Today is the day

Well, today I'm finally going to do it. I've threatened this several times, but in our three weeks of homeschooling, I have yet to resort to taking a partial holiday.

Sounds pretty fun. Let the kids have more time to play or even watch a movie. And today is just perfect for it! It's rainy and gross and I'm quite sure that soccer will be cancelled this evening.

Now, you may ask, what is a partial holiday? Well, in our day today there are some school things I'm not willing to forego. For instance, Tuesdays are history days. So, we'll do our history. And we'll probably do math too. However, we will just forget about language for today. That's what takes the most time anyway and is the most frustrating to the kids. They'll be thrilled when I tell them! Today, I can play good cop instead of bad cop (or teacher as the case may be!).

Now, before I start getting comments saying how it's too easy to slack off when homeschooling, let me put your mind at ease by saying that we are AHEAD in language already. In fact, several days ahead of schedule. So, missing one day is not going throw us off schedule or cause the children's education to suffer. They'll be fine. And frankly, I might as well term this a mental health day for me since I think I need it most.

I've been hearing from people lately (who don't know me or my homeschooling methods) that I must be approaching things in a stressful way. For instance, I met a woman recently who shoved this exact opinion on me. Although she knows nothing of me or my children or even how we homeschool (in fact, we had met that very day), she proceeded to tell me that I needed to start doing things her way. Her way is VERY different from ours and in fact, she would leave out a majority of the things I am teaching my children. I don't agree with her approach at all (which I have kindly listened to without critique). I will grant that her children seem very nice and from what I've heard they are well educated. But not everything that works for one family, will work for another! What irritates me is that someone who does not know me thinks that she can just tell me how I'm doing things wrong and why her way is the only way. Oh, and as of yet, she has only asked one question about the way we homeschool and that was just pertaining to what curriculum we use. Which really says nothing about how we approach homeschooling - especially since she didn't wait for a full answer.

I beg to differ with this woman. I think our homeschooling experience has been great so far! If you ask the kids, they'll tell you that they love it! They don't complain about science and social studies (2 things this woman would leave out) because it's some of their favorite stuff to study. Science with Dad is a blast and my kids have always had an interest in history. And since we always get a bunch of books out of the library that can supplement what we're learning in these areas, the kids are having a good time just reading at their own pace and recalling the instruction they have received. It works well.

I don't see the point of pushing one type of homeschooling on someone just because it works for you. Sure, tell me about it, but don't attack the way I do things. Especially if there is nothing wrong with it. I'm sure I have let this bother me too much, but that's just how it is.

As you can tell, this riled me up quite a bit. I've run into this one person two days in a row and twice she has attacked my teaching style. Now that my feathers are all ruffled, I need a little time to cool off. So, thank you pushy lady. Because of your influence (which pushed me over the edge), we are taking a partial day off! And I intend to enjoy it!! So there.