5 Crazy Things People Have Said To Me About Homeschooling

Some people homeschool. Shocking, right?
There are a LOT of misconceptions about homeschooling and those of us who choose it.
Here are some of the things I've heard.

1.You're taking the easy way out
Really? Anyone with kids knows that spending 24 hours a day with them is not easy.
I love my kids more than life itself, but let's be real here. Parenting is hard.

2. You’re ruining your kids’ lives
Every parent thinks they are ruining their children. It comes with the territory. And there are plenty of ways to do that. However, the fact that I've chosen to educate my children at my own expense, requiring huge portions of my time, energy, patience, and sanity isn't the thing that will ruin their lives.
It will probably be my insistence on green vegetables every night, or how often I drop f-bombs.

3. Nothing is more important than education
Actually, lots of things are more important than education.
For instance, the reason we started homeschooling to begin with - mental health. One of my kids was struggling with mental illness. Public school was so overwhelming that she tried to take her own life.
Was I willing to keep her there, knowing what a threat it was to both her mental and physical health? Hell no! Her education took a backseat, and we have no regrets about that.

4. They won't get into college
I've had two kids get accepted into colleges. Next.

5. They won't know how to make friends
First of all, going to school does not guarantee friends, and forced associations are not friendships.
Secondly, my youngest child can make friends in an empty room. Seriously. She is the friendliest human I've ever met, which is strange and challenging for her extremely introverted mother.
We have done dance classes, 4-H, and karate to give her the opportunity to meet people. Her friends range in age from the very young to the very old. No teaching required.

This is just a sampling of some of the negative comments I've gotten.
To be fair, I get plenty of positive comments as well. But those never make me question all of my life choices.

Eclectic Homeschooling

I call what we do Eclectic Homeschooling. Basically, I figure it out as we go, as close to free as possible. I occasionally buy workbooks, but not very often. We do go through TONS of composition notebooks, though. My Phoebe hates reading, so she's on about a 2nd grade level. She loves math, so she's about a 4th grade level there. We study science, history, government, art, geography, and whatever else catches our interest, when it catches our interest.
Yesterday she asked me what biome llamas originate from. We're all over the place, but she learns stuff much more in-depth than if we followed something someone else created.

And we're back!

It's been awhile since I've posted an update. It has definitely been a busy year!
We've moved, and learned, and grown!
Phoebe is beginning to read, and loves playing with numbers and doing science experiments. She's learning about fractions, which is being helped along by piano lessons.
She is still very much her Phoebe self, as you will see. My intention is to post weekly, and continue to update as Phoebe's homeschool journey progresses.

Learning new skills

We haven't posted recently - winter has been getting to us. However, here is a peek at what we've been up to:

That's right, Phoebe is learning how to sew! She is practicing on her stuffed animals that have been played with a bit too roughly.
The weather will be warming up soon, and that means we'll be more active again - which means more pics to post!

NaNoWriMo

Hello friends. Just wanting to let you know that I'm not neglecting you. I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month. That's right, I'm finally actually writing that story that's been kicking around in my head for the last decade or so.

My story is going in some directions that I hadn't foreseen. Also, 50,000 words is a lot of words! I'm currently at about 10,000, and it's been tough! Thank you for your patience.

Phoebe turns 5

Phoebe's birthday is actually tomorrow, but we celebrated it today. She had a great time painting birdhouses with her friends!
We got them at Michael's Craft Store for $1 each. The kids were totally focused for about 45 minutes.
Then they ate cupcakes.

All-in-all, a pretty great day!

Creative writing with a four year old - Blackcup and Greencup Find Each Other

Once upon a time there were two little butterflies and two bears.They lived in a toy room. The butterflies were Zuzu and Arvries. The bears were Blackcup and Greencup.
They liked to sit on the top of the toybox everyday. They liked to watch the children play.
They liked the children to pick them up and play with them. They liked to be together.
They never wanted to be apart.
One day, Greencup looked around and could not see Blackcup. She went out looking for him. He was not under the couch, or behind the door. Greencup looked everywhere for Blackcup. She could not find him. He was nowhere to be found. She looked on the highest shelves.
She went outside to see if he was there. She went to the highest skyscrapers across the street. He was not there. She looked on another one. He was not there. She looked on all the skyscrapers in the small town. He was not there.
She found him hiding in the toybox.

The end.