Homeschool- The First Week (or so)

Our first week of homeschool blended almost seamlessly into our regular routine.

We don't "do school" every day, because some days I have a full house of wee ones, and it just doesn't work out. Other times, my little pupil decides to take a road trip with Nana and Papa for days on end. (OK! It was only four days but it felt like forever!)

When we do have a chance to work at some lessons, it's always fun and at his pace. We don't do "school at home", with text books and lesson plans and his sweet little self hunched over the kitchen table all day. We don't adhere to Unit Studies, Charlotte Mason, Classical or Traditional methods. All are common styles of homeschooling and can vary as much as the individual family does. Some would classify our method as "Eclectic", "Child-Led" or "Unschooling". Personally, I prefer not to label everything.

If I had to label, I would like to think that we're more of a "Relaxed homeschool" family - perhaps with a Montessori influence. For us, school happens in the living room after supper, in Mamma's room on a Saturday morning, in the garden on a weekday afternoon, with Dad while he's working at the shop. My Sweet Boy is realizing that learning doesn't happen at a specific time when someone tells you "learn this". Learning is all the time. For him, learning is just a continuation of his toddler curiosity. It's finding out the answers to the stuff he's wondering about, often in a hands-on way. It's applying the answers to real-life situations.

All this is not to say he just plays all day with a "learning" label slapped onto it. Quite the opposite. This week we've mostly worked with Math and Language Arts. He could be found at the table working with numbers and quantity, with Number Cards and Gemstones. He's had to focus on his printing and the phonetic sounds of letters. He's made patterns and groups, with pictures and glue. While all this sounds like "fluff", it's the foundational work on which he will learn. This afternoon we're going to do some Botany. Tomorrow he starts Drama Classes - the perfect outlet for all his creative energies. And learning how a pumpkin grows from a seed? Well, that's just cool!