Gratuitous Post

Just bragging here...

Things I continue to love about homeschooling that feel like bragging when we talk about it:

Getting to go out on a weeknight with little to no repercussions.  Here the kids are having watched the university acrobatic tumbling team compete. It was a Thursday and we didn't have to worry about getting up early for school the next day. Sleep in everyone!

I guess this one, most people can still do, but I associate it with homeschooling because it's not something I would ever have done if the kids remained in public school. This photo is from one of our Poetry Teas. This Poetry Tea was accompanied by mass amounts of chocolate, trying to get rid of all that holiday candy!

I love that we can do "school photos" whenever we want. This year, we delayed until November. Not on purpose, but that's how our schedule worked.  And we get to do "non-traditional" poses. And we get to do more. 

Community Helps

Thank you for the opportunities

I am still grateful for our homeschool community. This year was full of changes for us all and we found it harder to get together with all of our busy schedules. But we did find time and we went on some great field trips. 

A chemist lights gas on fire!

Above the large aquatic tanks.

It doesn't hurt to ask, right? We asked if we could to the "behind the scenes" tour at the aquarium (normally reserved for older kids) and they said yes! So, all our kids got to see how they feed the fish, clean the aquariums, and care for sick species. 

(written July 31, 2015)

Re-Learning

We're all learning

I love it when I get to learn something too. The kids were doing some homework for a Chemistry class they're taking. I helped the younger one with a few of the calculations. In doing so, I realized, I LOVED what they were doing. I vaguely remember doing it, myself, way back in time. But I didn't remember these calculations having the specific name, stoichiometry. It's all about balancing. I'm really good at it... when it's on paper... between molecules. I just wish life balancing was as easy.

(written July 31, 2015)

No Hallmark Celebrations

Celebrating Other Holidays

Have I said this before? One of the greatest things I've experienced in homeschooling, is the leaving behind of every-single-celebration. We no longer have to bring a snack to holiday parties or 35 Valentines for each kid in the class. If we do celebrate a holiday, we can do it however we want to, without offending someone or modifying it due to large numbers and short amount of time. OMG, it's fantastic. I didn't realize how much stress I had due to holidays celebrated in public school.

This year, we're back to celebrating Groundhog Day with a small group of friends. This year, a pancake breakfast (last year we had a cookie exchange).




(written July 21, 2015)

Déjà Vu

Haven't we seen this before?


Preparing for a class, the kids were asked to watch the sun patterns. Something we did as our very first theme unit! It was fun to chalk our outlines again to see how tall we were in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.

It was also good for me, as the main teaching parent, to see that they remembered a lot of what we learned a few years ago. Some of it sunk in and stayed there!


Something else we rediscovered were our marionettes we made during our first year of homeschooling. Here's one of the marionettes (on the left) posing with its inspiration, Tiny (on the right). We create much fewer products homeschooling than the kids did in public school (I'm still trying to catch up on scanning all their art, homework, projects from school!)

(written July 31, 2015)

Dad Gets Invovled!

Building a computer

We were all happy when Dad decided to help the kids build their own computer from scratch. It ended up being a little bit "more" of a project than we initially thought. But, that got our youngest helping with the research for parts! As for me, I got to relax for a little while, as Dad did the work.

(written July 31, 2015)

Be Careful What You Research

It May or May Not Pay Off

As part of our yearly activities, I have had the kids do a project on an animal of their choice. The first year, the kids made dioramas to incorporate what they learned. The second year, one of the kids wrote a comic strip full of facts they had learned. This year, the younger one filled in a traditional report (habitat, diet, etc.), while the older one made a presentation on all that she researched about hedgehogs. We had discussed the possibility of allowing her to get her own hedgehog, but that we needed more information. She researched everything from how to purchase one, how to feed one, to how much it might cost per month to care for one. What a great way to end this assignment with the purchase (she used her own money) of Blizzard, the newest family member.

This process definitely proved the correlation between interest and motivation and how we all learn.


(written March 20, 2015)