Happy @ Home

I am a home schooling mama of 5, and we follow a Labor Day to Memorial Day school year. I love it when the school year starts back up, yes for the uber cheap school supplies, but more than that, for the rhythm and flow it brings back to our home. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the freedom of summer! I love that Science class in July is taking a Tobacco Horn worm off of our Tomato plants, researching it online and then making a habitat for it to pupate in that we can see through and watch the process. I am an eclectic person, who doesn't enjoy being stuck to a strict time frame, so I relish in the constant spontaneity of summer. Last Spring, when my girls wanted to do 2 assignments every day to finish school 2 weeks early, I encouraged them every step of the way. I don't know who was more excited to officially put an end to the school year, them or me.
However, I am looking forward to start of a new school year. When school begins again, our days seem to have a direction, a purpose, a built in goal. I very rarely hear, "I'm bored. What can I do now?" By the time they've finished the day's schoolwork they usually have a mental list a mile long, of things they would have rather been doing.
Our school days follow a routine, not a schedule. We have an order of events, but handcuffing our routine to the clock is like torture for me. One of the joys of homeschooling is the flexibility. The freedom to take as long as we need to conquer, understand, repeat, give everyone a turn, or even to (GASP!) skip easy stuff they don't need to practice. I love to be the one to help my struggling child, to relish with them in the victory of figuring something difficult out; of learning History I have long ago forgotten, finding a better way to make sense of Math, or our family favorite, doing Science projects together. (If you haven't poured Mentos into a 2 Litre of Diet Coke, you've got to try it!) We have so much time together to build deep relationships and work on character development; and believe me, with 5 children ages 2-10, there are plenty of characters around here that need a little help developing!
Learning is a way of life in our house. It's not about doing problems 1-25, it's about understanding the concept that problems 1-25 are repeating. About why and when, in real life, to use those concepts. I love it when people ask what our 'hours of school' are, I say that it's from when we wake up to when we go to bed. When asked what age we start schooling I reply, "At the Hyberger's, schooling starts at birth." As parents, if we are alert and ready, we can use just about any situation to teach and mold our children. If we simply can't live without cookies today, then we'll seize the opportunity and review some Math and Science (not to mention Home Economics) while we bake. We talk about fractions and how to add them, since we have to make double batches around here, and why it's important to add baking soda. Which brings me to my next point, life is messy. Kids are messier. And when you're with the kids, living life, all day every day, it's the messiest!! So, if you happen to stop by my home, heed the warning hanging on my front door: Please excuse the noise and mess, my children are busy making memories.