Back to School

It's that time of the year again.

All the school supplies are dirt cheap in every store in town.

Back to school jeans are on sale in every ad in the Sunday newspaper.

Backpacks are being stuffed with

notebooks and pencils and crayons and rulers.

Teachers are going back to get their class rooms prepared and ready for back to school night.

The PTAs all around the country are meeting and assigning new presidents and rallying for the coming year.

The school bus is literally just around the corner.

This time of year lots of people start to ask me about my decision to home school.

Even at Mr Birds company BBQ I found myself surrounded by women with questions about this crazy decision I made to keep my kids home with me, rather than follow the norm and enroll them in public school.

Good thing I'm passionate about what I do, I could keep talking about it way longer than any of them have any interest in listening.

I could name this post 101 reasons I home school, but I'll spare you.

So here are just a few of my top reasons why I love home school. In fact I love it so much I officially started our school year last week! I just could not wait another day.

• I love being with my kids. I really do. When Doodle was nearing school age I got sick in the stomach thinking of putting her on that school bus and not seeing her all day long. That sick feeling went away and was immediately replaced with peace and comfort as soon as I decided to home school. I have learned to listen to those gut wrenching feelings.
• I love to play. I love to load the kids in the car with a lunch and snacks and explore a new museum or mountain or factory tour. It make me feel like a kid again.
• I love watching my kids learn. I love seeing first hand their progress and seeing a new concept sink in.
• What else would I do all day? OK, really, I know I could come up with about a million and one things to do, but nothing I have ever done thus far feels as rewarding as this, not even serving my mission (it's a close second though).
• I love starting our day with scriptures and prayers and a good story from The Friend.
• I love the structure of our school days. I love being in our routine and knowing what comes next.
• I love having a nice home cooked breakfast with the kids every morning and not feeling rushed to meet the school bus. I also love not having to wait for the school bus in the afternoons. If I am out and about I don't have to worry about being home by 3 to meet the bus. My day is my own.
• I love that my kids are each others very best friends.
• I love being the administrator, principal, teacher and PTA all at once. If I decide I don't like how a certain program is going, I change it right then and there, no red tape.
• I love teaching my kids what I think is important, and not what the bureaucrats think they ought to be learning. If I want to take a week to teach them the proper way to scrub the tile floors, I will (some day my daughters-in-law will thank me!). I love taking a week and reading about nothing else besides airplanes or horses or frogs.
• I love that my kids don't have to raise their hand to go potty. I love that if they get hungry they don't have to wait until the lunch bell to eat. I love that if they get tired they can nap or simply curl up on the couch beside me in their blanket while I read to them for as long as they can listen.
• I love discovering new books that I never new I'd love, like Little Britches and Laddie and Winnie The Pooh.
• I think I'm loving to learn more than the kids are. I missed so much of this stuff growing up and now I just feel like a kid again.
• I love cancelling school for a good horse ride.
• I love watching Beanos face when I pour the baking soda into the vinegar. Priceless!

OK, I'll stop. This is getting close to 101.

I better hurry and wrap up this post.

It's a school night you know!