Crazy Schedules & the Learning Life

Homeschoolers are busy! We have classes, lessons, field trips, play dates, etc. Sometimes our schedules are crazy!

Sometimes it seems we are constantly gone and aren’t getting any “school work” done. And honestly, sometimes I think this is technically true. We will get to Friday and I’ll realize they completed all of 2 math lessons, 1-2 pages of their grammar book and did no writing except the grocery list and “don’t eat this” on their box off cereal they picked at the store. 

We start to question what we are doing.....we wonder if our kids are suffering for it educationally and how do we “catch up?" We are notoriously always feeling “behind.” 

But if we really stop and look at the big picture, they are living life and learning to manage in reality. IMO the school day is an artificial construct that doesn’t mimic real life. It’s a bubble. 

You’re dealing with same age peers and this is the only time in real life this is done. Even in college, you have a variety of ages in classes. 

But with homeschooling most activities are mixed ages and often dealing with adults in ways that many kids don’t get to deal with adults regularly. 

I absolutely love to see homewchool kids having in depth convos with adults about something and the adults are enthralled and often comment afterwards how impressed they are. 

This communication is a real skill that is necessary but also needs to be practiced and experienced. 

Running from activity to activity and managing schedules and learning about things as they come up IS real life. Managing time and juggling activities and multitasking are important to learn and practice....but they are also important to learn without the major stress of a bad grade or losing sleep because an assignment is due the next day and there simply isn’t enough time in a day to complete it.

Yes, I agree learning to read, write, and math are all important, but it’s been shown over and over these skills dont have to be learned with a text and workbook and lectures. These skills can be learned thru usage and real life and necessity. And there isn’t an age guideline on these life skills, no grades that must be followed. 

People give examples all the time of kids learning years worth of grammar or math in a few months because they are mature enough to process the info and it’s comes easy when they’re ready. 

They also learn more deeply when the information is relevant such as science or history when they are at a tidepool experiencing the sea life or walking through a museum and want to learn more about a time period or person. 

I know many homeschool parents will tell you, myself included, that we’ve learned so much with our kids that we never learned in school because we are engaged with the info and learning in a meaningful way. 

I wanted to share this today to remind you not to worry about getting behind or not doing enough, because I can assure you, they are learning more than you think! Give yourself permission to stop stressing about it and enjoy the ride! 

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