Homeschooling: a Family Affair

I know that many of you probably think I'm crazy because I homeschool my kids, and probably wonder how I do it. First of all, I have to remind myself that homeschooling is NOT like public school, and it's okay if some days we do school in our pajamas, or we have to take a quick break so I can change a diaper or get a snack for one of the kids. The first year was pretty difficult, and I asked myself almost every day, "What in the world am I doing?" But this year seems to be so much better. It's easy to get distracted because little Roger likes to be in the middle of everything, but even he's learning a thing or two. Here are a few pictures of what school can look like. Well first of all, Stuart is still in is pajamas. Most days I make him get dressed, but today was an exception. Stuart is learning about "perimeter" and Roger wanted to help out. He helped empty the tiles for Stuart, and then he decided he wanted to race a car on Stuart's head, and then his own. Of course he said, "cheese!" when I took the picture. Then, when Stuart was done with his assignment, Roger learned a new word, as we cleaned up the tiles, "Cleanup!" In all seriousness, one of my favorite things about homeschooling is watching my kids interact with each other. Stuart loves to help Brooke with new things. I have a feeling that Stuart will probably be the one that teaches Brooke how to read. Roger just adores Stuart, and Stuart loves to take little breaks (sometimes too many breaks) to play with little Roger. Even though I know that he should be doing his assignments, I know how important fostering these relationships are, so once in a while I let it slide. Also, today when we were learning about the beginning of electricity, one of the things brought up was the invention of a light for the coal miners that wasn't an open flame. It was called the Davy Lamp (after Humphry Davy, the inventor). It was constructed so the heat from the flame of the burning wick wouldn't ignite the methane gas found in mines, which caused explosions. I was able, then to pull out our family history journals and read an account of one of my great- great- great (etc) grandfathers, who had a dream about fire and destruction, and then was told by the (then) apostle John Taylor (who happened to be sleeping over that night) not to go to the coal mines to work. That morning the mine exploded. (hmm... I wonder what caused the explosion). I love it when we can make connections like these. We did get back to the subject, but I love being able to be so flexible in what we talk about. Well, Stuart is almost done with his language arts assessment, so I have to get back to school. . .