Still homeschooling?

Our homeschooling has been going on as usual, with me pushing the kids to hurry up and finish their OHVA curiculum so we can move on to more interesting stuff (like actual homeschooling). I am now able to discern the difference between schooling at home and homeschooling, and charter schools utilized for the home and anything of the like is basically school at home in my humble opinion. This year, my eyes have been forced open to see this clearly, thanks to the presence of Baby Z, who basically upped the pace and drove my stress hormones to indescribable speed, thereby forcing me to fish for a solution, which then resulted in me scouring books about homeschooling.

Not that I haven't done it before (scouring through homeschooling books), but I had done so with calm, not with anxiety. It's only when you taste hardship that your heart and eyes are truly open to new perspectives (at least that's my take on it now), and this school year, hardship would somewhat describe our homeschooling experience. And like a domino effect, hardship begets wonders. A Muslim's affair is always good. Therefore, I have discovered wonders. I have discovered that homeschooling is not necessarily about academics. Many parents worry incessantly about their kids achievement in school, fretting over their kids' grades, burying their heads in anguish over why their kid is behind in spelling or arithmetic. I completely relate, for I used to be one of those parents.

Our mission statement with regards to homeschooling now has changed, I believe. It is no longer about them mastering math concepts at their level or above their grade level. it's no longer about them mastering certain skills in Science at their grade level or above. It's about developing, attaining, maintaining, and increasing the love of learning. That's what it should have been in the first place.

Children have a natural curiosity which we by the way, have been tampering with by subjecting them to one- size-fits-all curiculum. We are taking away their individuality by grouping them as one student body and presenting them with a standard product, and expecting them to absorb it. Over the years, then, children have been absorbing those knowledge like robots, whether they lie to or not, and children who protest in their own ways, are labeled disruptive or problematic. In some countries, they are labeled with ADHD and given drugs. Long ago, such students were usually taken out of school, and some have been let 'loose' to pursue their own individual interests and have turned out to be notable people like Thomas Edison. But now, they have become one of the drug-laden children. Sad, isn't it?

I have noticed that my kids' eyes light up when they are discovering things on their own, with no force or pushing from me.

H's chatter would gush out as he explains newfound knowledge or new reflections or hypotheses. N's joy would gradually shine through as she softly shares new facts or information she has just learned from a book. S would glow with building confidence as she presents new animal facts that are unknown to the rest of us.

Left to their own devices, I have discovered that my kids learn better than when I sit there and instruct them in their lessons. Just recently, they managed to master the use of Powerpoint, and tweak the desktop. I don't even remember how it started, but when TV is off limits, trust me, creativity flourishes and the results just astound you.

So, while waiting to finish OHVA, we more or less pushed on with our Quran routine, which at times is left dangling. As Rh now comes to our house again every Friday to teach the kids 'Islamic Studies', they have resumed memorizing Surahs. I had held it bay especially for N because I needed to recuperate and find a way to do it without stretching myself too thin. Hubby has been persistently supervising and helping H memorize, and even that takes a lot of commitment, energy (emotional, mental and physical), and time. S is usually told to review her Yusuf, and N is somewhat abandoned. And I resumed their Quran reading, though to be more realistic, considering I have a baby who wants to nurse and has trouble napping at times, I have split up reading with each child after salat. Some days I will do just N after Zuhr, and the rest after Asr, and some days I will do two of them after Zuhr and the remaining one after Asr, but some days I only get to do one or two of them after the salat. Post fajr though, alhamdulillah, has been more or less consistently Quran time, though it's also the time that Baby Z needs his bath, and food.

While hubby does the memorization with the one of the kids, I do mine, and Baby Z plays with one of them. It has been a challenge, a real challenge to juggle the 3 kids with just the Quran, especially in trying to be consistent.

As for other stuff, since we always put on audio lecture CDs in the van, they get their dose of 'Islamic studies' informally on grocery shopping trips and outings. H gets his share of that in the Jumaah khutbahs too. On their own time, they busy themselves with reading, to the point that it actually annoys us, especially when they are so absorbed in their books that they are oblivious to everything else around them, including our repeated calls.

So, yes, we are still homeschooling, with a 'school at home' curriculum and informal natural learning resources, not to mention the archery, wrestling, and ceramics classes they are attending, alhamdulillah.

What is touted by homeschoolers to homeschooling moms with burnout:

Even if you don't teach for that day, your children are still benefiting.

I found that very hard to swallow before I changed my mindset about the natural learning process and learning opportunities. Now, I actually am able to see this natural learning occuring even when I'm not actively instructing or teaching them. Subhanallah! Sometimes less is more, huh?