That's where we are in our school year, but it feels much longer. When my girls were younger, I exclusively homeschooled. I wasn't working. I wasn't doing a ton of volunteer work. I took care of the kids, taught them, and tried to keep up with the house. Can you believe I'm now looking back on those years with fondness?
These days, homeschooling is just one of many things on my plate, and I don't have time to focus exclusively on it. Honestly, there's really no need since I'm down to one student. It just should not take all day (and it really doesn't). Besides homeschooling, I try to be an author, help run our business, volunteer in some of her homeschool activities, and drive her places. I also drive my mom places as she is 89 and no longer drives. So, taking Mom to appointments is part of my weekly schedule. Of course, the house still needs attention; there's laundry, the never-ending procurement, cooking, and cleaning of food, errands, phone calls, and other stuff that someone has to take care of. (It's me. I'm someone.) What I'm saying is, I'm busy. I know you are, too. Homeschooling is just one more thing to add to the list. But what a wonderful thing it is to add!
Today, we are starting a little unit on frogs and toads because that's what our daughter is interested in. I will continue to make puns on this board all year. Yes, I will.
These little units we're doing serve as our science this year, and I'm trying to add art, field trips, and lots of hands-on learning. I'm just trying to make them multi-disciplinary and interest-led as much as possible. There's so much in middle school and high school that are "have-tos" that it's nice to have some flexibility and choice.
Here is our daughter with a toad at a recent troop campout in the middle of the night. I was asleep when this photo was taken, and totally unaware that half the girls were awake. It was hot and humid, and they could not get to sleep. Then they passed that point of no return when everyone got a second wind, someone brought food into the tent, fire ants were involved, and long story short, they finally fell asleep a couple of hours before sunrise under the pavilion.
The troop guidelines say they must camp "in a tent or other primitive structure," so I think we did OK.
Well, I had better get hopping on this school day. Hopping--get it?
Happy Homeschooling!
Brenda
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