This week didn’t go quite right. The 8-year-old had a lot of rough moments, the 7-year-old was tired, and the 10-year-old started the week out great, but by Thursday, we weren’t crossing everything off. Our dishwasher broke. I decided today would be better spent fixing the dishwasher and giving everyone a break from mom bugging them about math and spelling. It was a weird week. We didn’t get through all that was planned.
That doesn’t mean anything is wrong with our curriculum or our homeschooling style. It just means it was a rough week, and even though it’s been six months since my mother-in-law died, we’re still having a lot of emotions some days. It doesn’t mean we’re terrible homeschoolers.
It’s hard not to get caught up in that thought process. Especially when there are a lot of people in the peanut gallery offering unsolicited advice. The thing is, despite us not checking off every item on our lists, we did check off a lot of items. We also followed a lot of rabbit holes while we were learning. Instead of moving to the next thing, I worked on answering those big juicy questions that came up (and recorded what we did to do that).
Sometimes, the homeschooling road gets wobbly; sometimes, that even happens right out of the gate. It doesn’t mean there’s a mismatch. We’ll still pick up and continue to work through our planned curriculum, but something really amazing happens on those days we follow rabbit holes and deep dives. My kiddos are learning what interests them, how fun it is to learn things, and perhaps most importantly, how to learn.
Instead of throwing up your arms, the next time things get a little wobbly for a minute, focus on what did get done. Write down the different tangents you took. I’ll bet there was still a lot of education happening then. Then, at the next available moment (do not wait for the perfect moment, just reset where you are at), get back on the path you laid out. That’s what I plan to do on Monday.
Published by Ronda Bowen
Hello there, and welcome to my page! I have been working as a full-time freelance writer and editor since 2008 when I decided that while I rather enjoyed philosophy, the Ph.D. program I was in was not a good fit for my life goals. Since then, I have published many papers and articles, started two blogs, worked as a senior editor for a magazine, served on the board of a start-up non-profit organization, and walked across fire.
I strongly believe that it is important to work to make the world a better place – one project at a time. I’ve worked with Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build program to construct living quarters for those in need, written content for Stonewall Alliance, and edited the newsletter for my local natural foods cooperative. One of the blogs I founded, Activism My Way is dedicated to helping people get involved with causes they feel passionate about.
Although my academic background is in philosophy and social and political theory, my heart has always been in writing fiction and poetry. I have a novel in progress, and I am working on putting together a collection of short stories to share with readers. I also worked as part of a creative team on a project with a hip hop artist that involved world-building and creating an amazing back story to a concept album. I have worked with several authors to edit their novels (as well as dissertations, children’s books, journal articles, and non-fiction projects).
Non-fiction topics I have written about include pop culture and philosophy, project management, business startups and management, insurance, technology, and much more. I also have created web content for a wide variety of clients (ranging from gas station owners to hotels to lawyers), and I’ve had an opportunity to interview some amazing people (Michele May, Kevin Sorbo, Barbara Taylor Bradford, and Mark Victor Hansen to name only a few). Needless to say, I love what I do.
I enjoy photography, and my subjects these days are usually my children as well as food, beverages, craft projects, and other such things for my blog, Wining Wife™. My favorite subjects are landscapes, nature (particularly clouds, flowers, and trees), and architecture.
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Just a Secular Homeschooler 