We have officially completed our first week of homeschool. I was wondering what this would feel like, and I have to say...it's great. This weekend should be quite enjoyable, as there is no homework to be done and the trepidation I felt going into the first week of school and my first ever week of teaching my children is greatly diminished.
My favorite thing so far, aside from being with my children as they grow and learn, is the academic flexibility. Little G has the opportunity to work on Math, Phonics, and Language Arts from K-2, since he often has his assignments finished before I even get R set up and he joins us for the duration of his sister's lessons. He is also doing Science, Art, and Music, which are not part of his required curriculum but enriching to his experience. I am also mixing subject matter, like adding the Music course tambourine with our continents song as we sing.
The great thing is that learning is everywhere. Nickelodeon presented us with an unexpected history lesson last night with their 9/11 special, What Happened?, geared toward helping younger children (6-14) understand the events of September 11, 2001. It is a 22 1/2-minute program available in full on the Nickelodeon website here. R watched it, though Little G was much more interested in playing a computer game during that time.
On a more personal note, I finally told my grandma Betty, who tends to be kind of "old school" on some (but certainly not all) things, about our decision to homeschool our children. I didn't share my decision with her at all over the past few months, which was difficult because I pretty much share everything with my grandma and really value her input on important decisions. But I was nervous, and didn't know what kind of opinions extended family had of homeschooling or how exactly I would dispell any stereotypes when I had not even begun yet. While I didn't expect my grandmother to be completely against it, I do realize that her perspective is different simply because she was raised and raised her own children in a very different time. For that matter, even my own childhood and education experience was quite different than what my own children face.
To my surprise, there was not even a hint of hesitation, just a lot of encouraging and supportive comments and a few questions of interest. She asked how we all liked it, and thirty minutes had passed before I stopped myself, laughing, to say, "Well, from the fact that I've just run my mouth for thirty straight minutes about it, I guess it's obvious that I love it. We all love it." She said that was quite alright, that she enjoyed hearing about it and that it sounded like we made a really good choice. It meant the world to me to hear that.
And now? I am off to enjoy the weekend with my husband and children.
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