Not-Back-to-School Blog Hop!

Happy Not-Back-to-School! At least, that's what this month is for Hibbard Elementary. Although we all technically promoted to new grades (did I write that blog post?), we are still going strong on the curriculum year we started back in April. Ah, the joys of flexible, year-round schooling!

The fun of it all is that we're not the only crazy Not-Back-to-School family! Many of my fellow Home Educating Family Review Team members are also celebrating Not-Back-to-School this month, and we have all banded together to create the Not-Back-to-School Blog Hop. Every Friday this month I will write a homeschool-related blog post and include a link back to the HEF Blog where my fellow review team members’ posts will be listed. And just to make it a little more fun, I get to do a giveaway, too! It has been amazing to get to be a part of the HEF Review Team and to get to know some pretty wonderful people. I'm so excited to get to introduce at least a few of them to you.

So, come back each Friday this month, read my contribution, and click on the icon below to get a glimpse into the homeschooling life of some of my friends!

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This week we are sharing our homeschool stories. My family’s “how we started homeschooling” story is rather anti-climactic. I always knew I wanted to homeschool. Doug, however, was not so sure. He had nothing against homeschooling, but he simply considered it to be an option when local schools were lacking. We discussed the idea some during our early years of marriage, but somehow by the time school age rolled around for Olivia, we both just knew that we would homeschool her. We planned to take it year by year, depending on our circumstances and current location. Six years later, it is hard to imagine school any other way!

But our homeschool stories are not limited to how we got started. In fact, something completely different represents the greatest excitement of my family’s story. I call it the light bulb moment. I experienced that moment for the first time when I was teaching Olivia to read. We struggled through those early trials of making letters come together to create words. She caught on well, but it still required work, effort, and even frustration and tears. Then one day, it just clicked. One day she went from tediously sounding out words to recognizing them in an instant. One day her brain woke up to all of the information that had been poured into it, and she could suddenly read. She could really, really read! I admit - I got teary-eyed. I was so excited I felt like I was going to explode. A light bulb came on for my precious girl, and I got to be the one to see it! It was as exciting as that first smile or laugh. It was as victorious as that first step. I knew I was hooked - I wanted to be the one to see every single one of those light bulb moments for all three of my children!

Homeschooling for us had been defined by those light bulb moments. I recently enjoyed my last reading light bulb moment with Steven, and it is kind of sad to know that I will not see another reading light bulb. But, there are many more to come. Recently, Angela had a light bulb moment in creative writing, and I have seen her stories transform into something incredible! Sometimes, we might have two or three moments in one week. Other times we might go months without a single one, instead just seeing gradual learning. But, we are all motivated to continue our homeschool story because we know that the day to day processes lead to those amazing light bulb moments of learning victory.

Before you run off to meet some of my amazing friends and read their stories, be sure to enter this week’s giveaway! One reader will get a one-year subscription to Home Educating Family Magazine. It is an amazing magazine that covers so much more than homeschooling.
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To enter, just leave a comment with your name and email address between now and 5:00 PM CST next Thursday, Sept 13. The winner will be announced in next Friday’s Blog Hop post. And, if you’ve told your homeschool story on your own blog, leave a link so we can read it!
Now that you’ve entered, go meet my friends! You can even tell them I sent you…

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Comments

I love the light-bulb moments! So glad WE get to be there for them :D

Julie (you have my email)
Choate Family said…
We "fell" into homeschooling as well, and now I can't imagine life without it!

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