Why Homeschooling is Fun

Several of you already know the answer to this, or at least you do for your family and lifestyle. This is why it is fun for ours.

Lesson 1: "B is for Bob"



This shirt was Shannon's and now has been passed down to Tristan. We got it from Soul Flower (www.soul-flower.com), a very cool website with some very cool clothes (though I do miss their lot clothing selections!). Tristan was wearing it the other day and I told him that Bob Marley was on his shirt, pointing to his belly where Bob was. Hearing a 2 1/2 year old say "Bob Marley" is about one of the cutest damn things in the world.
That day's lesson was "B is for Bob." We listened to his music, along with Ziggy's music, and learned a little bit about what they stood for, what they thought. We focused on peace and the healing, loving powers of music.
When I asked Shannon later what Ziggy Marley was about, he told me "flying a kite" ~ I asked why he wanted to fly a kite, and Shannon responded with "because he didn't want to fight." -- This is almost a direct quote from Ziggy's song "Love is My Religion" ~ a very groovy song. On an adult note, the line "let's go fly a kite" is cheesy and stupid and you just say "he couldn't think of any other rhyme there!?!?" ... but on a parental level, well, Shannon GOT it. He understood it, it was simple, and he got it. Maybe that is the point.
Everytime we get in the car now Shannon has asked if we could listen to Bob or Ziggy. I think I'm going to have to make a cd of all the really good songs from both of them so I don't have to keep switching discs back and forth constantly!

Lesson 2: Schoolhouse Rocks! http://www.school-house-rock.com/



I remember watching this a little when I was in school, and more I remember listening to the cd that came out in the 90's. I still LOVE Blind Melon's rendition of "3 is a magic number."
As much as I swore (as so many parents do) that MY kids would NEVER watch tv, there are many times where I plug it in (literally, it is unplugged right now) and let them watch something. I'll admit, sometimes it is just so that I can have a little time to myself to do whatever needs to be done.
We bought them the Schoolhouse Rocks dvd because it is fun, it is catchy, and it is educational. And, since as I type this I am singing the songs to myself, I think it even helps us re-learn forgotten facts!
The kids really aren't that into it yet, and that's ok. It isn't meant to be the main learning tool. But it is a fun one. And that I like. I like that learning can be fun, and I think that for the most part it should be.

These are just two reasons why homeschooling is fun for us. There are so many more. But these two I just wanted to share with you.