Keeping the Home in Homeschool
People who don't homeschool often don't realize there is often very little "home" in homeschooling. We spend a lot of time going and doing. This week we've explored a wetland, gone to see a play, spent hours at gymnastics, gone to a history museum, gone to the library twice, and run to a kid's consignment store to clear out toys. Then when we are home, much of the time is spent on the computer, viewing and interacting with the world. With all that going and doing, plus the high energy of sun and heat, and the lack of our during-the-school-year weekly enrichment program, my kids are actually suffering. They are having trouble sleeping and getting sick. I gave them supplements, rubbed my anxious gymnast's shoulders nightly, instituted nightly epsom salt baths (it does help), and talked about feelings.
But it hit me today: the problem is all the going. We've forgotten to ground in home. Grounding in home makes us feel safe, and it's one of the gifts of homeschooling. But we moms have to remember to keep the home in homeschooling.
So today we actually sat down at the kitchen table and did workbooks.
This is not a homeschooling activity I do very often, despite the stereotype. School-at-home as it's often referred to isn't really how we roll. I'm not interested in coercing my kids into activities they hate. I realized, however, that regular activities that center in the home - cleaning, family prayer, meals, and, yes, school work - help center and ground my family.
My oldest didn't like it. She pouted the whole time she did some fraction review, just as she had while she vacuumed immediately before sitting down with the workbook and a sharp pencil. My younger child was happier - he got to clean the sliding glass door, which means manning the spray bottle, and his "school" work involved cute pictures of animals. But today I didn't worry about the resistance. I just held in my heart the reason we were doing this, to ground and center at home. I even told my daughter this, and figured it was something she'd get later, much later. She will benefit from it now.
I'm not saying that workbooks ground you, mind. It's what was easily and instantly available to me, the stuff I keep around to make sure we cover all our bases whilst we gallivant about the countryside and spend hours watching and playing Pokemon and My Little Pony. The intention can be carried out in many ways. How do you ground in home?
But it hit me today: the problem is all the going. We've forgotten to ground in home. Grounding in home makes us feel safe, and it's one of the gifts of homeschooling. But we moms have to remember to keep the home in homeschooling.
So today we actually sat down at the kitchen table and did workbooks.
This is not a homeschooling activity I do very often, despite the stereotype. School-at-home as it's often referred to isn't really how we roll. I'm not interested in coercing my kids into activities they hate. I realized, however, that regular activities that center in the home - cleaning, family prayer, meals, and, yes, school work - help center and ground my family.
My oldest didn't like it. She pouted the whole time she did some fraction review, just as she had while she vacuumed immediately before sitting down with the workbook and a sharp pencil. My younger child was happier - he got to clean the sliding glass door, which means manning the spray bottle, and his "school" work involved cute pictures of animals. But today I didn't worry about the resistance. I just held in my heart the reason we were doing this, to ground and center at home. I even told my daughter this, and figured it was something she'd get later, much later. She will benefit from it now.
I'm not saying that workbooks ground you, mind. It's what was easily and instantly available to me, the stuff I keep around to make sure we cover all our bases whilst we gallivant about the countryside and spend hours watching and playing Pokemon and My Little Pony. The intention can be carried out in many ways. How do you ground in home?
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