopted as the one and only form of education?
*Please note, I am speaking on homeschooling, not how the public school system should adopt my educational routines for my students. I am not producing mass numbers of students out of my classroom each year, therefore, I have more freedom in my educational choices for my family.
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mother, christian, wife, woman, child of God. It is about my life as a farmer’s wife, as a cook, a baker, a nurse, a teacher, a woodworker, a housekeeper, a farmer (yep, I drive tractors, pick up hay bales, and other farm duties), a gardener. So, what you read here, is me, as a transparent sometimes hot headed, passionate, and opinionated person.
Wasn’t Voddie incredibly inspiring! Good stuff, Betty!
Amy @ Raising Arrows recently posted..Giving Children Their Own Space
Thanks Amy, your input means a lot.
This rings true and beautiful to me. Thank you for having the courage to write it. Currently, I am reading “Easy Homeschooling Techniques” and I’m reminded of how institutionalized I made our homeschool - and how unnecessary that is! All that stress of buying curriculum, checking off completed boxes and comparing myself to others. I’m jumping ship too! Glad I have great company in that decision!
Blessings to you and your family,
Carrie
Carrie recently posted..God is Love Frame by DaySpring
You can jump ship with me.
I would love the company. 
Good for you! The further I have gotten away from that artificial “grade level” distinction, the happier we all have been! My recent realization is that the thing to do is simply start where each child actually is in terms of ABILITY - and then just be diligent so that s/he can make regular progress, at whatever pace works for that child. If we do that, the Lord will see to it that each one is just where s/he needs to be academically when it’s time for them to leave our nest.
Tina H. recently posted..Living Well Blog Hop- Week 2
We usually count on being too busy canning and preserving MOST of September. So we often don’t get back to consistent table time until October. We do keep up with read alouds throughout the summer and will start Math in the heat of summer when its too miserable to be out, and then take whatever breaks we need during fall harvest.
Oh, yes, it could be October before we honestly get started, however, crew stuff starts shipping mid-July, so we must return to some semblance of normalcy a bit earlier.
Bravo!!
Angie w recently posted..The One Word Tale of the Canadian Goose War
I really love how we get to plan out the schedule that works best for our family! My twins are ready to start learning their letters and numbers now…why in the world would I make them wait until August? lol
Wonderful post!
Michelle
Michelle G recently posted..Stained Glass Butterflies Blog