Last year was our very first year (like many families) homeschooling. As we prepare for our Summer Home School I am caused to reflect on the last year.

First and foremost I am incredibly grateful that we have the blessed opportunity for me to stay home with the 3wilds and to homeschool. Homeschool as I have mentioned before, had always been in the back of our minds and hearts but never took the leap. COVID gave us that leap.

As much as we loved being home together, and as much as we drove each other barking mad, we definitely experienced some ups and downs along the way. The number one lesson we took was be flexible. I am not the person to set up desks and assignments and mimic school the institution. No way. However the curriculum that we chose made us be more at the table than I would have liked. For our 5th grader we went with a free online program which required more screen time than I anticipated plus all of the supply lists. I ended up with lots of surprise lists too which was frustrating and led to us skipping some lessons altogether.

Another aspect I struggled with was consistency of scheduling. We love morning time, it is our favorite part of the day where we all gather around the table for read aloud and the kids get to do quiet handicrafts. Morning time is the best! We struggled with the follow up and continuation of the day. Constantly being pulled from and very parent involved kindergarten curriculum and an online program that just was not a good fit for my fifth grader.

We made it through the year, all of us feeling like we barely did so. We ended up having a morning time meeting where we talked about the whole year, our likes and dislikes and what could be different and then my fifth grader said, “if we do online again, I would rather go back to school.” I felt like a failure with 12 words. I failed, ugh. It took some time to reflect and see where it went wrong, when I discussed it more in depth with him, it turned out he simply hated being online (I did not like it either) and so when I offered a different approach/curriculum he was quick to tell me with that change he would rather stay home.

As much as we struggled, I was so thankful for the ease in which our days continued, no phone calls from principals or teachers, no crying kids off of the bus because they were teased, taunted and even physically hurt like we experienced in years before. I am grateful that the whole bully issue does not even touch our door step and we are free from the worry of our children being hurt or harmed by their peers for no reason other than to cause pain. Our kids of course experience their own squabbles, teasing and regular sibling interaction – but we are in control of the problem solving and discipline that comes with it.

All in all, we are ready to take on a new school year from home. With a new curriculum that is created on a scaffolding scheme and a family style approach, the kids are already LOVING their summer mini unit (more to come when we are finished and we can give an honest review).

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!