All In the Attitude

   I've met a new friend through my boys Lego class (Hi Lisa!) and she has really inspired me when it comes to homeschooling lately.  You see I use to be really good at finding fun learning opportunities and fun materials.  As Carter grew older I guess I felt I wasn't doing a good job if we didn't do some good old fashioned "school".  Somehow I thought fun equalled not deep.  After talking with Lisa and seeing some of her ideas I am really excited to go back to some of our old ways along with finding some new ones to throw in there.

  I am changing up our schedule to include more time for read alouds (our favorite!!) and a half hour everyday to do a group activity.  I have some fun Brain Quest cards, a book full of tricky riddles and even a book that has you put things on the table and then gives them a timed challenge using only what you provide to create.  I have a great art program we have yet to use along with some really fun unit study ideas and possibly a co-op with friends. I am also rearranging so I can have daily one on one time with each child to just talk.  Talk about what they are reading or  what they are thinking about.  Time for them to show off to Mom what they know.  A chance to say, "Hey, show me how on earth you are doing these tricky math problems so well." or "Will you read to ME this time and let me enjoy this story with you?"  I want a chance to talk about what they've been reading in the Bible or to share what I've read and found interesting.  Not that we don't have these talks, they are just not intentional so they don't happen as often as I'd like.  I guess a chance to get back to the basics of why WE chose to homeschool and that was relationships.

  When people ask me about having my kids home and why I often reply, "Because I love them!".  This is not to say sending your kids to school equals not loving them!!  Please don't read that!  It's just I love being with them.  I love watching them learn.  I love helping them discover new things.  I love laughing over the story we are reading.  I love the inside jokes we have simply because we are together so much. I love doing silly things with them and making Daddy's eyes roll! Truly, I would miss them so much if they were gone all day and then had to come home and do homework and activities.

  I'm not sure that's been my attitude lately.  I think school has become something to get through to get on with the rest of our day.  In the past the only thing they considered school was math!  Everything else was just life because we were constantly learning and exploring.  We're going to work on getting a little of that back.  Step 1 is change the attitude... mine and theirs!  I'm hoping some purposeful one on one time along with some fun group activities will get us started in that direction.

What about you??  Could a change of attitude or schedule help pull you out of a rut you are in?