I know some people are very much for or against homeschooling. There are some in the middle but most have a very strong view. I didn’t – not in the beginning. For some reason, I felt called to homeschool. Yes, me, the daughter of a public and then private Catholic school teacher. The niece of not one but 2 Lutheran school teachers. And the cousin to more teachers than I can post about. And yes, me, a former public school substitute teacher who considered returning to college to complete a second Bachelor’s degree in Special Education to teach after I did a stint in special education and thought that might have been for me. So, you can imagine my surprise when I felt that homeschooling (something I really didn’t know ANYTHING about) seemed the right thing to do for my kids.
Now I could go through and tell you all the reasons we love and hate homeschooling. You can read about them in THIS post and THAT post. But what I’m here to tell you about is the BEST PART OF HOMESCHOOLING – at least for me.
Wanna know what it is?
You probably think the flexibility, the sleeping in, the including our personal religion in the curriculum, the freedom to teach to our children’s preferred learning styles, etc. But I’ll tell you, the most EXCITING THING ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING for me is….. (drum roll please)
The Ah-ha moment.
You know the Ah-ha moments. The lightbulbs that cartoon figures get above their head the minute they get something or understand something or get an idea. That’s the Ah-ha moment. AND I LOVE IT!
This is, by far, my favorite part of homeschooling because I am there, almost every time, for the ah-ha moment. I see the light bulb come on when they finally (and I do mean FINALLY sometimes) get a math concept or connect something we read about to a time in history that we are studying. I see their eyes light up when a science experiment they did works. I see their determination as they work through a project and the delight as it comes together.
I GET TO SEE THE AH-HA’s in their lives. They don’t have these at school with someone else who they won’t remember in a few years. They don’t have them with only their friends. I GET TO SEE AND EXPERIENCE IT WITH THEM. I’m there to answer their follow-on sentences and encourage them to dig deeper.
AND IT’S SO EXCITING!
There are so many things I love about homeschooling. And there are days where I want to tear my hair out from my head and question our decision. But, in the end, this is the path that we were lead to for our homeschool and we delight in it (most of the time). However, no matter how good or bad the week has been. No matter how far ahead or behind we are in math. When I see that lightbulb over my child’s head; when I see them finally connect the dots. My heart races and my smile is difficult to not notice, even from distance away, because I’m SO excited for them. I love seeing them learn. It is BY FAR the best part of homeschooling in my opinion and it is what keeps us moving forward every day. Because I can’t wait to experience the next Ah-ha moment with my kids!
What is your favorite part about homeschooling? I would love to hear about it!
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