Homeschooling in our house (or not)

“What grade are you in?” “Where do you go to school?” By now, my girls are fairly comfortable with their responses to these not-easy-to-answer-as-the-questioner-assumes questions. “I’m homeschooled!”

But “homeschooled”? While it is probably not true (or maybe it is), I tend to think that we are elsewhere at least as often as we are at home. Even those days or even weeks — I’d have to check to see if we’ve ever spent a full month at home — that we are at our home base, we are on the run to activities and classes.

Thus, we are not “homeschoolers”. We are “here, there and everywhere” schoolers. Whether we are headed out for the day or for the week, the girls gather their work to take on the go. Camille, being older and very self-motivated, keeps fairly good records of what she needs to work on most during a given week. She saves the homeschooling that requires fewer books and computer for car time. She works on the book and computer intensive work while at home. Chloe still needs more assistance, but I hope as she matures, she will be more self-directed.

“Oh, when did you start homeschooling?” The girls have never been to school. As with most things, they (and I) have days when we are sure the “grass is greener”. But then I think of all the things that I would hate about having them in school. And I am sure that Camille is much more suited to homeschooling than traditional school. She moves at her own pace and according to her own schedule.

In terms of planning, each spring, I take a few days and prepare for the following year. While I use The Well Trained Mind as a guide, I very often do not like the resources recommended; my copy is an early edition; the resources recommended in later editions might be more compatible with my girls. After researching various options for each of the subjects that I hope to cover, I order our books. Some are eBooks; some are online programs. Yet others arrive at our house from amazon and various publishers.

Before we dive into all these great new tools and books sometime in August or September, we make big piles. We make plans. Each girl gets a nice spreadsheet of weekly assignments. Throughout the year, we readjust as necessary. A fixed schedule would drive me nuts, but with this system, we can stay on top of the work even without a rigid schedule.

The past couple of weeks have been the research weeks for me. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Between the research and ordering, I get a little break. What to do on that break? Homeschool here, there and elsewhere.