Schoolin' at Home

Have you ever been totally blindsided? Of course you have, and just recently, I have too. I've been blindsided by how totally awesome educating the punks at home has been. Who-da thunk? Well, all of you who already home school your kids for sure. You already know what I have just figured out. Home schooling is pretty cool. For starters, we aren't nearly as grouchy in the morning because at 7:05 a.m. when the bus rumbles past our house, we're all still in bed. I've heard it on many occasions and, although just last spring that sound brought about wailing and gnashing of teeth, now it is a most glorious sound indeed. On these brisk fall mornings when my bedroom window is cracked and the cool fall air is seeping in, I listen for the rumbling of that bus and when I hear it, I smile and hunker down further beneath my blankets and thank God for the blessing of home schooling.

The punks are enjoying the freedom of their new schedule, but they are also thriving in their new learning environment. Light bulbs are going on daily in boy wonder's head as we work through math. I am amazed at how quickly he is catching on and excelling. Girl #2 has always excelled in math, well in any subject, and is learning new ways of doing math that makes much more sense than some of the "new" math with all of it's lengthy lattice work. And the oldest girl is totally blooming in her new soil, where she determines her own schedule and tackles the work all on her own. She has discovered that she actually likes learning AND can be self-motivated. Who are these children?!

So here's what education at home looks like in the Chili house. First a good breakfast...and why not? We actually have time for it! We made crepes with fresh picked raspberries and of course, chocolate chips.


Next, boy wonder and mom begin with math which takes about 1 1/2 hours. We begin together, then he does the problems on his own and I check them later.


Boys need breaks and well, guns I guess.


Boy punk decided to use his homemade blow-nerfgun to take out a bothersome moth. Bullseye!


Here's punk #2 working on her Early American History assignment which was to write an essay on a topic of her choice. She chose to write about the history of the Star Spangled Banner. Both the younger two were required to write an essay and boy punk asked if they could also make a poster...did you get that? He asked for more work. So they are both also making a poster to go along with the essay. Way cool.


Here's punk #1 in her room where she spends about 4 hours each day working through assignments given through the local home school co-op. The best part is, she has the freedom to make her schedule and she has decided that 10a.m.-3:00p.m. suits her just fine.


And there you have it. A day in the life. Two weeks in and so far so good.

Somewhere a dog barks.....at a bus rumbling down the road at an unforgivably early hour.