Finding Our Rhythm

I wrote in my last post that we have recently started homeschooling. We started after the school year had already begun, so we were in a bit of a rush to put things together. I went back and forth between buying a pre-packaged curriculumn and creating my own since J is sort of between grades.  If we had started planning over the summer, I definitely would have put together my own. To get things started, and since I felt a little overwhelmed, I purchased a curriculum.

I purchased the Bigger Hearts for His Glory curriculum from Heart of Dakota because it covered all subjects and had some hands on activities. I liked the way they tied all of the subjects together but as I read the history books they used, I was not a fan of the way they read & neither was J, but we did like the science. We also discovered that there were so many subjects each day, it required a lot of time at home to do them all and J and I both wanted more freedom to be able to go out for social events and field trips. I also have the additional time requirement of taking care of the barn and horses.

Since I already had a curriculum, I did not feel the need to rush into purchasing something else. It allowed me time to look around and see what I thought might work better. I have discovered that J does better to focus in on a few subjects in more detail than doing a bunch of changing gears in one day. So, instead of trying to do a whole bunch of different stuff each day, we pick a couple of main projects or subjects to focus on and add some math and reading.

One of the advantages of homeschooling is being able to change course and customize until you find what works for your child. I had already been teaching math using workbooks I had purchased over the summer and games I found on Teachers Pay Teachers. My real concern was reading and writing. I liked the idea of introducing history but I didn't want that to be the focus. I wanted what history we did learn to be more fun and I wanted to give J more opportunities for real writing, not copy work. 

I looked around online and found several sources for LEGO and seasonal story starters, which J is loving! I also discovered Tapestry of Grace which is more focused on history than I want to be but had a great list of interesting, age-appropriate stories based on both real and fictional people living in the time period being studied. J actually wanted me to keep going when we were reading their books! It was through their book list that I found author Laurie Carlson. She has written a series of books which focus on a specific time frame and contains factual/informational text but also has recipes, games and projects that children in that time period would have eaten, played or made! So awesome!

Since we like to be out doing things, we do a lot of reading and math on the road. I teach the ideas at home and then, once he has the concept, we do the practice on the way to activities.

Speaking of activities: one thing that has been very important for both of us, since we are both extroverts, is finding a group of friends! Luckily for us, we already knew some homeschoolers without even realizing it.  One of the families at our church told me about a local "support group" which does not host classes but puts together social events and field trips as well as acting as a network for sharing information about available opportunities for homeschoolers. I also discovered that two of his friends from soccer were in a co-op which met weekly for classes. We quickly joined both groups. This was by far one of the best decisions I have made in this whole process. Even in the short time we have been a part of these groups, we have both found some precious life long friends.

We ended up deciding not to do the classes with the co-op for now and just joining them for social events and field trips. Several of J's new friends have been going to a program at a YMCA near us that offers art, sports and swimming. The only problem was that it was three hours long and the day before co-op classes. Having the two back to back was a little too exciting for someone who gets overwhelmed/excited easily. We decided that he needed the activity and social time more than he needed the classes. The "Gym & Swim" is on Mondays, so I'm looking for another regular activity later in the week. I also plan on leaving on day open for field trips. If we can spend the days in between working at home, he will be ready to go for our active days. As he learns to handle more stuff at one time, we'll add classes back in.

A brief explanation on scheduling with anxiety:
Every kid is different. Even kids with the same issues will respond to them differently.
One of the things we have learned with J is that he gets what I call "ramped up" good and bad.  If there is too much going on, whether it's visual stimulation, too much on the schedule, being tired or stress in relationships, he gets stressed out and will become overly excited (good or bad) or avoid the thing making him uncomfortable by hyper focusing on something else.

We are learning that he can handle things up to a certain point, but when he starts showing one of the above signs, he needs some space and time to calm himself back down before he's ready to take on more, even from things he likes.  Too much of a good thing can be very bad for his stress level.

As you can see, we are still working on finding our rhythm, but we are getting closer!