Yesterday was absolutely the best day we have had as a homeschooling family. Hands down, the best.
History day is always great for the kids. I read aloud, they read, work on timelines, do summaries, and add facts to their binders.
But today was better than usual: I have finally organized things so that I can relax and simply serve their needs. And when that happens, I am doing what I was meant to do – teach my children.
We have figured out how to make sure each child gets individual attention, working one-on-one with me, without feeling watched and possibly judged by their sibling. These one-on-one sessions take place in the early morning and just before bedtime, one set time for each child.
Thus we can spend a good long block of time each day together working on group activities. I allot double the amount of time I think we will need, and so I find I am relaxed throughout the day. Child-led diversions, the most beautiful part of homeschooling, are fine when they come because we have so much extra time.
A day spent learning about China during AD 300 can easily accommodate a side-trip to the top of the built-in in our kitchen to discover the strange items that have fallen in a hidden pocket between the walls (an activity that required using multiple looped belts from the Hub so the kids could tell how deep the pocket was, followed by a sacrifice of a clothes hanger to fashion a long hook on a pole so they could fish out treasures).
It was a day that ranged from chapters from Susan Wise Bauer’s The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade to an English translation of the Chinese Mulan poem, to a few chapters from The Canterbury Tales. The last of these left both children rolling on the floor with tears in their eyes and stitches in their sides, the result of some of the funniest tales I have ever heard.
Yes, I woke early to start work with child one and ended late in the evening to work with child two. All day was spent thinking about and acting on various teaching activities. Serving my children in order to serve my purpose.
“The Mandate of Heaven doesn’t protect you against serving wine.” This was a brief summary my daughter gave of today’s reading, referring to a leader in China who was reduced to serving wine in the courts of his conqueror as a way to transfer the mandate of authority.
But I realize that it applies to me as well. I must remember to be humble. Serve the needs of my children. Don’t try to stuff them into a mold that I envision. Instead I must let them find their own form.
I must remember each day to serve them so that my purpose may be served…
