(This is a personal account of my life, it is by no means intended to convert the reader to home education. If it does...then YAY!!!)
Our choice to Home Educate our kids started in 2009.
Although in all honesty, it was part of my fairytale that I wanted when I was a young 'un.
Right in the beginning of our marriage we got rid of our TV and filled our time with books, games, dogs and movies. Then we graduated to babies, books, games, dogs, toys, laundry, paint, puzzles, poop and the best...LEGO! A life saver!
I've never really had my mind set on specific curriculums and activities.
Neither did I want to fill my boys lives with stuff, I also knew that I did not want them to live out Jacques or I's perfect childhood.
Our pre marriage counselor told us to forget what we know from our growing up and make our own new ways, even if its a different way of cooking rice. So like all good couples we put that into practice and we applied it to e v e r y t h i n g, well at least when we could.
But the key was to NOT say, "this is the way my Dad did it," or "in my family..."
Ages 0 - 3
With our Kids we played and we let them play.
We didn't care about a mess, things got cleaned up at night before bath time and still do.
Paint, books, toys, making stuff and walks were made available to them.
We created an environment for them to discover.
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| 2008 |
We are very blessed to live on our family's self storage business plot.
It is a few acres and in between the units are gardens, veld and open spaces for the boys to have a childhood that is less restrictive as kids living in a complex.
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| 2008 |
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| 2008 |
As a family we read a lot, we have read aloud to both our boys since they were in my womb. I am not sure what research shows, but our kids have a love for books like I never did.
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| 2008 |
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| 2008 |
We moved to South Korea at the end of July of 2009.
Joshy was going to turn 4 that October, and the one day he said to me "I want to read books like you and daddy!" (he sounded way cuter than you can imagine). So I jumped on that bandwagon and started making up my own sheets for him and encouraging forcing him to read and to really do well at it.
He started reading before his 5th Birthday.
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| 2009 |
It was good, but the process was n o t!
I didn't realise what I was doing to him, and most importantly, what I was do to our relationship.
He had completed his Pr K at the end of 2010.
(South African school years run January to Decemeber)
I had pushed him so hard that when we assessed him at the end of 2010, he was ready for Grade 1!!!
I was so excited and so PROUD of him myself!
When I look back, 2010 to 2012 was horrible school years for us, his mind was brilliant, but I sucked as a mommy!
My boy was struggling emotionally and I had no idea how to go back and j u s t be his mommy.
Elijah was still little and he was still on Playdough and puzzles.
I carried on like this until 2012ish.
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| 2010 |
I prayed about it and didn't know what to do, eventually I just gave up in the middle of 2012.
PLEASE NOTE: The schooling was horrible, not life, so I threw my hands and beat my chest about SCHOOL!
I am a perfectionist and had the same expectations from my children.
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| 2012 |
In the December of 2012 I read this book, For The Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.
We were also in the process of converting, so everything became spiritual and related to God.
This book really changed my heart and I thought it was going to change the way I homeschool.
Instead homeschooling became unschooling.
I wrote down my reasons for not sending the Boys to school:
• To have Love
• To love God
• To have a genuine Love of learning
I prayed over these and stuck them under a picture of Mary cradling The Infant Jesus.
I handed them to Christ and asked Him to guide my heart as He guides my children. I asked, and continue to ask, for the obedient heart of Mary.
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| 2014 |
There's Joy again, there's laughing at mistakes.
There's hair pulling.
Joshy got his spark back, that spark that was so often in his eye before we started structured learning.
He was confident again!!!
He was my brave boy once again!
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| 2014 |
My boys are self learners.
Two years ago Lijie, who is now 8, couldn't make sense of words, now he is on Book 2 of Harry Potter (formal reading) and has read a minimum of 100 books. ALL BY HIMSELF!!!
not me just HIM!
The stuff they know is all them!
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| 2015 |
Our type of schooling is comfortable at the moment.
It isn't stressful, until someone asks, "what grade are they in?"
Or, "what do you do to socialise them?"
To which I'd like to answer, "Nothing, they're raised in captivity!"
But that's rude.
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| 2015 |
Sometimes they're bored, sometimes they're not, sometimes they have to have a good go at each other and sometimes we allow that!
I can only be happy to be their mommy now, every now and then I mess up and expect things to run my way and in my time, but I remember how I hated being that person.
I want them to know LOVE and JOY unspeakable!
For now they are At Home Kids, who believe they have the capacity and potential to be anything and do everything. If they like they could start a career tomorrow or whenever. Life has the potential to surprise us, so I want my boys to embrace that. There's opportunity for them and for their hearts. I want them to do things that matter and help in making a better world.
Learning has no boundaries for them, even if its high school math, or planting a veggie patch.
To more FUN!
to patience
to guidance
to locking myself in the bathroom
to prolonged grocery shopping trips
to screaming like a banshie
to long drawn out confessions
to wanting to swing a belt or breaking a mug
to LOVE and letting it Win!!!
Love and Light
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