Podcast: Back to Homeschool
Let’s talk about hominess in homeschool, and how you can you help your kids stay on task, while still experience the peace and comfort that home provides all of us.
Today’s podcast shares ways to move from the playfulness of summer to fall, when home educators sometimes feel more pressure to make their children learn. Even if it’s not summer where you are (April is Autumn for those down under) these practices can be applied at any time of the year!
At Brave Writer, we steadfastly resist images of yellow #2 pencils, school buses, and apples because we are not bringing school into our families. We want to reinforce the properties of home, as opposed to reinforcing the qualities of a faux school.
Home is about relaxing; letting go of obligation and pressure. It’s the place you get to show up as yourself – and when we mix in the properties of school, we’re actually violating that sense of hominess.
Think about the things that bring comfort into your life, and your children’s life – a snack, a foot rub, someone holding your hand – and invite them into your home. Here are just a few of our ideas:
- A small, decorative teapot for each of your children (which also lets them choose their preferred beverage at Poetry Teatime)
- All kinds of candles. Kids love candles, and they can really change the mood in a room.
- Make your workspace pretty and invite a little bit of enchantment by adding something new and unexpected: colored pens, different colored paper, or even a family shoulder rub train. You have jurisdiction over your space!
Triangle in Help
If you have two or three children, it’s possible to offer each one a fair amount of devotion and energy throughout the day. However, if you have five, seven, nine, or even more children, it’s just not possible to provide that same level of devotion and energy.
You will need to triangle in on some help. You will need online classes, co-ops, part-time enrollment, or maybe even some children in school. Your children deserve a rich academic life, and you may not be able to offer that, alone, to 11 children at 11 different levels. Having children was our choice, so we need to take responsibility for that by helping them get what they need.
Don’t feel robbed if your children learn without you – you are creating an environment for learning to take place. You don’t have to be the person who makes the spark happen! You can put out the firewood and kindling, and they might get their own flint going.
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Help a homeschooler like you find more joy in the journey. Thanks!
