My Christmas...

I feel very fortunenate to have had such a great Christmas this year.

The night of my birthday, Jeff came to get me and brought me to his place to celebrate. We wrapped gifts and watched TV. It was really nice.

The next morning the kids called me from Digby to tell me what they had recieved. Then Jeff and i drove to the Halifax Airport to meet his ex wife and bring his two boys back to his place.

His kids opened their presents and then we ate a turkey dinner. Jeff made the gravey and candy carrotts. My stomach was still off from being sick last week so I didn't eat very much. Then Jeff put a candle in my Birthday Cake that my mom had got me and he and his boys sang "Happy Birthday" to me.

:)

Yesterday, we drove the boys to Windsor to meet their mom again.

Then we had the most fantastic conversation on all the way through Rawdon Hills and it didn't stop until the Experimental Farm!!!!

We discussed, at great length, things like: the prison system and homeschooling.

He tried to argue that because I am not teaching my kids in a structured environment that they will never be able to understand how to fit into society...

hmmmm.... :)

But they do experience structure, not only do i require a certain amount of structure in my house and how things are done... but in the different sports that they play and in Beavers and Scouts. I am not raising wild animals.

:P

I believe that there is something to be said for the child that is raised to be flexable. To not always expect the ducks to sit in a nice neat row. To think for themselves. To take on the responcibility of their own education. To have free time to think about what they enjoy. To find out what they are good at. To be an active part of their community. To think outside the box.

As a matter of fact there was a study done in the USA where an elementary school actually took some younger grades and stopped teaching math for a couple of years...

I am sure that Lorraine probably still has the link somewhere... but the end result from what i understand was that: the kids that were left to their own devices, thought more "out of the box" than their "schooled" peers. Their schooled peers just wanted to shout out the right answer and be rewarded with praise.

Jeff has never researched Homeschooling, and has never read a book on the subject but he is still fully within his right to hold an opinion. I understood where he was coming from. He does admit that there are alot of things wrong with the school system. But... he believes that Curriculum is important.

Curriculum? Jeff wants to allow "the man".... aka "the Machine" to decide what our kids need to know and when...

You can only imagine my responce. I assured him that I did offer my children lots in the way of "factual" information. But I made it fit into real life... something that public school isn't doing. Certainly not in any way that a child can retain into adulthood... ("Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? is a perfect example).

We studied mammals like Vampire bats at Halloween....

We studied division when handing out timbits and fractions when baking.

I do not just allow my kids to run amuck... there is a method to the maddness...

:)

I do expose them to things that they haven't yet asked about. I take them on historical field trips and museums.

(sigh)

:)

but in all honesty, it was a fantastic discussion. He was all heated and passionate. Worked up.

heeheehee...

And then we went back to his place and listened to music.

"Killer Whale Tank" rant...

:)

Today my kids will be coming home to open their gifts.

I cannot wait to see them. They've been gone only 3 days but it feels like 30...

Now I will be getting ready to go work out. Today is a new day. I will try and jog for as long as I can on the treadmill. Up to 2hrs.

gotta start thinking about bathingsuit shopping...

:(