Captain Me Planet

Hum those doo doo’s in the carnival’s come to town theme. Does that make any sense? Whatever. Get over to phat mommy, and check out the homeschool carnival! Thanks phat!

It’s another Carnival of Homeschooling! Check it out at phat mommy, on Tuesday. And this will be my submission. On the benefits of homeschooling. I’m thinking my thoughts on this will run from the typical, to the unusual, possibly disagreed with, and maybe bizarre. Here goes, in no particular order, 50 Reasons I Won’t Quit:

1. You can teach from the sofa.
2. Or outside.
3. Or ditch it all and play all day when the weather begs it.
4. Even, if necessary, from the toilet. Yes. I have.
5. You see intimately what your child needs, and how they should learn.
6. All pressure can be removed from learning, and the joy of it can shine through.
7. If one child is struggling with a particular subject, I have the option of putting it away, and waiting for some maturation.
8. Or determining that maybe this is a time to help push through.
9. I am my children’s primary influence. Not society out there. Someone, or something, will brainwash our children. Who’s it going to be?
10. And they can see me put my money where my mouth is. Or not.
11. I am able to nuture relationship with me nearly all day, every day.
12. As siblings, they are very close.
13. And have had to learn to cooperate, compromise, and depend on each other.
14. And put all their clothes in one chest of drawers.
15. They see each other as their primary friends.
16. And as such, are protective of each other.
17. Being home, as opposed to in a school for 7 hours a day, gives them time to be children.
18. So they actually have a childhood.
19. They all, boys and girl, are learning how to run a home, by being with me and helping me.
20. Therefore, I have house help I do not have to pay.
21. They are learning that parents have the responsibility of actually raising their children.
22. I can sleep in when I want. This is a big one.
23. When their Dad was working long, odd hours, they could stay up extra late to see him, and visit.
24. Last week, our oldest couldn’t sleep, so he and his Dad built a fire in the chiminea out on the patio, and just sat and talked.
25. Then our son was able to sleep in the next morning, and start lessons later.
26. Our schedule is adjusted according to our family needs.
27. No school clothes are needed.
28. Jammies are acceptable.
29. Matinee weekday prices for movies.
30. Vacations whenever we want.
31. Visits to grandparents anytime.
32. Breaks watching HGTV together in the mid-morning.
33. Catching Mr. Ed on TV Land after breakfast.
34. The children are not constantly surrounded by incompatible values.
35. Or lots of other little girls in midriff baring tops, and short shorts with words on their bums. Or boys at age 10 with cell phones.
36. Which means I’m not constantly begged for these items.
37. We’ll teach about sexuality when we want, how we want. In the perspective that we want.
38. No school nurses with condoms.
39. No metal detectors at our doors.
40. Truly free speach. We can pray and say Jesus all we want. (me, sticking out my tongue)
41. We’re building a strong foundation for the children to grow on.
42. We get to be with them as much as possible, while they are ours to prepare for their futures.
43. I’ll never regret choosing something over them, when they are grown, and on their own.
44. I have not, and will not, have to miss teeth falling out, walking becoming running, lightbulbs going off in their brains, being able to answer all the many many questions they have, or giving and getting a thousand hugs a day.
45. They are learning super social skills. From adults and like-valued peers. Not from that place they say socialization ought to take place.
46. Our daughter is not having to learn to swim with the sharks cope with the cattiness so many little girls get sucked into.
47. Our sons are learning what it means to be a strong, gentle, able, respectful young man, and how young women should be treated.
48. None of them are subjected to constant “pack mentality”. They are learning to think on their own, according to the spiritual values we teach them.
49. Our daughter can take care of her own dog. And play with him all day.
50. Knowing, that through this decision to educate them at home, we are doing absolutely everything we can do to help insure their future health, wholeness and happiness. Between us, and God, that future seems very bright.

Check out the Carnival of Homeschooling at Why Homeschool. I, the Captain, am again graced with a submission being accepted. Go. Read!

My contribution to the homeschool blog carnival, being held at About Homeschooling, on Valentine’s

It is Valentine’s Day. And in honor, I’d like to concentrate on the things I love about schooling our children at home. Believe you me, there are many, many gripes I can give. And maybe, do so too often. So today, it’s all about love.

I have approximately 18 years with each child, as a child, in our home. While we may not be able to get rid of them on each respective 18th birthday, he, she, and he will legally be an adult. And I love. Adore. The fact that we are spending each moment of those 18 years mostly together. Occasionally, too together, but together none the less. I love that when they are grown, and gone, I’ll never regret that I squandered time. Never wish I had done more. Not think about the firsts I missed, or conversations that should have happened. With all our faults, we are maximizing our time the best we can. I love that. And I love that we have a flexible schedule that allows our oldest to climb out of bed after midnight, when his daddy has just arrived home from a businesss trip. And because our children do not have to get out of bed early, to make it on time to school, they can stay out on the porch together, talking about the previous few days apart, and get reacquainted again. I love that our children have idle time. Time to have to think of something to do. Time to stretch and grow their imaginations. Time to conceive hundreds of art projects, refrigerator box houses, and more Lego creations than I could ever fathom. Time to learn how to be kind to eachother. And get along.

It is wonderful that we are not always in the car, going going going. We’re not racing to lessons after a packed day at school, fighting traffic at 5, racing through the drive-through for lack of time to cook. I love that the things they are interested in are scheduled in the mid morning, or in the middle of the day. And at supper time, we’re all home together. I love that they’re each able to learn how to be a good person, a loving person, a compassionate person, instead of having to learn how to take the next test. I love that their childhood is just that. A period of being able to be a child. The only time of it’s kind they’ll ever get. And that they can spend hours outside, instead of behind a desk. And that when they run to me, I’m available. I love that our 10 year old will still run to me, hug me, sit close to me on the sofa. He has no outside pressure to grow up and be cool. To pull away before he really wants, or before it is time.

I love that our daughter is free from the stress of fashion competition. Body competition. When can I wear make-up? All the other girls are. When can I pierce my ears? She got to…I love that she’s gentle, and can afford to be, as she is not forced to deal with the politics of groups of girls. She doesn’t whisper about other girls, or think she. just. has. to see Hillary Duff in concert. She knows it’s not time for boyfriends, and is not surrounded by those who feel it is. She’s growing up around boys who are being taught how to treat women, and with a father who models this daily. I love that she can be aware of how other children are growing up, but is not constantly faced with the differences that can make her feel out of place. That when she is a little girl, she can just be a little girl.

Our youngest is all over the place. I love that I can learn how best to deal with him, to channel his energy. To let him run wild when he needs to, and not worry about his disrupting a class. Or whether or not the teacher can handle him, and 25 others. He is very bright. I love knowing that he will not sit bored at a desk. That with him, and his siblings, I can figure out what they need and when. And that from this, they partially learn the lesson that fair is not about giving each the same, but each according to his need. I love that if one of the children are in the throws of some project they love, or a book they can’t wait to finish, I can let them go on and on and on. I don’t have to interrupt them to begin the next subject, or change classes, or get to the cafeteria. And if we want to stay in our jammies all day, reading aloud together, or make a matinee’, we can. I love that we’re tying bonds with them, that let them know, we are a family. And a family is a blessing. Something to revolve around, treasure, protect and keep safe.

Being home with me so much has allowed them to see sides of me I might have hidden, if I knew in an hour, they’d be out the door. And in seeing these parts of their mother, I am a person in my own right. I get frustrated. Angry. Sad. I cry. And they can push my buttons and their behavior does have an effect on others, including me. They have begun to learn compassion for me, their father. Be aware of the air in our home. And care about it staying clear and bright. I love that they are learning how to handle their emotions, in a healthy way, and that I’m there with near constant back up. I can reinforce what we want instilled in them, and not worry about what is going on with them while they’re out there. Under the authority of others. Exposed more to the influence of others, than to their mom and dad, while they are still tender shoots.

Maybe what I love most is the chance to do for them what we’ve been called to do. To train them up in the way they should go. By spending the countless hours with them that I do, I am given the opportunity to use those hours wisely. And prayerfully, I do. Most of the time. We have a chance to get them from here to there, safe. Happy. Healthy. Whole. And when they are no longer tender shoots, but strong and grounded, they’ll hopefully be able to take on what the world will most certainly dish out. And hopefully they’ll remember who they are, and from where they come, and that there is always a safe place to which they can come. They are integral members of a family. Ours, and God’s. With a destiny of their own to fill. And I just love that I get to be a part of it.

MommyBloggers is featuring a Valentine’s Fun Fest, posting submissions from Moms blogging all over the nation, on just what love means to us. I, the Captain of my planet, am also featured. Starting at 08:00 on the 13th of February, the essays will run all day. If I’ve got my facts straight, Captain Mom will go up at 09:00. Check it out. Should be good.