Homeschooling at a Try and Observations on the 4 Year Old

I thought a lot about homeschooling recently.  I used to think homeschooling equates inflicting unnecessary pain on oneself (formed in the pre-kids era).  Learning about public school system from Ann and observing Sarah and her children made me realize good individualized instruction can bring out so much potential in the child and it can be fun not to mention rewarding.  The social aspect of homeschool is quite a misnomer (Sarah's kids are most well behaved and sharing I've seen).   Recognizing it's for a limited precious stage in a child life makes me want to take it on for a period of time.  But the selfish part of me and fear for the work and patience required make me not to.  In reality I probably won't.  But at least I'm gaining a lot more appreciation in the process of understanding and trying it out.  Even though I was with Andy everyday but today I learned so much more about him.  Another lesson for me today:  I get much more out of it when I'm fully present for whatever the limited time I have with the children (or anything else for that matter).

We experimented with homeschooling today as we got up late, Andy didn't want to go to school and that I was inspired by Sarah.  We started out with a new puzzle.  I gave some hints helping him getting started and he completed by himself.  He was a little surprised and quite excited when it all came together.

We then worked on making our own flashcards (out of vanilla folder) for new words occurred frequently in this Chinese game book we've been doing one game a day at bedtime reading time (which he does the reading nowadays).  I thought it'd be nice not to get stumbled on the same unknown characters all the time.  I asked him to pick the color and I wrote the words.  After enough characters we laid out the cards to make sentences.  I'm always amazed by how fast he learns words.  I realize one benefit of individualized schooling: you can go as fast as the child absorbs the material.

We then ran out of door for the 11am yoga class.  Andy followed the poses for the first 15minutes and then decided to just sit on his mat for the most part and observed with a big grin.  Others commented how lucky I was having two so well behaved boys at yoga (Daniel slept through the whole hour again).


We watched this 18 minute video by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor (and other silly videos) on my phone while he waited for me nursing.  It's about a nuroanatomist's personal experience of brain hemorrhage.  I find it fascinating.  Also amused that Andy watched the whole thing so intently (I explained some while watching).

After lunch we did a nature walk, which turned out to be longer as we decided to head to the library.  It was a lovely sunny day for it.  On the way back to the car, we both complained about tiring (1.5 miles as I looked on google maps afterwards, a bit heavy for carrying a 10 lb baby plus books in one hand and whining Andy in the other).

It was after 3 by the time we got home.  Andy agreed to some quiet time.  I was amazed he stayed in the room for a full hour (though not quiet).  I heard a lot of banning and learned later that he was playing hurricane in bed.  I also heard him reading (or making up stories) books a lot.  The rest of the afternoon went by quickly.  We reviewed the flashcards and did another game out of the Chinese book.  He did the Dr. Seuss puzzle again all by himself while I cooked.  He then suggested we do it together for another round and discovered half way "I don't need mama's help any more."  I like that smile.


After lights out, Andy told me his favorite thing of the day was yoga and that he was most grateful for  mama didn't send him to school.  I said I was also most grateful that we got to spend the day together and that there were lots of my favorites today: him completing the puzzle by himself, our walk, yoga, him figuring out one of the pattern games by himself, the brain video we watched together, etc.  I find I become happier and more grateful realizing there were so many good little moments in a day when I try to come up with such summary list.

I realize by the end of the day that instead of calling it formally "homeschooling" (which sounds a little daunting to me), it's just me spending quality time with Andy with some learning emphasis.  I'm still learning his interests at this 4 year old stage and how to engage him.  I continue to be amazed by his long attention span when observing new things and his much better developed logic reasoning now compared to a year ago (yes have to reason with him instead of giving instruction now).  I also realize I've always had this teaching opportunity in smaller doses on other days too. But often times I would either be busy showing him stuff (festivals, parties, hikes, etc) or not fully present (in a rush to make a reasonable bed time or worrying about splitting time for work or art).  Today it was all about having a few activities in mind and then just play by ear about what to do next, so I was able to appreciate the time together without the rush.