your kids know more than most adults about history! Helping my friend and dd with a college paper this week I found out friend did not know anything about the world wars. She asked what it mean, was the whole world at war with one another or what? She did not know there was a world war 1 cause she had only heard of the one with the Nazi and Japanese stuff in it. My dd was shocked that she had not heard but sat quietly and then helped her to learn. This is a mom with a couple of kids who is a product of the California School System we avoided. I spoke to another friend about the same age and mentioned my shock that another friend did not know about history stuff. She said she too did not know much about it because it was not taught in an interesting way in school. Then she asked me if I think I know more about it because of teaching my kids... I thought and realised that yes some of it is because of that but for the most part I know a lot more than some because I had a dad who watched war movies and so I watched them with him and asked questions. Secondly I can remember what class I learned what in in what grade in my Canadian schools, and in Us I know what I did was mainly US history but still that I had World Wars in that. (Wa State schools are better than CA schools) So I know its out there but I love that my kids really get history stuff and really enjoy it, so I am reallllllllllly Reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly glad I home schooled my kids because they do know the history and even can say they have a favorite time period to study and such! SO what was your " Oh yeah!" or AHA! YES! GREAT ! type of moment?
We love history at our home! But still, can't believe the schools wouldn't teach such important events as World War 1 or 2. I think children reading less also has a big impact on their lack of general knowledge. My "I'm glad I'm hs-ing" moment: We stopped near a sign with asian words on it, (I don't know if it was Mandarin, Kroean, or whatever), so the kids study it for quite a while, and finally one says "I know!! These are hieroglyphs!" His brother doesn't agree: "It can't be hieroglyphs, silly. The ancient Egyptians were in Africa. Do you really think they could have gotten over here?" And they get into a heated argument about how the Egyptians might have gotten all the way across the ocean. I love it!
This just shows how your children are really THINKING and REASONING...not just memorizing facts to pass a test. Homeschooling helps encourage and fosters kids to think for themselves and ask questions. Public school pretty much tells kids what to think and doesn't encourage exploration.
My aha moment was when I was helping my 9 y.o. DD figure out an answer for her zoology crossword puzzle. DH was listening in and freaking out about the vocabulary words she knew from this subject. Most of the time I think he's pretty sure that they aren't learning anything at home, so I LOVE when this happens!
