Home Education Week - Day 2

Describe yourself, your family or one of your children. What is it like to be home educated in your family? What is “normal” for you?

To be home educated in our family means that we get up in the morning when we feel like it (and this is totally the #1 reason I homeschool). K and L get up first and they are responsible for getting themselves up, dressed, and breakfasted. I get up and do my complete morning routine in blissful solitude that saves my children from much grumbling and yelling. Have I ever mentioned that I am *not* a morning person? I am so thankful that my oldest is (usually) a caring, responsible, mature little soul who delights in taking care of her little sister.

In our family, we begin each day with calendar and Bible time together, then each girl works on their own stuff as we all sit at the table. The second grader has a full curriculum with worksheets and tests. The 4-year-old is still a year and some months away from kindergarten, but she insists on having her own work, so I get workbooks from Target, the bookstore, and the teacher store and she's doing all the pre-K level stuff with no problem. We're definitely going to have to ramp it up for next year.

I love that we live in such a homeschool-friendly area. We very rarely get asked why K isn't in school during school hours and there is always a homeschool day, class, or activity somewhere we can go to. Having only the two kids means it's fairly easy to take advantage of those activities and we love taking off and getting together with other homeschoolers for hands-on learning experiences. Like this Friday. We're taking a big group to a local farm for the "Pizza Tour" where we'll transplant herbs and see the tomato plants growing. Field trips aren't once a twice a year things. In addition to the worksheets on cursive and division, we're always going and doing. That's our homeschool normal.

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