Interview

Tell us what it's like to be homeschooled in this family. What? This is an interview? Yep. If this is an interview, then it's kind of like regular school.  However, there are a lot of big differences.  For one, the teacher pays a lot more attention to you.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? It's a mixed blessing.

What's good about being homeschooled? What are your three favorite things about our school? I can actually voice some of what we learn -- I mean, like, decide some of what we learn.  For instance, if I were to say I'd like to learn a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, then maybe we'd learn one.

The teacher makes the problems interesting -- like, as in math stories where Mom tells a story and you have to put in the subtraction, addition, division, and multiplication answers to make a very funny story.

And number three:  in recess you can play with Legos.

What's bad about being homeschooled? Well, the problems are usually a bit harder compared to the ones that kids in public school do.  (How do you know?  Sometimes I find some spare homework when I visit my friends' houses.  It looks easy.)  Also, there aren't any other kids you can hide behind if you don't think you can solve a problem.  (What do I do if you can't solve a problem? You usually help me so it turns out going a lot longer and sometimes if I answer them very quickly then I get to get ahead on schedule so I have a longer recess to play with Legos and build awesome new creations like The Dragonfly.) 

What's one more bad thing?  I have to do three of these?  Here's the third bad thing:  there isn't any playground equipment in our backyard.  In normal school at recess you get to go on a playground.

Do you think we fight more than we would if you went to a conventional school? [note from Jamie:  this is a worry of mine, that homeschooling causes conflict between us.]  Well, probably yes, but only because we spend more time together.

Would you rather be doing easier work?  Some people might say I ask a lot of you. Depends on the quantity of easier work.  I mean, I'd prefer a bit of hard work to a lot of easy work.  It sounds like I'd be doing a lot of easy work in regular school.

How do you feel about being with your brothers full-time?  Do you wish you spent more time with kids your own age? or kids who weren't family? It's a mixed blessing, because with smaller kids then they'll play almost anything with you.  They think of you as the figure who does know everything.  However, sometimes my mind goes RED ALERT RED ALERT BROTHERS GETTING CRAZILY HECTIC SHUTDOWN SHUTDOWN

What would you say to a mom who is thinking about homeschooling? Here my second son, who declined to answer my other questions, chimed in.  He and my oldest said the same thing: Good choice!