Last year, I felt fairly prepared to start homeschooling Sunshine in Grade 1. I had my own homeschooling experience to look back on, a support teacher, information and resources I’d been gathering for years, and lots of friends to consult for tips and advice.
Our First Year of Homeschooling
Despite my preparation, we had some struggles. Sunshine was transitioning not only from Kindergarten to Grade 1 but also from private Catholic school to homeschool—and there were many moments when my little social butterfly wanted to be back at school. When homeschooling wasn’t as “fun” as she remembered Kindergarten had been, she resisted.
Other times, when she struggled with reading, I wondered if she had dyslexia (like my dad) or needed glasses (like my husband and I). Some days were good; other days we just survived.
As the year ended, however, I felt like our good moments outweighed our bad moments. We had settled into a routine and homeschooling was going well. I was very excited to start our second year of homeschooing, though I wondered what it would be like to add another student.
Our Second Year of Homeschooling
Now, two months into our 2nd year of homeschool, I am so glad we continued. We have been having an awesome year at home. We have a supportive homeschooling community here in Vancouver, so there are friends I can call upon when Sunshine needs social time. We are doing a new history program this year, which the girls are thoroughly enjoying. We have a good routine.
It has been in homeschooling Lily, however, that I really feel like I’m doing the right thing. I see her having the same struggles Sunshine had last year, making the same mistakes. This time, however, I know this is normal. Sunshine is now reading voraciously, so when Lily stumbles over her little booklets and mixes up “was” and “saw,” I just have to listen to Sunshine read to assure myself that the program works and Lily will learn too.
I also feel like our homeschool routine is important. Lily was at preschool for September through December last year. From January on, she simply joined Sunshine at home, doing little preschool activities and workbooks.
Sunshine has now had a year at home and knows what is expected. This year, there have been very few power struggles. In fact, having Lily doing school too has almost made it easier. I do some subjects with both Lily and Sunshine together, and other times, Sunshine enjoys saying, “It’s her turn to start school today!”
Another neat thing is seeing Jade get involved with her older sisters. She’s two going on six, it seems, and thinks she can do anything they can. So when the girls have a colouring page for history or science, Jade wants one too. When they get out their notebooks, she gets out hers. When they use the pattern blocks or linking cubes or pennies for math, she wants to play with them too.
As a result, she already knows some shapes and all of her colours. I love the way homeschooling lets us do things together this way, so that all the girls are learning from and helping each other.
Likely, we’ll face other struggles or hurdles as we continue to homeschool. I’m happy that we’ve found our sweet spot for this year.
How did your second year of homeschooling differ from your first? What helped affirm your decision to homeschool?
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