The Last Day of Public School and the First Day of Freedom...

This is what Jake looked like as we got in the car and were ready to head to the 4th grade for the last time.  We were running late so there was no time to pose for pictures if we wanted to make it on time.

This is his last goodbye to Sadie...on the last day of school.

This is his last hug to me..on the last day of school.

This is me missing the shot of him signing I love you and blowing me a kiss, like he does every morning (he is a sweet boy)...for the last time, on the last day of 4th grade...

This is me getting ready by stacking up all the wonderful things we have collected in preparation for homeschooling next year.  It looks like we spent a fortune but 95% of the books Nana Harmon got for us for FREE!!!  THANK YOU NANA!!!!

This is what Jake will see when he walks through the front door after school...

This is the sign, you can't see in the picture of the books, on the cocoa (we don't drink coffee, so Jake dubbed it the cocoa table when he was about 3 years old) table, that Jake will see when he walks through the front door.  (This post has a similar pattern of repetition as a popular children's book...but I can't think of what it was actually about at the moment...It was not planned.  I am just trying to post all these pictures that took forever to upload...download?...which one is it.  My computer, and brain, are both running slow today.)

This is the sign on the front door that Jake would read....Oh you get it already!!!

This is me driving one last time to pick him up from public school...wasting precious gas...

This is Jake getting in the car after HIS LAST DAY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL!!!! (Well if all goes as planned anyway...)

This is the traditional ice cream cone we eat on the last day of school at Dollar Cone...Not sure what my hair is doing...I took a shower and immediately put it up in a pony tail and well something funky happened from there...

This is my ice cream with Jimmies or sprinkles to you non-New Englanders.  Really I just was playing around and when I noticed my favorite colored nail polish was in the picture I had to post it. :)

This is the mandatory trip that I promised Jake we would make right after school, to rent  Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, since he got 3 A's and 1 B.  Good job dude!

Here's the report card and free rental coupons...I didn't plan on taking a picture but since the guy gave us and extra one just to be nice I couldn't resist. :)

This Jake at the front door...FINALLY!  Drum roll please...For anyone that doesn't know, Jake has been asking to be homeschooled and we are finally doing it...Everyone (almost) but Jake knew we were going to do it months ago.  It is so hard to keep secrets and this was a big one...

This is Jake's first reaction to all the books.

Then to the note...

Soaking it in....

Tears...I was getting ready to hug him so it is blurry but I had to post it. 

What did he do next?  He immediately started checking out ALL the books....

And a little organizing took place.

This is his "I can't believe this is really happening" expression.  He had just hit himself in the forehead a moment earlier and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming. 

Jake says he is soooo happy but he will miss his friends and the playground.  To which I reminded him that he will still see his friends and there are way better playgrounds we can play at WHENEVER WE WANT BECAUSE WE ARE FREE!!!!  Well, almost whenever... :)

I can't believe it's finally official: we are homeschoolers!  :)  If you are too and you would like some A-MA-ZING resources, ideas, and networking than you have to check out:




It is nice to know I have a place to go whenever I need encouragement or help and it is only a mouse click away!

Just because I can't stop talking about it!!!!

It's my blog so I can ramble on about this (AGAIN) if I want to right? :)
Tomorrow we are telling Jake we are going to homeschool next year..Oh yeah, I have mentioned that 3,249 times already right? I can't help it I AM SO EXCITED!!!

I went to a Homeschooling bookstore yesterday and found myself wanting to buy all sorts of curriculum.  It is a consignment store where you can bring the stuff you have already used and get other stuff you may need.  It was wonderful!  There were kids sitting on the floor reading while their mom's were searching the store.  There was a girl taking a piano lesson in a little "classroom" office.  There were birds chirping sweetly in a big glass cage.  There were A Beka (and every other one under the sun!) curriculum-the books and teachers answer guides.  There were educational games and DVD's.  I looked at everything and almost spent a small fortune (not really I just could have).  Then I remembered that we aren't going to do it that way.   We are going to be making our own curriculum...Yikes, that sounds so scary...And it is a little, but also, not so much.  I have the list of all the things Jake "has" to learn in the 5th grade.  We will learn those of course...but we are really going to study all the things that Jake wants to learn all about.  In fact that will be our first task starting Monday...That's right the poor boy isn't even going to get a break. :)  We are going to jump right in-but it isn't going to be like school AT ALL.  We are going to create Jake's "compass"-the list of what he wants to learn about.  The guide we will use on Jake's path to self education... How awesome is that?  Learning what you are interested in.  Going into that wonderful bookstore made me realize (again...) that stepping off the conveyor belt of public school education is going to be an ongoing process.  It is in grained in my brain that you must follow the norm.  Take the easy path.  Go page by page in the workbook and that is learning. Right?  It works, but Jake needs more than that.  He deserves more than that. He deserves an education.  He is smart enough to learn how to love learning.  All children are...I am not drinking the Kool Aid, I swear.  I am just excited because I have learned so much preparing to help Jake.  I know he will LOVE it!!!