"How's school going?"
The short answer is good. But when I say that, some people think that it's all rainbows, roses and snuggles over here.
It's not.
This also isn't a post to tell you how bad our homeschooling is or to commiserate on how we're "behind" so I can justify my laziness.
We're not any of that (behind or lazy).
Our school year is even-keel like other years and I'm so good with that.
Blossom1 is plodding along with her harder 6th grade work. She's a conscientious student, which I'm thankful for. She's doing her own goal-setting, work checking and day logging. I'm overseeing this, taking a small moment to smile and think of it as one more thing she is mastering for adulthood. That's one little sigh of relief for Blossom1's road to adulthood. She does tell Blossom3 to enjoy 1st grade because it only gets harder.
Blossom2 is a different kind of student and I shouldn't expect anything less than different. All of them are so different. She's also doing her own goal-setting with my oversight. She logs her own days too, but I'm holding on to the work-checking, as her attention to detail is a different kind of attention to detail than Blossom1's; it's usually with her stuff, and not so much with her schoolwork. I'm thrilled to see Blossom2 suddenly taking an interest in story writing in her free time. Yes, in her free time. I'm convinced that at least half the good things we see in our kids education-wise, we can't take credit for.
Blossom3 is happy to be doing school... most days. Other days she doesn't want to be bothered by it. On yet other days, she's happy to plug away at it all, while keeping her nose to the grindstone. I work with her the most, overseeing reading and her comprehension of the instructions. I'm pleased with how she's coming along. It's interesting that each girlie seems to have to learn that school takes work. There's a point where the delight wears off. This is girlie number three that I'm homeschooling (unless you count how much I helped with my two brothers, and I helped a lot, which I consider a valuable life lesson) and there's always been spurts and phases of the enjoyment wearing off. I find those to be those most teachable character moments.
That's when you learn to do your best, even when you don't feel like it.
That's when you learn to tackle the workload, when you'd rather play in the sunshine. It's something so adult for someone who's far from adulthood.
Blossom4 is happy to play in the schoolroom most days. We rotate through bins of toys and she keeps herself (mostly) happily entertained. She did draw on the white board with a permanent marker the other day though... I do love me a magic eraser. Anyway, I stop and work with Blossom4 or read to hear throughout the morning. She's never ignored. She's loving learning, especially flashcards and hand rhymes. Preschool our way is really just lap-schooling. I sit on the couch and it's almost like down time for me. I sip tea and we do "Five Fat Peas" or "Five Little Cookies" or she uses her adorable vocabulary and pronunciation to say "Puh Pox," when she really means "Ffff Fox."
There's something cozy about lap-schooling. It's that same warm feeling that I get in being involved in the girlies' everyday progress and all of the good I mentioned above. Those are the cozy, snuggly days, the rainbows and the roses. But, those things wouldn't shine as the good and satisfying things, if we didn't plod day after day together.
