My answer

Dear Readers,
  Hello again! We were actually in Hawaii all last week, so  I didn't get a chance to blog. We had a wonderful time, and I will definitely be blogging about it, but today I wanted to blog about the homeschool convention. We actually went there on Friday, and then woke up extremely early Saturday to get on a plane!

   So, the homeschool convention was wonderful. It always makes me want to study more and to be a better person! haha But it really does get us all ready to start school, and we usually find some wonderful books!
  For the first time, Mom, the boys, and I went together. It was so much fun to listen to the seminars together and share what we learned at lunch! AND, it was a lot of fun to just be together.

 But I really wanted to make this post to talk about more than just the homeschool convention. I'm constantly  getting  asked questions  like- "So, are you still being homeschooled?", "Do you have any friends, being homeschooled?" ,"So, do you not get to do any cool things like at a REAL highschool?"
  I really want to clarify that I love being homeschooled. And my mom loves home schooling us, so yes- we are going to keep homeschooling!

   Our family has lots of unique reasons for homeschooling, but I want to share some of the things homeschooling has done for me. 
   We all struggled in public school. It's hard for a teacher to have 40 kids in her classroom and still make sure Benjamin and Mason were well taken care of. It's hard to be the sister watching your brothers NOT be well taken care of and not blow up at the teacher.  It's hard to try to fit in with a group of girls who don't share your same beliefs. It's hard to do homework from 4:00 to 7:00 and still have family time. It was just plain hard.
  But now that we are homeschooling, we have time to do so much more than just read textbooks! We can go palpate a cow when we studied animal sciences, eat only foods the pioneers would eat when we studied them, and take a week in the middle of the school year to go to Washington, D.C. when we studied government.
  And, also, we have time for activities. So, instead of 'cool electives' at high school, I have time to learn to play violin and piano, and to be a part of community service projects, like putting on a ballet production with kids with special needs in it. And my brothers are part of an amazing theater group that is just for homeschooled kids.

There are SO many different education options, and I realize homeschooling is not for everyone. But for us, it is the perfect solution.  So, please don't jump to hasty conclusions  just  because we are homeschooled. Your Blogger,
 Claire