Adjustment

Six weeks in.

For some reason, I felt like God was calling me to do this to stretch me, have me grow uncomfortably. And I was okay with that and expected that.

But it's been much more different than what I expected.

While there are hard times, they're so short lived.

There have been a lot of adjustments to how I thought things would go, but that was expected as well.

The change has been mostly through curriculum and our routine.

The image above is what I witness about three quarters of the day. 

The boys just want to play (which gives me ample time to clean up after meals and such-bonus).

The beauty of this "problem" is that they want to play with their siblings and they want to be outside. 

I've gone to gather them after a fifteen minute break to find them up at the tallest point of our property "scouting out hawk nests" or setting up traps. I can't bear to interrupt them, so I let it go on for another thirty minutes. They come back a little bit dirty, bumping shoulders with one another, and even helping a flush-faced baby walk down the dirt path. It warms my heart so much.  Where I thought there would be extra sibling tension and stress is camaraderie and care. There are rarely any problems between them, and I do think that's because they've adjusted to knowing that they're stuck with each other so they may as well make it fun. :)

Oh, it's been so sweet!

I've gotten rid of most of the textbooks to a degree and have really changed a lot of the way the children have been learning. Before, we would do what the book says, and while I picked what I thought they needed to be learning, their lack of enthusiasm quickly told me otherwise.  So we changed.  And it has not only been effective, they are now creating beautiful notebooks filled with their works of art, all while learning various subjects.

It's created more work for me on Sunday nights (when I plan out their week). I am still using all of the classical books as a base for sequence and skill, yet coming up more organic exercises for them to do that tricks them into enjoying it. ;-) 

Everett was not enjoying anything that required work and practice for reading. He would get frustrated and bored.  Now we briefly go over a blend. After that,  he has to pick four words using the blend to make flash cards to teach the babies (he's super attached to them so I've been using them as motivation!).  I really think it's through his illustration and teaching that it's finally clicking.  Sitting and reading them was not.

This is one of my favorites thus far (although the pile of wonderful illustrations and paintings is becoming quite thick very quickly!)... he created a sign for his "Shell Shack".  

I had such apprehension about teaching Carter. Due to his will and his quick mind, I was afraid he would use both against me!  He's been an incredibly easy student. I don't think any type of style of teaching would really make a difference with him. He's such a sponge that he really appreciates any type of information. While he's self-proclaimed "not the creative type", I would beg to differ. His work is actually really impressive. He is an excellent little artist. So accurate.  We've learned to weave his love of facts and art all into history, geography, science and language arts. It helps keep him busy as well, because he is pretty self-led and needs to remain occupied while I work with Everett on reading and writing.  

Below is Southern England.  He loves mapping, so I use his passion to compliment what we're learning. We are reading excerpts of Mary Poppins this week, so in order to keep him engaged, he typically maps out the location of whatever we are reading about.

(ps, their goal is to start selling their paintings in order to buy a gun and a house in the high country! Ha!)

The babies and Scarlett keep themselves busy. Scarlett goes back and forth between bossing them into being her puppies or playing make believe and also wanting to take part in school.

She gets bored rather quickly and that's fine by me.  The letter-a-week was fun for just that, a week. :)  But she is practicing her leadership skills and somehow learned to spell her name in the process.  She memorizes poetry and Bible verses with the older boys as well as participates in history (and some science).

Oh, and, these images below are to show the reality of what hair and clothing look like when there's schooling going on. Goodness, self-government looks sloppy.

Because.  

This is just a small glimpse of what I've been able to experience day after day.

Hopefully this doesn't come across as bragging or boasting. I'm just so grateful that the Lord asked me to do this.  I would have never guessed that this is what he meant. 

Days like this.

Catching these moments. 

The ever-evoloving side "yard".  We have a few constantly-changing spaces in our home and property.  Keeps things fun (Jason would beg to differ)!

After school started, I wanted to put in a place for the little ones to stay nice and occupied, while encouraging discovery and tactile learning.

I thrifted a bunch of pots and pans and set up an "outdoor kitchen".

They have firewood to make pretend campfires with as well as rakes and shovels for outdoor work.

The bigger kids have set up little bird baths and sanctuaries in hopes that our feathered friends will come and linger a little longer.  It's been fulfilling to watch them experiment with different herbs and plants in efforts to observe more of their characteristics in real life. It's paid off a little bit! We have witnessed some birds bathing and some eating along this little space. 

Since we're studying animals of flight, this is the perfect supplement to our studies!

Hopefully when it cools down a bit we'll add some of their selected winter veggies for the barrels.

And so it goes. Please bear with me as I document our journey of learning.

There is no intention of this turning into a homeschooling blog, yet there has never been a specific goal or purpose for our space here anyway, other than capturing what I want to remember.

Keep in mind, I refrain from capturing what I don't want to remember (unless He tells me otherwise), so these are the good moments.  I rarely think to pick up the camera when the sink is full of dishes or when I am cooking dinner and the babies are covered in mud.  Please know that. I never want to come across as picture perfect, but the truth is, when the scene is not satisfactory, it never crosses my mind to document it.  So know the truth behind that...we have a large amount of tie-dyed shirt and unkept hair days around here (maybe that's why I only blog once a week?!).  :)