Day 3. More thoughts on homeschool.

So now that I am an expert (insert crying from laughing face here), here are some more thoughts:

1. I feel like we have to have a lot more food on hand.  I know my kids ate snack and lunch even when they weren't here, but it just seems like the fridge has emptied quicker this week!  M said a benefit of homeschool is that if she can decide AT LUNCHTIME what she wants for lunch. She was all, "If I decide I want some yogurt, I can have yogurt! If I didn't pack yogurt before I could NOT have yogurt for lunch." It was a big moment for her.  :)

2. It seems like people feel the need to justify their school choices when I have shared that we are homeschooling. BELIEVE me, I am not judging your choices in any way. I was a public school teacher (and attended public school, including college, for several years.) If it is working for you and your family -- AWESOME! We have loved every second of our time at a private school.  If that is what is right for your family -- perfect!!  Keep doing it!  If you think you should try homeschooling for any or all the reasons, well, maybe you should look into it. I don't know! I can only speak for our family, and at this point, I just really am loving this decision. At this point. For us.

3. When playing concentration with word lists, be sure the set is in fact a matching set - as in there are two of every word to be able to pair up. Yeahhhhhh. Let's just say we played a few rounds before I realized there were NO matches. bahaha!

4. Nap time is homeschool gold for us. I thought we would get up, do school, then do life. It turns out that we get to do life and school at the SAME TIME. And the traditional schedule is not necessarily what has worked best for us.  Basically, I have found that we get up, have breakfast (maybe sneak in the Bible lesson in there), play, the bigs do a little independent work while the littles play, THEN during nap time we shift into homeschool high gear. This has been a little rough for L who has coincidentally dropped naps at the same time. Yeah that was unfortunate. Let's have a moment of silence to mourn the naptime -- ha! THEN after lunch we finish up any loose ends and have more time for things like reading, lego building, marble towers, piano, playdough, painting, board games, playing outside, ETC.

5. Speaking of a new schedule. Oh my have my kids embraced staying up a bit later and sleeping in --- for the most part! hip hip hooray! When friends said they have a goal of starting school around 9 I kind of internally laughed. That would just not work with us - we are up and at 'em early. WOW, I think today at around 9 we were finishing breakfast (!). I tried a new recipe (in total we got FOUR new recipe books for Christmas -- YAY!!!) - and what a blessing to be able to take my time trying something new in the morning. On a school day!