Homeschooling joys and water parks

I truly love homeschooling!  Not every day, mind you, but overall....I love it.  And, I have decided that after homeschooling about 12 years that the reasons that prompted me to start homeschooling aren't the reasons that I have continued.

I started because I had one child struggling with the academics of 1st grade and very little real efforts from the school to help.  And, I had another first grader that was bored to tears and hated the monotony of sitting at a desk with worksheet after worksheet.  Her love of learning was disappearing.

I also worried about the peer influences.

Now, I have one main reason that I love homeschooling:

Time!

I cannot stress enough to all of you that have small children....it goes *so* fast!  And, there is only so much time that your children have with you to play, laugh, cry, and talk. 

I miss my oldest girls so much now that they are on their own and I now value the time that we had together more than I ever knew I would while in the moment.   

So, I truly appreciate that our first day of homeschool classes came in *September* rather than August (which still seems like summer).  And, we only go on Fridays.  The children can see their friends and are taking classes like Chemistry, Algebra, Theatre production, Advanced media production, hands on science and even organic gardening!

And, we ended our day with time at a local water park.

Amelia getting stuck in the baby swing was a funny ending to a long but great day!