Homeschool Play Date

It's 2:50pm right now (I know the timestamp doesn't reflect that... I can't figure out how to fix it!) and every Miller kid is sleeping! Woo-hoo! They've all been down for over an hour now, so I fully expect that someone will wake up shortly -- but for now, the house is quiet and I've been getting some much needed time in working.

This morning we went to a homeschool play date at Flora park. There were at least eight other Moms there, and several dozen kids! Belle found a female playmate her same age, so that was wonderful -- and there were lots of little boys James' and Russell's age! Hopefully these new friendships will grow in the coming months/years! So many things happened while there that really spoke to me about the benefits of homeschooling.

Here are a couple examples: two girls were talking (I think they are both 9 year olds) and one said to the other, "why do you get to homeschool?". The first replied "because my Mom says public school doesn't teach me anything." "Oh", said the other little girl, "we homeschool because my Mom misses me all day when I have to go to public school." It was so precious. Later, the little boys all decided that they wanted to climb some trees at the park, but the lowest branches were too high for them to reach. So one of them had the idea to move a picnic table underneath the tree so they could reach the lowest branch, and all together (at least a dozen little boys) picked up and moved the table to where they wanted it! The way the boys all worked together, and the look of accomplishment in their eyes was priceless!

Another reason to homeschool: during the school year at 2:50pm, Belle, Russell, and James would all be starting their exhaustion-driven melt-downs, just in time for me to pick them up from school. (None of them would have gotten to rest in a quite, calm, and restful environment - and they ALL still need that almost every day.) I would be scrambling to finish up a couple last minute things with work and in the kitchen and laundry room - and then I'd wait until the last possible moment and wake TWO sleeping babies (Ellie and William) from a deep sleep, to quickly put them into the car, and rush off to school to wait for 20 minutes in the car-pick up line. All the while I'd be sitting idle, burning gas, listening (with lots of guilt in my heart) to at least one of my babies cry because they are still tired and were so rudely awakened from their slumber... I like this scenario (five sleeping kids!) MUCH better!