Back to School Looks a Little Different Around Here
Kaylee is heading “back to school.”
And yes, homeschool kids have to get back to work too.
There will be math. There will be writing. There will be assignments she would probably rather not do.
Technically, I’m her teacher most days.
Although I use that term pretty loosely considering some of our best lessons this summer happened while climbing over fallen trees, standing in the Pacific Ocean or staring at a giant banana slug.
I don't really feel like Kaylee ever stopped learning this summer.
She just wasn't sitting at a desk doing it.
Summer School — Without the School Part
We packed a lot into this summer.
There were waterfalls, hikes, caves, beaches, camping trips, horse camps, road trips and plenty of days where we went somewhere simply because it sounded interesting.
And everywhere we went, there was something to learn.
When we hiked to waterfalls, “PE” looked a whole lot more like climbing over roots, balancing on rocks, scrambling around fallen trees and realizing your legs were definitely going to hurt the next morning.
Nobody had to tell the kids to exercise.
They were too busy exploring.
They waded in rivers.
Climbed.
Ran.
Splashed.
Laughed.
And kept going because they wanted to know what was around the next corner.
Science Is Better When You Can Touch It
At the Oregon Coast, we talked about why the weather felt completely different from home in Central Oregon.
Why it was cooler.
Why everything felt damp.
Where all that moisture came from.
We talked about precipitation and how dramatically the climate changes when you go from our high desert home to the coast.
Then we stood in the Pacific Ocean and talked about the Pacific Ocean.
Waves.
Tides.
Wildlife.
Sand.
Weather.
The enormous body of water stretching out in front of us.
That kind of thing sticks differently than reading a paragraph about it.
Then there was the banana slug.
Because apparently you can spend money on curriculum, books and educational programs and sometimes the thing everybody remembers is a giant slimy slug you found on the trail.
But we stopped.
We looked at it.
We talked about it.
We wondered why we don't see them around home.
And suddenly that weird little slug became a science lesson.
That's how so much of our summer went.
Sometimes History Is Sitting Right in Front of You
At Fort Stevens, we walked out onto the beach and stood beside the remains of the Peter Iredale.
The British sailing ship ran aground there in 1906 while headed toward the Columbia River.
More than a hundred years later, parts of it are still sticking out of the sand.
So naturally we talked about it.
Who was on it?
Where was it going?
How does a ship that big end up on a beach?
What would navigating the Oregon Coast have been like before all the technology we have now?
Suddenly history wasn't a date in a book.
It was this giant rusting piece of a ship sitting right in front of us.
That's the kind of history lesson I love.
The kind where you can actually stand next to it.
Even Dinner Can Be a Lesson
On our camping trip, the kids made their own foil packet dinners.
Nothing revolutionary.
Meat. Vegetables. Seasonings. Foil. Campfire.
But there was actually a lot happening in something that simple.
Planning what you're going to eat.
Preparing ingredients.
Making choices.
Learning how heat cooks food.
Figuring out how long something needs to cook.
Working together.
Taking care of yourself.
And hopefully not burning dinner.
Those are actual life skills.
Horses Have Taught Her More Than Riding
A huge part of Kaylee's summer involved horses.
Riding lessons.
Pony Club Camp.
Stay-away horse camp.
Time at the barn.
And taking care of animals that weigh a hell of a lot more than she does.
Horses teach responsibility pretty quickly.
You can't decide you don't feel like taking care of them today.
They still need food.
Water.
Grooming.
Movement.
Attention.
And patience.
So much patience.
But the learning at camp went beyond horses.
She had to navigate being away from home.
Listen to other adults.
Work with different personalities.
Handle problems without Mom standing beside her.
And build friendships.
About That Homeschool Socialization Thing...
Some of those connections don’t end when camp does.
Kaylee met one of her friends at camp last year, and the two of them spent the year planning to come back again. Watching them see each other for the first time since last summer was one of those moments that makes the whole “but what about socialization?” question feel a little ridiculous to me.
Friendship doesn’t become less real because you don’t sit beside each other in a classroom every day. Sometimes you find your people doing the things you both love, and you pick right back up where you left off.
Homeschoolers hear about socialization constantly.
I don't worry much about it.
Kaylee isn't growing up only interacting with a classroom full of kids born within twelve months of her.
She talks to adults.
Little kids.
Teenagers.
Horse people.
Camp counselors.
Business owners.
Family.
People we meet while we're traveling.
People with completely different experiences than hers.
She's learning how to communicate in the actual world she'll eventually have to live in.
I'd rather have that.
And Now She's Learning How to Build Something of Her Own
We've also spent part of this summer working on another kind of education.
Kaylee wants to earn money to help support her pony, so we're working on building something that is hers.
Not Mom handing her money.
Not pretending there's some cute little kid business happening while I secretly do all of it.
I want her involved.
We've worked on her logo.
We've started developing a few products.
We've talked about cost.
Pricing.
Packaging.
What people might actually want to buy.
What makes something worth buying in the first place.
And lately we've been kicking around another idea that is very Kaylee.
Finding ugly, forgotten or thrifted pieces and turning them into something completely different with hydro art.
Jars.
Desk organizers.
Christmas ornaments.
Things where no two pieces will ever be exactly alike.
Art, creativity, sourcing, cost, profit, selling and figuring out what works.
That's a pretty decent business class.
And she's twelve.
The Teachers Aren't Always Standing at the Front of a Classroom
Being Kaylee's homeschool mom means I wear the teacher hat a lot.
But I'm definitely not the only person teaching her.
She has an advisory teacher who helps guide her education.
She has riding instructors.
Camp counselors.
Pony Club leaders.
Other parents.
Friends.
People we meet along the way.
Sometimes the person who teaches your kid something important doesn't even realize they're teaching them.
That's one thing I've appreciated more and more as we've homeschooled.
Education isn't just one teacher standing in front of one classroom.
There are people all around our kids helping them learn, encouraging them, challenging them and introducing them to things we can't always teach ourselves.
And as everyone heads back to school, it feels like a good time to remember those people too.
Not because teachers need another coffee mug.
And definitely not because appreciation has to be expensive.
If you need a few ideas, I've shared some thoughtful teacher gifts that are really about saying thank you without making it complicated.
But because a simple, thoughtful “I see what you do” can mean a hell of a lot.
A handwritten note.
Something small dropped off just because.
A favorite treat.
A little soap or self-care gift.
Anything that says:
Looking for a simple way to thank one of the people helping your kid grow?
Shop A Little Kindness →This Is Why We Homeschool
It isn't because I think every day should be magical.
Trust me.
There are still worksheets.
There are days when neither one of us feels like doing school.
There are things she needs to learn whether they're fun or not.
But homeschooling gives us room.
Room to follow curiosity.
Room to travel.
Room to spend an afternoon at a waterfall and call climbing over rocks PE and talking about erosion science.
Room to stand in the ocean and talk about geography.
Room to stand beside a 120-year-old shipwreck and learn some history.
Room to spend days at horse camp learning independence.
Room to cook over a campfire.
Room to start a business.
Room to experience life instead of only reading about it.
I don't need every adventure to become some carefully planned educational activity.
Actually, I think that would ruin half the fun.
Sometimes we just go.
We explore.
We laugh.
We get dirty.
We ask questions.
We look things up later.
We notice things.
And somehow, learning happens anyway.
So yes, Kaylee is going back to school.
But when I look back at this summer, I realize she never really left.
The classroom was just a whole lot bigger.
And there were a whole lot more teachers in it.
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