Photo by Taylor Heery on Unsplash scenes like a play ,” said Ulakovits with a chuckle . “ But , those are the kinds of things we would do to make learning exciting and memorable .”
Giving her children unique memories was something Ulakovits did as often as she could .
“ I also always wanted to make sure the holidays were extra special ,” said Ulakovits . “ So , we would always make sure to do extra work in November so that we could have the entire month of December off .”
However , that didn ’ t mean an entire month of lounging around .
“ We would do everything from learning how to bake to caroling as a family to getting involved with different events throughout the community ,” said Ulakovits .
This wasn ’ t the only reason for the shift in focus toward the end of the year .
“ School teachers know this well - kids check out when the holidays get close ,” said Ulakovits . “ So , instead of ‘ having to deal with it ,’ I was able to work with it .”
At that point , having several years of experience under her belt already , Ulakovits opted for the former option .
“ I stayed a part of the group focused on electives for several more years ,” said Ulakovits . “ But , as my kids got older and I had more in the homeschool program , it became easier to do things within my own family and stay at home ; especially considering our community offers so many programs for youth to get them out of the house and around others their own age .”
During the height of her time in the program , Ulakovits had all six of her children to teach at once .
“ There were some subjects , like math , that could not be taught as a group ,” said Ulakovits . “ So , those I would still teach separated ; but many of the subjects I would find ways to teach everyone as a group .”
Melding her older children with the younger , Ulakovits would find unique ways to make school interactive .
“ Not a lot of people who homeschool are able to make a unit of study about Shakespeare and have enough children on their own to act out the
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
“... that ’ s part of the beauty of it - I get to learn right along with it and we are learning together .”
AUGUST 2024 MoultrieScene 31