Keepin' it fun...

In an alternate reality, I am an awesome homeschooling mama.  I get up at 5am to lay out our lessons for the day, which I have spent hours researching and planning.  For the rest of the day I engage my brood in activities that promote their creativity, problem solving and higher order thinking skills.  In that reality I don’t have cellulite or an addiction to chocolate.   Hey, it’s my alternate reality I can be hot if I want!

In this reality, I drag my butt out of bed at 6am kicking and screaming to try to squeeze in a workout before my kids jump out of bed 100% ready for their first adventure.  Homeschooling is not the right choice for my family.  I know it and I’m okay with it though I still aspire to that most days.

So, we do a lot of educational activities at home.  The goal is always fun b/c children learn best in the context of play.  And they learn when the lessons are relevant and meaningful.  That means that we do very little drill & practice type activities.  The kids' interests guide our exploration which means that we've done everything from dinosaurs to robots to castles.  I see princesses & babies in our future!

Of course, all our fun activities serve another purpose.  They combat boredom, and not just the kids'.  This is one of the secrets of being a stay-at-home mom that I wish someone had warned me about.  It can be mind-numbingly, want to gouge out your own eyes with a fork for a break from the monotony, boring.  Or maybe it's just me that gets bored.  So, selfishly, I like doing a variety of activities to keep myself entertained as well as feeling a little like that awesome homeschooling mama from time to time.

I'll share some of our ideas for activities so maybe you can keep yourself from getting bored your kids challenged and stimulated!