Homeschool

Cordelia and I have now been homeschooling for a few months now. She will be wrapping up kindergarten in December. I wouldn't normally rush through an entire grade, but she already knows much of the required learning from her great preschool education. 

Here are a few notes that I have made so far. 

Areas for Growth

• More structure. Cordelia, and kids in general, thrive with structure. I am not too keen on structure personally so this has definitely been an area where I am trying to improve. While I have a game plan each week our days are pretty flexible. Cordelia is best served with even more structure. So I am working to give that to her. She likes to always know what comes next and I think that she should have that to a certain extent. Although I think it is also my job to add in bits of flexibility so she isn't too rigid about time.

• Getting more involved with the homeschool community. This has been a slow process, but we are starting to meet others and attend events. Next week we will be attending a post office tour. Should be interesting. Side note: I wonder what other places I can tour?

• Time for friends. We have managed to meet up with friends a couple times a week at least, but I think even more would be good. She also attends classes a couple of days a week with peers. Thankfully she and Elise are great friends and she is so social in other areas as well. I am not too concerned with Cordelia, but this will be more of an issue with my more introverted daughter.

Areas that we are nailing

•Education. We are really happy with the curriculum and Cordelia is enjoying herself. All around so happy!

•One on one time has been amazing.  We both love working together.

•Working on things that interesting to her.

Homeschool

Yesterday the mailman delivered a much anticipated package. He slapped the doorbell and sprinted off, I suspect our mailman of extreme introversion. I opened the door and there was a smaller than expected box. I guess I imagined a crate or something. 

I tore into the box which contained a plastic sealed bundle of books nestled into wads of brown paper. Oh these books represent the end of a long journey in a decision making process that has lasted more than six years and the beginning of an entirely new process. The box contained our first homeschool class and curriculum.

Eric and I have been weighing the pros and cons of homeschooling since before Cordelia was conceived. When she was still a baby we would discuss the distant future and what our schooling choice would be for our family; it seemed as though we had so much time to make that decision. The years slipped by and no decision was made. Then quite suddenly we realized that it was time to make that hard choice.

I think we probably always knew, but it was difficult to be firm. We have friends in other communities who homeschool and have had great success. My parents have been very supportive and encouraging. We have also had people raise their eyebrows and bite their tongue as I read their minds (socialization, weirdo, extreme, etc.). I am sure that Eric and I have considered each and every concern that has been spoken or unspoken. Ultimately we had to ask ourselves what we thought was best for our family and we chose homeschooling. 

Cordelia and I have been working on our own version of homeschool about three days a week over the summer, just as sort of a trial run. She has proven to be an eager learner, always wanting more. She loves the one-on-one attention and I have no doubt that we will really do well with the curriculum. While I will be the primary homeschool teacher, as my work schedule is very flexible, Eric also wants to contribute. He will work on a couple of subjects with Cordelia, specifically music and astronomy (shared loves).

We bought a basic curriculum and are supplementing it with French, our own art instruction, lessons (there are several options for homeschoolers), and any other special interests that arise. I am currently working to organize and develop a schedule that suits our needs. I am sure that there will be many tweaks as we move forward, but we are all very excited to start this journey together.