Foward and Onward

Shalom,

Spring is almost upon us and as my children are getting older and closer to high school I am beginning to think about years past and how our homeschool has grown. Homeschooling has been a wonderful experience with ups and downs and I have loved being a homeschooling mama to my crew. I have enjoyed being there for all their learning experiences. As we move forward I feel it is time to reevaluate and revamp our homeschool methodology and culture.

My belief on changing our homeschool has been that what works is to be kept and not to force what doesn't work so I tend to change things almost every year. Some changes are small like an addition to our routine and some are a total overhaul such as changing our method. For the most part these changes have been good. Some experiences not so great and that's good too. We learned what worked and what didn't. We found a success in failure. 

In this part of our lives after being a committed classical mom of 8 children, which brought me to the brink of almost driving my children to the school and enrolling them, I have realized that the simple enjoyable life for us works best. Don't get me wrong I love classical ed and I still believe in and incorporate some of its philosophy. I just couldn't handle using it exclusively with my personality. Simplifying our day was imperative, so we moved to unschooling which was enjoyable. My girls focused completely on science while my oldest son got to enjoy all things history. I had to assign some math but for the most part it went okay. After some observances I noticed that my kids became a bit lazy without order or guidance from me.I had a back to the drawing board moment. While unschooling my kiddos enjoyed their learning but I noticed they needed some more structure and facilitation from me. Our favorite subjects are science and history. We love being outside and in the spring when it is nice we spend all day outside. All my kids but one loves books and reading so for the most of the day you will see them with their noses in a book. That's where certain components of the Charlotte Mason method comes in. We have our nature study and our living books and I believe we all love the idea of shorter lessons. 

While I still have to plan High School and get my younger to to reading independently for now I have found a place that intersects and is interwoven with all of our favorite ways of learning. Incorporating CM, classical, and unschooling allows them to excel in their strengths and strengthen their weakness.  I can say with clarity that change is good and evolving is a part of maturity and growth. If you are at the point of change then pray and go for it. Trust in HaShem and your instincts as a mother. Also trust in your children. 

So what's the plan for the future? First and foremost prayer for wisdom and understanding, leaning to my Abba for answers. Our Abba has created many wondrous works and we see that everything has an order and purpose. I want our lifestyle to reflect HaShem's purpose and to have order and to also be a reflection of beauty and love. We can see his love and care for us everyday in the simple things as well as the magnificent. I am looking forward to growth and change! Now I just have to get ready for those high school years :/

Much love and blessings,

Tanisha Henderson
Mom of The Great 8