Trying Again

Blueberry, anyone?

Hey. I'm going to try writing here more often again. I find when it comes to homeschool styles I am so eclectic and secular, and I just don't see a lot of blogs like that out there. Where are they? Do YOU know?

I have found one blog that is very unschooly. I have found SO MANY blogs that are quite structured and religious and that offer lots of wonderful organization ideas and free printables. I have also found a few that are very Montessori or Waldorf in style and super beautiful in their presentation. I have found some blogs that are wonderful for ideas or inspiration in my home life, even if they're not specifically homeschooling blogs. Some might not even technically be blogs anymore they've become so fancy, but I still love them. I feel like I'm at the eclectic intersection of all these things in reality. We tend to go in big waves every. single. year.



We geek out over school supplies, organization, and the fulfillment of completing a worksheet, a la the structured conventional educational style.

We love using natural materials and the smell of essential oils and the mystery of the human condition a la Waldorf.

We appreciate the meticulous combination of beauty, academia, and minimalism a la Montessori.

We find it necessary to have big chunks of time to decide our own course in life and plan our own days and activities a la unschooling.



A very general breakdown I've observed in our school years:

In the fall semester we are decently structured for our speed, doing about 4-6 subjects every school day alongside lots of classes (swim, science, music, and artsy classes always seem to be cycling round). By spring we are maybe doing 1 or 2 core subjects, a few classes, and more socializing. In the summer we have dropped all of it and are resting for another busy fall and the kids are still managing to do impressively educational things by choice. We also drop everything whenever we travel or have family in town since we have immediate family that lives far away.

Every spring and summer I'm convinced I'm an unschooler, and then every August I get too excited about all the school stuff in the air that I plan more structure. My kids tend to like the spring and summer set-ups better (they have all the scheduling power), though I am generally able to get them on board for some structure for at least one or two good months. This does make me think I should really just stop with the structured parts and listen to them sometimes, but then my own anxiety about failing their future selves (however unfounded) kicks in and I panic. I inevitably decide there needs to be a balance between what society (and thus my brain) expects of us academically and what they want to do in life, and I think since we always have these waves, they do create an overall balance. An ebb and flow. A fruitful period and a fallow period for academics, and a fruitful and fallow period for socialization, and samsies for mental health or self reflection or [insert any freaking growing and learning thing here].

I know this absolutely voids my membership in any of the very specifically defined homeschool style clubs. But I suppose I'm more and more okay with that each year. I'm eclectic and that's ok.