wow... thank you guys!

Thank you all for the kind words about what my kids and I are doing with homeschooling. It really truly means a lot to me.... especially since I've struggled for the past year and a half to find my homeschool groove! LOL!

I really feel like we're in a really good spot. I have the schedule I need from Sonlight, even though I have let go and have learned to not get stressed out about being on different weeks for different subjects. And I am embracing my inner unschooler! LOL! I'm not an unschooler and probably never will be (I'm just not wired that way) but I have learned to embrace the fabulous "let learning happen" philosophy of unschooling - at least part time. When I first started homeschooling I was so excited about hands on learning and field trips. I lined up outings to go with each topic we covered and things to do on those outings. We had fun, but it got stressful. Then, this year, I found myself obsessing about our new Sonlight schedule and cutting out field trips because I was so caught up in the bookwork I didn't have time to figure out our outings. Now, here in Chicago, I have found our current perfect mix. I am not so rigid about our schedule... although we do try to consistently get through 5 days of work in four days, but we spend that day we free up by doing this to learn through living.

Our trips to the Art Institute are perfect examples of this. I really, really wanted to revert to my old ways and have some sort of agenda for our first trip, I even went to the teacher info section of their website to figure out what I wanted the kids to learn. However, life got in the way and I didn't get it done, so we just showed up. By letting the kids lead me through the museum instead of the other way around, we learned so much and had such a great time. We took our time, read descriptions and talked about what we thought were going on in the paintings. There were no fights, dragging of feet or whining even after being there five hours. They were engaged and excited because they were directing the learning by picking the pieces of art. The next visit they did enjoy listening to the family tour but they really enjoyed being able to pick out other pieces of art to hear about along the way - even though the descriptions were from the adult tours. Later, sitting on the floor of the gallery, sketching, they were studying paintings in a way I never could have made them do following a lesson plan... they did it on their own. Whew... I'm rambling... but I am really happy right now.

Tricia... you asked about the reactions we got while the kids were sketching.... well we got quite a few... most of them were subtle (a whisper or pointing) but one lady stood over the kids and watched them draw while we were in the sculpture gallery. She "ooohed and aaahed" (no clue how to spell that, but you know what I mean) over their pictures and complimented them. It was nice, although Alex got a bit embarassed. We were in and out of galleries so much that we passed one set of docents several times.... they always asked to see their latest sketch. It was just such a positive experience.

Oh... when I mentioned our day at the museum to someone, they commented about how sad it is that schools usually cut art programs first. I have heard that many times and always thought it was sad that kids wouldn't get to create projects. However, after our trips to the Art Institute I have a whole different view on this... my opinion has gone from it being sad to it being tragic. I also find it tragic how art education is usually confined to the neat little box of "art class". I really learned over the last week that art is so much more! We spent nearly 8 hours there over two days and yes, we were looking at art, but we were learning so much more! We learned about cultures, their beliefs and their myths. We learned about historical events. We learned about social issues. We learned about religion and Bible stories. (ack... we almost had to have an impromtu anatomy lesson when Alex picked a semi-nude sculpture to sketch... but he didn't say a word, just sketched it - on the flip side, Clara sketched it too but added clothes) We covered nearly every subject we study looking at something considered an "extra" or "elective" in most schools. Sigh...

Okay... I need to get off my soapbox and get back to our schoolwork!

Have a great day!