For the last two school years, I received an amazing gift. I had the blessing of spending all day educating and training my oldest child. I got to watch her think and process and discover and yes, sometimes, labor. It was not a venture we entered into lightly and we knew from start to finish it was a two year term. According to the book Love in a Time of Homeschooling, there is at least an anecdotal found trend in "sabbatical homeschooling." According to her research there appears to be a growing movement of parents removing their children from more traditional school settings for only a year or two. Most commonly in the 4th- 6th grades. This is after kids have learned to read and work independently and before higher math classes begin. The reasons are numerous and varied including things like filling gaps left by a bad teacher or slower development, or getting out of bully situations. More common was a desire to help kids rediscover a love of learning and get to do things that have been largely pushed out of the public school curriculum. Read real books for hours at a time. Travel. Complete huge hands on projects that reach across subject areas. Pursue a personal passion..... or find one. Public schools or so hounded by tests, they have little time to allow kids to think or create. After school activities have become so demanding, that even working in a day trip to a state park or historic site can seem like a daunting task. Anyways.....
So began our journey. It was a a wonderful trip. We averaged one Newberry winning book a week. Brianna found a love of reading. We went to space camp. We wandered through great art exhibits at the Frist. We watched old documentaries and sobbed through World War II novels. Brianna made posters and built models. We danced Native American dances, and created brilliant art pieces inspired by masters with no 45 minute time limit. And we cried and stressed and lamented for hours, HOURS!!!, over fractions and decimals. One of my favorite moments was one day during a social studies lesson. I knew before hand that Brianna was an extreme kinesthetic learner, but this particular morning, we were working on identifying land formations using the globe. "Come feel the mountain ranges, Mama. Isn't it neat how you can slide your hand across and feel the differences?" I just loved watching her think.
Homeschooling was the hardest job I have ever had, and I can only imagine how much harder educating several children at once would be. Brianna came out of our experience better educated and a better thinker than she started. She still doesn't love school, but she does enjoy knowledge. Brian says I spent two years worrying she would have a big "H" branded on her, and he is probably right. Now that its over, I see it is not an H that got branded on her, but a huge piece of me that walked out the door to middle school. Hopefully it won't ruin her.
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