Today, as I was sipping my coffee (which I’m supposed to have given up) and scrolling through emails, Abigail came up to me. “I’m ready to do my listening!” she announced. Listening is one of the five activities she has to do each day as her “lessons”, and today she wanted to fly through. Yesterday, she didn’t start until 4pm, but she finished them all: Listening, Reading, Key Word Outline, Writing, and Math.
It’s taken me many years of heartache, failed plans, curricula testing, tears, and frustration to get to where I am emotionally in my homeschool. Just a few years ago if you’d peeked through the window during my homeschooling day, you’d find me yelling, pointing to a checklist in frustration, saying, “Just get it done!” and “No, it’s your work, I can’t do it for you.” or “We’re already three days behind!” Then, two years ago, I had my first encounter with Andrew Pudewa, and after hearing him speak, I went home and wrote a mission statement. I talked to Ryan about what we wanted to accomplish with our homeschool and what we wanted our kids to be at the end of their home high school, and I wrote it down. Having a mission statement for my homeschool gives me a destination; it clears a path and eliminates static. When I start to listen to outside influence, my mission statement gives me a “true north”. I know that if what I’m doing isn’t helping me accomplish my end goal, then it doesn’t need to happen.
School at home is not my purpose. My children are being educated at home. Their education is not on the public school timeline, schedule, or standards. Therefore, you might see them doing their lessons outside; in fact, if you walk by the back fence in the early afternoon, you’ll likely hear me reading a classic. Sometimes, you’ll come to visit me at 2pm and when you ask the kids how their school work went that day, they’ll announce they’ve not yet done any. We might not do science for three weeks. But we write. We think. We ask questions. We listen. Everyday we are building a foundation upon which our legacy will stand, and that is not a duty I take lightly. Even before I’ve finished my coffee or checked my email.
“I’m ready to listen.” she repeated, and waited patiently for me to close my iPad and walk into the living room, where I picked up “Anne of Green Gables” and started reading aloud, and they listened.
To raise college-ready kids who can articulate in writing and in speech their thoughts, values and morals.
Does your homeschool have a mission statement? Let me know in a comment! 🙂