We are in our 5th year of homeschooling. Emma was 4 when we started homeschooling. 

I had no idea of just how life changing this adventure would be, not only for my children but for me. 

As we have gotten further and further into our homeschooling journey, the more I question formal education. Jack is pretty easy going and we have found a curriculum and a system that works for him and he plods along, albeit slightly unwillingly. 

Emma, on the other hand, is so much like her sister and has a fire in her belly that is unwilling to accept anything that does not make complete sense to her. It is both exhausting and empowering. She questions everything. Not in the “why do we work this sum out like this” kind of way, but in a “WHY do I even have to learn this” kind of way. She does not accept “Because you have to” or “Because it is important” as an answer. She wants to know how will learning this thing enrich her life!

And if I am honest most of the time I can’t give her a good answer. 

She is happy to learn things that make sense to her, things that are interesting. But lets be real, a lot of curriculums are pretty boring. Why do we have to spend weeks learning about the parts of a plant – she knows it, she knew it before we had to do it. Doing the water cycle a few years in a row (as per the curriculums) gets a bit tiring. Repeatedly having to identify adjectives and idioms and other parts of speech gets very boring very quickly. 

I have spent many mornings fighting and arguing with her but there was a moment that I stepped back and asked “WHY?”! WHY am I fighting her so hard on this? TO WHAT END?

I have no real answer!

So I slowly letting go of a lot of things when it comes to how we school her. 

She can read, she can write, she is learning, granted it may not be conventional learning which can be very scary. But the world is changing so fast and I want my kids to ready for it and I am not convinced conventional education will do that.