Getting Away From The Schoolroom

When I began homeschooling, I purchased school desks for each of my children, got new workbooks, researched all the latest curricula, and spoke with other homeschooling moms. I planned what each of my students would work on each year, made lesson plans, created weekly assignment sheets, and calculated when they would graduate high school. What I hadn’t counted on was the very different learning styles each of my children had, the desires they each had for learning, and the directions they would take in education.

I saw my youngest daughter excelling in academics while her brother struggled. One son, I learned, was an auditory learner while my oldest son was a visual learner and could not concentrate on his work when the other children made noise…or were playing. I watched my home school falling apart from what I had hoped it would look like. So I decided we all needed a change. We visited a local open space pond area and everyone was able to engage and learn. It was the breakthrough we needed for school!

Twenty years later, we visit that same lake four times a year. We walk around  and discuss the changes that have occurred due to the change in seasons. We also visited the area after the major floods we experienced in our state last September. The changes have been predictable for the most part, but they have also allowed each one of my kids to learn about creation and God’s handiwork in everything.

As you wind down your school year, consider ways you can expand learning, get away from the schoolhouse, and go to local areas and see the beauty in all that the Lord made. We don’t necessarily want our home schools to look like the public schools or we would have our children going there for education!