Lifestyle Learning and Goals for my children and I

Ok, I think I've found it....what I'm wanting school to look like for us on a daily basis. I've been trying to define that very thing for months without success...I've tried something only to have that aching feeling that this is not what it's about for us. I allowed myself to get so caught up in what our homeschool *should* look like, that I hardly considered what I felt was right. 

A  year or so ago, I found the blog of mom who's been there, done that in the homeschooling world. She raised 4 wonderful and intellectual children and homeschooled them all the way through. There's so much wisdom to be gleaned from these moms who've scaled the mountain and seen the other side. Unfortunately shortly after I found her blog, and started taking in every bit of wisdom that she had to offer, she decided to close her blogs. I read what I could, and left it at that. But her style of education truly spoke to my heart, and I wanted to know more. But I put it away for a while, and went about my own thing, still feeling a bit unsettled in our day to day of home education. 

I was pleased as punch though to run across a sort of archive of her homeschooling posts, and I went through and gobbled them all up. And I found the missing link of what I was looking for. In one of her posts, she speaks of the three things that she requires of her children each day. They were reading, writing, and math. It was implied that they also did chores and Bible study, and spent less time in front of a screen and more time living life and learning, which is so important! 

She said for reading they could read whatever they wanted as long as it was good quality writing. She said, they read together and on their own, and all throughout their day. 

For writing, they could write whatever they wanted to write, so long as they wrote. Essays, poems, copywork, dictation, journals, letters, etc. She didn't worry about teaching writing style, so long as they wrote. If she saw recurring mistakes, she made it a point to help them fix it. 

And for math, they did math according to their own level of understanding. 

I love it! The simplicity, the common sense of it! 

I propose to find my own way within these guidelines for my own group of eager learners. 

So here are my own personal guidelines for our homeschooling experience. I will require six things from my children each day, and they are:

1. Time spent in God's Word-getting to know their Creator personally and in depth. Building godly character. Reading through their Bibles together as a family and on their own. 

2. Reading-As was said above, whatever so long as it's quality writing. I'm going to ask the older children to choose 5 different books when they go to the library each week- a biography, a science book, a historical book, a literature or poetry book, and a book of their choice. I won't make them read all of those, but I want them to have the variety to choose from. We will also read daily together as a family. I use meal times and bedtimes as anchors in our day, so we do a little reading during/after each meal and at bedtime. 

3. Writing-Again...they can write whatever, so long as they write each day! I will keep a list of ideas for them to choose from if they need them. 

4. Arithmetic-We will choose this together as to what will fit them best. 

5. Chores-A given. We're a large family, we work together to make our home an enjoyable place to live. 

6. Less screen time, more real life learning and living-Self explanatory. I've allowed my children to get far to friendly with gaming and screen time. They need to experience real life, and all the wonderful things it has to offer. I want them to observe nature, build things, create things, and just take it all in. You can't do that when you're staring at a screen all day. 

And lastly, a personal goal for myself. I want my children to see that learning never stops. It goes on and on all through adulthood. I want them to see me learning and living and creating, and not just surviving, or spending too much time online. I want to come up with a cottage business we can do together as a family, and that they can help me with, and I want us to grow our own food, and raise animals, and paint and fix up our home together. I want them to see that our lives are worth living, and getting to know God and His great creation should be our highest priority. 

Thanks for letting me share my heart and my goals for my children and I. Now it's time to stop talking about and get to it! Be blessed!