Huhtala Homeschoolers

My husband and I agreed that at the start of every "term" he would take the kids away from the house, for a weekend, so that I could have some time to myself. During this time, I write out our homeschooling schedule for the next term, organize some parts of the house and just enjoy some "alone" time. Something that you NEVER get with 4 homeschooling children unless you run away. Or die.....

Somehow, for this "break" my husband managed to squeeze himself into the "alone" time and pass the kids off to various relatives. As you may have guessed, I have gotten hardly ANYTHING done and my house is in worse shape than when the kids are here. There is something about having my husband around that makes me want to be generally lazy and spend lots of money. Also, of course one of my children is back home because he came down with a yucky bug and had to be taken to the ER last night, (which could have been completely handled by my husband if he had been WITH the kids). Long story short: Next time, he goes too! :)

Am I selfish to ask for this time for myself? I hate inconveniencing people but I really feel like 1 weekend every 3 months isn't too much to ask. Is it?

This weekend hasn't been totally unproductive. I have scheduled out the next semester and written the term exam. I have also started to write out some ideas and gather curriculum to begin incorporating my preschoolers more into the mix. I plan to start spending at least 45 minutes per day doing activities with just them. I also plan on guiding their activities better throughout the day. They will be given things to color, cut and paste, blocks to build, play-do to mold, and coats and boots to play outside to their hearts content (instead of nightgowns and slippers...I mean no wonder they never stay outside longer than 10 minutes). Hopefully this will distract them from their former activities: Dumping out humidifiers, playing in the bathroom and trying to help "clean" the toilet, rubbing Desitin all over the bed and carpet, and of course screaming, crying and pulling each others hair. Since I've started homeschooling, my older kids have taken my attention away from my younger children. There must be balance!

Another benefit of this weekend has been all of my studying and reading of different Charlotte Mason curriculum's and websites. It has given me a renewed sense of purpose and excitement about why I am doing what I am doing. Charlotte Mason said:


"... We want our children to feel that each fresh lesson gives them an "open sesame" to a fairy palace full of treasures worth the seeking; that they are the inheritors of all the heaped-up gains of past ages, not slaves doomed to a treadmill of weary monotony. We do not want their experience to be that of some "grown-ups" who can tell us of a happy early childhood, when the world seemed all alive with interest, and Nature was teaching them many things, until there came an ever-to-be- remembered dark time when they had to begin to "do lessons"; lessons which unfortunately failed to excite any interest and only became a big, palpable barrier, shutting off the old gracious freedom of the days when they learnt without learning. "

I want my children to find joy in learning. I want them to love the outdoors and feel of Gods goodness and beauty in a world that is slowly burying all of these things. They must have this if they are to give their own children a legacy to follow.

"Children first should be learning about the world as it is- no matter how brilliant and academically gifted children are, they should all have plenty of opportunities to climb trees, play in mud puddles, go for long walks, run in meadows, wade in streams, sort rocks, shells, and acorns, collect bugs, watch butterflies emerge from a cocoon, run, skip, ride, swim, and more.

A child who has splashed in a puddle has a richer understanding of a pond. A child who has climbed a tree has a broader grasp of what was involved when explorers first climbed Everest. A child who has collected stones or shells has a deeper grasp of what is involved in scientific classification later." Charlotte Mason

I am now designating every Friday as our families "Wild Days". We are going to do most of our schooling Monday through Thursday, and each Friday we are going to take a field trip together and make great memories. We'll pack a picnic and just spend at least 3 hours away from home. Generally, it will be outdoors, at a new park, lake or trail. Sometimes, it will need to be indoors and we will visit a museum or maybe even just some friends or family member. The idea is, I want my children to find some privileges and excitement in homeschooling. Some grand thing that they will remember fondly when they are older and say, "Wasn't homeschooling the greatest?"

The Huhtala Clan, while always incredibly grateful for all they are given, has never done very well in the thank you card department. We had soooo many good intentions of sending out cards after birthdays and Christmas. We'd even go so far as to "write down what was received" next to the persons name on a list. As if by this act alone we were committed to sending a thank you card....right. Sadly, it rarely happened because I refused to be one of those Moms that did it FOR my kids, which meant of course, it was NEVER going to get done.

Now however, thanks to Homeschooling, things have changed! We have sent out more thank you cards in the past 2 months than we have mailed in a decade! Here's how I accomplished this.


1. Get a cute box or basket and designate it just for letter writing.

2. Fill it with a variety of blank thank you cards (I look for ones at the dollar store or on clearance), envelopes, stamps and a list of addresses of "the regulars" when it comes to needing to write family or friends.

3. If someone sends you a birthday card or gift, cut out their return address and add it to the list.

4. Designate one writing assignment during the week for notes of gratitude. This is flexible. Today for instance, instead of having them do grammar, I had them write out thank you cards because they had just received some birthday gifts in the mail.

I have found because I have made the process so manageable and organized, my kids are actually the ones to mention that they need to write out a thank you card! They grab the thank you box and off they go! My only requirement is that they write a rough draft first and I have to proofread it, as they often end up crossing things out and making a mess when they try to just write one immediately onto the card.

Hurray for developing the habit of writing letters and showing gratitude!