What if the proof is already there?
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Hey Reader! One of the hardest parts of homeschooling was that I had to trust it was working before I could prove it in a way other people understood. There was no report card arriving every quarter saying: "Yes, Christy. You're doing this right." I had my kids. I had our conversations. I had their questions, their interests, the things they returned to, and the things I watched them do. As a former teacher, standards, tests, graded papers, and report cards were traditional ways I was taught to look for proof. But for homeschooling, it was different. I had to learn to notice learning differently. That's part of what I want us to do together this month - notice learning by noticing engagement. But engagement isn’t only “excitement,” so:
Engagement might look like your kids asking one surprisingly thoughtful question. It might be the extra five minutes they spend figuring something out. It might be changing the directions because they have their own idea. It might be explaining something to a sibling. It might be returning to the topic later. It might simply be staying with something a little longer than usual. None of those moments prove that you've found the perfect curriculum or cracked some secret code about your kids. They're clues. And sometimes, noticing the clue brings up another question: "Okay, but what does that tell me?" That's something we work through together inside the Homeschool Success Circle. I help members understand what the clues mean and decide what to do next. For example, a recent Telegram message shared this scenario: "She complained through the science activity, but at dinner she explained the whole thing to her brother. I thought she wasn't interested. Now I'm not sure." I helped that mom look at what she resisted, what she wanted to explain, and what happened between those two moments. Was following the directions frustrating? Did one surprising result catch her attention? Did talking about it give her a way to share thinking you hadn't seen earlier? That's how mentoring becomes specific to your child and your homeschool. You bring a real moment, and we work together to understand it. For today, begin with one clue. Don't try to make anything more engaging. Don't introduce a new strategy. Just watch. At the end of the day, see if you can name one moment when your child seemed involved in the learning, even briefly. What did you see or hear? That's enough. And if you'd like my help making sense of what you see, join me inside the Homeschool Success Circle. Learn more and join the Homeschool Success Circle The clues are useful because they give you something better than a generic idea of what should engage a child. They give you evidence about your child. Christy's Corner 🐝 What engagement clue have you been overlooking because it didn't look like excitement? Hit reply and tell me what you noticed. |