Backfire!

Hahaha...so laying down the law backfired on me a bit.

I decided we needed a few days of "school at home" to help the boys see how much time and effort "real school" would require of them, how much freedom they would be giving up if we didn't homeschool. I thought for sure this would cure them of their bad attitudes and help them recommit to homeschooling...and it did for one of them.

The other (my 9 year old) loved it and has decided he for sure wants to quit homeschooling and go to school. I'm sad but to my surprise also ok with it. This boy is sooooooo smart and does so well when learning from others. When he's with me though it's a constant battle of wills. I hate it because not only are we constantly arguing but I know he's not learning as much as he could be.

So, we said yes. We're keeping him home the rest of this school year and then enrolling him in "real school" next year. That's the plan anyway. We'll see what happens between now and then. Honestly, between you and me, I am praying that things turn around this semester and he changes his mind. : ) If/When we do enroll him in school we're hoping to be able to afford the Christian school down the street.

As I mentioned earlier, my oldest has decided he wants to continue homeschooling...music to my ears!

Some Days...

Some days are easy and fun...like yesterday.

Some days are not...like today.

Today I was yelled at. Today I was disrespected. Today paper was shredded and books were thrown.

Today is the kind of day people are imagining when they say, "You homeschool? I could never do that."

And really, I couldn't either if it were always like this...

God has given me a vision for my family and has impressed on my heart that I must fight for them. That I must not give up when the going gets rough. So, I will fight.

Today fighting meant laying down the law and I am really not good at that. But I did it.

Maybe I'll share more tomorrow when I'm not so tired and worn out from the day.

Reading and Writing and Worry and Lots of Love

Being a homeschooler is such a privilege and such a joy. I love being in the middle of my kids learning. I love seeing their excitement when they learn something new or see something they've never seen before. And I love partnering with them when they're struggling and working on the solution together. I love that we trust each other in the process of learning and that we're forced to communicate in a variety of ways in order to meet our goals.

Today we're working our new language arts plans. Both boys have assessed their strengths, weaknesses and passions in the areas of reading and writing and have come up with a learning plan to follow for the next month. So far so good. They like the fact that they're working their own plans not one that's been forced on them. I like that they're taking responsibility for their educations and working toward their goals.

Joshua is a budding writer! How exciting! He can spend hours at the computer writing his book. Love it. He's really enjoying the book, Write What You See. It's full of interesting photographs and story starters.

Wesley is doing a lot of reading...quietly and out loud. He's really committed to improvement in this area. Right now he's reading the book, Indian Captive, The Story of Mary Jemison.

As for me I'm working hard to be consistent with our schedule. The whole family does better when we follow a basic routine but for whatever reason I find it hard to stick with it for more than a week or two at a time...

Lately I've been hearing, "I want to go to school" from the boys a lot more often than I used to. It makes me sad and I end up thinking, maybe it's time. Then I start praying about it and I fall in love with homeschooling again. Hopefully some of my passion will rub off on them...