Learning How to "Do School"

I found another homeschool blog to follow, and a couple of days ago, they featured this post.  Even though I don't struggle with this problem with my own five-year old boy, it was a nice reassurance that so far, I am doing things just fine with our school. 

I had great plans at the beginning of the school year to homeschool five days a week, for 28 weeks, until we finished the kindergarten curriculum I had bought.  We started the year in October, because September was a very busy month with a lot of company visiting.  We did our lessons as faithfully as we could until Thanksgiving, when we traveled back to IL to visit with family.  When we returned home, we found out that I was (unexpectedly) expecting our fourth child.  And then the morning sickness and fatigue hit.  Except it wasn't just in the morning, and it wasn't just any old fatigue.  I was sick ALL day long, more so in the evening, and tired ALL of the time.  I often fell asleep after lunch while the kids played nearby and the baby took a nap.  All this to say, we didn't do school for a while. I kept telling myself that we would get back at it after Christmas, and we did, for a few days, but not with the excitement that I had previously had.  Then, my baby decided to quit taking a morning nap, which meant that the time of day when my kids were most eager to learn was also when my baby was very fussy and needy, and it made it pretty difficult to teach them in the mornings.  So we quit again for a while. 

So, we still haven't gotten back into a routine of school.  I was feeling pretty guilty about it a couple of days ago, until I realized how much my kids already know.  My five-year-old wouldn't have even been able to go to kindergarten in the public schools this year because he was too young.  However, he can: read, write all of the upper- and lower-case letters, do simple addition, count past 100, name all shapes and colors, follow directions to build Legos, and probably change the oil in our van and the lawn mower.  He knows more about how an engine works than I do, and he creates things with Tinker-toys and his marble run that I would never be able to come up with on my own.  He can also tie his own shoes!  So, even though we haven't officially "done school" for most of this year, he has continued to learn and grow every day.  He eagerly reads now, where as a few weeks ago he viewed it as a chore.  When he expresses interest in a certain topic, we go to the library and check out books about that topic, and find videos and articles on the Internet to educate us. 

My three year old has learned and grown this year, too. She knows all of her letters, the sounds they make (all but two or three), and can write her own name.  She knows how to spell "mama" and "papa" and the names of her siblings as well.  She is learning how to count to 100.  We read books aloud every afternoon and again every evening before bed.  She will be reading on her own before I know it. 

I don't feel guilty at all when I think of how this "school year" has turned out, even though it is quite different than what I had planned back in September.  My kids enjoy learning, whether it is from YouTube videos or books from the library or from the Bible.  I have learned to view everyday matters as opportunities to teach my kids.  We learn every day, in every situation, from going to the grocery store to baking cookies in the kitchen.  As long as my children express an interest in learning and continue to enjoy it, I will feel like we are succeeding as a homeschooling family.