I am attempting to help a few of the younger mothers in our church as they consider or begin a homeschool journey with their children (or child as the case may be).

Therefore, I am going to periodically post thoughts about homeschooling that I have gathered after about 16 years of homeschooling and 20 of being a mom (I think we actually begin to homeschool before baby is born).

Benefits of homeschooling are many but perhaps one of the best things about homeschooling is the ability to just stop whenever there is a problem and work intensively on it until there is understanding.  This morning is a case in point.

My youngest is learning about alphabetical order.  He is supposed to be putting lists of 3 or 4 words in alphabetical order.  But for some reason this is very hard for him.  I suspect this is because alphabetical order can be so abstract.  Unless you have a great vision of the alphabet in your head, it is hard to see the letters in their order.  So...instead of muddling through and moving on, we stopped today.  We stopped and spent about an hour working on saying, singing, writing the alphabet.  I wrote it on the board in 3 different colors and we worked on putting letters into sections of the alphabet.  We worked until I was so tired of it.  But I think he is finally getting it.  And I could shorten math for today and eliminate spelling and concentrate on this one area.  Yeah, I think he is making progress!

Similarly, I am working with my older two on dissecting poetry and discerning themes and motifs.  I was able to spend an inordinate amount of time on four poems this morning and my struggler had lights coming on!  Yeah!

Sometimes learning does not fit into twenty or thirty minute time segments before the bell rings or you have to move on.  Sometimes you just enjoy something so much you want to camp out.  Sometimes there is fun to be had.  And sometimes other things are just more important than schoolwork for a day.

Homeschooling lets me truly put the needs of my children first.  This does not mean I cater to their every whim, but I know them intimately and I taylor our experiences for the day based on what they truly need for that day.  We skip things they don't need.  We work on character for a whole day if necessary.  We grow and change and learn. 

I feel good about that.