Guest Post-The Power of Accumulation
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My four-year-old is often asked if he goes to school. He confidently responds, “No, I do school at home.” Then the person inquiring turns to me and asks questions about what we do and that’s when I scramble for answers. In my head, I coach myself: Try to sound confident too. This is what God’s led you to do. I’m just figuring out this homeschooling thing day by day. Some days are successful. Many aren’t.
I struggle to plan ahead and keep a routine. My health doesn’t always hold up. And my oldest and I are constantly having a battle of the wills these days.
It’s hard to feel confident...especially when Pinterest moms seem to have it all together. Don’t go on Pinterest when you’re feeling down on yourself. Just don’t.
An Intentional Five Minutes
One day while the kids were napping, I was listening to my favorite Bible scholar, Dr. Michael Heiser. He was telling a story to which the conclusion was that Bible study is accumulative, five minutes a day intentionally spent is significant. The statement struck me as profound and the idea floated around in my head for a few weeks.
When we live with ideas for a while, they tend to grow, as this one did: Bible study is accumulative. Even just the repetition of five minutes is valuable. And this small accumulation can result in real growth. Huh. So teaching my boys about Jesus, the Bible, and their part in God’s big story is all accumulative. What about math? That too? Music, phonics, reading, getting them to eat vegetables?
As I continued to ponder this train of thought further, I began to gain confidence. Through this idea of small moments accumulating growth, I realized that I wasn’t failing as a new homeschool mom.
Exploring the World Around Us
In our family, learning often takes place in informal ways. Let’s use science as an example and I’ll show you what I mean:
Gardening and spending time outside leads to conversations about photosynthesis and the water cycle. We observe plant’s root systems, seeds, flowers, and birds. We go to the zoo and discuss specific traits of animals, their habitats, and how God made them to adapt to their environments. At night, we talk about the moon and the stars. When we see Mount Saint Helens on a clear day, we ponder about volcanoes. When my boys get a cut, we talk about the human body and it’s ability to heal itself. When shopping, we talk about healthy food choices. When we exercise, we listen to our hearts beating fast. And the learning possibilities go on and on.
The key is to purposely provide opportunities for these experiences and then to be intentionally involved in those moments - having conversations with your children as you help them shape their worldview.
Through this accumulation of experiences and conversations, real growth takes place. Then we build on this growth by reading picture and chapter books. This combination of experiences and reading helps my boys assimilate the information they take in and make sense of the world around them.
Using Books to Aid our Discovery
The Peaceful Preschool curriculum perfectly fits the natural and hands-on way of learning my family has already adopted. We’re definitely not a model family in how we use the curriculum (it takes us a couple weeks to get through a week), but it’s gently teaching me to plan ahead better and to be more thoughtful and effective with my time.
I’m realizing that I don’t have to have it all together. After all, I’ve never homeschooled before! I’m learning right alongside my boys. Someday, we’ll have more structured learning times, but for now we’ll slowly work our way in that direction a day at a time. On the hard days, I remind myself that I’m growing one experience at a time, just like my kids.
Take heart! Take action! Accumulation applies to us all!
Liz Clark is a stay-at-home mom to two preschool boys. Her goal as a parent is to raise children who read well, think well, and communicate well and become independent adults who love Christ and live for His kingdom. She shares her thoughts on her blog: lizmarieclark.wordpress.com/.
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