While it has certainly not been as easy as we had imagined, we are gradually finding our way with homeschooling the kids. Every day the kids test our patience, get distracted and, in turn, can make a simple morning of learning be an extremely frustrating experience… but, there are both good days and bad days and the highs definitely outweigh the lows. It is incredibly rewarding to watch your children learn a concept you spent a morning trying to teach them, or to watch as one of your children suddenly grasps a concept they struggled with the day before.
At dinnertime every evening, we go around the table and ask the kids questions about the lessons we taught in the morning. Sometimes the kids need reminding, but sometimes they surprise you with their knowledge and understanding… and it is those moments where it all starts to feel worthwhile. To watch your children learn! It really is the most wonderful and inspiring thing.
While homeschooling comes with its challenges, one of the benefits is that we are able to work closely with each of our children by focusing on topics that really interest them. This way, they are engaged and excited by the topic and the learning comes more easily. For example, I know that Quin (aged 8) is visual learner. He loves drawing and learns well whenever there is something visual in front of him. While working with Quin and Ivy on their multiplication tables last week, I noticed that Quin started to lose steam. He normally excels in math, but he was getting bored of the basic memorisation. So when I saw this post on Kirsten Rickert‘s homeschool feed, @mayaclimbstrees, for these multiplication flowers, I knew it would be a wonderful way to help him learn his multiplication.
Both Quin and Ivy have really loved this little project. We’ve worked on a new number each day, and the results are wonderful both for the understanding of the concepts and the pretty artwork to show for it. I thought I would share with you all, because it’s a simple and fun project whether you’re homeschooling or not.
Courtney x