My boys follow the typical boy-pattern of always being on the move and rarely liking to sit still.  I love homeschooling because I can tailor our studies to work around their natural ‘bent’ and even celebrate it. Psalm 139:14 tells me that my boys are “fearfully and wonderfully made” I respond with an “amen!” and aim to work with their wonderfulness, instead of frustrating them by working against it.

Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education has had a great impact on how I approach schooling.  Her method consisted of short morning lessons with a large variety of subjects-a style I find works very well for schooling busy boys.

“it is the hours the children spend working, not the quantity of subjects, that fatigues them. Their minds are invigorated by switching to different subjects as often as every fifteen to twenty minutes when the children are in younger grades…They have all afternoon and evening free to enjoy being a child, to pursue hobbies, and to read. They are not assigned homework…they are not allowed to dawdle during lessons.” -Catherine Levison, “A Charlotte Mason education” pg.8

Through trial and error, I’ve discovered that my boys work best with short lessons- and with me scheduling the lessons as to switch from one sort of lesson-such as handwriting, to next doing a lesson very different, such as reading.  From Math we move on to a History dictation.  I have also found that a 10 a.m. short snack/play break does wonders for concentration once we all return to the table.

As for the foot-dragging I encounter from time to time during a lesson, Charlotte Mason wrote;

…”In the first place, never let the child dawdle over copy-book or sum, sit dreaming with his book before him. When a child grows stupid over a lesson, it is time to put it away. Let him do another lesson as unlike the last as possible, and then go back with freshened wits to his unfinished task.” -Charlotte Mason, “Home Education” vol.1 pg:141

Taking my cue from Miss Mason, if the math lesson is taking way too long, I end the misery and move on to something else. I will also get the miserable boy in question-up and moving about for a bit.We then sit down and work on something completely different.  I do not promote the idea that a student can take too long, and get out of an assignment- the math page will show up again after lunch, when the student is freshly prepared to try again.

I love the flexibility we have in homeschooling.  Our afternoons are truly free for imaginative play, for exploration and for good, old fashioned physical activity.

In my homeschool, short lessons = boy bliss.