There are so many aspects of the homeschooling lifestyle that I love. I can say that I truly enjoy being a homeschooling mom, but I do have some limits!
Every family is different with their likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. In my house these are some things that I will NOT be doing!
1. Dissection of any kind – Frog dissection in 7th grade science class with Mr. McNutt. I think I’m still suffering the trauma, that was not fun. So, no, dissection of any kind is not happening in my house.
2. Anatomy study – This goes along with the above. Medical anything grosses me out. I faint at the sight of blood, usually just my own but sometimes others as well.
3. Feel guilty about not being crafty – It’s true, we don’t do much crafting in our house. I’m okay with that! You can check out this post I wrote at The Mommy Mess about being an (Un)Crafty Homeschool Mom. Perhaps you can relate.
4. Have a rigid schedule – We do have a schedule, but I value being flexible over being rigid in sticking to said schedule. It doesn’t make me crazy, it gives me a guideline to what we should be doing for the day. I’m perfectly happy to throw it out the window for #6.
5. Stop Read Alouds – They have always been the cornerstone of our school day. You’re never too old to listen to a good book!
6. Skip a field trip – We love a good field trip! It’s fun to get out and experience life and not just read about it in a book.
7. Never make homeschooling the “perfect” solution to all of life’s troubles – Homeschooling can’t prevent or fix everything. Homeschooling also doesn’t guarantee that our children will be free from bumps in their life.
8. Never put homeschooling before the needs of my children – my kids will always be more important than whatever lesson we have planned for the day.
9. Never regret time spent together as a family, regardless of how this whole homeschooling experiment turns out!
Now I realize I should never say never, after all I never thought I would homeschool! However, I’m pretty confident about these 9 items.
What about you? What will you never do in your homeschool?
Your pictures are gorgeous. I have never thought much about my list of nevers. You gave me something to ponder this morning over my cup of coffee!
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I think the best I can say is “I’ll never say never”, seems like every time I do that… (“I’ll never use Abeka again”) I end up eating humble pie… (this year I begged my husband for some Abeka math!)
Just the moment I think I won’t EVER Unschool… I’ll probably become a fanatic of unschooling! *yikes* LOL… (we are Charlotte Mason/Classical/Schole schoolers).
And I used to not be crafty… but now my kids are getting older, and I set up a table too high for preschoolers to reach, and now… my kids get to craft, low stress style. hehe
I’m the same except we, or I should say, the dads grouped around our kitchen for the science labs that included dissection 🙂
Lol
I stayed back and took pics!
Love it Jen, and I totally agree on all 9 points!! 🙂
Well, I agree to most things. However, coming from a holistic learning standpoint, your kids really should know anatomy. It is important for them to be able to understand the functions of the body, so that if, Heaven forbid, they are in a position where they need to be able to interpret a medical diagnosis, they have some working understanding of what is wrong. It is part of being a well-rounded human being. That is also the justification for teaching it in all public schools. It isn’t for students to prepare to be scientists. It is so that the general public has enough basic medical knowledge to be able to advocate for themselves.
Sorry for the soap-boxing, I just couldn’t hold that in there. Also, kudos for you for homeschooling, as a public school teacher, it truly amazes me how you adapt and change your lessons each year to reflect the developmental and academic growth of your children! 🙂
I appreciate your concern, however since their Dad holds degrees in Biology, Chemistry and Medical Technology as well as works in the medical field, they will be just fine 🙂 Also, just because I don’t want to teach them the subject definitely doesn’t mean they won’t learn it. Truthfully one of the many reasons we homeschool is because we want our children to be active participants in their learning. They don’t need to wait for me to put material in front of them, they can actively seek out information and learn on their own. I have complete confidence my kids will be well-rounded human beings 🙂 Thanks for reading and for your comment!
I was wondering about this too, so I’m glad to hear you didn’t mean that you’d prevent your kids from doing dissections elsewhere if they wanted to. I only did one dissection at school and almost all the girls refused – I was one of two who actually got on with it. It’s not unrelated that I now spend a lot of my time dealing with blood and body parts (I’m training as a midwife)!
I love the quote on the picture – that seems like the most important part of homeschooling. The children are always the priority.
#8 echoes what I usually tell homeschooling moms, “You’re a mom first.”
My oldest son is in charge of helping his older and younger children with dissections. 😉
Hi Jen! Great points here! I love the no dissection “rule”! 🙂 I still remember dissecting frogs and CATS in public high school! EWWWWW! Oh the sights and smells are not easily forgotten! 😛
As a homeschool Mom I can say I’ll never feel like I totally have this homeschooling calling and vocation down to a complete science as it is always evolving and challenging me every second of every day! 🙂
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Jen my teenager would want to jump on your boat! She hates dissections…or so she thinks. We will be dissecting for high school biology this year!
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This is a great post! I am not opposed to dissections, but outsources them as well! 😉 I think #7 is especially important. I’ve mention that as a newbie homeschool mom (20+ years ago), I read articles and attended conferences that offered homeschooling as a solution to all life’s problems. I am thankful that I did not completely buy in to that- I know several disillusioned homeschool families from back then that did and now struggle with how things “turned out”.
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I have heard so many homeschool moms say that they are not into craft or art and so their kids don’t do it much. There is a lot of guilt about that it seems. But there are so many art clubs and classes out there (and co-ops) that they involved their kids in.
Yes, great point!