A Day In The Life Of A Secular Homeschooler

In the morning, I sit on my yoga mat, grunting through a Pilates DVD, while my three year-old daughter walks in circles around me. She is wearing duckie slippers, and with each step she says "Quack!" while giggling to herself. Three year-olds are honest enough to laugh at their own jokes, especially when they're funny!

In the distance, my oldest son fulfills his New Year's resolution to empty and reload the dishwasher at least once a day. Nobody asked him to do that. He thought of it on his own. He is fourteen and made of gold, I tell you. Gold! Afterward, he might practice his clarinet, read about Cthulu, or take his little black dog for a walk.

Later, while finishing my post-workout coffee, my second boy, who is almost ten, strides briskly into the room, wearing a crisp white button-down shirt and a pin-striped black fedora. He's carrying a stack of paper and a pencil, with plans to "Draw everything I know how to draw well." A collection of his best stuff so far. I feel a surge of gratitude to know this fascinating person and be able to spend so much time with him.

Later, after dad comes home, and we all have dinner, there is usually a lingering conversation on physics between my husband out our oldest two boys. Their dad is a mathematician with a great interest in all sciences, and they relish the opportunity to ask him questions about nebulae and string theory. After dinner, we clear the table and head to the game cabinet for our Clue game. My third boy, and the aforementioned daughter, play Clue with me and their dad every night. Well, technically, it's a time for the younger kids to enjoy our full and undivided attention; a time during which they can direct our activities in any way they choose. And they always choose Clue. As my seven year old son uses the process of elimination to deduce whodunnit, with what, and where, I hold a squirmy little girl on my lap and admire my smart, special, boy. His hair is long. as he wishes it to be, and his voice is low and robotic. He adores this game, with its routine and logic. After the game is over, we declare the winner, and all shake hands with each other, saying "Good game." No gloating, no whining. Then, it's brush the teeth, read a story, and piggy back rides upstairs to bed.

We are secular farmy unschoolers, living on the Oregon Coast; an eccentric bunch with a lot of time on our hands. Some days involve much work, some are all about play, most are a mix -but we always feel lucky to be us.

I try to keep track of some of it on backyarduniversity.blogspot.com

Oops! I meant to submit this instead of leave it as a comment. I just submitted it properly.

Originally Posted by Backyard University

Oops! I meant to submit this instead of leave it as a comment. I just submitted it properly.

thanks, B-U!!

You're welcome! Thanks for the opportunity.