Homeschool Fits & Starts

The transition to a homeschool family has begun, albeit complicated by schedules, slow internet connections, and the lack of access to quality public libraries and mail delivery of materials. Thanks to our recent time in the US, we´ve built up a fairly adequate supply of materials and began our journey back to Ocosingo ready to begin.

One of the more interesting aspects has been the eagerness with which the girls approached this new endeavor. All of their friends had already begun school for this year, and their internal clock began to sound alarms in their heads saying "It´s time to get busy here...we need to be in school too!" So, as soon as we got back, we were off and running....well....I wouldn´t necessarily say "running," but we were off and moving anyway!

Maggie did great as long as there was 1:1 instruction, and Holly did great as long as the internet connection to Keystone National High School was live and fast. However, as the internet got slow then went down altogether, Holly needed attention, which left Maggie waiting for me to return. Our first homeschool day began promptly at 9AM and ended at nearly 5PM! Not exactly what any of us had in mind! By mid-day, my mantra became, "Just remember, we´re all learning as we go here. It´s gonna take us some time to get into a rhythm, so just try to be patient and not get discouraged." I guess I was telling them that as a way to remind myself!

Well, since then, we had Saturday school in anticipation of being in language school for the next 2 weeks. The 2nd day went better, and we´re hoping that we can get in a little time for other subjects in-between the 6 hours of Spanish every day.

I suppose that most new homeschool parents (and their kids too, probably) have a fantasy idea of how it´ll all work, and then, like most fantasies, are modified by the reality that things almost never work like we fantasize. For now, just keep praying that we can all be patient with each other and find ways around the little stuff --- allowing us to stay on-task enough, be free enough to explore and benefit from the experience, and keep loving each other along the way!