Betcha no one is reading this...

Hee hee! Haven't blogged in 2 years and I'm sure everyone is long gone. Kinda fun that way! So, homeschooling. That's what's on my mind. I love it. I hate it. It's absolutely the best thing that has happened to my kids' education and the worst. Let me explain...

I love homeschooling. I love watching my kids "get" things. I love being able to come up with fun/new/different ways to present materials and see that my effort made the difference. I love knowing how my kids learn in a way that b&m school moms don't. (I know this because I WAS a b&m school mom before homeschooling and I was very hands on, very involved, very aware...it's not the same.) I love that my 9th grader NOW appreciates all the benefits homeschooling provided him and I love that he wishes he'd made more of the opportunity. I love that last thing because he now sees it as a missed opportunity because I refused to push. The kids must be working to the best of their ability in the subjects and assignments I give them. I don't require more than that. I know a lot of homeschool parents do require more. I have chosen a different path.

This has left me with one kid at grade level...perhaps a tiny bit above, but it's kinder and that hardly counts. One kid well above grade level and one kid at grade level in most things and bit behind in a couple others. I feel like our homeschooling adventure is and has been a success. But...

The but is about all things NON academic. I cannot even put into words how FREAKING frustrating that is. School is supposed to be about learning. The learning part we have down pat. Where I struggle each year is the social aspect. Now before you all think I'm launching into the tired old "homeschooled kids lack socialization" BS, let me stop you right there. My kids are very well socialized. VERY well socialized. Most adults remark upon their manners, their ability to converse with all age groups, blah, blah, blah. That's not my concern.

The freedom, the pool of peers to be social with is what is lacking. You know why it's lacking? Because so many parents schedule every waking minute of their kids' lives. WHY!!!???? Anyway...I'm left, every year, balancing all the academic, learning focused plusses of homeschooling with all the peer socializing plusses of b&m schooling. Look, I get the importance of like-aged friends. If I didn't I wouldn't be writing this, but it just chaps my hide over and over that peer socializing is the thing that makes me even consider b&m school. Kill me now. I hate May and June for this reason.