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I can’t wait to tell you about our unrushed homeschooling approach and why we love homeschooling!
Here I am, on our first day of the 31 Reasons We Love Homeschooling – Blog Party, holding the list I made a month ago with 31 reasons I personally love homeschooling in my hands. All I can think about is that our homeschooling experience goes beyond the 31 reasons in this list. Itâs hard to pick only one to write about when Iâm sure I could easily come up with a bigger list, like 101 reasons I love homeschooling my children.
What is an unrushed homeschooling approach?
For me, an unrushed homeschooling experience gives me the opportunity to create memories with my children we will cherish forever. It’s my daily chance to create unforgettable moments for us to learn and discover new things together.
Homeschooling is definitely not only about the curriculum we picked for the year, neither is going through the piles of books assigned to be read as if homeschooling was a race, it is not about how many pages of handwriting, copywork, and math we have accomplished in a day either â Our homeschooling life is about enjoying every second we learn and grow together.
Looking back, I rushed throughout my entire life until a year ago. I lost count of how many times I allowed the items in my to-do passed as if it was all urgent matters that needed to be done as quickly as possible, surpassing all the important matters I should be focusing on instead.
Pause for a moment here.
[Tweet “Mom, that to-do list can wait when your child needs you most of all.”]
I often left the house hurrying to work while the 3 most important persons in my life cried for me not to go. I left them behind with hurried kisses and quick hugs because mommy had more important things to do in their first years of life. At night, when I laid my head down I often cried with a broken heart and a guilty feeling of neglecting my children and not being the fully present mom I wanted to be.
I worked full-time during our first two years of homeschool. I made a daily checklist with all my kids needed to “accomplish” for their school that day, piled up the books over the dining room table and check it at the end of the day. Don’t get me wrong here, you can homeschool at your best and still work outside the house! I just did not do both things at the same time so well.
Back there, our homeschool experience was nothing compared to what it is today. For me, homeschooling is more than pure academic accomplishments. It has brought healing, redemption, and restoration to a family who had very little time together. This is my opportunity to redeem the time I lost with my children, to heal our broken hearts and to restore our connection in a much deeper way.
We all come to homeschool our children for different reasons. We all come with a much greater purpose than simply teach our children the 3Rs.
My daily purpose is to never miss a precious moment with my children again and to give them above and beyond what they missed before – undivided attention, abundant love, and unhurried instructions.
Our children will not be children forever. They will grow and leave home one day. We have such a short window of time to teach them, to help them discover their gifts and talents, to watch their curiosity grow towards a subject and help them discover the wonders of life. Yes, I still believe life is beautiful, I still wonder at the view of nature and all God created for us to enjoy.
I wonder through the moments I stare at my 4-year-old drawing hearts on a family portrait she has just manage to draw and sometimes even cry over looking at her masterpiece. I donât want to miss these moments anymore. I don’t want these drawings to be just something I find hanging on the refrigerator’s door when I came home after work.
That beautiful family portrait she made, I was there, I watched her doing it, I watched the look on her face as she concentrates in doing every stroke in that picture.
I wonder at moments like the one when I walked into our living room after a school break and saw my 5-year-old daughter stretching her little foot to reach the piano pedal making melodies while wearing fairy wings.
I wonder at moments I watch my 7-year-old son, who is a little engineer, spending hours building train tracks then asking us to read the stories he wrote by himself about his trains when only months ago he refused to write at all.
These are the moments Iâm capturing in my heart.
âEducation is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.â â Charlotte Mason.
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I wish I had read more books about homeschooling before we started instead of just spending money in buying loads of workbooks and school supplies for my children not knowing what I was doing. 3 years ago, I did not see homeschooling as I see today. I did not fully understand what educating my children at home was about. I wish I had known the secrets to lead my homeschooling days and master it long ago.
I thought a bunch of books, papers, pencils, maps and a checklist (well, we call it a planner) will do the job. But homeschooling is so much more than that and so much simpler. All you need is your heart to be fully there, to be present in every moment guiding their little hands.
The success of homeschooling is not on how may workbooks our kids can finish in a year, but on how we, moms, understand what home education really is and help to facilitate our childrenâs learning and growth as a person in all areas of life.
Charlotte Mason, a great British educator in the 1800âs once wrote: âEducation is an atmosphere, a discipline, a lifeâ and friend of mine reminded me yesterday: âHomeschooling is a labor of loveâ. From the rising of the sun until the last goodnight kiss, homeschooling is a journey of creating magical moments to cherish for life, both for you and your children.
[Tweet “Today Iâm going to push pause. I want the sun to stand still as I hold my little ones in my lap and read them books for as long as I can because the time I have to enjoy them this little is too short.”]
I want to savor every learning moment we have together. To make my kids just do piles of workbooks every day is easy, but I want more than that!
The unrushed homeschooling life that creates memories takes one step at a time where we all enjoy every lesson, prioritizing mastering before moving on, following our curiosity while exploring our learning languages and nurturing every child’s individual natural gifts and talents. It’s finding beauty in the ordinary times we spend learning together.
I plan to write about each of my own personal 31 reasons we love homeschooling one day, but for now, I want to invite you to stop rushing through your homeschooling experience, unhurrying through the day instead and create and capture moments that will be impressed in your heart forever.
The perfect days donât just naturally happen, you have to make time to catch rainbows in the kitchen cabinets and I know that many times when you get captured glimpsing at the wonder of your day, one child will have a meltdown and there goes the moment. LOL Yes, it happens, we all know that. But at least, you had that moment, you had that glimpse of wonder.
Today I invite you to push pause and create memories with your children in whatever way you desire to. Perhaps it will be reading Winnie The Pooh on the sofa while you cuddle, or going for a nature walk to observe trees and birds together, or simply praying for a people or a country you have just learned about in Geography. Capture that moment in your heart and celebrate it with your children. Teach them to do the same, to value every moment of life as if it was the last one.
I rejoice when my son points out how our homeschool went well that day, with no complains or meltdowns, and how he really enjoyed what we learned. That, in this mamaâs heart, is what I call success. Not that we will be forever free of complainings and meltdowns while homeschooling â oh I wish!
What matters most at the end of the day, after all, are the moments we spent together, and my children still love to learn and I still love to teach them. I count the memories we made while learning and write about them in my gratitude journal so I can value them more than the items crossed off my checklist.
Today, I want to invite you to lay your homeschool burden down, to change your perspective of accomplishments and to begin a unrushed homeschooling life that creates memories to be cherished forever. That is precious and a prize worth attaining!
YOUR TURN: Share a special learning moment with your children you will cherish forever and what do you love most about homeschooling.
These are the books that impacted me and helped me creating this unrushed homeschooling life we are living today: (contain Amazon affiliate links)
And this book above all in this past month!
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Yes! Love this! Even as homeschool moms, with our children all day, we still need to remember to push pause, slow down and enjoy the little moments. Soon the little moments will be nothing more than memories. (sigh) Thanks for this beautiful reminder. I love that everything they have learned, has come from me. It is such an amazing blessing to see every little light bulb moment.
Forest, it makes me want to cry just thinking about the day they will move out and if they follow their parents’ footsteps they will go explore the world and do missions in other countries like we did, so we better enjoy these moments with them and prepare them for the life they will choose to live. In one hand I want to hold them close and never let go but in another hand, I just want to give them wings to fly high and be all they were created to be. <3 Motherhood can be tough sometimes. *Sigh*
I love all of the books you recommended above with the exception of Andreola’s which I haven’t read yet!
I always say I love homeschooling because I am lazy, but “unrushed” is a much better way to put it LOL!
Alison, I’m so glad you accept my invitation to come to the party!! đ And yes, lazy and unrushed sounds good, right? LOL All these books are so inspiring. You will really enjoy Andreola’s book too. It became one of my favorites. It’s an easy read, inspiring, short chapters and I keep it always handy for references. If you read it, let me know what you think! Let’s connect more on Facebook. Blessings, Ana.
I love this aspect of Homeschooling! I have always said there are two words I never want to say to my kids, and they are “Hurry up!” Homeschooling has given me the opportunity to avoid just that!
I taught many kids to read in my time teaching kindergarten and first grade, but nothing compares to the day my daughter read her first book…TO ME! Not to her teacher at school. To me! I was the lucky person who got that and so many other “firsts” and for that I am so thankful!
Kelly I know what you mean. In my years of college, studying Theology, I worked as a nanny during the day and took most of my classes in the evening. I did that for 5 years! I saw those kids crawling and walking for the first time, saying the first words, and so many other things I got to witness it before their parents! I love to witness my kids first accomplishments and milestones – it will only happened once right? And I don’t want to miss those precious moments.
I think that it’s important for us to also remember on “those days” when we can’t slow down or need to have more patience for “in the moment” situations – to give ourselves some GRACE!! Everyday can’t be perfect…and on those imperfect days – slowing down, snuggling up and unhurrying my homeschool sure seems to help! Thanks Ana for the freshness that you brought to the blogging table:0)
So right Ashley!! I had such a hectic life all my life, now I just want to slow down and enjoy every moment and homeschooling at my own pace or my kids pace has brought me so much joy! I’m writing a blog post for http://www.hiphomescholing.com about our journey away from perfection. đ Let’s ditch it, shall we? Let’s focus on the beauty of the imperfect moments. The ordinary things we do together can be full of wonders too!
So true! “Those perfect days don’t just happen” I love that line. I do find our best days are those that I am fully engaged in what we’re doing and focused on having fun with my boys. Those days that schooling is a checklist of items to be crossed off don’t normally go so well…
Yep Joanne, the get-it-done-quickly-and-check-it-off-the-list homeschooling approach does not work here either. We rather learn together in our own pace with joy even if it takes 2 weeks instead of one to complete the list. đ I’m so glad you stopped by to read the post and I hope you are being inspired and encouraged by this blog party!! đ
I love being a part of my little one’s education in a more formal way!
Ana, I love your post! It is so true that we need to enjoy the moments with our children and create memories with them. We should celebrate the little and the big things and enjoy the ride! Homeschooling is an adventure and one that you will never regret going on with you family.
Thanks Jessica!! I only realized that on on second year of homeschooling, unfortunately. At first all we did was pretty much see how much could we get done in one day and it was very pleasant. I was also working 40-60 hours a week while homeschooling so not much time to just enjoy and create memories when a mother is exhausted all the time. I’m glad those days are over and now I get to stay home rested and fully present in their lives, learning together and making memories. đ
What an excellent reminder to focus on what is most important about homeschooling- I definitely need to slow down and remember this more. Thank you for sharing đ
Thanks, Gwen!!! đ I can’t wait to check out your post on your favorite biographies! Thanks for stopping by. đ We are also in an island across the ocean from you! đ Be blessed!