A Big Change

   I'm not sure exactly how it came to be. In fact, I once told myself I would never do such a thing as this... yet, I've gone and done it. I pulled my 4th-grader out of school this year and am teaching him myself. So far, it has been really rewarding. I'm not surprised at all, just hoping our success will last. We are only 13 school days in, but that means we are 13 school days in and I haven't sent him back! I didn't even send him back on the "worst day of my life", "I hate Math", sobbing uncontrollably, writhing-on-the-floor-because-this-is-going-to-take-a-million-years-to-finish day. Yep, he said and did all of that. And how did I respond? I headed off to the post office with the toddlers to give him some space. Amazingly, we came back home to find that he had sorted it all out on his own. Tears were gone, math problems tackled, and he was ready to move on. Thank goodness, because I'm not so good at pep talks.

 For lots of reasons, homeschooled kids and families are viewed differently, usually negatively. I shouldn't worry about what others think but for some reason, I'm quick to tell people that my other school-age children continue to attend public school. I guess I just don't want people to think I'm a homeschool extremist(whatever that may be).

  I went to the school's 4th grade curriculum meeting for parents last night just to be sure we weren't missing out on something crucial. At the end of the night, I was even more convinced that our choice to keep him home this year was a good one. Besides, how many of his former classmates can go to school in their undies like he does!

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to:
Ryan's light hut:

 He loves stuff about ancient Greece, and Greek Mythology. So, we checked out some books and ended up making some Greek sesame buns. They were terrible, by the way! Bleck!

 A Greek vase that quickly got changed into just a pinata.

 A proud new caretaker to young Venus Flytraps. Yes, they all have names.

 A playground all to ourself:

 A day spent with kind, old men tinkering with their model airplanes:

 We even got invited to control this remote-controlled, practice glider:

 Typing class. Even Andrea is becoming familiar with the home-row keys:

 A day at the Oregon Garden: an edible herbal feast, insects galore, tree identification, grape-vines, and sifting through pond samples:

 

 

 An unplanned Science experiment- watching the distribution of food coloring throughout a leaf:

Sitting in a school classroom all day simply doesn't compare. And, can you believe the teacher never assigns homework! How awesome is that?! I think I'll send me an apple tomorrow....