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We have been a homeschooling family since my son was in Kindergarten. This past October our family prayed and had the impression that we should send them back to school. We had a 7th grader at Middle School and a 6th grader, 4th grader & 1st Grader at the Elementary school. They started an hour apart. I felt like I was on the road ALL OF THE TIME! It was crazy. But we all stepped up to the challenge and did our part willingly for “The Good of the Family!”

Needless to say, at Winter Break (I prefer calling it CHRISTMAS Break) the children got together and made a list of “Reasons We SHOULD Return to Homeschool”. On this list were 12 very important things. Things that I could not be prouder of my children for coming up with and BELIEVING it! They weren’t just doing this to get out of ‘doing something’ but were following up on their feelings and thoughts. Here is their List:

1) We miss seeing Dad.

(He works 2nd shift and so would go 2-4 days without seeing them AT ALL)

2) We don’t like listening to the cussing

3) Negative peer pressure 

4) Bullying

My 1st Grader was bullied and we were only in the school for a bit over 2 months. Then the teacher takes my little 1st grader around to the 3rd grade classes and has her pick out the ones that were bullying her. There were 2. Then they ALL went to the Principals office. I think that Traumatized her more than ANYTHING!!

5) A lot of ‘yucky talk’

Apparently the older girls were privy to a lot of discussion on Law of Chastity things. Things that are now in their heads that they can’t get rid of. This is the one that most affected my 7th grader – she was in tears telling me some of the things. My 6th grade daughter had a friend of a friend telling their group that she had been pregnant 3 times and her Mom didn’t know and well, blah, blah, blah.

6) Having to listen to the opinions and concepts that the teachers believe in and sometimes have it rammed down their throat.

(remember, this was during the Election).

7) Seeing bad things

My son has a friend from another Ward and Cub Scouts and was in his class at school that liked MOONING random ‘friends’ on the playground. My 4th grade son thought this was ‘gross’. (GO SON!!)

8) Being around drugs and other related issues

9)We Miss Dad!

10) We feel like our attitudes are worse now that we are in school

I loved this one! They could see that their personalities were changing and not necessarily in a good way.

11) Don’t feel the Spirit while at school

YES!!!! They have listened to us teaching them!!!

12) We miss Mom! & We will NEVER ask to go back to Public School again!!

I think this one was their ‘brown-noser’ one!! But I will take it!! hahaha

As we have gotten into our homeschool routine they are seeing and noticing changes that they can appreciate AND recognize in themselves – especially my 7th Grader. It has been amazing. I have loved having them back with me and feel invigorated to do more and to do better for them – as a mother, as a teacher, as a wife, as a Daughter of God. It really couldn’t have happened at a better time of year right?

The following are  some links that we have enjoyed using as we stumble our way through Homeschool again! I really do love and appreciate and show gratitude DAILY for the amount of material that is FREE and available online. It really is amazing! (One of the Lord’s tender mercies, I believe!!)

Game GOO– This one has Reading/English type games to make that more fun for children. My Kindergartner enjoys is, my 4th grader LOVES it and even the 6th and 7th grader do it for fun. (when there is time for the computer with 9 people).

Shepherd Software– This one has games for EVERY Subject you could imagine and EVERY age group. They advertise that Adults love to play too! :)

Tumblebooks – I LOVE this resource. This is awesome for preschool up through Elementary school aged children. (My 2 year old and 1 year old LOVE to listen and watch the stories!)

Vocabulary – They claim to have 1 thousand English Games. They also have vocabulary lists – click through the whole site – it is pretty incredible. It has the higher grades – which is very important.

MathMammoth – This woman, Marie, is amazing! She shares a lot of FREE math resources and videos and she also has curriculums available for purchase

The last one I want to share is ScootPad. This is a wonderful resource that we can use as Homeschool parents. It is like an online classroom. The lessons/practices are Standard Based (which I think it is AWESOME!) and it is a K-5 resource. You are the teacher and give your children passwords and can assign them homework in Math, Reading, Spelling (you add your OWN spelling words), etc. There is a place for reading logs. So COOL!! So far my children are really enjoying it. It doesn’t move them to the next level until they “Pass” their current level. It isn’t games – it is practice pages. You assign the number of questions and also how many you want them to do in whatever span of time. I usually do it by week.

Hopefully this has helped some of you have more ideas for resources you can use and take advantage of!!

Homeschool ROCKS!

Make it a great one!!

About Tammy: Daughter, Sister, Wife, Mother of 7 (ages: G12, G11, B8, G6, B5, B2, G1). Stepmom of 2. Mother in law to two, Grandma to Peyton, Mattix and Andrew and blogger at BellaOnline and Latter-DayHomeschooling!! Happy & Satisfied!!