education about education

My top five of what I've learned about homeschooling in general in the first year:

1. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, aside from the answer to everything being 42, says, DON'T PANIC. So, so applicable. It's easy to freak yourself out when considering the commitment to homeschooling - I did it to myself for a good 2 years before even starting to homeschool. Ugh. If you want to or feel like you should homeschool, make the decision and move forward without agonizing it to death.

2. Don't try to come up with your own curriculum when you first start. That was a good way for me to trip myself up - trying to come up with my own lesson plans before I knew what I was doing, especially in subject areas that are not my strong points. (Math.) There are lots of options out there. Ask around for some recommendations, choose something that sounds good, and get it. If it doesn't work, you can try something else later but at least start and give something a shot.

3. No formal extracurriculars until they're at least four years old. We registered Posy for soccer when she was 3, and that was just dumb. Not just for Posy, but for every one of those poor little kids on the field. None of them had a clue what was going on, even if they were willing to play in the first place. I spent most of the game time every week on the pitch with Posy, holding her hand and running her up and down the field. There's a baby class at the dance studio we attend, and even though Birdie is now old enough to register for it, nope. It's very cute to see a 2-year-old in ballet slippers and a tutu, but seriously? All that money just for cute? No thanks.

4. Give it time. My girls aren't even technically out of kindergarten, for crying out loud. Sunny "should" be just wrapping up her kindergarten year in public school and Posy isn't allowed to start for another 18 months because of her October birthday. They do not need to cover every single subject right from the start. That was another way I got overwhelmed before I even began - trying to do the full slate of subjects. We backed up to just language, math and piano practice as Sunny's requirements for a school-day, and have "unschooled" for science, geography, history, and everything else. We do that stuff when we feel like it, or interest strikes in a particular thing, or we randomly find an interesting book. Posy has no daily requirement - she's just along for the ride with Sunny. I'll start tracking her work next January after she turns 5.

5. And more time. Even with not ever putting my kids in public schools, they still need to learn to sit still and be quiet on occasion. They're accustomed to doing pretty much whatever they want all day so when I tell them, "School time in 5 minutes," they look at me funny. We have nothing even resembling a routine about our homeschool schedule. Maybe someday I'll figure this part of it out, but right now, we're not even close. At one point, I told AC that I'd read somewhere that it takes 2-3 years to find the groove ... he reminds me of this often when I'm getting frustrated at the lack of cooperation to do even fun things for school, so I summon some more patience and keep trying.