Literally... that's all I have. This week is all-soccer-all-the-time. 4 away games between now and Sunday.
People are still asking me when we will put the kids in school. Any of our reasons to keep the kids don't seem to matter when faced with the overwhelming opinion that a) I need the break, b) the kids will respect someone else more than me as a teacher, c) they need to be "socialized", d) they are somehow missing out on the public school experience, and e) it's just plain odd to be homeschooling. This last one is never spoken out loud and yet it is there. Please, please, give us homeschoolers the benefit of the doubt that we are doing what we think is right for our children. Not your children, but OUR children. I will get off my soapbox now. Also, you may realize this from raising your own children, but the more someone tells me I'm not "doing it right," the more I dig my heels in. I'll yield if I'm just being stubborn, but we've gone round and round the whole schooling issue, and so far the pros of being home outweigh the cons.
Anyhow, on the subject of school. This year got off to a better start. I converted a whole room into our classroom, gave the children their own drawers and work spaces. We usually do about 3 hours of school a day. This includes writing, spelling, reading, and math. There is often another enriching subject thrown in too. A friend of mine and I sat down last night and decided what we were going to co-teach our kids this year. We divided up the subjects by what we each felt comfortable teaching, which pretty much covered the whole list. Neither of us like poetry, but we decided we shouldn't cripple our children with our dislikes. (Wish me luck! I drew the short straw.)
I had her 2 kids over yesterday and we studied about the solar system in general and did a craft with the planets and their order from the sun. I plan to continue the space theme, as it was pretty popular. The kids all asked good questions... lots about the sun and moon, so next time will be devoted to the moon.
My time is UP. Rats. Off to Soccer. (Oh, yes, it's capitalized to show it's importance to us right now... just like the other 's' word: Sleep.)
5 comments:
Sounds GREAT!!
~Susan
did you tell them that Pluto is no longer a planet or are you 'old school' & kept its' former status?
You GO, my friend! Personally, I would have been up on that soapbox a whole lot longer! We could talk for a long time about the word 'socialization'!
I'm glad we met and discussed what we are thinking for this year! It was pretty exciting!
Noe is very interested in the planets now!
I'm glad your still homeschooling. This post encouraged me and reminded me why I hoomeschool. Sometimes I play the reasons other people think I shouldn't in my head to often. Especially the "you need a break" one. I haven't decided if we will still do it next year, but I enjoy having the option to do it if I think it's best for my girls.
-Trisha (Carrie's friend)
Post a Comment