Not Back to School
By Andrea Rennick

Huddled under the blankets, away from the chill in the air, the first thing to cross my mind is the sound of the school bus turning the corner and the realisation my kids aren’t on it. Unlike most parents, I do not immediately jump out of bed, yelling for children to awake and get dressed so I can peal the van out of the driveway to be to school on time. Nope. I haven’t had to rouse children onto a school bus for years, and I have four of them here.

See, my kids don’t go to school. They do their learning at home. They call their teacher Mom and their principal Dad. Their classmates are their brother and sisters, and if they want to do math in their pyjamas, they may. This is called homeschooling, and a lot of times, it is like no school you have ever seen.

On an average day, I roll over in our extra-large bed and am greeted with a big smile from our two-year old Emma. My husband Ron has already sneaked out for work. Hearing Emma, Meaghan, who is ten, pokes her head around my door. Sometimes she crawls in with us and reads Emma a little story or cuddles in. Maybe Sarah, our twelve year old, will join us too.

Eventually, we make our way downstairs to a leisurely breakfast. Addison’s door is still closed, but since he is 15 and growing a foot a year (at least that’s how it seems to me) I let him sleep a little longer. We’ve been watching some TV in the morning, but mostly for the baby and usually we interact with the shows. I check my email and a few favourite websites. By the time 9 or 10 rolls around, everyone is up, dressed, fed, and in my case caffeinated.

If the older children are being a little slow to get to their assigned work, I give them gentle reminders, depending on how much they are actually paying attention to me. Addison usually makes a brief appearance, and then is gone for a couple of hours to his room. I’ll find him at his desk working away. Sometimes he looks up things on the computer, or asks me to print out a test or explain a question. Most of his work, and the planning for it, is done independently. I’ll check it over and mark it. My job is to take the work he is doing and keep good records. We want him to have a good solid portfolio to get into college. Not that it is need or required, but we feel this will help ease the transitions since in this area of the country, homeschoolers attending college is fairly new. His schedule is more like what most people think of as school, but that is what works for him

Sarah and Meaghan like to do any bookwork at the dining room or kitchen table. This usually depends how they are getting along. Sometimes I will find one in the kitchen and one in the dining room, working silently away. Much more of the planning has been done by me, with input from them. Again, it is usually done independently from me. Any time they get stuck on a question, they holler my name. Work doesn’t take them long, as what they really need to do can be done in a short amount of time, when they are left with no interruptions. Usually they are done the formal, more school-type work before lunch. Later mornings and afternoons are fully of science experiments, field trips, reading and more reading all sorts of books since most of the books we have are not seen as "school" books, some crafts, and anything else hands-on and messy.

Emma and I have been spending time together, cuddling as we watch PBS or CBC. Sometimes we will play with her little kitchen, or the playdough, or read books. We might sing our ABC’s or count along with the TV shows. We talk and talk together. Sometimes Emma likes to get some paper and crayons and sit at the table with the girls. I get her to name her colours and some shapes I drew. Sarah is usually the first to volunteer to help Emma and play with her, teaching her new songs and games, while I start lunch or do laundry. Emma even plays her pre-school games on the computer too.

The kids might also go outside for a bit, hanging off our sturdy swing set and running around the spacious yard. In the warmer months, they usually check on our garden, pulling a few weeds, and pointing out the new flowers to Emma. They all help with yard work, especially on the weekends.

Ron comes home for lunch on most days, and everyone is happy to see him. Sometimes Addison may have an algebra problem to go over. He doesn’t like my explanations for some reason. Gathered around the dining room table, extra books pushed to the middle, Ron has been known to stop and ask us all politely to please stop reading our various books so he can see our faces while we eat.

In the afternoon, after Daddy has gone back to work, it is time for chores. Each child has chores they need to do on a regular basis, except for Emma of course. Her job is just to learn how to help and how to pick up after herself. Addison cleans up after lunch, loading the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen. Sarah and Meaghan usually are assigned something specific until they get tired of it, then they switch with each other or rotate with me. This month, Sarah cleans the living room while Meaghan sweeps the rest of the floors downstairs. I putter and supervise. It’s a tough job. Here, we consider it just as important to know how to run a household, as it is to know how to add or read. They get lots of practice.

Afternoons are usually either quiet or jam packed full of activity. Once chores are done on a quiet day, the kids might do anything from crafts to reading to watching a special movie or a science-related tape or even some cooking in the kitchen. Meaghan likes to make cookies, but we keep telling her she needs the practice and we get her to make even more. Sometimes we drag out the sewing machine and whip up some new clothes. Addison has a bit more work to do, so he can usually be found in his room again, or on the kid’s computer. This is the time when he gets any extra reading done, as we all read quite a lot of books in the run of a week. He also has his own website and writes a series of fantasy stories, for fun, with a couple of homeschooled friends. He spends a bit of time emailing them back and forth as well. Everyone gets computer time in the afternoon, too, not just for games but for story writing and picture making and lots of other things.

Busy days are, well, quite a lot busier. In addition to the above, we might get together with other homeschooled friends for a field trip or just a visit. Thursday is grocery day, and we usually leave Addison home with the peace and quiet he loves so much. The girls help me and also learn. We discuss healthy eating, meal planning and advertising. They have their own money to buy their own stuff, and I encourage them to figure out the totals, with tax, in their head.

We bring the groceries home, and have a group effort at putting them away. I usually do the supper cooking, while the kids play with each other, talk on the phone, or sometimes help me. I can usually tell when public school gets out, as our phone starts ringing constantly for most of the evening. We’ve had years where every night after supper some child had to go somewhere for some group, but we’ve chosen to scale that back a little because we were over scheduled and always out.

Evenings are spent relaxing together, for the most part. Dad likes to play board games with the kids like Scrabble or Risk, or even card games like Euchre. We’ll watch TV or movies together, discussing the program and generally making it an education in itself. And then it’s off to bed with all the kids; each one curled up with a book. Many a night I’ve spent flicking their lights off far too late in the evening.

So that’s what learning is like in our house. It is uninterrupted and unhurried, in an atmosphere of discovery, laughter, encouragement and curiosity. It works for us, and it might just work for you.

Andrea Rennick is a homeschooling mom of four children, ranging in age from 2 to 15. A sense of humour is a big part of dealing with the ins and outs of her day. She can also be found at her website, www.atypicalife.net. Reach her at andrea@atypicalife.net