Homeschooling Advantages

We have been back doing schoolwork for three days now, and it has been a really good three days.  Even today, when I felt yucky for a good bit of the day, ended up being really good.  I have thought several times this week how glad I am that we educate our kids at home.

Wild Man would certainly be in some kind of special education class because of his dyslexia if her was in formal schooling.  He still really struggles with reading, but his learning in other ways is well above average.  I also would hate to see how he would deal with a classroom setting all day every day.  When he is working on schoolwork, he is almost always singing or talking out loud.  Some of it is just because he likes to hear his own voice, but some of it is because it helps him learn.  He often talks himself through math problems.  These are things that simply can't be accommodated in a classroom.  I also wonder if he wouldn't be considered ADD.  His attention span is definitely short - but he's a ten year old boy.  Here at home, we can work around these issues and focus on learning, not on classroom function.

Ga'hoole Girl has been very busy today.  I asked her to get her room completely clean today, since it was neglected over the holidays.  She then swept the floor and cleaned it with Orange-Glo.  Then, she rearranged her furniture and sorted through her books.  It's been a good while since she's been so interested in cleaning.

I have Ga'hoole Girl write two short "papers" every week - one on history or Bible and one on science.  She has been very good about not procrastinating this week.  For her history writing, she decided to write a poem about Sir Francis Drake.   It contains the same info that a 2-3 paragraph assignment would contain, but in poetic form.  It's really cool to see her exercise her creativity this way.

I love to homeschool because I love to be with my kids, but the last three days have been really good to help me see other advantages.  It's apparent that Wild Man is thriving at home, but would not be at school.  Ga'hoole Girl is starting to stretch her wings more.  Whatever happens in the future, I don't regret that their education has been at home thus far.