When It Comes To Homeschooling, How Do You Know What "Counts"?

in #homeschool7 years ago

We are homesteaders....and we are homeschoolers.

21534289_10159389050350046_80382549_o.jpg“Mom, can I please do my math down at the barn?”

My 8 year old daughter is so over doing school work at the kitchen table…..especially now that there are goats in the barn.

The chickens were a hard enough distraction, but now, goats that beg for neck scratches, and jump and kick off heights in the most amusing manor. We’ve all seen funny goat videos on You Tube, and now we have it 100 yards from our house!

How could I say no?

Of course math is important. Of course it is. School work is important. Getting the laundry and the dishes done is important. Building self-discipline and a sense of responsibility is part of my job as a mother.

But….
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We will never again have goats for the first time. Never again will we have the first baby goat born on our homestead frolicking and jumping around. Never again will we have our first barn swallows darting in and out of the rafters like fighter pilots.

So math in the barn it is.

When I check in with my children later on in the day, I don’t hear how riveting that day’s long division was. Yes it got done….and yes correctly….but what I hear about is the shapes they saw in the clouds. I feel the boys’ muscles that are getting “soooo biiiiig Mom!” from moving hay and digging in the garden.

As a homeschooler, I have worked to broaden my idea of what “counts” as learning. We do math and English and history….but we also do cooking and gardening and animal husbandry. We read together and make up stories about the creatures that live in the shapes in the trees. Last week, I was regaled by stories of their adventures at “mud suck pond”.

It sounds frivolous, but let’s stop and unpack it for a minute. They are learning to see the beauty around them, and appreciate how nature works when we stay out of the way. They are learning to be less self-centered because the animals need to be fed whether the children feel like it or not. They are learning to gauge whether the biscuit recipe needs to be doubled for our family of 7 and they are learning that proper care of the animals leads to healthier food for our family. Eggs don’t just come from the store like magic. Even though we don’t raise beef cattle, they make the connection that someone worked hard to care for that animal before it came to our table, and we need to make sure it was cared for in the healthiest and most humane way possible. We want our food to only have “one bad day”.
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The job is hard, but the reward is great….and frankly, I’m not above a little bit of a bribe now and then. If you do your chores quickly and without complaint, and your chosen reward is math atop the straw bales with your turkey feather pencil? That’s an easy joy to grant you.

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There is so much more to learning for life besides school books. Glad to see your children are enjoying the "lessons".

And frankly they retain so much more when it's a lesson they've lived vs one they've only read about!!

Homesteading is a great tag to use here in steemit. I was looking for your post there before I realized it wasn't there. Just a little tip! You are doing really great! Your writing is great and the content is a desired read! Thanks for giving Steemit a try!

Thanks for the clue! So homesteadING not homestead?

And thanks for turning me on to the community! It's great!!

I would recommend using #homesteading. It gets a lot more traffic. wink

I too am a homesteader and I also home school and I have learned first hand that book work teaches a lot but living and learning teaches so much more. I focus on history, math, english and I let life teach about science. As you watch the miracle of birth it teaches so much and opens into amazing learning conversations. Keep up the good work your kids will be so much farther ahead and kids that only do the school book grind. Happy homesteading and homeschooling.

Several of my kids have witnessed and assisted their sibling's birth. They treasure that time! And caring for the animals, even if they don't keep animals themselves, teaches them a work ethic like none other! My older kids (who remember life before homesteading) regularly comment on how much they love this. I do to!

Thank you!!

If you do your chores quickly and without complaint, and your chosen reward is math atop the straw bales with your turkey feather pencil?

First off, that is amazing! What a great reward.

We will never again have goats for the first time. Never again will we have the first baby goat born on our homestead frolicking and jumping around. Never again will we have our first barn swallows darting in and out of the rafters like fighter pilots.

It is perspectives like that which make a huge difference in parenting. Excellent job @sarahkroger.

Thank you! Of course it doesn't always work, but sometimes it does and I'll take it! Right? ;)

We don't have goats, though our friends had them before.

But I do sometimes do reading or other homework up in a tree!!

I love that pin!!!
Thanks for sharing!!!

Up a tree is a great place for reading! I'm not sure my little boys will ever read "on the ground"

Now that's home schooling! Thanks for having the courage, the patience & will to yackle such a huge task. My sister homeschools thier kids, really smart well adjusted kids. This not for everyone, but for those who can, there is no better way in my opinion. Keep up the great work!

Thanks! In my experience, God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the call! I have picked up what I need to homeschool along the way. It's a learning experience for all of us!

Very true! Peace be with you & your family...

Sarah, this is gorgeous. I am a new homesteader as of this year with children under two, but I LOVE this new life and the real lessons it teaches. Your article beautifully sums up many of the reasons my husband and I quit our jobs as "normal teachers" and decided to make this crazy move in the first place. I'll be following your journey! Once my kids are old enough, I can't wait to let them to their math in the barn. :)

Thank you! How wonderful! It's hard having two little ones. I have five kids and I will say that two kids is the hardest...it's so hard. What do you raise and grow so far?

We just moved to our land this June, so at the moment we're starting small (ish): we've got four free-range chickens, four ducks , two little dwarf nigerian goats, and two rabbits in pastured rabbit tractors. They're all our "learning animals" (poor dears! But they seem to be doing alright ;) ).

We're focused on fixing up all the poorly-built/breaking down infrastructure that was left behind at the moment, so our garden is a dream for next year!

That's perfect! People a lot farther along than I am say that one major flaw is that people take on too much too fast. If you do too many things at once or move on to the next thing too quickly, you miss the nuance of each part.

What a wonderful way to teach at sarahkroger, I have a daughter who does cyberschooling, and it is so much fun for the children as they are at home. I try to help as well, as I am a little old but this has made me feel so much younger again. I started a whole series of maths and my grandchildren go through it even before I post as they also love my maths. You will never be sorry and what a wonderful childhood your children must have. Enjoy every minute because they grow up so fast. Thanks for sharing with us.

Thank you! It's amazing to see their wonder! I love watching them work hard at something. The latest excitement is discovering a buckeye tree in our pasture. They think it's raining gems from the sky!

Hi Sarah, awesome.

Please add if convenient: "originally published on"; so newer curators as well will have freedom when upvoting

Can you explain this a little more?

Everything is perfect. I am just saying, several who visit your blog may not want to vote, when they see @cheetah's comment underneath your post. But if you add a line saying that the post was originally published by you somewhere, they will more likely upvote. In my case, i checked the cheetah link and saw your name there as well

Oooo, I see. Because it was published somewhere else as well? Got it. That's not typical. That was the case here, but not usually. Thanks!

I'm new here 😉

Yeah, I have seen cheetah do that sometimes. It is usually right...but sometimes not smart.
Hey, it's a Bot!!!

I wonder what @originalworks will say about it!?