Yes, this about sums it up:
Monkey is not a happy camper. Bug is anxious
but willing. Lion thinks this is a terrible idea,
but is really glad she's not going too.

Off to School They Go!

We decided to send Monkey and Bug to public school for a couple of months this fall. While it has been a worthwhile experience for them, it also served to confirm that home schooling is definitely the right choice for our family. We enrolled them for two reasons: partly, as a cultural experience so they know firsthand what life is like for most of their peers, but mostly as a kind of boot camp for practicing independence and building character. With those goals in mind, this experience has definitely been a success. Here are the things they're learning during this time:

• They're learning to function for 7 hours straight without Mom or Dad sitting on the sidelines. Of course, we have a ton of after school discussions about how to handle different (or difficult) situations and people, but they are doing the actual handling on their own without being able to drag me over immediately for back up.
• Monkey, a highly sensitive introvert, is learning the coping skills necessary to survive and even thrive in consistently less than ideal situations (much louder and more structured than she prefers). We're so proud of her--she has had only one meltdown that occurred during the first week of school. Since then, she's even handled adverse circumstances like getting sick and getting covered in mud after a fall without losing her mind. (Funny thing: she loves when her class is punished with a silent lunch. She came home with a huge smile on her face--"Mommy, they were so quiet! It was wonderful!")
• Bug is practicing leadership skills by helping those around her keep up. One of her teachers tasked her with keeping a special needs classmate on track. At first being given this "extra work" annoyed her until we reframed it as a leadership opportunity (something she's been wanting). Since then, she even volunteered to help a new student from Puerto Rico get oriented--getting her acquainted with classroom routines, showing her around the school, and introducing her to people at recess.
• Both girls are getting a crash course in time management and prioritizing. With limited free time they're learning to choose their activities wisely. Monkey in particular is learning to set aside her daydreaming tendencies when necessary in order to focus and work efficiently. She's slowly regaining some of her weekday free time. Some days though her teachers really have assigned more work than can be accomplished while also making time for the eating, sleeping, and physical activity necessary to stay healthy. That's when we have to discuss prioritizing which subjects to study and which can safely be put off for another day.
• Monkey is learning how to speak up for herself to get her needs met (rather than wallowing in confusion on the verge of tears). With lots of encouragement from home, she's also found the courage to raise her hand to voluntarily answer questions in class. (She claims to feel indifferently about the experience, but based on the gleam in her eyes and the grin on her face when she told me, I think successfully speaking up in front of the class was a huge confidence boost for her.) 
• Bug is also learning how to get her own needs met and doing so diplomatically (she's not naturally endowed with whole lot of tact or empathy). Recently, she worked up the courage and found an appropriate opportunity to discreetly request that one of her teachers move her away from a particularly disruptive classmate that she was being assigned to sit next to in all her classes. We were very pleased not only that she realized making that request publicly would hurt her classmate's feelings, but also that she wanted to avoid hurting the feelings of someone she clearly dislikes. 
• Recess has also been challenging for both girls, but more so for Bug. For Monkey the struggle was finding the mental and emotional energy to handle making friends. For the first week or so she avoided human contact during recess because it was the only time during the day when she didn't have to pay attention or interact with people. Once she learned to handle the stress of a school environment, she easily settled into playing with a good group of girls. While Bug can easily make friends in normal social situations, facing schoolyard cliques of kids who've known each other since kindergarten proved to be a whole different ballgame. The most popular recess pastime is four square; however, Bug's competitive nature has kept her from enjoying that activity (she doesn't think she can have fun unless she's winning; we're working on it). She'd rather just sit and chitchat with other girls anyway, but she's discovering that she doesn't have a whole lot in common with them to talk about. (In our family, we entertain ourselves by reading books, playing outside, creating art, etc. Her peers apparently entertain themselves by watching YouTubers and hip hop dance videos--not exactly conversation topics she can contribute too. She doesn't have an interest in spending more time in front of a screen; she just wishes there were other kids like her.) 
• Speaking of being different from her peers, Bug has finally learned that she is indeed exceptional! I suspect as a result of her competitive nature and being born a twin (and therefore always lumped in with someone else), she has long yearned to have something special, something that made her stand out from the crowd. Daddy and I have tried to convince her without success that her ability learn quickly and her wide-ranging curiosity were her exceptional qualities. However, after spending a couple of months in a classroom of kids a year older than her (because we had her skip a grade), achieving grades consistently 100 or higher, and still having her teachers recommend her for the gifted and talented program, I think she finally gets it. Fortunately, this self-awareness has so far resulted in a healthy sense of identity and self-worth rather than an inflated ego. (The principal also offered to let Monkey skip a grade, but Monkey decided she didn't want to.) 
• They will definitely both come home with a greater appreciation for the home schooling lifestyle! Monkey is not a fan of being forced out of bed before daylight. They both miss the free time to pursue their own interests, and are not fans of all the time spent simply waiting around in lines or waiting around because others are misbehaving. Comparing the two lifestyles academically, Monkey misses the ability to learn something, then move on--especially in her favorite subject (social studies); she's getting tired of being taught the same information over and over again. She also misses having the energy to read for fun. (Her class really is assigned an inappropriate amount of busy work for homework. We were at least able to convince her teachers to trade out some of her busy work for time spent reading whatever she wants as long as she logs what she's reading.) Bug is getting tired of all the emphasis on testing--it's taking the fun out of learning for her. She stated with exasperation that "at home we learn things because they're useful or interesting; at school we're just learning things for a test!" She's also getting frustrated with occasionally being taught misinformation (her science teacher clearly doesn't understand all the concepts she's teaching).

Meanwhile, Lion misses her sisters terribly! A few weeks ago, she stated matter-of-factly (with a hint of sadness), "Mommy, I've been talking to myself a lot more lately." Even when the big girls are at home on a weekday their time is almost entirely consumed by homework or extra-curriculars (the latter at least Lion is also involved in; they just don't have time to play). Academically though, this has been a good season to spend much more one-on-one with Lion, and she's had many more opportunities to work on her reading skills. She'd come to kind of stand still in math because her math skills had outpaced her reading, so she was getting stuck and extremely frustrated with word problems--the majority of the tasks she has left to do in her Khan Academy Early Math mission. Her reading has hugely improved, and she's been so excited to discover the wide range of books she can read entirely on her own now!

All around it's been a very profitable couple of months, but we are all ready to bring this season to a close and return to home schooling. This experience also made Daddy and I realize that while we started our home schooling journey for academic reasons (and it does offer so many educational benefits), that's not the primary reason we're going to continue home schooling. For us the true benefit of home schooling is the ease with which we can live out our priorities of faith and family. While home schooling, passing along our beliefs and worldview happen naturally as we discuss a wide variety of topics during lessons at home and prioritize Bible study, and we can rearrange our academic schedule to accommodate opportunities to build our relationships with each other and our extended family (rather than the other way around). That being said, we look forward to seeing you all throughout the holidays!