The Joys of Homeschooling

We had another week of messed up scheduling thanks to appointments, errands and Dad being away from home most of the week for a hazmat class.  In spite of everything, we still got school done.  And that is one of the joys of homeschooling.

Another is sharing the excitement of learning.  Sure, any parent could have gone out to witness the Super Harvest Moon and Jupiter this week with their kids.  But it's something else to know that in a few months we'll be studying Jupiter and I can say, "Remember that night when we stayed up late and saw the moons of Jupiter? or when we saw it right under the big full moon?"

We're currently on Mercury.  It's an interesting planet.  We've gone outside before sunrise several times in the last week to try to spot it, but there have been too many low clouds on the horizon.  Still, it's bonding to be on a quest together.

David's favorite new word of the week is ziggurat, which we've been learning about in Ancient Civilizations.

While we've been schooling since August, we just started our math curriculum.  Those manipulatives are almost as fun as Legos!  And I have to admit that I was amazed (and grateful!) that the explanation of place value in Math-U-See was so easy for the kids to grasp.  I read it straight out of the teacher's manual & drew it on the board.  Later in the day, Elizabeth walked by the board and asked, "Mama, why is there only one hundred in the castle?"  I didn't even realize she was listening while I was doing math with David!

(Looking back at this photo makes me realize how right-handed our world is and how challenging it must be to be left-handed.)

I've already been able to incorporate some of the tips I got out of The Homeschooler's Guide to Attentional Difficulties.  I love how practical this booklet is.  And I love that I can at least try - do my best - to keep David interested in learning by altering the presentation, the subject matter, the environment, and even the time of day we have school.

And all this is where I found joy in homeschooling this week.