School + Fun = Happy Kids

We've had a really great year so far on the homeschool front.  It's honestly not hard to be a homeschooling family in this town, walk in any direction and you'll soon run into someone who opts out of the traditional public school setting.  As the kids are still young, not sending them to preschool has not been that outlandish anyway.  But next year begins Kindergarten for us, and I've begun to hear the buzz from moms around me about "what school should we send them to" and "we're on the charter school waiting list".  I'll admit that at times I think it might be nice to see the kids off to school for a few hours, just to have a break, let someone else be responsible to getting knowledge into their brains for a while.  When I look ahead at the long road of schooling ahead of us, it's easy to feel overwhelmed, knowing that I may not have that break for a long, long time.  But then something exciting happens that reminds me of one reason we chose this path.  Just last week, Little Man spelled a word.  And about 1 month ago, Little Miss wrote  her first letter R, without any help/descriptions from me.  And in each case, they were both overjoyed at their new skill, and I was overjoyed to share in their joy.  Of course, not all lessons are fun, like Little Man loathes handwriting, and Little Miss could find a million other things she likes to do other than sit through our religious education section. (She loves Jesus, but thinks his stories are too long and should include more princesses.)  I love learning more about them every day, in a way I think I might miss if they were going to public school.  I see their character developing and am in awe at the smart and kind little people they are growing into.  And when we come to something that they need more help with or want to spend more time on, we will have the freedom to do that.  Little Man has been directing our science lessons lately.  He'll tell me "mom, today I want to know more about the moon/cheetahs/sea turtles/rocks/stars.  So we'll find whatever information we can on that and take off!  Little Miss is good at taking time to work on her handwriting, or to color a picture with great detail that it almost tells a story.   

I have gotten comments that we should be concerned about their social development, that they need to learn to interact with their peers.  I actually think, however, that too much socializing while learning can interfere with their ability to learn and be confident in what they know.  And as they get older, the stresses that come from friendships can at times make school unbearable.  We have a friend who just pulled their child out of kindergarten to try out homeschooling because their child was in tears every day due to friendship stresses.  And that's at kindergarten!  From my days as a preschool teacher I remember even then how children could really hurt and damage one another, and how some kids feel so alienated.  School should be a fun place to learn, not a place of stress.  Peer pressure is a huge factor for our choice to homeschool, and while we believe that some things are better learned in a group setting, we are thankful that we can choose what to teach at home.  We find plenty of ways to socialize our kids, and if you know them, you know they are far from being shy.  

Our problem we face now is to teach them that interacting with others means being patient, taking turns, learning to listen instead of always talk, but what preschooler doesn't think the world revolves around them?  They currently have a few opportunities each week to learn and interact in a peer setting, and they are learning how to work within a group.  So I feel with homeschooling, that they will get the best of both worlds, thanks to our state's great laws that allow them to partially enroll, or even do public school at home.  There are endless resources for homeschooling parents, from individual subjects to full curriculums to meet every teaching style and need.  The response I get from most people when I say that we will be homeschooling is one of two answers: "I could never do that!" or "You know, it's not such a bad idea...".  I can't say that I'm the best teacher in the world, but Kevin and I  are the ones that care the most about their success, and thus can give them the focus and support that they need on each level.  So we are excited about this homeschooling journey and what it has brought to our family so far.  We have met some wonderful families, full of well-rounded kids and that inspire us to stay the course.  

So will Little Man be sad when he really realizes that all his friends in the neighborhood are boarding that big yellow bus that looks like so much fun?  He might be, but we've already talked about it and I promised him  a ride on our city bus.  

Our study on Mary

M's bearded Mary--she loves to be silly!

Face painting--they tried to paint mine, but I have no picture

Santa cupcakes--the prototype

Made by a preschooler's hands

Play-dough solar system

Yes, I have drawn on the kitchen table!  Not the first time
this table has seen marker/paint/un-identifiables.

The toothpicks helped us talk about the axis