Learning at home definitely has it's ups and downs. We have tried several different curricula and were even a part of a virtual academy for almost two years. We are now back on track with traditional homeschooling. It has been a bumpy road. But after seeing the look on my oldest child's face each morning (while with the virtual school) I knew it was time to do something different. The virtual school just wasn't fitting our family's needs anymore. Yes, it was WONDERFUL while we were with them. Set curriculum. Teacher support. Deadlines to meet. Et cetera. I loved the structure of it, my child did not. I knew he needed something different. Where he was excelling in math (and still is), he was falling behind with reading. A struggling reader as most would say. This was VERY hard for me to deal with. I've always loved to read and still find time to sneak a book in here or there when I have time to myself. Dealing with his lack of love for reading was frustrating and saddening to me. Another hurdle we had to cross. But first I had to deal with my feelings. It was so hard watching him struggle to sound out words, but so exciting to see when he would read one correct. I pushed and pushed; because of course since I loved to read he had to, too. After all he is my child! Wrong. Yes, he is my child. But he is his own person and some do not love reading. Reading was stressful to him, hard. During our time with the virtual school he was pushed by not only me, but the teacher as well and was falling even further behind. Having to read books he didn't want to read, had no interest in. And was becoming withdrawn at the mention of anything to do with reading, or writing. So I took a leap and withdrew him from the virtual school. Mid-year, which was scary! I knew in my heart something had to change, he needed to be more relaxed. (With the virtual school there was SO much that needed to be done each day, so much work; which I now refer to as busy work, or unnecessary). He wasn't able to move at his own pace (like we were told at the beginning), he was bored with math (he's advanced in math) and struggling with the reading portion of it. Science and history were no problem and still aren't. Since leaving the virtual school (three months ago) he is a COMPLETELY different child. He has developed a love for reading. He even picked up a book the other day and read for pleasure! We are reading the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder for fun, together, out-loud. He has come such a long way and it's very exciting to see him this way for me. He is also writing short stories or just a paragraph each day in a notebook and also doing creative writing pages for me. So not only is he doing work, he's also making the choice to write a story a day in his own personal notebook. What an accomplishment! So this goes back to my statement at the beginning, learning at home definitely has it's ups and downs. But once you find your groove everything else falls into place! I learned to relax and not push so hard when it came to reading; to allow him to come to me with a book. We read more and more together (we had time to finally). And lookie here if he isn't enjoying reading just as much as I do now! I realized that no matter what, if he wasn't ready to do something, he wasn't going to do it and I needed to back off and allow him to WANT to do it. But once he was ready to fly, he flew!
This is definitely what homeschooling is about; creating a love for learning!♥
-Tiffany.
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