An update on homeschooling

I was talking with Julia yesterday about homeschooling and she mentioned that we’ve already completed five weeks of school. Wow! Seems like that’s gone really fast. Here’s a quick update on how things are going.

Overall, things are going very well. I will repeat, and I know I say this whenever I talk about homeschooling, that there are always ups and downs. Some days Elijah just has a hard time focusing, or just gets too silly. Usually the biggest problem is that he just wants to talk. He’s got all kinds of ideas and dreams and plans and questions and comments and he has to tell somebody about all of these things. It literally has to come out of his mouth to somebody, or he will explode! This doesn’t always make for the best learning time, though. Julia does her best to keep him on track and focused, but sometimes it’s a battle. That was mostly what he struggled with in public school as well, so it’s not a surprise.

I don’t know if he fully realizes how much different homeschooling is than Public School. I think his memories of public school are a little romanticized, and what I mean by that is he mainly remembers the good parts of it. But things like how long it was, how quick the lunch was, and how little he could talk are a little farther away in his mind. Maybe we’ll have to send him back for a week just so he can see how nice he’s got it at home!

We think we have been doing a good job at giving him some outlets for socialization. He goes to art class, Good News Club, and we will be starting him back at a kid’s Bible study group probably this week. This group meets at a church close to our home. It’s not the church that we attend regularly, but this church runs a preschool that he attended and we know the pastor there. So, at this point he has a few different places where he can go and interact with different kids his own age. As he recovers more and as he gets older we’ll look for more things to do, but right now this is a good amount.

I will say that for me, it’s nice having him home. I missed him when he was at school, and I like the extra time I get to see him now. I know Julia feels the same too. And so far, he still likes spending time with us too!

By the way, it was present day today! He loves getting art supplies, and couldn’t wait to try them out. Thank you Finley family!