13 Days Down, 167 To Go

This year BJ and I decided to bring Lily and Schaeffer home full time to homeschool 5 days a week. (Last year they had been attending River's Edge 3 days per week, although we are continuing to use RECA for our umbrella program so we can do fun events with them). In July, as I counted down the days left in the summer break, I could not have felt any more overwhelmed. But today I could not be any more pleased. Homeschooling is going so well! I don't say that in a way to claim any credit for the way its going. I have numerous friends to thank for their encouragement and a God who never leaves my side. I don't have any plans to share on this blog any fabulous insights into homeschool-dom. Frankly, I hate those blogs and websites that say "Oh look at this fabulous Egyptian pyramid my kids made out of macaroni, graham crackers, and glitter glue!" I'm so glad those moms have their act together and have the time and supplies to pull off such a feat and to find time to post step-by-step photos of the process on their blogs. I'm convinced that other things have got to be missing in their lives because its just not possible to do it all no matter how perfect the blog life looks. (My spice cabinet is not alphabetized, and because I don't want to feel insufficient, I try to avoid websites that make me feel as such.)

So when I say homeschool is going well, that means we are accomplishing reading, writing and math nearly every day that we set out to do school. Our dining room now looks like a classroom instead of a pretty place to display heirloom china. I'm okay with that, though. The kids have immediate access to their schoolwork, which they never hurry to get out, and to their art supplies, which they frequently splay across the table and floor. Homeschooling so far has been a rewarding experience. I get to see their excitement and curiousity when we learn something new. We spent a great deal of time researching the cause of volcanoes (because they were mentioned in our history lesson) all to find out that scientists don't really know what causes volcanoes. There are some well-researched theories but no definite conclusions. I like that we don't have a textbook answer for everything and that several sources say different things. That gives us a chance to think and talk and theorize on our own. We also spent a great deal of time talking about, drawing, imagining, and pretending to be Behemoth and Leviathian (interesting dinosaur creatures written about in the book of Job). As you can tell, I'm all geeked out about learning some new stuff too.

If all continues to go well through the school year, Lily will accomplish 2nd grade and Schaeffer will complete Kindergarten (and Griffin and Charlotte will not feel too badly neglected).