Now that we are finishing up our school year, and life is getting back to normal (hallelujah), I thought it might be a good time to reflect on how things went from March 2020 until now. There was a lot that I don’t want to relive and hope we never have to go through again, but there were blessings as well. I am going to take you through what I thought was the good, the bad, and the ugly of life and homeschooling during the weirdest year ever.
The Good
Bookwork Got Done
This was probably our most productive homeschooling year ever as far as books go. With so many activities getting canceled and things being closed we took very few breaks. While feeling productive and accomplished is great, I think homeschooling is all about the complete package of life, adventures and academics. I can’t say this was the best year of homeschooling, but if it’s just measured in books it was productive.
Seventh and Fifth Grade Homeschool Curriculum | Mid-Year Update
Camping Trips
We are a family that likes adventures and we like to travel. During the time when everything was shut down my husband and I would take walks through the neighborhood and drool over everyone’s shiny new campers. We were ready to pull the trigger and buy one, as we have talked about it for years but always ended up tent camping. Then we found out that campers were nearly impossible to find because everybody else had the same idea. We were discussing getting a cargo trailer and doing a DIY camper project, but my parents had already done this and they weren’t using the big red camper anymore, so they gifted it to us. It is a very simple camper and basically a tent on wheels, but it fits us perfectly and allowed us to go on adventures even while things were shut down. And people instantly notice “Big Red” when we pull into a campground.
We went on a few short trips, but our big camping trip last summer was to Yellowstone National Park. We spent five nights camping and adventure schooling in Yellowstone National Park. The only downside to camping during a pandemic is a lack of services. There were no showers open anywhere in the park, so that was a long time for us to have to smell each other. The big red camper doesn’t feel so big when there are no showers. Baby wipes and dry shampoo were my best friends on that trip. This summer Carter is building me a camp shower, so we’ll see how that works.
Homeschooling Exploded
Once upon a time, homeschooling was considered weird, or just different. It was definitely not the norm. Then all of a sudden, everybody’s doing it. In fact, at times, it was mandatory (I know, I know, public school at home isn’t actually homeschooling). As parents started having their kids home anyway, many decided just to make it official and homeschool. This created great opportunities for me, while launching my blog, to help new homeschoolers. This helped set me on a good course and brought readers to my page. Nobody wants to write a blog that nobody reads, so I am thankful for the opportunities that came from this situation.
The Bad
Boredom
I am a little bit of a homebody, but this was extreme even for me. We try to do a lot outdoors, but we live in Colorado and the weather doesn’t always cooperate. And there are only so many bike rides you can do in a week. My kids had more screen time than I preferred. A lot of times I would start cooking dinner at 3pm just to give me something to do. It got to the point where Peyton was asking me if it was time for dinner at 4:30pm. I generally don’t believe in boredom, but I changed my mind on that one pretty quickly.
Canceled Activities
I found it really hard to adapt to this stay-at-home homeschooling. We’ve always looked at homeschooling as a life style, and it was difficult to not have any enrichment activities. I hope people realize that the lack of socialization they experienced this year is not typical of homeschooling. It was unique to quarantine schooling and totally not normal.
Re-Learning Everything
I found it exhausting having to re-learn new ways to do everything. Need to get a license renewed? You can’t just run to the DMV and take care of it. You have to spend time online researching how to go to the DMV. Same with the library, you can’t just go to the library. You have to learn how to go to the library now. At the grocery store you have to stand in line outside to just get into the store, then figure out which way to enter the aisle, and where to stand at the register. It was like we had to re-learn how to do normal, everyday things we’ve done forever. I’m tired just writing about it.
The Ugly
The Politics
I won’t say too much about this right now, but the political aspect was ugly. It was disappointing to see how things were drawn down political lines and how nasty people got towards each other. I have never seen so much hatred before in my life, and I still am working out how to raise my kids in the midst of such hatred and nastiness. It was surprising how quickly people turned on each other and it’s just kind of sad too.
Mask Wars
That’s all I need to say about that one.
Homeschool Wars
You know how you spend years studying, and becoming an expert in an area, and you love it when someone who has worked in your field of study for a hot minute tells you that you’re doing everything wrong? Yeah, that’s pretty much what started happening in homeschool groups. There were plenty of new homeschoolers that wanted to learn from those of us who are more experienced, but you had a handful that wanted to tell us that what we’ve been doing for years, successfully, was all wrong. It was a very vocal handful.
But it wasn’t just the new homeschoolers. Suddenly the veterans felt like they were the homeschool police. Heaven forbid if someone mistakenly calls online public school homeschooling. It got pretty tiresome watching homeschool wars start in some of these groups. Some of it got downright ugly. It also prompted me to write A Little Homeschool Grace.
The Best Part
The best thing we implemented during all of this was Friday night pizza and board games. We learned how to play a lot of new games, and this gave us something to look forward to every week. Even with things getting back to normal now, we still do this every Friday. I highly encourage you to try implementing board games into your weekly routine, and maybe even try some game schooling.
My Final Thoughts
Like I said before, it wasn’t all bad. This weird, chaotic year is not something I wish to ever experience again. I’ve definitely learned and adapted to new situations, and to a new homeschooling landscape. I’m curious to see if homeschooling will go back to how it used to be, or if some of the forced-by-the “rona” homeschoolers are planning to make this a permanent change. I gave you my view on homeschooling during the weirdest year ever, and I would love to read your thoughts in the comments.