Home Schooling Convention, II

We're back from our first foray into home schooling, and it was very, very interesting. A lot of it I'd already learned from various books, but we also gleaned some interesting tips (like how to get a World Wildlife Fund approved backyard habitat; a project we're interested in attempting this summer) and learned about some great local clubs, like a young writer's club, where the kids work on their compositions, read them aloud and critique each other (actually there's a lot more to it than that; I'm trying to simplify, but it sounded incredibly, incredibly appealing) and a chess club, divided by skill, not by age.

I can't do the conference justice in one short post, but if I wasn't excited before (which I was, ridiculously so), I am now. Every time I hear or read about home schooling, the more I learn and the more excited I get about the opportunities we're going to have.

On the way home from Oshkosh this afternoon I was sitting in the back of the van reading Madeleine and Hank a newly purchased "textbook" about the Ice Age and Madeleine and Hank kept yelling, "Keep reading, keep reading!" and about halfway through I said to Madeleine, "This is a lot of what 'school' is going to be like for you next year. This is one of the texts we're going to use next year for ancient history." Madeleine's eyes practically popped out of her head. She was astounded to realize she could learn history sitting on the sofa while reading a story. She had interesting, insightful questions but, best of all, she was excited about the book and all the interesting things she was learning.