Goal #2 from "the list"

Goal #2:
Make getting all the schoolwork done a priority for the boys.

Sometimes this is difficult.  I make a schedule.  Really, I do.  But I have four rambunctious guys, who really have better things to do than sit around with schoolbooks. 

I try to promote a "learning lifestyle" - everything we do is learning.  It doesn't all come from books.  Of course we have books - lots of them.  We also have text books.  We use those and workbooks in conjunction with math and grammar.  We also do a lot of creative writing, reading together, watching videos. finding out stuff on our own, and we go on lots of field trips.  I think so many lessons can't come from books - like how to get along with others, how to work, how to serve, how to create and invent.  So, while we do hit the books in the morning and get that part "out of the way" (and yes, some homeschool kids do really see their schoolwork as something to just.get.done) we usually leave the afternoons open for some fun, or for them to just have time on their own to BE.  To exist.  To be human "beings", as opposed to human "doings".

I will admit that sometimes the drawback to being relaxed in our approach is that sometimes I don't feel like we are doing enough.  I know we are, we get all our hours in every year.  But I keep falling back into the idea that "school" is "bookwork".  And I have to shake myself out of that and remember that "school" is "life".

And there is much more to life than textbooks and workbooks. 

So really, this is an important goal - school needs to be their priority.  But sometimes the definition of "school" needs to get revamped a bit.

And now, just because it is my blog and I can, I would like to share pictures from the spelling bee last week.  Ben and Tony both competed.  It was a very small bee, but we had fun.

Tony - he looked so huge up there on the stage!

Ben is in the back, there, with the other finalists.  The winner from each grade went to the spell-off.  He didn't place there, but I thought we did pretty good, considering we'd never even ATTENDED a spelling bee before!

Tony and Ben with their ribbons.