I Miss Homeschooling!

The kids went back to school today. I missed them. Well, not all the sibling bickering that filled our holidays, I have to say...but in spite of that, I had that homeschooler-wanna-be feeling that I always have when I have to give them up after vacation.

So this morning, JPD and I did a bit of homeschooling, which I've been planning to get to all year for the days of the week that he's not at preschool. Now that our move is pretty much all wrapped up (we're into just normal messy-house organization now, more or less) it's time to reclaim my life, and spending more time with JPD is part of that. So we did a bit of math, some Sing, Spell, Read, & Write, some sight word flash cards, and a cool science read-aloud about sharks. JPD LOVED it. MPD climbed in our laps and joined right in.

I miss homeschooling. I do. I also cannot imagine how I ever actually did homeschooling, since now, without it, I can still barely figure out what's for dinner around here while keeping everyone's clothes clean and making sure that our house remains recognizable as a house (and not, say, a cross between a mad scientist's lab and a junky locker room, which was the general appearance of things back when full-fledged homeschooling was going on around here).

Anyway, I miss homeschooling. Especially the following Top Ten Things I Miss About Homeschooling:

10) Sleeping in whenever we (I) want. Of course. Not that we did it that often, but still.

9) Field trips with Grandma to cool places. Like apple picking and going to see the whooping cranes and scouting for bald eagles.

8) Nutritous, home-cooked family lunches, complete with Mom reading aloud from our literature selection du jour. We really did do this, more than once, even.

7) My amazing and talented homeschool mom friends, most of whom I haven't seen anywhere near as often this fall.

6) Our crazy, messy, hands-on projects, like building a model of the Nile delta in a foil lasagna pan, making a pizza model of the Earth's layers, or modeling the seasonal rotation of the Earth in the dark basement with a light bulb and an orange. My beloved, ever-patient, traditionally schooled Bill, on the other hand, does not miss these projects at all.

5) Working one-on-one with each child, enough to know precisely how their brains learn new stuff. SO cool. I do so miss that--helping with homework doesn't even come close.

4) Getting to decide exactly how we will focus our academic efforts, including what to include (a little Latin, some practical life, chronological history from the Creation of mankind) and what to leave out (bunches of politically correct blahbiddyblah about Native Americans and conserving Wisconsin's forests--NOT, of course, that I have anything against Native Americans or Wisconsin's beautiful forests--just the Political Correctness part!).

3) Selecting our curriculum (traditional math, grammar and spelling, history and literature synched up and taught with lots of read-alouds, picture books, dictation and narration).

2) Being so busy I don't do anything but live in the moment, at all times.

And the very number one thing that I miss the most:

1) Getting to be with my sweeties all day, when they wake up, when they stumble down to breakfast, when I nag them about their chores, working, playing, fighting, relaxing, learning, loving, crying, laughing, growing, running in the house (no!), jumping on the couch (NO!), loading up in the van, playing in the yard, more chores, dinnertime, bathtime and pajamas, crazy bedtime and reading, and finally sleep. When I like them best! Just kidding, of course.

I do hate letting them go away all day, during the best, sunshiny parts of the day when we are neither just waking up nor already worn out. School is great, for now, but I just miss them and I want to teach them all this cool stuff myself! If only I could find a way to make a couple of clones of myself, so I could do everything I want to do in this life.

Coming soon...the top 10 things I DON'T miss about homeschooling!!