Alas, Kindergarten

Launching our kindergarten year with Zombie has been a taunting process for me. The realizations of what failed and what (surprisingly) didn’t was a gravitational jerk back down to earth. With the preschool year officially behind us, I am finally ready to lay out for you all the messy truths of homeschooling a 4 year old! 

Disclaimer: I don’t and will not pretend to know it all because frankly, I don’t. But here are a few of my lessons learned from opportunities in our Preschool year.

#1 Find your Style 

Each family has their own rhythm, find yours and run with it. Ours just happens to be all over the place since we’re constantly on the road and we’re night owls. Finding your style early on and being true to yourself about what is achievable on a daily basis will save you many a headache. 

#2 Be Flexible 

YOU WILL NOT COMPLETE THE ENTIRE CURRICULUM BOOK. On a blunt note homeschool is about flexibility. You won’t finish the workbook but that doesn’t mean your child didn’t grasp the concepts. My goal for this year is for us to allow the progression of our learning to move organically. 

#3 The Pressure 

Soooo much pressure. From friends and family and strangers alike who are rooting for you to fail. Analyzing your child each time they approach you in an attempt to point out your failures as a home educator because your child can’t yet spell the word “asparagus”… after all, if she’s homeschooled she should be a genius- right? 

Don’t allow the external and internal pressures to get to your head. You are amazing. The decision you made is the right one. No one cares more about your child’s education than you. 

$3 Be Intentional 

The grocery store, the ride home from church, a visit to the barbershop (in our case). All of these are opportunities to have meaningful conversations and lessons with your child. Be intentional of your time together and you’ll be surprised at just what your child’s take away is. 

#4 Feed their Curiosity 

Never-never-never-never stop asking questions. Our kids do as we do, not as we say. So be curious, ask lots of questions and allow them to do the same. This allows a platform for loving to learn regardless of the subject, regardless of the medium. 

This year we are going minimal. Our goals are attainable and realistic. And with incorporations adopted from “Salty Tribe Co.” and "Homeschool of Belair" I really feel like we are setting ourselves up for success!

[Morning Binder: Homeschool of Bel Air]

Here’s what we’ll be doing: 

Math/Science *alternating 

Reading

Spanish/Geography

Scripture 

Piano 

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My Love-Hate Georgian Relationship: Hiking out of misery

I'm back among the living and boy has my life changed significantly in the past few months.

Georgia has been anything BUT easy to get used to- beginning with their business operation hours. I miss the convenience of 11:00pm food truck runs and an endless selection of cuisine choices; specifically Twistee Treats ice cream and Tako Cheena Cod tacos.

Lucky for me Georgia's got mountains- lots of them! I first fell in love with hiking when I went to San Francisco last year with my girlfriends. So in an effort to mend this love-hate relationship we've hit the North Georgia mountain trails. We started on a smaller hike- the Tesnatee Gap to Cowrock Mountain, a 2.25 mile to test Zombie's (and to be quite honest Hub's) endurance.

[Dukes Falls]

I was worried about how to entertain her during the walk- not really  knowing what to expect other than whining and pleas to be carried. So I got creative- I hit the Dollar Tree and purchased a bug inspector kit, batteries for an old digital camera for her to take photos once we reached the top and snacks. It turns out my daughter is not only an aspiring photographer but a rock enthusiast! So on our second hike I packed a plastic baggie for her to store her favorite rocks from the day's hike.

On Monday we headed to Tallulah Gorge and started off at the museum. Zombie loved the snakes and train and miniature town displays. Once outside we were greeted with an endless staircase none of us were really ready for. 1,099 stairs and a suspense bridge was enough to keep us there for 4 hours. This was definitely the hardest of the hikes we've taken so far so we really paced ourselves on this one- there was no way we were carrying a 50 lb. baby UP 1,000+ stairs! We took frequent breaks, made sure Zombie stayed hydrated and packed her backpack with LOTS of snacks.


After finishing the Hurricane Falls Loop Trail we contemplated continuing onto the South Trail but fear of the unknown (unknown number of stairs that is!) we went on to Outlooks 4 & 5, which thankfully was all trail, and headed home.

This form is exercise is not only a great [and challenging] all around workout but an amazing chance to bond with your family- no cell service! Hiking has offered us great educational opportunities with Zombie and has really given me a chance to see a better side of my new home-state.

Georgia, there might be hope for us yet.

[Tallulah Gorge Falls]

 [Dukes Falls]

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Just the RIGHT Amount of Edge

Since finding out I was pregnant 3 years ago I knew Homeschooling was the ONLY option for us. I work full time but I’m on the road literally every 2 months (work hard play hard, right?) I knew we’d have to make some drastic changes to our lifestyle if we chose to enter Zombie into the public or private school system. I wanted my daughter to view learning as an everyday experience not reading out of a textbook for an hour per subject. I wanted her to learn without realizing it was happening because honestly, living IS learning. I don’t want her to read about the Great Barrier Reef, I want her to scuba dive through it and experience it for herself and let curiosity be her teacher.

So BOOM you make this huge decision which by the way is the ultimate burden on your conscious and you start to question your capacity to teach this little human all they need to know to be successful in the “real world” So now where do you start?!

There are hundreds of thousands of curriculums out there to choose from, plenty of activities to keep you busy and more than just a handful of blogs to read up on the various homeschool topics. Yet with all the resources available to homeschool parents via the internet and public libraries why is it I still feel so alone and vulnerable? How will you ever know if you’re doing it right?

It’s scary how all we want as young parents is to be unique and fun and have just the right amount of edge to a life that is always in danger of becoming mundane and when you get it, the power is almost more than you can handle.

So in an act of desperation I ask, are there any parents that would be willing to meet-and-greet with this amateur homeschool mommy? I’m willing to fervently take notes on the tips and best practices you share and I’ll forever be in your debt.

Signed,

An anxious Wanderlust Momma

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