Learning never stops

In the natural flow of life learning never stops. You can be walking along the road or driving down the road, or just be working at home and a learning opportunity will come along.  Either for you from hearing news or random facts on the radio to having a lively discussion with a friend or special someone, or for your kids who still have lots of knowledge to gain as they go through life. 

Today while digging up a bush in the flower bed and then again when attempting to dig out a tree from the back yard, we found worms and other bugs and learned why they are good or bad for the soil/ground. At dinner we discussed that soy sauce was salty. Earlier in the day the girls were fighting over their blankets and they were explaining to Julia (2) that hers said J-U-L-I-A and she said no, "A-B-C-D". It was quite cute. She is almost able to count to 10, but she doesn't like to. She starts with 1,2,3,4 and skips 6 or 7 and says 9,10,11,12,13. The big girls try to get her to count to 20 with them, but she only recites 14 when prompted.  Last weekend while we were painting a room in our house, the girls were reading books (actually reading books) and doing math on the computer, all on their own accord. 

This is why I love homeschooling. Even if we don't get all of our lessons in during our "school day", we can still teach and learn at other times during the day, like when Jeff is home, or on the weekend. Life is continuous, so I'm not sure why we have to tell kids that they need to be able to learn between 8&3 or something close to that. I'm sure it's a schedule that works well for the teachers, but not every student is the same. When you homeschool and you have to take a test, you can take it any time during the day that you want. Now, as they get older and start taking the SAT or ACTs you don't just get to pick a random start time, but in general, tests can be given whenever you feel I like it. 

We also don't have to worry about getting some of the illnesses kids get from being around so many people at once. Don't worry, there's still plenty of social time. Of course as I say that I am reminded of a few cancelled play date because of sick kids by one of us, so we're still waiting for the right moment to come along so that we can get together. Of course I could use a quiet weekend away, completely BY MYSELF!