K.I.S.S. – Keep it simple silly!
This was something that I was taught in the Navy, drugs and it has defiantly helped me through the years. It makes sense to keep things simple but in reality it is hard not to over think or work a situation. One area I struggle with this is homeschooling. I have all these grand ideas and plans, and I feel like they must happen the way I envision them or I have failed! I am not sure why I feel the need to put myself under this pressure, but I always find myself filling my plate much fuller than it should be.
There are so many great curricula, books, field trips, and unit studies out there.
And I want to do them all. The only things that stop me from doing them all are a few simple realities:
- We don’t have an unlimited supply of money,
- There is only 24 hours in a day, and
- My children are not interested in everything I think they should be.
Number three is the hardest one for me to swallow! How could the children not be interested in the civil war? I must step back and keep it simple silly.
In order to keep it simple I try to take my personal desires and set them to the side. I let the kids tell me what they would like to learn about, and if they don’t have something on their mind I will throw out a few of my grand ideas and see if they bite. We will try to read a book about the topic, color some pages, do some work sheets, do some hands-on work and if possible go on a field trip.
Another way I like to go about filling the kids with new information is through holidays, family trips, or events that are not a part of our everyday life. In the month of June we studied the Revolutionary War and on July 4th it was more than just fire works for the kids. On august 1st (Chik-fil-A appreciation day) we taught them how to stand behind those who share your same values. We are planning a trip to the Creation Museum and in the weeks leading up to the trip we will study in-depth about creation. One of the privileges we have as homeschoolers is we do not have to live by standardized tests, so we can keep is simple and just learn as life happens. We can learn about clouds when we see a funny looking one, and not wait until the fourth grade because the state said so.
With keeping a simple low pressure homeschooling mindset the kids enjoy learning more, and I enjoy teaching them. My husband also enjoys the benefits because he does not have a cranky wife or children who spent the day butting heads over learning. We do keep our nose in the books for the three R’s but we try to have as much fun with them as possible, and not worry about the finish line.
Keep it simple silly and enjoy your home school!
I’m actually commenting on your Oct. 9 post about following state standards – but did not see a link for leaving comments there.
I’m glad you came around to the reality: that the state standards are all but meaningless. In fact, they are completely random half the time and not nearly developmentally appropriate most of the time. Plus, the standards coming on line for all but four (brave) states are soon to be the unconstitutional federal “Common Core Standards” that 46 states were literally blackmailed into adopting – even more useless than individual state standards. Ultimately, it matters not one iota what any of those documents say. The authors don’t know kids in general, let alone my kids. Therefore, they don’t get a say in what we learn and when.