Homeschooling update

I have to say that I am surprised and pleased at how well homeschooling is going. I was expecting teaching to be kind of painful, something I have to push on the kids, and sometimes it can be that way; but mostly it has been fun, and the more I do it, the more I love it.

There are the favorite subjects, like History, which we cannot get enough of. Sena and Aiyana could read about history all day, and I catch myself reading ahead in their book just because I can't stop, when I should be cooking, or cleaning, or doing some other work.

There have also been some pleasant surprises - like Aiyana getting into classical music. She found some old CD of mine and started playing it, and let me know that she really liked it. She asked me to find that kind of music. We went to the library and have been borrowing the Clssical Kids CD series. They are great, one CD for each composer, telling a story about that composer's life, and playing some well known pieces of theirs.

Another nice discovery has been the Mike Venezzia book series for famous artists like Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and so on. Each book is dedicated to one artist, describing their life and showing some of their most famous artwork. Sena will read as much as she can, five or six artists if I don't stop her and tell her to go do something else. We also read these books together, and it's fun talking about what we like and don't like about a certain artist. As of right now, Sena and Aiyana know more about famous painters and their work than I did a month ago. Which is not saying much, but I am happy about this unexpected turn.

Another surprise was grammar. I knew that I wanted to teach the kids grammar and writing, and I expected it to be a struggle. Writing kind of is. They like to read but when it comes to writing a summary about what they read, they dread it. Grammar, on the other hand, which I though would be much more boring, they love. I think it's because they like the structure of it, and they like how you can make sense out of language by using grammar.

Overall, my favorite part of homeschooling right now is the fact that we are learning together. I often find myself inspired and refreshed by something we read or studied during homeschooling. I like the openness of that.