School is still a combination of things around here. There is some of what you remember school to look like: workbooks at the table. There are also reading groups (comprised of Iris, Elsa, Andy and me). This season there is a day spent with another homeschooling family- a day of group learning, and science experiments. There is still Monday group just like the past 4 years. There is Nonnie day for baking bread, learning about darkest Peru (after reading Paddington), art class on Wednesdays, and music lessons once a week.
There is still staying up late to watch the harvest moon eclipse (with self directed journaling!), and archaeology digs under the side porch, and monarch life cycle observation, and housekeeping outdoors, and calculating how many felted cookie cutter shapes you need to make and sell to grandparents to earn enough money to buy a horse.
I’m sure some people wonder how we pull it off these days. And the truth is, of course, that some days we don’t. Still Iris’ reading has exploded, she loves math (I’ll take that any day, no matter how slow her memorization of facts), she is eager to learn about ancient history, and world religion. They both love story so much. They re-enact what they see and hear in books and bring that learning alive in a way I never had a chance to do while I sat at my desk at school. Their British accents are impeccable, their Balinese dancing and costume exquisite, their knowledge of horse care and horsemanship growing by the day. Are they “behind” in some things? I’m sure. Will they fill in the gaps when they need to? Absolutely.
Despite the hardships, or maybe because of them, homeschooling is still so right for us right now. When your dad is on the couch and can’t get up because he is bone tired from chemo treatments and it hurts just to look at him, it’s good to go to a friend’s and let out your worry and fear by playing wounded soldier or orphan slaves all day. When you dad is finally up and at em again, it’s good to settle in on the couch and read about magical worlds, and draw pictures from ancient times together, and contemplate in small ways why life works like this. Hard things happening to good people.
These girls are so tuned in to their world, so observant. Sometimes that translates into noticing the first ripe tomatoes in the garden or finding the eggs where the wily hen has hidden them. And sometimes that translates into holding the grief and worry you feel in your house. It means now more than ever, they need the comfort that has always been home, they need us, their grandparents, their good friends. We are all holding them, and teaching them, and learning with them. Homeschooling for love and comfort. What a blessing.
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