Hey, Caroline, I homeschool, too! I have 4. Yep, 4. Tenth grade, seventh grade, third grade, and pre-school. How's that for stretched out?! We haven't started school yet this year. We always wait until after Labor Day. We take a lot of field trips and do a lot of hands-on projects on the weekends though. But I think my kids have learned more this past summer than any other since we've been homeschooling. Sixteen year old daughter had to tend house(including the shopping)when I sprained my ankle(again!), then again when I went off to attend state baseball tournament games with our local little league team. (I'm a vetern coach for the league-- and all around team mom.) They learned the finer points of home maintenance and construction when we enclosed a porch to make a school room and they helped paint and refloor a bedroom. They were also made familiar with the finer points of local law enforcement when my middle son's bicycle was stolen. (We didn't sit around and wait for the cops to find it!)
This will be our sixth year, and I'm learning why some moms call homeschooling, home-training. I'd had serious second thoughts this past year, but my kids have displayed abilities they never would have learned had they been in school. And the doctor's visits are less frequent!
Email me sometime... we'll talk shop!
SQD
