Sona Creidhe Homeschooling

My friend Summer over at Mom Is Teaching did a post on 8 Reasons To Love Homeschooling which I thought was pretty great. So I'm doing it here as well and encourage others to do the same. I'm not tagging anyone so don't worry. Just enjoy doing it if you wanna.

8 Reasons I Love Homeschooling

1) When my kids were in public school we didn't get along very well. They were both extremely mouthy and disrespectful. Since we started homeschooling they have become so much more mature and appreciative of things in their lives. It's been amazing watching them actually grow each day. So many things I missed when they were little but now I get to enjoy these teen years.

2) I know my kids aren't being taught the crappy History and Geography lessons that I was in school. So little of actual importance historically is taught in school and by the time most of us graduate we couldn't recite the first line of the Constitution much less the first paragraph! With homeschooling I am able to share my love of history and geography with my kids and know that as adults they'll know where Madagascar is or what "The Plague" was.

3) I get to spend time with my kids. With my health being as yucky as it is most days I enjoy getting to be around the kids and make memories now. No mommy has to go to work or mom can't help right now. Laughing, talking, learning, reading, and enjoying each other's company now fill our days.

4) I really KNOW my kids now. I know what they like and dislike. I know who they have a crush on or who their best friend is. I am ashamed to say I didn't have time for those things as a single working mom so I am very thankful for this second chance.

5) Since my kids spend more time with me they are able to understand our disorder and the affects of it better. They see how it has affected me and the tests I take and know that if it's ever their turn for all this it will all be okay.

6) Not having to do the mad back to school shopping crap! I both loved and hated when it was back to school time. In a way it was fun to take the kids shopping for new stuff but it was never fun dealing with hordes of people or school supply lists. Now I just hit sales when I want to and enjoy the savings all year long.

7) FIELD TRIPS!! I never got to go on field trips with the kids when they were younger and now we can go on one whenever we want to. I love that! During our homeschooling time we've been to an ice cave and dormant volcano, a wolf sanctuary, a wildlife refuge, a pumpkin patch, several museums, the zoo, the botanical gardens, to the movies, hiking, and on and on. We've taken more trips in 2 1/2 years than they ever did in public school.

Getting to watch the youngest one start his homeschooling adventure right from the start. The difference in the way he learns and the way the other two were programmed to learn is amazing. No stress, no tears, and he doesn't have to sit still in a desk all day at the age of 4. I just wish I would have known about this when the other two were little so I could have guided them as well.

Those are MY eight things I love about homeschooling. Honestly? I think I probably could have kept listing things so it's probably a good thing this stops you at just eight. LOL.

Scary I know. I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've been very busy with my Sona Creidhe Reviews blog which I hope you will check at least weekly for educational links to websites and reviews of educational products. I'm having alot of fun with it. I have 87 companies I'm doing reviews for and ALOT of great stuff to share with you. Every review is my honest opinion and if I think something is junk I will tell you so. I'm not going to lie to you and say something is great if it quite frankly sucks.

Our new year of homeschooling is going slowing. I've been so busy (and sick I'm afraid) that we've been piecing it together as we go. I'm happy to say though that Big B and Sis are actually doing work on their own now. Big B took a bunch of textbooks I got for free to his room and started going through them. I loved it when he said "Those are boring and leave out so much!". hehe My evil plan is working!!!! Just kidding. Sis is reading everyday and even doing MATH on her own. It's scary I tell you!

Thanks to doing reviews I have everything I need to teach MonkeyBoy this year. I still don't believe in organized school for kids his age so he is just enjoying playing with stuff as it comes in and he is learning so much. We received a Leapster from one company along with some other things and he is just learning in leaps and bounds with them all. He even showed me the other night that he knows numbers by sight now. *tear* I was so excited and it hit me so hard. Here I have been worrying over how to teach him these things in a fun way and he already knows!

So my little family is doing well. I hope to get on the ball with HSing very soon and I'm actually trying to do this thing called "ORGANIZING" this year. It's an amazing concept. hehe

Last week we finally went on our first field trip in a long time. Unfortunately, my health puts quite a damper on things pretty regularly but when we were offered the chance to attend with our new homeschool group I didn't care how I felt, we were going!

The group down here is small but very nice. I met several really nice women and my kids even made a few friends as well. Sis made lots of friends actually and they've all been calling each other ever since. Big B was the only person his age there but luckily we had a teen girl for a tour guide so they at least had music they could talk about. Lil Man made a new little girlfriend and all of us thought it was so cute watching them walk around holding hands. Yes, at the age of almost 5 he is already a ladie's man. I'm in trouble!

Our field trip was to a place called Wildlife West in Edgewood. Wildlife West is a wildlife preserve and "enhanced zoo," that is nonprofit and run completely by volunteers. The best part is that most of their volunteers are kids under the age of 18! It's great to see all that these kids have built and done with their own two hands.

Our tour guide, Karrie, was very good and did a wonderful job telling everyone about the animals. The kids got to see mountain lions, a black bear, birds of prey, and lots more. After we ate lunch in the pavillion the kids were taken on a tractor ride around the property and then it was time to go.

All in all we were there for about three hours and between the intense heat of the day and all the walking I was one wiped out mama by the time we were finished. I was quite proud of my older two kids because thanks to their time at the Wildlife Sanctuary they were able to help the tour guide with even more info on the birds.

The lady who leads the homeschool group and I have been talking and I think we're probably going to be able to come up with alot of future plans for this group like a Teen Group, field trips, tours, swimming dates, and all kinds of good stuff. I look forward to helping Theresa make this a great group and with all the great moms I met last week, I think that will be very easy.

Also, make sure you visit my review blogs at Sona Creidhe Reviews to enter the giveaways I'm having. Hurry though because winners will be chosen tomorrow afternoon!!

Over the last few weeks the kids and myself have been considering whether or not we want to continue with homeschooling for another year. So many ideas and plans for last year that just never came to fruitation. Can I really give these kids what they need when I'm the only parent in the house who is for homeschooling? Am I helping or hurting these kids by having them learn at home? Should someone like me even be doing this?

So many questions with so many answers but of course, never the right one.

Big B wants to continue homeschooling so he can do the Dual Program at the college and still have his freedom. The only problem is that Big B wants to play football and that isn't going to happen unless he is in public school. As he put it "So I can go play football and get a crappy education or I can not play football and get a good one?" and he is pretty much right. Playing football is his dream though and I don't want to see him lose that. I'm a perfect example of what happens to a person when they give up on dreams and life in general. I want more for my kids.

Sis still just can't understand that if she goes back to public school she most likely won't be in the 7th grade. She fiddled around all year and truly learned next to nothing (even on an unschooling level she picked nothing up) so now if she wants to start junior high next month she's going to have to work for it. Over a year's worth of learning in less than a month. Of course, the only reason she wants to go to public school is because all her "friends" (I put that in quotes because they're actually spoiled, rude, and bitchy) on our block are PS kids. What she's not getting is that she won't be in class with any of them and going back just to hang out really isn't going to work.

I feel like my daughter has just already given up and if I try to help her she fights me and then all we do is fight. Definately not the relationship I wanted to have.

MonkeyBoy is excited to be starting "Kindergarten" this year. If he was in public school he would still be a preschooler because his birthday is in November but I printed up several "What Your Preschooler Should Know" type lists and he has covered everything on them so there's no sense in doing it for another year. He's the only one of the three that I feel like I won't screw up if I homeschool him. I guess it's just because I can start from the beginning with him whereas the other two were in 4th and 9th grade when we started.

So that's it for us right now. Just trying to decide what we're doing and figuring out the new "year". I do know that if we homeschool again this year we will do better and have more fun than in the past. Me being sick is no excuse and I really need to learn to adapt.

I'm sorry, I actually posted the weekly links over on the new review blog and forgot to tell you where to go.

This is why I never would have made a good tour guide. I could lose myself in a linen closet.

So please visit Sona Creidhe Reviews for Linkapaloosa (now called Edulinking) and be sure to leae a comment letting me know what you think of the blog. Suggestions are always welcome.