Homeschooling

I stopped making any lesson plans for homeschooling years ago. I learned that God's plans were always different from mine. I've never liked the idea of making plans and then not being able to do them. Even when I would make some great lesson plans and be all set for a great week on Sunday evenings I'd often wake up sometime Sunday night with a sick child and end up in the hospital for a week.

Then it got to where I didn't even have to make lesson plans, I could just think we are starting school and something would happen like Dakota getting bit by a snake and even me or Jody ending up in the hospital. I've learned to be very flexible. Over the years I always knew God was in control.

We've never been a homeschool family that's able to school Monday - Friday, 8AM - 12PM or whatever. We school on the weekends while Jody is working or sleeping and have family days during the week while daddy is off. Jody has always worked some type of shift work so we would work our schooling around his shift. You can often find us doing night school starting about 9PM. I've gotten up at 2:30AM before to use the restroom and found Dakota in the school room working on a lapbook.

I didn't make any lesson plans, but I did decide that this week was our best shot of getting a jump on some school work before co-op starts up. So Sunday night we got in the bed at a descent hour thinking we would get some school work done Monday morning while Jody slept after working graveyard. I woke up at 3:30 AM with it raining in my house!

About a week before we had some really strong winds that peeled up some of our metal roof.
This section was right over Dakota's room. Sunday night we had a steady hard down pour that went on for hours. I woke up and heard water, I jumped up and found water pouring from Dakota's doorway. Dakota and I did what we could with towels and pans. The rain went on and on.

It was the middle of the night, the kids and I were wide awake watching it rain. I mentioned that we needed to try to get some sleep because I wanted us to get some school work done on Monday and throughout the week, it would be our only shot before co-op starting. Elijah dared me to do school with him right then at 4:30AM. I didn't really want to, I was pretty upset about the raining in my house, but he dared me. So we did spelling at 4:30AM! Crazy Kid!
When we finished spelling we went to bed.

So needless to say Monday was not a school day for us, it turned into a work day and running back and forth to Lowes. Jody and Dakota got the roof fixed, it took all day. I'm sure Dakota learned a lot from the experience and had a great time with his dad, I heard a lot of laughing and both of them being silly all day, that counts for something.

Monday was not totally shot, Elijah and I did do that spelling in the early AM and I read a FIAR book to him at 9 last night.

A couple of months ago a friend told me her plans were to be more consistent with schooling this year. I laughed and said my plans were to not be consistent because then I wouldn't be let down when it didn't happen. I really don't want schooling to get in the way of our life. I want us to be able to wake up and decide to go fishing or go meet friends at the park.

I don't know what I'm trying to say here, but our hit and miss schooling works for us. In Louisiana we are required to school 180 days. We don't have to turn anything in, but that should be our goal. We pretty much school year round so if we get 15 days a month in, we meet the 180 days. Some months we don't get 15 days in and some months we go over the 15 days so it all evens out.

Don't be discouraged if life happens and your fantasy of schooling Monday - Friday from 8AM - 12PM isn't happening. If you make lesson plans and you have a week of Egypt planned and your little guy is all excited about Indians, go with the Indians. It's okay not to follow those plans.

I heard someone say they had to school Monday - Friday 8 - 12 so that their children would be able to handle college. Think about that for a moment. Do you know anyone in college student that has the same time schedule Monday - Friday? Everyone I know has a schedule that changes every day. Some days they have a 10AM class and some days they have a 2 PM class and then they might have a night class starting at 7PM. Mostly either their Monday, Tuesday and Friday classes are the same or their Tuesday and Wednesday classes are the same.

Most blogs I read talk about their lesson plans and their set schedule of when they do school which is usually Monday - Friday 8AM - 12PM. I'm just trying to be real, that ain't happening here and I do see my children learning and moving forward.
If Monday - Friday 8AM - 12PM works for you, then great, go for it, but there are homeschool families out there struggling trying to copy that and I just want them to know it's okay to be a nontraditional homeschool family.