Losing Play as a Working Homeschool Mom

One of the biggest perks/draws of homeschooling and the homeschooling community is free play. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/10/all-work-and-no-play-why-your-kids-are-more-anxious-depressed/246422/ In our area, there are lots of meet ups at parks, preserves, beaches, etc of homeschooling families gathering for the sole purpose of free play.   But my kids and I can’t attend because of my work schedule.   And if there are events on my days off, I’m so often just too tired to gather up the kids and go. 

One of the biggest concerns from the homeschooling community is lack of play and loss of recess in public schools.   It is quite ironic that the reason I am considering having my daughter return to school next year is due to  lack of play while homeschooling. I want to take a moment here to state that lack of play and socialization is not the norm, regardless of the stereotype, within the homeschooling community.   However, most homeschooling moms are not working moms.  There is a growing number of working homeschooling moms and a wonderful group on Facebook for Working Homeschool Moms. https://www.facebook.com/groups/WorkingHomeschoolMomClub/ That being said, it’s just not that common.  And even if it were that common, that would not solve our problem of cabin fever.

                I’m not faulting the homeschool community for us not being able to participate in many of these events.  There should be many opportunities for homeschoolers to meet for play and for academic events as well. I’m thrilled that we have such a thriving community.  I also don’t fault myself for working.  It just is what it is.   But accepting it doesn’t make the issue of our inability to be part of free play with other families disappear.

                So, I am looking into schools in our area.  This doesn’t mean that I don’t have reservations about the idea of her returning school.  I love using the ideas of Charlotte Mason to help chart our educational course.  I know that as a family we could go to the preserves and read Shakespeare regardless of whether or not we use traditional school or homeschool.  But it would still be somewhat of a loss of part of our family-culture.

Poetry, History, and A Sprained Toe

I’ve been neglecting this blog lately. I feel like I’ve lost all sense of homeschooling rhythm. However, when I read my previous entry and reflect on what she’s done in the meantime, I see that we are chugging along albeit at a slower pace these days.

                Her poem for this week is Maya Angelou’s “Awaking in New York.”  She has copied it in cursive into her notebook.  The goal is for her to read it aloud a few times throughout this week.  She also did cursive copywork from Emily Dickinson’s poem “To Make a Prairie” last week which is a very short poem. 

                Seneca’s artist for this term is Henry Ossawa Tanner.  Here’s a link to the biography that she read on him. https://www.amazon.com/Henry-Ossawa-Tanner-Boyhood-Dream/dp/1593730926/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1523973307&sr=8-5&keywords=henry+ossawa+tanner

                For history, Seneca read Who Was Daniel Boone? from the Who Is/Was series.  She types her written narrations. I’m fine with her doing it this way because typing is a much-needed skill and this gives her good practice.  She prefers typing to writing.  Her Daniel Boone narration cracked me up. Here’s an excerpt of what she wrote: He built a coffin for himself because he knew he was going to go soon. He would also polish it (which is very weird) he kept it in his sons house, at age 84 he died his last words were quote “My time has come.” end quote. He even said before he died that he had very good naps in it.

 Joke time- can you imagine you knocked on some old guys door and you kept knocking then he finally answers and he says “Sorry I was late at coming to the door you see I’m old and my now life is really awful and you see I’m going to die soon and so I built a coffin for myself and I just was taking a nap in it.” 

Please note that I am very aware of the grammar mistakes. I’m sharing her original typed response.  These written narrations help me to gauge how well she is or is not applying grammar concepts.  It also helps her to just get into the habit of writing. 

Seneca continues to work on multiplication and three-digit addition and subtraction. 

Our big event here was that she was in a ballet production of The Wizard of Oz at the Opera House!  The show was amazing.  They brought in professional dancers to dance the roles of Scarecrow, Tinman, and Cowardly Lion, but all of the other roles were done by the students of the school.  It is so new that the choreographer (Vadim Fedetov) and the composer were both able to come take a bow at the end of the show.  Speaking of bows, Seneca missed the bow because she hurt her toe in the second dance that she did.  Everyone was so proud of her for holding it in on stage and not letting on that she was hurt.  Back stage the tears started, but seemed to subside.  It was when she got into my car that the floodgates opened.  I took her to the hospital for an x-ray. Nothing is broken, but she did perhaps sprain it so no dancing for a couple of weeks.