Why Homeschooling Is Awesome: Reason #6 - We Can Ditch School & Still Learn

     I woke up in a very good mood this morning. So I decided to chuck our curriculum for the day and just run errands with my daughters and make sure we had fun together.  We started out with cleaning up the house...What? Cleaning doesn't sound fun?  Well, trust me; we made it fun.

     I blasted some Disney songs and we all danced and rocked out while we went from room to room cleaning.  Picture the scene from Mary Poppins when they clean up, but with a little more hip hop. ;)  We laughed and sang and were productive as well!

     Then I let the girls play on the computer for a while using the Photo Booth app.  They had the time of their lives taking pictures and cracking up at the special effects.  I love watching them explore new things! It's always entertaining.

     Once they were finished, I told Marley we would take her Halloween candy to the dentist office for the Candy Buyback.  She remembered doing the buyback last year and she requested to draw another thank you card for the US Troops.  She completed her picture and off we went.  Both Marley and Dylan were very excited to get a few dollars for their candy.  Luckily, they don't have much of an attachment to sugar, so saying goodbye to their stash wasn't too hard.  I gave them the choice to take the money home and save it or to go straight to the store and pick out a toy.  They both shouted "Toy!"  Next stop, Target.

     They picked out a Little Mermaid Lego set to play with.  We do need to build up our lego collection so it was a good choice.  We headed home, where Marley and I worked together to put together the set.  There is definitely educational value to lego play.  I gave Marley the instruction manual and taught her how to follow it.  She picked out the pieces and counted out how many we would need.  I helped put them together, but our teamwork was awesome!

     We finished off our afternoon by eating popcorn and watching Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.  I love the Night At The Museum movies, and highly recommend them.  They are adorable, entertaining and educational.  I told Marley that my favorite part was the Einstein bobble heads, and she told me her favorite characters are Kahmunrah and the singing angels.

     It was a great day.  We did not follow our usual curriculum and we did not engage in formal academics, but we had so much fun enjoying each other's company and we still found learning opportunities all around us.

   
 

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Why Homeschooling Is Awesome: Reason #5 - Date Night Counts as a Parent-Teacher Conference!

     I firmly believe that a strong parent-teacher relationship is vital to the success of a student.  When the relationship is between myself and my husband, it makes it pretty easy and fun! ;)  Date night can count as a parent-teacher conference or a PTA meeting.  How cool is that?

     We try to schedule a date night once a month.  It is always nice to get out of the house and have some one-on-one time to re-kindle those giddy, date feelings about your spouse.  It maintains an important marital bond.  This bond also contributes to the success of our family as a whole.  We talk almost daily about our family and about being on the same page for goals, but date night is a completely different setting and allows us to have fun together.

     On date night, we inevitably always start to discuss our children.  We talk about how much we love them, and how different they are from each other.  We talk about their strengths and their weaknesses.  We talk about what they love to do.  We talk about their learning styles.  We talk about all they have learned and what we hope for them to learn in the future.
      We know our kids better than anyone and we care the most for their happiness and success.  That's sounds like a pretty productive parent-teacher conference to me!


   

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Why Homeschooling Is Awesome: Reason #4 - A Curriculum of Life Skills

     Welcome to Motivational Mondays!  I am inviting all bloggers to link-up with me and share your motivational posts for moms/parents and homeschoolers.  I think reading supportive and encouraging words is a perfect way to start off your week.  
*Please remember: Prior to adding your link, you must review the link-up guidelines here.
Thanks for stopping by!

     My husband co-authored this post, since he came up to me and dictated this experience with our 4 year old daughter, Marley.

     Marley and her dad went on an assignment/field trip together to the grocery store.  He told her they needed supplies and ingredients to make tacos.  He went over the supplies they needed and he let Marley push the mini grocery cart (which I think is adorable when the stores have them).  He said he had the time of his life watching her look for the supplies and teaching her about picking items that are good quality and reasonably priced.  She paid close attention and was very interested in his methods of shopping.  He taught her how to tell if an avocado is ripe to use.  He even tested her to see if she understood and she did a great job picking out our avocados.  My husband came home and told me about their experience with so much enthusiasm. He told me he is enjoying homeschooling.  He also pointed out to me that he knows full grown adults that aren't very knowledgable in efficient grocery shopping.

     I have been told on several occasions that the upcoming generations are lacking in life skills.  Many teenagers and college aged kids are growing up without learning how to take care of themselves on a daily basis.  Some skills that are being overlooked in traditional education are: Cooking, cleaning, shopping, doing laundry, simple problem solving, and being responsible to carry out tasks on their own.  I have also recently heard employers say that it is difficult to find employees, even college graduates, that can handle a problem by themselves.  

     Why are kids not learning these basic concepts?  Too much television? Cell phones? Video games? Lack of daily responsibilities?  Too much time spent on homework?  I do not know the reason for this oversight, but I do know that these life skills are more easily learned at home and through family interaction.  I also know that life skills are not only valuable in the home.  These skills create a sense of responsibility and confidence.  They teach people the value of a strong work ethic.  Those lessons and skills are priceless and will inevitably create a more successful person in all aspects of life.  We are grateful for the flexibility of homeschool, so that we may focus on those life skills and make sure our children are growing up to be self sufficient.

An InLinkz Link-up

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Why Homeschooling Is Awesome: Reason #3 - Learning Becomes Contagious (MOTIVATIONAL MONDAYS)

Welcome to Motivational Mondays!  I am inviting all bloggers to link-up with me and share your motivational posts for moms/parents and homeschoolers.  I think reading supportive and encouraging words is a perfect way to start off your week.  
*Please remember: Prior to adding your link, you must review the link-up guidelines here.
Thanks for stopping by!
 
     When your primary directive is to learn, education becomes part of your family culture.

     I have been researching curriculums and programs for years.  It made my head spin and I became overwhelmed with all the options!  At first I was frustrated and close to giving up on the homeschooling idea. But then I realized that there are unlimited educational resources all around us.  This is a great thing!  The possibilities are limitless.  Sharing this with my husband, allowed him to start looking at everything as an educational opportunity.

     For example: While walking into Home Depot on a Saturday morning, my husband noticed the free children's workshop taking place.  He said, "Hey, I should do this with the kids and start them on early homeschool wood-shop."  I was so incredibly proud of my husband!  He is excited to take part in the teaching opportunities.  Just the idea of homeschool has put us both in the frame of mind to seek out knowledge and education wherever it is offered.

     Marley catches on to learning opportunities very quickly and often takes them further than I intended.  When I start asking her to observe something and ask her questions about it, she begins to make observations on her own!  She even starts to ask me questions to help me learn.  I love it! It becomes an innate desire to ask and learn.

     I have already witnessed how homeschooling can have a wonderful impact on younger siblings.  Marley's little sister Dylan copies almost everything Marley does.  Dylan is only 2 years old and she enjoys learning her alphabet, numbers, colors, and shapes.  She hears Marley answer questions and Dylan starts to answer them also.  She is enjoying our "school time" because we all engage in the activities together.  She always wants to be involved in the activities, even tracing and writing. Dylan says "I want it too." "I help too." "I know it too." It is so precious.  Watching her older sister really encourages her to participate in the ongoing learning in our home.

     We have watched less television and become less concerned with things in life that seem insignificant. We have read more books, done more scripture study, and engaged in more memorable experiences together. The overall perspective in our home has become about exploring possibilities and seizing learning opportunities. And the journey has just begun.  We are excited!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Why Homeschooling Is Awesome: Reason #2 - The Teacher-Student Relationship Can't Be Beat

     There is not a teacher on this earth that loves my kids more than I do.  When I first gave birth and looked into my baby's eyes, I knew that I would devote my life to her.  I knew I would do all I could to ensure her safety and happiness.  That sweet angelic gaze solidified my dedication as a mother.  The mother-child bond is the greatest miracle of life.  This is why I firmly believe that a loving mother is blessed with an inspired ability to make the right choices for her child.
     As mothers we usually see our children as pinnacles of perfection.  They are the cutest.  They are the sweetest.  They are the smartest.  This has nothing to do with comparison to the rest of the children in the world.  It has nothing to do with accomplishments.  Parents are supposed to believe that their children are perfect.  By doing so, we are able to give them the support and encouragement they need to achieve their dreams.  Through this unconditional love, our children are able to experience Christ-like love.  There is no better way of providing a path to success for our children.
     It is through lots of questions, research, and prayer that I realized parents are teachers by nature.  An accredited credential does not make someone a better teacher.  It is dedication and care that makes a good teacher.  I've had a handful of teachers that genuinely cared for their students.  They were my favorite teachers.  They were fabulous!  They were the ones that really made a difference. Those teachers made an effort to get to know their students individually.  They were able to facilitate a pleasant learning environment and encourage academic excellence.  When I think of those teachers, I am reminded of how much I love my kids and want to provide the best for them.
     When I seek spiritual comfort, I am assured that I have the ability to provide amazing opportunities for my children to thrive intellectually...because I am their mother and because I love them.

     "My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw.  All I am I owe to my mother.  I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her." - George Washington

     "I just owe almost everything to my father [and] it's passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election." 

- Margaret Thatcher

     "Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness.  If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love." - Stevie Wonder

     "My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me." - Jim Valvano

     "My mother was a reader, and she read to us.  She read us Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when I was six and my brother was eight; I never forgot it." - Stephen King

      

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Why Homeschooling Is Awesome: Reason #1 - More Family Time! (MOTIVATIONAL MONDAYS)

Welcome to Motivational Mondays!  I'm kicking it off with a series called "Why Homeschooling Is Awesome."  I think reading supportive and encouraging words is a perfect way to start off your week.  Please feel free to leave a comment with more reasons you love to homeschool. Thanks for stopping by!

     I love my family, as I'm sure most people do.  When I think of all the extra time I will get to spend with my kids while homeschooling, I feel nervous, scared, exhausted, but also very excited! I can't wait to log those hours of interaction and getting to know my children.  I have some guesses as to what they will like to do and the types of personalities they will have, but I know that they will surprise me.  It makes me happy to know that I will get to see, first hand, how they develop and grow into little people.  I also feel it is a great way to maintain the importance of our family unit.

     I know a mother that chose to take her children out of school because she felt she didn't know them as well as she did before.  She said when they got home from school, she would ask them what they did or learned, and they responded with bland and vague responses.  She didn't like that she was losing a bond with her kids.  She said that specifically, she was struggling with communicating with her pre-teen daughter.  They did not have a bad relationship, but it wasn't as loving and close.  This mother told me that only a few months after homeschooling her children, she was talking regularly with her daughter again and that the bonds between the siblings were much stronger.  I was quite inspired by her story.
     Don't get me wrong. I know there will be times that we drive each other crazy.  Hey, it already happens now (and they are only 2 and 4 years old!). Haha.  But I know in my heart that the extra time we will spend together will nurture our individual relationships and will be a great blessing in the end.

     "In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e, time. Taking time for each other is the key for harmony at home." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

*Disclaimer: I am not implying in any way that homeschool is superior to public school or any other method of education.  Each child is different and parents have differing circumstances.  I believe parents are entitled to make choices for their children without disdainful judgement or hurtful criticism.  The purpose of this series is to motivate and encourage other homeschoolers or parents thinking of homeschooling.

   

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