Friday, March 9, 2007

Maybe I do like Homeschool

I'm feeling a bit scattered about homescooling lately. We've set aside our normal Konos curriculum to focus on science fair these last few weeks. And our schedule has been off since November, when I officially gave up on Caleb taking naps. I feel like we "wing it" a lot, and for the most part its working. But ahh...the guilt, shouldn't our schooling be more scheduled, rigorous and spiritually enlightened? Okay, okay this is not pre-med; we're talking a 3 year old, a 4 year old and a 6 year old. Who needs rigourous, let's go to the park...and that is exactly what we've been doing. Come to think of it that is exactly why I like homeschooling. We can go to the park, or the museum, or the library, or watch 3 Popular Mechanics for Kids (yes they have those - on DVD, no less) So lest, I lose hope I'm listing the reasons I like homeschooling:
-I like that my kids pretend play "geologist", and experiment with prisms - for fun.
-I like that if we feel like eating blueberry pancakes for breakfast I can make them and we just start school 20 minutes later.
- I like that my 4 year old can read - and likes too!
-I like that I don't have to herd kids into the mini-van to make it to school in time
-I like learning about things with my kids
-I like that E not only knows how to add and subtract, but knows when to - he's great a word problems
-I like that I can pick curriculum suited to meet the needs of my kids, that I can set the pace for how fast we move through concepts based on my kids mastery
- I like that I don't have to follow anybody elses dumb rules (yes-we comply w/ Colorado Homeschool Law)
-I like the tangents, and rabbit trails that take us way off course, but allow us to stop and work on character issues, or fun topics.
- I like teaching my kids to read - its fun to watch them "get it".
-I like children's literature
- I like that my kid's have "white space" in their lives, and they have time to be children...play with bubbles, legos, play-dough (okay I sort of like play-dough - its so dang messy)

So there really are great reasons to homeschool. My kids are learning, and loving to learn. Homeschooling isn't what I expected its much easier and much harder than I thought it would be, but I'm happy with our choice - today.

3 comments:

Mom said...

Steph..I love reading your blog...its an honor to be called your "Mom"....when did you get so cool. If you weren't already my daughter I would want you for a friend. Mom

Mom said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
stephaniejwood said...

For the record, I am not editing my own mothers comments. Her comment just got posted twice. Thanks mom!