We made it!

Our first week of homeschooling is over -- and everyone survived. I didn't yell too much. Actually, I don't think I yelled at anybody at all. I even made dinner almost every night! Things were pretty messy around the house though, and I had trouble keeping up with the laundry. I won't beat myself up over that, though. I had to deal with 2 consecutive bed-wetting incidents and one middle-of-the-night nose bleed. Consequently, I had a lot of laundry to do. Still have a lot of laundry to do!

Gabby completed her first science project this week. And it was SO 'homeschoolish.'

Homeschoolish: adj. relating to an assignment or field study in homeschool that is unplanned or spontaneous, yet still totally rocks

She was reading about atoms and had finished the info pretty quickly without a lot of questions.

Me: How'd the reading go?
Gabby: Good.
Me: How far'd you get?
Gabby: I finished it.
Me: All of it?
Gabby (she's very nonchalant): yeah.
Me: Did you understand it?
Gabby: Well, I had to read it a couple times, but yeah. Except for the Van der Waal thingies.
Me (I'm overjoyed, no nonchalance here): I don't understand the Van der Waal thingies either!

So then I wasn't sure what to do with her so I asked her if she wanted to build an atom and she really did and a couple days later we were at the craft store filling our cart with random things that could be electrons, protons, and neutrons! It was so great!

Gabby ended up going with pompoms on a wire wreath frame. It's Bohr's model. You can see the disclaimers on her sign.
I know it's not really a big deal for a science project, but we're so proud of it! It is kind of like proof that I'm not faking at teaching her at home. "See I really am putting effort in here!" And who am I saying that too? Well, not the school district. Someone called this week from the middle school and they don't care. Not my family. Everyone's been completely supportive. So it's me. I'm proving me wrong, or right, depending on how you look at it! I'm possibly my fiercest detractor. The quiet voice that says, "Can you really stay focused on this?" "Are you really going to close your laptop and take your nose out of your books and give this kid an education?"

But now I've got a science project, so take that!

Our first day

I am a new homeschooler and today was my first day. My daughter is 12 and in the 7th grade - that is the first year of middle school here. We had always gone the "bricks and mortar" route and been probably 90% satisfied with our elementary school. However as Gabby was changing schools anyway -- and does any child actually enjoy her middle school experience? -- I thought I'd take her out. Just like that. Good bye desks and lining up in the hall, packing lunches, lunch tables (thank heaven!) and all the rest.

And I did it because I believed that homeschooling is right for her. Maybe not for every child or every parent, but for her, for me. All the ups and downs of elementary school seemed to support this hypothesis. The "ups" being repeatable at homeschool, the "downs" more associated with the traditional school environment. That's the hypothesis, but what will the evidence reveal? Time will tell.

I'm not sure what I was expecting this day would be like. So much preparation went into it. We bought curricula and textbooks, some new, some used. We did a lot of research. My husband and I spent hours talking and planning. I guess I imagined something like this: I teach, Gabby studies, light bulb after light bulb go on inside her brain, laughter and good cheer, a world of knowledge taken in, educational bliss.

A truly realistic vision.

But it really turned out to be a rather regular day with my 12-year old. Some very successful quiet self-study. Plenty of pouting and exasperated declarations. Shy, appreciative smiles when I help her. On the whole, a lot of good work completed, along with a sense of accomplishment for Gabby. And a sigh of relief from me.

So I'm wondering will there be more pouting than pleasure in this process? And which one of us will be doing the pouting?