Author: Rebecca Grace || Earnest Mom

Earnest Mom follows our journey from a school based system into home learning with my wild and free three - and regular momming life. S (15), E (10) and J (7) are my three who make me want to be a better person every single day. We love God, reading aloud, sharing stories, building blocks, nature hikes, family suppers, and trying to be kind caring humans to those around us. Home learning is a whole new world to us and we are so thankful that you have stopped in to join the ride. Follow us on Instagram @earnestmomblog Bless, Rebecca
And Bless All of Those in the Battles.

And Bless All of Those in the Battles.

by Rebecca Grace || Earnest Mom ♥ 1 Comment

Today was November 11th, in Canada it was Rememberance Day and here in the US, Veteran’s Day. Our homeschool focus was on Flander’s Fields and poppies. Growing up in Canada poppies were a regular thing every November – toss a loonie or two into the can at Tim’s and get your poppy for the month (my fellow canucks, you get me here). To my children this was a whole new world.

We took the time from our read aloud morning time to listen to Flander’s Fields (we used the recording here, by Leonard Cohen), then watched this historical video for the kids about how poppies were chosen, when they started being used for Remembrance Day and how they help so many today. We followed with this beautiful short animation released by BBC a few years back about the war from the animal’s perspective. To end it we waited until 11:00 am and had our two moments of silence while we viewed the Royal Canadian Legion’s Two Minutes of Silence video that allowed us to see the faces of many who were fallen, wounded and survived the past wars.

I was a bit nervous at first, worried that they may not fully understand or even take it seriously because, well, I am mom and sometimes mom just does weird stuff! They were so engaged, interested and then to see the faces of service men and women on the video as we sat in perfect silence for two minutes, they were moved. They immediately wanted to start making their own poppies (which we were not prepared for but will be done another day since poppies keep popping up all over our home learning journey – maybe in water color, but I digress), they also wanted to know more. We listened to another rendition of Flander’s Fields, looked up images of Flander’s Fields and then researched how poppies grow and why they would grow after battles. Our poppy adventure took us “off course” for the day, but I followed the natural instincts of my children’s interests and we learned so much together.

Tonight as I tucked my middle little into bed, ended her prayers with “and God, please bless all of those in the battles, now and before.” I was shocked, she was actually absorbing what we were learning! In this home school gig – I am constantly being amazed. There is no “behind,” we are where we are, there is no “off track,” because we are exactly where this journey is leading us. We are engaged, joyful and interested in what we are learning every day. I did not know it could be like this, I did not know how blessed home schooling could truly be!

Deadly Poppy Fields…and other anecdotes.

Deadly Poppy Fields…and other anecdotes.

by Rebecca Grace || Earnest Mom ♥ 1 Comment

We are six weeks into home schooling. During that time I have had surgery, 3wild3free-dad’s work schedule has had him gone 10 hours daily, we brought home a little pup and I quit coffee (this last item being a huge deal for me since coffee has been a great love of mine for decades, alas health trumps in this instance). We also read The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum followed by the movie; as I am a firm believer of reading the book before watching the movie, went on a field trip to a horse ranch, had the Young Thomas Edison video call us for a biographical lesson (thank you to my amazing brother for that!) and had my three year old ask Alexa to play Bach! So far, this has definitely been a wild ride.

To be honest, most days I feel like I am winging it. I have a planner, I have daily plans…then life sweeps in and we end up rolling with it. Homeschooling has been so liberating, stressful at first but now that we are getting into the groove of things – there is so much freedom in being able to do our own thing.

It so happened that while we were reading the Wizard of Oz, we ended up studying Claude Monet in our art lessons. Claude Monet is one of my favorite artists and I have a print of Poppies framed in our hallway, that same week we read the chapter The Deadly Poppy Fields in the Wizard of Oz. As we researched and made our own Monet sketches, I brought the kids into the hallway to see our Poppies print. My eldest exclaimed, “We have an actual Monet?!” and my middle little cried out, “Poppies?! Are the deadly?!” So far this has been one of my favorite moments; just like that, not only did they actually see an artist’s work that has hung in our homes for the last 12 years – but they also were able to connect the Wizard of Oz to it. This evolved into asking many questions of poppies which led to discussions and research from the flowers, to the seeds we have in the spice cupboard, to why we wear poppies on November 11 in Canada (yes, we are in the USA but I am a Canadian and observe a moment of silence at 11am on 11/11 every year).

This learning happened so naturally, so easily that it helped me to see that homeschooling is a constant. We are continually as parents, taking our life and applying it to where they are in their curriculums. This was an unknown element to me until a few weeks ago. I am now looking at planning from a completely different angle: how does this correlate into our current family life? I am thrilled to have this freedom.

We are now incorporating the women’s vote since it is the 100th anniversary plus an election year; we have a family field trip to Kentucky to see the Ark so the water cycle plus the book of Genesis are in our lesson plans; with family in Canada and no schoolmates to present to – my eldest will be doing virtual presentations on his science, geography and history projects to family we cannot see but online. My kids have recently watched The Greatest Showman and are obsessed, so along with our Edison era history studies I have included a study on the Barnum family and how the circus began. They learn so much more when they are interested and enjoying what we are doing. I feel like I am having as much fun as they are because I am learning too.

We do have our off days, as most do but that is life. We have the freedom to hit the brakes, enjoy tea and cookies in our jammies with extra read aloud time, and make up the math lessons later that week! When I feel like maybe we are not doing enough, I walk past our Poppies print and remember how much they are learning, even when I am not seeing all the dots connecting.

Many of the worries and fears that I had going into homeschooling are slowly fading into the background. I am leaning more on our life, values and experiences to lead our learning versus trying to fit us into some mold that resembles what school the institution says it should look like. This homeschool journey is growing me, taking me places I would have never expected; and it is incredible.

Rest Among the Sunflowers.

Rest Among the Sunflowers.

by Rebecca Grace || Earnest Mom ♥ 1 Comment

Yesterday was hard. This was our first full week of home school, and it was riddled with doctors appointments, surgery scheduling, new medications and an unexpected medical diagnosis – and that was just for me! Yesterday was Friday and I have scheduled our home learning to happen in bulk on Mondays through Thursdays with Fridays as a catch up and field trip day. This Friday was tough.

We started the day out smooth and things were well, until I used out reminder boards to write the “finish up” work left from the week. The minute I wrote the reminders (which were literally; math, science, history and backgammon) my eldest shut down. Immediately there were tears, clenched jaw and fists and frustration. Not understanding what had happened I was quick to stop everything and address his immediate need. He would not talk, he just cried. Pulled a blanket over his head stood at the dining room table and cried.

I was baffled. So I enlisted the help of my husband with the younger two so we could work through what ever this was that had infiltrated my son. I squeezed him close, got to eye level and asked what happened. He pointed to the reminder boards and said “Those are too much pressure. Last year at school Mrs “Teacher” would write our names, the list of work that we needed to get done and if it was not done we would lose things. We would lose recess, we would lose game time or even iPad time. I always lost out because I could never finished in time.” He sobbed. I could not help it, I cried too. While I completely and utterly respect traditional school, this felt like we needed to detox and shake off the old “school expectation” pressure and hand in hand, walk into home school expectations together.

I walked him over to the little reminder boards, held him close and said “Buddy, please know I am not your teacher – I am your mother. We are safe, learning at home and this school work will never, ever be a threat over you and losing out on anything. The amazing thing about learning at home is we do not have to be restrained by overwhelming deadlines, timetables and keeping beat to someone else’s drum. We are in this together, all of us at home. It is safe here.”

The rest of the afternoon called for a break – early day this Friday. He hopped in the truck and went to a work run with dad, then in the middle of the run they stopped to explore the sunflowers. The huge blue sky above, the reassuring foundation of earth beneath their feet at the cool breeze blew the sweet smell of sunflowers on his face. The deadlines, pressure and frustration all blew away on that same breeze and he found joy in the pure simple beauty of the sunflower field.

Home learning this week was not exactly as I had hoped, we had our ups and we had our downs but we also had the power to take any break needed and literally stop to smell the flowers. I went to bed excited to see what this year has in store for us, as we learn at home, together.