Homeschool {update}

Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a FIRE!

- William Butler Yeats

The boys have truly loved homeschooling from day 1 and I am so thankful for that.

For me, it's been a bit of  a huge adjustment.

I won't bore you with the nitty, gritty details, but I'm starting to feel like I'm walking out the other side of a long, dark tunnel and it feels good.  I can almost say that I wouldn't trade the past 5 months for anything.  ALMOST! :)

Despite the challenges, there are many parts of homeschooling that I absolutely LOVE!!!

 I've come to really know and appreciate the classical model of education.  

It provides the opportunity to read a TON of great literature.  Some of our books have had us completely cracking-up together, others have had me in tears (the boys are used to grabbing me a tissue now :))  The hours upon hours that I've spent reading with the boys this year are ones that I will treasure forever and we look forward to getting lost in many more stories to come! 

~making homemade doughnuts after reading Homer Price~

Our school work is demanding, but so rewarding.  The boys (and I!) are learning so much. Our discussions often go beyond reading, writing, and arithmetic.  We've had great talks about why God may have decided to do things certain ways.  Why He sometimes allows hard things to take place that we may never understand.  As we study different people and cultures from the far corners of the earth, I've seen Caleb and Weston start to grasp just how big God is and to get excited about doing things for him with their lives. 

 It doesn't get much better than that!

~science experiment time with Dad~

Although the boys still love to have fun with friends and activities outside of the house, it warms my heart to see them becoming each other's best friend.  Homeschooling has allowed them to spend many hours partaking in boyish fun that they otherwise would not have.

And of course, this all includes Isaac, who is BY FAR, the most studious of us all.

He just merrily reads all. day. long!  It's amazing.

I kid, I kid!

He does make us laugh about a million times a day, though.  Especially when he shouts orders at his big brothers and acts like a totally spoiled brat.  You see, it's not that he really is a spoiled brat.  He only acts that way to make us laugh, right Isaac?????

I could go on and on about the fruit that I am already beginning to see from homeschooling.  About the curricula that has helped us to learn so much.  About why we've officially decided to give this homeschooling adventure another go next year.

But, I also have a confession.

I have reasons for wanting to homeschool that are completely selfish!

These days can be very LLLOOONNNGGG, but I know that these years with my boys at home are going to seem like a vapor someday.  I'm going to blink and they'll be off.  I'm o.k. with that because that's my job, right?!  To prepare them for 'real life'.  That is exactly why Paul and I try so hard to be intentional with our parenting.  

 

BUT, while they're here... 

I want their sleepy mornings in cozy jammies, their lunch time shenanigans, their belly laughs, and even their occassional whining and complaining.  I want the pleas to read just one more page, the Legos, the craft projects.  The satisfaction of seeing them learn something new.  The hugs out of nowhere and the peace that comes from knowing that I am giving them my best.  

So, as we head full-speed into the second half of our school year, I will try to remember that

these years are a gift!