Change!

There are some major changes going on at la maisson Mommykitten.

Cosmetically, Son and I have been removing many of the bushes planted by the previous home owner and replacing them with berry bushes, roses, and flowers. I'm also removing much of the volunteer clover to make room for flowers and this makes the neighbors happy as well. It's been a lot of work but will be well worth it if most of the plants survive.

The other major change is that the kids have voted and all would like to try homeschooling for a year. It's something I've been thinking about for a while, but several converations lately have brought the issue to a head. It's not that there's a problem with the teachers, bullying, or poor grades. It's that everytime one of the kids asked about current events, and I tried to explain what was going on, it became quickly apparent that they didn't have the background knowledge necessary to understand the explanation. I could understand a little of that but my going-into-eighth-grader hasn't had any of the international geography and history that I did in seventh grade, and won't until ninth grade. Son has had music class all six years he's been in school and doesn't know who Beethoven or Motzart are. Neither of the two oldest spell well and yet spelling instruction stops after 6th grade. The math and science instruction are respectable but now that all the kids are getting mostly A's they will not be challenged any further, and I know the two younger particullarly can be stretched quite a bit since for them getting straight A's is simply a matter of turning in their homework.

All of that is a long way of saying that the older kid's knowledge foundations need shoring up in some areas while they are being encouraged to stretch themselves academically and the two younger one's need to be challanged to make the most of their academic gifts. This simply isn't possible in a standardized public, or even private, school setting no matter how dedicated the teachers are, and I would like to reiterate that I have no complaint with the teachers just the pace at which concepts are introduced.