The Joys of Schooling

Homeschooling can be downright nerve-wracking. I will not lie, it is not all roses. I saw this cartoon and it pretty much summed up how I feel most days:

The biggest joys happen on days like today. The two best kinds of homeschooling heartwarming moments both happened today: Carter had an enlightened moment of pure educational joy, and someone else took notice of Carter's progress and rightfully praised him.

This morning Carter and I were very annoyed with one another so Kurt decided to help Carter with his reading. Kurt listened and helped Carter as needed, and at the end of the chapter came to me in amazement, "Since when can Carter read things like 'pteranodon'???" Kurt was so proud of Carter, and Carter adored getting praised by someone other than me! It made him so proud that he had made his daddy proud!

Our second joy came when Carter did his math work. Carter asked me last week if we could learn about "space and planets" so I decided to do our unit on the solar system. Finding a cute printable online, I copied a math worksheet that added three different numbers together, instead of the standard two that Carter is used to doing. Kurt (bless him for working with Carter while I feel so horrible!) explained to Carter that he would be adding all three numbers together, and then let Carter go to work. Carter did it perfectly! The best part of this was seeing CARTER's pride in his work! He was so excited that he was able to do such a complex problem that had originally scared him! He was thrilled!

Seeing these beaming moments of Carter's pride really makes this hard work worthwhile. Being able to work with Carter and Harrison, at a pace they are comfortable with and which will maximize their efforts, is such a blessing!

Carter raced upstairs to my bedside to proudly display his math work (my morning sickness is still all-day sickness). He then demonstrated how he did it, and cheered at his accomplishment! At my request, Kurt snapped this picture of Carter- I love it! Carter is sitting so tall, chest puffed, trying to control his huge smile- his pride in his work is so great!

Yes, we love doing this. It is so hard, but so worth it =)

This week we are learning the basic concept of: Solar System. We are specifically going to focus on the sun. Carter continues to read Magic Tree House, Dinosaurs Before Dark, and is nearly finished! In addition, Carter also reads one other book to me each day- one he gets to pick all by himself. Harrison enjoys doing preschool worksheets, coloring, and reading level aa readers. The boys continue going to ballet (although I almost removed them... that is another story...) and this is their last week of the winter session of our homeschool coop. Their next session starts March 21st =)