Last year was such a success in homeschooling Sierra. She used a program called Switched on Schoolhouse which was all on the computer. All I had to do was put in the dates and it figured out her lesson plan for her. It was completely independent. What parent wouldn't love that.
Success, yes...the right thing to do? Possibly not. Earlier this past week, I sat in Sierra's room and we had a long talk. For a LONG time now, we have been dealing with her being tired ALL THE TIME. All I hear ALL day LONG is how tired she is. This girl is L-A-Z-Y!! We have changed her diet. We have altered her sleep patterns. We have seen doctors. We came up with an answer...allergies. We start on a regimen. Than something magical happened.............she went to camp and we bought a trampoline. Sounds random, huh?
Well, first let's start with camp. She went to camp with her Student Ministry and instead of having a knock your socks off experience (which is always good, but too often seems to be followed by a crash down to earth), she experienced insight into her life and changes she needs to make. She found that there are areas of "obsession" that was taking her focus off where it needed to be. She made the conscious decision to re-focus her life and the changes have been A-MAZING!! She is serving more, she is watching less TV and You Tube and she is taking less than 3 hours to get ready to go anywhere!!
She came home from camp and found we had bought a trampoline. She has spent every day on it since she got home. She has never been so active...gotten so much fresh air and sun....EXERCISED as much.
So, what does any of this have to do with Switched on Schoolhouse. I sat on my daughter's floor earlier last week and we were discussing the Sierra before and the Sierra now. During school, she would easily spend 4-5 hours staring at a computer screen. She would just sit at her desk, or on her bed, or in her chair with a computer on her lap. NO WONDER she was tired and lethargic all the time. There is no closure to what she would do. No books to close and put up....no set time to get up and stretch. With everything all in one place, it was just too easy to get sucked in. Her breaks would consist of getting on You Tube....while in her chair, bed or desk.
As we talked, we both realized that we need to change things up. We talked about how if she had different subjects with BOOKS, how easily she can change her surroundings. If she wants to do history on the trampoline, she can....if we need to go somewhere, she can bring her science with her. And there is something to be said for closing your completed workbook...getting up off of whatever you are planted on...and putting it up....stretching...getting a bottle of water....maybe jumping on the trampoline.
An interesting thing happened at this point. She said, "Maybe you and I can have some one on one time each day like you do with Daniel." Was she missing that last year? Did I drop the ball? Did I let her get too independent? Wow. As I look at different curriculum I think will work well for her, I can see joy in her face as I spend as much time and energy on her as I have been on Daniel. Daniel is only going into 2nd grade, he will need more of me than she will, but this awakened something in me. Homeschooling is more than an educational opportunity, it is a relational one, too.
Success, yes...the right thing to do? Possibly not. Earlier this past week, I sat in Sierra's room and we had a long talk. For a LONG time now, we have been dealing with her being tired ALL THE TIME. All I hear ALL day LONG is how tired she is. This girl is L-A-Z-Y!! We have changed her diet. We have altered her sleep patterns. We have seen doctors. We came up with an answer...allergies. We start on a regimen. Than something magical happened.............she went to camp and we bought a trampoline. Sounds random, huh?
Well, first let's start with camp. She went to camp with her Student Ministry and instead of having a knock your socks off experience (which is always good, but too often seems to be followed by a crash down to earth), she experienced insight into her life and changes she needs to make. She found that there are areas of "obsession" that was taking her focus off where it needed to be. She made the conscious decision to re-focus her life and the changes have been A-MAZING!! She is serving more, she is watching less TV and You Tube and she is taking less than 3 hours to get ready to go anywhere!!
She came home from camp and found we had bought a trampoline. She has spent every day on it since she got home. She has never been so active...gotten so much fresh air and sun....EXERCISED as much.
So, what does any of this have to do with Switched on Schoolhouse. I sat on my daughter's floor earlier last week and we were discussing the Sierra before and the Sierra now. During school, she would easily spend 4-5 hours staring at a computer screen. She would just sit at her desk, or on her bed, or in her chair with a computer on her lap. NO WONDER she was tired and lethargic all the time. There is no closure to what she would do. No books to close and put up....no set time to get up and stretch. With everything all in one place, it was just too easy to get sucked in. Her breaks would consist of getting on You Tube....while in her chair, bed or desk.
As we talked, we both realized that we need to change things up. We talked about how if she had different subjects with BOOKS, how easily she can change her surroundings. If she wants to do history on the trampoline, she can....if we need to go somewhere, she can bring her science with her. And there is something to be said for closing your completed workbook...getting up off of whatever you are planted on...and putting it up....stretching...getting a bottle of water....maybe jumping on the trampoline.
An interesting thing happened at this point. She said, "Maybe you and I can have some one on one time each day like you do with Daniel." Was she missing that last year? Did I drop the ball? Did I let her get too independent? Wow. As I look at different curriculum I think will work well for her, I can see joy in her face as I spend as much time and energy on her as I have been on Daniel. Daniel is only going into 2nd grade, he will need more of me than she will, but this awakened something in me. Homeschooling is more than an educational opportunity, it is a relational one, too.
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