I am finding this to be true in our homeschooling– if the mom is not enjoying teaching, the child will not be enjoying the learning. When the first grader starts crying and stating emphatically, “I hate school” everytime the workbooks come to the table (a.k.a. our house two weeks ago), it should be a tip that something is amiss. I’m afraid lately that I have slipped into drill-sergeant-paperwork-mode and have avoided the fun stuff–the science projects that are messy or the artwork that takes too much time. Thankfully, the Parker household has self-corrected a bit last week. We are diving back into good books, because I have learned about myself that I sincerely love literature. I love discussing it, I love mornings cuddled on the couch reading it, and I love learning projects that stem from it. And when I can get excited about teaching something, the entire atmosphere of our school day shifts from drudgery to anticipation.
With that in mind, here are a few glimpses into our book-learning of the past few days. Feel free to steal any ideas that might work for your kids, too . . . 
Some inspirational homeschooling friends told me about Susan Bauer’s The Story of the World history books. There are several volumes that tell the history of the world in story form in Classical Educational style. We are loving it! We read a little bit nearly-daily in our storytime, and then we try to do a few of the activities that are listed in the activities book. This week before Matt left we marked off the sandbox and did an archeology dig. I buried items from the house that would give clues to how we live life. I sprayed down the sand so that it would get hard, then armed the kids with paintbrushes and tools to dig. They kept track of where they found their items, we made a list of their discoveries, and we talked about all the things we could learn about a group of people based on the things they might leave behind.
We found out over 25 facts about “The People of the Sandbox” from items such as a fork, coin money, a pen, a toy car, a plastic ring, and a bottle of lotion. This was a super-fun, easy history project, and even Ava could participate–a little.
One of my all-time favorite books is Annika’s Secret Wish, by Beverly Lewis. The pictures are beautiful and the message is powerful. The story is based on Swedish tradition of hunting for an almond in a bowl of rice pudding on Christmas Eve. The child who finds the almond gets a special wish. Annika, the sister in the story, chooses to give the almond to her crippled brother Davey in hopes of bringing him joy.
Here’s our ghetto version of “an almond in homemade rice pudding”: a half a walnut in some instant chocolate pudding.
I love to check out nonfiction books at the library weekly to look at during our storytime. This week we were looking at a book on grasshoppers. On our walk that afternoon, we just happened to catch a grasshopper, which Cade bravely and gently put into a water bottle. We took the little guy home to our bug cage, broke out the magnifying glass and the book we had read that morning, and spent quite a bit of time observing him on the front porch. Who knew an adult grasshopper only lives 30 days or that the one we caught was a short-horned one? We freed him to finish out his month of life in the front yard.
So, homeschooling moms, here’s my tidbit for the week: Enjoy what you are doing. If you’re not having fun, then change something. Throw out a curriculum that breeds boredom or change your daily schedule around. True, learning is not all fun and games, neither is life. Phonics needs to be practiced and math has to be drilled, but don’t forget that you are instilling in them a love or a dread of learning. And maybe that should just trump the spelling lesson sometimes.
ALifeOverseas.com / LauraParkerBlog.com.
Destined Traveler.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I truly needed this reminder. Your kiddos are SO lucky to have you
Love you!
I have been wanting to post something similar to this for a while. I get stuck in the workbook rut sometimes too. It is so much easier to check off the required tasks and it takes less planning to just let the girls sit and work on a worksheet. And mom can be doing other work around the house while kids are doing their work! But, that just doesn't work for very long–kids get frustrated and mom is disconnected. Sorry this is a long comment, but I can so relate to what you are talking about. Let me just suggest one other book by Carolyn Levison called A Literary Education. It is a list of quality books that includes a paragraph summary on each one. I'd like to post a book list on my site. We've been reading some good ones. Reading is my favorite part of the day too! I have a lot more to say but I'll save it for my own post:)
You are SUCH a fabulous mommy, friend.
Praying, praying, praying!!!!!