Thursday, September 8, 2011

Another homeschool-less year.

I've had a huge pile of our homeschool books sitting in a corner for some time.  Our kids started public school last August.  I guess there was a reason I had delayed doing anything about these books. Today, I purchased 2 plastic storage tubs to get it all put away.  They have taken up this space too long now.


But, as I sifted through the books and papers, little snippets of our homeschooling days drifted in and out of my mind.  I miss most parts of those days terribly.  I never woke them up early and forced school upon them.  I allowed the luxury of waking up naturally-unless it was ridiculously late.  School came when they were well rested and fed.  I came across pages of vocabulary words, sentences, math quizzes, and artwork...like the one below.

 This kind of thing tugs at my heart.  Sometimes, I feel like we threw away their innocence.  The lump in my throat is proportionate to the amount of  books I packed away and drawings those precious little hands created.

 Then I ran across these two books.   Many were the days, when we were tired or the weather was rainy and gloomy and we didn't feel like doing the normal work.  We would simply read.  I read Rare Catholic Stories and many other books to them.  Sometimes they listened, sometimes squirmed, sometimes they just went to Bora Bora while I read...

And the Family Journal...I never put one mark in it.  I never had time. 

I know they have moved on to a different way of having school and they like it for the most part.  I enjoy seeing the complexity of things they're learning.  A tiny little part of me is glad I don't have to teach them math I haven't done in many years or listen to them bicker and watch them distract each other... But there will always be that part of me that cherishes every moment we spent together as a homeschooling family.

Sweet, sweet precious babes of mine.







Heartfelt Haiku - "Serenity"

I'm longing for blue Waves and tides and beach campfires The October cape.