What I LOVED:
- Slow mornings with Janaa- This is my absolute #1
- Listening to Janaa playing
- The extra time spent with Janaa
- Our family being together more
- Learning along with Janaa
- Understanding exactly where she is and what she's learning in school
- Learning HOW Janaa learns: strengths and weaknesses
- Sewing together
- The ability to do as we pleased with our time
- Focusing on the important not the immediate
- Allowing Janaa to explore learning in many areas that she otherwise would not have
- Being able to choose the curriculum
- The experience in itself
- Stretching me as an educator
- NO HOMEWORK
- Bedtime - not a big deal
- Play time abounds - exploring is education
What I Did NOT Love:
- Being responsible for multiple subjects - I've never been good with elementary. I'd rather scrub toilets
- Feeling the pressure that every moment I needed to make sure she learned something
- Worry of making sure I educated her well
- The amount of down/alone time she had when I was working
- The need for child care that does not exist during the day for elementary students
- Lack of others her age that she's around during the day.
Overall, there were many more positives than negatives. I have always known that I was not "cut out" for homeschooling. We never considered it for more than 4th and 5th grades. If I could do it over again, I would do it all the same. We didn't have the perfect homeschool. I'm not the best teacher, but she assesses just fine. In some ways we were able to get back some of the time that we missed in her first 4 years. We had very little time together from the time she came home until she started school. It was good for us to have this time before she hits the teen years. They are coming fast and I am well aware they will slip away before I know it. Each day, the hard and fun, has been a sweet blessing that I will forever cherish.
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| Very unusual for us to sit at a table very long. Doesn't she look super grown up though? |
