Is it getting warm in here?

For the first time since we have moved into our house I sit surrounded by insulation. The insulators came today and filled our walls with expanding foam insulation.

They got the WHOLE house done in 6 hours.

When they were about halfway through the kids and I stopped home to grab a couple things, check on the progress, and grab some lunch. We came home to the door wide open (that is how they got the hose inside), windows still open, with the men working hard.

One of my wonderful, home schooled children looked at me and said, "It's starting to work already mom. It's already warmer in the house!"

I personally think the heat had something to do with the fact that it was hot and muggy today.

At least they are looking for positive signs!

Great quote

I found a great quote through one of the blogs I read. It was on a completely different blog than that but I found it.

"People say public schools are bad, but that isn't true. They're very good at what they were designed for -- to create people who could work in factories. They teach you to arrive at a bell, go to lunch at a bell and leave at a bell. You learn to sit at a desk and do the same work everyone else is. These things don't really have anything to do with education.
People don't realize that these things aren't inborn. In the old days, people regulated their lives by the schedules of agriculture. It took public schools to teach people to show up to the factory on time."

I know this may offend some people. But one of the arguments I have thrown at me as a reason not to home school is that my kids need to live by a schedule so they will know how to get up and go to work on time everyday.

Maybe my kids won't want to punch a clock. My husband doesn't. Very few people that I know (that enjoy what they do) actually punch a clock. I know they will have to at some point in their life, but that is why I'm teaching them responsibility.

And for the record, I'm not against public schools. I know their are some benefits. But they are not for us at this point in our lives.

Ok, I'm done now. :)

Spring break no more

Spring break is over. We took last week off of school and spent the time going through the house. Each room got cleaned up and I spent the majority of my time in the classroom. I did this for a couple reasons.

This winter the classroom has been used as a catch all. It was unorganized and cluttered. This is where the computers are in our house and therefore we spend a lot of time in this room. With six people living in the house this can be a big indicator of what rooms are the messiest.

Also I am ordering next years curriculum this week. In fact, tomorrow I am getting 5 boxes of stuff and I should have all or nearly all of it by the end of next week. Since I need to be ready to receive, organize, and make available these items, I needed to make sure the classroom was clean.

It's better than Christmas to me. All the new materials, the new ways to get my kids thinking for themselves. I LOVE getting new school supplies! And it's even better when I will be reimbursed for it.

My kids have always been home educated by me. I love having them home but at times I'm thinking why in the world would the Lord have picked me to teach my kids.

And then I go through the questions... Where are they supposed to be? How do they compare to the public school? Am I totally messing them up? Are they learning at the pace they should be? Is it wrong that I'm not teaching the capitals of every country in the world, geometry, trig, and the theory of relativity to my kindergartner?

Ok, I'm not that bad, but when I look at people that seem to really have this homeschooling thing down I feel that way. We homeschooling parents are constantly putting a lot of pressure on ourselves.

So this year my kids are virtual schooled.

Actually that pretty much means nothing except that the kids are counted as public school kids, the are able to join band, sports, field trips, and have general access to the school. The also provide us with a computer, curriculum, and a teacher/tutor as we see fit. The school has worked very well with us and we are able to use as much or as little of the curriculum as we see fit as long as we are supplementing with something comparable. We supplement a lot. Actually most of it is supplemented.

All that to say we are public schooling at home and so the kids did the state mandatory testing. My kids have never been tested for their grade ability so I was actually looking forward to this to see where I need to improve or where the kids are doing well. I am well aware of the pros, cons, and controversy of testing but I just wanted to know.

We got the results this week and both kids tested (it starts in the 4th grade) were proficient or advanced in all areas. Woo hoo! This is not bragging by any means, this is a huge sigh of relief. Maybe I'm not totally messing my kids up. I still don't strongly rely on testing but it is nice to know where I need to concentrate a little more and what the kids strengths are to help develop that. Ok, enough already.