Open to Change

After Christmas, I felt like we had run into a wall with homeschool.  Aiden was pretty tired of it, and getting harder and harder to focus.  Over Christmas we had contintued on with schoolwork, I was weary of giving him a big break, afraid it would be too hard to reel him back in.

It has become apparant to me lately that the constant quest for keeping predictability and sructure in our house can render me the inflexible one.  I worry about doing things differently, because I am always aware that virtually everything I do is setting a new precedent.  Everything. 

So, it was by accident that I solved our little slump.  Aiden had been going through one of his many, many poor sleep periods.  Rather than skipping the work I had slotted for the day, I decided to break it up into little manageable chunks.  We did math, then I let him go play.  About an hour later I called him back for language arts and journal writing, and so the day went.  The next day, he asked me if he could do school the way he did it yesterday.  He explained that he liked doing little bits at a time. 

Wow.  The fact that he was able to tell me what worked best for him is a big skill.  So, that is how we have been preparing our school days ever since, and his focus in waaaaaaaay better. I really prefer laying out all of our work and getting it done, then closing the book on school for the day.  This new way tends to make homeschool spread across the entire day, which I find a little more stressful.  But, he does not.  And that is the main thing.

I guess we are learning together what works best for us.  It is still early days I guess, and our methods are sure to change as we go along.

And change....it can be good.