That was encouraging

This morning amidst the chaps of hyper kids and boys wrestling on the couch... do I get to admit that in homeschool cyber pace, I had a wonderful discussion with Hubby about our curriculum choices. My husband teaches science for a living at the local Chrsitian/ACE school. While he's always been supportive and trusted me, the whole classical thing is something that I've grown in independently of him. Our paths of research have always been separate.

In the last year, amidst all the doubts and all the challenges of three homeschooled kids who still think the emphasis should be on home and not on school, my husband has been looking at my curriculum choices and seeing the possibilities. I'm finally seeing not just the good idea but the fruit of how Latin and Greek, Grammar and Progym, Maths and Logic, Art, Narration and discussion, all fit together into a unified whole and it is good. This morning he looked into the book I've struggled with the most. Veritas' Omnibus. It is good to have his seal of approval and to know that the toil is worth while.

You Homeschool, Wow I really couldn't do that !

I think this is the most common response a Mum gets when she admits to homeschooling her children.

Polite, politically correct and its a lot nicer than the alternative responses from non-homeschoolers. For a long time I came to appreciate it, not realizing how it seemed to still eat away at my joy in the journey.

I've never worked out why there is a divide. Maybe it is simply that Homeschooling is still the alternative to a tried and true norm. Maybe its the growing unrest to be a mum and a career girl and do everything else well... maybe its the guilt of knowing that in the pressurized world we just can't be both mum and what society expects from us. Maybe its just the self centeredness of the who we are as human beings and where we meet those needs.

So in response I have to admit that there is a self-fulfilling side of homeschooling that meets my needs if not my kids. Things that I am grateful for....

• I get to learn, and enjoy it. Truly in the last 8 years as a home-school mum I've learned more about English and writing than I ever did before I dropped English as a subject. Slowly I'm starting to understand how language works and I'm sure one day it will show up in my writing.
  
  
• I get to know my kids really really well, I think this is a blessing - of course some days I'm not so sure but others it is. There is something egocentric in knowing what they will do in a situation just because you spend all day with them.
  
  
• I finally ended up with the courage to read and therefore understand history, and even more how all those important by way too hard books fit into our culture. OK we are only just starting to read the real thing, but at least it makes sense how we got here.
  
  
• I have a job that means I hardly have to leave the house and yes while that might be a problem for some I really do feel more comfy at home with a fire and a good book.
  
  
• I get real morning tea with cakes or biscuits each morning - yes I have the extra kilos to show for it! But its still very nice.
  
  
• I get flexi-hours, my friends don't quite believe this since we're fairly routine people but its true and I have heaps of fun when we do cut school for the afternoon and smell the roses.
  
  
• I get to meet loads of lovely intelligent thoughtful women, from all around the world, simply because we are all trying to figure out just how kids learn, how to make this work and well because we have this one thing in common.
  
  
• And of course this seem a lot more satisfying than auditing a companies accounts by 5pm Friday so they can be sent half way round the world for a deadline, when we all know know one really ever reads financial statements.. they just take our word for it that its truthful.
  

Have a neat day and enjoy your week..

Literature : D'aulaires myths part 5

Theseus

• Name each of the main characters of the story. Describe each of the main characters of the story.
  
• Narrate the story describing what happened.
  
• Draw a picture of Daedalus and Icarus escaping from the palace of King Minos use watercolors / watercolor pencils to show his winds, sun and the sea/sky

Oedipus

• Narrate the story of Oedipus and provide and illustration of the Spinx's riddle.

The Golden Fleece

• Create a comic strip of the story of the Golden fleece, showing each of the main events in the journey of the Argos.
  

The Calydonian Boar.

• Read this story. No narration needed

The Apples of Love and the Apples of Discord

• Name each of the main characters of the story. Describe each of the main characters of the story.
  
• Narrate the story describing what happened.
  
• Draw a picture of the Trojan horse, use watercolors / watercolor pencils to show his winds, sun and the sea/sky