Three Months

It's December. School children have been released from their classes and are at home anxiously anticipating the arrival of the present-bearer of that home, whoever that might be. It seems to be the time for folks to start asking me this one question: “So, now that you're a few months into it, what do you think of homeschooling? Do you still like it? Are you still happy with that decision?”

I always answer with an exuberant, “Yes! We all love it! The kids love it; I love it; it's just a good thing all around.”

Let me elaborate though.
Three months in...

The Pros

The three kids get along better than they ever have before. They have so much extra time in the afternoons now that they've been forced to play together and work through their problems. With Mom-Intervention and without.

With so much time on their hands, the kids are getting really creative in their play time. The two youngest love making up stories with all their stuffed animals and Schleich figures. Sometimes they're on a big train-ride and other times they're running a vet clinic. The older one, with any extra people added in, loves to design with his Legos and K'Nex. It's really cool to see what kind of stuff these guys come up with, given enough free time.

My kids love to read. All of them! The boys are racing through a 600 page novel right now to see which one can finish first, while my girl is enjoying an adventure/fantasy series about a boy who finds a whole world underground. I love that they read first thing in the morning, while we're out driving around, and at night before falling asleep. They read before, but only because they had to. Now they love books!

I have met some amazing families, with whom we have so much in common. It's really encouraging to see so many great families in one place!

I am learning so much that I had forgotten from my school days. (Yeah, I have a bad memory!)

My kids are able to zip through some work (Math) while we take longer in other work that doesn't come as easily (Science.) My youngest has nearly finished his first year of math and is a couple weeks away from starting on the book that his sister is doing.

I love seeing how the different subjects blend together so easily... Especially Science, History, and Geography. It's so easy to start on one topic and go to the next and so on.

Having the kids at home all day really is a great thing for teaching them chores and self-care. They're learning to make lunch on the stove, clean up after themselves, and be more responsible in personal grooming.

The Cons

I can only think of two things that I've really found to be problems.

The first was just so unexpected that it sneaked up on me and punched me in the face... I have no idea how to Christmas shop for my kids! I've chatted with other homeschool moms who have given me some great ideas for next year, but really, I just have fight the crowds like every working mother this year. Ugh. The ease of being a Stay-at-Home-Mom is no longer accessible when it comes to any kind of shopping.

The second thing is something that no one ever really talks about. I am lonely. You would think that with three other people around me all the time, and a network of homeschool moms who I see once a week, I would feel surrounded by people. And I am. But I can't just pick up and go visit a friend when we're missing each other, like I used to. And with how scheduled we were these last couple months (my fault, I'm not doing that again any time soon) it's hard to have a clean-enough house to invite friends over through the afternoons when we are free. I don't have the daily bell time chats that I used to have with other moms on the schoolyard.

So, that is that. I do not regret this decision at all. The kids love it and are so glad that we're doing it. I'm amazed at the opportunities available to us... From a great Arts group to a Lego Robotics League to a crazy fun Gym Day, we have a huge range of options for extra learning. We just need to pace ourselves and keep at it.

We are so blessed.

Making "cells" with Jello and different candies