the way we spent our morning...

this morning after addie & i left the breakfast table, we found ourselves in narnia. unfortunately, we were at war. but! not to worry, addie was prepared for battle. she whipped out her baby doll curlders to use as bows.

just when it looked as if we would lose the battle, she quickly whistled for back up. lucky for us, susan, lucy, edmund & peter were more than willing to help us out. battle won, morning successful!

why we do what we do...

as the official start of school has come and gone, i have been thinking very carefully about why we do what we do. i didn't think that what we do would be perceived as such a radical decision; that people would believe that we were making a choice that would ruin my daughter's life. i didn't think of the looks i'd get from total strangers. what we do is choose to keep our daughter home from school. yes, we choose to homeschool. i know, shocking. i've discovered that people are quite curious about why addie isn't in school. for instance, when we are out and about, addie is usually questioned by random people about why she isn't in school, "no school today?", "are you sick today?" these questions from strangers, among my own personal thoughts got me thinking about why we do what we do. here's what i've come up with so far...



i can honestly say that since school has started in our area, not one day has passed that i haven't breathed at least a tiny sigh of relief that we are not going to school. i wasn't expecting that. my daughter would be entering kindergarten this year had we enrolled her in school. as i tried to prepare myself for the upcoming year, i have to admit, i was concerned about our decision. concerned that i wouldn't do a good job, concerned that addie would be missing out on something...of what i wasn't sure, though. i thought that once the buses started stopping out in front of the house (the bus stop that she would stand out is in front of our house), i would be questioning our choice...wishing i was putting her on the school bus with her friends and waving goodbye from the curb. me, holding her baby sister wishing her a wonderful day, smoothing down her hair and waving goodbye. goodbye....



that didn't happen. instead, the buses came, the kids got on and moms waved goodbye. but not us. no, we were just getting out of bed, still sleepy in our jammies. we were cuddled up on the couch feeding laney and discussing the reasons African elephants have such large ears. we were pondering what to do with our day. we were living. and me, well, i was silently rejoicing. doing a silent happy dance in my head about having both my girls home with me. delighting in the fact that we weren't tied to someone else's idea of a good schedule (getting up by 6:15am to be ready for school isn't appealing to any of us!). ecstatic that i got to witness the lightbulb moments that addie has. thrilled to see my 5 1/2 year old learn through our everyday life. i could go on and on...



so, why do we do what we do? we do this so our children have the experience of learning at their own pace. we do this so they can explore their interests in depth without being rushed or moved on to something else. we do this so we can have more moments of being cuddled up on the couch together-something that may not last forever.