What I learned after 1 week of homeschooling

What I’ve learned after 1 week homeschooling

• Don’t bother planning more than a day in advance

At least for the first week, Shammy wants to move at a very fast pace and yet there are certain activities that he flat out refuses to do (like drawing or any “craft”). Planning a day at a time allows me to better cater to his interest “du jour” and reduces the risk of frustration for all of us.

• Planning can only happen when Shammy is sleeping or out with his father, otherwise he runs over begging to “do more school”

I am happy that he likes homeschooling but didn’t expect him to love school so much, he keeps begging for more and throws a tantrum when we are done for the day because he wants to do more. This means that I can’t even reach for the supplies without him running over excited to “do more school”.

• Don’t bother with art or anything remotely crafty

Shammy has some interesting reactions to certain tasks… Drawing? no way! Coloring? Maybe, one per day if the picture is cool enough. Cutting? Are you crazy? Any sort of craft? what is your problem?! Worksheets? Keep them coming!
A part of me doesn’t mind because I am not a fan of crafts either and it saves money on supplies but limiting the artsy content of a lesson can be tricky when so many preschool resources are arts heavy.

• When Shammy decides he doesn’t want to do it, just drop it until another day

He is easily frustrated so I have to very carefully approach new information to give him just the right amount of challenge or else he will close up and refuse to even try.

• I Love the look of delight on his face when he “gets” it

On the other hand when he is challenged and he gets it, the transformation on his aura, body language and especially face is amazing to watch and I can’t get enough of it.

•  Zen likes school- one on one

Zen stays out of our way for the most part when I am working with Shammy on lessons but as soon as I am done with Shammy he runs over asking for his turn to do school. I hadn’t planned on it but I am finding myself having to prepare some simple lessons appropriate for a 2 year old as he is loving the one on one time with me.

•  Shammy wants more and more schoolwork than I thought possible.

And by this he means, working together one on one with a book or workbook, educational games and activities don’t count in his mind, it still boggles my mind that this kid is so addicted to worksheets.

• My cleaning routine is messed up

The best school schedule for us right now is to do the calendar notebook and main lessons after breakfast, break for play and snack, resume with worksheets, break for lunch and some play, reading and educational activities during Zen’s nap time. While this schedule works great for Shammy and I still have several hours in the afternoon for other tasks, it has really messed up my domestic productivity as I used to get the bulk of the household chores done in the morning and by the time I have time in the afternoon I lack the energy and motivation to do much cleaning. Shammy does have some chores assigned but there is a lot I need to do as well so this area definitely will need more tweaking and time management skills.

• I have more patience than I thought possible

My biggest fear about homeschooling was that I would not have enough patience to do it. So far I have found the most patience ever when working with Shammy on school work. Why can’t I have this same amount of patience with potty training?

• That learning nook? Collecting dust.

We are really liking working on the dining room table so I got hubby’s permission to hang the dry erase board and some posters in the dining room.
In other news I had my first homeschooling related nightmare last night. I dreamt that Shammy was demanding to do school on the weekend and threw a tantrum because he didn’t want to wait until Monday. It ended up being partially true, he did ask for school and although the tantrum was not as dramatic as in the dream, it took some persuasion and explanation to get him to accept that there is more to life than worksheets and that we learn things every day through other methods.

We’ll see what week 2 brings….