Everyone has their own reasons for homeschooling. Some live in bad school districts and can't afford private school. Some follow their religious convictions. Some have kids struggling or failing in school. Some have kids that were bullied in school. Some do it to protect their kids from the craziness of a sexualized environment, drugs, violence, and school shootings. Some do it because they move a lot or they currently live overseas. And, unfortunately, a very small number do it because they are sick in the head and abusive. Of course, those are the ones that make the headlines. What most of us want is to just do the best for their kids. As for me, I chose this route because I wanted to give my children a richer learning environment. I wanted to do more hands-on and exploration. I wanted to instill a love of learning as a way of life. I wanted to take away the limits that classroom walls create.
There are days I feel I have failed miserably at this. Part of it is comparing myself to others (Big Mistake!) Part of it is circumstances. I went through 9 months of nausea while pregnant with my daughter. I had a newborn and a slow recovery from a c-section. I moved three times to three different states in the last 4 years. At times, I had limited or no funds. I had days where I lost motivation. I have been tired or stressed. I have wanted a break from dealing with the spirited and challenging nature of my son. I've had to do the dishes, wash the clothes, mop the floors and get the groceries. How can I be giving them a rich learning environment if there is so much life getting in the way?
Then I stop and reflect for a moment. We have made friends everywhere we have gone, so we have had many chances to develop social skills. We had annual passes to Sea World for a year and learned a lot about ocean life along with just having fun. We've been a part of a co-op, homeschool groups, and Cub Scouts. We have gone to the zoo, science and natural history museums, and children's museums many times. We have created art, written letters, and made storybooks and cards. We have learned how to take pictures and use video cameras and have learned how to use the computers software that goes with them. We've dabbled in computer programming and building bridges and learning all the basics we would learn in the classroom with fun computer games. We have even learned a little Spanish and how to type properly on a keyboard. We have filled in Mad Libs books and drawn in doodle books.
Since the age of two, we have read books almost every day and taken many adventures through their pages. We have watched many educational-based videos and learned all kinds of science through Magic School Bus, experiments, and human body posters. We even learned about the Revolutionary War through Liberty Kids. We have played several different board games, including chess with Super Mario characters. We have built castles, forts, and garages and played at the park, built sand castles, and jumped on trampolines and other bouncers. We have gone to sports games and live performances and attended the county fair. We have gone to Carlsbad Caverns, Disney World three times, and the botanical gardens in a few places. We have camped on the beach. We have looked for places on our maps and globe that we read about in our books, and we've studied other cultures along with the states we had lived in. We have learned Christian values through watching Veggie Tales, studying the Bible, and attending VBS every year. And in all that, there has been plenty of being a kids and playing and building relationships.
I guess when I start looking at the whole picture, I have done exactly what I set out to do. If my kids were in school, we would be caught up in the busyness of it all. We could not have taken our time learning the things of the world. We could not have enjoyed some things as often. I may have also been tempted to return to work, leaving even less time for all these experiences. We are really only at the beginning of this journey. I can't wait to see what the next fifteen years have in store! What about you, what have your kids learned outside of the classroom?
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