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.
Wow, Jane, thank you so much for linking:)
ReplyDeleteAnd for the lovely comments, that means a lot! I have been so inspired and encouraged through blogging over the last four years. It's lovely to find others you can relate to from all over the world!
The 10 minute idea is something that I can imagine would work really well in my family too. Thank you for sharing. It is amazing what can be acomplished 10 minutes.
And aftewards there is the satisfaction of working towards your goal.