School ended last Wednesday, but I feel like I am finally landing on my feet today, a week and a day later. We have had a major project every day leading up until now. First it was ripping out some old fencing on Thursday, loading the truck with all of it on Friday, baking pies for Mechanism’s birthday party on Saturday, Sunday was the party; a lot of fun but left me exhausted, and Monday was a marathon with the vending machine business. Tuesday was Mechanism’s actual birthday and we got in some relaxing family time and Wednesday it was back to the vending machines again and shopping. This morning I sit here reflecting on the day ahead. The garden is washed and new smelling from last night’s rain. The robins are twittering and I can smell the chicken broth stewing in the crock pot. There will be no school today, or tomorrow, or the next day. I can hear wrestling in the room next door. As the sun streams in my school room window, it falls on the collection of books and miscellaneous items piled high on my desk. School ended just in time. Another week and this room would have exploded. I would like to paint, but probably a good, deep cleaning is all I’ll get around to before I order more curriculum and we start another school year all over again. There are too many treasure hunts to go on, gardens to weed and books to read. Summer time for me, a home school mom, is a time I look forward to every year with as much anticipation as when I was a school girl. I don’t mind my kids being around because they are always around me anyway. I am relieved however to let them run and jump and do as they please most of the time. It takes a lot of self control to keep them focused on school during the fall and winter and to be able to focus on my own projects is a big release. This summer I have so many piled up in my mind, I don’t know where to start. And then there are the fun adventures we’d like to go on, and mostly, the days we’d like to spend doing nothing at all. Today feels like one of those days.

Our last Robotics Meeting

Wednesday was our last club meeting. All the students ended up with some form of a working robotic arm, powered by syringes and tubing filled with air or water. Most of them picked up an object and some of them even would move the object to a new location. It was really fun to watch them work successfully. Some of the kids built a kind of hand or squeezing mechanism at the end of their arm. One boy used an electromagnet to pick up a staple and drop it off. All gave a presentation of their project, and learned from eachother. Everyone got a big, blue ribbon and a decadent chocolate cup cake.

School day # 166

Today is day 166 out of 172 (the “legal” number of) days we have set aside for school. We are itching, twitching, poking, and giggling. We are cramming to finish all our books and take the last of the last tests. To measure how far we’ve come and where and when we should pick up in the fall. It is probably good that there are laws and standards for home scholars. Citizens must be accountable. I am also glad I live in one of the states with fairly minimal governmental controls. I can’t help wishing we had fewer, or somehow I could just not care so much about them. I meticulously record each hour spent doing school just in case the state should ask for my records. Those standardized tests hang over my head like judgment day looming. I can’t help but think how our school would be different if I didn’t think so much about those tests. I like to see high tests scores. We get a little wrapped up in it. But what if there weren’t numbers to look at. What if we just looked at the people? What if I wasn’t so afraid of the government’s judgment of my children’s academic accomplishments? I think my school would be different in a few ways. We probably would never need to take summer vacation. We would learn and live at a more relaxed pace. We’d have less school books and read more. We would do more hands on projects. We would cook and exercise more. Life would be pleasanter. Would my children receive the education they needed to succeed? What would happen if everyone had the freedom to be themselves all the time? Would there be more or less educated people? Making grades helps our children prepare for college I suppose. But then what? Last week the news reported that about 50% of new college graduates cannot find work right now. What if they had learned more life skills and less book knowledge? Would they be starting businesses instead of moving in with Mom and Dad and flipping burgers? Would some of them be too busy inventing new technology to go to college? Self discipline is good. Learning is good. Having high expectations of your self is good. Making sure all children all know the same certain facts at the same time is...organized. Is it really good? It is manageable if you have large volumes of children surging through your school every single year. Should home scholars be held to the same constraints? Is there a way to do things differently inside of an actual school? If the government didn’t force us to educate our children a certain way would our society fall apart or get better? What percentage of people would go on a crime spree and what percentage would live happily and successfully on their own inspiration? Are there so many lazy, dull, illiterate people because they have always been forced into learning, or are they predestined to be that way? For now these questions will have to wait. I’m too busy making my children finish their worksheets. Maybe I will be re-thinking my school this summer. I don’t have the answers, but I think we should all be asking these questions, and working to find better ways to educate our children and to help them find a future.