Pardon me, Facebook friends, I may bore you by repeating my statuses today - but I am absolutely giddy with happiness today!
After a "late" start (although there is no early or late in homeschool if you don't have any other appointments! lol) around 11am this morning, we had a lovely, full, engaged day in our school until 4pm. We had reading time on the couch with the boys' heads in my lap. Heaven. We had spelling time with Ben shouting out every word - correctly - instead of whining in the corner with boredom. We had Danny writing his Handwriting Without Tears pages beautifully. And the fun of teaching the biology lesson this afternoon and writing HUGE scientific words on the white board that even I couldn't pronounce.
But while I was happy, fulfilled and satisfied at the end of our school day, I was not giddy yet.
We had a lovely evening taking the boys to their separate den meetings for Cub Scouts. I didn't want to go to Ben's meeting at their old public school. I was scared. Flat out nervous. I hadn't gone near the building since their last day of school in June. I was afraid to run into a teacher - or administrator - who would NOT want to see me. So I "put on my big girl panties" and went. Surprise - the building didn't feel evil. The other parents didn't treat me like a pariah. In fact, I got the distinct impression they had so many worries of their own that they didn't even know about my problem. Imagine that! lol Even the vice principal walked by going into the office and asked how "his buddy" was doing - my oldest son. I just smiled a big grin and gave him a huge "thumbs up" and said it was going great. It is. But that didn't make me giddy.
On the ride home, I told Ben I thought I heard him telling the other boys that he hated that school - and he admitted it. "Why?" I asked him. I said we didn't hate the school, it just wasn't the right place for us. He said that if some of the people who worked there got fired, it would be good. I giggled and agreed with him and we both talked about some of the people who worked and taught there that we did like. I said that if he wanted to go back to public school after this year, we would find the right school for him, even if it wasn't his old school. And he surprised the heck out of me by saying "I don't want to go back!". Just two weeks ago he said he wanted to go back next year. What changed, I asked? He said, "Because I didn't know how awesome homeschool was yet!".
THAT is what made me giddy. :)
I can't stop smiling. :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
WOW! That kind of makes me feel giddy. I am so happy for you. That one comment makes it worth it. Kids are so smart; they know when they have a good deal. And this is definitely it. I'm a trained teacher, and I think home school is better. I was not made to keep the other teachers happy by keeping my students absolutely silent. And I absolutely hated the encouragement to teach for the test. Can you think of anything more boring? I think one of the important things that kids should learn is how to be a life-long learner.
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