The Reuther Diaries: Motherhood of Self Portraits Back to School Edition

I could be roses and butterflies about this post and in some ways I will be. BUT I am going to give you the real truth of homeschooling in the Reuther house right now! We are a disorganized MESS! Yes, I am not afraid to admit it. Surprisingly in all of this mess and interruptions somehow my kids are doing an AMAZING job and learning despite my lack of patience some days and not having as many resources ready as I would like.

We once again this year started school in July. It had been since February since we had done anything. Remember, I had pushed last year to get done before the babies arrived. I knew I would need time. One July morning I woke up and was sick of the chaos and poor habits the kids had acquired so I said we were starting. Do I regret that some days yes. I wish we would have maybe had a fun last hoorah or made a big deal of the first day, but realistically in the place we are those things would not have happened. So, since we started so early we have been able to go slower than normal and some weeks may only do 3 days of school. We stick to a 4 day week anyways. Since I didn't make a big fuss about it either I didn't do pictures until last week.

The fact is the babies are a huge disruption to our day. Some days Ari is too, but he is eager to learn so that is good. They also have made it difficult for me to prep like I normally do on the weekends. Some days I am winging it. I can't complain though because Eli had his first exams today and only missed 2 questions. Lilliana will have her first math test next week and we will see how she is doing.

Our homeschool space still is not complete either. We are just so busy Anthony and I don't even have the brain power to find furniture etc. Although, I think we may just order a couch offline this week along with some other things so we are no longer sitting on the floor. I question my sanity in that aspect, but hey it MIGHT work out. We need to pull out our desks and chairs too. I am hoping this weekend that happens. Slowly but surely we will have our homeschool space complete. The good news is we have a permanent space that just needs some decoration and furniture. We are so much further than the kitchen table these days!

This schedule was several weeks ago. Just as we get a good groove the babies spring something new on us, so even since these have been taken our typical day has changed, but for now here is a rough idea.

I usually drink my coffee, hold babies, and read our read alouds for the day to Eli. This particular day is History. We are continuing our study of Great Britain as it has so much to do with our own U.S. History.

As I have stated before we do a Charlotte Mason philosophy for education. So, Eli is required to narrate what we read. This means he has to tell back to me what he heard. This may seem easy, but it truly is not. He has to pay attention to every datail then tell me all he knows. We have struggled a bit with this this year. He has figured out the quicker he gets through lessons the more time he has. This meant some not so stellar narrations. We had a good talk about it and since then his narrations have improved greatly. I don't prompt him at all for details etc. His job is to tell me everything. It is hard as I myself have had to narrate for him. He also takes some time to read one of his stories too as these books can be challenging and we are working towards him reading his own school books in two years.

During this time Ari and Lilliana do their piano lessons. All three are now doing piano.

When Eli is done with one read aloud he does his piano and I take the younger two upstairs for math and their letter of the week work. As you can see the babies join us for everything.

I have no idea how much longer Ari will continue math with us. Usually formal school is not started for us until 6. Lilliana this year is doing math like I did with Eli and learning her letters. Yes, I realize this is behind what public schools are doing, but that is a BIG reason why we homeschool. I do not feel they need to be doing all that that do that early. I would rather they be playing. Ari loves doing what he is doing though so I let him join. I don't know how we will work next year as Lilliana starts her official year one of Ambleside, but we will see. I actually figured Ari would have run off and stopped doing school with us by now, but he has not.

After the kids do their letter work and Math, it is time for Eli and I to do math. I use to hate math, but I have to say it has become a favorite time of mine. I feel like I am getting a second education and better way to do math than I learned.

Meal times we listen to our classical, hymns, and folk songs. One day a week we take our nature walks. I use to make time to draw in our nature books, but it has become habit with all of them to just draw when they feel ready. During nap time Eli works on his poetry, memorization, foreign language, and copywork. I am so thankful for Anthony as he has taken some of load of school work off of me and takes over Bible every evening before bed. He also does a review with them each day. He really is the natural teacher in the house and fills in gaps that I miss. At this pace we are going we are scheduled to be done at the end of April. This will give me plenty of wiggle room in case we have sick weeks etc.

I took some time to enjoy the lovely September light and took them out for their photos last week. We also combined it with a nature walk. Anthony and the babies joined us too.

Eli Second Grade