Homeschooling Magic: Lessons From A Stranger’s Purse January 21, 2017 By Bekki 3 Comments This content may contain affiliate links.Inside: 8 Steps to help you create a plan for house management, meals, routines, fun, and homeschool. The first time we flew across the country with our then 3-year old, we thought we were ready. The flight was only supposed to be a few hours long- how bad could it be? We made sure our son slept well the night before, we ran him ragged before the flight, we packed some of his favorite toys and snacks, and we boarded the flight with a smile. We were sure we were ready. I was sure I was ready. Ha. Flying with young children is not for the faint of heart. Oh sure, if you happen to time everything correctly and all the planets are aligned, then you (and all the passengers on board flight 247) will be excited to spend a few hours locked in a pressure controlled environment with your cute tot. But I am not that lucky. Apparently, my 3-year old could make grown men cry. To say he was energetic is like trying to describe high voltage electricity with words like “slightly shocking”. The kid was like the Tasmanian devil personified. The funny thing is that, until then, I thought I was a great mom. I thought I had this parenting thing all under control. I thought I could handle him in public. He is my son, right? And then I took him onto a plane. I don’t know what I was thinking. I didn’t have the right mix of things to keep him happy. Actually, I had all the wrong stuff: wrong snacks, wrong books, wrong toys. wrong, wrong, wrong. Then I met Lisa. While I had a pathetic purse with a baggie of goldfish snacks and a few matchbox cars for my son, Lisa had a magic bag. You know the kind of bag. Tired? Here’s a snuggly blankie. Hungry? Here is a healthy bento with food that looks like it deserves its own exhibit at the zoo. Thirsty? A special drink with a super cool straw. Bored? You name it, she had it. Crayons, playdoh, cars, books, lacing things, noisy things, soft things, wow things. Lisa’s bag saved me. She willingly shared goodies to occupy, not only her son but my son as well. Lisa was loving, wonderful, kind, and helpful. Secretly I hated her. Lisa made me feel like a loser of a mom. photo by Sergey Svechnikov Homeschooling Can Feel Like Flying with an Overactive 3-year Old. When you began your homeschooling journey, you looked at your sweet children and thought that homeschooling would bring you closer. You didn’t know that you would feel like I did when I was trapped on that plane. Or that you would find yourself suddenly enclosed in a pressurized environment where it feels like everyone is judging you as a parent, homeschooler and let’s face it, human being. You’re unprepared by the scary truth that your kids are experts at exposing your fears, weaknesses, and failures. Maybe you may feel like I did when I walked on the plane with my son. “I’ve got this”. You may be excited as you rest on the fact that you have a few lessons planned and a few dream Pinterest boards all organized and ready to go to help you with all those hands-on projects you plan to do together in your spotless house. You remind me of myself on that plane. By the time you realize you may have needed to grab a few more things, you are already strapped in and it’s way too late. Take a deep breath, I am here to share my magic bag. Ok, I stole the whole bag from Lisa so we can hate her together. 2 Steps: How to Homeschool- Even when You are Outnumbered 1. Safety First Before you dive in, Put your oxygen mask on first. Homeschooling, cooking, and living in the same space can create some “unexpected emergency situations”. Prepare yourself in advance. When the “fit hits the shan” put your oxygen mask on first. Can you imagine what your kids will do while you are unconscious? The thought of their creative destructiveness should be enough of a warning. What does this look like? Take care of yourself. Make sure you do everything possible to get a good nights rest as often as possible. Eat healthy. Stay hydrated. Shower. If you are snickering at the simplicity of this list, I’m gonna guess you have less than five sons. Find pockets of quiet time to get your heart and mind in order. For me, this means I have to get up before the kids so I can carve out a few minutes by myself. I adore my kids, but I operate best if I start my day with 30-60 minutes without hearing the word “mom”. 2. Plan ahead Lisa had pre-thought the whole “flying with a 3-year old thing” and forgot to think of it through rose colored glasses, like me. The girl knew her son would need help. Lots of help. And she was prepared. (I bet she even had an elephant tranquilizer handy “just in case”.) My plan was far inferior to hers. Sure, I planned for a few basics. She planned for being stranded on a desert island and an out break of typhoid fever. Guess who walked off the plan with her hair all in place? Lisa. 8 Lessons from Lisa Lisa’s big secret? She had a plan. She had potential solutions for hunger, thirst, sleep, sickness, and worldwide disaster. For homeschoolers, that translates to having a plan for house management, meals, routines, fun, and school. photo by Photographer: The Typical Female Magazine Don’t panic. You do not need to have it all figured out. The key to your success will come when you realize that homeschooling is challenging, time-consuming and wonderful all rolled together. To survive you need a Multi-step plan that covers: Your home, your Family, and Learning. Disclaimer- Every child, every family, every home is unique. There are no “one-size-fits-all” families or homeschooling systems. The sobering truth is that you must create your own. It take hard work and lots of time. But gleaning from moms like Lisa will give you a heads start. 3. Home You cannot separate the fact that you need to teach algebra, finish a few loads of laundry, potty train a 3-year old and get dinner on the table before tomorrow. They are all lumped together like a preschool fingerpainting. Put your house in order. Clutter and chaos breed more clutter and more chaos. It is worth a few exhausting weeks of effort to de-clutter and organize your home. I have tried it both ways: neat and organized vs. aftermath of a tornado. You can guess which environment is more peaceful. (I personally needed help for a friend who is gifted in organization to help me). If you need help, ask. Create age-appropriate chores for your kids and require they pitch in around the house. When you sleep, eat, play, learn, and relax in the same space 24/7 you need everyone to do their part. I believe kids need to pitch in. Yes, my boys do chores. 4. Streamline meals. This took me years to embrace. We are so accustomed to variety in this country. Different shoes, different weekend activities, different meals. Stop the madness in regards to food. Find a breakfast and lunch meal that you can rinse and repeat daily. (or weekly) In my house, we have oatmeal every weekday and a country breakfast on the weekends. For lunch, we have leftovers or beans and tortillas. No fluff, no fuss, no brainpower needed. I run a weekly dinner menu as well where I repeat recipes on each day of the week. Like today isn’t Friday, it’s pizza day. Nothing sneaks up on you more often than “what’s for dinner?” After a long day, the last thing I want to do is figure out what to feed us. We also have taught our kids to cook. Each son is executive chef for a certain day of the week. That’s right. It’s as brilliant as it sounds. (My husband’s big homeschooling push is that we train our sons for life. They work hard, play hard, and are required to pitch in with every aspect of our family life). 5. Establish routines. This is where homeschooling gets so personal. What works for my family may not work for yours. When we began homeschooling, we had a 5th-grader, a kindergartener, a 2-year old and I was pregnant and could barely walk. The cherry on top was that the kindergartener was even preparing for a major surgery. How did we survive? Routines. Recognized the order of life events in the day: wake, breakfast, play, snack, play, lunch, quiet time/nap, play, snack, play, dinner, bedtime routine. Work hard to train my young children to play independently twice a day. Even 15 minutes of playing contentedly in a playpen can make a huge impact on your homeschool day. That’s 15 minutes to tutor Math, English, or another challenging subject.{Homeschooling with babies and toddlers} Plan “school” to happen during the natural play or quiet/nap times. {here’s a sample schedule} Establish boundaries. Protect your day by limiting outside distractions. This may mean turning off your phone, putting a note on your door, or holding off errands until late in the afternoon. Nothing is worse, or more common, than sitting down to teach your son/daughter something hard only to be interrupted by the phone. Your school-aged kids will naturally have to learn to deal with distractions of you have babies and toddlers, but you really should try to safeguard 1-3 hours a day to allow them to focus. In my home, this was quiet-time and naptime. 6. Family Every family is unique. I will not pretend to know what you will need for yours. My family’s priorities are: honoring God, respecting each other, working as a team, and enjoying time together. We inspire each other to read, learn, and grow. We are also ready at the drop of a hat to challenge each other to a dual. Competition is thick in our house of five sons. Nothing gets them moving faster than saying, “On your mark, get set, go!” 7. Learning I wish I could share the secret to teaching every child what they should know before high school graduation. Each one of our five sons has different strengths, weaknesses, learning styles, passions, and areas of curiosity inspired learning. That means, by the time I figure it all out they will all be out of the house and I will likely have grandchildren. What I do know, is that learning has NOTHING to do with curriculum. Take the time to establish your homeschooling goals right from the start. They will serve as a filter to help you choose what learning materials, units, or experiences to organize for your kids. When you create goals, think big. By the time my kids graduate high school, I want them to have mastered these 4-6 things. Our family homeschool goals have always been: Share our faith with our kids. Make sure they master their basic math facts and concepts (add, subtract, multiply, divide, fractions, decimals, measuring) Marinate them in excellent, and varied, literature and to foster a love for reading. Train them to be excellent communicators: both written and spoken. Instill a love for learning itself. We filter all curriculum and materials through these goals. It really is a wonderful way to homeschool. [leadpages_leadbox leadbox_id=1411c8346639c5] [/leadpages_leadbox] 8. Final Lesson from Lisa Have a Bug out plan. {Read: I should have quit} What will you do when everything falls apart? (Because we all have at least 2 days a year that help us relate to “what it must be like at ground zero of a nuclear blast”). Create your plan in advance. 4-6 weeks in advance. Once you recognize the warning signs, bug out. For me, I grab ingredients for something to eat and load the kids up in the car and we head away from the house. The farther away the better. Usually, it’s just to a park or trail. Outside. fresh air. green. that’s what it takes to reset my kids. Once you recognize the warning signs, bug out. For me, I grab ingredients for something to eat and load the kids up in the car and we head away from the house. The farther away the better. Usually, it’s just to a park or trail. Outside. fresh air. green. that’s what it takes to reset my kids. For me, I grab ingredients for something to eat and load the kids up in the car and we head away from the house. The farther away the better. Usually, it’s just to a park or trail. Outside. fresh air. green. that’s what it takes to reset my kids. Trust me, you’ll want to know when to call it a day. Developing your Multi-step plan that covers: Your home, your Family, and Learning will help you homeschool like a Professional. You’ll be ready for life. Who knows? You might even be the “Lisa” for another mom like me. Preview of the Heart of Homeschooling God’s Way Master Class. We need to STOP measuring success by grades, achievements, awards, and worksheets. Enroll in the sneak peek class here.
Kayte_Allergy Bites says January 22, 2017 at 8:44 am Awesome post, Bekki! I love how you empower your kids to cook! My girls are a bit young for that, but they help in the kitchen now, with small tasks like washing produce, mixing ingredients and cleaning up. I can’t wait until they’re old enough to take on a full meal! We have chores at our house, too, and have since the kids were 2 or 3. It seems simple, but I think it goes a long way toward instilling a good worth ethic and a sense of responsibility. Life skills. 🙂 Reply
Bekki says February 15, 2017 at 6:57 am Character and Life skills are the core to parenting in my opinion. It all starts with things like cleaning up toys and washing produce and transitions to things like budgeting and changing the oil in the car. Life skills empower our children with self-confidence while building a team building environment. Priceless. Reply
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