...when I decided to homeschool!

Today, I had that picture perfect homeschool day that, when I've visualized it in the past, has been fringed with lovely dry ice-style fog and a slight pink tinge from my rose-colored glasses.  I put those on so rarely anymore that today came as quite a pleasant surprise!

For the second day in a row, the boys started "school" on time -- without me having had to threaten their very existence, guaranteeing future enrollment in the meanest public school I could find, or screeching.  We've long since had to abandon our actual classroom in favor of the kitchen table, due to the baby's inquisitive and genuinely destructive ways.  (The kitchen/den combo was easier to babyproof and we've got it gated off from the rest of the house/stairs.)  For some reason, as I sat at the table with the big boys and drank my beloved coffee and poked organic Cheerio-style cereal into Baby's mouth, it dawned on me:  "Boy, have I got it good." 

So cozy with all my children gathered 'round the table.  The dog stalking the baby's cereal stash, the cat moving about, nesting in every recently vacated (warm) chair.  Not having to deal with any e-drama, I was able to put my whole concentration into checking their previous work and actually give constructive advice on how they could move forward more successfully.  We had intelligent conversation and lively question and answer sessions. 

And la piece de resistance (I don't know how to make the appropriate accent marks on a keyboard) was some real-life drama, which occurred appropriately during Science class -- which we've been having on the front porch due to the fabulous 3-D weather.  I could have kissed the snake that got itself in the cross-hairs of our horrible outside kitty, "Honey."  Oldest Son dubbed her "Atilla the Honey" after he spent a good bit of energy trying to save the battered green snake from her energetic attacks.

So, lessons learned:

1.  It pays to have "school" closer to the coffee pot.  Go ahead and move all the books to the kitchen desk/bookshelves -- noone who has seen my desk believes I use it for anything related to cookbooks or cooking anyway.
2.  Mommy/Primary teacher should never be distracted by other concerns.  It is counter-productive for the inner workings of the homeschool support group to actually INTERFERE with one's homeschooling efforts. 
3.  Do as much "school" as possible outside.  And then don't sweat time spent saving hapless snakes.
4.  At the end of an extraordinarily productive day, celebrate!  Today, we met BloglessLara and Bri at our favorite swimming hole on the Little River and spent 2 glorious hours listening to the running stream and enjoying the cool breeze while chatting and watching the kids play in the icewater. 

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Posted by DrHibiscus

Every homeschool parent deserves a day like that now and again to remind us WHY we do this... And I really like the idea of keeping the homeschool room close to the coffee pot ;-) You and anotherblogonthefire would get along quite famously - he's a caffeine addict too!

May all of your days be filled with snakes and cats and dogs and children and sunshine and coffee and mountains and rivers... Couldn't ask for much more than that.

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Posted by eclecticityTia

This is why we became unschoolers. And started using the kitchen after A's first "preschool" year. And do "school" out in the sunshine. And why I won't even TRY something structured unless I can give it my undivided attention, which does happen now and then, often deliberately. But school is one area where multi-tasking does more harm than good.

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