Breaks, Games, and Fun

Welcome back from winter break! We took an extended break this year. I ended up getting sick, so it was a necessary but fantastic time of relaxation and laziness. We took an entire month away from the school books and just relaxed. We got some reading done, watched a ton of movies, played some games, and just spent some time together as a family.

I took this opportunity to ask the kiddos if they had thought about what they want to do when they grow up. They have time but it never hurts to get an early start. Neither one of them are entirely sure as to what they want to be when they do get older, but they have ideas. We had some fun looking through different books and pictures on the internet of jobs and what those might entail. My youngest is sure that he wants to be a knight when he gets older. While that is not as feasible today as it was four hundred years ago, I saw nothing wrong in showing him the information of what being a knight entailed. After giving it some thought, he is pretty sure that while he may not be a knight, there are aspects of that lifestyle that appealed to him. Now, mom has to hunt down some fencing classes and see if sword fighting might be something he would enjoy.

We may not have cracked a school book, but that does not mean we were not learning. I managed to slide some documentaries and shorter books on famous Americans into our reading. We have started working through some books that I read when I was younger, and being able to pass them onto a new generation has a certain thrill. They have not liked every selection, but there are some that they were sure they were going to hate that they loved. I got some great deals when we visited my parents last summer at the half price book store, so we came home with quite a haul of books.

Since our last home school review, there are some things that I have changed. Have you noticed that when you are home schooling you are not tied into a certain grade? I love having the freedom to move around as we need. I have one child who is right on track where he needs to be, and is steadily working through, but my oldest is another matter. He is ahead in some things, and lagging in a few. Right now he is working through three different grade levels in different subjects. It can be a bit daunting when it comes to switching things around, but it helps to keep him on track. I thought he was really struggling with one particular subject, and it turns out he was just bored. I went to the next grade level, and voila – problem solved!

Whether you are using conventional or unconventional methods of teaching, you know what your child needs better than anyone else. It can get discouraging to hear others tell you how much better another school would be, or how they could be doing better if you only did XXX, but don’t listen to them! You are doing just fine! We all have hiccups and bumps in the road. Some bumps are just bigger than others. While we work through the daily grind, we get to see the light bulbs pop on.

What did you do with your winter break?