I promised to update you on how the great homeschool experiment is going. We’re 5 weeks in now and I am so surprised at how much I’m enjoying it. I was prepared to hate it! (How’s that for a positive attitude?) What I’ve found, however, is that homeschooling has given my daughter and me so many opportunities to have fun together. Fun that I wouldn’t normally be facilitating. I’m not a “playful” mom. I want to be, but there are too many things to do. I struggle with organization and if I’m not on top of it, my surroundings degrade at an alarming rate and suddenly I’m being buried alive in laundry.
So most of the time when I hear, “Mommy, want to play with me?” I try to creatively get out of it. But homeschool is a terrific way to spend that time with Veronica that she craves while doing something that I love…reading. Our curriculum is literature-based so we get to read all kinds of wonderful stories and poetry. And when we’re done, after 2 to 3 hours, she’s had enough of me and can entertain herself while I stay on top of the chaos.
Not only is it improving our interaction, but it’s only been 5 weeks and my daughter is reading! I’ve been looking forward to this moment forever. I always imagined I would teach my children to read like my mother taught me. (Although mine managed to do it when I was 3! Always the overachiever, my mom.) I love reading and I want my children to love it too. Imagine my delight when I discovered our reading lessons were too easy for Veronica and I put some words in front of her and asked her to read them…and she did! What a precious time. I will never forget the look of joy on her face, the happy dance she performed after reading each word, and of course, the chanting, “I can read! I can read! I can read!” She sat down with her readers and went through three of them in one sitting. She now takes them with her everywhere, so eager to show off her new skill. I’m so proud, I’m simply brimming over.
I’m so grateful to God for giving me these early successes to help me get through the difficulty I’m sure to encounter, as everyone does, at some point. But for now, it’s the sweetest, most amazing experience I’ve had yet as a mom. I am now witnessing the birth of knowledge and it is priceless.
I love it! I reposted this on my blog with a link to yours.
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What a wonderful experience! It’s funny, you and I sound a lot a like – I get easily stressed if I’m not organized and on-top-of-things. And my husband, he’s the fun one. Doing preschool with my kiddos has afforded us some opportunities that I wouldn’t have otherwise taken advantage of, although I do admit that I can be overly ambitious and then get frustrated when things don’t go my way.