Spend Time Together, These Days Are Precious

I've recently seen a bunch of stats (haven't had much luck tracing them to the original studies, so I'm not saying they are good stats and I'm not linking here) about how much time families spend together ... and it's supposedly averaging to under 30 minutes a day now!

That's pretty shocking to me. 

And, again, it makes me reflect on how much I love the homeschooling lifestyle. My family spends time together - working alongside one another, but also playing and eating meals and engaging in planned "together" time. My 12 year old, in particular, has been asking for even more together time with me recently, such as a "poetry date" where we went to a local bookstore, picked out a poetry book together, and then took it across the street to a coffee shop and read poems out loud to each other while enjoying a hot beverage.

Or there is a new fad in our house: "doing hygge". We sat down with cups of tea, lit some candles, and chatted about how to create more hygge in our lives. Then we played a couple quick games of Six. 

I won't lie ... I'm just as busy as the next parent and sometimes it's hard for me to carve out this time to be with my kids. But they are growing up fast, and although it's a cliché, soon enough they won't be asking me for this time anymore and I know I'll miss them then. So thank goodness we can spend this time together now. 

Learning by Working Alongside

Before there were formal schools, the way young people learned was by working alongside older people. Families and communities worked together, or apprentice programs formalized that arrangement for learning a new skill.

In general, our society doesn't function this way anymore. Specialization, formal schooling, and increasing age-based segregation all contribute to the loss of this old pattern of learning, although they also introduce new ways of learning.

I like the new ways of learning too. I've always loved "book learning" and really enjoyed college, and I now also love youtube videos, and will happily learn how to prune a rose or pluck a chicken through a video.

But I remember learning to sew by working with my mom, and I don't know that it would have ever occurred to me to try and learn it if no one had modeled the activity and skill for me. 

Homeschooling means the kids are just closer in proximity to their parents' work. They are with me for most of the days, whether they go with me to my paid employment (as I did with my parents when I was homeschooled) or are with me for my domestic housework. It gives more opportunity for them to learn by helping, whether they are making French fries, gardening, building a shed, or ironing their Dad's shirts. 

I love this kind of learning!