Perspective Makes a Difference

Your perspective is the way you see something.  Perspective has a Latin root meaning "look through" or "perceive."

My son and husband enjoy duck hunting.  This past weekend they spent the entire day hunting in a near by river.  Apparently, my son took the boat down the river to look for birds.  He must have gone further than my husband thought he planned to go.  So my husband called him to return which took a while.  Once he return, my husband was disappointed as he felt my son had used too much gas as the boat was "almost empty" with 2 gallons of gas left.  My son told me the same story, but with the comment, "I don't know why dad was mad.  There was still 2 gallons of gas left."  Same story, same amount of gas, but different perspectives.

Perspective changes the scene you experience.  Whether it is your visual perspective, your experience perspective, or even cultural perspective.  

Homeschool is like Yoga

 

I have been practicing yoga nearly as long as I have been homeschooling.  The parallels in these two areas are amazing to connect.  Both yoga and homeschooling involve time to improve, breath, flexibility, strength, dedication, and quiet.    

Obviously, anything you spend time doing you will see improvement.  Having a daily yoga practice will enhance your ability to reach goals in yoga. Challenging yourself through longer or more difficult poses will benefit you greatly.   Related the longer you homeschool, experiencing the day in and day out challenges, the better you will be at it.  When you achieve a higher level of  ability in one area such as elementary the focus will change to middle school or when you master focusing on one child's education another will be added to the mix. This is also like yoga.  Once you are proficient in one pose you can take it a step further or try a different type of practice.  One child might excel with unschooling while the next needs a more Charlotte Mason approach of short lessons.  

Next, breath.  Yoga works on at a breath pace.  Inhaling and exhaling as you move through poses.  Homeschooling involves breath as well but more of a figurative breath.  Stepping back taking a breath when things get difficult.  Breathing and noticing your thoughts as you begin the day with your kids.  Breath is key to a homeschool mom's sanity.

Yoga is known for its flexibility.  Many people will say they cannot do yoga because they are not flexible.  This is exactly why you should do yoga.  You are able to improve your flexibility.  Homeschooling works the same way.  Moms tell me they cannot homeschool their kids because they do not have patience. Well, by homeschooling you grow in patience.  You also build a flexible mindset on how things need to be done and what things are of most importance.  Your patience and flexibility increase as you perform both yoga and homeschooling.  

Strength is a component that builds in yoga.  Poses help you develop strong muscles throughout your body.  Homeschooling strengthens your family relationships.  The daily interactions with each other, the shared books, games played, and experiences that take place all invigorate that relationship between parents and children as well as sibling bonds.  

Creating a mindset of dedication helps in both yoga and homeschooling.  When you commit to a yoga practice the benefits are seen.  The same is said for homeschooling.  Once you affirm your dedication to homeschooling you will see the advantages.  

One other influence both yoga and homeschool have had on my life is the need for quiet space in my mind.  With yoga, you are encouraged to clear your mind or set an intention as you practice.  I like to choose a verse, a word, or a person that I feel God has laid on my heart.  With homeschooling, this quiet is crucial.  I need time for reflection, journaling, and prayer to help me move forward in our journey.  

I hope this helps you look at homeschooling in a different light whether you practice yoga or not.  There may be another influence in your life that parallels your homeschooling journey.  I just added a zen yoga practice to my podcast if you would like to check it out it is at curious journey podcast.  

Feeling Overwhelmed

 Today, I just want to take a moment to say feeling overwhelmed with homeschooling is normal, especially if this is your first year or 2 or 3.  But honestly, once you get the hang of it you will feel the need to add something else to your full plate and you will be back to overwhelm.  How do I know?  Well, let me tell you.

I have a 14 year old son and a 12 year old daughter who have only been homeschooled.  They are currently working on high school credits for their transcripts.  Each has their own side hustle business and very passionate about several hobbies.  We enjoy playing games, camping, and hunting/fishing together.  That is enough right there to keep me busy.  To this mix this fall, I added leading a homeschool support group out of my home, teaching 4 classes of yoga weekly, and part-time virtual teaching job where I help homeschool parents navigate homeschooling.  Typing this out seems like very do-able, but in reality this mama is facing extreme overwhelm. 

I did make these choices and just need to get my priorities in line and keep them that way.  I also wanted to share this as a gentle reminder that no one has it together all the time. 

Virtual Learning

 

While many kids in the world are moving to education virtually using zoom or another platform, we need to remember to not let that become all consuming.  Not all learning can me measured and seen.  Long walks in nature with discussions on current events, sit-down book chats over coffee, building, baking, creating, hands-on problem solving experiences must remain the central focus as this engagement fosters true learning!  

Authentic Writing

I know I have wrote on this before but sometimes I am just astounded at the creative endeavors my kids will work on, discover, and bring to fruition without any prodding from myself or other outside sources. 

This past year, my daughter wrote a play from her imagination after participating in the winter as a stagehand for a local theater group.  After completing the rough sketch, she typed it up and sent it to a couple creative writer friends who returned the draft with feedback.  Next, she took some time to edit, discuss, edit, and finalize the play.  Once it was final, she had a deep desire to publish and share it with others.  So we made an account on Teachers Pay Teachers to showcase her writing.  

This lit a passion in written express so a few other projects are in the works for her.  She began working on a novel focusing on creating characters and now moving on the outlining the plot.  She LOVES using Canva to create posts and event invites, but finding Type Form rocked her world.  In the past week, she made 2 different quizzes for her group of friends that get together on a weekly basis.  The best is once the quiz goes out she is able to track the data the responses bring. 

I love how her creativity just flows into everything she touches.  

 

Camping Conversations

 

Conversations that happen while we are camping are some of the most profound that I have with either of my kids.  Probably due to the lack of distractions.  

This past trip, my daughter and I  started chatting about the upcoming "school" year and her goals.  I was blown away by her desire to do so much to prepare to begin college earlier than expected and her ideas for further options once she finished.  I love that she knows herself so well that she sets these goals inline with who she truly is and that she is fearless in voicing them.  Well aware that my desire is always to help her achieve, she rests in the fact that I will help her anyway I can.  

Summer of Changes

Well, it has been a while since I hopped on to this blog to chronicle our homeschooling/unschooling life.  The A to Z challenging had me writing so much that I burned out and then summer hit which is always crazy busy with camping, fishing, and all the things.  

As this summer comes to an end (not really-it is only August), I just want to pause to reflect on the milestones reached and the changes that have occurred.

Kids are moving on to earning high school credits.

GM has her own LLC and side baby-sitting work.

H completed the course work for driver's ed.

GM created, maintained, and grew a "girl gathering group" that meets once a week to do fun stuff together.

H fished as many tournaments and days as possible.  (Including an 8 day streak of waking at 4:00am to fish in the morning, return to the house and some days fish again in the evening)

Biggest change is I took a job as a part-time teacher to help families navigate and be successful in their homeschooling next year.  Allowing me to do this work virtually, I am excited to help those who signed up through this program as I have 10+ years teaching experience and moving into my 10th year homeschooling.  This is a perfect time to take on this endeavor as I note my kids are moving on to high school age work that requires less hand holding for them.

So mixed feeling on all these things, but grateful for everyday that I get to wake up and live life along side my family.