Lessons from the Twentieth Week

The most important lesson for me this week was this: we can fit 20 weeks in the first semester. I am glad I have been keeping track with the blog. This leaves us with 16 weeks for the second semester.

Girl with loom

Our daughter with her bracelet-making loom

When you are a homeschool educator, you make your own schedule. It helps to have a rule of thumb to divide and conquer the academic year. I knew we needed at least 150 days before our annual standardized test in mid-March. Now I know this also means 20 weeks before Christmas break.

The other lesson was that nobody is that motivated during the last week of school before Christmas break – not even this otherwise enthusiastic homeschooling mama. I asked for less and I got less, but we covered four hours of instruction daily.

When we do not sit at the table to do seatwork, we are still learning when we read a book or blow leaves outside. During this week, my daughter received a clever gift from her piano teacher, a loom that braids bracelets and necklaces. Well, she spent hours and hours assembling it and learning how to operate it. That’s arts and crafts. She made several bracelets for herself, for me, and for other relatives. By the third day, I had to order bobin refills.

The third lesson we learned was that we need a break. Yes, we enjoy learning, but we also need a change of pace. It is good for me to be only their mom and not both mom and teacher for the next two weeks. It is good for them to have ample amounts of free time. This is when they learn how they can fit everything they want to do in a day.

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