Going To China

We aren't actually going to China. But, we all really want to. The Great Wall of China is so cool! Someday we will go as a family.

Anyway...

This week has been an interesting week. I have felt a little off. It's hard being the homeschooling mom- there's all this pressure to provide everything for your kids- because you are the only one providing them with "it." I have felt a little down- even with the PARCC tests coming up for the month of March, meaning the school kids will be stuck taking tests while my kids won't. But still. It's a lot of pressure.

In school, kids take tests constantly so you know exactly where they are and what they have learned and haven't learned. I could test my kids constantly, but part of the reason I'm homeschooling is to not have all the anxiety of testing instilled in my 7 and 5 year-olds.

They definitely are learning. In fact, they amaze me with some of the stuff they come up with.

I am still glad we are homeschooling. The pros definitely outweigh the cons, it's just that there are always going to be good and bad weeks.

And, even though this week started not so great (only because of me not feeling adequate, not for any other reason), it ended up pretty awesome.

We have been studying China (hence the longing for The Great Wall), Yesterday they got to try out some chop sticks by playing a couple of games and trying to figure out how to use them correctly. Tonight they helped me make a Chinese dinner and then we ate dinner with chopsticks. Yes, I know we don't need a curriculum to be able to do that. But it is pretty neat to incorporate the history of China with what they are learning about Geography and everything else- it makes what we are learning more real and more memorable.

I love that we can make learning come alive and be fun- the learning doesn't always look like a textbook with homeschooling. Instead, it's just a part of life. Yes, we have workbooks and we have a curriculum. But we can also learn just by living- and I think that is way better than learning via tests.

So, in the end, it turned out to be quite a successful week in my opinion.