Many thanks to you all!

Hi Moms! My name is Melodye and I am new to the Highlands Homeschool small group and new to the Homeschool world. I wanted to thank you all for sharing your stories during the summer small group! I felt empowered and encouraged at every turn. I felt informed and ready to run the race ahead.

Once our meetings ended and I began to 'teach', I felt overwhelmed! My daughter didn't appreciate the change. I was now interrupting her playtime or a show she enjoyed watching. My son was interested in school and my daughter was less than thrilled. What was I going to do? I wondered how I would fix this? They were not cooperating. Why am I doing this?? How do I begin? I should have put my daughter in school. My head was spinning with doubt and I questioned our choice to keep her home.

Then I attended the first outing. We attended the outing at the Museum of Art, that is where I found reassurance. Once again, I was encouraged and cheered on! The moms I spoke to gave me nuggets of wisdom they learned along the way, I knew I could make it! Things had become so bad, before our outing, that I had stopped all efforts of teaching my daughter. I felt I had ruined this for us both. She wasn't having fun, and that was so important to me. I wanted learning to be fun.

One thing I realized was my 4 year old little girl had more to learn than how to read. She needed to learn to sit still. Is that fun? No, but it IS necessary. I began to let her school time be a sort of craft time. She began making pictures, using scissors, glue, glitter, the works! She loved it! Little did she know she was learning to be still. One week later she was asking to learn her vowels again.

Meanwhile, my 2.5 year old son had joined my daughter, in craft time, and he too learned to sit still. So now, when I teach my daughter, he often sits with us. When he has ants in his pants, he just goes to his room to play. I found a peaceful fit and my kids responded. I know I will have other bad days. There is more progress to be made but I know visiting with you makes the tough days easier to face! Thank you all for sharing your wins and losses! They are truly a blessing to a new 'Mom-teacher'.