To Home School, you must be HOME!

Well, this is one of those weeks that I am reminded just how much commitment it takes to home school my boys. This week our calendar is filled with great activities - Christmas parties, fun times with friends, meetings for Kamp, etc. Most weeks I try to spend 4 or 4.5 days focused on school and then have one day where we can do Precepts or run errands. But this week I am gone Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, the boys are at a Christmas class all day Thursday and then we all are gone Friday morning. With a schedule like this, it is challenging to get all of our school work done. I have to remind myself that: 1) December is a fun month! I should embrace the change in routine; 2) Realize that not all learning comes from reading a book or following an instructor's guide and; 3) One of the reasons we chose home schooling for our family was because of the flexibility it provides.

All that said, it is a privilege to have the chance to teach my boys. I truly love it. And one of the things that encourages me is knowing that I have friends in the trenches with me. Other moms who are home schooling their kids in the midst of busy days, load of laundry, meals to fix, etc. Last week we went out to dinner with the Engram family. They also home school their boys. We had to laugh when the hostess seated our families right in the middle of a tour bus group. All of these dear older couples who were visiting Branson kept approaching us as they left the restaurant and asking if we were: a) having a birthday party, b) a soccer team or
c) keeping other kids. After dinner we headed over to Wal-Mart to walk around for a bit. Take a look of this funny picture we got of all the Engram/ Rapp boys in the electronics dept.



PS - I'll post more pictures of the Lego Advent Calendar soon. It is coming along nicely with the addition of a street vendor selling hot chocolate, a skiier, and a gingerbread man.