3 1/2 Time-Outs — Ahhhhhh…Homeschooling

1.
When the arthritis hit #4 this past February, her dreams changed from being a ballerina to becoming an architect.  Since then, it’s been all about construction.  When construction began on a house around the corner, she was ecstatic.  She wanted nothing more than to watch the building go up and learn how they build it, which leads us to mornings like today.  This morning she is sitting on the sidewalk across the street from the construction site doing math and handwriting and watching the foundation being poured.

The construction crew was initially wary of my daughter’s watching them.  They now accept her presence and greet her when she’s there.  She’s become their mascot.  Whenever they begin a new phase of building, one of the men will cross the street to tell her what they’re doing.  She writes down any words she doesn’t know and then looks them up when she gets home.

Thank God for homeschooling which lets her sit on the sidewalk while she’s doing math and learn a little more about her dreams.

2.
You don’t really think my 8 year old is sitting there alone, do you?  Her almost 13 year old brother walks her around the corner and sits there studying until she’s done watching.  He’s learning a lot, too.  He tries to get away with slacking off except on construction days.  After watching physical labor in person for a couple of hours, he’s determined to not be one of the laborers.  His Pre-Algebra never looked so interesting.

3.
We are studying the American Revolution this week.  It’s one of our favorite periods to research.  We’ve looked into the Stamp Act and the Townshend Act.  We discussed the Boston Tea Party and whether or not it was moral.  We  discussed the “crippling tax rates” which spawned a Revolution.  Imagine the consternation of my children when they learned that the tax rates today are more than double what they were in 1776.  They have spent a lot of time debating why those taxes were unsupportable and the higher rates of today are pushed even higher.  I’m not saying we’re fomenting rebellion at my kitchen table, but there are certainly a lot of good questions about what Washington is up to.

3 1/2.
Of course in our house discussing 1776 inevitably leads to