Less is sometimes ENOUGH

All is well and good in our little neck of the woods! Kiddo and I have been chugging along and just kind of taking it easy with a fewer less helpings of stress in our daily activities.  Given the year we have been dealt thus far, with our "Principal" (aka Daddy) MIA from the organization due to outside pressures of "WORK" and the extended family drama that continues to smack repeatedly at our boundaries, we have taken a more relaxed approach to schooling.

That does not mean we don't school - as the very thought of not working on our curriculum makes my teeth itch. What it does mean is that we have slowed down and cut ourselves some slack. We do what we can do in the time allotted and finish the rest when we have time or in some cases (GASP!!!) - skip it all together.

Let me illustrate. According to the agenda book that I keep with my lesson plans and the things we get accomplished, we show that we are in our 11th week of school but in our MFW curriculum, we are only in week 7. Normally, these non-matching numbers would send me in a tailspin but given my new focus on school work and life balance, this works for us and to be honest, it's freeing!!

I decided that it's okay to skip some stuff and/or to take our time to really dive into some topics. It's much more beneficial if we can stay just a little longer on a topic that is especially interesting to my young scholar. Right now, the discussion of pyramids along with their form, function and general design have us a little captivated.

Plus, Kiddo is busy working on (well - needs to be working on) his year end project/presentation for his meteorology portion of his weekly STEM class. Plus, he is also knee-deep in the study of wildfires for his First Lego League team.  So, he's learning A LOT of different things and applying many different skills even though it's not written in any of the curriculum I have purchased.

It does make the OCD Control Freak in me feel better when I look at the agenda and see all that we have accomplished each week even though we may not be moving quickly through our "core" products.

We have still managed to have a few field trips and time with our friends. Kiddo was telling me last night that he is very happy that he has had a chance to see his friends so much lately. Being the parent of an only child is hard at times in that I need to be cognizant of the fact that he needs more than ME and honestly, I need more than him. I have worked it out to make sure he interacts people almost every day. That may entail him being in a class, going to a church activity, having dinner with friends, park days, field trips and old-fashioned play dates! Wait- we're going to have to call them "hang-outs" or something since Kiddo reminded me that he is almost 10 and play date just sounds "too girly." Oh well! I guess he has a point.

That's where we are at this point in our journey and that is just how this momma continues to homeschool.

Real-life lessons

Where does the time go?? It's been a week since my last post and I internally promised myself that I would update something at least 2 or 3 times a week to chronicle our journey. Oh well, there's always tomorrow, that is after I post today!

Our little family is quite busy and things are a little crazy around our house. Hubby (AKA - Principal of the Academy of Awesome Learning) has been assigned to a major project at work that takes him out of the state from Sunday to Friday afternoon. That being said, I am now wearing multiple hats and doing the single-mom thing. As an aside - KUDOS to all the single parents out there!! WHEW!! I have the utmost respect for you.

Anyway, along with Daddy being gone, we have some external family drama consuming some of my mental energies, then compound that with ailing parents on both sides, a terminally-ill grandmother and an uncle recently diagnosed with cancer. I guess now that I see it in print, it's okay that I don't update my homeschool blog on a daily basis.

Just goes to show that life goes on and it has lots of curves, dips and even loop-de-loops to throw at you. As those that homeschool know, homeschooling isn't just about the books we read, the math facts we learn, the field trips we take or even those cool science experiments that may or may not involve a chemical reaction. It is so much more. Teaching life skills and the ability to "roll with" the proverbial punches is a valuable life skill.  Kiddo is learning lessons that I would rather not teach him in his young life but it's a fact of life that "into each life a little rain must fall." (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Sometimes, that rain is slightly a mist and other times it's a torrential downpour causing us to seek shelter. In any event, we are learning as a family to navigate these rough waters by drawing closer to each other and to our Lord Jesus Christ.   Getting through life one prayer and day at a time and sprinkling in some official learning along the way. That's how this momma is homeschooling these days!

Field Tripping

We are blessed with a couple of active homeschool groups and a wonderful community ripe for exploration.  This time of year in Sunny Florida, the weather is cooling off (in the low 80s - Lol) and the initial shock from the start of the school year is somewhat over  and I notice my calendar is filling up with wonderful field trips.

The month of September is typcially busier because we have "Swap-tember." What that means is if you have annual passes to a place like the Florida Aquarium, Lowry Park Zoo or MOSI then you can go to the other places for FREE in the month of September. As we have MOSI passes, we took advantage of the offer and went to the Lowry Park Zoo and the Florida Aquarium.


Last Tuesday, we visited Old McMicky's Farm in Odessa.  My kiddo and about 60 others in our group had an opportunity to milk a cow, ride a horse, hold a chicken, pet a goat, visit with a real-life turkey (not our Uncle - lol),  learn more about pot-belly pigs and a few more encounters.  The staff was really nice and very patient with our group ranging in age from toddler to middle school.

This Tuesday, we planned a visit to Working Cow Homemade Ice Cream in St Petersburg. Our kids participated in a service project as well by bringing a recycled cooler full of non-perishable food to be given to Meals on Wheels. After presenting their gift, we toured the facility and learned how they make that wonderful ice cream. Just to make sure it was good, they offered us double-fudge brownie right out of the mixer! GREAT stuff.

We have upcoming field trips planned to Dakin Farm, Publix Dairy Plant, live plays and much more! It's fun homeschooling. I have to remember that even "Field Tripping" is a learning experience and this does take the pressure off and these days that helps this momma homeschool.

Learning to say no....

We've been so busy, that I literally had to write "update blog" on my To-Do list. Once I started typing, I paused and checked my calendar to find out exactly why I hadn't updated this piece of our family homeschool journey. I found the problem!! The calendar has been full of activities, appointments and general life! We've been doing school but it's been a variation of "homeschool meets car schooling with a sprinkling of field tripping along with a dash of family drama to pull it all together."

I am sure you have days, weeks, months or even years like that!! I know I am not alone out there in my struggle for balance. There are so many wonderful opportunities out there for homeschool families with activities, trips, and experiences that complement our learning. But, I have learned that I can't say YES to every one of them no matter how enticing they may be. An extremely overloaded calendar does not a happy momma make!!

Reluctantly, I had to back my kiddo out of an upcoming activity due to the cost and time commitment. He understood, but a part of me really wanted to make a way for him to do it. Why? I don't know -- I guess because he didn't get opportunities like this when he went to school and well - neither did I!

I know I shouldn't feel any sense of guilt. He already does far more than he used to do and he has positive experiences in most of the activities and trips we have taken. But for our family, I had to stop and realize that these $5, $20, $50 opportunities don't sound like much at the time but when compounded and added to the calendar, it quickly mounted up in time and MONEY!!! So, now we're cutting back and trying to stay close to home or do more super cheap things or free stuff like park days with our friends.

I  have absolved myself of any guilt because let's face it, my kiddo has it pretty good. He is progressing nicely (albeit - a little unfocused at times). We are working through our calendar, commitments and life that comes our way.

It's not perfect and I don't think that this momma would know what to do it if was! I appreciate our homeschool journey! At least remind me of that from time to time, will ya when I question why this momma homeschools! See ya later!