What is Spotted Zebra School?

WAY back when I was a new mom I had this amazing dream of staying home (which was of course perfectly kept and designed by a pro) with my children and each morning after a gourmet breakfast, dad would kiss each of us and head off to work and the children and I would begin our school lessons.

Fast forward almost 8 years. My home is clean...lived in but clean and the only designer is the random things I've stolen from Pinterest. Some mornings my kids eat icecream (I'll own it...we are doing real here and nothing is more real than admitting my kids have eaten icecream for breakfast). Dad does kiss us...usually Zo and me since Lulu is still asleep. Instead of sitting to do school lessons, I drive Zoey to the local elementary school. When I get home I hop onto the computer or get some chores done. Lulu wakes and decides when and how she does school for the day.

Spotted Zebra School is what we do every day. All year. We take breaks when Lily decides she needs one. Sometimes I have to decide for us. I am a homeschooling mama with a chronic illness and I am here to tell you...it is okay to take a break when you need too.

What kind of homeschoolers are we? Ummm...eclectic.Yeah...that is a good description. We are eclectic. A mix of unschooling and Charlotte Mason. It works for us. More importantly it works for my spotted zebra (I belong to a fantastic group on Facebook where a lot of eclectic homeschoolers live...we call our kids unicorns...because we aren't the typical homeschoolers.)

I try to follow in our Heart of Dakota guide book. Lily is in the Little Hearts for His Glory level and will move up to Beyond Little Hearts in the fall. Lily honestly isn't very interested in the history part but LOVES science and always tries to do the Rhymes in Motion. She does a mix of living math, Singapore 1A and Spectrum Math K. She is on lesson 5 in The Reading Lesson and reads a lot of our emerging readers we have in our collections.

Is our way the right way? No, but it is how she learns.
Can you follow my blog even if you school differently? Please do! Maybe something we do looks fun or maybe a way I teach helps you see your learner a little differently. I do not teach the way I learn, I teach the way my child learns. I am pretty visual, if I see it I tend to remember it. Lily is very hands-on and very auditory as well as visual. I tend to have to hit topics on every level for her to fully retain it. She also has struggles. High pain levels make learning difficult. Seizures strip short term memory.

The Spotted Zebra School is just how we do things around here. Unique just like the child enrolled.

Along with the full time Spotted Zebra student, I also have an occasional student. Zoey has Dyslexia and I am sure there will be more than enough posts on how I help her and what works or doesn't work. Dyslexia is just a part of her, she faces many challenges academically. This school is open to any and all types of learners. Even me. I am a student too...except legally I am not allowed to share my lessons...I can share my struggles though. And I will. Trust me.