How You Know Homeschool is "Working"
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 at 5:00AM
Wouldn't it be great if there was a formula for homeschool success?
If I do x and y and z, then our homeschool will be a success! {I could probably make quite a bit of money if I ever developed that formula, right?}
Obviously, however, it isn't that simple. Homeschooling is such a subjective undertaking, and for a chronic Type A personality like myself this has been a tough pill to swallow.
Sometimes "success" may take years to rear its head. Sometimes "success" is not at all what the world would deem as success.
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Sometimes (and I have many of these days) you just feel like a FAILURE.
On a field trip this week we had so many magical moments - moments where I just KNEW this path was right; moments where the depth and beauty of my children's education hit me like a ton of bricks.
Take heart, moms, what you are doing MATTERS. It matters so deeply in the hearts and minds of your children.
A Day At The Museum
I had the brilliant idea to take my kids to The High Museum of Art on the coldest day in Atlanta's history.
We bundled up in 7 degree weather and drove 45 minutes to see a few exhibits I had been wanting to share with my kids.
As we started the tour with the exhibit, "Go West", I could tell both of my kids were captivated.
You see, a little over a year ago we had a dream to visit the West with our kids. We spent a month learning all about the Oregon Trail and westward expansion. After that study we actually DID go out west.
We visited Fort Laramie, walked on The Oregon Trail, and visited Buffalo Bill's grave. It was a trip where we made so many memories.
Seeing all of this art over a year later brought out all of that knowledge again.
History had been brought to life once, and was being relived by my children again in the museum.
And, thanks to Classical Conversations PreScripts, the kids and I were examining the art and talking about the rule of thirds, foreground, middle ground, and background, and other art terms.
Homeschool is WORKING, what do you know?
More Connections
As we entered the next exhibit, The Art of the Louvre's Tulieries Gardens, Grant immediately found his pal, Napoleon Bonaparte.
He had to pose with him, because we have just finished a history sentence about Napoleon and read a great biography.
Stinker that he is, Grant looked at this bust and said, "See, I told you it wasn't a myth. Napoleon really WAS short!"
He carefully carried around his notebook with the list of artists we will be studying in the second semester of Cycle 2 - to see if we could see any of their works.
This kind of interest in art has to be CULTIVATED. It takes TIME.
Through homeschooling we have been able to take time to study artists, study their works, and visit museums.
I don't believe this BROAD of an education would be possible were we not homeschooling.
Anna told me she wants to return to the museum to see more of the modern photography that was on exhibit.
I think I could have left her in the museum for a few days and she would have been perfectly happy.
Again - a sign that bringing her HOME for school was the right decision. Now she has time to sit with art, explore its meaning, and isn't too rushed to hop on the bus because the field trip to the museum is over.
We can LINGER on anything we want because we homeschool, and this is a beautiful thing.
Let Me Brag
See this picture below?
May I brag for just a minute? (more evidence that homeschool WORKS!)
Sitting at the dinner table, I asked the kids to tell their dad something about our trip to the museum.
Grant had to show his dad the picture of the "lady in the covered wagon with the halo".
You see, this painting was on a magazine cover that was informing people about covered wagons in the west. The wagon looks like the woman's halo.
Do you know what my son said?
"Dad, the artist used the wagon to look like a halo. They used halos a lot in the art of the Renaissance."
Homeschool WORKS, doesn't it?
Seeing "The Big Picture" {so to speak}
We get so hung up on things like math concepts, parts of speech, and certain behavior issues that we forget to see "the big picture".
Often it just takes a day out of the house (like our fieldtrip to the museum) to see that homeschool is indeed WORKING.
My children have a firm grasp of history.
My children appreciate and love fine art.
Better yet, I get to share it with them. How awesome is that?
*Have you had a time when you knew homeschool was "working". Tell me about it!
Reader Comments (6)
Dont you love moments like that, when it all seems to click and the little ones just clarify it all for you! We have had a few of these and it's reconfirmed my mission!
Blessings!
Sounds like a truly wonderful day Mary! I love being able to be there when they make these awesome connections.
I love the story about the halo. Your school is certainly beautiful. I love seeing it in your posts.
Don't you just love those moments!? When you realize the depth and breadth of their interests has paid off! Yippee!
As I sit here typing, my oldest daughter is behind me telling me every single detail about venomous snakes that I would ever want to know (or not know). I'm just smiling because she is learning so much science and geography as she discovers each snake, where it lives, it's biology, and it's environment.
Beautiful, Mary!
It reminds me of the time my daughter and I were at a library book sale and she found an old book of Tennyson's poems, dated from when Laura Ingalls was alive. (Laura loved Tennyson.) My daughter got tears in her eyes and we bought the book.
Those are the moments we need to store up when the worry monster gets us wound up that we aren't doing it right.
Thanks for sharing, and may you have many more of those moments.
I love this, Mary! It's so great to see it "come together" that way! I can't wait till the boys are a bit older and we can visit the High more often!