Home schooling?

Home schooling as been an interesting and on-going journey so far. We started initially because my then 4-year-old DS desperately wanted to start school, and yet no one would let him due to the fact his birthday is a few days after the cut-off date for entering kindergarten. A few days? I can see a few months, but like a few days woiuld make all that much difference.
Then after assessment we and the umbrella school we went with decided to start him in first grade lest he be bored by kindergarten (and they were right). So we jumped in - text books open and running. I tried frantically to make sure he was kept up to speed so he would not get behind other kids in his grade (see anything wrong with that statement yet?).

Now 3 years later my vision of what home schooling is has changed quite a bit.
I have spent these years digging around on all manners of home schooling and education websites, and picking the brains of my relatives (I am ironically surrounded by school teachers), neurotically trying to make sure I am not doing wrong by my kids. I have discovered that there are a plethora of very wise people out there that have made me realize that school does not have to be a cookie cutter affair for your kids to grow up educated, compassionate people.

Unfortunately my oldest son is still (though only 7) thinking books are a stupid way to learn (and I quote). I am hopeful that I will convince him otherwise as he gets older. I suspect his attitude has something to do with the fact we pushed to hard to get him to read. Mentally he was ready, but emotionally he was not yet there. He would much rather learn by doing, and I cant say I blame him. I do insist on some read-aloud time 5 days a week, telling him it is like soccer - if you dont keep practicing the skill gets lost. This has seemed to sink in and now it is not so much of a struggle to get him to read. I keep my faith in his abilities by reading articles by others whose sons had no interest in reading until somewhere around the age of 9, including some relatives of mine, who then proceeded to scarf up everything they could get their hands on.

Now how do I get him to start writing? He does so only under duress. I have been thru the threatening, the cajoling, the compromising, the whole works. I am at a loss now, but am sure that some inspiration will hit me over the head and I will wonder why I didnt think of it earlier. Maybe it is simply a matter of letting the spelling rules sink in, as I suspect he has as many issues with phonics as I did as a kid.

On the flip side to all of this, he grasps math and science concepts with rapidity, so much that I wonder if I will be able to keep up in a few more years. And social studies/history? HAH! We are going thru the 2nd grade books this year and we go thru an entire unit at a time, mostly because we have either already discussed it or can relate it back to something we have discussed. He has had a fascination with Ancient Egypt for the last year and now has included Ancient Rome and Greece and China in that list. What are we supposed to study next year? I dont think those are on the list.....do I care? Probably not.

With the normalcy of a child, he is not interested in local events but anything far far away (in either time or space) that involves a mystery or adventure. Ever tried to teach government workings and CA history to a kid who could care less about the state he lives in, let alone how its gov't works (or doesnt). Maybe if we get a chance to look at Rome with their ideals of gov't, we can compare to current ones. Does this seem strange to anyone else?

I am more and more sure next year we will go "independent", partially because I am getting disgusted with standard cirriculum (though it is nice to have as a back up list) and because the umbrella school has changed their prices and pricing structure. Since my two youngest are now entering the "schooling" phase I would need to pay somewhere around 4200.00 to enroll them all (that includes teacher supervision and cirriculum supplies). As my mom is retiring this year and is willing to be our supervisor (she is a elementary school teacher - handy eh?), we will be better off getting free books from school district as basic framework and otherwise go off on our own little tangents.

Ah well, I better get back to my wonderful, genius, high maintainence, sweet kids....and try to keep up with them.....

"Every good day ends with a miracle" - DS age 7