Why I Love Homeschooling

Officially we are done with school for the summer. I have filed attendance and grades for the last 4 quarters. I am not keeping records right now. This is the fun time. We can go on trips, we can hang out all day and do nothing if we want and yet, guess what we are doing?

If you guessed school you are correct.

When my son wakes up two days into summer vacation and says, in tones of horror, “Mom, we forgot to do school yesterday. We had better not forget today.” Who am I to say, “No. No more learning for you, it’s summer vacation.”

So we continue with lessons 3 or 4 days a week. We are reading through The Story of the World together, just for fun before we start our ancient history classes in the fall. We are still learning new math stuff. We are still doing piano and theory lessons, and I have added voice. He is reading his way voraciously through everything that I and the local library can provide at his reading level. And attempting some things far beyond it.

Most days right now when it’s suddenly too quiet and I go rushing to see what kind of mischief they are getting into I find them all sitting together, heads bent over a book as the Boy makes out the words.

The Girl likes to pretend to read. She points at words she doesn’t understand and recites words she has memorized by heart, convinced that she is reading. She is learning to make letters. Monday she woke up and started working through a little exercise book that she has. She sat and did “school” for several hours, and then she got up and helped the Baby put together wood puzzles and thread big wooden beads together.

Yesterday when I came out of the bed room they were all wearing their Indian finery, they have many clothes items from all around the world, and they were playing with the electronic keyboard and experimenting with and dancing to all of the different beats they were making. In their heads they were playing friends and pretending to be Indian princes and princesses at a party. In my mind there was no need to interrupt the play and experimentation with rhythm in order to teach a music lesson.

As I type this, the Boy is sitting at the girl’s side at the table helping her make letters. This is what I hear.

Girl: Oh I did know it I did it.

Boy: [laughing excitedly] Yeah, you didn’t think you knew how to make an s but then I showed you and you did it.

Girl: Oh look here’s another one. Will you help me. I don’t really know how to do this one.

Boy: Yes you do. Just do lines across each other just like this see.

It’s moments like this that I am really glad we are all taking this journey together.