| I had decided to homeschool our 5 children (ages 10 months -
9years) old last May. In August, we spontaneously put in an offer on a
home and put our current home on the market. We closed on the home in
October and worked for a month on fixing it up. We moved in November.
It was hectic, but we made it through. I was looking forward to having
some down time and really focusing on school. Just weeks later, my
mother was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time in her life
and had a mastectomy on Jan. 5. She started chemo in February. She
was
the full time caregiver for my mentally handicapped sister and for my
father who suffers from many ailments and cannot feed himself or get up
out of bed. My siblings and I had to cover them 24/7. Fatigue and
exhaustion hit me hard and I thought it was due to the stress of my
mother's illness. We soon discovered I was expecting my 6th child. We
were elated. But the "morning" sickness hit me with a vengeance all
day
long. And I was soon overwhelmed. Then the spouse of my husband's
coworker passed away, putting a lot of extra work on my husband's
shoulders. His agreement to help out more with the kids seemed
impossible to keep. I never regretted my decision to homeschool. My children have been able to come with me to care for my parents and that is an experience better than any they would receive in school. My father fell ill when my oldest was in kindergarten. He constantly complained of stomach aches before school. He was worried about his grandpa and wanted to visit him when I did during school hours. There were no stomach troubles this year. ( At least for the kids) There were fewer arguements between my children. And I had the time to sit and talk with them more than I had in previous years. Oh sure, there were many hectic moments. And I did have to let go of a lot of preconceived notions of homeschooling.( Much work was done on our bed when the baby napped and I rested with my feet up.) And I was blessed with finding a wonderful homeschooling group. With all its challenges, I have found homeschooling much easier and much more rewarding than I ever thought. My mother is finished with chemo and recovering. My father is still ill but has much to teach us and share with us before his time on earth is over. I am happily over the "morning' sickness stage and am now feeling the first movements of the baby. And the "official" school year is ending. Although, our learning will continue into the summer months. I thank God for all that He has given to me. (Contributed by Kathleen - June 7, 2005) |
| This is my first year of homeschooling. Last summer, I had just made the decision to homeschool and had all the books/supplies on order when my grandmother had a massive stroke. All of a sudden I went from starting a homeschooling lifestyle to starting a homeschooling lifestyle in between shifts at my grandmother's bedside. The bad news was that my own body was now stretched to new limits and I developed new lows of sleep deprivation. The good news was that I knew I didn't have to rush home to meet a school bus and, when necessary, could bring our "school" with us in the trunk of our car. Things have since evened out and we are now making visits to the nursing home a scheduled part of our lives. We are almost through with our first year and I can't imagine making a 180 degree turn in my children's education ever. (Contributed by Dawn) |
| When I was pregnant with my fifth child and in my second year of
homeschooling, we moved to a different state. Just before we moved, I
went
into early labor and was put on bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy.
My
oldest was nine and my youngest was two. You can imagine that it was
not
easy to keep to an orderly schedule with all this chaos. As we neared
my
due date, we discovered that the baby was in a breech position and for
his
safety we decided on a Caesarean section. It took a good couple of
months
to recover from that. How we did it: My husband was good enough to get a cleaning lady to come to our rental every two weeks for that year. Having most of the deep cleaning done for us was a great help. He also took over a good part of the cooking and laundry until I was in better health. As for the homeschooling, that was when I learned that lessons didn't have to be at the kitchen table, nor did they have to be all structured workbooks or texts. I learned that we could do phonics on the bed, that reading aloud good stories to first graders while nursing the infant was easy and delightful, and that we could take advantage of "real life" for our academics. For instance, in our tiny background, the kids found snails and delighted in their ornate shells and slow movements. They named their snails and we started little nature books based on their "pets'" adventures. They would draw pictures or sometimes print out photos and little articles from Encarta, and they'd dictate stories which I would write down for them. Finding their snails in Encarta led to other encyclopedia hunts for different subjects. They enjoyed printing out little photos and then pasting them in their books along with little fact files. From that year I also have notebooks with transcriptions from the video version of Tolkien's "Return of the King". My five year old daughter audio-taped the video, then dictated it to me, and I typed it into the computer. I would print them out, and then she'd read them for her reading practice. They spent hours "playing" at being Frodo and Sam and have little index-card Lord of the Ring stories dating from that time, illustrated with bright-colored markers. My seven year old son would read Dorling Kindersly Eyewitness Junior books and Bible stories for his reading practice, and they both still have an intense love for nature studies and Tolkien based on their learning that year. My very lively toddler was a handful, but he learned to be quiet and attentive for long periods of time while we read aloud. That was also the year we learned that drawing, coloring Dover books, or open-ended crafts during reading time can prolong an active young one's attention span. Though it was difficult facing a move, a difficult pregnancy and birth, and a rental in a strange city all in the same year, I can see how God used that time to lean me away from my set ideas of what "homeschool" should look like. Without that time of difficulty I might have stayed with a "school in a box" mentality in order to be safe, even though my instincts told me that kids need time to explore as well as structure in their learning. Seeing that the kids could learn in that more relaxed form gave me confidence that we could weather disruptive life events and I did not have to get too stressed about the kids getting behind. (Willa from California) |
| So much here depends on how you define "school". I like Catholic Heritage Curricula's motto,
"homeschooling for eternity". If that is indeed our goal, then
spending
time with the ill or grieving, tending to the need of a new baby, etc.
will
all be part of our curriculum. In such cases, the challenging
circumstances
provide for growth in virtue and opportunities to practice works of
mercy --
all part of the larger curriculum! Of course there are still academic subjects to be covered. When circumstances get tough, we cut back to the basics, enlist help where possible, and enjoy a lot of read alouds if mom is available (new babies), or books on tape if she's not (dad's away, death or other emergency). I've stressed out at such times feeling like I wasn't getting to everything, yet each time, the children found new games to play and new creations to build. They picked up new chores willingly, and created closer relationships with siblings. The concentrated efforts we found time for in reading and mathematics provided academic progress as well. Looking back at every crisis we've faced during our homeschooling, I'm continually reminded that God will provide the graces necessary for us to meet the needs of our children. (Mary from Wisconsin) |
| We had a rather chaotic move just before our sixth child was born (our oldest was ten at the time). We sold our house for-sale-by-owner in the fall - we put it on the market in August and closed on both houses in December. We signed up for a Multiple Service Listing, so we had realtors doing showings on a regular basis, had a standard lock-box, etc. (This was a really good value - about $300 - and one of these realtors did end up selling the house. You do have to pay a commission to the buyer's agent, but you save a lot by not paying a commission to the listing agent.) The showings were a challenge as we had to get everything cleaned up in rather short order and get out of the house for an hour or two. We simplified our belongings considerably (we had a large outdoor shed with dozens of Rubbermaid tubs so that our stuff was accessible if needed, and safe from bugs and rodents, but very much out of the way - and donated a lot of things to the poor as well - all of this helped simplify the move as well as cleaning up for showings!) We simplified our school materials too. I picked up a Comprehensive Curriculum book from Sam's Club for each grade level to augment a few well-chosen necessities (Religion, Math text, Latin, etc.) and would select pages for the children to study from these. We didn't even come close to using the entire book, but it was nice to have a simple place to pull lessons from. This allowed us some continuity during those chaotic months without too much mess or confusion. It was a good experience for my children (particularly the two oldest) to help out with preparing the house for each showing. Since there was so much work to do to get the house "just right" (and I was in my third trimester of pregnancy during that time), I usually brought the children out for a fun lunch or dinner during the showing as a special treat and "thank you." I did let my reporting to the homeschool program slide during this time, but really felt like we kept the essentials intact throughout the process. (Alicia from WI) |
| To be truly honest, we have set our studies aside for a few weeks at a time when we've had major events occur. We have five children so there have been several new babies and we've moved way too many times! This being our 8th year of homeschooling I can see how these downtimes didn't really hurt anyone academically. It was important for everyone, especially Mom, to get their bearings and make a peaceful environment to learn in. We would, of course, read books and draw. Many times we at least stuck with the 4Rs (Reading, Writing, 'Rithemetic and Religion!). However, I didn't worry about finishing every last page or doing everything in the syllabus. I keep my focus on progress in skills and knowledge, not what a table of contents lists! :) (Ann from Arizona) |
|
I've homeschooled through a difficult pregnancy in our 2nd year, an
illness during our 3rd & 4th year, a death in the family during our 5th
year and a learning disability throughout. The one thing that made it
possible (besides prayer), was to focus on the basics (reading, writing,
math & religion). We didn't ignore science and history completely, but
they weren't priorities during the most stressful times. Science was
delegated to the summer months and history was learnt by watching the
History Channel. This was not the most ideal situation, be it helped us
through without being behind. |
