Vacation time

One of the blessings of being a homeschool family is FLEXIBILITY!! Hubby has a job that allows him to work from home except for the occasional trip out of town for a project,thus we spend a lot of time together. Many times, my planned days get mixed up a little with unplanned "field trips" or opportunities for non-scripted life lessons. Who can't benefit from that?

In any event, we planned to visit hubby's family for an extended stay for the Christmas holidays.  In order to allow us to be truly on vacation and no stress to any of us, G and I agreed to have all of our school work completed by the end of the first week of December!  That cleared up our schedule to have time to do last minute things to prepare for our trip, as well get any shopping and packing done without the stress of marking items off on my lesson plans.

I can't tell you how freeing that has been for me, just to let it go. Fortunately, for me G likes to go on the web and play on multiplication.com. Also, we brought along our George Muller book to continue reading through the missionary journey portion of our studies. Bible study is still among his favorites. So, for us that is about as much "official/unofficial"school work we have done. But, I can still see G learning!  He is enjoying his time with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles, Cousins and others that stop by. He grows just by learning more about his family and being with those that we don't get to see on a regular basis. 

The saying goes that "it takes a village to raise a child." It is amazing how much wisdom can be imparted on our children just by talking with them and interacting with others. I love watching G engage with family and play in the snow and all the things we don't necessarily have constant access to at home. Memories and the time we are spending as a family have been more valuable in my opinion than all the school work in the world. 

Loving our vacation! Loving our family! Loving the way we learn! Merry Christmas!

I learn too!

The holidays are among us and in our house is IN FULL SWING! What does that mean for homeschool!?? It means the lessons become "real life" lessons in which we incorporate everyday life in every thing we do. It's learn on the go and make it up as we go along. How many boxes of cookies to do we need to make up a cookie tray? How many people will be at the party thus how much punch do we need to make? How many gifts can we get for this much money? And so on and so on!

To top it off, G is in the middle of a busy First Lego League season which has taken up a lot of his time but also been full of lessons in logic, analytics, cause and effect, team work, programming, trial and error,  and other life lessons one cannot glean from a book. I have watched my kiddo mature and grow in more ways than I honestly gave him credit for in such a short time. There is nothing like letting him leap and watching him soar when I only thought he was capable of a short flight with training wings.  This type of learning can't come from a book.  I must say that from my vantage point, he continues to amaze me and remind me everyday what a great decision bringing him home has been.

I guess that his venture into this foray has prepared me for this busy holiday season. I am more trusting that he is actually learning quality lessons, albeit from what society has defined as non-conventional. G has learned far more in the past 4 months than I feel he could have learned in 9 months in a school room setting. I have seen him blossom and step outside his comfort zone. Homeschooling is definitely a blessing for our family. I have grown and my little man has shattered my preconceived notions of what he is capable of and made me one proud momma!  So, bring on the holidays and let the lessons continue!!