Homeschooling Is Amazing!

Sometimes my boys just amaze me!  This Homeschool journey amazes me.  When I see such simple changes in my children and our family I wonder why we didn't turn to homeschooling sooner!



Today we had karate and with a vet appointment in the afternoon I figured we wouldn't get any schoolwork done today.

They got all ready this morning and each picked out some schoolwork to bring in the car.  That has become our routine and I was glad to see the boys picking out their work without grumbling or complaining.

What stunned me the most though was Ian's choice to add in an extra assignment.  

He picked out a book to read, two math workbook pages on measurement and then brought along his journal and asked me to come up with a story prompt for him.  As I was looking through my idea file on Pinterest he asked if he could write about what he could do with two million dollars.

He always seems to think he can't write about his own ideas and actually asked me to write his topic as a question at the top of his page so he could answer it with five sentences.  He ended up with 9 sentences!  Some of that was due to his placing periods in the wrong places and me correcting them but still he wrote a lot.

 He had details and I could easily picture his house that he was describing.  He used big words that he knew he'd probably not be able to spell correctly.  I was so happy to finally see that he wasn't hampering himself worrying about making mistakes.

Just the fact that he even wanted to write, came up with an idea of what he wanted to write about, and wrote without tears was huge!!

Here is a sample of the story; it's only the first page and he wrote three pages worth:


Evan worked on a page in his math book with odd and even numbers and two pages on r- blends using tr- pr- gr- and a myriad of other sounds to complete the words half- written on each page of his reading book.  He finished in no time and told me it was easy.

Alec read a few chapters in his Warriors book and then worked on a page with making equivalent fractions.  He needed a bit of help completing it when we got home and had decided to set it aside for the ride home so we could listen to some more of our book on CD.

I love how independent they're getting and how willing they are to learn and apply themselves but know I am here to help if they need it.


Once home they made their own lunches and we settled down to read our Harry Potter book.  We only have two chapters left!  The boys are quite excited to know that we'll finish it up this week and we only have one book left.

After lunch the boys helped me catch our cat and get him into his crate.  We then had just enough time for Evan to read a book.  He wanted to read to the cat so we settled ourselves near him and Evan read Peanut and Pearl's Picnic Adventure.


We had NO idea how educational a trip to the veterinarian's office could be! 


We headed to a new vet's office today and we just loved how friendly everyone was.  The boys are always eager and not at all shy to speak up.  They pretty much took over the vet's visit and our new vet was great about listening to the boys.

She asked them questions about our cat and explained everything she was doing.  She often explained why she was doing something or else would ask them to take a guess.  Half-way through our visit she asked them why they weren't in school.  When they answered that they were homeschooled she replied "I thought you'd say that!" She gave me credit for schooling all three boys and told me she had boys too but couldn't imagine homeschooling.  She wasn't judgmental just factual about not thinking she could handle it.

She asked the boys what happens when the teacher gets mad and they replied "we get sent to our room or else we're given extra work" and she laughed then joked "you don't get sent to the principal?"

 She offered to show them a jarred tapeworm she had from a previous patient and explained how pets get worms and the importance of de-worming them.  It was very educational and she joked that she was teaching them; but she really was.  They were interested and asking questions. They wanted to know how old our cat was in cat years and she figured out that he was 77.  She had been thinking out loud so Alec was asking her how she came up with the numbers she was multiplying and adding and I could see him doing the math in his head to see if she was right.

It was determined that our cat had some sort of allergic reaction either to his food or else a possible bite that he over scratched making the area bald and raw.  She gave him some shots for the itching and advised the boys to leave the cat alone for the rest of the day.

The boys even made friends in the waiting room and were seen petting many other dogs and cats before and after our appointment.  I'm not sure Ian even realized it but at one point there was a large dog walking by and Alec was scared, not even seeming to think about it Ian moved his body to shield Alec's and walked alongside the dog until he was past.

While I can't ever say Ian and Alec act like best friends there are times that I glimpse them being so considerate of one another.  It's amazing to me to see how far they've come since we started homeschooling.

Once home the boys turned to screens, once again.  Ian was up in his room trying to finish up his A-Team videos.  We rented season 5 from the library and he's trying to finish them up before they're due back.

Alec and Evan settled down together to watch videos on Evan's Kindle.  They have been watching Minecraft videos and then linking up their Kindles to create a world together.  It's so sweet to me to see how close these two have become.  They've been begging for the past two nights to have a sleepover and have already asked me about having one tonight.  My husband and the boys were even discussing combining their rooms!

They are such amazingly good friends and it warms my  heart to think of all the wonderful memories they'll have of each other as they get older.  

It's just amazing to me how much this homeschooling journey has changed our lives. 

I really only thought I was changing our children's schooling but it has seriously changed our entire lives.



Comments

  1. I love reading this. Next year will be our first year homeschooling and I'm eager to see how it benefits us, too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw, thank you! Good luck on your homeschooling journey; it can be a bumpy road at times but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

      Delete
  2. What an uplifting post to read!!
    Thanks for sharing!
    jodie
    www.jtouchofstyle.com
    #fandayfriday

    ReplyDelete
  3. How wonderful! I've really found that a trip anywhere can be a lesson when my daughter is open to it. Loved reading your post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very true! Lessons are to be found everywhere.

      Delete
  4. This was such a nice post to read...we're in our first year of homeschooling and loving it so far. I'm so glad I get to spend this time with my boys! #FamilyFunFriday

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's how we feel! My boys often tell people they love it to and we would not trade this time for anything.

      Delete
  5. When you approach life with the attitude that everything is a learning opportunity the world is your school.

    Thanks for sharing on #FridayFrivolity

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really is; I think that's one of the things I've enjoyed the most about homeschooling. It has really made me aware of all those learning opportunities that I didn't really notice before.

      Delete
  6. Homeschooling is even an incorrect term for me. It's definitely not schooling but learning , which are entirely different things. As for the "home" part, half the time we're not even at home.
    A good read. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very true; we're home a bit more now that my boys are older and we feel like we've been to all the field trip places we can think of over and over and over again but for those first three years it seemed like we were definitely out of the house way more than we were ever inside of it!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Share Our Lives: 5 Items I Can't Live Without

Prime Purchases in February 2023

Let's Look At... Our Grocery haul