Lessons from the 22nd Week

This week, we had time to take in the results of the Science Olympiad Invitational and catch up on other things. For instance, we have TeenPact One Day coming up at the end of the month and the homework needs to happen now. We also attended our first Science Class at Ripley’s Aquarium for 2020 and experienced mixed emotions.

Ripley's Aquarium Science Class

Aquarium Science Class for Homeschoolers – before it got really full

The room has now doubled in size. They opened up the partition wall between two classrooms to accommodate almost 40 students plus their parents and siblings. There must have been close to 70 people in that room. I teared up at one point, realizing how much homeschooling has changed since I got started seven years ago.

Back in 2012, people yelled at me when I told them I would homeschool my children. Like, “Are you nuts?” Somebody said, “Your son will not learn anything and he will be in timeout the whole time.” I said, “We will buy a good curriculum and we will discipline as needed, but our son is a rather sweet boy. I don’t think timeout will be necessary quite that much.”

 

What To Answer?

This person does not get me or homeschooling. She does not understand that this horrible scenario she created in her mind is what typically happens to a spirited child in public school, not at home. But anyway. This person has never apologized, but she has eaten humble pie many times since that fateful day when she made that statement.

Every time she hears about our children’s achievements, she beams with pride as if homeschooling was her idea. May God grant her a long life, so that she may see my children succeed for the next few decades. Success is the sweetest revenge against haters.

While at the Aquarium, we also realized our children might be too old for that class. Yes, there was new information, things we did not know about. But most of the kids in the classroom were K-5. Our son, 6th grade, felt very much out of place. Our daughter said she usually gets so bored, she would prefer not to attend anymore either. Could this be the end of an era?

My husband still wants us to go. It’s an outing, a social occasion, an opportunity to face annoying situations and people – ha! Because some of those kids speak (yell is more like it) out of turn and my kids roll their eyes, irritated at the interruption. I would have to agree with my husband – it’s good for our kids to be in a situation where they have to bite their tongue and endure an annoying person.

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