Curriculum or Learning

This year has been a tough year. New house, new town, new friends, new church, new vehicle, and new challenges had all taken their toll on our routine. Sitting at my desk, going over papers and tests, I was frustrated. What had my kids really accomplished this year?! I was trying to do an honest assessment so that I would have a starting point for planning the curriculum that I would use next year. I’m sure you’ve been there. It’s that time of year.

Our West Texas Wildlife project had fizzled and died after my computer crashed and we lost all of the pictures we’d taken. We’d only gotten half way through our Astronomy because we needed more work in Math. The Rosetta Stone Spanish got abandoned in January when my computer crashed again! The kids have been told that they will be doing Math through the Summer in order to get back on track.

The more I worked the more discouraged I became. What had happened?! Why couldn’t I follow through?! I had visions of them being 21 before graduating high school.

I came up for air to look around for the suspiciously quiet ladies and gentlemen in question. Adrian was on his computer working on yet another logo in Adobe Photoshop to go with his skateboarding video he was working on in Windows Movie Maker. Terence was out cleaning out his car that he’d bought and fixed up with the local mechanic. Deanna was at the sewing machine making a purse for her sister out of an old pair of jeans, decorating it with scraps of fabric she’d found in my stash. Mikayla was in the art center up to her eyeballs in acrylics, painting a beautiful picture of summer fantasy flowers. Leilani was at the stove in the kitchen making herself a scrambled egg burrito and salad.

Gradually, I began to relax. So, we didn’t get through all of the curriculum I had planned. Life had happened! Opportunities had arisen that we had seized as they came across our path. The children had gravitated toward learning those things which were important to them, which is good. Besides, we did complete their 2nd year of Latin all the way through with straight As and the kids had all made new friends.

Now, that doesn’t mean that we won’t do Math through the summer, but it does mean that I’ll quit stressing over the curriculum that we didn’t get to this year. There will be time for Astronomy and Spanish next year.

I remembered the baby birds that the kids had been keeping an eye on in the beams of our carport and the horny toad that the boys caught so that the girls could examine him. We’d taken field trips to the Guadalupe Mountains, the Davis Mountains, Balmorea and Las Cruces. Just because we hadn’t finished our photography journal, didn’t mean that we hadn’t learned anything -- it just meant that we didn’t get all of the paper work done.

When the opportunity arose for the girls to do a play with some other home schoolers in Alpine, we took it and they learned the 8 parts of speech in a totally new way. When Terence got the opportunity to work with a mechanic and learn about his own car, he took it and learned a lot. When the boys were given the opportunity to clean out the abandoned pool in front of our house and use it as a makeshift skate park, they took and had a blast. When the girls were given the opportunity to take piano lessons, we jumped in with both feet and they all did well.

What am I stressing about?! Isn’t this what home schooling is all about? Of course, it is! We home school so that we can have flexibility and not be tied to any one curriculum or one subject just for the sake of the “points”. Learning, living, laughing, and loving each other are the real goals.

As I went back to my “assessments”, I was looking at them from a different perspective. The curriculum had been only a starting point toward our real goals and we’d done pretty well with those. There were some places for improvement -- attitudes, responsibility, follow through, showing love to one another -- but those were things that needed more practice that any curriculum could provide.

I began writing down what my children DID learn this year and by the time I’d finished I was surprised at the list. Wow!! Learning had been happening in spite of the paperwork! Yea! Success!! I now had so many ideas for next year that I had to tell myself to slow down. After all, there are only so many hours in a day.

So, as we do Math and Reading through the Summer, I’ll relax and tell my children how proud I am of them and what they have accomplished this past year. I’ll take some time to read aloud to them and plan summer trips and outings. Most of all, I’ll take the time to hug them, discover with them and play with them. That’s what it’s really all about.

Summer's End

At Summer’s end, sylvan comrades plan
Their Autumn Rainbow Ball again.
Each Maple dons her glorious gown,
And Pines, their floor of green lay down.
As Autumn noon shines cool and clear,
The height of celebration near,
And so this happy, leafy bower
Splendidly arrayed from toe to tower,
Waves red, orange, gold and green,
And dances in a yellow sheen,
To say farewell to Summer’s heat,
And lay their treasures at Winter’s feet.

Working Cowboy

Desert daze…
Lazy haze…
Rising from the heated ground.
Reddened sand…
Dusty land…
Thorns and cactus all around.

Walking slow…
Bending low…
Sweat trickles down my brow.
Searching here…
Looking there…
We have to find him now.

Broken fence…
Bushes dense…
Water’s very rare.
Stupid steer…
Cowboy career…
Right now it’s hard to care.

Squinting eyes…
Scanning skies…
Swinging up on trusty horse.
Footing sure…
Seat secure…
I let him follow his own course.

Cresting ridge…
Crossing bridge…
The river bed is dry.
Circling ‘round…
Quarry found…
The sun is not yet high.

Shaking rope…
Easy lope…
A loop around his neck.
Turning back…
Giving slack…
Avoiding any wreck.

Walking quick…
Mesquite thick…
We reach his normal place.
Mending wire…
Fingers tire…
The sun and I will race.

Another chore…
Many more…
The work is never done.
Mounting up…
Shouting “giddiup!”…
We’ll go find the other one.

Ending day…
Happy play…
Sun setting in the west.
Today flew…
Tomorrow, too…
We’ll do our very best.