I am so thankful for homeschooling!

I know a lot of people don't really "get it" and I understand, bc I used to be one of those people that thought it was just a weird thing that weird people did. I am so thankful to be on the path of life we are currently on though! Today, I was talking to my friend about her daughter (who is in 2nd grade). She told me that her daughter is an excellent speller and always gets 100's on her quizes, until a few weeks ago when she came back with a 60 on her quiz. She couldn't understand why, bc she spelled all the words correctly, but since she had capatilized a few (like Sir), she lost ALL points for those 4 words, regardless of the fact that she had SPELLED the words right. Since it as a spelling test (and not a grammar test), you would think that spelling would be what truly counts. Sure, make a point by maybe taking a point off, but is it really necessary to mark the whole thing wrong? She also received no credit for answering "what is a noun?" with the answer "a parson, place or thing"-simply bc she mispelled person. Did I mention she is just 7? Her daughter was really upset by this and it all just makes me really sad. Everything is about testing, testing, testing. Teaching to test. We need to/HAVE to get those scores high, especially for MCAS testing. Everything ultimately spirals down to the importance of MCAS. What does MCAS truly mean for the future of our children though...for their future tomorrow as well as their future 20 years from now?

Back when we were kids, we learned to learn (and to have fun doing it). We explored things and got our hands dirty and experienced the fun of being a kid, all while learning the basics in a slow and steady fashion. Now kids are being sent with homework (hours of homework), sometimes starting as early as Kindergarten....being taught to read and write as soon as they walk in the door in Kindergarten....learning how to fill in the bubbles in 1st/2nd grade....and testing, testing, testing. Teachers are pressured by these tests, principals are pressured by these tests, school systems are pressured by these tests and most importantly students are pressured by these tests. In the end, do all these years of teaching to test for these MCAS help foster a love of learning? Does teaching to test give students that desire one needs in life to want to learn more/do more each and every day of their lives? Does it..can it?? I don't know. Personally, teaching to test does NOT work for me. I am currently taking an anatomy and physiology class and its a pretty good example of "teaching to test". I learn about a mess of body parts (right now we are doing muscles), I study, I test..and then I push it all back to the back of mind, so I can start memorizing the next group of parts. Very little hands on experiences, no dissection, just memorize/test, memorize/test, memorize/test I am nearing the end of the class (one month to go), I have a great grade (92 average) and I am burned out. There's no meat to the class, no excitement....nada. I have never taken a class so "soul-less" in my life, and I have taken a lot of classes! This class feels like its just sucking the life out of me.

Can our kids escape the same fate?? I know there are fantastic teachers out there that creatively work the necessary lessons into excellent, multifaceted hands on experiences for their students (I probably went to college with some of them). In my teaching days, I tried to do the same!! But there are also teachers out there that aren't like that and "stick to the rules" as to what each student is required to learn for MCAS. My friend's daughter's teacher is obviously one of them. How can you be sure you get the right teacher year after year? How can you make sure their lessons are made "real" to them?? How do you instill that love of learning??

I truly appreciate being able to give my kids the opportunity to slow down and experience/savor life, subsequently learning at the same time. I want them to correlate learning similiar to that of sleeping, eating, playing... make it just another enjoyable staple of life! I love homeschooling bc it allows my kids to be kids and it allows me to tailor our days to meet all their needs (be it educational, emotional, etc). Our days are simple, yet so busy, packed full of meaningful life/learning experiences.

We wake up (whenever we want to) and we lazily eat breakfast. I cuddle on the couch with Kylie while the others are playing and I work with her on her reading (she is reading 3/4 letter words and doing great). We do 2 or 3 lessons at a time, just bc she wants to do more. I work on a reading lesson with Elise next (although she doesn't really "get it" like Kylie has, she wants to be right there with Kylie, trying to learn how to read). We play with our farm animal counters and do pattern blocks and practice our math skills. We play with different shaped wooden pieces and make letters. We practice writing some letters/Kylie writes her own words by sounding out the words she wants to write (and spelling DOESN'T matter!) We draw pictures to go with our stories words. We paint (mostly with paint with water books right now though, due to the house selling thing!) We listen to stories from around the world and relate them to our life. We get our hands dirty and we learn about the world around us. We go to our co-operative once a week and meet up with a fabulous group of ladies and children, and we take turns teaching different classes/lessons. Today, we learn about crickets and even Caden can tell someone that a cricket has ears on its legs, or that a cricket has 5 eyes and 6 legs. We also make a little cricket habitat and take home our own pet crickets that another mom has brought in for everyone. We learn about body parts and about which bones are connected to each other. We then outline our whole body on big pieces of poster board and color them in to represent our own bodies. Kylie gives herself pink patterned tights and a "fur coat" like Veruca Salt on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, while Caden asks someone to help him draw a Mack truck. Elise gives herself a crown and LONG, flowing brown locks! I watch my kids interact with kids of all ages, Kylie gives her future husband/her prince a hug and a backrub lol then. Caden finds buddies to play cars with him. Elise plays princess with another little girl. They play hide and seek. They run. They roll down hills together. They have fun together, no matter what the age (be it 2 or 10). We go to the park and enjoy the park for hours, meeting up with so many of our great friends! We go up and down slides. We swing so high we almost touch the sky. We take off our shoes and run in the grass and just run and run and run, feeling the cool damp grass beneath our toes. We sometimes sit and eat our lunch there, just enjoying the day and the clouds and our time together. We go out to museums and more parks, as well as field trips set up by our co-op friends. We go to a farm, we go to a sugar house, and in two months we go for a 2 hour ride on a steam train and boat. We go to the library and we particpate in our groups, we sit and enjoy the books (and the toys too of course). We ride our scooters. We ride our bikes. We go for walks. We go for rides and we just talk (we talk about the world, we talk about God, we talk about that naughty mommy getting pulled over for not following the rules ;) ). We learn about forgiveness. We learn about appreciating the great many joys we have in our lives. We talk about the good things in life. We talk about the sad. We pray. At the end of our full days, we collapse into bed. We are all soooooo tired...but boy, is life good!!!

I am so thankful to have the opportunity to homeschool my kids. I am so incredibly thankful to be able to have these kinds of days with my kids, day after day. I am so thankful for my supportive husband-who is my other half . I am so thankful for all my awesome, very supportive friends that I can talk to day after day about anything/everything!! I am so thankful for our great literature based, hands on curriculum. I am so thankful for all the days we get to spend together. I am so thankful for my family, who helps me when I need it, even if they don't agree or support homeschooling at this moment of time. I am so thankful for the wonderful homeschooling community we are surrounded by, including our co-op friends. And most importantly, I am so incredibly thankful and grateful that my kids have NO idea what a test is...or what homework is either..but they do love to learn, play to learn and live to learn!