I have friends in real life and through blogging who home-school. I would love to have home-schooled. I have always said that the reason I don't is because I am too selfish with my time. However thinking about it again last night I realise that one reason that I didn't really consider it was because it was still a very alien thing to do, my experience and exposure when my children were tiny was very limited. Now I can see that it probably would not have been a good idea on a full time basis for me. Yesterday I was completely floored by a migraine, in bed sleeping all day. My husband works and so there would have been nobody to spend anytime with the children, I do not think that would have been good.
As my health is generally not as good as my peers I have had to learn an awful lot about time management. My dear friend Katharine introduced me in her blog to the idea of doing things 10 minutes at a time, she has used this to enable her to home school 5 children and still write - she has just finished her first novel! I use the 10 minute concept for everything. On bad days I will clean or do a chore in the kitchen for 10 minutes and then rest for at least as long again. On very bad days I have to break down even the simplest tasks like getting up in the morning.
One thing I have indulged myself in with my rest periods is reading blogs which is exactly what has brought me to the USA to spend time with a friend with whom I have been blog corresponding (as well as by facebook and twitter) for two years now. The blogs I seem most drawn to are blogs on living simply, it just turns out that many of these bloggers are home schoolers as well. I have learnt so much from them and though in the beginning I used to find that I felt guilty for not homeschooling, I can now appreciate the wisdom and look for how I can use it with the time that I do have with my children at home.
I have read this blog this morning from Suzy a UK blogger who is homeschooling her children it is full of such richness for me and encourages me (now with some study behind it) to continue as I am. A conversation with Katharine last night has helped me to also clarify which areas of my children's education needs most of MY attention with the time limits I have. Those areas are:
Thank you all my inspiring blog friends for helping me to get this far.
As my health is generally not as good as my peers I have had to learn an awful lot about time management. My dear friend Katharine introduced me in her blog to the idea of doing things 10 minutes at a time, she has used this to enable her to home school 5 children and still write - she has just finished her first novel! I use the 10 minute concept for everything. On bad days I will clean or do a chore in the kitchen for 10 minutes and then rest for at least as long again. On very bad days I have to break down even the simplest tasks like getting up in the morning.
One thing I have indulged myself in with my rest periods is reading blogs which is exactly what has brought me to the USA to spend time with a friend with whom I have been blog corresponding (as well as by facebook and twitter) for two years now. The blogs I seem most drawn to are blogs on living simply, it just turns out that many of these bloggers are home schoolers as well. I have learnt so much from them and though in the beginning I used to find that I felt guilty for not homeschooling, I can now appreciate the wisdom and look for how I can use it with the time that I do have with my children at home.
I have read this blog this morning from Suzy a UK blogger who is homeschooling her children it is full of such richness for me and encourages me (now with some study behind it) to continue as I am. A conversation with Katharine last night has helped me to also clarify which areas of my children's education needs most of MY attention with the time limits I have. Those areas are:
- Social skills
- Emotional well-being
- Relational well-being (especially through puberty)
- Home-making and financial skills.
Thank you all my inspiring blog friends for helping me to get this far.
