Another year of homeschooling comes to an end. I guess I shouldn't say an end, because it really never ends. But our annual assessment is coming up, which signifies and "end" to this year of our homeschooling experience. Sort of like the Jimi Hendrix experience just without the mind altering drugs. Caffeine could be construed as a mind altering drug, but I digress...

I feel like I actually have something to show for this year, like I'm more prepared to be assessed than in previous years. My 9 yr old is still reading, not loving it as much as I'd personally like, but enough. The strange thing is my 6 yr old is actually reading like a pro and really enjoying it, even though we've never really sat down and "taught" her. Her experience is paralleling my own. I self taught at around 4 and I've loved reading ever since.

They're both working hard on their math; they're doing Singapore which I like so far. I think I just like a curriculum of sorts for math, since it's not my thang. Sure, I get addition and subtraction, multiplication and division...but I just don't seem to be able to teach it organically. It's one of those things I understand, but I have trouble translating to them.

I feel better that we're doing a more structured reading and math program. A book a day plus several pages of the math books. The other things we're still unschooling. The geography, the social studies, the sciences we learn in everyday life.

So this is working for us! I'm a bit surprised by this because I've felt unsure the last couple of years. I've become more committed to homeschooling because it's working, but also because our local schools, both public and private, have gone downhill drastically. I know I wouldn't want to use any of the schools we'd have available if homeschooling wasn't working for us. If Gage shows an interest in attending school, we'd have to really sit down and hash this out and I'm just glad we don't have to for now.

Not to mention how nice it is that we'll have this flexibility as we're gaining more time to devote to the important things, like volunteering and travelling.