For the Journey


Any day spent with you is my favorite day. So today is my new favorite day. ~A.A. Milne

"You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance." ~Psalm 65:11
I feel like I've been homeschooling Ellie forever.  As I've homeschooled the big kids the past couple of years, Ellie has been right there at the table with us.  She doesn't care to play independently so I always had something for her to do, whether it was a worksheet, motor skills development games and activities or a craft.  I even put together a binder for her, and that has been her school book.  Last school year she completed three phonics workbooks.  So we've been at it for awhile.  But now that she's five years old, we put a name to it and called it kindergarten.  And then I realized that I really wanted her to have a "first day."  So we chose Monday, September 11, as Ellie's first day of kindergarten.  
All that really means is that I actually purchased a math curriculum to add to what we were already doing with phonics and reading.  I also took her to the school supply store and let her pick out one of those calendar bulletin board sets.  My original plan was to "do school" with her at the dining room table where we've always done it with Mason and Hannah Kate.  That has evolved into our school room over the past few years.  But after the first week I realized that wasn't going to work for Ellie.  So I had Seth bring the little table and chairs down from the playroom, and Ellie's "classroom" is now set up in the foyer.

Ellie has asked me on more than one occasion when I'm NOT going to be her teacher anymore.  That's a confidence booster for sure!  But, really, who gets to "go to school" in their pajamas and bring their baby along to sit with them?
Ellie and I spend about two hours a day schooling.  Our main focus is math, reading and handwriting.  I really thought she would enjoy reading, but I can already tell that math is her favorite subject.  That surprised me a little bit.

I think she thought she would automatically be reading.  I really don't think she realized she would have to LEARN how to read.  She hasn't been very patient with the process, and I knew immediately that I was going to have to really vary her activities and use a lot of colorful, hands-on manipulatives.  We also spend about thirty minutes a day reading aloud.  I think that's her favorite part (besides her calendar).
She has always enjoyed workbooks.  I think that's what makes her feel like she's really "doing school."
So on this particular day, Ellie came "to school" dressed in her "gymnastics outfit."  This thing is really a 10-year old hand-me-down from Abbie that Ellie wears pretty much everyday.  I'm not even kidding.  The straps even broke awhile back, but Hannah Kate rigged them up so Ellie could still wear it.  Y'all, I even hid this thing for a couple of months.  Again, I'm not even kidding.  I thought she would get over it.  But she hasn't.
Ellie loves handwriting.  Most of the time.  But she doesn't love holding her pencil correctly.  
On this particular day, we were working on the short vowel sound for A.  We were also trying to celebrate the beginning of fall on a hot, humid, 95 degree day.  So we grabbed our Secrets of the Apple Tree Shine-a-Light book for the letter A, fall and science all wrapped up in one.  (And it should also be noted that she brought her American Girl to class with her on this day.)
After about an hour, I told Ellie it was time for a little break, and she asked to go outside on the back porch and play with her sidewalk chalk.  I went to move the laundry from the washing machine to the dryer, and before I could even finish, she ran back inside and begged me to come look at her drawing.  So I did.  She didn't even have to tell me what it was, but she was excitedly going on and on about her apple tree.  I didn't even ask her to draw an apple tree.
She loves watering the flowers.  She thinks she's just watering flowers.  But our science lesson was about what plants need to grow so it just seemed best to take that lesson outside.
I can remember a few years back looking at pictures like these that my homeschooling friends would post on social media.  I mean, it looked like so much FUN!  I even found myself thinking or wishing I was one of "those" moms . . . a mom who homeschooled her children.  At the same time, this was the year I had circled on my own calendar.  This was the year that all three children would be in school.  For the first time in over twelve years, I would go grocery shopping by myself.  I would spend hours cleaning my house, weeding the flower beds and cooking.  I would even brush the dust off my sewing machine.  I had plans.

When I went back to my Wednesday morning Bible study a few weeks ago, several of my friends were shocked to see me there.  One of them asked, "Are you still homeschooling?" When I told her I was, her response was one I hear all the time:  "I could NEVER do that."  I get told that at least once a week, and I get it.  I really do.  I used to say the same thing.  I told her that I could never do that either, but I can obey what God has called me to do.  

It's actually quite simple.  It's an equation.  For me, homeschooling equals sanctification.  Here's the thing.  When you see these pictures, I do hope you see fun.  But I also want you to know that as fun as it is, it is also hard.  It is VERY hard.  Or, at least, it is for me.  Yes, we have some good days.  We have some really good days.  We also have some hard days.  Some really hard days.  I'm not showing you pictures of the hard.  I'm showing you pictures of the best moments.  Just know that it's not always like this, and it's never perfect.

More than absolutely anything else in my life, including parenting and even a child with a learning disability, homeschooling has been what God has used for my sanctification.  And I am still very much a work in progress.  And I continue to be mindful every single day of God's grace.  I could not ever do this thing, or anything, without Him.

I've told myself over and over that "it's just kindergarten."  But you know what?  Kindergarten has scared me to death!  The other two actually spent the beginnings of their schooling in a "real" classroom.  Even though we've been homeschooling for three years now, this is my first year starting from scratch.  This is the first time I'm the one solely responsible for laying the groundwork and teaching my child how to read.  Besides, I don't want Ellie to think "it's just kindergarten."  I want it to be a big deal to her.  I want her to enjoy learning.  I want her to explore learning.  I want her to embrace learning.  And, maybe, somewhere along the way, she'll hopefully realize it's not so bad having your mom as your teacher.