Honeymoon Phase

I told you last week that I’d decided to homeschool my 6th grader this year.  We officially started on Tuesday. As my husband drove off with the two other kids to take them to school on the first day, Elle and I looked at each other with a little panic.  I asked, “Are we really doing this?” and Elle observed, “It feels weird not to be in that car.”

But our first day jitters were soon gone and overall Elle and I had a great week.  I know it won’t always go this smoothly, but for now I guess you could say we are in the honeymoon phase of homeschooling.

For those of you that are interested in our experience, here are some highlights from our homeschooling honeymoon:

We started the week off with piano lessons at 9:30 AM.  Elle and I biked there together.  Locke was in the trailer and we rode around for a half hour until Elle was finished.  I loved that I could take one extra curricular activity out of my busy evenings and move it to a day time.  We weren’t rushed or frazzled and it was great to start off our day with a bike ride together.

Next we had to make our  homeschooling decision official.  Where we live you just have to turn in a notarized affidavit to our school district. I was expecting a bunch of crusty looks from the ladies at the district office, but they were kind and professional.  They helped us with the paperwork and we were on our way.

To celebrate the start of our adventure, we went to lunch and got a pedicure.  (The pedicure was Elle’s idea and she paid for it herself.) Pedicures won’t be a regular part of our curriculum, but it was a fun way to start off our first day/year of homeschooling.  We might just make it our own first day of school tradition.

The next day Elle spent 2 hours on math because she was so into it.  We found an awesome on-line math curriculum and she just had to make it to the next level and earn more energy points. Yeah! This was just what I had hoped homeschooling would be. Elle going at her own pace, at her own level, on her own schedule, on her own accord.

Elle and I have snuggled up every day after lunch on my bed and read Harry Potter together. She reads a page and then I read a page. She gets to ask questions, make predictions, and read between the lines. She marks vocab words she doesn’t know, and she looks them up later. I confess I have fallen asleep every day and Elle continues to read silently to herself while I take a cat nap.  She is happy I am just near her, even if I am asleep.

One night we played Battleship because she finished all her work and responsibilities by the time deadline.

Elle’s bedroom has been clean all week because she isn’t rushing out the door to get to school on time.

And contrary to what a lot of people think, homeschooling actually provides Elle with more social time. She played with friends after school three different days because she was able to do all her chores, practice her piano, and get her school work done during the day.  So when school got out she was ready to go.

Now lest you think our life is perfect, I will admit we ate out every night this week.  Despite my naps, I was worn out and we had no food. I needed to get to Costco and the grocery store but couldn’t quite pull it off.  I will figure it out as we get more into a routine.

And just like marriage, I know the honeymoon phase will end.  There will be some mornings when I will wake up and wonder “What the heck was I thinking?” and some days when I wish she were in school so I could go do my own thing.  But for now we are enjoying the honeymoon.

I  am not sure how much I will blog about homeschooling — maybe a lot, maybe a little, but I do hope to take many pictures along the way. So if you are interested in keeping tabs on our homeschooling adventures, you can follow me on Instagram under Raising Lemons.