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Home Education Week - Day 1 - "Looking Back"
It's the beginning of a very special week here in the blog-world! Dana at Principled Discovery is hosting a special weeklong event to commemorate the first annual Home Education Week in her home state of Nebraska (<-Click to read the official proclamation from the Governor.) The state of Florida is celebrating homeschooling this week, too. I wonder how long it will be before the other 48 will follow suit? - This is going to be a fun week! I'm looking forward to reading lots of ideas and thoughts and stories of other families' homeschooling adventures. And, I'm excited to get to share some things from my family's experiences. I hope you'll join in the fun! For more information, go visit Principled Discovery. - Today's theme is "Looking Back".
What was life like? Think about things you miss and things you and your family have gained." -
Before homeschooling my kids, they attended a small, Christian school; the same one in which I had spent my K-12 years. My firstborn had trouble from day one in Kindergarten. He has never been "slow" when it comes to learning. On the contrary, he has always been extremely bright and a fast learner. But, at that point, he had a lot of energy. That, combined with him being a "hands-on" learner, made things difficult for him in a traditional classroom setting. It made it hard for his teacher, too! - Every day I would go in to pick him up at the door of the classroom, and his teacher would meet me there to tell me all the things that he had done wrong that day. It usually involved things like fidgeting too much, not keeping his hands to himself, not staying in line on the way to and from the cafeteria or the bathroom, etc. Maybe it was pregnancy hormones, because at the time I was expecting #3, but I had a hard time listening to that day after day! - Every Monday was folder day. My son would be given his folder to take home, full of the previous week's papers, plus any notes or announcements that parents needed to know about. I always found it humorous that on my son's papers would usually be written some comment about needing to be neater, especially the ones that involved coloring. My son was not a colorer. He had no interest in taking crayons and filling in a picture that someone else had drawn. He could take a blank piece of paper and draw something magnificent. But coloring a picture? He hated it. So his coloring pages always came back saying, "Needs to work on coloring!" LOL. - And then there were the field trips and all the various class activities. Parents were encouraged and even somewhat expected to take a very active role in these things. But with a preschooler and an infant in tow, I couldn't always make it to everything. This gave me a huge guilt complex as a mom. Especially when my child would tell me later, "...but all the other moms were there." *sigh* I hated missing out on those things! It broke my heart, knowing that my child was going on a field trip and he would be one of the few who didn't have a parent there to accompany him. And I worried, too, that he would be left out or overlooked. He wasn't... but I still worried! - I could continue with tales about each year until we finally made the decision to homeschool, but they are all about the same. My son was in 3rd grade, my daughter in 1st, when we decided that we had all enough. At the end of that school year, we made it known that we would be homeschooling after that. My children were elated. I was scared, relieved, and excited all in one! My dh, well, he was just glad to be free from the tuition costs! - So let's see, is there anything that I miss about my pre-homeschooling life? Hmmm.... getting up early every day? Dragging the baby out of bed before he was ready so we could get the older kids to school? Waking the baby from his afternoon nap to go pick up the older kids from school? Spending a fortune on new school supplies and a million odds and ends throughout the year whether they need them or not? Purchasing a new "back-to-school" wardrobe in the fall just because? Forcing my children to read books that they weren't the least bit interested in within a ridiculous time frame so they could do well on the "AR" tests? Dealing with the parenting-politics that are ever present, especially in a private school? Etc., etc., etc.... Need I go on? Do I miss that stuff? NO! - What have we gained? Well, we have gained a closeness within our family that wasn't there before. We have time now, to just relax and be a family and not let the rest of the world determine when and for how long we can see each other. My children may fight like cats and dogs sometimes, but they are also each other's best friends. (BTW, they tried to play with each other on the playground when they were in school. They got in trouble, because 1st graders and 3rd graders weren't allowed to play together. They could only play with kids from their class.) And, they have been free to spend time with their cousins (who are also homeschooled) and their grandparents, which is absolutely priceless. They have also made friends within our co-op who have been such a blessing. - As a mom, I have gained so much confidence! I love homeschooling my children and I'm proud to be a homeschooling mom. I feel that I'm truly doing what God has called me to do now. And really, that is all that I need to know. Just like the name of this blog says, I am homeschooling my children - - for heaven's sake. 3:30 PM - Mar. 30, 2008 - post comment
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 Description Home For Heaven's Sake is a blog about one family's adventures in homeschooling. From lesson plans to field trips to ordinary, everyday life, this blog tells our story. Home Meet the Author Archives Previously, on HFHS - Wanna See Our School Room? - Play-Doh Phonics - Our Daily Bread... Monkey Bread! - I Never Leave Home Without... - "Cowgirl Dreams" - UPDATED! Vote for me, please! <%LinkTitle%>Bev's Blogroll <%LinkTitle%>-Holly <%LinkTitle%>-Brandi <%LinkTitle%>-Stacy <%LinkTitle%>-Jana <%LinkTitle%>-Amy <%LinkTitle%>-Misty <%LinkTitle%>-Heather <%LinkTitle%>-A Familiar Path <%LinkTitle%>-Apples of Gold <%LinkTitle%>-Bring the Rain <%LinkTitle%>-One Thing <%LinkTitle%>-Domestic Felicity <%LinkTitle%>-Pufferfish Diaries <%LinkTitle%>-Johnson Chronicles <%LinkTitle%>-Conversion Diary <%LinkTitle%>Favorite Websites <%LinkTitle%>Blogger Friend School <%LinkTitle%>Ladies Against Feminism <%LinkTitle%>Homeschooling Today <%LinkTitle%>I Can Has Cheezburger <%LinkTitle%>5 Minutes For Mom 
 
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