One More Reason I Love What We Do...

I tripped and fell into homeschooling my younger children.  It wasn't planned, wasn't the long-fulfilled desire of my heart, and wasn't the knee-jerk reaction to a terrible school situation.  More on what brought us to this place on another day.

But I do love what we do (most days) and am constantly reminded what a privilege it is to be the one who gets to discover and explore this great big wonderful world with my children.  Last week, we had our year-end state-required testing.  They did well, although I'm convinced that "the best" of what we do will never be measured by or demonstrated on any test.  More on that another day as well.

The remainder of our school year will be much more laid back - we're done with Spelling, Math, etc.  We've been freed from the "must-do's" in order to enjoy more of the "can't wait to-do's".  I must admit that as we enter this phase of the school year, I wasn't sure what our days would hold.  More serious practice of instruments in preparation for recitals, finalizing details for our eldest daughter's wedding, and freedom to enjoy our history reading at a more leisurely pace were what we've all been eagerly anticipating in these last weeks.

The fruits of additional free time always catch me off guard - in the best sense of the term.  Today, Will (my 11 yr. old) disappeared for a substantial period of time.  This was no great surprise, as he is my avid and somewhat obsessive reader.  However, he finally emerged from his solace not with a conquered book in hand, but having created the following:

Although we never gave a test in history, never required a project, and rarely adhered to the "lesson plan", I think we actually learned something this year!