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Homeschooling and Change Go Hand in Hand

TimeForChange

I posted recently on my own personal blog about homeschooling families needing to be willing to change. After homeschooling for 16 years, I still find myself planning to do things differently next school year than I’ve done in previous years. Even after all these years (and all these years of change), I still find myself thinking that “one day” I’ll get it right and I’ll be able to just keep on doing what I’m doing. That’s just not generally the way it works, though, is it?

As I started thinking about the reasons for making changes from year to year, I realized that it’s really not so strange than I seem to constantly be needing to adjust and change from year to year. After all, my children are growing and maturing every year, so it makes sense that their homeschool programs will need to grow and mature with them.

Also, each of my three children is totally and completely different from the other two siblings. My oldest child (who will be 18 on July 1), Hannah, is autistic and totally non-verbal. She is very smart (as many autistic children are), but her school work has to be presented to her in a way that is unique to her. And she has to be checked for understanding in a way that is unique to her. I’ve found a system that works for her, yet I still change her curriculum from time to time based on her current interests and needs and her level of communication.

Hannah photo fd465eb8-7b6d-44bc-bbf7-57274a7428c2_zpsb53f0436.jpg

My second child, Noah, is 16. As he’s grown into a young man, his interests have definitely changed along with him. He’s a huge computer buff, so he enjoys doing much of his school work on the computer. When he was younger, he did most of his work using books and materials that I could do along with him since he had trouble focusing and staying on task. Now that he’s older, he’s much better able to do his work independently with just a bit of supervision and help planning. Also, since he just started his first part-time job, it’s great that his school work can be done around his work schedule.

Noah photo 5bde5f9b-e837-4436-848d-4865cb93383e_zpsea177858.jpg

My youngest child, Mary Grace, is 10. She’s my little social butterfly. She enjoys doing anything that can be done in a social situation. And that means that she likes for me to “do” her school work along with her. She loves reading living books, discussing what she’s reading, and doing arts and crafts projects to help “cement” what she’s learning in her mind. She’s the most adventurous (as you can tell by the pink hair) and social of my three children, and her school work reflects that.

 photo MaryGraceHHMPostPic_zps7a08b7fb.jpg

So don’t be surprised or upset if you see that, as the school year draws to a close for many of us, you need to make changes or adjustments for next school year. It doesn’t mean that you’ve been doing anything wrong. It just means that it’s time to make some changes based on the current needs, interests, and abilities of your children and yourself, and that’s a good thing!

 Featured image is from www.freedigitalphotos.net.

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2 Comments

  1. Great post. It’s always nice to be reminded that we can change our homeschool. We don’t have to keep it the same year after year. We sometimes forget that and end up in a terrible rut.

    1. Yes, that’s true, Angie! I somehow had the idea that things needed to be the same year after year or I was doing something wrong. I’m so glad I realized that change is just part of the normal process! Things would be terribly boring (especially for me!) if I homeschooled exactly the same way for all 16 years plus the remaining 7! Thanks for your comment. 🙂

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