WoW Moments

WoW, I’ve been absolutely amazed this week.

Quite honestly, when we started home education in August last year, I felt structure & curriculum was very important. The kids needed to follow a curriculum & learn to accept the discipline that came with that, so I thought. After all, I had my doubts about how “relaxed homeschooling” or “unschooling” could be beneficial to any child. After all we couldn’t afford to let them lag “behind” on schoolwork or wait until they “were ready” to learn at their own request. What if they weren't ready until well into their teenage years? It just seemed too risky, hence they needed to "do school" every day. I had them do assignments, worksheets, tests and all Le-Amen’s other requirements & by the end of the first term, I was totally exhausted & am quite sure so were the boys. They probably felt homeschooling pressure was worse than private school…

I have since read quite a few eye-opening articles:

• Just do the Math by: David Albert
• The Day Homeschooling Dies by: Chris Davies
• Keeping it Real: Falling Behind by: Melanie Antonacci
• Homeschooling – Bringing Balance Between Real Life Learning and Curriculum by: Wendy Young
• Enjoy the Advantages of Homeschooling: More Family Time by: Randall/Karen Webster
• What Is The Role Of “Unschooling” In Homeschooling? by: Melissa Murdoch
• Why We Educate at Home, a Discussion of the Classical Education Method by: Teresa Dear
• The Montessori approach to Education and Homeschooling by: Melissa Murdoch

• Want to get your kids into college? Let them play by: Erika Christakis and Nicholas Christakis

… to name just a few of the many I’ve read. I’m so glad I stumbled upon these articles & forums, else I probably would have been totally stressed out & a nervous wreck by now trying to do school with two boys disliking it.

In the last two terms I’ve learnt to relax the “school at home” & allow the boys time to deschool, have fun, explore & learn things "their way". This was very hard for me because I'm generally a very structured & disciplined person. I finally decided to let go with Misha completely last term. I would give all the "theories" a try & decided to trust God with the results. I left him with only the curricula he enjoyed. No more "pushing" to complete worksheets & "forced" reading, just pc based subjects, educational games, loads of playtime, cuddle time & encouragement.

Amazingly enough, I am now starting to see the transformation first hand. Since last week he's occasionally picked up a book to read all by himself. He's even asked for worksheets at the oddest times. Yesterday morning, when I asked him to play his reading game, much to my surprise, he actually asked to read a book instead. We even managed a long Afrikaans lesson because he wanted to. Late afternoon, long after school hours were finished he grabbed and read another book. Then, in the evening he took his Afrikaans reader & practiced the double vowel sounds.

Today he spent some extra time with Tannie Hettie, who is very impressed with his improvement. This evening, he’s doing reading activities online at Starfall.

His motor skills are finally where they should be. He’s flourishing into a confident reader & even his Afrikaans is improving steadily. Not bad for a child who until recently hated reading & schoolwork with a passion just under a year ago. I'm pleasantly surprised & overjoyed as it seems he may be slowly regaining his love for learning.

Now I just need to find a way to also help Jesse regain his love for learning before he gets to Gr. 9…