Why We Quit Our Homeschool Year Early

Our homeschool year went really well, for the most part.  We had many days like our Day in the Life post, and the boys have learned a ton.  But sometime in April, the motivation stopped.  We had yardwork and trips and busy days and stressful days and catch up days and we got to the point where we had more days off than actual school days.

So we stopped.

photo credit from pexels.com

Initially I was hit with the mom guilt.  We should be doing school.  I should be making it work.  Am I teaching my kids that life is more important than school?  Well, actually, yes.

We stopped having schoolwork days because our learning started happening in the business of life.  The boys got to see me working on the blog and on other projects behind the scenes.  Seeing me work on things, find out how they run, and create things I’m passionate about is important, even if they don’t fully understand all that I’m doing.

They got ample science time from being outside now that the weather has warmed up.  We talked about which plants we wanted to keep and which were weeds in our landscaping.  We planted a garden and they watched their dad build a fence.  They watched their grandpa and their uncle tinker with a tiller and get it working again (that was a story I shared in my email newsletter – sign up here so you don’t miss the next one!)

We had math lessons making change at our garage sale.  They got a real life lesson in money and taxes when we took their piggy banks full of change to the bank to turn them into paper money, and they picked out a toy at the store and paid for it themselves.

We still talk about what day of the week it is, and have family devotions, and read books.  But we’ve shifted into that relaxed summer mode of learning a little bit early this year.  Because life.  And life is full of learning opportunities.