1.5 - Still Going Strong

And how did our lives change?

Maria shops at stores that cater to teachers like it was a Wal-Mart. Our kitchen walls have remnants of art, history, and science projects taped on them documenting the daily learning that takes place in our house. Maria points out the different cloud configurations as we’re driving in our car—cumulus, etc.—as the kids eagerly catch a glimpse. Maria and Alexandra visit a make-up counter to learn more about colors and talk to the make-up artist about her job as part of a study unit on our local community. Cameron reads quietly in the living room, not as a punishment, but because he’s eager to find out what happens next to Harry Potter.

Brandon can spend hours watching a hermit crab move across the sand or a cocoon blossom into a butterfly—learning the cycle of life—and joins Maria in the backyard to release the butterfly, who only has days left to live at that point. Nicholas glues cotton balls to a Christmas drawing that leads to a family discussion about snow and weather.

Cameron lies on butcher paper—provided by ENCORE—as Brandon and Alexandra outlines his body. Later, Cameron’s outline is hanging up on the family room wall with colored construction paper cut-outs of the heart, kidneys, esophagus, and brain glued anatomically correct—obviously a lesson on the human anatomy.

Maria does love her science.

As I explain to family and friends, homeschooling has become part of our family ritual. Not surprising, our children are a close-knit bunch.

Don’t they fight? Of course they do, just like any other kids. But that’s just sibling rivalry in the home.

When we’re in public, that’s a whole different story—laughing, smiling, inquisitive, protective of one another, friendly with other people, respectful of others around them in public restaurants, comments from other people on how well-behaved the kids are, long rides in our van without any fuss.

Now I’m sounding like a parent bragging about his “little angels.” I won’t lie to you—I’m extremely proud of my children and my wife for making this all work.

Homeschooling has brought many benefits to our lives: individually-tailored curricula, one-on-one teacher-student ratio, control of our time (no running around from school drop-off to work), kids sleep in (it’s got to be unnatural to wake children up at six in the morning because we adults have to be at work by eight!), and learning has become just part of our overall family experience.

But of all these benefits, the shear volume of time parent and child are together has provided immeasurable value to our family—the true worth will compound in the years to come.

Without a doubt, the greatest gift to our children has been our time.